A Broken Heart Still Beats.

Chapter I

"Let's go now, darling." The voice was directly against his ear, and there was a moment when he wanted to open his eyes to see who could dare to replicate that voice. But then the phantom pain came upon him, and he remembered that he couldn't see, so there was no point in answering.

This was likely death's final trick on him, he'd just wait to meet Yangwang in Youdu where he would be asked about his life by the king of the underworld, and he would give his piece before he was determined to enter the reincarnation cycle or not.

"A-Shi, silly boy, I know you heard your Jiejie, you can sleep a little more once we go back inside. You'll catch your death of cold if you stay out here, and you'll be breaking your Jiejie's heart!" That couldn't be a trick, not even death could be so cruel.

Daring to open his eyes, almost expecting to see the grim face of the undertaker, he was instead met with a youthful woman's vibrant and colorful face, laden with makeup that he remembered always thinking looked so beautiful; but was likely a pain to do every day. Her smile was like that of the sun, warm and inviting, and Shen Yuan breathed a heavy exhale when he realized that those pains he felt were indeed nothing more than phantom pains, and all that was left were dull aches in his legs and on his shoulders.

"There is my lovely little butterfly." Bai Daiyu...no one else called him that, no one else had looked at him so thoughtfully, when he lay on the cold stone floor of the cellar, hair matted, and covered in bruises.

He dared to test his voice and found only the mild discomfort of a dry throat, rather than the pain of an unhealing wound. "Yu-jie...?" He tried to lift himself, but found that his arms were significantly weaker, where was he? Was this the underworld?

"So he does remember me!" Bai Daiyu grinned, reaching out to put her arms underneath him and lift him seamlessly into her embrace, brushing his hair out of his face with a gentle hand. It was only then that he finally looked down at himself, and saw just how he had changed.

His hands were small, his limbs thin and brittle, and he was dressed in dirty flowery robes that he remembered despising with every fiber of his being.

He was a child again!?

A sudden dread came over him, if he was a child again, he was back at the brothel. Bai Daiyu was still alive, but so was Chen Qiang, the fire hadn't happened yet, and neither had his injuries that left him unable to speak for the rest of his life.

By the time reality set in, he was shaking, for the first time in years, the cold bothered him. He realized soon enough he was freezing, his stomach painfully empty, and this body he was put back into was weaker than even he remembered. Bai Daiyu clicked her tongue softly and suddenly wiped at his cheek, there was a wetness there he hadn't expected, and he looked up at her with wide eyes. "Poor little one, did you have a nightmare down here? That Chen Qiang...he...ah. Don't listen to this Jiejie of yours, she's spitting off from the mouth, let's get you inside."

She carried him like he weighed nothing, and for a moment, he truly forgot that like this; he truly did weigh nothing. The stairs to the cellar were steep, and he wanted to tell Bai Daiyu that he could walk himself, but the second he tried to shimmy out of her grasp, she chuckled and jostled him a little to startle him into holding onto her shoulders. "There we go, little butterfly thinks himself a big eagle and is ready to fly? It's so cold in the winter! My poor little A-Shi's wings will freeze and shatter like glass! Then this Jiejie of yours will have to put you in her pocket and keep you there forever!" She made a poor attempt at an evil cackle and Shen Yuan couldn't help but stare up at her adoringly.

When he was younger, and she used to carry him like this, he would pout and get upset with her because he didn't like appearing weak. He'd squirm and make a fuss until she'd make a heartbroken sigh and put him down to walk at her side, even though he had trouble keeping up with her pace. She'd continue to tease him, and as any stupid and ignorant child would, he'd take her kindness and attempts at making him laugh for granted and give her the cold shoulder.