1
The schoolchildren from all the nearby villages knew this:
There was an exceptionally handsome teacher in Li Family Village.
No other teacher was more handsome than him, and no other teacher made the palm hurt more when he struck it.
"Zhao Tie Niu, you are in trouble! You have angered the teacher so much that his horns come out!"
Passing classmates laughed at Tie Niu,
"Get ready for a hand-smacking! Hehehe!"
Liu Cui Cui, Zhao Tie Niu's neighbor, a righteous and spirited girl, put her hands on her hips and said:
"Tie Niu, wait here, I'll go beg Mrs. Li for you! But what did you do to make the teacher so angry that he revealed his true form? "
"I didn't do my homework," Tie Niu thought for a moment.
"That shouldn't make Teacher Shen that angry," Cui Cui found it strange, "Just make it up."
"I, I also said that Mrs. Li's flatbreads didn't taste good, but I said it very softly..."
Cui Cui stopped in her tracks.
Tie Niu nervously tugged at Cui Cui's sleeve:
"Why aren't you going?"
Cui Cui shook off his hand:
"Hmph, offending Teacher Shen is not a big deal. For the most serious matter, begging Mrs. Li would solve it. But since you spoke ill of Mrs. Li, not even the gods can save you. Just wait to get beaten."
Everyone in Li Family Village knew this:
Teacher Shen wasn't human; he was a monster who should have eaten people.
But after meeting his wife Li Zhen Zhu, he started eating sweet flatbreads instead.
Ten years ago, a mortal who had smelled the scent of Taotie arrived.
The mortal said fervently:
"Taotie King, may I exchange my heart for a wish? My heart is fresh and..."
Hearing someone call him king, Shen Tong Guang stopped.
Hearing the mortal offer his heart, Shen Tong Guang waved him off:
"Zhen Zhu won't allow it."
"Who is Zhen Zhu? Is she a deity from heaven controlling you?"
"Not a deity, she's my wife who makes sweet flatbreads for me."
The mortal muttered, looking at Shen Tong Guang skeptically:
"What kind of taotie doesn't eat human hearts? How could that still be considered a demon?"
Shen Tong Guang, angered by these words, glared at the mortal:
"Rude! Li Zhen Zhu's Taotie doesn't eat human hearts like the others!"
Life in Li Family Village was slow and simple.
Da Huang had Xiao Huang (Little Yellow), and Xiao Huang had Xiao Xiao Huang (Little Little Yellow), which were considered noteworthy events.
Everyone said that Li Zhen Zhu was the luckiest girl in Li Family Village.
She had a handsome husband to grow old with her, and she lived to be a hundred years old without illness or disaster.
Three days before Li Zhen Zhu passed away, she was still nimbly making sweet flatbreads for Shen Tong Guang.
Three days prior, Shen Tong Guang accompanied her to town, buying so much flour and sugar that they had to haul it back home slowly with an ox cart.
That day was a warm autumn day, with the roadside full of blooming unknown little yellow flowers.
Shen Tong Guang adorned Zhen Zhu's hair with those little yellow flowers.
The shopkeeper said that Granny Zhen Zhu was getting old and had always been a bit muddle-headed, and now she was even more incoherent.
She actually wanted to make a thousand flatbreads.
"Who could eat a thousand sweet flatbreads?" The shopkeeper laughed.
"My husband will eat them slowly," Zhen Zhu said with a smile.
In those days, the entire Li Family Village was immersed in the sweet aroma of flatbreads.
One-hundred-year-old Li Zhen Zhu lay in her rocking chair, waiting for the thousand sweet flatbreads to cool.
The flatbreads cooled, but Li Zhen Zhu never woke up again.
2
The day Zhen Zhu passed away, many people came to Li Family Village.
There were villagers from all around.
There were those who had escaped to Li Family Village during hard times and had eaten Zhen Zhu's sweet flatbreads.
There were Shen Tong Guang's students, and his students' students.
And there was a beautiful celestial maiden.
The celestial maiden handed Shen Tong Guang a bag:
"This is a Qiankun bag [1]. I don't need it, so I'm giving it to you."
The celestial maiden lied.
It wasn't a bag she didn't need.
Because the bag was just the right size, not too big nor too small, to hold a thousand sweet flatbreads.
Time was both cruel and forgiving, like a strong liquor with a lasting aftereffect.
On an exceptionally clear day, Zhen Zhu was laid to rest under a wild peach tree, right next to Da Huang.
In Li Family Village, there's a saying that when a good person who has accumulated virtues passes away, the sky stays clear for seven days to facilitate farewells.
The villagers marveled at how good and kind Zhen Zhu was, hence the good weather.
While everyone cried sadly, only Shen Tong Guang didn't shed tears.
After finishing all matters related to Zhen Zhu, Shen Tong Guang merely wiped his eyes and packed the thousand sweet flatbreads into the Qiankun bag:
"Everyone, don't worry. The Taotie King is going out to find Zhen Zhu."
The villagers stood on the ridge, watching Shen Tong Guang's departing figure.
They felt like something was missing, an indescribable emptiness.
"Missing Granny Zhen Zhu," Tie Niu's child said, hiding in Cui Cui's arms. "She and old Teacher Shen always walked together, hand in hand, slowly."
After Shen Tong Guang left, it rained in Li Family Village for seven days.
The thunder sobbed, like a lonely beast crying in the clouds.
In the underworld, everyone feared the Taotie King.
The Wuchang [2] feared he would steal living souls to eat, Meng Po [3] feared he would steal her soup to drink.
They wouldn't let the King Shen wait on the Naihe Bridge and tried to drive him away.
That day, the King Shen learned to be stubborn.
He clung to the pillar of the Naihe Bridge and refused to let go.
"Li Zhen Zhu has long been gone from here. The patriarch of Lingchen Peak knew you would come. He wants you to go to Lingchen Peak to find him. He knows everything about Li Zhen Zhu," Wuchang tried to persuade him.
King Shen stopped being stubborn, let go of the pillar, and left.
"Then if the Patriarch of Lingchen already knew, why did he let him make a wasted trip?"
"The Patriarch of Lingchen knew this would happen. He said that even if he told him in advance, he would still come."
Shen Tong Guang walked alone.
When he was hungry, he ate one of Zhen Zhu's flatbreads.
Sometimes, when he missed her terribly, he would eat one too.
The more he ate the flatbreads, the fewer there were, but the more his longing grew.
Flatbreads could be eaten sparingly, but he didn't know how to sparingly miss someone.
One night, with a large moon, Shen Tong Guang felt hungry, reached into the bag, then pulled his hand back.
Not hungry, he decided. Not going to eat.
Otherwise, the remaining sweet flatbreads wouldn't be enough for him to think of her.
Footnote:
[1] A Qiankun bag (乾坤袋) is a pouch able to hold more than it appears able to carry. It is used by cultivators to carry large items.
[2] The Heibai Wuchang (黑白无常) are two Deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld.
[3] Meng Po (孟婆) is the goddess of oblivion in Chinese mythology, who serves Meng Po Soup on the Naihe Bridge
YOU ARE READING
Pearl Light
RomanceDescription: My husband, Xie Wu Chen, was a genius sword cultivator, while I was just a mortal. Xie Wu Chen despised foolish people. To catch up with him, I worked hard at cultivation, but he remained indifferent: "You have no spiritual roots, it's...
