eunoia | bl | tgcf

Chapter 5: Part Four

Chapter 5
The Bride, the Ghost, and the Flower

Part Four
daylight and twilight

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"No," the youth rebukes softly under his breath. "The two of you deserved to be loved and be happy more than anyone else." For San Lang, who has seen how his two precious geges suffered all these years, wants nothing more than to give them everything the world has to offer.

Yunlan hums and answers nothing, making San Lang tighten his embrace around him.

Even now, Yun-ge doesn't know how to be happy. He can emphatize and sympathize with others but he doesn't know how to be happy for himself. Yun-ge, don't worry, one day, I'll be able to make you smile without any worries.

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"Xiao Lan."

"What is it, Min-ge?"

"The place xiaohua went to, what is it like?"

The bonfire's flames crackle in the night. It is accompanied by the whistling wind and the chilly air.

"It is the most comfortable place for spirits like us." There, on the flower's face, is an expression Min has never seen before. It is one of comfort, as if Xiao Lan returned in the arms of his mother, being loved and protected. As if nothing in this world will harm him.

A serenity that Min has never seen Xiao Lan express, even around Grandma Yun and him. "A place where newborn spirits can cultivate in peace. The air is clean, the spiritual energy is abundant, and there is only nature. A place humans have never touched before."

"Do you miss it?"

"Dearly so."

Min fiddles with his fingers, asking with a nervous tone, "Then, why did you leave?"

The sound of nature comes to a standstill, leaving only the crackling flames and the whistling wind.

"Because mother is hurting," Xiao Lan stares at the fire, unblinking, and voice turning a bit cold. "Some humans do not know restraint. They take more than they should and end up hurting mother. And despite knowing that they harvest resources more than they should, they never give back to mother.

"They leave her in pain and suffering, and they do it without guilt. The profit they make blinds them of compassion and gratefulness."

Even without saying it explicitly, Min knows the identity of this mother Xiao Lan speaks of.

It is nature itself.

"My purpose of leaving home is to judge whether humans deserve mother. If not, then—" the air around Xiao Lan turns frigid, so cold that it burns. "—cutting down their numbers is inevitable."

"..." Min thinks there must be something wrong with his eyes but he finds Xiao Lan cute even though he spoke such dangerous words.