Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I once watched Laojun tie a red thread.

A princess, after marrying and becoming another man’s wife, fell in love with a monk.

I crouched in front of the Water Mirror, watching their story and laughing so hard I shook.

“Laojun, making you serve as Yue Lao is such a waste of your talents. This romance you arranged would make even Siming admit defeat. Hahahaha, tying a princess and a monk together? Honestly, only you.”

Laojun flicked up his sleeve, and I took another smack from his cane on the head. “When I call you a stone, you really are a stone. If you don’t understand love, don’t run your mouth. Shut up and learn properly.”

“Learn what?”

“Naturally, learn from your master how to find the two people best suited to each other among the vast sea of humanity, and tie a red thread between them.”

“What does ‘suited’ even mean?”

“Look at the red cords in our hands. Even if two families are enemies, even if one is noble and the other lowly, even if they are separated by official posts at the ends of the earth or born in strange lands as far apart as Wu and Chu, once this cord is tied, there is no escaping it. Must a hero be matched with a beauty? Does equal status make a good marriage? Little girl, the word ‘suited’ holds far more mystery than you know. Learn it slowly.”

“Laojun, you make it sound so reasonable. Then tell me, how exactly are this princess and monk suited to each other? She clearly has a prince consort, yet she insists on loving a monk. What is she after? Novelty? Excitement?”

“When golden wind and jade dew meet, it surpasses countless loves in the mortal world. They broke through the restraints of propriety and trampled over the judgment of the world. Little girl, they want to be together, and they do not care even if a thousand hardships and dangers stand in their way. With a love as deep as the sea, they only want the world’s recognition. Would you still say they are not suited?”

“Two fools. If they wanted it to last, why didn’t they just hide the affair? With the princess’s power, could she not manage that? Why insist on making it known to everyone and throw away a life for nothing?”

I finished speaking with a pout and, out of habit, covered my head. I waited for a long while, but Laojun’s cane never came down. When I looked up, Laojun had clasped his hands behind his back and, stooped over, walked to the window.

Outside the window, the Ten-Thousand-Year Longing Tree stood against the wind. Its leaves rustled and swayed, scattering patches of light across the ground. After a long silence, I heard Laojun sigh. “Love… how could it ever be hidden?”

I did not understand those words then. By the time I did, it was already too late.

If I could return to the night we pledged our love beneath the moon, I would ask Li Lan why it had to be the Purple Bamboo Forest. Why could I not have been a flower he could love openly beneath the sun?