Chapter 57: The Taro Balls and the Fox Lantern

“Officer, follow this whirlpool current and you will reach the Qingqiu region. Little Wu can only take you this far.”

“A thousand thanks! I don’t know how to repay such kindness.”

“It was nothing. Little Wu didn’t do much.”

At a whirlpool mouth, Tong Qiu held Bai Jiujiu in her arms, arriving at the spot inside the water bubble controlled by Little Wu.

Little Wu then helped them stabilize the bubble and once again urged Tong Qiu.

“Time passes much faster in the Dreamfall than in the real world. We might have finished talking, but Bai Jiujiu could have already spent two years in the Dreamfall. So, Officer, if you want to save her, you must hurry.”

Little Wu told Tong Qiu everything she knew about the secrets of the Dreamfall.

These were classified truths that could not be found in the Demon Suppression Bureau.

A harsh reality.

“As far as I know, those trapped in the Dreamfall enter a dream as real as reality, built on history and memory. In the Dreamfall, some abandon others and live out new lives. Others return to childhood or to critical moments in their lives, believing they have been reborn and given a chance to change the past.”

“So they use memories of the future to alter the past, coasting through the dream, shaping the world to their liking, as if they were the protagonist at the center of the stage.”

“When this successful life ends, the dream shatters. In an instant, they fall from a triumphant figure back to their failed selves.”

“Under such a fall, many lose themselves, unable to tell which self is real. A few undergo drastic personality changes; most believe this place is the dream—false, ugly, hellish. In the end, they either choose suicide or succumb to madness,.”

Tong Qiu’s pupils contracted. She listened in shock to the truth Little Wu revealed.

She had never even heard of such things, let alone experienced them.

“When Bai Jiujiu finally wakes, will she still be…”

The moonlight filtered through the lake bottom, shining on Little Wu’s seashells and pearls, making them sparkle.

But no matter how beautiful this borrowed light, it was ultimately stolen from the sun.

“When many realize that the moonlight is false, they come to believe that all light in the world is false and ugly.”

At a stall in the market, Bai Hun’er and Bai Jiujiu shared a small bowl of steaming taro balls. The taro skin wrapped around a pork filling was incredibly savory, warming the hearts of two little girls.

Wait—one of them was not a little girl at all.

Two very different deaths—don’t mix them up.

The Chu Kingdom, located in the south, had the custom of eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival to honor ancestors and various immortals, as well as to ward off evil and calamities.

With little money between them and being so young, sharing a small bowl of taro balls was just right.

“Sister Jiu’er, watch me eat a whole taro ball in one bite!”

Bai Hun’er opened her mouth as wide as she could, stuffing the large taro ball into her mouth until it got stuck between her teeth. Because she opened so wide, a bit of drool trickled from the corner of her lips.

Finally, she bit down. The hot filling and soup burst out, scalding Bai Hun’er’s tongue. She spat the half-chewed ball back into the bowl.

“Hot! Hot! Hot!”

Bai Jiujiu watched Bai Hun’er’s antics and couldn’t help but smile.

She was so different from Chi Hun. What had happened to turn Bai Hun’er into that crazy Chi Hun?

And why had she brought her into this dream?

Why think about all that during a festival? Bai Jiujiu shook her head lightly.

Don’t dwell on the past, don’t fantasize about the future, live in the present—that was her life creed!

Then, with a look like she was facing torture, she eyed the taro balls in the bowl, swallowed, and took a tentative bite.

Beside her, Bai Hun’er stuck out her scalded tongue, eyes sparkling as she looked expectantly at her sister.

Bai Jiujiu’s eyes lit up.

Delicious!

She had expected it to be similar to the beef balls from her past life, but the flavor was completely different. Still, the texture gave her a nostalgic feeling of her previous life.

Not just these taro balls, but also the sweet potato congee she had when Su Po picked her up three years ago.

Sweet potatoes and taros were everywhere here. For three years, Bai Jiujiu had eaten mostly sweet potatoes—they were easy to cook and easy to find, just dig them up on the mountain.

But Bai Jiujiu never went.

When she first learned to walk, she couldn’t get used to her weak body. One time, she tripped over a sweet potato vine and rolled all the way down the hillside to her home.

Bai Hegui and Su Po spent half a day calming her down, fussing over her.

Psychological trauma.

Yet such an ordinary sweet potato, just roasted over charcoal, had a taste that Bai Jiujiu could never forget or describe.

Soon.

The two little ones each had two taro balls, looking full and content as they walked out of the small eatery with satisfied smiles.

“Sister Jiu’er, I told you, this place’s taro balls are amazing!”

“Mm-hmm!”

Bai Jiujiu nodded in agreement.

Indeed, they were delicious!

As they walked, they arrived at the lantern stall from earlier.

Bai Hun’er’s eyes were still fixed on the fox lantern, her longing visible.

She had wanted it from the start, but her desire to take her sister to eat local specialties had overridden that wish.

Bai Hun’er had noticed that only when eating something tasty did Bai Jiujiu warm up to her a little.

But they had spent their pocket money on taro balls. Together, they had less than fifteen copper coins—only enough for one lantern.

Bai Hegui was a fugitive, and Su Po was both a shunned demon and a disgraced princess. They had little income, surviving on self-sufficiency, and gave only a small amount of money to the children.

Bai Hun’er stared at the fox lantern, remembering her mother’s wish for her to try integrating into human society.

In this era, the relationship between humans and demons had reached an irreconcilable state. Both sides were ready for war.

From high-ranking cultivators to common folk, everyone hated demons deeply.

If they knew a demon was hiding among them, the consequences would be dire.

Father said that releasing lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival allowed ancestors to see the people’s offerings and gratitude, and symbolized wishes for a better life, hope, and light.

If Mother saw a fox lantern representing their clan floating on the lake alongside other lanterns, she would surely be happy.

But her sister might not agree.

Mother said that as the elder sister, she should defer to the younger. She couldn’t take her sister’s pocket money to buy the lantern she wanted.

“Sister Jiu’er, pick a lantern you like. We’ll pool our money and buy one!”

“Eh?”

Bai Jiujiu saw how much Bai Hun’er wanted it and was already ready to pay for her, but instead Bai Hun’er offered to let her choose.

Was this the elder sister deferring to the younger?

Such a strange feeling?

In her past life, Bai Jiujiu’s parents died early, and she had no relatives—only her glowing phone and computer. At Cloud Mountain, she had five disciples to keep her company, but they all left and never returned.

The only one who came back gave her a ‘great gift’!

Never mind. The feeling was strange. She’d just treat it as a dream and wake up when the Dreamfall ended.

Bai Jiujiu didn’t know how to articulate this feeling.

But she followed Bai Hun’er’s suggestion and chose a lantern for herself.

The moon in the night sky was distant and bright.

It shone on Bai Jiujiu as she bent down to carefully select a lantern, illuminating an inadvertent smile at the corner of her lips.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Blue Teaser

BLBoys LoveDevoted Top

Read Now →
Not interested