Chapter 24
At one point, the ground made a curve, slowly forming what would eventually become a cliff, surrounded by s.p.a.ce trees and small bushes.
Eventually, as her hands and feet became numb, she started slowing down, her blank mind trying to take in the darkening sky as the evening approached from the east, painting the sky in tones of blue, red, orange and pink.
Walking on a sedated pace, she went on with barely conscious steps, her eyes lost on the departing sub and the few clouds drawing castles on the sky.
Suddenly, the soft strokes on a GuQin strings reached her ears, the song mingling with the scenery on a mesmerizing way, guiding her steps farther away from the word of the cliff and up the hill without her noticing.
At some point, a beautiful, almost ethereal voice joined the instrument.
"A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.
The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
I must make merry before the Spring is spent."
Sam sighed, breathing deeply as the sweet smell of flowers mixed with the strong perfume of night dew, a light breeze brus.h.i.+ng at her clothes as the lone figura of a tall, beautiful man finally came into view.
He was sat under a large tree, his legs crossed under a GuQin as he played, the last rays of light coronating his dark hair, making him look like a man form the fairy people.
"To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun;
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky."
With that last word, he pulled a single string of the instrument, letting those last fragments of sound slowly merge with the cool air, its echo rising onto the night sky, whispering over the tree leafs and whistling on the wind, until the only thing left was the memory of a beautiful moment that ended too soon.
Just like a dream.
"Why did you stop?" Sam asked mesmerized, wiping away the last trace of tears as she came closer to him with unintentional steps, her eyes moving at their own volition to watch his long fingers still resting over the strings "It was very beautiful."
Just then, the last rays of the evening sun shone over then, making his pearly white clothes s.h.i.+ne in different hues of red, purple and yellow. Sam felt like she had just stepped into a painting, the bucolic scenary making her heartrate slow and her confused feelings subside.
The peace, the parnasian poetry of that moment, sipped inside her bones, until she sighed deeply, letting all that nervous energy flow off of her with that single breath.
"Jiang Ying Yue" he finally said, looking up at her with his kind, bluish eyes "Our fate is indeed strong in this life... It is good seeing you again"
"Hum?" Sam frowned, blinking away the haziness from the song as she tried to remember where on Earth could she have seen someone like him and forget.
She could only blame it on the stress of everything that had happened on that morning... But Sam was definitely not going there if not strictly necessary. And definitely not after such a beautiful song and that calmness she had somehow achieved with his presence. Calm was a rare thing on her life, and she would not give that up if not entirely necessary.
"Oh, right!" she exclaimed all of a sudden "You were the one fighting with the Crown Prince on the street yesterday, wasn't you?"
"Yes" he agreed, his laugh twinkling like wind-bells as he put the Gu Qin aside and rose to his feet "That was me. But I am also an old friend to your brother. You've changed a lot on these couple of years, Ying Yue"
"Oh." She exclaimed, another piece finally coming in place. So he had been the person she saw talking to Fei Hong on the day of the Tea House incident - the one her brother had so easily brushed off as her imagination. Interesting.
'So, that was also him, then.'
The Great Daoist Master.
And, apparently, an old family friend. Suddenly, all that peace and calm and "yoga like" atmospheare around her shattered like fine gla.s.s, her head working faster and faster trying to find a way to deal with yet another person she was supposed to know.
"Oh! Right! Right, right, I remember now…" Sam forced a smile, trying to look ashamed "You see, eh, my memory is not as it used to be anymore. I'm really sorry."
The silence that met her statement, and his apparent refusal to say anything back, made her fidgety. It was strangely unnerving to be near someone that seemed to be contented with only watching you with amused eyes. The slow turn of his beautifully sculptured lips also didn't help her in the least.
"Ah…" she cleaned her throat, finally unable to stand that atmosphere anymore "This is a very beautiful place... I don't remember seeing anything so peaceful before" she babbled, turning to the gently falling slopes and the line of gra.s.s a few feet away that dropped on a precipice.
"It is" he agreed, serenely walking closer to the edge of the cliff "And it is quite appropriate for us to meet right on this hill, don't you think?"
"Eh... Is it?" she laughed uncomfortably, watching as he seemed to be looking for something on the gra.s.s before scrunching down, his hands touching tentatively the greenish blades and the dark brown soil.
"Hum... Did you find something?" Sam asked, walking forward to join him just as the Great Daoist Master got up once more, turning to show her what looked like a small pendant hanging between his fingers.
"Oh..." she mumbled, her eyes suddenly unable to leave the necklace.
"Did you like
"Ah?" Sam said, suddenly curious at that piece of news "It is beautiful... No-one never speaks about her mother, though..." her words came to a halt, the Daoist Master's meaning finally filtering into her mind...
The way he had talked about her as if they were referring to another person.
'A present Ying Yue's mother gave her...'.
"What-what did you say?" she stuttered, stumbling a few steps back as her wide, panic filled eyes closed in into the man's, as if looking for something inside his deep, mysterious irises "I... I think I should go...T-thank you for finding m-my necklace..." Sam extended a hand, ready to grab the jewelry and run back.
But before her fingers could even graze the metallic surface, though, he had already turned once more, his gaze lost on the cliff and the dark, night sky beyond.
"This place…" he eventually said, his voice lost "It was here that Tong Zhi Ruo's people pushed the real Jiang Ying Yue down."
Sam froze, caught completely off guard by his words as her eyes involuntarily followed the direction of the cliff, her feet taking her closer and closer to the edge, until Sam was looking down at the long, dangerous precipice.
There was no way anyone could survive that kind of fall.
"This was the place where my best friend's sister died" he continued on a voice barely above a whisper, finally turning his mysterious eyes to Sam, a thousand secrets s.h.i.+nning like stars on his bluish irises "And it was also here that your soul reincarnated onto her body."
"I… I-I don't know what you're talking about... I..." she repeated over and over, as though, if she repeated it enough, it would suddenly become true.
Admitting the truth, saying those words out loud... Sam felt like it would make everything real. More real then she had been willing to acknowledge.
"I have to go back now... They are probably wondering where I am…"
"Did you know…" he begun, making her stop on her tracks "That every soul in this world has it own energy trace?" he laughed "Now, it is very hard to identify, and even harder to distinguish one from the other. Unless you've spent a lot of time together and have the necessary abilities, it's almost impossible… In this case, though, it is almost like reading a book. You just need to look at it."
'That's it' Sam though, feeling numb. There was no reason to try and deny. Not after what he had just saying. It was clear he didn't need any confirmation whatsoever.
He already knew what had happened.
"So... You have known all along?" she questioned, waiting for him to nod in agreement before continuing "But then... Why didn't you tell anyone? Why tell me all this now?" She mumbled, her eyes widening as another thought came to her mind "Please… You have to understand, I didn't mean for this to happen…! I never wanted to hurt anyone… Ying Yue... It was not my fault, I swear!"
"I know you didn't hurt anyone" he a.s.sured, stopping her uncontrolled rush of words "I know you are not an evil spirit, nor a trickster or a ghost…"
He knew? She frowned, her rational part divided between happiness and skepticism. Because, how could he know? How could he be so sure she wasn't there to start the apocalipse or brake havoc on the lives of everyone he cared about?
Great Daoist Master just smiled at her surprised face, walking around her in order to put the necklace around her neck. The gesture, more than anything, confirmed to Sam he was telling the truth.
For some reason, he trusted her. Her. Not Ying Yue. Not Fei Hong's little sister. Her.
Sam.
"Don't ever take it out" he instructed once it was pending over her clothes "It is very important that this pendant stand with you".
"Ah... All right" Sam agreed turning to smile tentatively at him. As her fingers brushed over the smooth, cool surface, however, another thought popped back into her mind. One that had been haunting her for the last couple of days.
"So... It was really Tong Zhi Ruo, then?" she didn't say anything else, knowing he would understand her meaning.
Yi Ren nodded.
"It was on the day after the engagement between Tong Zhi Ruo and Crown Prince was announced" he said gravely. "That day, the Prime Minister's daughter and Ying Yue had a very loud argument on the street, even louder than it used to be." he stopped, a vein jumping on his tight jaw "Afterwards, when people on the Jiang Manor finally noticed Ying Yue's disappearance, it was already too late. They found you at the foot of the hill, barely breathing."
Sam closed her eyes, her heart aching at the image. 'Reckless, reckless girl' she wanted to scream. So ready to create problems to herself! And for what? For that Crown Prince?!?! It was such a waste... Sam thought she would never be able to understand that kind of feeling.
"Such a patty reason to lose her life..." she said aloud, nodding sadly "And she was so young... Fifteen years old".
Sam breathed, turning to Great Daoist Master once again with a tentative smile, trying to alleviate to sudden gloominess that had enveloped them.
"Since you already know everything, I think it's only fair we have a proper introduction." she said with a playful smile, bringing a chuckle out of him "My name is Sam."
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"Sam..." he repeated, tasting the unusual sound on his mouth "You are not from this world."
"No, I'm not" she agreed easily, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders to finally be able to talk with someone about everything "I don't know what happened or even why I'm here... I just..." she let the rest of the phrase hanging on the air, motioning around with a hand as if to indicate her current situation.
"You are exactly where you need to be, Sam."
"But I don't want to be here" she retorted, becoming a bit fl.u.s.tered once more "I want to go back… I want my old life back! It sucked all right, but at least it was mine, you know? People didn't go around threatening or beating each other without consequences!" her face turned sour "Don't get me wrong, it could be really unforgiving as well, but it was a place I knew I belonged. Where I understood the rules and where I could actually do something besides sitting at the side lines and watch as everything played out around me!"
Sam felt almost breathless after the outburst, looking at her tightly closed hands as if wis.h.i.+ng they would disappear. That, suddenly, she would wake up and be good, old, slightly tanned Samanta from before.
Slender, white fingers, even whiter than her own, enveloped hers, easing the strength straining her knuckles and the nails mercilessly bitting on her skin.
"Everything has its own time and purpose, Sam…" he soothed "Trust me on this... Everything will make sense when it is supposed too..." Daoist Master stopped, his eyes turning to the dark night sky "It is better that you go back now. Soon Fei Hong will come looking for you." Despite Ye Qi's close presence, he mused, glancing quickly at a small shadow hiding between a few smaller trees.
Thankfully, it was far enough that, with just a touch of energy, he could protect both their words so that nothing would be overheard. Still, it was likely Fei Hong would pay him a visit on the near future.
"But... But I don't want too!" She insisted, bringing his attention back to her "I don't like this place! I don't like how things work here! That house... They... What they did to Ah Mei, I..."
"Did you ever consider" he cut her gently, but with a firm tone "that your uncle may have a reason to do what he did?"
Sam didn't answer – didn't even consider how on Earth could he already know about the incident on her house – just keeping a stubborn set to her jaw that made Yi Ren want to laugh.
"Your family loves you very much… They would never do anything to harm you intentionally. Not physically or emotionally."
"It's not me that they love" she sighed, looking back at him with a defeated posture "I'm not her, I'm not Ying Yue! I'm an impostor... I'm taking her place, taking her life! It makes me feel like a parasite! It's not right!".
"Sam, both Qing Shan and Fei Hong can see you are different, you yourself must have noticed." she nodded reluctantly "And still, they care. They respect and look out for you. This you, without ever asking you to be anything else." he stopped, as if carefully considering his next words.
"In this life... You were given a second chance, a new opportunity to live. I can't possibly know how was your life before, and I understand that most things happening on this world right now are out of our control..." he breathed deeply, his eyes getting lost on the distance "This is a time for great change, which means there will be much turbulence coming... But it is up to you what you will do with it." Yi Ren turned to her once more "Sam, if you really want to honor Ying Yue, if you really don't want to waste this life, the life she was not able to maintain, you should live well. You should care for her family and do everything she would want you to".
"But... But how come you are not mad…?" she insisted "That I am deceiving your friends like this?They have the right to know their sister died, right? They couldn't even mourn her!"
"This world... Things are not always just right or wrong" he conceded reluctantly "But this is beside the point... You should really go back now. Soon, it will be too dark for you to walk back."
"Right" she acknowledge, stopping on her tracks just as she had turned to go "Can I… Can I see you again? Just to talk. It felt good.".
"Of course you can" he agreed, reaching on his robes and handing her his white-jaded flute "Whenever you want to see me, just play it. I will come"
She frowned, looking curiously at the instrument.
"But…"
"Dont worry. I will always come."
And that night, at least for those few moments, Sam finally felt everything would turn out well in the end.
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N/A: The Poem Daoist Master is "Drinking Alone by Moonlight", by the Chinese Poet Li Bai. This is the version as translated by Sr. Arthur Waley, in 1919.