Near the city gate on Well Mouth Street, the small courtyard of the Xin family once again erupted with a child's cries and a woman's shrieks right on schedule, just as it had for the past two weeks. The commotion elicited irritated shouts from the neighbors.
Ever since the Xin family's daughter had been rescued from her suicide attempt in the well, she seemed to have gone a bit mad. No longer the obedient girl she once was, she had been causing unrest in the Xin household for the past fortnight.
Some nearby neighbors were washing clothes in the water channel early in the morning. Hearing the chaos from the Xin home, one woman glanced over and remarked, "That stepmother of Xin Xiu's is truly wicked. Look at what she's done to that poor child."
A woman sitting upstream on a stone stool said, "How can a stepmother compare to a real mother? It's all beatings and scoldings, making her do all the work without feeding her properly. Would a birth mother ever do such things?"
"Regardless of how Hong Xiang treats the child, the girl shouldn't have tried to jump in the well," huffed an older woman. "She has food and clothes - how can she claim she can't go on living? It's unfilial!"
A sharp-faced woman across the channel slapped the clothes she was washing with a splash, chiming in, "Never mind all that - doesn't Xin Xiu seem possessed to you? I bet she encountered something unclean in that well."
She put down the laundry and waved her hands, saying, "You know, the other night I saw her sitting motionless on the roof in the middle of the night, not making a sound. The way she looked - oh my, it was terrifying!"
Xin Xiu used to be the cleanest and prettiest girl on the street. She was quiet and gentle, never even daring to speak loudly. After her stepmother Hong Xiang arrived, she treated Xin Xiu poorly, but the girl endured it silently, only crying in private when things got too difficult.
But after the well incident, Xin Xiu seemed to become a different person, no better than the idle troublemakers on the street. She stopped doing chores and spent her days wandering around, watching the neighbor children play games, occasionally standing at the theater stage in the next street to watch performances all day long, only returning home at night.
At first, her stepmother Hong Xiang would still try to discipline her, but soon she became too afraid to do so. Every time she beat Xin Xiu, the girl would turn around and hit Hong Xiang's son. The first time Hong Xiang saw her precious tough little boy crying from a beating, she was heartbroken. But when she looked at Xin Xiu, whose face she had just struck swollen, the girl was still able to smile at her.
"However you hit me, that's how I'll hit your son," the little girl said with a grin, completely unbothered by her injured face. Then she went out to parade around the streets with her beaten face, stirring up gossip that made Hong Xiang seethe with anger while also feeling a chill down her spine.
Hong Xiang had always been fond of making a fuss, but now Xin Xiu could outdo her. When she cried to her husband Xin Da about his disobedient daughter, Xin Xiu would promptly lie down at the front door, wailing that her birth mother died too early and now her father and stepmother were trying to drive her to her death.
"We can't go on like this," Hong Xiang said, wiping tears as she sat on the bed, pushing Xin Da to come up with a solution.
Xin Da sat there wringing his hands, at a loss for what to do about his daughter's transformation. After a long while, he finally muttered, "I told you not to always hit and scold her. Now look what's happened - she jumped in the well and damaged her brain."
Hong Xiang immediately began crying even louder. "It's so hard being a stepmother! I ask her to do a few chores, say a few words to her, and she acts like she wants to die. I never starved or beat her to death - she tried to kill herself on her own. How can you blame me for that too?!"
"Alright, alright, it's late. Stop crying and let's go to sleep," Xin Da said, not wanting to argue further as he got into bed and pulled the covers over his head.
Hong Xiang wouldn't let it go, yanking at his blanket urgently. "Wait, I'm not done talking!"
"I don't think her brain is damaged - I think she's encountered something evil. We have to find a way to cure her, or we really won't be able to go on living like this."
Xin Da furrowed his thick brows. "What do you want to do?" Though he had similar suspicions, he was reluctant to believe his daughter could have encountered such a thing. Now that his wife had voiced it, he felt somewhat displeased.
Hong Xiang quickly said, "Tomorrow is the LingZhao Immortal's birthday. The Immortal Temple is performing rituals for free. I'll go to the temple and ask an immortal master to come take a look at our home..."
Xin Xiu had been crouching under Xin Da and Hong Xiang's window listening for a while. Hearing this, she scratched at the mosquito bites on her feet and thought to herself: Hah, I don't think my transmigration is under the jurisdiction of your local deities.
Hearing nothing further of interest, she quietly crept back to her own room. The room was low and dilapidated, converted from a former woodshed. It was already cramped, and with the chicken coop next door, the smell was truly something else.
Xin Xiu deeply missed her own "doghouse" of an apartment, which now seemed like paradise compared to this place. She missed the vast variety of takeout food, even the cafeteria meals at work that she used to complain about. She longed for express delivery, the internet, all sorts of modern conveniences - even her family, despite their not-so-pleasant relationship, seemed so lovable compared to Xin Xiu's family in this world.
Unfortunately, people only realize the value of something after they've lost it. When things are taken for granted, they aren't appreciated.
She rubbed her stomach to soothe her hunger, idly pondering where she could scrounge up some food tomorrow, and what she should do in the long run.
It had already been half a month with no way back home. If she truly couldn't return for the rest of her life, was she really supposed to be someone's daughter here? With her 26 years of experience as a daughter, she knew there was a high chance of her parents being angered to death. She had always suspected her father's high blood pressure was caused by her. Well, now she would no longer be able to anger her disciplinarian father.
Xin Xiu couldn't understand how she had ended up in this unnamed era and dynasty, becoming a 15-year-old girl. If this turned out to be some kind of farming storyline, she feared she might starve to death with her lack of physical skills and agricultural knowledge.
Lost in these thoughts, she drifted off to sleep. When she opened her eyes again, it was already bright daylight. Her sleep quality must have been influenced by her former roommate - it had always been quite good.
She wandered out to rinse her mouth and wash her face, then snuck into the kitchen to grab some food. Surprisingly, her stepmother didn't screech to stop her today. She was probably planning to find an immortal master to exorcise this "wandering spirit", and decided to let her eat her fill for now. Xin Xiu didn't hold back, grabbing two extra steamed buns and taking care of lunch and dinner at the same time.
People here only ate twice a day, and the Xin family was quite poor. With her stepmother keeping a tight watch, Xin Xiu hadn't been able to eat her fill for the past two weeks.
As usual, she went out to wander around. Xin Xiu wanted to familiarize herself with this world and perhaps find some way to make a living. She had only been in this world for a short time and was still unclear about many things.
The streets were especially lively today. A large group of people in colorful costumes, like opera performers, were walking ahead with gongs and drums. More than a dozen people were carrying a flower-decorated platform with a statue draped in red silk on top. There were two smaller statues carried by pairs of people in front and behind.
She munched on her steamed bun as she joined the crowd, standing on tiptoes and craning her neck to see.
"Hey, sister, what's all this about?" Xin Xiu asked with a smile, tapping the shoulder of a young woman dressed as a married woman in front of her.
Xin Xiu had delicate features, and her smile was like a little flower. Hearing her question, the woman explained, "It's the LingZhao Immortal's birthday. This is a golden statue of the LingZhao Immortal commissioned by the wealthy Jin family in town. It was just carried out from the Immortal Temple and will be paraded around the entire city before returning to the temple."
Xin Xiu was familiar with the LingZhao Immortal. During her wanderings over the past weeks, she had heard plenty of local customs and gossip, and watched many opera performances. The LingZhao Immortal, who often appeared in these stories, was akin to the Goddess of Mercy in her original world. In short, there were temples dedicated to him everywhere, not just in this area. Whether people were praying for children, marriage, or good fortune, they would seek his help.
This old immortal was quite busy in the opera stories - descending to the mortal realm to enlighten scholars, saving people from drought and other disasters, even transforming into a goddess to have a romance with an emperor.
The Immortal Temple where her stepmother planned to seek help for exorcism was dedicated to this LingZhao Immortal.
Xin Xiu watched with great interest, following the procession. "Sister, what about those two statues in the front and back?" she asked.
The woman carried a basket containing incense and candles, likely heading to the Immortal Temple. It was unclear what she was praying for. As she walked, she chatted with Xin Xiu: "In front of LingZhao Immortal is his left guardian, General Hu. Although he looks as fierce as an evil spirit, he's actually a kind-hearted immortal general. The beautiful woman behind him holding a flower is the right guardian, Fairy Hu. Legend has it that the flower in her hand is the Albizia Flower, used for matchmaking between men and women in the mortal world."
"Oh, I see!" Xin Xiu exclaimed, suddenly connecting these figures to the fragmented opera stories she had heard before. She had recently watched performances about General Hu angrily beating evil spirits and Fairy Hu weaving love webs.
Although Xin Xiu didn't believe that immortals truly existed, it didn't stop her from appreciating the mythological world of ancient times.
The streets were crowded, and by the time they reached the Immortal Temple, it was as packed as a subway during rush hour in Guangzhou. Xin Xiu stayed close to the woman, squeezing with her to the center of the temple under a large tree.
"Sister, what are you going to do?" Xin Xiu asked curiously, pushing away a sleazy man who had squeezed next to the woman.
The man she pushed shouted, "You're stepping on my foot!"
Xin Xiu deliberately stepped on him again before lifting her foot. "Oh, it's so crowded. I accidentally stepped on you when you squeezed over. Why don't you move away? Otherwise, I might step on you again."
She then turned back to the young woman with a smile, "Sister, are you here to tie a red ribbon?"
The woman, who had been irritated by the man's proximity earlier, now laughed at Xin Xiu's actions. "Yes, I'm here to hang a red ribbon for my newborn daughter, hoping she'll receive some divine blessing."
Hanging red ribbons was a centuries-old custom. It was said that many LingZhao Immortal temples had a large tree, and when a child was born, the parents would come to the temple to request a red ribbon. They would tie it to the child for three days, then write the child's name on it and return to tie it to the tree in the temple. This was believed to bring divine protection and ensure the child's safe growth.
Xin Xiu had seen operas about LingZhao Immortal choosing fortunate individuals. One story, set about a hundred years ago, told of a child with divine potential who, on LingZhao Immortal's birthday, walked through a door opened by the immortal, stepping on flowers in broad daylight before everyone's eyes. The child ascended to become an immortal from that day forward.
There were many such stories, all told as if they were true. Xin Xiu thought to herself that this LingZhao Immortal seemed to really enjoy choosing mortals for ascension. However, she believed these legends were mostly born from ordinary people's longing for the realm of immortals. It was all made up, and if LingZhao Immortal really existed, he would probably feel quite wronged by these tales.
The great tree in this Immortal Temple was an osmanthus tree. Just past its peak blooming season, a few small yellow flowers still lingered, their faint sweet scent mixing with the thick smoky air of the temple.
Xin Xiu looked up at the red ribbons fluttering in the tree, densely packed and layered, some new and some old, weathered by wind and rain into a mottled, rich palette of reds. When this body was born, her birth mother must have tied a ribbon here for her too, though she didn't know where it might be now.
As Xin Xiu's gaze wandered aimlessly among the green leaves and red ribbons, a startled exclamation came from behind her, "What are you doing here!"
Xin Xiu picked at her ear and glanced back to see her stepmother, Hong Xiang.
"It's lively here, so I came to see the excitement," she said casually.
Hong Xiang looked at her as if she'd seen a ghost. Xin Xiu could practically read her thoughts: "How dare this lonely spirit enter the Immortal Temple so boldly? Why hasn't the immortal taken her away on the spot?"
Seeing Xin Xiu turn away, ignoring her, Hong Xiang's face twisted with frustration. She worried anxiously that this evil spirit might be quite powerful, and they might need to find a more capable priest to deal with it. But finding a more powerful priest would cost so much money...
Suddenly, the temple bell began to ring.
The long, resonant tolling quieted the noisy crowd. The immortal's birthday celebration was beginning, and people spontaneously surged forward to enter the hall and burn incense.
At that moment, Xin Xiu heard a faint, distant voice. It said something she couldn't quite understand, but she felt her body become light, and for an instant, the people and scenery around her blurred.
The osmanthus tree, nearly past its flowering season, suddenly burst into countless buds. Clusters of golden yellow flowers bloomed among its branches, instantly filling the air with a rich fragrance.
"Look! What's that?"
"Heavens!"
"The immortal has shown his power! She's going to become an immortal! She's been chosen!"
The crowd exclaimed and jostled as they saw a door shimmering with white light appear before the young girl under the tree. It was mysterious and almost too dazzling to look at directly, like a gateway to heaven. They watched as she walked through the door amid a shower of golden flowers and vanished.
Hong Xiang stared at this scene, dumbfounded, before suddenly collapsing onto the ground.
