When the two Wang Sheng fought each other, he saw his former self.
The sun was shining brightly in June but he was hugging a corpse. There was an endless sea in the distance; he made a grasshopper from the grass for the female corpse and placed it on her palm.
Her long eyelashes closed together. She did not know anything.
Pei Chuan said, “So you still don’t know that I like you now.”
“Mr. Pei? No, I am not Mr. Pei. Perhaps you have forgotten my name after a long time. My name is Pei Chuan.”
“Yaoyao, I love you the most in this world.” He laughed. “Although you didn’t know.”
He sat in a wheelchair and weaved a flower crown from the flowers blooming early in the morning. Her long hair was soft. If it was not because her body had decayed, it would have looked mesmerizing.
Pei Chuan did not eat all day and accompanied her, sitting on the small island until dusk came.
He happily said, “Today’s sunset is over; we should go home.”
He leaned forward and hugged her, ignoring the smell from the female corpse as he pushed the wheelchair to the place called “home”.
“I’ll build a manor for you later, plant it with flowers, and watch the sunrise and sunset with you every day.”
“What did you say? Sorry, you didn’t see the sunrise today? It’s my fault. I dressed you up a little too late today.”
In the evening, Pei Chuan made dinner. There was the sound of insects and birds from the outside, and the seawater hitting the beach. He removed the whip he had made for Bei Yao in his arms.
“Let’s eat.”
After dinner, he washed the bowls, then boiled water and poured it into the wooden bucket to bathe her.
He pursed his lips and still covered his eyes.
“I know you don’t like me very much. I won’t offend you.”
However, the fragrance of the flowers still couldn’t match the smell of the corpse in summer.
She still slowly rotted away, the stinking smell surging into his throat.
He opened his eyes, did not sleep, and laid her in his arms.
“I didn’t think thoroughly. I didn’t prepare perfume on the island. I will pick more flowers for you tomorrow, it will be very fragrant then.”
However, this summer, her body withered more quickly than the flowers.
He watched as the beautiful woman became a dry skeleton.
On a rainy day in summer, he personally buried her. Pei Chuan knew that she was dead. He was not crazy. He was just a little sad.
Just a little, tiny, bit sad.
He coughed up blood, the rain wet his clothes, and he scattered the last dirt.
“I hate you a bit,” he said quietly, “Sometimes I would think, ‘In this life, I have always liked you since I was young until now, but you never saw it, never heard it. I have never held your hand, never kissed your lips. But now you are dead, and I’m like this. You liked me for a day; you did not give me much. But why does it occupy my life?’”
“This is too unfair. However, I know that there are many people like me in this world. We can’t blame people like you. We gave our heart out and others are not obligated to accept it.” Pei Chuan stroked the word “Wife” on the tombstone; his tone was extremely weak. “Don’t think that I became crazy because of you. I’m sober. Don’t think that I can’t continue to live without you. I am not that foolish. When my calf was cut off when I was a child, I survived. Now that there is no disease nor pain, I will live better.”
“It’s just,” he paused, “It’s too hard to love someone. If you show up, I definitely won’t fall in love with you. I also won’t be good to you. Have I not been good enough to you in the past few years? You are a little b*stard with no conscience.”
After the rain was over, he asked the doctor to implant Wang Sheng for him.
What a miraculous thing. After Wang Sheng integrated into his bones and blood, his heart immediately felt empty. He remembered every detail about her, but it blocked all of his feelings.
Pei Chuan touched his heart. This is good too, Miss Bei Yao.
He returned to become Satan.
The Wang Sheng Organization became stronger year after year. When he was lonely, it rained again in June the following year.
He did not know why he returned to this island and started planting roses.
Actually, I did not love her that much, he thought.
The thorns of the rose pierced his hands, but it didn’t cause any waves in him.
Satan looked at the words on the tombstone; she was nothing more than a deceased old friend. She did not belong to him when she was alive, and she couldn’t leave him after death.
If this “old friend” knew that she was buried with the surname Pei, it was unknown if she would feel embarrassed and humiliated.
Sometimes, he couldn’t even remember her appearance. He hesitated a few times to let people change the words on the tombstone. However, once he opened his mouth, he felt flustered and simply never mentioned it.
At that time, Pei Chuan was 25 years old. He felt fortunate that she did not meet his 25 years old self. His younger self feared nothing and silently protected her; the Satan today wouldn’t do that anymore.
He was selfish and hypocritical. He would not like such an easily happy little girl.
This old friend, apart from having a good-looking face, seemed to have nothing special.
In June, when he was 25 years old, he said, “Next year, I will find a virtuous woman to marry and have children. Then I will help you erase the words on the tombstone.”
But in June this year when he was 26, he was a little irritated as he held a rose in his hand, and said in a cold tone, “I will forget you next year. I really can’t figure out why I liked you before. After thinking about it carefully these years, Gao Qiong is not worse than you.”
On the lonely island, there was no one in the sea of flowers. His tone was extremely harsh and sharp. “No one can be as ignorant as you. Even if I’m not implanted with Wang Sheng, I will definitely be fed up with you.”
What was so good about a frail woman? He didn’t dare to speak harsh words toward her, and she had to be coaxed every time.
With his indifference and mean character, I’m afraid he would long be sick of her.
Next year! He said he would forget her next year.
Otherwise, would he be a fool year after year coming to this isolated island, planting flowers for her?
Later, he had a dream. This year, when he was 27, he did not encounter the “little gift” that passed through the wrong space and time. Until his death, he did not marry nor leave behind the child that he spoke of.
He lived until 82 years old. When he was old, everywhere in the world was a scene of devastation. Yet, on this isolated island, there were flowers blooming, waves hitting the shore, and the sky spanning a huge screen of blue. However, there was only him with gray hair.
*
When Pei Chuan opened his eyes, he gasped for breath.
His gaze was still cold, but his heartbeat was fast. The two Wang Sheng fought within his body and the latest generation prevailed.
He did not die from those suffocating feelings and came back to life.
The doctor raised his eyebrow. “Your stamina is not bad, huh.”
The yellow lights on the beam were like a dream; he grasped the doctor tightly. “Where is Bei Yao?!”
The doctor was stunned. “What Bei Yao?”
Pei Chuan’s heart sank in an instant. Is it possible that the dream was true? He did not meet her.
The doctor slowed his tone. “Do you mean that young lady?”
He laughed helplessly. “She has been guarding you. Aren’t you undergoing an operation? Your heartbeat stopped for a while. It scared me. Thankfully it stabilized afterward. Even if I’m willing to let her come in and see you, that Ah Zuo will stubbornly not let her.”
Pei Chuan asked dumbly, “Where is she?”
“The cruise ship has been docked for two days. According to your wish, I did not dare go to the port, and Mr. Yu is locked up. I told the young lady the news that you will wake up soon, but Miss Gao Qiong was very angry. She dragged her away not long ago. I don’t know what she was up to.”
Pei Chuan frowned. “You let Gao Qiong take her away?”
The doctor said, “What can I do? You want me and Miss Gao Qiong to fight?”
Pei Chuan was about to set out immediately, and the doctor was too lazy to stop him.
The weather outside has cleared up. Under the blue sky and white clouds, he saw the girl on the beach at a glance.
She was struck in the neck by Gao Qiong from behind. “Little demon, I will tell you, if Satan doesn’t wake up, you will die too. Arghhh there is still Wang Sheng in this lady’s body ah! If something happens to Satan, I will get cerebral palsy!”
The girl kicked her. “Gao Qiong, let go! You can’t get physical with me each time we have a disagreement!”
Then the place where the girl hit Gao Qiong made her shocked with tears, but she did not mean to use Wang Sheng to order and embarrass Gao Qiong.
When Bei Yao looked up, her eyes lit up brightly.
Pei Chuan looked at her, feeling as if he could see countless bright stars in her eyes.
She wanted to break away from Gao Qiong. “Satan!”
Gao Qiong was stunned and released her.
Pei Chuan saw the little girl fluttering like a butterfly and jumped into his arms from the beach.
He reached out to catch her.
Bei Yao lovingly rubbed against him. “You’re finally awake.”
His heart was warm and his voice was very gentle. “Yes ah, I’m awake.”
“Are you okay now? Can you like me now?”
He looked at her shiny eyes and couldn't help but laugh.
“En.”
Bei Yao pointed her finger. “Gao Qiong bullied me. She said she will throw me to the sea to feed the sharks.”
Gao Qiong was dumbfounded. “F*ck!” Don’t lodge a complaint so quickly ba!
Pei Chuan paused, remembering those years in the dream. He said that if he saw her again, he wouldn’t fall in love with her, and he wouldn’t be good to her.
But now…
Pei Chuan kissed the girl’s face in his arms and said, “I will punish her.” He looked like a gentleman without a bottom line.
The little demon in his arms smiled. “Don’t punish her too ruthlessly, just punish her to eat a few bites of mustard! I want to see my parents when I’m ashore!”
“Okay.”
Bei Yao: “And my brother too. He must be a grown-up now. I want to see what he looks like after he grows up.”
He replied softly, “Okay.”
She hugged his neck and smiled. There were tears in her eyes. “You’re awake. I’m so happy.”
For a moment, he moved his lips but couldn’t say anything.
She tilted her head and asked him, “What did you say? I didn’t hear it clearly.”
Under the blue sky, with the sea breeze blowing gently, she heard the man say in a low and hoarse voice; he gently whispered in her ear.
“I said, you are the April of the world, forever never change.”
*t/n: “你是人间的四月天” You are the April of the world, is a modern poem written in 1934 by Lin Huiyin. The poem uses many metaphors to describe the beauty of April, and the poet wanted to say that "you" is "love", "warm", and "hope". The poems were made into a song too, here’s the link if you’re interested.
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