Chapter Two: "shujin bird"(eight)

The fire in the brazier had burned out, and in the end, Zhu Xiaobao never threw the paper bird into it.

"What you're doing is basically seeking death," Ye Fengjun looked at him expressionlessly. "To 'resurrect' a dead person, it's a burden that an old monster like you cannot bear."

"Have you figured out that I'm old?" Zhu Xiaobao smiled.

"You're spitting out less and less gold," Ye Fengjun said. "And the gold you've spat out in recent years carries a red glow, a sign that your vitality is fading."

Zhu Xiaobao shrugged. "I once thought that monsters were the only beings able to escape time, but it seems not."

"Madam Zhu hasn't done anything extraordinary for you to repay with such actions," Ye Fengjun stated bluntly.

"Have you ever heard of this rumor? 'Without the Cold-Averting Gold, how could there be the emperor's favor? Without the Cold-Averting Talisman, how could there be the emperor's pity?'" He looked at the paper bird in his hand. "Have you heard anything like that?"

Ye Fengjun remained silent.

"I used to think that as long as I kept giving humans gold, they would be happy. The women in those palaces fought over jewelry made from the Cold-Averting Gold, even to the point of causing deaths. But in the end, they still died in despair, just like that fallen empire.

I've given gold to others too, but the result was the same. They were too busy fighting and grabbing, they had no time to be happy."

Zhu Xiaobao stood up and sighed lightly. "In many ancient books, it's said that I bring joy and good fortune to people, but I increasingly feel that I'm just a monster that brings disputes."

He paused and turned to look at Madam Zhu's tombstone. "It wasn't until I lived in the Zhu family and met her that I realized giving or not giving gold doesn't matter. What she wanted was for Zhu Xiaobao to sit down and chat with her for a while, to fold paper together, to take her to the places she wanted to go while she could still eat and move around."

As twilight descended, a few scattered snowflakes began to fall.

After another long silence, Ye Fengjun suddenly said, "Who says gold doesn't matter? It's quite useful to me."

Zhu Xiaobao smiled. "It's just that the price you charge is too high."

"It's worth it," Ye Fengjun said confidently. "But only fools like you would use gold to buy origami."

"I'm not a fool," Zhu Xiaobao corrected. "The things I buy are far more valuable than what I pay you. You didn't see how happy my mother was when she learned to fold your butterfly. When a person is truly happy, their smile shines."

He didn't see it, but scenes of the mother and son studying origami together in the sunlight or lamplight floated before his eyes. They were so ordinary, without any highlights, but perhaps that was the fundamental reason why he felt they lacked nothing?

To live happily while alive is more important than anything else.

Ye Fengjun looked up, and the snowflakes gradually increased.

"There's rarely snowfall in Shu, I'm just lucky," Zhu Xiaobao reached out and caught the snowflakes that melted upon touch. "Mr. Ye, from the moment I met you, I felt you weren't an ordinary person. Unfortunately, I'm not proficient enough in cultivation to discern anything. Can you tell me who you really are?"

Ye Fengjun thought for a moment and said, "I'm just someone starting life anew. Nothing else matters."

"That's a really good answer," Zhu Xiaobao smiled. "Although I can't see through your identity and have been outsmarted by you, I don't dislike you at all. Thank you."

"No one would dislike me," he said seriously.

Zhu Xiaobao shook his head with a smile. "One last thing I'd like to ask of you." He pointed at himself. "Please bury Zhu Xiaobao for me."

Ye Fengjun was taken aback but nodded shortly after.

"Give him more paper money."

"Mm."

"And gold ingots."

"Mm."

"He never married, so how about burning a beautiful girl for him?"

"Don't think I won't dare to outsmart you now."