Chapter 80: Do Not Look Back

Lin Haoqing held up an old, yellowing book with his left hand and gently picked up a small, thin object with his right. He observed it thoroughly under the dim oil lamp and murmured to himself, "Wing of a cicada demon..."

His focus was broken by a knock at his door. He folded the object into the book and carefully stored it away before opening the door.

"What is it?"

It could not be his demon slave, Siyu, knocking this late into the night. As expected, it was Aji. In just half a month, Aji had already grown into a young lady.

She looked no different from Ji Yunhe in the past, but her expression was less stern and decisive. She stood in the moonlit night with her hair falling on her shoulders, and her arms tightly clutching a pillow. Her ears trembled on her head, seemingly restless and emotionally disturbed.

A Ji Yunhe without a past. She wore her heart on a sleeve, and her face reflected everything in her mind. Nothing like the old Ji Yunhe who lived under a constant act. This was probably how she should be like without the experiences of growing up in the Demon Valley.

"Master..." She hugged her pillow and looked uneasy. "I had another dream."

"Come in first." Lin Haoqing opened the door wider for her to walk in. Aji placed the pillow onto Lin Haoqing's bed, sat on it, and wrapped his blanket around herself.

"Master, it was the same dream. I saw myself inside that lake, surrounded by water. It was so cold..." Lin Haoqing sat down at the table, poured a cup of tea and handed it to Aji.

"It's just a dream." Aji accepted the tea and shook her head.

"No, it's strange… Sometimes I would have another dream, a different kind..."

"What kind?"

"I... also dreamed of a man with a fish tail. His tail looked so big and shiny, it's beautiful!" Aji said with her eyes glowing. Lin Haoqing thought about the day in that dungeon, when they first saw the jiaoren...

It really was a stunning tail...

Then she lowered her head and stared at the tea inside the cup. "But... he did not seem happy. He was floating in the water in front of me and looking at me. There were beads falling from his eyes and landing on my face..."

Aji raised her hand and touched her cheek, as if she could still feel them. Lin Haoqing looked at the silver pearl hanging on her neck.

"Just like this one!" Aji removed the pearl and exclaimed in excitement. "Master, you said this was on me when you picked me up. What is it? Is it the same as the ones inside my dream..."

Lin Haoqing walked to Aji, gently took the pearl from her hand, and put it back on her neck.

"Aji," he said, "this is called a pearl. There are thousands of rivers, lakes and seas among the vast world, and many, many pearls. This is just one of the most ordinary kinds. Your dream is also just the most ordinary one among countless dreams."

Aji asked again after a moment of silence, "Really? That's all?" Lin Haoqing nodded.

"That's all." Aji looked at his eyes, and the two fox ears drooped down.

"But..." She gripped the teacup in her hand. "Why is it that after the man with the fish tail appeared, I..."

Plop, a drop fell into the teacup. Lin Haoqing froze, and Aji also froze. She looked up at him with eyes still clinging to a teardrop that had not yet fallen. It flickered under the dim light of the room. Aji wiped the tear away.

"I... I don't know why I feel so sad..."

Lin Haoqing thought for a long time, then finally said, "Eat something?" A blink restored the blackness of her eyes.

"Huh?"

Lin Haoqing turned around, rummaged through the room, and handed Aji a fruit. She immediately stopped crying and started to eat. Lin Haoqing smiled.

"I have dreams too."

"Do your dreams also make you so sad?"

"Yes, but more complicated than sad..." Lin Haoqing said with a slow voice.

"I dream of someone I used to hate very much..."

Aji was not a very proper audience. She interrupted him right away.

"How much hate?"