TSFLIP Chapter 1014

Feng Yan suddenly asked, “What would happen to you if the willow tree disappeared?”

“Oh… well, in that case, I’d probably vanish from here,” Feng Guang said casually, making it up as she went along. “Maybe I’d drift along with the wind until I found another suitable willow tree, and then I’d wake up again.”

Feng Yan stayed silent for a long time. The fading light of the evening sun filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows across his face. His expression was dark and unreadable.

Without warning, rain suddenly began to pour down from the sky, and it kept falling without pause. In the night, a flash of purple lightning split the sky in two. Inside the broken room, water dripped steadily from the ceiling, and cold wind blew in through the shattered window.

Another loud crack of thunder sounded. Wrapped in a thin blanket, Feng Yan shifted closer to the corner of the wall.

“Feng Guang,” he asked, “are you cold?”

“I’m okay,” Feng Guang said, sitting at the head of the bed. Seeing the space he had deliberately left for her, she changed her answer. “But it would be better if I had a blanket.”

She climbed onto the bed and slipped under the blanket as well, pressing close to Feng Yan. Only at times like this could he feel her presence more clearly.

The thunder outside grew louder. He unconsciously gripped the blanket tighter, though his face showed no expression.

“When Eunuch Li died, it was raining too,” he said.

A chill suddenly ran through Feng Guang. Talking about something like that in the middle of the night made her uneasy.

“Who is Eunuch Li?” she asked.

“He used to take care of me. He got sick, and there was no doctor. I stayed by his bedside. I was very sad.”

Feng Guang thought to herself that this Eunuch Li must have been the only person who had ever treated him kindly. She tried to comfort him.

“Where I come from, we have a saying: good people receive good rewards. It might not happen while they’re alive, but after they die, they go before the King of Hell. When he checks his records and sees that they’ve done many good deeds, he lets them be reborn into a good family.”

“So… Eunuch Li has been reincarnated?” Feng Yan asked.

“I think so. But sometimes people refuse to be reborn because they’re worried about someone they left behind. I think you were the person Eunuch Li cared about most. So you have to live well, so he won’t worry.”

“Mm. I will live on.”
The way he said it sounded almost like an oath.

Another flash of purple lightning lit up the window. Feng Guang saw him shrink slightly and teased, “Little Feng Yan, don’t tell me you’re afraid of thunder.”

He pressed his lips tightly together, his eyes showing a stubborn refusal to admit defeat.

Feng Guang laughed. “It’s okay. I’m not going to laugh at you. With me here, you don’t have to be afraid.” Being afraid of thunder at least made him seem a bit more like a normal child. “How about I tell you a bedtime story?”

He nodded.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella. Her father remarried, and her wicked stepmother brought along two cruel stepsisters…”

The first story that came to Feng Guang’s mind was Cinderella. She hadn’t even considered whether the story was suitable for a boy. When she finished telling it, Feng Yan showed no sign of being sleepy.

“Cinderella was beautiful, so the prince fell in love with her at first sight,” he said. “If she hadn’t been beautiful, would the prince still have liked her?”

“Why do you ask?”

“The prince needed the shoe to figure out who Cinderella was. He couldn’t even remember the person he liked. All he remembered was the pretty face he saw at the ball.”

“…Anything else?” Feng Guang asked.

“Cinderella was still the same Cinderella. If she weren’t beautiful, the prince wouldn’t like her.”

“Well… that’s actually possible,” Feng Guang said awkwardly, breaking into a cold sweat. How was it that whenever something serious came up, this kid suddenly became so talkative?

In the end, Feng Yan concluded.

“Cinderella could only change her fate because of the prince. That shows that having power as a man is very important.”

“…”

Feng Guang was completely speechless.