🌻Chapter 5: Amnesia
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For Bian Xu, realizing that Wen Xun might not be human wasn’t particularly difficult.
They had briefly touched at the cat café, and the unnatural coldness of Wen Xun’s body temperature had left Bian Xu momentarily dazed.
After moving in, there was Wen Xun’s stiff smile, his oddly mechanical tone whenever he spoke—each detail quietly fed Bian Xu’s suspicions.
But more importantly…
Last night, Bian Xu had opened the door.
He had gone to bed early, but he was a light sleeper. A deafening slam had shattered his pleasant dream, and when he woke up, his groggy mind hadn’t quite caught up. In his irritation, he’d completely forgotten Wen Xun’s warning.
So he opened the door.
The living room was pitch-black. Feeling his way along the wall, Bian Xu searched for the light switch, intending to find out what had happened.
Before he could locate it, however, he saw a cluster of blue flames floating outside Wen Xun’s room.
What was that?
Ghost fire?
His pupils contracted violently.
Fear rooted him to the spot.
Instinctively, he crouched down and slowed his breathing.
And then he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Wen Xun stood in the darkness, dressed in a plain-colored robe.
In one hand, he held a freshly severed, blood-soaked human head.
Behind him floated a sword dripping with blood.
The sight was so fantastical, so absurdly unreal, that for a moment Bian Xu thought he must be dreaming.
He swallowed hard and quietly began backing toward his room.
But the instant he took a step—
The head in Wen Xun’s hand turned and looked at him.
The man’s face was obscured by blood, his features impossible to make out, but his eyes remained fixed on Bian Xu.
Then the head smiled.
Bian Xu saw sharp fangs.
And a tongue that stretched toward him.
Wen Xun gazed at him for a moment before suddenly laughing.
“As expected,” he said. “You didn’t forget.”
Bian Xu lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Originally, he had forgotten.
But when he’d woken up that morning, he’d discovered a piece of white cloth clenched tightly in his hand. Looking in the mirror, he’d found faint bruises around his neck.
Three seconds of confusion later, every memory from last night had come flooding back.
Wen Xun reached out, seemingly intending to ruffle his hair.
Bian Xu tilted his head away.
Looking directly at him, he asked,
“Do you know why I moved here?”
Wen Xun shook his head.
“Ever since my birthday last month, people have been confessing to me nonstop.”
“At first it was my classmates. Then younger students. Then complete strangers.”
His expression remained calm, but his voice grew quieter.
“Some of them only looked at me once before suddenly confessing.”
“Someone even proposed to me.”
“I was scared.”
“I’d planned to visit a temple outside the city and ask a master to look into it. But before I got there, I met an old Daoist priest beneath an overpass.”
“The old man said I was plagued by rotten peach blossoms.”
“He said they might take my life.”
“He also said my chance of survival lay in the south.”
Bian Xu looked at Wen Xun.
“That’s why, no matter how strange I thought your rental advertisement was, I still moved in.”
“Wen Xun.”
“The old Daoist said you were my destined opportunity.”
His tone was light.
His expression barely changed from beginning to end.
Yet Wen Xun noticed the slight tremble in his little finger.
“I know,” Wen Xun said.
Bian Xu tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Stepping back unconsciously, he asked,
“What do you know?”
Wen Xun stared at him.
Then suddenly laughed.
Bian Xu really was like a puppy.
He approached others slowly and cautiously.
Even when he didn’t understand someone, he would stay by their side.
And when he sensed danger, instead of running away, he opened his heart and looked at you with those damp, vulnerable eyes.
As if asking:
I’m scared. Will you protect me?
The laughter irritated Bian Xu.
“What are you laughing at?”
Wen Xun raised a hand.
The human flesh vanished.
White bone emerged in its place.
Bian Xu’s eyes widened instantly.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“I’d tell you a story.”
Wen Xun truly wasn’t human.
He was a ghost.
A ghost who had been dead for several hundred years.
Unlike other ghosts, however, he had lost all memory of who he once was.
He didn’t remember his name.
He didn’t remember how he died.
And so he wandered stubbornly through the mortal world, searching endlessly for the memories he had lost.
To recover them, he relearned human language.
He studied cultivation techniques and spiritual arts.
Eventually, that caught the attention of the Special Administration Bureau.
They offered him a deal.
Help them capture malicious ghosts, and in return they would assist him in recovering his memories.
It was a profitable arrangement.
So Wen Xun agreed.
“The first time I saw you, I knew there was a connection between us.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand again.
A silver thread appeared around the middle finger of his right hand.
The other end was wrapped around Bian Xu’s right middle finger.
Bian Xu stared at it in disbelief.
“So that day…”
“You approached me on purpose?”
Since becoming roommates, Wen Xun rarely initiated conversations.
Unless he was asking what vegetables to buy for dinner.
Or where French Fries—the cat—had gone sunbathing again.
Yet Bian Xu had always felt that their encounter at the cat café had been deliberate.
That Wen Xun had intentionally spoken to him.
That he had even lured him into adopting the kitten.
Wen Xun merely chuckled.
His silence was answer enough.
Bian Xu sucked in a sharp breath.
“You really are…”
Wen Xun lifted his gaze.
“What?”
Bian Xu shot him a glare.
“Then you know about the rotten peach blossoms too?”
“I do.”
Bian Xu fell silent for a long while.
Then he sighed deeply.
Letting himself fall backward onto the bed, he rolled onto his side and propped up his head with one hand.
“Did I offend someone or something?”
“Why am I attracting all these peach blossoms that want me dead?”
Wen Xun lowered his eyes.
His voice remained calm.
But his words struck like thunder.
“Your rotten peach blossom fate is not without a solution.”
Bian Xu shot upright.
He grabbed Wen Xun’s hand, eyes shining brightly.
“Really?”
Wen Xun seemed uncomfortable with the contact.
His lips pressed together briefly before he quietly withdrew his hand.
No answer came.
Bian Xu frowned but merely pursed his lips and let it go.
The old Daoist had said his opportunity was here.
But what exactly was that opportunity?
A hand suddenly reached out and smoothed the furrow between his brows.
Startled, Bian Xu looked up.
Wen Xun’s expression remained gentle and detached.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I won’t let you die.”
“Why?” Bian Xu asked.
But Wen Xun deliberately avoided the question.
He stood and headed for the door.
Bian Xu glared at his retreating back.
“That’s the end of your story?”
Frankly, Wen Xun was a terrible storyteller.
His tone was stiff.
His emotions barely fluctuated.
Like a cold reading machine.
Worst of all, he’d left huge gaps in the story and answered almost none of Bian Xu’s questions.
Wen Xun turned his head.
A faint smile touched his lips.
“The old Daoist said I am your opportunity.”
“Then perhaps…”
“You can also be mine.”
Before Bian Xu could complain, the door slammed shut.
Bang.
Bian Xu stared furiously at it before hurling a pillow across the room.
“Damn it, Wen Xun!”
Bian Xu was a puppy overflowing with curiosity.
Without the answers he wanted, he tossed and turned in bed for hours.
Only when dawn began breaking did his phone suddenly chime.
Yawning, he rubbed at his eyes. Tears gathered at the corners and slid onto his pillow.
He checked the message.
It was from Zhou Zhao.
[University – Zhou Zhao]: I’ll treat you to a meal.
Bian Xu immediately sensed trouble and was about to refuse when another message arrived.
[University – Zhou Zhao]: Don’t reject me.
What is he, a mind-reading worm living in my stomach?
Frowning, Bian Xu considered pretending he hadn’t seen it.
Then Zhou Zhao started a video call.
Panicking, Bian Xu accidentally declined it.
A moment later, a single question mark appeared.
His headache intensified.
[Xu]: I’m a little busy today.
[University – Zhou Zhao]: Then tomorrow.
[Xu]: I… have plans tomorrow too.
[University – Zhou Zhao]: …
[University – Zhou Zhao]: Bian Xu, you’re avoiding me.
After a long silence, Bian Xu simply muted his phone and turned it off.
Out of sight, out of mind.
He was sleepy.
Time to sleep.
Unfortunately, Bian Xu had severely underestimated Zhou Zhao.
When he finally woke up at ten o’clock and opened his bedroom door—
A dark-faced Zhou Zhao was standing outside.
His lingering sleepiness vanished instantly.
Zhou Zhao stared at him for a long moment before forcing out a smile that was anything but warm.
“Good morning.”
“…Morning.”
The moment Bian Xu tried to close the door again, Zhou Zhao grabbed the frame.
His cool gaze settled on him.
“Xiao Xu.”
“You don’t seem very happy to see me.”
Bian Xu retreated a step and laughed awkwardly.
“No.”
Telling the truth was obviously impossible.
He’d planned to avoid Zhou Zhao for a while.
Now that the man had personally come to drag him out, escape was no longer an option.
“What do you need?”
Zhou Zhao didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked inside.
Bian Xu’s room was tidy and minimalist, decorated almost entirely in white.
The only splash of color was a single tulip sitting on the desk.
“Oh.”
“You’re growing flowers now?”
Walking over, Zhou Zhao picked up the vase.
Bian Xu’s gaze followed the tulip as he tried to remember where it had come from.
It seemed…
It had already been there when he moved in.
Pressing his lips together, he decided not to explain.
His silence appeared to irritate Zhou Zhao.
The man lifted his eyelids slightly.
Then laughed.
The vase slipped from his hand.
Crash.
It shattered on the floor.
Looking at Bian Xu, Zhou Zhao said casually,
“Oops. My mistake.”
“I’ll buy you a new one another day.”
As he spoke, he deliberately stepped on the fallen tulip.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of apology on his face.
Bian Xu sighed.
“What’s gotten into you?”
No answer.
Instead, Zhou Zhao advanced toward him step by step.
He lifted a hand, seemingly intending to pull Bian Xu into an embrace—
Knock. Knock.
The sudden knock interrupted him.
Wen Xun stood outside.
One hand held an apron.
The other held a wooden spatula.
Smiling faintly, he said,
“Come help me with something.”
“Okay.”
Bian Xu immediately walked toward him.
But after only a few steps, Zhou Zhao grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Zhou Zhao!”
Bian Xu’s voice rose.
Ignoring him, Zhou Zhao turned to Wen Xun.
“I’ll help instead.”
Wen Xun smiled and shook his head.
“No need.”
“I can handle it myself.”
Then he paused before looking at Bian Xu.
“You slept all morning.”
“Go eat breakfast first.”
“Porridge or fried dough sticks—pick one.”
“And remember to save some for me.”
Bian Xu nodded.
Putting a little force into it, he finally freed himself from Zhou Zhao’s grip.
Softening his tone as much as possible, he asked,
“Want to eat?”
Zhou Zhao smiled.
“Sure.”
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I will be posting two chapters every Tuesday and Friday.
(My translation is far from perfect, so if you see any mistakes please let me know in the comments)
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