I Don’t Want to Be Reborn With You v13c7

Volume 13

Chapter 7: Zhu Zhengyuan

“You can see me?” Lu Li was certain he was completely incorporeal now, just a ghost wandering in time.

The old man in yellow chuckled softly, hunched his back, and walked in another direction. “Follow me.” Lu Li followed this person with half belief and half doubt. At this point, there was nothing more to lose.

“Who are you?” Lu Li followed behind the old man, walking on a country path. On both sides were water-filled ditches, and in the distance were golden rapeseed flowers, as boundless as the mountains and the sea. A gentle breeze blew, and a hundred flowers swayed. He saw two middle-aged men walking toward them. One looked quite familiar, as if it were Village Head Gong, or rather, a young Village Head Gong.

The person beside Village Head Gong was holding a bottle of shampoo of an unknown brand. “Old Gong, do me a favor. Help me promote our factory’s products to the villagers. I’ll give you five thousand yuan as an endorsement fee.” Village Head Gong quickly waved his hands. “Old Li, I’ve never even heard of this shampoo of yours. I don’t know if it’s safe or not!” “What’s not safe about it? Would I lie to you?” These two walked straight past the old man and Lu Li, not even turning their heads back, as if they couldn’t see this strange old man in the yellow robe.

“Who am I?” the old man thought for a moment. “I’ve forgotten who I am too. I’m sorry. The longer I stay here, the more things I forget. Now, I only remember my mission, and my scattered memories.”

“Is your mission to wait for me?” Lu Li gazed at Village Head Gong disappearing around the corner.

“Not exactly.” The old man rubbed his temples. “Let me think, why am I waiting for you… let me think… oh, I remember now. It’s for the continuation of the dragon’s fortune. Yes, that’s it. The era you live in should be the darkest, most dangerous era for this country, this nation.”

This narrative was too grand. Lu Li couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t understand what you’re saying about the rise and fall of a nation.”

“Is that so?” The old man was still rubbing his temples. “I only remember this. The Colored Stone told me that you can extend the life of this country, this nation.”

“But the country I live in is the most powerful country in the world.” After speaking, Lu Li suddenly fell silent. Is that really the case? The classes in Shenzhou were strictly stratified. The common people didn’t know about the powerful clans and aristocratic families, and the aristocratic families didn’t know about the people freezing to death on the roads. The poor got poorer, and the rich got richer. Was this really the most powerful country in the world?

“If you die here, then it won’t be anymore,” the old man said. “The Colored Stone will not be wrong. Perhaps it’s the secession of vassal kings, perhaps it’s the barbarians throwing China into chaos, perhaps it’s an incompetent emperor, perhaps it’s officials forcing the people to rebel.”

Lu Li understood what he was saying. He was referring to Zhu Xi.

“Down with the tyrant Zhu Xi! Democracy and freedom will ultimately prevail!”

Zhu Xi was supposed to be the gravedigger of this country. Not just Zhu Xi, but also Yan Rujun behind her, and those lackeys who had gathered under her banner for short-sighted benefits. If history had developed naturally, perhaps Shenzhou would have ushered in a drastic change. For some people, this drastic change would have certainly been bloody and cruel.

“I saw with my own eyes the cavalry in iron-leaf armor stepping over the Shanhai Pass. I saw with my own eyes them slaughtering my children, my grandchildren.” The old man’s tone was flat. “I only had one thought at that time. I wanted to drive them all out, along with those officials who held their positions without doing anything. The Colored Stone gave me three chances. I, like you, started over three times.”

An absurd thought surfaced in Lu Li’s mind. “Are you Zhu Zhengyuan? Emperor Zhengyuan?”

“My surname is not Zhu. I just usurped the identity of that Zhu family scion. Did they give me such a name?” The old man pointed to his own head and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember my real name anymore.”

Lu Li re-examined Zhu Zhengyuan. He couldn’t connect this hunched-over old man in front of him with that founder of Shenzhou. There were too few records about him.

“I only had one path to take at that time. If I, who possessed the Colored Stone, didn’t do my best, then my flesh-and-blood compatriots would have become prisoners, slaves in a cage. I killed many people at that time. Besides the foreign races, I also killed my way from the Shanhai Pass all the way to Beiping, and then to Yingtianfu. The number of Zhu family members who died at my hands was no less than the foreign races. By the end, my hands were covered in blood, and I couldn’t even hold my sword. Only then did they tell me that it was all over.”

“However, my life is limited. No matter how profound the Colored Stone is, it cannot let me break through my lifespan. If one day after I die, the gates of Shenzhou are once again blasted open by the cannons of foreign races, how should my descendants respond? Every time I think of this, I can’t sleep or eat in peace. Finally, I decided to enter the Colored Stone. In your current terms, it should be called backtracking? It’s just that I’m not backtracking, but witnessing the vicissitudes of life with the Colored Stone, living in this world like a dead soul.”

“The place where my physical body died was precisely Shanzhu Village, and I have also stayed here for several hundred years. Lu Li, when you used the Colored Stone to backtrack for the first time, I was in Shanzhu Village. The Colored Stone told me that you are the key to solving Shenzhou’s hundred-year change, so I have been waiting for you here.”

Zhu Zhengyuan said a lot in one breath. “This is all I can tell you. Lu Li, you should digest it first.”

He was right. Lu Li did need to digest it. He had never thought that the Reincarnation Crystal had been connected to him since hundreds of years ago, that everything had been destined in the dark. He had never thought even more that Zhu Zhengyuan, who had been dead for hundreds of years, was standing here at this moment, telling him that he was a hero who would save the country! How absurd, how strange!

He was just an ordinary man who wanted to be happy with the girls, not a hero with great ambitions.

He didn’t know how to answer for a moment and was silent for a long time. “Is the disappearance of Shanzhu Village related to you?”

“…This village should have disappeared long ago. It itself is a part of the Price.” Zhu Zhengyuan suddenly stopped. “Just as I gave the Colored Stone to that little girl, this is all a way for the Price to be realized. Lu Li, from the moment we used the Colored Stone, our actions, everything we have encountered, can no longer escape fate. You and I are both its string puppets. In order to let you come into contact with the Colored Stone, I had to give the Colored Stone to a specific person at a specific time and place. There is no escape, no avoidance.”

Lu Li said, “I hate fatalism. I hate predestination. I hate being powerless. Because I have already encountered enough helplessness.”

Zhu Zhengyuan gave a sad smile. “At least you still have a chance to struggle, don’t you?”

“I don’t know how to save the country. I’m just an ordinary person. Your Majesty, I’m different from you.” Although Lu Li addressed him as Your Majesty, there was not a trace of respect in his tone. It was hard to define his feelings for Zhu Zhengyuan—there was both disgust for his interference in his own destiny, and also gratitude for giving him a chance to be reborn. People are just very complex animals.

“It’s enough for you to be yourself.” Zhu Zhengyuan stopped where he was. “I am also an ordinary person. Everything was just against my will, out of necessity. Lu Li, you will understand in the future.”

Zhu Zhengyuan’s legs began to turn ethereal. Lu Li said, “Are you disappearing?”

“This is called the passing of the torch.” Zhu Zhengyuan’s smile was tragic. “Now, I pass this baton into your hands.” He took out a red thread from his sleeve. The red thread was glowing, fluttering in the wind. The red thread left Zhu Zhengyuan’s hand and fell on the ghost-like Lu Li. Lu Li’s physical form gradually appeared, and in contrast, Zhu Zhengyuan’s physical form became more and more ethereal.

“Lu Li, please forgive me. For abandoning you in the Low-Rent District of Chuanhai back then.” Zhu Zhengyuan finally gave the dazed Lu Li a push. “Forgive me.”

Lu Li’s eyes widened, staring intently at the increasingly illusory Zhu Zhengyuan. He wanted to shout something, but a strong suction suddenly came, and the red thread was pulled straight, pointing to the distant future, pointing to Lu Li’s destination. But he didn’t want to go back yet. He still had questions he wanted to ask Zhu Zhengyuan. He had to figure out what the old man’s last sentence meant. But his vision became smaller and smaller, and all things collapsed into a small dot, moving away from him.