Notes on Longevity

Chapter 156 The hardships of life are no greater than those of the human heart; of all obstacles, none are greater than those caused by human actions.
"First, come back with me and continue to stay at Chun Guang Lou. Second, let's pretend we never met today, and you can find your own place and live the life you want."

Her nonchalant tone and inexplicable words puzzled Miss Bai, who frowned and stared at the woman who was actually the red fox, asking, "What do you mean by that? What do you mean by not remembering me? What do you mean by telling me to find my own place to go?"

She looked at the girl with confusion and a hint of anger on her face and smiled gently: "You've been by his side for a while now, haven't you noticed if he's forgotten something? Like, the book he gave you."

The red fox woman's words made her suddenly realize why he hadn't reacted at all after she secretly returned the book to him, as if he had never given it away and had always kept it with him.

But one thing she couldn't understand was how the red fox knew the scholar had given her the book. And it seemed she also knew about her returning the book. Miss Bai frowned again, as if she knew something. She gritted her teeth, glaring at the red fox with uncontrollable rage: "You found me a long time ago?"

The woman with the red fox made no explanation, but simply smiled as she watched the white girl's ridiculous expression.

Faced with the red fox's silence, the white maiden immediately cast a spell, extending her white-glowing palm to grab the fox's neck. However, just as her palm was about to touch the red fox's fair neck, the white maiden stopped her movement. She bit her lower lip lightly, her face contorted with pain, making her look quite ferocious.

"Why? You've been following me? If that's the case, why didn't you show up sooner?" The white-haired girl looked at the red fox, who offered no resistance, still puzzled. This made her even more confused about what she was doing.

But what Red Fox said next caused her already fragile emotions to completely erupt: "Do you remember what that scholar said to you in that forest?"

The young woman had lost the ability to recall or think; her trembling body indicated that she was about to collapse.

The woman with the red fox felt a pang of heartache as she looked at the girl with the white coat. So many years had passed, she had almost forgotten what heartache felt like.

She smiled and pulled the girl into her arms, gently stroking her soft, long black hair.

At this moment, Miss Bai completely broke down, her cries echoing through the streets of the capital, reaching the ears of passersby, and also spreading upwards into the sky.

Pedestrians who heard the crying all rushed toward the alley, but the crying stopped abruptly, and there was no one in the alley, as if the crying had never happened.

The passersby, unable to see or hear the crying, naturally dispersed, leaving only the two figures in the alley—the red fox woman and the white girl who were sobbing softly—who were out of sight of them.

Although I was too overwhelmed to think, memories would always slowly ripple from the depths of my heart at this moment, and longing would surge in my mind and rise to my brow: "He's engaged."

The sound of the white maiden's sobs stirred up memories of the past for the red fox; once, she too was a good demon.

"It's good that you know." The red fox sadly comforted her. "He's already engaged. No matter how good you are to him, he only feels gratitude towards you. There's no way he could fall in love with you. So, that night I helped him fix the book and also cast a spell on him to make him forget this memory. It's better for both of you."

"A human's lifetime is a hundred years, while a demon's lifetime is countless years. You and I have cultivated human bodies for hundreds of years, and we have already lived in the human world for over a hundred years without changing our appearance. Our future is still unknown. He, on the other hand, will slowly grow old over the next thirty years. Moreover, the human world is unpredictable, and human life is fragile. He may not even live to be a hundred years old before leaving behind his loved ones and passing away quietly. Humans and demons are destined to be different, and you and he are destined to have no future together. Besides, he is already engaged."

The young woman sobbed silently. She knew all this, but there were still things she couldn't let go of in her heart. So she left the red fox woman's embrace, her face streaked with tears, and asked, "But if I don't go back to Spring Light Pavilion, where else can I go?" The red fox woman smiled calmly, "I've secretly read that book too. My heart also yearns for the beauty of the human world, but now I can't escape it. But you're different. You can go anywhere in the human world, but I always hear people in the pavilion say that the spring scenery in Jiangnan is beautiful. With your personality, Jiangnan might be more suitable for you."

Miss Bai had often heard people talk about Jiangnan. "Before I leave, can I see him one last time? He saved me, and even if he doesn't remember me, I still want to thank him."

"Of course, you are now a free person. Although I brought you to that building, I had no choice in the matter."

The red fox woman's smiling face instantly dimmed when she mentioned the past.

Miss Bai understood her predicament. "But with your skill, you should be able to break the spell those people cast on you, right?"

The woman with the red fox smiled helplessly: "It might have been possible before, but it's difficult now."

"Why?" Miss Bai asked, puzzled. What did she mean by "it used to be possible, but it's difficult now"?

"It's nothing," the red fox woman gently patted her shoulder, her tone returning to its usual calm. "You, go on. I should go back too."

After the woman in red finished speaking, she turned to leave, but the woman in white grabbed her hand. "Are you really... unable to leave?"

The woman with the red fox-like appearance said calmly, "The hardships of the world are no greater than those of the human heart; of all obstacles, none are greater than those caused by human actions. I cannot leave."

After she finished speaking, she broke free from the white maid's hand and walked towards the alley entrance, finally turning into a wisp of red smoke and dissipating at the end of the alley.

At the same time, the barrier that the red fox woman had set up as the passersby gathered around suddenly disappeared. The white girl looked at the passersby walking back and forth at the alley entrance, then looked at the food in her hand and thought to herself.

Is Jiangnan really that wonderful?
She asked herself a question in her heart, and then looked up at the clear blue sky. On the day she was taken to the Spring Light Pavilion, a group of people cast a spell on her, restricting her magical power and subjecting her to unspeakable humiliation.

Red Fox had been captured and brought to the brothel even earlier than her. Afterwards, she too became a prostitute, suffering daily humiliation just like Red Fox. She understood Red Fox's plight, but the spell couldn't hold her back for long, so they would be brought back every so often. That night, he slipped away while they were humiliating other newly tricked mortal women or demons.

However, she didn't understand why the red fox said that she couldn't leave anymore.

Is it really as the young master said: the difficulties of the world are no greater than the human heart; of all obstacles, none are greater than human actions?

(End of this chapter)