Five hundred years ago.

  I pulled that clumsy girl out of the Yingyue River for the third time, the one the vilge children had thrown in.

  Her bright red dress, like a cloud of sunset, floated in the cool river water, looking like a blooming flower.

  "Give me your hand." I jumped into the water and grabbed her hand.

  She y on the riverbank, coughing desperately, spitting out several mouthfuls of water.

  I knew her. She lived in the vilge at the foot of the mountain, and her family ran a small tavern. I often went there to buy liquor for my master. It was always her, standing on a small stool, scooping fragrant wine from a vat taller than herself, carefully pouring it into my fsk, then wiping it with a cloth before handing it to me.

  She was an abandoned child, brought back from the mountains by her current parents. They didn’t like her and treated her with nothing but harsh scolding.

  I had seen with my own eyes her burly adoptive father chase her with a wooden stick, simply because he found that she had undercharged two coins when selling alcohol. I watched as she dodged, pleading for mercy, her small face red and streaked with tears.

  After that, every time I went to buy alcohol, I would leave her much more silver than the price of the liquor. My master never cared about money, always giving me more than enough.

  But this clumsy girl would always run after me, handing back the extra silver, not a single coin missing. Her honesty made me want to smack her.

  I patted her—wet and cold—back, waiting for her to catch her breath. Then I asked, "Hey, I'm A Tou. What’s your name?”

  "My name is Bu Yu.”

  Gradually, I came to understand the reason why she wasn't liked. She would often tell the vilgers things like, “Tomorrow when you chop firewood, you′ll cut your hand!” or “Your house will catch fire tonight, and your son will be burned.” And, strangely enough, every time, her predictions came true. The vilgers all saw her as a freak, and no one liked her. Some even shouted that she should be driven out of the vilge. Her adoptive parents, however, couldn't bear to lose a free little borer, so they did everything they could to keep her.

  But then, after she honestly told the vilgers, “In three days, the vilge will be destroyed in a fire, with countless casualties,” the vilgers, enraged beyond reason, chased her out of the vilge with both curses and blows. They called her a harbinger of doom, a jinx, always speaking of bad things and never anything good. They told her to leave and never come back, threatening to break her legs if she dared return.

  Three days ter, a great fire reduced the once lively vilge to ruins, with the bodies of the vilgers piled into a small mountain on the ground.

  Amidst the overwhelming smell of charred earth, I led Bu Yu by the hand to my master. When my master saw Bu Yu, timidly standing beside me, I clearly saw the rare gleam in his usually half-closed eyes.

  Bu Yu became my little junior sister.

  Before her, none of my senior or junior brothers were human. Some, like me, were fox spirits; others were fish yaokais, or mountain spirits. My master was the mountain god of Yingyue Mountain, a kind-hearted middle-aged man with many wondrous magical skills. He taught us, the wild creatures born in the mountains, about "greatness through tolerance" and "the gentleman's humility," urging us to treat everything around us with kindness. He taught us how to ride the clouds and command the wind and provided us with a stable and warm home. Life on Yingyue Mountain was like a big family, with my brothers and sisters either practicing martial arts, pying chess, or enjoying music, calligraphy, and painting—living harmoniously every day.

  Before meeting my master, none of us had lived easy lives. Some were hunted by Taoist priests, living in constant fear; others were ordinary and powerless, struggling just to find enough food to get by. As for me, my master saved my life—he bought me from an old hunter, or I would have become nothing more than a fox fur bnket under that old man's care.

  I was a fox who was easily satisfied. After meeting my master, I finally believed that the world wasn′t as terrible as my kind had cimed, that there weren′t only bad people. I hoped this peaceful life could st forever, and after Bu Yu came to my side, that hope grew even stronger.

  Bu Yu and I became the closest of companions. Since arriving on the mountain, she followed me like a little tail, practicing magic with me and pying in the woods. What was most remarkable about her was that she never lied. Since she came, whenever anyone took something from the kitchen or sneaked down the mountain to have some fun, if Master asked her, she would always tell the truth, which left my brothers and sisters in constant frustration. She would still say things like, “You’re going to fall into the river when you go down the mountain today!” but we were different from those vilgers. We didn't get angry. Instead, we would casually bet on whether her words would come true. As a result, not once did it fail to come true.

  Over time, we began to suspect her true identity. We knew that Master never accepted humans as disciples.

  Years passed, and we, the male disciples, grew into refined young men, while Buyu blossomed into a graceful and delicate young dy. During Master′s birthday banquet that year, he looked at us with satisfaction, and at the same time, he satisfied our long-standing curiosity. He told us that Bu Yu's true origin was a `Prophecy Flower′.

  The `Prophecy Flower′ grew by the Western Sea, on the highest cliffs, blooming once every hundred years. Its petals, three in number, were as red as blood. The flower was named after its ability to foresee the disasters that would befall others when its petals were consumed. Once the `Prophecy Flower` absorbed the essence of heaven and earth and achieved human form, it could not only predict a person's misfortune but also foretell the date of their death. If its skin were harvested and processed with secret methods, it could be used to create an invincible poison curse—anyone who fell victim to it would surely die.

  In the eyes of the righteous, this flower was an omen of misfortune.

  My fellow disciples were filled with astonishment, exchanging gnces and whispering to each other.

  During that birthday banquet, Bu Yu was quieter than ever. Before this, she had known nothing about her origins—not even who her parents were. Perhaps she didn't even have parents and was simply a ′Prophecy Flower′ that had inexplicably transformed into human form, somehow drifting to Yingyue Mountain. That phrase—′an omen of misfortune′—was like an invisible blow, striking her so hard that she couldn't lift her head.

  Beside her, I secretly tightened my grip on her hand. I hated seeing her becoming increasingly downcast. The only thing I could do was hold onto her, not letting her fall any further.

  The next day, I went through the ancient notebooks in the library, which documented various kinds of yaokais and creatures. At the very end of the section on ′Prophecy Flowers′, I found a sentence:

  ′Prophecy Flower, Prophecy Flower, one word becomes prophecy. On the other hand, the flower destroys lives.′

  I went to ask Master about the meaning of this sentence.

  Master sighed and said, `The Prophecy Flower′ never lies. It can accurately predict the disasters a person will face. But, as with everything, there are two sides to it.” He trimmed a withered leaf from the potted pnt and continued. “Bu Yu can see how much life remains for someone. For example, when she honestly tells someone that they only have ten years to live, or perhaps just three days, that truth cannot be changed by even the gods. However, if she lies and tells them that they have fifty more years to live, then their life span will indeed be rewritten, and they will live those fifty years. But as a punishment for going against her nature, the `Prophecy Flower′ will lose part of its petals. This happens to Bu Yu as well—she loses a piece of her flesh. The more life she extends for others, the more flesh she loses, until nothing is left, and she vanishes like smoke. So, throughout history, some practitioners have sought the `Prophecy Flower′ to use its petals for harmful curses, while others sought to use the petals in secret methods to make life-extending elixirs."

  I finally understood the meaning of that phrase, "the flower destroys life."

  That moonlit night, she and I y side by side on the mountaintop, basking in the moonlight just like we did when we were children. The silver glow bathed us, offering a momentary, peaceful haven, far from the world’s troubles.

  "Bu Yu..." I gazed at the full moon in the sky. "Promise me something, will you?"

  "You're not going to propose, are you?" Her head rested on my shoulder, and she giggled pyfully.

  "That's the second thing you'll promise me." I sat up and pulled her up with me. "But the first thing is more important."

  "You're serious," she noticed my tone and stopped ughing.

  "Promise me," I said, each word carefully chosen. "Never, ever lie to anyone."

  "I never lie," she said, looking at me with a curious expression.

  "Promise me, no matter what, you'll never lie!" I insisted, tightening my grip on her hand. "Swear it!"

  Her delicate face glowed with a soft halo in the moonlight. Seeing the childlike determination in my eyes, she nodded, "Alright, I promise. No matter the time, I'll never lie. If I break this promise, let me be separated from you for a hundred years, never to be reunited."

  I pulled her into my arms; her soft and warm body filled me with a longing I knew I would never be able to let go of.

  "A Tou, I am an ill omen..." She whispered in my ear, her voice filled with sorrow. "I often think back to the fire in the vilge. If I hadn't spoken up, would it still have happened? Or perhaps, if I had never appeared in the vilge, they wouldn't have suffered those misfortunes..."

  "You are not an ill omen," I tightened my embrace around her. "If anyone dares to use that as an excuse to harm you in the future, I'll make them pay tenfold! Don't overthink it; you just spoke the truth, and most humans don't like to hear the truth. It's that simple."

  "A Tou... you're so good to me. Will you marry me? Only then can I show you that I care for you too."

  She was always so honest.

  I smiled. "Alright!"