Chapter 4: Hope for Another Day

  A woman wearing a light purple dress similar to ancient Chinese clothing smiled and replied, "Don't be afraid! Rest assured, I won't harm you. You can come here, it's also our fate!"

  Although the woman was smiling, she couldn't hide the resentment between her eyebrows. Zuo Xiao Yao forced a exaggerated smile and said "I... I'm not scared, I don't know how I suddenly came here, nor do I know how to leave. Please give me some directions, thank you!"

  The woman, however, circled around her once before responding, "Leaving is simple, as long as you want to, it can be as easy as when you came in. It's just that since you've awakened me with your own blood and tears, you should at least keep me company until I leave. Consider this a repayment for the gift of the Purple Venerable's three treasures."

  "Ah! The three treasures? ... You're referring to the hairpin, mirror, and comb? But they suddenly disappeared. Since they were yours, you should know where they went, right? Just take them away, I... I don't have any use for them anyway, and besides, I couldn't find them either."

  When the woman mentioned the word 'three', Zuo XiaoYao subconsciously thought of those three things that suddenly disappeared, seemingly running into her own head. Although she was a bit reluctant to part with them, after all, they were the dowry that her grandmother had entrusted her to take good care of before she passed away. Those three things were so mysterious and could disappear on their own, just like how this woman could mysteriously walk out of a painting.

  Listening to her say that, thinking about it also makes sense. Only a fantasy person is worthy of those fantasy things. As an ordinary little old hundred surnames holding them would be useless, and might even bring harm to oneself. Moreover, her current wish is to leave this strange place as soon as possible. Although it's heart-wrenching, the three things are gone who knows where, so it's better to let the woman take them back. As long as she can leave quickly, that's all that matters.

  The woman was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing as if she were mocking herself and others. After a few laughs, her smile faded slightly as she said, "Do you know what that thing is? It's quite blunt to refuse like that!"

  "I didn't know, Grandma only told me to keep them well and use them as dowry in the future!" Hearing the desolation in the woman's words, Zuo XiaoYao calmed down, but was also infected by this emotion, and couldn't help feeling a little sad.

  "Tell me about yourself?"

  "What?"

  The woman in purple smiled warmly and said, "Come, sit down, tell me about your past life, why do you have such deep emotional scars?"

  It even woke me up!

  It turned out that she was asking about her own life, and looking at the woman's smile, which made people feel extremely close, Zuo Xiao Yao suddenly had an urge to pour out her heart. She sat down on the purple bamboo bed with the woman and uncontrollably told her everything from being abandoned three days after birth, to being picked up by her lonely grandmother, who searched everywhere for help to feed her, and painstakingly raised her, to her grandmother's recent passing, and her own unbearable grief and nostalgia.

  After finishing, I suddenly found myself crying again, but my heart felt much more comfortable after this cathartic outburst. The woman sitting next to her still looked a bit dazed and even somewhat puzzled.

  Subconsciously, she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears on her face. Xue Xiao Yao said somewhat awkwardly, "My life is like this, very simple. I'm just used to enjoying the happiness when my grandmother was around. Now that it's just me left, I inevitably feel a bit lonely and miss the days when my grandmother was with me. That's just life, no one can accompany anyone forever. In the end, you still have to live alone. At first, it's hard to adapt, but as time goes on, you get used to it. The road that needs to be walked, must continue to move forward."

  Looking at Zuo Xiao Yao's serious face, as if life should be like this, not negative, but truly fearless of the hardships in life, the woman in purple clothes couldn't help but sigh and say "Yes, you're right, in the end, one still has to live alone, can never rely on someone to always accompany them, the path they should take, still has to be walked alone."

  The melancholic tone was tinged with a sense of relief, and the atmosphere between them was somewhat heavy. Zuo Xiao Yao hesitated, unsure whether she should respond, while the woman, after a brief moment of contemplation, quickly suppressed her previous emotions and asked with a smile, "You said earlier that you've been studying and selling paintings to support your family since childhood. After more than ten years of education, when you were over twenty years old, not only did you not get married, but you also went out to work and earn money. It seems like no one said this was wrong, so why is it?"

  Why is it like this? Isn't it always like that?! Oh, no, I'm a bit of an outlier, I've been self-reliant since childhood, but that's not anything special.

  Xiao Yao looked puzzled and replied, "My family doesn't have money, this is very normal. There are many children from poor families all over the country who are like this."

  The woman in purple clothes hesitated for a moment, adjusted her words, and continued to ask, "What I mean is, your family is so poor, why do you still want to go to school as a girl? Why did the school accept you? You've been studying for many years. Women can't take the imperial examination, and at over 20 years old, you're not yet married. Us ordinary people... aren't women supposed to get married after coming of age? How come you still go out to work and earn money, as if no one has ever criticized your appearance?"

  What's going on? And what's with the getup? This time, it was Zuo Xiao Yao's turn to be perplexed. However, when her gaze fell upon the purple-robed woman's attire, a look of sudden understanding flashed across her face. She then proceeded to explain the current state of affairs in the modern world to the woman, including how the modern world came to be.

  But when she heard that in this world, women could compete with men for power and status, marriage was free, divorce was common, people could fly through the air in airplanes, and submarines could dive underwater, traveling thousands of miles a day without surprise, she saw that the woman had already turned pale with shock.

  "Mortals... mortals can actually..." From the woman's soft murmur, it was clear that what shocked her wasn't the miraculous flight in the air or walking on water, but that all these miracles were being achieved by mortals.

  Although Zuo Xiao Yao also noticed the woman's way of addressing people like herself, she didn't find it strange. If this woman had referred to herself as a normal person, it would have been even harder for her to accept. Having 'walked' out of a painting, her identity was already destined to be far from ordinary, and was even that of a legendary figure in myths.

  The woman was obviously not an ordinary person, and her state of mind was not the same as usual. After quickly recovering from the initial shock, she continued to ask many questions related to the modern world. Xiao Xiang also answered one by one, even explaining many common things in modern times to satisfy the woman's curiosity and doubts.

  Due to the habits formed over the years, although she was very clear about the different identities between the two, apart from wanting to get a "simple" way to leave from the woman, Zuo Xiao Yao had no other requests for her. With a clear conscience, she could chat and laugh with the woman as if nothing was wrong, and her unintentional words and actions made the woman's eyes flash with a hint of appreciation that contained comfort.

  The woman's body, which had seemed no different from that of ordinary people, suddenly became somewhat illusory, as if it might dissipate at any moment. Zuo Xiaoyao couldn't help but feel some concern: "You... how are you?"

  "Don't worry, I've said it before that I'll give you the three treasures of Zi Zun. Of course, I'll tell you how to get in and out of here. Unfortunately, I'm only leaving a wisp of divine consciousness behind, and when the time comes, I must withdraw it. Otherwise, I really want to take a walk in the world where you live, because of you, I've come to understand many things, and I can finally put down some of my obsessions. So, I'm very grateful to you, and I hope we'll meet again someday. At that time, you must give me..."

  As a purple light suddenly plunged into her brow, Zuo Xiaoyao fell into a coma once again!

  Waking up again, Zuo Xiao Yao found herself lying on the sofa in her living room once more. As she thought back to everything that had happened in that mysterious space, she couldn't tell what was real and what was fake. It wasn't until a sharp pain suddenly shot through her mind that she realized it was all true after reading through those memories like a book.

  Even if this experience is really mysterious and fantastical, she herself may become a mysterious and fantastical person from now on!

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