Chapter 1: Prologue

The fifth year of the Jianzhang era of the Great Yan Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, at the beginning of the Yin hour.

The sky was faintly brightening, though the full moon had yet to set.

At the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of the capital, the area was overgrown with reeds, scattered with loose stones, sand, and small, protruding mounds of earth.

On the southeast side grew a plum tree, its branches twisting and spiraling upward. One of the branches was densely covered in small red flowers, swaying gracefully in the wind, appearing almost bewitching.

Following the sound of footsteps, two women and a large black dog approached, startling several crows into the sky.

One woman wore green, the other blue.

The child they had delivered that night had died in its mother’s womb, and they had brought the stillborn infant here to be buried.

The woman in blue used an iron shovel to dig a pit, while the woman in green held the stillborn child and looked around.

It had been a few months since they were last here, and there were many more small mounds of earth.

It must be because the weather had been abnormal this year, leading to more deaths.

Suddenly, the woman in green widened her eyes in shock.

"Good heavens, that red plum tree is blooming."

The woman in blue did not look up. "It’s only early autumn; how could a red plum bloom? You must be seeing things, Big Sister."

"I’m not mistaken. It’s real."

The woman in blue looked up, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

The two women and the dog hurried over.

The red flowers covering the branch were striking in the morning light, with crystalline dew clinging to their petals.

The woman in blue said, "It hailed two days ago, and the temperature plummeted. This plum tree is blooming ahead of time. They say that when there are strange omens in the sky, there must be a grievance. Could some terrible injustice have occurred?"

Suddenly, two extremely faint cat-like cries came from right beside them.

They looked down. There was no cat, only a freshly piled mound of earth covered with a thin layer of sand. It hadn't been packed down well, and a brown wooden box was still visible.

The sound was coming from there.

"Waa... waa..."

Two more cries.

Listening closely, it wasn't a cat, but the wail of a nursing infant.

The large dog became alert, lowering its head to sniff the small mound.

The woman in blue frowned and said, "What a sin. Some family must have given birth to a girl they didn't want to raise, and buried her here alive."

The woman in green sighed and handed the stillborn child to the woman in blue. She knelt down and brushed away the sand, revealing a rectangular wooden box.

Opening the lid, she saw a small infant wrapped in navy blue silk.

The infant’s tiny face and mouth were visible, and one small arm was stretched out, its little fist clenched tightly.

The wrapping was silk; it must have been a child from a wealthy family.

Even if a child from a wealthy family died, they usually wouldn't be buried here.

And to bury it here in the middle of the night...

The woman in green picked up the infant and pulled back the silk. The baby was pale blue, its face covered in blood. It was crying dryly with its eyes closed; not only were there no tears, but its voice was hoarse...

It seemed to be making a final struggle.

The woman in green had seen many dying infants, but her heart still ached.

She quickly took a silver needle from her bodice and pricked the infant’s *Huantiao* point.

She sighed in a low voice, "Regardless of anything else, at the very least, this infant is a victim of injustice. Put that stillborn child into the wooden box and bury it properly."

The woman in blue glanced at the infant and whispered, "Big Sister, one is a boy and one is a girl. What if someone comes looking and finds out?"

The woman in green replied, "They’ve already been buried here; who would come looking? Even if they did, they’d just burn a stick of incense. Would they really dig up the earth to take a close look?"

The woman in blue sighed, "That’s true. There’s no telling how many children are thrown here; their families don't even come to look, let alone burn incense. Amitabha."

The woman in green thought for a moment and added, "We should still swap the wrapping cloths."

The two opened the cloths and swapped them. A small green jade bead fell out of the infant’s original wrapping. The jade was crystalline and clear, glowing with a faint green light.

The woman in blue asked, "Where should we put the bead?"

The woman in green said, "In the great houses, there is never a shortage of dirty, hidden schemes. Sigh, it belongs to this child, so let it stay with her."

After burying the stillborn child, the woman in green handed the infant to the woman in blue, lit three sticks of incense before the new grave, recited the Rebirth Mantra, and then buried the incense ash.

She glanced at the red plum branch once more. "Break off the blooming branch and throw it into the reeds. If people find out this plum tree blooms in early autumn, the Green Reed Marsh will never know peace."

It was now the Mao hour. The sun was rising, and the bright moon still hung over the mountaintop.

The morning light shone down, the sun and moon sharing the sky—a good omen.

The woman in green tightened her hold on the child in her arms.

If you can survive, let’s call you Chuchen...

They took the large dog along a secluded path, avoiding the early-rising villagers, and entered a small courtyard some distance from the village.

Qingquan has started a new story. I’ve rested for quite a while this time; if I didn't write something now, I really wouldn't want to write at all. Laziness is a habit; if you don't move, you'll just keep being lazy.

I hope you will join me on a brand-new, dreamlike journey.

(End of chapter)