Chapter 1806: Chapter 1806: A Special Story
They opened all the boxes and took out the contents.
Only then did they realize that these stories were written on books made of different materials.
Some were Brocade Platinum, some were like ordinary paper comics, others had writing on animal skin, and even carved bamboo slips.
The three of them sat in the cave, organizing the books and laying them flat in the clean cave.
Lun Yu wiped his sweat and his stomach growled with hunger. He said, "Uncle Master, you stay here, Yi Yan and I will go down the mountain to buy some food and find a stonemason to make a big box."
Jia Ren said, "Buy more food, but forget about the stonemason. Buy some tools for carving stones, and we’ll do it ourselves."
He pointed at the books on the ground and said, "These Brocade Platinum are worth a fortune, it’s best not to let anyone know."
It made sense to think about it.
Lun Yu nodded and said, "Alright, it looks like we’ll need to stay here for a while longer."
"Yes, go ahead!"
Lun Yu and Yi Yan went down the mountain to buy things, while Jia Ren sat in the cave and slowly started reading through a book one by one.
The stories weren’t long, but as Lun Yu mentioned, they were all tragic love stories between men and women.
Some were about couples in love whose families disapproved and forcibly separated them.
Some were about one who relentlessly pursued another, but never succeeded in a lifetime.
Some were mutual love, yet due to various reasons, they never united even until death.
He read more than a dozen books and found none of them had a happy ending.
Gradually, he became more and more shocked and increasingly saddened as he read.
Until...he stumbled upon such a story.
——
Master took me, an orphan, back to the mountain, where I saw senior brother.
Master said, "From now on, we’ll live here, your family is Master and senior brother. Master needs to go down the mountain, senior brother will take care of you."
I looked at senior brother’s face, finding it strange and a bit frightening.
But not to worry Master, I nodded vigorously.
Master often went down the mountain, and I spent a lot of time with senior brother, then I discovered a problem: senior brother’s face kept changing, every few months, I had to get to know him again.
Later on, I didn’t need to look at his face to recognize him; I could recognize him just by his silhouette.
So I asked him, "Senior brother, even though we study disguise, you don’t need to wear a mask every day, do you? I want to see your true face."
Senior brother touched his face and smiled, "When you can create a makeup different from this face, I’ll show it to you."
I learned quickly, and not long after, my disguise skills became very adept.
But when I asked senior brother to fulfill his promise, he said, "What I’ve learned, this skill cannot be shown to others before completing apprenticeship."
I was quite disappointed, but the more he refused, the more curious I became.
Thus, a few more years passed, and we both grew up.
One time, Master went down the mountain and didn’t return for a long time, I found senior brother was also missing, I searched all over the mountain for him but couldn’t find him.
I’d never been alone on Wutong Mountain, and I rarely saw outsiders, living in fear every day.
Until one day, I saw senior brother returning with a clay jar.
His face had changed again; this time it looked particularly real, so I asked, "Senior brother, your face...?"
Senior brother said, "I’ve completed my apprenticeship, this is my real face."
Finally seeing his true face, I was ecstatic, too excited to speak, just staring at his face.
