Chapter 37: Fellow Villagers Meet, Gnashing Their Teeth in Anger

  Half a month later, Li Qiu slowly adapted to the reality of having a soul in his mind. In order to eliminate this fear that didn't belong to him, Li Qiu had no choice but to embark on a journey to China...

  At the end of September, Beijing, which had experienced a sandstorm in April and May, has regained its majestic atmosphere. The city is elegant and luxurious, with an air of grandeur that is evident despite being surrounded by high-rise buildings, and the Forbidden City still exudes an aura of dominance.

  Today, it rained again. The autumn rain is not like the spring rain that pours down in a patter, nor is it like the summer rain that comes down in torrents. The autumn rain falls gently on the ground, and you can't hear the sound of the raindrops. It's as if a gentle tear is sliding down your cheek, and it's heart-wrenching but impossible to wipe away. This rain also washed away the dust that had accumulated over many days, cleansing everything and making the entire city of Beijing look fresh and vibrant once again. Yet, in Li Qiu's eyes, there was still an indelible mark of pain and joy intertwined...

  Since entering Beijing, Li Qiu could feel the inaudible sorrow, sobs or wails of despair, even tears with a smile, this clear and quiet rain, as if it were someone's emotional reflection.

  Beijing, with its countless Hutongs of unique character, especially in the Xicheng District, where old houses are stacked together to form a maze of alleys, winding and twisting, making it difficult to distinguish between them. But Li Qiu walked through these narrow alleys with ease, his footsteps unhindered by the uniform roads that seemed to repeat themselves endlessly. It was his first time in China, his first time in Beijing, and his first time entering the most famous Hutong district of Beijing, yet he walked on with familiarity.

  The misty rain brings out the haze, and the alleys are filled with people calling out to each other, exchanging greetings. It's just past noon, and everyone is busy cooking lunch. Some squat under the eaves or on the steps of their homes, avoiding the rain, while others sit on small stools under the awnings. People glance at each other, strolling around, visiting neighbors, eating food from various households, doing whatever they please. The elderly take out their birdcages and stroll around before lunch. Whether familiar or not, everyone greets each other with a "hello", chatting in Beijing dialect, humming a few lines of Peking Opera, and slipping into a teahouse to listen to the opera, sipping tea from large bowls, puffing on long-stemmed pipes, watching the rickshaws passing by. That comfortable feeling, where can it be found? All this, Li Qiu feels, is so familiar...

  "This is where I lived in my past life." The cold voice had lost its chill, and every word revealed an infatuation with this land.

  "It's very beautiful, more so than Seoul and Tokyo!"

  "That's for sure! It's almost here, let me take control of the body."

  "Hmm..." Emperor Taigong wanted to control the body, but Li Qiu had to actively hand it over. Moreover, he could take it back whenever he wanted, which was something he discovered two months after awakening this soul last time. That's why he dared to come to Beijing alone.

  "Home... I'm home..." Li Qiu's voice, no, it should be Emperor Daichuan's voice, trembled, in front of this simple and ordinary siheyuan, Emperor Daichuan put away the wet and dripping straight-style orange rain umbrella, stood under the eaves, gently stroking the ancient wooden door that had lost some of its paint, the trembling of his palm was clearly visible.

  This siheyuan, just by looking at that door, I feel a sense of peace, warmth, sincerity and affection. Every brick and every tile, even the hidden autumn plum, feels infused with a harmonious energy.

  "I'm back......" Emperor Taikong exhaled a breath of air, his trembling hand gently patted the wooden door.

  "Knock......knock......"

  "Who's there?" A bright and clear voice echoed from the courtyard, similar to the sound of a vendor selling soy milk and fried dough sticks in an alleyway, familiar yet strange.

  This clear voice almost made Emperor Dahe's eyes well up with tears, "Yes, mom, mom, '05 is still alive, still alive!"

  "Who are you looking for?" The door opened and a middle-aged woman stood behind it, dressed very simply, as if eating and drinking were just as simple.

  "Am... excuse me, is this the Imperial Household?" This was asked by Li Qiu, because Emperor Daichuan had already gone into hiding, and it was unclear whether it was due to transitional excitement or something else.

  "This is it, may I ask?"

  "Excuse me... is Big River brother around?"

  "Looking for Xiaochuan... Dahe? You..." The middle-aged woman heard this name, and after a long time, she finally reacted, and then her plain face dimmed down. "Dahe died in a car accident more than ten years ago, it was all me, I didn't take good care of him... Wuuu..."

  "Ten or so years ago? Ah, yes, it should have been when I was eight years old, that car accident, it should have been my mother who passed away. Who would have thought, in this lifetime, it would actually be me? But fortunately, it's me and not my mother, haha, fortunately not my mother..." The voice of Di Daichuan once again emerged in Li Qiu's mind.

  "Hey kiddo, how do you know Dahe? Your accent sounds a bit like Beijing dialect, but it's got a full-on foreign flavor to it." After more than a decade had passed, the middle-aged woman, although still not having fully emerged from her grief, had come to accept the fact that her son was dead.

  "What...?" How to explain? Li Qiu was vague, he didn't know how to answer either, so he handed over the controller and let Emperor Daichuan respond, "...my father is his pen pal, I am Korean, when I was three years old, I came to China for tourism and met Brother Daichuan..." (At that time, it was very popular in the 90s to have a pen friend, I had one myself)

  "Alright then, let's go inside first, this weather is really unpleasant."

  It is...

  "Who is this?!" A majestic and loud voice rose from the main house, as if it was going to scatter the sorrowful autumn rain. A tall figure emerged, with piercing eyes gazing at the body controlled by Emperor Daichuan in confusion.

  "Dahe's pen pal's child."

  "Big River?"

  "Father...... Emperor Uncle......" Di Dahe almost shouted out the long-awaited name, but he retreated again, and it was still Li Qiu who answered.

  "Let's get ready for dinner, come in and eat first."

  "Dad, mom, I'm back!" Outside the door, a middle school student walked in, carrying a heavy backpack, seemingly just after school. "Who is he?"

  "Little River, he is your brother's pen pal's child, what's his name? Child, what's your name?"

  "My name is Lee Qiu, I came from Japan this time, and I am originally Korean."

  "A foreigner? How unusual."

  "He's the brother I've never met, yet killed with my own hands!" When Emperor Taikang had the car accident, Empress Dowager was already close to giving birth.

  ……

  After having a meal at the emperor's house, Li Qiu accompanied the Emperor Father and Mother to chat about family affairs until dusk. The Emperor Daichuan in his mind was considered to have made up for all regrets...

  Walking out of the maze-like alleys, strolling on these bustling streets, the autumn rain was still falling, dripping onto the orange-yellow umbrella top, still without making any sound, but bursting with joy, Li Qiu at this moment, truly felt it.

  "Thank you, this life is also considered to have no regrets." Emperor Dahe's voice had lost its coldness, like melting ice cubes, turning into slow flowing water.

  "Nothing, I just wonder why you have such a fear?"

  "It turns out that it was exactly the year I crossed over to your body, in 1992 during winter break, one day I accompanied my mother to the hospital, at that time my mother was pregnant with Xiao Chuan. On the way, I ran onto the road outside the pedestrian crossing to pick up a glass marble, my mother yelled for me to come back, but I still picked it up, and then tragedy struck... facing the crowd gathering slowly, and my mother lying in a pool of blood..."

  One death, two lives lost; witnessing one's own mother die in a car accident because of oneself will leave a shadow on anyone...

  "When my father found out, he severed our father-son relationship and drove me out of the house. But after all, he was still my father, so soon he brought me back home. However, my heartbroken father couldn't bear the fact that my mother and younger brother died because of me, and a year later, he also passed away in sorrow..."

  Li Qiu felt that compared to Emperor Dahe's background, her own orphan identity was simply a blessing from heaven. Moreover, she also had a beloved older sister, although the latter didn't acknowledge it.

  "Sister, I will cherish you."

  "It's fine, this life won't repeat the tragedy of the previous one, I don't have anything to hold onto either... a soul without obsession should disperse..."

  "Are you leaving?"

  "It's over... Let's disperse..."

  The sound of the river gradually grew smaller, slowly becoming faintly inaudible, and finally disappeared into Li Qiu's mind. A sense of emptiness invaded Li Qiu's brain, causing his head to spin suddenly, his dizzy head making his legs weak as he stumbled forward, his umbrella habitually stretching out in front of him, trying to find support for the lost balance, the tip of the umbrella poking at a soft spot...

  Li Qiu, who had come back to her senses, lifted her head and looked at the orange-yellow umbrella in her hand. It was as if a chrysanthemum flower had bloomed under a girl's skirt, with its petals still dripping with water droplets...

  Li Qiu felt that at this moment, as if the world had stopped moving, she stared blankly at the girl in front of her, "This can't be...".

  "You freak!"

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was an accident! I just slipped!" Li Qiu immediately pulled back the umbrella that had been inserted into the girl's buttocks, looking at her with a embarrassed face. The girl shouted out in Korean, a language he hadn't heard in a long time, which made him feel a little nostalgic, and he quickly apologized in Korean.

  However, that girl didn't have any warmth at all. Whoever it was, being poked in the butt with an umbrella wouldn't be in a good mood, let alone a girl. After closing the umbrella, she waved her wet umbrella and shouted silently in the autumn rain, "You're a dead pervert! You're a dead pervert!"

  "I really didn't mean to! I really didn't mean to!" Li Qiu, who was hit by the umbrella and felt a sharp pain, couldn't help but turn around and run back, desperately apologizing in Korean to the girl who was chasing after her. Fortunately, this was China, and most of the passersby didn't understand Korean, so they just thought it was a couple's quarrel and not only didn't stop them, but also made way for them to run through the crowded streets.

  "Stop chasing me, I really didn't mean to." Li Qiu rubbed his sore back and arm, which had been hit by the girl's umbrella. Although he had been exercising every day for the past two years, his head was still spinning from Emperor Dahe's dispersal earlier, and he hadn't fully recovered yet. As a result, he couldn't pick up speed while running, and along the way, he took quite a few hits from the girl's umbrella. In this silent autumn rain, Li Qiu ran all the way to a small pond in a nearby park before stopping, sitting down on a stone bench by the water's edge, and slowly trying to shake off the dizziness that kept rising up in his head.

  "Ugh... still running... you... this... dead pervert..." The girl was also exhausted, almost out of breath, but in her indignation, she didn't wait for her breathing to stabilize before raising the umbrella in her hand again and swinging it at Li Qiu, who was sitting on a stone pier. Unfortunately, just as the umbrella handle hit Li Qiu's arm, Li Qiu subconsciously lowered his body, and the force of the swing carried her own body with it, causing her to slip and fall, still in Li Qiu's direction. Moreover, Li Qiu was only sitting on a stone pier that was only thigh-high, with a small pool behind him...

  "Whoosh..."

  The two of them fell into the pool in a very elegant manner, to be precise, the girl pushed Li Qiu down and then they both fell into the pool. Suddenly losing his balance, Li Qiu would naturally grab onto something subconsciously, only that the place he grabbed was a bit inappropriate, because it just so happened to be the girl's buttocks...

  "Ah, you damn pervert!!!!!!" The water in the pool wasn't very deep, only reaching her knees. The girl stood up, rubbing her buttocks, picked up the floating umbrella handle beside her, and swung it again...

  The weather at the end of September still retained the heat of midsummer, and although it was raining, falling into this pool didn't feel cool. Instead, the water in the pool helped Li Qiu recover from his dizziness. After standing up from the bottom of the pool, Li Qiu grabbed the umbrella handle with one hand. As he had grown to over 1.7 meters tall and had a robust body from constant exercise, he was able to easily overpower the girl who reached only up to his ear. For the first time, he felt confident about his height...

  "Hey, little girl, I've already said it wasn't on purpose, why are you still hitting me?" They say that when fellow villagers meet, their eyes get teary, but how can this little girl hate me so much? Although I was indeed in the wrong first, wasn't it just a mistake? It wasn't intentional!

  "What a little kid! I hate it when people call me that! You're such a pervert!"

  "I apologize to you, I was dizzy just now and slipped, it was an accident, really not on purpose."

  "It wasn't intentional, couldn't be helped... touched that place..." Whatever, being a girl herself, getting poked in the butt by a stranger's umbrella, and it just so happened to poke that spot, no matter how good-tempered or elegant she was, she would still lose her temper.

  "This, how can I control it? At that time, I was really dizzy..." Li Qiu smiled bitterly, and Emperor Daichuan suddenly dispersed, making him dizzy. What else could he do? Ah, Emperor Daichuan had dispersed, so his phobia should be gone, right? "Little guy, can you help me with something?"

  "What's going on? Don't think I've forgiven you yet, I'm still angry!"

  "We'll go up first, it's still raining... " Li looked at the T-shirt that was constantly dripping with water, then looked at the pool again, and finally gazed at the little girl in front of him. His nose suddenly felt a surge of heat, and a bright red drop trickled down his lip, following the autumn rain, dropping into the pool, slowly spreading...

  "Are you bleeding from the nose?" The girl asked immediately, seeing Li Qiu's nose oozing out fresh blood. Then she curiously followed Li Qiu's gaze to her own chest, only to see a pink blouse stained and soaked through. The girl quickly let go of the umbrella handle with both hands, covering her front chest, turned around, and shouted, "Ah! You pervert! Stop staring!"

  "Sorry, it wasn't intentional. Let's go back and change our clothes first..." Embarrassed Li Qiu threw away the umbrella in her hand and quickly climbed out of the pool, "Let's have a competition with Xiuying..."

  "Hey, I'm wearing your clothes, and I look like this. How can I see anyone?" The girl covered her chest, looking at Li Qiu standing by the pool.

  Li Qiu also cooperated, taking off the same wet T-shirt on her body and throwing it to the girl in the water pool. She herself was bare-backed, facing away from her, looking at the few passersby walking by in this small park, with an embarrassed expression on her face. "Fortunately, she's wearing jeans, otherwise, I wouldn't even have pants to wear..."

  After a long time, the girl finally crawled out of the pool. Li Qiu's T-shirt was deep blue, even if it was soaked in water, it couldn't be seen through, which made the girl slightly less angry, because Li Qiu was still shirtless, "This person's muscles are really well-developed..."

  "Let's go." The girl's umbrella had flown off to who-knows-where, and it wasn't until they looked far into the distance that they saw it had drifted to the center of the pond. The girl could only hold onto the remaining orange umbrella by the poolside, Li Qiu's umbrella, and leave with Li Qiu, who was getting rained on...

  "Really, no more fear of being naked!" Li Qiu, wearing only her underwear, walked down the street in the rain with a girl, immediately attracting the attention of passersby. Some people even took out their cameras and phones to take pictures. The gazes from the crowd, which had previously made Li Qiu feel like she was falling into an icy pit, were now something she couldn't feel at all. With her mood greatly improved, Li Qiu couldn't help but laugh, ignoring the stares of the onlookers as she walked carefreely in the silent autumn rain, which grew heavier and more intense by the minute.

  "Where do you live?" The increasingly heavy rain also drenched Li Qiu's good mood.

  "What's with the hotel? And are you Korean too?" At this point, the girl finally realized that they had been speaking in Korean all along. She said, "How strange."

  "Hey kiddo, you're just realizing now that we've been speaking Korean all along? I live nearby, so I'll take off first!"

  "Hey! Die pervert!" The girl gritted her teeth, staring at Li Qiu who disappeared into the crowd, and forcefully threw the umbrella in her hand forward!

  "Don't let me run into you again! Oh, this rain is really heavy!" After complaining, the girl picked up her umbrella and quickly disappeared into the crowd...

  Because it's an accelerated plot, many things will become unreasonable. As for the comments in the review section saying that we might be caught and used as lab rats for research, that's not our problem to think about. Basically, all the problems from the first volume have been solved, and there are probably only two more chapters left before the second volume is completed. This chapter is a 5,000-word long chapter, written to thank readers who have tolerated this book's slow pace, as well as those who were dissatisfied with recent chapters. I promise that after returning to Korea, I will definitely...