Chapter 9: The Snow Maiden

  This is the first time a customer who is a youkai has appeared in an article on "Bomei Collection". At the beginning, I didn't plan to write it this way when I was outlining the story, but as I wrote, it turned into a somewhat casual and chatty note. From my feeling, it should be much milder than before, with less emphasis on plot, but for friends who like reading relaxing texts, this one might be more to their taste. Anyway, I still hope everyone will enjoy it.

  Name: Yan Shang

  Gender: Female

  Age: Appearance of thirteen or fourteen years old

  Occupation: Supermarket owner

  Address: No. 77 Xi Kou Jie, Bo Mei Ji Cun

  "Spare... spare me..." The man's eyes widened in horror as he fell to the ground, clutching his head and trembling violently.

  Are you afraid to look anymore? Those eyes as black as the night, that slender figure like a willow branch, and that hair that flows and dances in the wind and snow like a dark and shiny waterfall.

  The perfectly beautiful lips curve upwards, is it a smile or using a smile to cry.

  Her hand pierced through the man's chest, and pulled out a bright red, pulsating object. The beautiful red color made her lips pale in comparison. The Snow Girl opened her mouth, and the red object disappeared into it along with his life...

  The wind and snow grew stronger, swirling ice crystals flew across the sky, this is a white world, the kingdom of the White Death God...

  "Wow, this story is so scary!" The cute girl with a ponytail shouted in fear, while continuously rubbing her arms back and forth as if she was really cold.

  Slender and pale fingers closed the book, then pressed the air conditioner switch in hand. With a beep, the machine responsible for creating a cool atmosphere in the room obediently enjoyed the rare leisure of a hot summer day, but instead, it brought a chorus of complaints from around.

  "Is something wrong? It's summer and the air conditioner is off. Ah Jing, don't go crazy with Xiao Xiao, I'm enjoying it~" This was said by a short-haired girl with thick eyebrows and big eyes, looking very heroic. "Continue speaking, I still think Ah Jing's story is the most interesting!"

  "Right, right, I want to hear it too!" The girl who was holding a pillow in her arms looked a bit timid, but despite being scared to death, she was still very enthusiastic. Women are really born with a strong obsession for horror stories!

  "That's all for today, see you early tomorrow." A girl named Ah Jing slowly stood up and smiled as she announced the final decision amidst countless protests.

  "Yeah, I want to hear more about that 'Ghost Girl's Revenge'..."

  "Is it 'Snow Girl's Revenge'......hmm, is it a revenge story or a sad one......?" The girl with thick eyebrows and big eyes tilted her head, trying to remember the name of the storybook.

  "It's just a story about a heartless man and a tragic woman, how cliché. The only boy who hadn't spoken up until then curled his lip in disdain and said condescendingly, "You girls just love that kind of thing, so superficial!"

  "How superficial you are! Yet you listen so carefully!" The unanimous accusation made the boy's face turn bright red, and he muttered incoherently, unable to utter a word.

  The sound of the human voice finally faded away, Ah Jing took off the woven hair band that held her long hair back, and walked to the window. In the distance, the enormous summer sunset glowed with a reddish-orange hue, decorating the horizon with an unusually gorgeous twilight. She pushed open the window and leaped out from the 29th floor...

  "This is the Bo Mei market, the largest market in the world, selling unbelievable goods. Welcome to visit again next time, goodbye!" The little girl over ten years old quickly wrapped up the goods and handed them to the customer, ignoring the other's suspicious expression, and gave a standard smile, then patted her hands and directly pushed the person out of the door.

  "Mom, today's business wasn't bad either~" A lovely girl with ash-brown curly hair and a round face looked up at the gentle woman beside her. The woman's loving hands stroked the girl's hairline, with a doting smile on her lips.

  "Oh, it's Ah Jing!"

  Noticing the sudden appearance of a white figure at the door, the little girl let out a cheer and jumped up, using her hands to push herself onto the half-person-high counter, her legs in yellow sandals swinging back and forth in front of Yuki-onna.

  "How come you have time to see me today?"

  The woman behind the counter nodded slightly, and the other returned the courtesy, retreating to the back hall. Before long, the fragrance of lotus and lily wafted out from the back hall.

  "Just suddenly wanted to take a look." Ah Jing stroked the goods on the shelves, strange and dazzling, unbelievable, no matter how you looked at them, they shouldn't be found in a normal supermarket, but here they were displayed and sold openly.

  "Are you still pretending to be a high school student?" Yan Shang wiped the corner of his mouth, where saliva had flowed down. His mom's mung bean lotus seed lily soup was really delicious!

  "Hmm." Ah Jing nodded, greedily savoring the scent of the Bomei set, a smell that was different from the towns where humans lived, and was known as an otherworldly smell. She had come here ten years ago, not knowing that one day she would become a member of this place, even though she still enjoyed living with humans, but the air here was like a drug that she couldn't get rid of in her life.

  "You're thinking about your own sad past again!" Yan Shang said discontentedly, "I was just one step away from getting another Snow Girl collectible, who would have thought it slipped away from me in the end!" As he spoke, he clenched his waist in frustration, looking puffed up with anger.

  Upon hearing this, Ah Jing smiled softly. Her beautiful eyebrows relaxed and spread out, like a warm spring breeze that intoxicates the heart. If it weren't for Yan Shang's intentional help ten years ago, how would there be today's Ah Jing?

  Born in the ice crystal of ten thousand years, the snow girl fell in love with a human man. For his sake, she was willing to sacrifice everything, but that man ultimately betrayed her. Afraid of being different, the man set up a trap to get rid of the snow girl, and even harmed his former lover.

  Ah Jing has told this story to many people, and when she recounts it in the Snow Girl's uniquely gentle and slightly cool tone of voice, it seems as if every single person becomes completely absorbed in her tale.

  The ending of the story is: The Snow Maiden, filled with sorrow and pain, finally mustered up the courage to kill her former lover, who was also her only love, and swallowed the bright red heart that was said to be proof of their love.

  The audience would often sigh at this point, either lamenting the vastness of heaven's net and the lack of retribution; or marveling at the Snow Girl's cold-bloodedness, cruelty and ruthlessness. Yet, for them, it was just a story after all.

  The story of avenging past grievances is indeed just a story.

  Ten years ago, the Snow Girl who was betrayed was Ah Jing herself. However, the man did not get the punishment he deserved as told in the story. In fact, when the Snow Girl was almost destroyed by the trick and was about to disappear, she still couldn't bear to kill the unfaithful man. Instead, to save the man who was on the verge of death at that time, the Snow Girl exhausted all her energy and used her own snow spirit to revive his life. If it weren't for the heart lent by Yan Shang before, the Snow Girl would have turned into a cluster of lifeless ice crystals and ceased to exist in the world.

  "After all, you are still my lifesaver!" Ah Jing smiled and said.

  No matter how miserable the treatment was, in Ah Jing's eyes at that time, he was still the deeply loved man, so no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to harm him. This kind of emotion, which seemed worthless to others, became Xue Nu's precious and only love.

  They say that once a person or a demon falls into "infatuation", it's really hard to get out of it.

  "That man heard he's going to die of cancer soon." Yan Shang still pouted, unlike Ah Jing, she was the type who showed her likes and dislikes very clearly, from start to finish, she had never concealed her disgust for that man.

  "I've indeed heard that there isn't much time left to live."

  "You won't be foolish enough to go save him again, will you?! Absolutely not!" Yan Shang anxiously grasped Ah Jing's hands, shaking them vigorously. "I also love listening to your stories, so you absolutely mustn't do anything stupid again!"

  “……”

  "Ah Jing, Xiao Shang, come and have some frozen lotus seed pudding." A gentle woman lifted the door curtain from the back hall and stepped out, holding a red wooden tray with several bowls of fragrant lotus seed and lily bulb pudding.

  "Absolutely, absolutely don't do anything stupid!" Having given his serious warning, he finally couldn't resist the temptation of the delicious food and jumped down from the counter to rush towards the "target" before Snow Girl could even respond.

  Ah Jing looked at the "mother and daughter" pair, and couldn't help but curve up a smile on her lips.

  It's been ten years, which may be a short time for the Snow Girl, but for "human" A Jing, it's enough to transform and emerge from her cocoon, isn't it?