Petals (before battle)

Entering Daguanyuan now!

Despite some troubles on the way, it seemed that we managed to arrive at our destination mostly unhurt.

…….

Daguanyuan, Hong Lu's old home.

Oof, we're running out of time.

Faust, I'm sure you understood the most important part of my plan, right?

…….

It is... unlikely to be a pleasant sight to behold.

Remember, the plan hinges on your patience, everyone. You have to remain calm and wait, even if they freak out and actively try to kill you.

There is a chance that they might panic and immediately order for the Sinners to be executed on the spot. However, it is unlikely that the person whose responsibility is to judge the next Family Hierarch of Hongyuan will make such a hasty response.

Exactly. Everything's going to be fine as long as the decider has the capacity for patience.

Nnh? Execution? Wha?

Great. I'll follow up with a subsequent contact once you've safely completed the first round of the evaluations.

After that cryptic exchange with Faust, Saude leaped gracefully off the moving palanquin as Heathcliff murmured in his half-sleep.

We watched her grow smaller and smaller as the distance between us grew, but what really caught our eyes were the scattered humans that the Restructuring Day had evicted from their homes. They were trying to drag their broken bodies off the road, sobbing and writhing.

This… is horrible. There isn't anything we can do to help, but...

Such sense of futility and powerlessness will negatively impact the efficient performance of your professional obligations.

Repeated exposure to similar stimuli is recommended to desensitize oneself to this sensation.

…….

S-so Hong Lu, how do you feel about going back home after so long?

Sinclair changed the subject.

Hmm… I don't know...

Don't even need to ask him, lad. I know it can't be easy.

As for me... blimey, I hesitated almost a thousand times, wonderin' if I should just turn around and leave.

What if I knocked on those gates, but she, she -

…….

Heathcliff came to a suffocating stop, his voice trembling lightly as he did so.

The other Sinners stared at him in confused silence.

What, what is it? Why'd you stop in the middle of a -

<Um… wow, look at these cool windows. I think we can swap them out with other images!>

Sigh...

I quickly tried to swerve from this subject again, but all I got was Ishmael's scolding glare that seemed to wordlessly tell me "not the time!".

Fuhu, I remember.

I remember what happened each time one of us returned to the part of the City that held our memories. Memories of happiness... anger... sorrow... and joy. And as we traveled, I remember that they were all looking at sceneries only they could see.

Rodya, you awkwardly tried your best to crack jokes.

Sinclair, you tried your best to hold back the welling tears, again and again.

Yi Sang, you shut your eyes for a long, long time.

Ishmael, you couldn't stop talking to yourself while glaring down at the lake's surface.

And Heathcliff, I saw you scared and anxious, shaping your hair over and over again.

<You've really been... watching us closely, huh.>

Did... we?

Spring leaves, petals scatter, and all shall turn around to find the doors to which they belong and return forevermore.

I think everyone has a small mound of petals they gathered for themselves.

... What? I don't. Why would anyone collect somethin' like that?

Then you simply haven't discarded them yet.

There was still a transparent smile on his face, but I think I saw a burying, sinking shadow behind it.

<Oh...>

The moment I felt that, a familiar light came into view.

And I immediately understood what was going on.

The Golden Bough is close, and it is resonating with Hong Lu's fathoms.

They watch the flower-burial of mine and mock away

Who lays me to rest once I die?

When spring passes, youth passes, as wrinkles shear it all away

Flowers pass, people pass, and ignorant they remain to where they hie.

Why do you always recite these strange, complicated poems, Daiyu?

There are plenty of ways to remain young, aren't there?

Because we needn't see the snow in our hair to know that spring will pass.

Why are you cleaning up those fallen petals?

Just float them away downstream. You'll get dirt on your hands...

And be so wasteful?

How will we hear the sound of falling rain once we sweep all the petals away?

This is a remembrance. Remembrance of a rainy day. So I'm gonna treasure it.

Besides, these beautiful blossoms'll get so dirty in the stream if we let them float away.

So please, don't scatter all the petals from your embrace, big bro Baoyu.

<Hong Lu...>

<Is there anyone you miss here at Daguanyuan?>

Hmm…

No, there isn't.

… But how's that possible? Isn't your family there…? And… a bunch of other people who are so important to you…?

…….

Well, as long as I believe them to be doing well…

… there isn't any need for me to yearn to see them again.

<……. >

<Do you still... treasure your petals?>

No. I scattered them all the day I departed my home.

So my rainy days are now silent.

<I see... >

You saw that, didn't you? Dante.

You saw my memory.

<... I did.>

Hehe.

Hong Lu laughed. He wasn't surprised or angry that I peered into his memories.

Uhm...

Do you want to tell us about your parents? Or, uh… yeah, you talked about your grandmother pretty often, right? What kind of people are they... ?

Sinclair added carefully.

Maybe he was trying to commiserate, tenuous as that connection might've been. We were headed to his home to meet his family, anyway.

Ah, they are both very wise in the ways of the world.

Grandmother always treated me preciously.

So did my mother, and my father.

Uh, uhm...

Ah, we're almost there.

I can see the garden.

<This is one massive garden...>

We still have some time before we get to the main buildings.

I remember the days when deer and hares would frolic out here in the garden, fuhu.

Well, I can see myself taking a long walk around here. It'd take a whole day and then some to cover the entire ground...

I usually lingered only around my own room. It's dangerous to stray too far, after all.

<It's dangerous? Why?>

There's the stranger danger, getting lost, getting targeted... Besides, it's very dark at night.

Well, that ain't a very big deal, is it? Kids run around, scrape their faces on the branches, trip and eat shite on the pavement all the time.

Hehe, I'm sure you would've run freely around the garden, Heathcliff. But it's important to always be careful.

When I was five, someone had lathered a deadly poison on a random tree branch.

Ack... poison?!

I had a little brother who liked to frolic like you do, Heathcliff.

But by some coincidence, he happened to be running around the same tree that had its branches lathered with poison.

What… what hath transpired thereafter?

I'm sure he got better.

Xiren told me he'll be just fine after a hundred nights' rest.

And because Xiren was always so smart, I'm sure it happened exactly as she said.