The Bell's Mistake
Snow falls at the long pavilion, and the bell rings at the short pavilion.
He Shaoyong has kept watch at the bridgehead for three hundred years, clutching a jade clasp engraved with the character "Li" in his hand.
Every night at the third watch, the bell rings and time turns back.
He has watched Meng Li die before his eyes three times, then come back to life three times.
In the first life, he was Chancellor He, whose power overshadowed the court, while Meng Li was the top scholar appointed to oversee his execution.
At the Broken Soul Bridge on the execution ground, Meng Li's white robes were stained with blood. The look he gave He Shaoyong over his shoulder was just like a final farewell.
In the second life, he was a reclusive zither player, while Meng Li was an itinerant doctor.
In a rainy Jiangnan alley, Meng Li held an umbrella over him, then forgot his name the very next moment.
In the third life, he was a night-watch official, while Meng Li was a newly dead soul who had crossed the River of Forgetfulness.
This time, He Shaoyong finally understood:
The bell at the third watch was not marking the hour. It was calling in a life.
It turned out this was no merciful act of fate. He had traded away a thousand lifetimes of loneliness to borrow a deathly loop from the Heavenly Dao.
He thought that as long as the bell kept ringing and the bridge remained intact, he could keep this person with him forever.
Until Meng Li stopped in the middle of the bridge and smiled as he asked, "He Shaoyong, aren't you tired?"
Every clash of wills was only a carefulness born of fear of reaching out.
Every reunion was nothing more than a mistake sealed in time.
Theme: Love isn't possession, but letting go. The true way to break free of fate is to walk with you toward an unknown freedom.
