The Sinking Fish

*Next up: the xianxia novel A Lover's Trinket and the wuxia novel The Perils of the Martial World

*Thank you for reading and adding this to your collection. Criticism and corrections are welcome.

Wishing you happiness ₊‧˳⁺꒰ঌ(꒪ˊ꒳ˋ꒪)໒꒱⁺˳‧₊

·Little phone-snack extras: wb@LongevityLotus

·Reader's Guide:

1. Gentle, frail, amnesiac, well-behaved disciple x reborn, cold-faced, straightforward master

2. Plot-driven / faux replacement / younger woman

[The spring waters rush as silk is washed, as if voicing some injustice]

Shen Zhezhi always thought herself cold and unfeeling. But when she came of age and descended the mountain to cultivate, a woman stopped her in her tracks.

The woman was born otherworldly, with a face like a goddess. She claimed to be the only well-behaved disciple of the Magnolia Flower Goddess, and treated Shen Zhezhi with tender warmth.

She placed her treasured immortal fan against Shen Zhezhi's heart to protect her, and taught her the swordsmanship passed down by the Flower Goddess, guiding her hand through every move.

When she heard that Shen Zhezhi had been poisoned by a gu, she nearly crippled her own cultivation and cut off her wrist to extract it for Shen Zhezhi.

Shen Zhezhi tasted the sweetness of falling in love for the first time.

But one rainy, chilly night, the woman fell ill and curled up in Shen Zhezhi's arms, refusing to let go.

Unable to help herself, Shen Zhezhi leaned toward the woman's lips. Her gaze was hazy, as if brimming with affection, and she murmured to the face right before her:

"Master... I miss you so much."

So she'd mistaken Shen Zhezhi for a substitute. Shen Zhezhi felt a pang in her heart.

*

"Shen Changzhi, you colluded with an evil spirit and brought calamity upon all living beings. You are unworthy of being a goddess. May Heaven strike you down!"

Cold wind and driving rain burst through the lattice window. Wen Siyue woke from a dream and looked by moonlight at the painting hanging on the wall.

A woman's face emerged through the haze, and the memories she had lost for so long returned...

It turned out to be her master, whom she had been forcing into an intimate embrace.

Seeing that before losing her memory, she had done such outrageous, unfilial things to the master she revered, Wen Siyue couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

She looked closely at the woman nestled against her neck, eyes closed in light sleep. Her features were exactly like her master's.

Her heart softened. She wanted to kiss the corner of the woman's eye.

The next moment, the woman raised a hand. Though her memories had clearly returned, she didn't tell Wen Siyue and instead put on a cold voice:

"Do you think I'm your master again?"

*

Even after remembering everything from the past, Shen Zhezhi never imagined...

She was actually the reincarnation of the Magnolia Flower Goddess. In her previous life, she had been deceived by an evil spirit and met a tragic end, her soul utterly destroyed. What a lamentable fate.

Now, standing in the Hall of Heavenly Light, she listens as the other gods reprimand her:

"Shen Zhezhi, now that you have been brought back to life, you must once again bear the burden of Heaven's mandate. You must not be cowardly and afraid of death again."

"What nonsense."

Wen Siyue's hair is as white as snow. Smiling, she lets her white hair fall against Shen Zhezhi's neck and hooks a finger under her chin, interrupting her thoughts...

"If you are willing to die for all living beings, I'll go with you."

"If you cannot bear to leave the living world, you may walk away. I'll bear it all in your place."

"But before you go, don't you want to kiss me again, my dear master?"

[2026.5.20]

Theme: Sacrifice oneself for righteousness