Forgetting Each Other

Forgetting a love as deep as the sea is easy.

Zhong Shenlai swallowed an immortal pill called “Sitting in Oblivion.” She forgot love, desire, and thought, and, along the way, completely forgot a once-unforgettable romance from her youth. All she remembered about her former lover was that they were spirited, righteous, a little reckless, and utterly sincere.

If she’d forgotten, so be it. She had taken “Sitting in Oblivion,” so that person must not have mattered anyway.

Life was one great dream, and she lived wildly and without restraint.

She did all sorts of outrageous things: sneaking into the Tower of Sorrowful Glaze at night, making off with a broken candle, and borrowing a little of its Buddhist aura.

She made plenty of friends, drank with strangers aboard a leaky boat, lost at rock-paper-scissors, and casually gave away the Buddhist candle.

But the strangest thing of all...

One night, wind and rain swept across Mirror Lake, blotting out the previous evening’s debauchery.

She sat high at the bow, drunk and languid, her features graceful and alluring, and looked down at the person in the boat, beautiful as jade and gold, calmly putting on their robe.

When they met the day before, that person had been dressed in white, playing the zither, and seemed refined and courteous, though their gaze was cold.

According to the rumors, they cultivated the path of ruthless love, were cold-hearted and calculating, and had a ruthless way of doing things.

They were nothing like the former lover she had imagined.

She asked casually, “I once had a lover. Was it you?”

They answered evenly, “Yes.”

She said, unconcerned, “I’ve forgotten everything from back then.”

They replied with cool indifference, “So have I.”

Close enough to touch, they met each other’s eyes, and neither showed a trace of feeling.

It was good to forget each other.

They could share a bed if they wanted, or draw their blades if they pleased.

There was only one question

They say it’s better to forget one another in the rivers and lakes than to cling together and keep each other alive.

But when two people forget each other, who was the first to forget?

Theme: Life is a journey to find yourself in a tangled forest.