In the blink of an eye, five days passed.
The night gave way to dawn.
A pale, fish-belly white brightened the edge of the sky, and the countless stars gradually faded away.
On this early morning at the cusp of late autumn and early winter, the air carried a faint chill.
The weather was growing colder.
A thread of chilly wind slipped through the window and folding screen of the rented room, brushing against the fair, upturned bottom and long, slender legs that Fang Qiu had left bare to the air.
The sudden cold made Fang Qiu's delicate body shiver, and she awoke from her dreams.
Sleeping beside her, Shenhe lay with her eyes closed, her firm, rounded chest rising and falling gently with each breath.
And by Shenhe's hand lay a copy of her book, 5 Centimeters per Second—Fang Qiu had seen her reading it before bed last night.
She guessed Shenhe must have read until late the night before, then fallen asleep right away.
Looking at Shenhe's serene sleeping face, Fang Qiu smiled softly.
These past few days, Shenhe had been staying at her place, eating together and sleeping together every day. They got along very well.
Tingyu had grown familiar with Shenhe too—though it still wouldn't let Shenhe hold it, at most allowing her a few pats.
The only bad thing about Shenhe was that she slept far too lightly.
Every time Fang Qiu made the slightest movement, Shenhe would wake.
It was only because Shenhe had cultivated as an immortal that she could manage it. Anyone who woke the way she did would have developed neurasthenia long ago and collapsed in illness.
After all, never mind this current sickly body of hers—even the her from her past life couldn't have endured it.
In her past life, she had once gone back home to live for a while, but right outside the house was a public square. Every day, from morning till night, a crowd of old men and old women seemed to have boundless energy, endlessly pouring their vitality into their daily socializing.
Along with their dance steps, the songs of the square-dancing surged into her brain like demonic music drilling into her ears.
Through her eardrums, straight into her thoughts.
During that stretch of time, there was simply no way to write.
In order to write, she'd had no choice but to flip her schedule upside down. But even sleeping during the day, she was tormented by the square-dancing and often jolted awake, until she began developing neurasthenia and her health steadily declined.
These past few days, she'd often woken Shenhe up with the slightest sound, yet Shenhe showed not the faintest trace of fatigue....
Because of this, Fang Qiu decided that once her new book reached a stopping point, she would go pick out a house.
Then they could each have their own room, and she wouldn't have to worry about waking Shenhe.
She shifted her body gently, reached out and tugged at her nightdress to cover the lower half of her body, which wore nothing but a pair of black lace panties. But the moment she finished that small movement, Shenhe beside her woke up.
"Shenhe, good morning."
Fang Qiu greeted her.
"Mm, good morning."
Shenhe nodded.
Since Shenhe was already awake, Fang Qiu no longer needed to tiptoe around. She sat up in bed, stretched lazily, then walked to the front of the bed, drew aside the folding screen, and opened the window.
Outside the window, the edge of the sky had already brightened to an orange-red.
The sun was about to come out.
"Phew, the weather's getting colder and colder—winter's almost here. This afternoon, let's go buy some clothes for the winter."
Feeling the cold air outside the window, Fang Qiu curled in on herself slightly.
It had turned cold.
"Mm."
Shenhe walked over to the wardrobe, slipped off the nightclothes on her body to reveal her smooth, alluring form, and began changing into her everyday clothes.
After glancing once at Shenhe's enticing body, Fang Qiu withdrew her gaze and looked toward the manuscript on the desk, weighed down by a book.
The work was already finished.
The plot of The Forest of Fireflies' Light wasn't long, and a slacker like her had finished writing it in just a few days.
As long as she handed the manuscript over to the publishing house today, she could go back to slacking off.
And over these past few days, quite a lot had happened.
For instance, after Ningguang and the various wealthy merchants finished watching the opera at the Jade Chamber that day and gathered together afterward, they discussed jointly opening, in the outskirts of Liyue, dedicated film studios for screening projected images.
Being able to do business in partnership with Ningguang—naturally, the merchants would not refuse.
And so, a major construction project began.
As for why she had partnered with the merchants—based on her own guess, it was probably to let the merchants share in a piece of the pie and develop together.
Once this project was announced, all of Liyue Harbor erupted in a frenzy.
Not only were the common folk, long tormented by queuing at the teahouses, thrilled, but the wealthy merchants were extraordinarily excited as well.
They had originally thought that, although projected images strongly attracted the public, there were also quite a few drawbacks.
First was the strained screening resources.
Just a single Sword and Fairy 1 had already pushed all of Liyue's major teahouses into overloaded operation for many days without being able to stop.
If they were to invest alongside, Liyue's teahouses simply couldn't support it.
Second was the steep cost of queuing, which meant they would only accept queuing for the finest works.
Not to mention market competition and the like.
But if there were film studios dedicated to viewing, all these problems would be solved.
All that remained was market competition.
And so, for a time, the threshold of the Liyue Publishing House was once again trampled flat.
Quite a few projected films went into production.
Such as, for instance, The Domineering Immortal Falls for Me.
Another piece of heavyweight news was that Ningguang announced Sword and Fairy 2 had officially gone into production.
The profit split was the same as before.
And two days ago, Ningguang's secretary had come to find her, bringing her a portion of the earnings from the Sword and Fairy 1 projected film.
Because the earnings had to be collected and tallied layer by layer through a complicated process, only the first two days' worth had come in.
So the earnings came to only five million in total, with Ningguang sending people to deliver more later.
Combined with the earnings from Sword and Fairy 2, her income had already reached a terrifying ten million Mora.
How should she put it.
Looking at the number in her savings, Fang Qiu felt a kind of daze, and a touch of wistfulness.
She still remembered how, when she'd first transmigrated, she had to break a single steamed bun in half to eat across two meals.
Yet now she had already become a wealthy lady sitting on ten million Mora.
Still, in a place as prosperous and affluent as Liyue Harbor, ten million Mora wasn't really all that much.
In the metropolis of her past life, you could throw in ten million and it wouldn't even make a ripple.
Liyue Harbor was the same.
Even so, she could afford to buy a house now.
As for how much would be left, that she didn't know.
After all, buying a house was no small matter—she had to pick a good one.
After going out for breakfast together with Shenhe, Shenhe went back home to keep reading, while she sipped Dango Milk, carried her manuscript, and made her way toward the publishing house.
A few days earlier, Hu Tao had taken her and Shenhe to try out a Dango Milk shop opened by people from Inazuma.
She'd discovered that the taste of Dango Milk was extremely similar to the milk tea of her past life.
So she'd just bought a cup right after finishing breakfast.
By the time she finished buying it, the sun had fully risen.
People were gradually filling the streets, especially around the taverns and teahouses.
Although it had already been announced that the film studios would soon begin construction, the entrances of the major teahouses were still packed with people.
Watch it first, enjoy it first.
As for the taverns, many of the people emerging from them had gotten drunk and slept the night inside.
Hungover.
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Miss Lin from the east of the city bought the projected-film rights to The Domineering Immortal Falls for Me, and she's recruiting actresses."
"Hey, take a look—that white-haired woman over there, wouldn't she be perfect for that delicate beauty in the book who gets pushed down onto the bed by the immortal?"
"Now that you mention it, she really would. Though I think she's got this ethereal, otherworldly air about her—if she weren't so frail-looking, she could play that domineering immortal too."
"Oh, right, I remember the Ninth Miss from the west of the city personally went to the publishing house and got in touch with Inazuma, planning to buy the filming rights to Junior Sister, Go Easy, Senior Sister Hurts. I think that lady would be perfect to play the senior sister in it."
"But I think Sister Ying'er from the Spring Fragrance Kiln would be quite fitting too."
Listening to everyone's discussions all the way along, Fang Qiu sipped her Dango Milk and made her way to the publishing house.
"What in the world is this twenty-some-page prologue you've written? After finishing the prologue, you then spent a full ten-plus pages explaining the background before the protagonist even showed up—fine, never mind all that, but how on earth do you write a novel starting from the protagonist's birth?! By the time you finished the first volume, the protagonist was five years old, and you wrote it in such exhaustive detail that even the protagonist going out to buy a bottle of soy sauce takes you a full five pages! You might as well start writing from when his parents were still infants...."
"But, editor, didn't you say that writing a book is better when it's detailed?"
"That last thing you wrote, you brushed right past the exciting parts—you finished off over a hundred events in a single volume, no different from an outline! I told you to write the exciting parts in detail, not to cram every grain of rice, oil, salt, and firewood into it."
The moment she stepped into the editorial department, she saw a female editor clutching her head as she talked with a young male author, so exasperated that her eyes had reddened and she was on the verge of tears.
On the other side, an editor was pouring out his grievances to another female editor, saying that he'd been teaching a new author how to write a book, and after ten days had gone by, that author had written only three hundred words... and they were utterly unrelated to anything he'd taught.
Seeing scene after scene like this, Fang Qiu couldn't help but sigh to herself.
Being an editor wasn't easy either.
Fang Qiu shook her head with lingering dread—thank goodness she hadn't come to apply at the Liyue Publishing House when she'd first transmigrated.
After greeting a few female editors she was familiar with, Fang Qiu made her way to Bai Qing's desk.
She, too, wore a face full of worry as she read over a manuscript.
"Sister Bai, good morning."
Fang Qiu greeted her.
"Fang Qiu, you're here."
Hearing Fang Qiu's voice, Bai Qing, who had been frowning with worry, immediately lifted her head, and when she saw that the one who'd come was Fang Qiu, she couldn't help but show a look of pleasant surprise.
"Is this the new book?"
Bai Qing asked.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded and handed the manuscript over to Bai Qing.
"What genre is this new book?"
Bai Qing asked.
"If I had to categorize it, I suppose it could count as a tales-of-spirits-and-the-strange genre."
Fang Qiu thought it over and said.
Much like how A Chinese Ghost Story is also a ghost tale.
"Tales of spirits and the strange?"
Bai Qing was taken aback and asked instinctively, "Which country's style of spirits-and-the-strange story is it?"
This kind of genre—whether in Mondstadt, Liyue, or Inazuma—was a fairly common and well-loved one.
"Inazuma, I suppose."
Fang Qiu said.
"I see."
Bai Qing nodded thoughtfully.
Inazuma's tales of spirits and the strange were precisely the ghost novels.
She had proofread quite a few of Inazuma's ghost novels these past days—they were rather terrifying.
After chatting with Bai Qing for a while, Fang Qiu rose to bid her farewell and left the editorial office.
She'd go home and lie down for a bit, then this afternoon she'd head to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor with Shenhe and invite Hu Tao and Xiangling to go over to Sister Ying'er's together to check on the progress of the panda pajamas.
After Fang Qiu left, several female editors immediately gathered around.
"I never would have guessed it'd actually be a ghost novel this time!"
"It really is unexpected. Fang Qiu honestly looks like the type who'd be so scared by ghost stories she'd wet her pants and then not even dare open the wardrobe to change them."
"Stop, I've got the image in my head now—just picturing a Fang Qiu like that is irresistible. Oh, and let me state for the record: I don't have a thing for layered skirts. I just think a Fang Qiu like that would be wonderful."
"People are free to be as they please, but I'd suggest you go see a doctor at the Bubu Pharmacy."
The few female editors teased.
"Enough chatter—Ah Qing, hurry and take it out so we can have a look."
"This time I'm reading along too. I love tales of spirits and the strange the most."
"I do wonder how well Fang Qiu's ghost story is written."
The several editors said.
One after another, they fixed their gazes on the paper bag in Bai Qing's hands.
"Mm."
Bai Qing nodded—she too was a little curious about what Fang Qiu's ghost novel would be like.
She opened the paper bag and took out the manuscript inside.
Four characters were written on the manuscript.
The Forest of Fireflies' Light.
Seeing this title, everyone felt a little puzzled.
No matter how you looked at it, this title didn't seem like a ghost novel, did it?
Inazuma's ghost novels were all called things like Ghost Under the Bed, The Curse, or Knocking Ghost.
And the line of words beneath the title—"Forge no bonds, lest you add to your troubles"—what was that supposed to mean?
Why did something feel a little off about this?
The several female editors promptly declared that they'd suddenly remembered they had things to do, and immediately turned and left.
And so, only Bai Qing was left to read it alone.
The story began in a summer when the cicadas were singing at their loudest.
The protagonist of the story was a young girl.
The girl's name was Takegawa Hotaru.
Under her mother's nagging, Takegawa Hotaru packed her luggage, preparing to set off for her grandfather's house in the countryside.
Takegawa Hotaru set off and arrived at the station platform.
Standing on the station platform, accompanied by the warm sunlight and the clamoring cicadas, she lifted her head to gaze at the clear blue sky and fell into reminiscence.
"The first time I met him was when I was six years old. On a sweltering summer day, I got lost in a forest said to be home to monsters and a mountain god."
Just as Takegawa Hotaru was crying out of fear, a big brother wearing a mask appeared.
Seeing someone else show up, Takegawa Hotaru joyfully threw herself toward the big brother.
Only, that big brother didn't catch her the way she'd imagined—instead, he twisted his body and dodged her flying leap.
As a child, out of curiosity, Takegawa Hotaru kept wanting to touch this big brother.
It wasn't until he gave her head a tap with a wooden stick that Takegawa Hotaru finally settled down.
The big brother told her that the mountain god had cast a spell on him—the moment a human touched him, he would vanish.
Reading up to here, Bai Qing couldn't help but knit her brows.
She had assumed the girl would encounter all sorts of eerie things in the forest—like a dog with a human face, or an exposed coffin, or a hanged person and the like.
But instead she met a gentle big brother?
The big brother was going to lead Takegawa Hotaru out of the forest. Along the way, they each held one end of a wooden stick, walking hand in hand through it.
Walking among the torii gates as they descended the mountain, Takegawa Hotaru said innocently, "Hehe, it feels kind of like a date."
"What a date utterly lacking in charm."
The big brother replied.
They walked out of the forest together, and as they parted, Takegawa Hotaru asked the big brother for his name.
"My name is Takegawa Hotaru. And you?"
The clamoring wind blew past, carrying the warmth unique to a midsummer dusk, and the hair and clothes of Takegawa Hotaru and the big brother fluttered in it.
Fluttering along with them was the torii bound up with talisman ropes.
After a moment of silence, seeing that the big brother gave no answer, Takegawa Hotaru took two steps back and said, "In any case, tomorrow I'll come back here with a thank-you gift. Goodbye."
Takegawa Hotaru turned and ran toward the foot of the mountain, but she'd only run a few steps after turning when a voice rose up behind her.
"My name is Gin."
Hearing this name, by the time she turned around again, the big brother called Gin had already vanished.
Only the wind remained, clamoring.
Takegawa Hotaru followed the mountain path down as well, walking all the way to the bottom, until she met her grandfather.
When Takegawa Hotaru asked her grandfather about the monsters in the forest, her grandfather told her the stories about that forest—how on summer nights, one could seemingly hear the sound of flute-playing in the forest, and how some people had wandered by mistake into the forest's summer festival to play.
Reading up to here, the corners of Bai Qing's mouth involuntarily curled upward.
Although it was different from the ghost novel she'd imagined, there was no doubt it was a wonderful novel.
Every line between the words was filled with gentleness.
She liked this feeling very much.
The next day, Takegawa Hotaru really did go to find Gin, and Gin was indeed waiting at the path's intersection.
Gin took Takegawa Hotaru for a walk, and the two of them even ate popsicles together. Takegawa Hotaru found it tremendously fun.
Suddenly a monster appeared behind Takegawa Hotaru. Gin told the monster that Takegawa Hotaru was his friend, while the monster warned Takegawa Hotaru that she must never touch Gin, or else it would eat her up.
Over the next several days, Takegawa Hotaru was always together with Gin. Once, while the two of them were on the grass, Takegawa Hotaru took advantage of Gin being asleep to lift off his mask—and beneath the mask was a handsome young man.
This was the first time she had seen Gin's face.
And so, every day they played together in the forest.
The lonely Gin loved the feeling of having someone's company.
But then, one day.
Takegawa Hotaru told Gin that she wouldn't be able to come tomorrow, because she'd only come to her grandfather's countryside home for the summer, and now she had to go back.
Gin asked her whether she would come again next year.
He received an affirmative answer from Takegawa Hotaru.
"And so, from the bottom of my heart, I began to look forward to summer."
A summer like this repeated itself two or three times.
It was summer once again.
The mischievous Takegawa Hotaru, wanting to see Gin's startled face, climbed up a tree—but accidentally fell down.
Gin anxiously reached out his hand, yet didn't catch her, because if he touched her, he himself would vanish.
Grateful that Gin hadn't touched her, Takegawa Hotaru felt sorrowful at the same time.
Because she could never touch Gin.....
"No matter what happens, you absolutely must never touch me, all right?"
Saying this, Takegawa Hotaru began to cry.
Gin, meanwhile, sank into silence.
He wore his mask, so his expression couldn't be seen.
"Forge no bonds, lest you add to your sorrow..."
Bai Qing suddenly recalled that line meant to be placed on the title page.
It was just like Gin and Takegawa Hotaru.
Unable to touch, unable to forge a bond.....
She let out a long breath and continued reading on.
And so, year after year.
They spent every summer together—the two of them chatting on the grass, strolling through the forest, flying kites together on the grass—and their bond grew deeper and deeper.
Takegawa Hotaru noticed that even though she had grown so much, Gin's appearance hadn't changed much at all.
One day.
From a conversation with her grandfather, Takegawa Hotaru learned that this winter would be very cold, so she brought Gin a scarf.
The days passed one by one, and winter brought heavy snow.
Takegawa Hotaru thought of Gin all the while.
She wanted to touch Gin.
And Gin sat in the forest, wrapped in the scarf Takegawa Hotaru had given him, saying nothing.
Even though he uttered not a single word, from Fang Qiu's brushstrokes, Bai Qing sensed a deep, deep loneliness.
In the blink of an eye, several more years passed, and Takegawa Hotaru turned sixteen.
She still came to find Gin every single year.
Gin still hadn't changed, but by now Takegawa Hotaru had grown to look the same age as Gin.
The two of them sat by the pond.
"Lately you don't come pouncing at me anymore."
Gin said with a smile.
"Of course not—I got beaten so badly for it."
Takegawa Hotaru said, "I really can't wait. In three more years, once I've grown up, I plan to find work here. That way, we'll have even more time to be together—whether it's autumn, winter, or spring, always together. All right?"
Gin didn't answer; instead he fell silent for a while, then told Takegawa Hotaru about his past.
He was not a monster, but a human.
As an infant he had been abandoned in the forest, and to save him, the mountain god had cast a spell upon him.
He would not age and would not die.
But the moment he touched a human, the spell the mountain god had placed on him would vanish.
It was such an unstable thing—if one day you were to...
But before he could finish his words, he was cut off by Takegawa Hotaru.
"Vanishing the moment you're touched—it's just like snow, isn't it? Gin, in winter, I think of you all the time. In autumn too, in spring too. Gin, don't forget me. One day, time will surely pull us apart—but even so, until that very moment comes, let's stay together."
She only wanted to stay by Gin's side forever like this, even if she could never touch him.
But what Gin had in mind was not the same thing.....
Yet he said no more of it.
Then one day, while they were fishing together, Gin invited Takegawa Hotaru to attend the summer festival in the forest that belonged exclusively to the spirits.
At this festival, all the spirits would take human form and pretend to be humans, holding this summer festival that mimicked a human one.
The two of them toured the festival together.
That night's spirit festival was tremendously lively.
After touring the festival.
Takegawa Hotaru and Gin walked along the riverbank. Amid the echoing chirps of insects, the two of them quietly savored the beauty of touring a festival with the person they liked on a summer night.
And at this moment, Gin spoke.
"Hotaru, I can no longer wait for summer... Once we part, even if I have to push my way through the crowd, I want to go and see you."
After hearing Gin's words, Takegawa Hotaru wanted so badly to reach out and take Gin's hand, but she quickly gave up the thought.
She couldn't touch Gin.
Because she knew that the moment she touched Gin, Gin would vanish.
But Gin removed his mask and placed it over Takegawa Hotaru's face, and then, through the mask, he kissed Hotaru.
Reading up to here, the corners of Bai Qing's mouth involuntarily lifted into a faint smile.
Although the entire piece had almost no dramatic upheavals, only the two of them in their tranquil everyday life, seeing Gin kiss Hotaru through the mask still made her happy beyond measure.
She continued reading on.
For some reason, Takegawa Hotaru faintly felt that next year Gin would no longer appear at the place they'd promised to meet.
This must surely be their last...
Between the lines, gentleness pervaded, yet it was also brimming with sorrow.
There wasn't much manuscript left. Just as Bai Qing grew curious about how the plot would unfold next.
In the manuscript, the handwriting had by now drawn close to that of an ordinary person—and on the very next line, at this very moment, two children came running up from behind Gin and Takegawa Hotaru.
As they passed by Gin, one of the children accidentally tripped, and just as that child was about to fall, Gin reached out and caught hold of him.
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