Leaving a Message

Now that everything was understood, it meant this meeting was drawing to a close.

"Chunhua, it seems your matters are fully resolved. Quite likely, this is our last meeting, so I have three questions."

"Please ask, Shopkeeper."

"First question: now that you've achieved success and fame, what are your plans? Do you intend to track down that 'her' who left your team?"

Chunhua thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"During our last argument, she said she would go to another city and never return. She's capable of living her own life well."

"Second question: you're the customer who's visited the most times. Along the way, you kept paying prices for power. Do you think it was worth it?"

"I don't want to deceive you, Shopkeeper. The human heart is fickle. Now that I possess more, the [Wishes Granted] I got from your shop is no longer a 'blessing' but a 'curse.' I dare not easily form deep bonds with others, so there's some regret in my heart. Still, I know that to keep gaining, one must keep losing—that's an unchanging truth."

Chunhua didn't answer directly, but he had already answered.

"Third question: has this shop's assistance truly helped those who were once lost like you?"

Chunhua thought even longer.

"It definitely helped. Thank you, Shopkeeper. But even more, I thank myself—the one who never gave up, who kept persisting from start to finish.

Sorry, Shopkeeper, my answer may sound a bit self-righteous, but the only thing that carried me through was..."

Chen Miemie showed no displeasure: "I think that's fine. Thank you for your answer. Though it's quite different from a previous letter writer's answer. It seems people truly differ."

"Previous? Letter writer?"

"Yes, it might not even have been a letter meant for me. That was also a customer of the shop. He'd also visited many times, but in the end, he and the girl who'd accompanied him all along lived a peaceful and happy life."

Chunhua nodded: "Now that truly is a happy ending."

Chen Miemie rose to see him out.

Just then, from the bedroom inside came a faint sound.

"Hm?" Chen Miemie frowned slightly.

There was never any noise from that room when he wasn't in it. What was going on?

"Chunhua, wait a moment. Let me check what's happening."

Chen Miemie stepped out from the sofa. As he turned, the movement was a bit abrupt—the yellow robe he wore rippled, and a postage stamp slipped out of his pocket.

The stamp spun through the air and drifted right into the fold of Chunhua's clothing.

All of this was silent. Neither Chen Miemie nor Chunhua noticed.

Chen Miemie returned from the bedroom.

"Shopkeeper, what was it?" Chunhua asked.

"Nothing. A small keepsake wasn't set properly and fell to the floor."

"Alright, then I'll take my leave."

"Yes, thank you."

"Thank me? Shopkeeper, what do you mean?"

"Your visit today doesn't quite fit the rules for customers. You hold no confusion in your heart, nor do you need to issue a commission. You came purely to fill in some stories for me. That's a new kind of experience for me, and I thank you for it."

Chunhua walked toward the door.

"Haha, then Shopkeeper, as a token of thanks, may I also ask a question?"

"You may."

"Actually, you mentioned that other customer at the end. I'm a little curious. You said his matter was quite similar to mine. Could I know a little about it?"

Chen Miemie thought it over, and felt there was no need for secrecy at this point.

"Alright. That lady was a witch who went by the false name Shi'er Shi. She asked me to act and eliminate a monstrous entity called 'Lullaby Hummer.'"

Chunhua was walking toward the door, his back to Chen Miemie. At these words, his steps halted.

"You killed it yourself?"

"Yes."

"Is it possible you missed?"

"Since I acted, it is absolutely impossible."

"Th... Thank you for telling me." Chunhua's voice changed, seeming to tremble slightly.

He quickened his pace, almost jogging out of the shop.

The door closed.

"Why is he running? Something urgent?" Chen Miemie didn't quite understand, but he didn't dwell on it either.

Out the door, Chunhua could no longer hold it in.

Tears fell like little beans, streaming down his cheeks.

He leaned weakly against the wall beside the shop door, letting himself slowly slide down until he sat on the ground.

"Shi'er Shi worm, Bi Yi—that was you all along, witch [Biyi].

Heh. Went to another city, never coming back. Witches really are the best liars. You've been lying to me since we were kids."

He recalled the day he killed the monster and became the city's true hero—

"I killed you! 'Lullaby Hummer'!" he roared as he charged.

His comrades fell one by one around him, but he was the last one to reach the Lullaby Hummer.

The Lullaby Hummer looked into his eyes, said nothing, and only raised a hand to attack.

He "overperformed," as if guided by some divine force, dodging two attacks in a row.

His sword pierced the Lullaby Hummer's only vital point.

The Lullaby Hummer fell, its eyes calm.

This memory kept replaying, and Chunhua, slumped against the shop door, sobbed uncontrollably.

He understood everything now.

Tears and snot running freely, Chunhua showed no reaction, only clenching his palms until blood marks formed.

"[Biyi], when you showed the nascent form of your mystique as a child, you were already extraordinary. That year at the orphanage, when your consciousness went out of control and you turned into a beast, then collapsed from exhaustion and reverted to human form—I found you and carried you out on my back.

Even the shopkeeper doesn't know that later, your [Mystique] became [Shape-shifting]. You could change into the form of a monster."

He sat on the ground like that for over half an hour.

Finally, Chunhua slowly rose, looking at his scholar's robe that was no longer clean.

"Haha, hahaha. How ridiculous I am. I even said I thanked myself, that I never gave up. What arrogant nonsense.

Shopkeeper, this time you were wrong. I did come here with confusion in my heart. Thank you for helping me find the truth."

He reached into his pocket to take out a tissue to wipe his face and hands.

His hand unexpectedly found the pen and paper that came with his scholar's robe.

He looked up and saw the brightly painted mailbox not far away.

"How could I have the face to go back into the shop? I'll just leave a note for the shopkeeper.

If I hadn't been so self-righteous, so stubborn in my ways, perhaps our ending would have been completely different.

This world already has enough tragedies. I should leave behind that possible beautiful ending."

And so, at the shop's door, under the faint moonlight,

Chunhua lay on the ground and began to write.

Shopkeeper:

I am a lost soul who once received help from your shop. I sincerely thank you for the many times you assisted me along the way.

My past has been told to you, so I won't repeat it here.

You once asked me whether, along the way, paying price after price for power was worth it.

After careful thought, my answer is: it was worth it.

Though I paid many prices, in the end I came together with the girl who had walked by my side all along, and we lived a peaceful and happy life. Therefore, everything was worth it.

As for your other question—whether the shop's assistance truly helped lost souls like me—

My answer is yes, it definitely did.

No matter the outcome, every moment of help along the way allowed me to break free from the constraints of my own limited vision and abilities, and to keep moving forward. I am truly grateful to have crossed paths with this shop.

It was in this shop that I came to believe that everything in this world that is fought for with all one's might will, in the end, turn out well—and if it is not yet good enough, that only means we have not reached the final chapter.

I am no longer lost, and I know how to move forward on the road ahead. I hope my reply may also ease some of the confusion in the shopkeeper's heart, even if only a little.

Chunhua finishes writing.

When it came to the signature, Chunhua hesitated again and again, and in the end chose to leave it blank.

As she put the pen back into her pocket, a small five-colored stamp slipped out from the seam of her clothes. The pattern on the stamp was the door of the mysterious shop.

"This is... from the shop, isn't it? Just right—I'll stick it on the paper and return it to the shopkeeper along with the letter."

Chunhua slipped the paper and the stamp into the mailbox, then walked out of the Gap Between Doors with unsteady steps.