"I’m not crazy," Luo Jun said quietly.
Mrs. Cao chuckled, "I really enjoy playing mahjong with Liu Tao."
"I am the countryside wife that my Old Cao married back in our hometown. I’m barely literate, don’t like foreign styles, can’t wear high heels, and can’t get used to coffee. Everyone looks down on me as a country bumpkin. If it weren’t for my brother’s promotion, Old Cao would never have brought me to the city in this lifetime."
"My Old Cao wants to climb up the social ladder and made me flatter Liu Tao to curry favor with you. At first, I was reluctant; I despise sucking up to people. These young, attractive wives, relying on their worldliness, all looked down on us rural original spouses with their noses in the air. They even found our way of picking mahjong tiles uncouth."
"But she... Forget it, I won’t say any more. I came here today to give you something." Saying this, Mrs. Cao carefully took out a cloth bundle from her pocket, opened it, and inside was another small cloth bundle. Opening that revealed an earring.
A small silver earring.
"I’m heading back to the countryside, right? While packing yesterday, I found it in a jewelry box. It was one that Liu Tao lost before. She said it was part of her bridal dowry from Sister A hong, and although it wasn’t worth much, it held a lot of significance. Normally, she didn’t dare to wear it for fear of embarrassing you, only when she came to my house to play mahjong would she wear it."
"She was always so careful and cautious, afraid of doing anything that would embarrass you. Do you remember when my maid often brought over Gastrodia stewed pigeon to your house? It was all made by Liu Tao. She barely knew how to make it, and every time the pigeon was overcooked, and only the soup was drinkable. She didn’t dare let you see the pigeon meat and would say it was made by my family’s cook."
"How is Minister Cao recently?" Luo Jun asked.
"Dead," Mrs. Cao said nonchalantly, "My brother is also dead, and all the concubines in the house have fled. I don’t have a son, just a daughter, and barely any money to support myself. It’s really unbearable here, so I’m planning to take my daughter back to the countryside."
"This time, I fear I’ll never return, so I came to see Liu Tao and say goodbye for the last time."
Luo Jun glanced at Mrs. Cao’s clothes, gestured for her to hand over the silver earring, and Mrs. Cao handed over the entire cloth bundle. Luo Jun took it and went inside.
In less than two minutes, Luo Jun came out with a small box and handed it to Mrs. Cao, inside were six small yellow fish.
"Write a letter when you get back, so we don’t lose touch. Liu Tao hasn’t made many new friends over the years. I can’t let her turn into a butterfly only to lose one more."
Mrs. Cao took the wooden box in a daze and blurted out, "What do you mean turning into a butterfly? You’re not really crazy, are you?"
"Don’t lovers turn into butterflies after death?" Luo Jun retorted, "Just like in Liang Zhu, although the human form has died, they can continue to live in the form of butterflies, becoming yellow butterflies."
Mrs. Cao stared in a daze for a while, as if trying to determine if Luo Jun was joking with her. Seeing Luo Jun’s serious expression, she stammered, "But... but that’s just a story in a play."
"What do you mean?" Luo Jun asked back.
"Those are just stories in plays, they’re not real."
"Weren’t the Three Oaths of Peach Garden, Slayer of Son at Camp, and the Woman Marquis all real?"
"That’s different," Mrs. Cao was completely bewildered and didn’t know how to explain at the moment, "Some parts of stories in plays are real, some parts are fake. I don’t know if the story of Liang Zhu is true, but the transformation into butterflies is just a story in the plays."
"It’s impossible for people to turn into butterflies."
Luo Jun was startled.
"When people die, they’re just dead, they can’t turn into butterflies."
"All these years... could it be...?"
Luo Jun seemed to suddenly awaken as if he’d been dreaming for many years, only for someone to suddenly pat him and say, hey, stop dreaming, it’s time to wake up.
"What did you say?" Luo Jun asked in a hoarse voice.
"I said... turning into butterflies is just a story in the plays, it’s not real." Mrs. Cao pursed her lips as if making a certain decision, "Mr. Luo, I don’t know why you misunderstood this way."
"But... Liu Tao is already dead, she’s been dead for five years. She won’t turn into a butterfly."
"It’s time for you to wake up."
Qin Huai looked at Luo Jun; it was the first time Luo Jun showed a stunned expression.
There was confusion amidst the bewilderment, like a child who believed they understood the rules of the world, only to be told that the rules they learned were wrong, that they didn’t understand the world at all.
In the fifth year after Liu Tao’s death, Luo Jun finally realized that his wife had already died.
Long buried beneath the dust, turned to bones.
Qin Huai knew that Luo Jun had failed his trial.
Qin Huai left the memory.