Chapter 6: Autumn

Cenisa and Jingyu went to the other side and several branches from the tallest tree had broken away. "Can I ask you something?" started Cenisa. "You wanna know about the Huíshōu?" he gazed at the tree. "Why does it have pinecones connected to apples?"

"It was a bizarre mistakes made by a framer. Did you kill him?"

"Huh…" the answer was yes. "I'm not mad at you and I don't think you're a horrible person."

"Why?" she raised a brow. "I used to steal from Teng all the damn time. I would even take a shit in the field."

She gasped, "You nasty!"

He smiled looking at her from the recesses of his eye, "I had a job and fired me." he shrugged. "Why?"

"I was drunk." he smirked. "Boy, say, you ain't got good sense."

"I guess, I used to be smart." he looked at the branches that had descended. "The Huíshōu is a tree, made out of an apple and pine."

"And?"

"It is a tree, like a baby born into a rich family but pocesses not gifts nor talents."

"That's it?"

"It is a tree, made by mistake."

"Well it taste funny…"

"Pine makes me smell good."

"You wash--You wash yo ass in pine!"

"I'm a clean man!" he exclaimed. "I'm sick of you!" Cenisa moved away from him. In honesty, she thought it was funny. Overall he wasn't a bad person.

It was obvious the branches fell because of the lighting. Some of the pineapples had also fallen. It was good sized branch. "Do you sell the fruit in the village?"

"We trade with the Xiyi." he lamented. "What do they give you for it?"

"Protection." he rolled his eyes. "And they give us medicine like the ointment. We used have acupressure, then Huiang died."

"What happened to him?"

"Heart attack." he stared at her. "Another answer I did it." he folded his arms. "How did you give a man a heart attack?"

Jingyu looked to the sky, "I don't know."

She didn't ask anymore and made the decision to pick the branch up. "Put that down!" Jingyu slapped her shoulder. She put it back on the grass, "I've been eating them."

"There is a rope on it and you're a jingshi. Stop touching shit!" he cocked his head. She still had zero idea what the meant. "Qi is everywhere!" he waved his hands dramatically. "In your hair, in your voice, in the fingers, in the shit of dogs and cows. Don't touch a damn thing!"

"Ok…" she frowned. He held his forehead, "Qi is life."

"Now I know you bullshittin'"

"Look around you…" he put his hand on her shoulder. "Grass."

"And no shit. Leave it alone, you as a jingshi absorb qi through your fucking hands. I'm surprised the grass is still green." he looked at her. "I should be dead."

"Maybe I like you…" he tittered.

"I slap women…"

"You mean as hell…" Cenisa looked at the branch. She gazed up and saw an even bigger branch from Huíshōu. Jingyu looked towards the clouds and the large branch wasn't a branch but the peak of the Huíshōu.

Cenisa moved to it. Jingyu grabbed her, pulling her back. "You don't listen."

"Boy, get the hell off me. It's just a tree." she put her hands on her hips. "Ok, get cursed."

"Whatever."

She couldn't pick it up but she laid her hand on it and a zap too strong went through her body. Her heart bounced. "Nisa!" she fell and rolled on her back. "Nisa!" Jingyu got to the grass and held her hand. "Nisa! Blink! Blink!"

She heard and his voice was fading out. She couldn't move and something flashed before her. It was orange and blue, then she smelled the sea.

Her mouth parted as her head was flat against the grass.

.

.

.

"You are black…"

"What?"

She woke up with different clothes. She wore a red hanfu outfit that faded into a dark red at the bottom. Her skin was extra dark, like charcoal.

"You got black…" said a voice. She looked in the direction of the voice. A man that looked like Jingyu wore a green martial arts uniform. "You want to be human?"

"Who are you?"

"Kill him."

"who?" Hopefully he wasn't talking about Jinyu. "Kill the money maker. Jiu Yan wasn't supposed to walk."

"But who the fuck are you?" she got up. Cenisa was surround by pure white and a pool with a bright Koi fish. The Koi was too large for it but swam in place. "I'm your father…" said the man. "Nigga you ain't my daddy…"

"He is joking with you…" spoke a voice she couldn't find. The man ogled his head, "She's talking to you."

"The fish!"

"That is Duōbing." he explained "But she is a Koi."

"Why is the damn fish talkin'" she pointed. "I'm a little girl…" said Duōbing. "My name is Cūjian Xiyi. I'm the Emperor."

"Really now…"

"You are black…"

"Why you keep pointing that out like a nigga unaware of being a nigga. Or have you not seen a nigga before?"

"My apologies, I had a cousin that was black. Taiyang Lai." he smiled and it was gone in seconds. The village is a test subject to my little brother's theory on the Jiangshi. He wants to remove a curse."

"Well what the fuck do I have to do with it!" she thrw her hands up. "I was in Georgia! I stole something and a man killed me!"

"You weren't dead, your soul is traveling. However, you are now given the state of your hair." he said.

"Papa, is the lady going to help us?" questioned Duōbing. "I hope so."

"What's wrong with the baby?"

"He burned my daughter to death. She was missing and she showed up in the village." Cūjian Xiyi's glanced was focused on his daughter. "Thank God she's a fish…" he stared at Cenisa. "Do me a favor."

Cenisa couldn't stop staring at the large Koi. "Kill my brother. He's cursed to be a Jiangshi. His heart does not beat like mine… or it used to. But you have a heart."

"Didn't you say I was dead!"

"But you still have your heart…" he tilted his head. "He wants a working heart thinking it will kill him. With that in mind, Jingyu is my nephew. I left him and his mother money in Janluut and I gave him something."

"Like what?"

"It should help you. Her name is Yi-De."

"Yi-De…" she had to changed her focus. "Ok, I get what you saying." her head went back and forth to Duōbing and Cūjian. "Your daughter is dead?"

"Yes, though I keep telling myself no. My daughter has transmigrated. She became her pet Koi, two are now one."

"Hanjia is mad." said Duōbing. "What will happen to uncle's soul?"

"I don't know…" sorrow was in his voice. Aside from the fact, he didn't like talking to daughter like this. Cūjian faced Cenisa, "Go to Janluut. Take the tree, the branch that you can carry. It is blessed and will allow you to see him between spaces."

"Like… the afterlife?"

"You have a heart… he doesn't. Do something about it."

She narrowed her eyes. "You'll wake up and see Jingyu. I might as well call you family."

"Why?"

"If all goes right…" he smiled widely. "You'll marry."

"What--" the world seemed to zoom and speed up. Her vision was overtaken by whiteness.

Cenisa heard a pulse in her ear and her eyes moved under the lid. "Nisa! Nisa!"

"Jing…" she squinted. "I'm half dead." she sat up.

"You can't be half fucking dead!" he caught himself. "Yeah…"

"Do you know your uncle?" she turned to him. Jingyu got to his feet. "No…"

"His name is Cūjian Xiyi… your father is his brother."

Jingyu didn't say anything. "We need to go to Janluut. That's what he said."

"You wake?"

"Yes?"

"You woke?"

"Yeah…"

"No…"

"What the fuc--"

"You just went on a journey through the dead and you want us. ME!" he pointed at himself. "To take your ass somewhere? For what?"

"He said there something for you and I in Janluut."

"You can't get out the woods!" he emphasized. "Well--fuck!"

"My 'uncle' didn't say shit else to you?"

"No--" they turned to the tree. Purple smoke scratched the wood. She couldn't read it but Jingyu could. He moved to the truck of the tree. "Remove the barriers." he read. He looked at Cenisa. "I hate you." he said.

"Why?" Why was he being so rude?

"Because, you're a Jiangshi with connections to spirits!"

"So? I can't control this shit!"

"I'm scared of ghost!" he cried. "Now I have to fuck with them. I lived in a cave!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I don't want to!" he stomped.

"Well," she looked at the tree branch. "I'll do something about it."

"You'll protect me?"

"Yeah…"

"And feed me?" he put his hands together. She didn't dare mention that they would marry.

Cenisa couldn't pick up the largest branch. She search for one more suitable. There was a branch with two thinner branches but it was small.

There was a branch with four smaller branches and the longest had leaves while the others were bare. There was a branch with plume on three smaller arms with some fruit still attached. She took that one.

"Well, you go out first and I'll travel behind you." she said. "At night…"

"Oh… I guess that's a good idea."

"It is. And your hair is white."

"Huh?"