Cataclysm Chapter 75: Afterbirth 1; School Opening Ceremony

Chapter 75: Afterbirth 1; School Opening Ceremony

Translated by Kirio of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

During the process of the jiangshi blood exchange, the rest were outside the back room. Du Shuo went in alone to complete the process, except for Chen Yang who went in the middle of the process to provide his blood. The blood used did not specifically have to be the blood from the heart ¹, so Chen Yang did not feel any major discomfort after providing the blood, except for some lightheadedness.

After he got out, Ji Jiang asked anxiously, “How is it?” Behind her stood eight maojiangs. A few of them were too tired to stand so they knelt on the ground and looked at Chen Yang anxiously. They wanted to go closer to him but were worried of scaring Chen Yang, while also afraid of the copper coin red string bracelet on his wrist.

“It’s still in progress, everything should be fine.”

The group waited in silence and anxiety. Time passed little by little until the doors finally opened. Ji Jiang and the eight maojiangs retreated several steps in fear but their gaze did not leave the door. Chen Yang walked over and asked, “How is it?”

Du Shuo replied, “It’s done.” 

Ji Jiang and the eight maojiangs cheered instantly and smiles appeared on Chen Yang and the rest’s faces. Chen Yang took Du Shuo’s arm and said softly, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Du Shuo smiled as he said, “Bring her out again in a couple of days, let her get used to being out. Although a feijiang does not fear the sun but we had just only replaced her blood, to suddenly get exposed under the sun, it’s inevitable that she will get burned.” It was a rare sight to have him give so much advice.

Ji Jiang respectfully replied with a ‘yes’. Then, along with the eight maojiangs, they kowtowed with full respect² towards Du Shuo and Chen Yang, “We are forever grateful for your help.” When the gratitude is so great, any promises or speeches of repayment seems profound and frivolous, one can only engrave it in one’s heart until they die.

Du Shuo reached to grab Chen Yang’s hand and interlocked fingers, “Let’s go. We can come back in two days to see her.” Chen Yang nodded and the two left in unison.

Ji Jiang apologized to Kou Xuanling and promised to restore the fengshui of Bijia Mountain to its original state. But upon learning that they had decided to relocate their ancestral tomb, she said, “Then let us help you find a new site with great fengshui. These eight people behind me are all talented people, and this gentleman was once the leading geomancy master back in Jin Kingdom.”

Kou Xuanling did not refuse the offer, to have a geomancy master from the Warring States period was very rare, so he naturally agreed immediately, “Thank you so much.” After saying that, he turned to Lu Xiuzhi, “Ah Zhi, let’s go.”

Lu Xiuzhi nodded. He raised his gaze and saw Du Shuo and Chen Yang holding hands while interlocking fingers. Then he turned to look at Kou Xuanling, who was a meter away from him, and felt very envious. When passing by Ji Jiang, a book was shoved into his hand. Lu Xiuzhi looked at Ji Jiang to find the latter’s smirking eyes as if hinting at something. He frowned, slightly displeased. As he was about to throw away the book, he caught a glimpse of the big title written on it: One Secret Spring Night³

He stopped for a few seconds and accepted the gift. Kou Xuanling saw a vague shadow of a book and curiously asked, “Ah Zhi, what’s in your hand?”

“Nothing, there’s nothing here.” Lu Xiuzhi spread out both hands to show him. Indeed, there wasn’t anything in his hands.

Kou Xuanling immediately brushed it off and laughed at his silliness, “I must have seen wrongly. Let’s get going, Chen Yang and the others are waiting for us.”

“Okay.” Lu Xiuzhi responded.

Chen Yang was uncertain and asked Du Shuo, “Brother Du, did Lu Xiuzhi take a book just now? I recall seeing him holding one.”

Du Shuo pondered for a while, then said, “No, you must have seen wrongly.”

“Oh…okay.” Chen Yang believed Du Shuo. In the meantime, Du Shuo was thinking about when he would want to borrow the book from Lu Xiuzhi since there’s no way to tell when he’ll be able to court Kou Xuanling, he might as well lend it to someone with a spouse first. That way, it won’t be a waste of resources.

One should never underestimate the limit of men with, or about to have, spouses. Even those who appear to look serious or abstinent. However, Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling were absolutely clueless at the moment.

The Kou family elders heard that they will be seeing Kui Xuan in two days, so they cleared out the room and redecorated it, filling it with many toys that a nine-year old would love. After some consideration that she had lived for more than 2,000 years, Chen Yang finally decided to get her a smartphone.

Chen Yang handed the phone to Du Shuo and said, “Install a few games in it, those dress-up games girls like nowadays. Don’t install mobile games for her, or else she’ll get addicted to games like Zhang Qiudao.”

Du Shuo took the phone and downloaded the games as Chen Yang requested. After that, Chen Yang followed the ladies of the Kou family along with a notebook to ask them for advice on how to raise a child. After a few days of relentlessly getting everything ready, Chen Yang left for Tiewei Mountain to meet Kui Xuan.

The team that originally had only two people eventually developed into a formidable procession with the addition of the elders from the Kou family. Upon entering Tiewei Mountain’s town, the townspeople thought this group of people were setting out to exterminate the wandering spirits and ghosts there.

There were two doors in the ancient tomb, one can only be opened during certain hours and the other was the door that Chen Yang and the others used when they entered through the narrow cave entrance. Kui Xuan came out from the same narrow cave entrance. Ji Jiang followed behind her with an umbrella to ensure that Kui Xuan would not get exposed to the sun directly. The eight maojiangs were under water, dragging the raft from underneath. They stopped when they reached their destination.

Kui Xuan was adorned in a set of heavy palace clothes, her face all tensed, back straight and head held high. She wanted to step onto the shore by herself but found out her legs were too short after multiple failed tries.

Kui Xuan blushed and looked at the people who were on shore, waiting for her. Taking into account her pride, they pretended to be looking elsewhere, be it the sky or the ground, exchanging pleasantries instead of looking at her. Kui Xuan quietly sighed with relief and looked up at Ji Jiang.

Ji Jiang, who was holding back her laughter, quickly regained a composed expression when she saw Kui Xuan turn to her. She picked her up and placed her on the shore before handing her the paper umbrella. Kui Xuan held the umbrella and strode over towards Chen Yang. Her seemingly calm posture masking her nervousness.

“Hello, C-Chen Xiaoyang.”

Chen Yang picked Kui Xuan up and smiled, “Hi there Kui Xuan.”

Kui Xuan hated getting carried, as it made her look very short, but she liked it a lot when it was Chen Yang. She repositioned the paper umbrella to block the sunlight above their heads and looked at Du Shuo. She gave Du Shuo a haughty nod, “Thank you.” She was thanking Du Shuo for changing the jiangshi blood for her.

“Welcome.”

Chen Yang introduced everyone from the Kou family to Kui Xuan, who made an effort to keep up an aloof face but also greeted them politely, “My neighbors, thank you so much for stopping those grave robbers and not letting them destroy my tomb. Please, accept these as a token of appreciation. Jiang.”

Ji Jiang waved her hand towards the bottom of the water, and the eight maojiangs climbed up to shore, carrying a wooden box. They placed the wooden box in front of the Kou family, and when they opened the box, the treasure inside almost blinded the family.

“A small token of appreciation, hope you’ll like them.”

The Kou family was reluctant to accept the unexpected treasure but Ji Jiang smilingly persuaded them to accept it. Her words were filled with reason and compassion, so it was very hard to refuse. After all she was Kui Xuan’s first diplomat, eloquence was her forte.

Uncle Kou squeezed his way through to meet Kui Xuan, his expression more solemn than hers. He and Kui Xuan looked at each other for a long time before saying, “You’re Kui Xuan?”

“Yes.”

Uncle Kou patted Kui Xuan’s head and sighed, “Good child.” Then, a layer of tears covered his eyes and before he knew it he was sobbing and was about to say something. Father Kou was quick to cover his mouth and the other brothers rushed forward to pull him back.

“Huh??” Kui Xuan was very confused.

“It’s nothing, let’s go back. We have prepared a room for you and there are many presents too. Let’s go check it out now.”

The group left Tiewei Mountain with great grandeur. Kui Xuan lifted her paper umbrella and turned to look back. From afar, she could see Ji Jiang and the eight maojiangs were still standing there, quietly watching her as she left.

Kui Xuan was a jiangshi, she could not feel pain nor did her eyes get sore. There were no tears to vent her complex feelings at the moment. She seldom spoke with anyone, nor seen anyone outside the tomb, which made her cherish these feelings more.

In her case, be it father or mother, or siblings, they had long turned into the earth on the ground. It was Jiang and the eight maojiangs who stayed by her side, from the Warring States period from 2,000 years ago to the present day. The eight maojiangs treated her as their master, but most of the time they acted more like her worrying family. Jiang was both her father and mother, and her biggest wish was to send her out of the tomb. For this very wish, they gave up the opportunity to reincarnate and chose to turn into jiangshis.

Kui Xuan quietly looked at Ji Jiang and the eight maojiangs. They too quietly looked at her, as if silently bidding her farewell and their blessings.

—

The room arranged by the women of the Kou family were very thoughtful, considering Kui Xuan’s actual age, they did not choose pink but instead a pale yellow to give the room a warm and welcoming feel. The room was decorated with educational toys and dolls. Most of the gifts sent over by the men in the Kou family were filtered, leaving only the normal looking ones. The men in the Kou family were terrifyingly insensitive, what was on their mind when they actually sent over machetes, bows and arrows and even an Ultraman suit. For. Adults!

Chen Yang put Kui Xuan down and led her into her room, a gentle smile on his face, “Do you like it?”

Kui Xuan nodded, “I like it. Where does Chen Xiaoyang live?”

“Next door.”

Kui Xuan smiled and walked into the room. She sat on the soft bed and wiggled her dangling feet, saying, “This bed is so soft. So comfortable,” she tilted her head and continued, “I used to sleep in a bronze coffin. One day, someone arrived(buried in), and I liked her stone coffin, so I exchanged with her. I slept in her stone coffin and she slept in my bronze coffin.”

“Exchange? Did the other party agree?”

“She’s dead, so she can’t speak.”

“So, was it your one-sided decision?”

Kui Xuan shook her head, “No no, I asked her soul.”

Chen Yang was confused by Kui Xuan’s words, “Then you buried the bronze coffin in the Kou family’s ancestral tomb? Did the other party agree to that as well?”

Kui Xuan cocked her head to the side, eyes wide and filled with questions, “She reincarnated, her remains were of no use anymore. Was I wrong?”

Chen Yang reached for his nape, it wasn’t exactly the right thing to do but he couldn’t pinpoint where the problem was, “I guess it should be fine.”

Kui Xuan smiled brightly, hopped off the bed and pulled Chen Yang to sit on the bed with her, “Does Chen Xiaoyang have something for me?”

“Yeah,” Chen Yang took a box from his backpack and handed it to her, “how did you know?”

“Chen Xiaoyang is very easy to read, whatever’s in his heart is written all over his face.” Kui Xuan gestured at his face, “I can tell so easily. Chen Xiaoyang, you’ll get deceived very easily,” she sighed like a senior, “no wonder you were deceived for so long.”

Chen Yang felt a little humiliated and pinched Kui Xuan’s cheeks, “Why are you like an old man?”

Kui Xuan muttered that she was indeed already old, so it was normal to act as such. Chen Yang let go of her cheeks and prompted, “Open and see if you like it.”

“I’ll definitely like it,” she said as she opened the box. In the box was a smartphone, she took it out, and eyed at it curiously, “A phone?”

Chen Yang was slightly surprised, “You actually know what this is?”

“I do, Jiang gave me one before, she said that I can talk to Chen Xiaoyang this way, even video call you too. There wasn’t any reception so it never got through, so I could only play games on it. Plus, it’s very battery consuming. There aren’t any charging ports in the ancient tomb, so it felt rather pointless to use it.” Kui Xuan replied seriously. “But of course, this is a gift from Chen Xiaoyang, I will definitely cherish it.”

Kui Xuan, who cherished it so much, she later asked Mao Xiaoli to send the phone over to a jewelry store to encrust it with gold and diamonds. But unfortunately(?), since she looked so young, people thought they were all fake stones and did not even bother to steal it. (((LMAO, kid’s got a problem))

“I asked Brother Du to download some dress up games for you, it’s quite fun. You can try the game, but do not get addicted to it. The phone’s fully charged and there’s reception, so you can use it to reach me via call or video call.”

Kui Xuan immediately felt like it was impossible to part with this phone. When she unlocked it, the first app she saw was the dress up game Chen Yang mentioned. It had a scary looking ghost picture on it, it instantly ignited her interest, so  she tapped on this app called ‘The Forbidden Land of the Living’. She then piped up, “This is really fun!”

Chen Yang took a glance and his expression turned dark. He asked Du Shuo to download a princess dress up game popular among little girls, but the guy actually downloaded a horror game. Chen Yang looked it up and found out that not only was the horror game the trending game for being realistic, it was also sarcastically dubbed as a dress up game due to the many looks and outfit change of the game’s main character.

“Chen Xiaoyang, are you upset?” Kui Xuan asked.

“I’m fine. Screen time is no more than half an hour, got it?”

“Okay.” Kui Xuan was a good girl. After, Chen Yang brought her out again to familiarize herself with the place and to meet the others. The Kou family knew her real identity, so they treated her nicely. And since Kui Xuan’s men helped the family find a site that had even better fengshui than Bijia Mountain, they treated her even better. They have moved their ancestors’ remains to the new site and the ancestors were very happy too.

Chen Yang stayed in the Kou Residence for about half a month before leaving. The women were very attentive and prepared parting gifts for each of them from the branch division according to their personality and characteristics. The insensitive men also prepared gifts for each of them, magical weapons and…each a set of Ultraman suit, for adults.

The women covered their faces in utter embarrassment while the men wore a proud expression on their faces. Kou Xuanling’s eight-year-old nephew patted his chest proudly as he said, “Just accept them. Don’t worry, I can buy them again when I get older.” His expression clearly said this action was equivalent to parting with his own flesh and blood.

“Thank you,” Kui Xuan said solemnly and pulled out her favorite red palace dress from her treasure box⁴, “this is for you.”

The nephew instantly felt insulted but looking at Kui Xuan’s serious expression, he could only silently, and tearfully, accept the red dress only worn by girls. He was obviously a boy with a pee pee. Poor thing.

When they were leaving, Kui Xuan asked Kou Xuanling, “Is he upset? Did I give the wrong gift?”

Kou Xuanling stifled a laugh, “No no. He’s just overjoyed.”

–

At the branch office, Mao Xiaoli propped her face while watching. Zhang Qiudao was peeking on and off from his game and only when he was accidentally killed when he averted his gaze to peek, he decided to give up and just look at the scene in front of them openly. Ma Shanfeng, who was seated across from him, was holding a cup of tea, sipping away.

The atmosphere was…weird.

When Chen Yang stepped into the room, he froze, “What are you guys doing?”

Mao Xiaoli’s expression was complicated, “Well well, it’s only been half a month since we saw you and you brought back a nine-year-old daughter. Our amazing Brother Chen!”

Zhang Qiudao added, “No less from our Director Du.”

Ma Shanfeng took a sip of his tea and said, “You had a child out of wedlock?” He recalled that Chen Yang had only been married to Director Du for five years.

“…What the hell?” Chen Yang was dumbfounded.

Mao Xiaoli pointed at Kou Xuanling, who was just nibbling melon seeds (watching the entire time at the sidelines), “He said that she’s your daughter.”

“Well, if you’re going to put Kui Xuan on the registry, she’s going to be placed under your household registry⁵, so she’s your daughter on papers right? I’m not wrong there.”

Chen Yang raised his eyebrow, “Besides being our daughter, she could be my sister too.” He was sitting next to Kui Xuan, so he introduced her to the rest of the branch office, “Kui Xuan is a 2,000 years-old feijiang and she’ll be living here at the branch office.”

“Feijiang? Jiangshi blood?” It immediately caught Ma Shanfeng’s attention. Zhang Qiudao and Mao Xiaoli also became tense and serious. Chen Yang explained, “Calm down. Kui Xuan’s jiangshi blood has been replaced with human blood.”

Only after he told them the part where Du Shuo had changed out Kui Xuan’s jiangshi blood did they calm down. They were back to their relaxed self again. Chen Yang and the others were not experienced with dealing with a child’s matters, but fortunately they had Ma Shanfeng. He was a person with a wide network of connections, so things would definitely get done smoothly without a hitch. He would take care of the formalities needed for Kui Xuan’s registry, including admitting her into school.

“School?” Chen Yang and Kui Xuan looked at each other, “Which school are you enrolling Kui Xuan in? Elementary school?” To let a 2,000 year-old attend reading classes with real nine year-old children felt like it was too hard for her.

Ma Shanfeng pondered for a while and said, “If she can learn all the syllables of the primary level, then she can skip straight to middle school. Nine year-old prodigies who skip a few levels are not considered very out of the ordinary in the capital, so it shouldn’t attract too much attention. We’re only letting her learn how to socialize with people in school. If we bring her back to the branch office but not let her out, it’s no different than being in an ancient tomb.”

Chen Yang nodded, “You are right.”

Kui Xian cocked her head to one side, “Chen Xiaoyang, am I going to attend classes in a school?”

“Are you okay with this?”

Kui Xuan shook her head, “I haven’t been to one before.”

Her round eyes looked at them innocently, it was enough to melt one’s heart. Ma Shanfeng placed his cup down, walked over and squeezed himself in between Chen Yang and her, “Kui Xuan, call me Grandpa Ma.” Did he just shamelessly ask a 2,000 year-old child to call him ‘grandpa’?

However, after Kui Xuan obediently called him ‘grandpa’, Mao Xiaoli and Zhang Qiudao both went over to the group and had her call them ‘big brother’ and ‘big sister’. Chen Yang’s lips twitched, what a group of shameless colleagues I have. 

At that moment, Fattie’s loud voice came from outside, “Chen Xiaoyang, I heard that you’re back!” When Fattie sauntered in, the few in the branch office could only describe the scene as a walking mountain of flesh, it was a round mountain!

“Fattie, you’ve been eating well I see. Did you gain weight again?”

 Fattie slowly moved his round head and said, “It’s Zhongyuan Festival, the hell gates are open and so many people gathered around the Taoist temples to bring their offerings. They’re so many good offerings. I’ll shed the weight after I digest them.”

Offerings are in the form of incense, so what he ‘ate’ was technically inhaled. Of course he would be bloated now. After digesting them, Fattie will return to his original 75kg. To Ma Shanfeng, his original appearance was already considered as slightly fat, the Fattie now was really fat. He felt like if he were to tie a string to Fattie, he could just easily float away like a balloon.

Mao Xiaoli and Zhang Qiudao exchanged glances and the two quietly went around Fattie and placed a scale under him: 90kg!

Fattie was dumbfounded, he could not believe what he was seeing. He swung his tail left and right, his composure back, “No biggie, I will lose weight.”

“What if I ask Xiaoli to draw up a talisman for you to help with digestion. You really ate too much.” Chen Yang offered.

Fattie refused, “It wasn’t easy to reach this feeling of fullness, so I don’t mind even if I overate, I am enjoying this.” He was a Cat Ghost, and they could only feel full from ‘eating’ offerings. Fattie was very sensitive when it came to this matter, eating dried fish would not satiate his hunger but it would make him gain weight.

Because of the whole Xu Ani incident, Fattie didn’t dare to eat any offerings and had been hungry for thousands of years. Only until after Xu Ani’s capture did Fattie let go of his worries and ate like there was no tomorrow, and accidentally ate until his current state.

Kui Xuan looked at Fattie with curious eyes. To her, Fattie was just a Ghost Cat that had fully satiated its hunger. Fattie locked eyes with Kui Xuan, the fur on his body instantly stood on end, “Jiangshi!!!”

Kui Xuan blinked a few times, showing her two sharp fangs and hissed at Fattie. As if his tail was stepped on, Fattie let out a loud scream and jumped up on the table and got into a fighting stance, ready to take her on. But what Fattie did not account for was that with his current weight, he only managed to leap halfway before falling with a loud ‘clang’ on the table.

Everyone was quiet for a moment and Chen Yang cleared the awkward silence with the same question, “Do you want talismans? The ones that help with digestion.”

“…Yes.” Fattie slid himself under the table and tried to blend in with the rug, he became a really fluffy mound of a rug. His rolls were so squishy, as if it could easily be kneaded like clay.

Kui Xuan prodded Fattie’s rolls of soft flash and the round mountain beneath her foot shivered in fear. She smiled from ear to ear, it seemed like she had found something to play with!

–

Ma Shanfeng was quick in Kui Xuan’s registration and enrollment. He selected the nearest school from the branch office, the quality of teaching of the school wasn’t that bad. The most important part was that students didn’t have to stay on campus, so she could also come back for lunch at the branch office.

Kui Xuan was registered under the household registry of Chen Yang’s parents, making her his sister, Chen Kuixuan. After the documents were approved, Chen Yang personally sent Kui Xuan to take the test to skip a few grades. She was very smart and even though she was unfamiliar with simplified Chinese, it wasn’t that hard to master.

As a result, Kui Xuan had successfully passed the test to skip grades and officially became a middle school student.

 

The author has something to say:

The placenta(紫河车) is indeed a type of placenta(dried human placenta), although it sounds really disgusting, but some people think consuming it is very good for the body, while some think it causes a lot of infectious diseases.

This arc is not going to be about the real ‘placenta’, don’t worry, it’s not scary, I promise.

 

 

 

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