"Incompetent[1]!"
The elderly man frowned at Baili Weibu once and then turned away, leaving abruptly.
"I told you, members of the Baili family cannot have daughters, but you insist on being soft-hearted[2]," the middle-aged man said with anger towards Baili Weibu's parents. "That year, your branch of the family fled from China to Romania in the name of pursuit, all to save the baby girl in the womb. Now look at what your actions have brought upon you? What have they brought upon our entire centaur clan? Pain, strange illnesses, and even death! Your eldest daughter already missed her chance, and now even your younger daughter... alas!"
Before he turned around and left, he coldly remarked to Baili Weibu's father, "This time, it's imperative. We are hunters, and that is a fact that will never change."
Baili Weibu looked bewildered at these angry guests and at her parents, who stood silently with complicated expressions, like students who had done something wrong.
Did she do something wrong? Wasn't it just because she got lost and didn't return all night? But wasn't she now standing before them just fine? Was it necessary to escalate it to the point of saying 'incompetent'?
However, the only strange thing was that when she woke up early in the morning, she was alone in the cave, and Cen Kaiwen was nowhere to be found. She anxiously searched for him nearby for a long time, but found nothing. It wasn't until she smoothly walked out of the forest along the original path and planned to call the police that her mobile phone, which had regained signal, received a text message from Cen Kaiwen - "There is something urgent at home, so leaving first. You sleep like a pig."
She was stunned, and Cen Kaiwen's teasing smile seemed to appear on the screen of her phone. She couldn't help but stick out her tongue at the text message and hurriedly walked home.
When she got back home, she realized something was amiss. Then came the inexplicable accusations.
"Mom, Dad, what's going on? I was stuck in the forest all night, and you didn't comfort me but let outsiders point fingers and scold me?" Baili Weibu pouted and acted clingy towards her parents, sniffing aggrievedly and pretending to cry.
But this time, her parents didn't pat her head lovingly as before, nor did they console her with kind words.
Her father reached into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet, placing it in Baili Weibu's hand.
"Huh? How did my bracelet end up here?" Baili Weibu was surprised as she touched her wrist. The bracelet, with a pure gold monkey charm, was a gift from her mother on her tenth birthday, and it was now in her father's hand. This bracelet was her cherished possession, and she never took it off, even when sleeping.
"Come with me," her father sighed and turned towards the hidden door leading to the basement.
Baili Weibu followed him, her curiosity piqued.
There was nothing special about the basement of her home. It consisted of a corridor connecting three rooms in the shape of the Chinese character 品 (pin), with the room at the end always locked. The other two rooms didn't even have locks. However, she knew that there was a shrine in the locked room, as well as the memorial tablets of the ancestors of the Baili family. Every Chinese New Year, their whole family would go there to light incense, without any elaborate rituals. As for the other two rooms, there was nothing particularly special about them. One was filled with various books, many of which were as thick as bricks and covered in dust. The other room housed a few unimpressive potted plants. Perhaps because of the lack of sunshine all year round, they always look half-dead.
Her father opened the innermost room. To be honest, in the seventeen years of Baili Weibu's life, she had never been in the basement except for the annual ancestral offerings. Her interest in comics far outweighed her interest in those headache-inducing brick-sized books, and as for plants, she had even less interest. She had no idea why her father had suddenly brought her down here when Chinese New Year was still months away.
There were no electric lights in the room, only red candles placed on the shrine and on the wooden platform where the memorial tablets were.
As her father lit the candles, he spoke solemnly: "Early this morning, a man came to me with your bracelet and said that if I don't hand over the antidote for arrow wounds before dawn, your life will end when the sun rises."
Baili Weibu's heart skipped a beat.
"Dad, I...I don't quite understand." Her heart suddenly shook like the candlelights.
"What are we?" her father turned and extinguished a match that was almost burnt to the end.
Baili Weibu was stunned and said: "We...are descendants of the centaur clan, born...hunters."
Her father gazed at the black memorial tablets on the platform and said, "Since ancient times, the ancestors of the centaur clan have been relentless hunters. We are the most fearless and skilled warriors, and every branch of our clan is born a hunter, with the sharpest bow and arrow in the world being born alongside us."
"I know," she looked at her father's serious face and said cautiously, "One of the most famous figures in the centaur clan is Chiron, the origin of the Sagittarius in the Zodiac."
"Yes, Chiron is the pride of the centaur clan’s ancestors. Besides him, our kin are spread throughout the world, and over time, we have gradually become more like true humans, both in our hearts and appearance. But the natural courage of the centaurs and the responsibilities we must shoulder will never change," her father continued.
"I know that too..." Baili Weibu thought for a moment and then asked, "But, what does this have to do with you bringing me here, Dad?"
"As descendants of the centaur clan in the East, who has been our Baili family’s greatest adversary for centuries?" her father ignored her question and continued to ask.
Baili Weibu pondered for a while and answered with uncertainty: "Is it...the Golden Lions?"
Her father sighed and nodded.
"But didn't you say that the Golden Lions were wiped out by us many years ago?" she asked with suspicion.
"In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, our ancestors of the Baili family were ordered by Emperor Wu[3] of the Han Dynasty to hunt down the golden lion tribe and protect the peace of the land. Over the course of millennia, the war between centaurs and lions has never ceased," her father's eyes held the weight of time, and every word was full of vicissitudes of life, "Until a hundred years ago, the golden lion tribe within China were almost entirely hunted down by us, with only one remaining group escaping into the forests of Romania. Your great-grandfather, under the pretext of pursuit, relocated the entire family to the Bucegi Mountains and set up a barrier in the forest where the golden lion tribe were hiding, ensuring that the remaining enemies could never leave this place."
This was the first time her father had mentioned these things to her. In fact, her parents rarely spoke about the history of their entire Baili family and the various centaurs in her presence. For so many years, she had lived like an ordinary person, carefree and living happily in the world. If it weren’t for her father mentioning it so solemnly today, she would have almost forgotten her identity as a centaur hunter.
"Why just trap them?" Baili Weibu's mind was still clear and she pressed on, "Why not just hunt them down directly?"
Her father smiled bitterly. "I asked the same question to your grandfather back then. His expression was just like mine is now." He took a deep breath and continued, "The Baili family's hands are stained with the blood of the golden lion tribe. Your grandfather summed it up with the word 'massacre' to comment on what our ancestors did to the golden lion tribe. Hundreds of years ago, during the Kangxi [4]era, the ancestors of the Baili family, a pair of brothers, discovered a Golden Lion hiding in the capital. It was a female who disguised as a woman and became the wife of a local official. She was already pregnant at the time and was about to give birth..."
At this point, her father stopped.
"They still didn’t hesitate to act?" Baili Weibu was stunned.
"She begged them to at least spare her child and not to alert her husband. He was just an ordinary man, timid but kind-hearted. He was unaware of his wife's true identity. They could do whatever they wanted to her as long as her child was born safely," her father spoke slower than ever before. "The younger brother was moved by compassion, put away his bow and arrow, and urged his elder brother to leave. However, as soon as the younger brother turned around, the elder brother's arrow had already struck the woman in the heart."
Baili Weibu's heart thumped anxiously.
"Before she died, she cursed the Baili family with a hatred deeper than the sea," her father's face flickered in the candlelight, slightly pale, "Many years later, the younger brother said on his deathbed that in this life there are very few things that were etched in his memory, but he will never forget the look in the lioness's eyes after she was shot by the arrow."
"What... what curse did she put on the Baili family?" Baili Weibu took a step closer, grabbing her father's hand.
"Henceforth, whenever a daughter is born in the Baili family, she will fall in love with her old enemy, the Golden Lion. She will not have a good end and she will implicate her loved ones," her father said, each word feeling like a knife being driven into the flesh.
"This..." Baili Weibu felt a buzzing in her ears, "What happened next?"
"The wife of the younger brother, who was pregnant, gave birth to a pair of twins. The baby boy is your great-grandfather, and the baby girl..." her father said regretfully. "When she grew up, she really fell madly in love with a Golden Lion."
"Is this the curse?" Baili Weibu felt slightly relieved. If that was all, it didn't seem so bad.
"If it was merely this, it wouldn't be called a curse," her father saw through her thoughts at a glance and continued, "Shortly after they fell in love, a strange illness befell the entire Baili family. They had high fevers and everything they ate tasted bitter; in short, it was unbearable suffering, and this condition lasted for three months before it ended. However, the youngest child in the entire Baili family at the time, her younger brother, was not so fortunate. He died, and when he died, his body was translucent and looked like a piece of opaque glass, as light as a feather. They tried to pick up his body, but as soon as they touched it, the child shattered into countless pieces, like glass that had fallen to the ground."
Baili Weibu's heart sank at the gruesome description.
"After this child died, misfortune struck another child in the Baili family. His eyes started to turn gray, everything he ate had no taste, he was always weak and lay in bed, exactly like the symptoms of the previous child," her father continued, looking at the flickering candle flame. "This curse not only causes suffering for the Baili family but also targets the youngest child in the family, killing them. If not broken, the Baili family members will die one by one in order of their age." He shook his head with sorrow. "The curse of the Golden Lion... in a way, it's our own fault."
"Then... what's the way to break it?" Baili Weibu asked urgently.
"The woman from the Baili family used the Flame Crystal Arrow, which appears once every ten years in the Baili family, to kill her beloved. She saved another dying child, but committed suicide in front of her lover's body." Drop by drop, wax trickled down the candles like tears and accumulated into a puddle on the platform. Her father continued heavily, "This is the solution. From then on, the Baili family does not allow the birth of female infants. So when it came to your great-grandfather's generation, in the name of hunting down the only remaining golden lion tribe, your great-grandfather left China. Since then, our family has shunned the world and lived in seclusion here. It was to protect his daughter, so she wouldn't be secretly killed by the Baili family due to the curse."
Baili Weibu felt a biting chill run down her spine. She had never known that behind her seemingly simple family, there was such a gruesome and cruel secret.
"We only set up a barrier here and didn't hunt down these last golden lion tribe," her father lowered his gaze and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "It's because we've always felt guilty."
"Dad..." Baili Weibu tightly held her father's hand, her heart suddenly constricted. "Ten years ago, did something happen in our family? That's the year my sister went missing!"
Her father patted her hand gently and said rather helplessly: "So what if you feel guilty, the power of the curse still exists. The reason your great-grandfather gave to have chosen to be 'neighbors' with the Golden Lions was surveillance, but in fact it was to protect them from being hunted by the Baili family again. At the same time, he also warned his children, especially the daughters, not to approach them. In short, for a long time, there was peace between our family and the Golden Lions. We even thought for a time that the curse might have faded away."
Baili Weibu quickly went over the events from ten years ago in her mind, the memories both clear and fuzzy, and a horrifying thought suddenly emerged. "Don't tell me... my sister fell in love with a Lion man?"
"That curse has never disappeared; it's like a ghost haunting the members of the Baili family. We never know when it will strike," her father said, his head hanging in anguish. "None of us expected that Weiqing would fall in love at first sight with that young Golden Lion man. By the time we realized it, it was already too late." He looked at his daughter. "Your memories of that winter ten years ago must be quite hazy because you had a high fever for a long time, and your little brother, Weiyu, has been bedridden since then."
"So, my sister..." Baili Weibu couldn't believe that her sister, who always had a gentle smile, would kill her own lover. But if she hadn't done so, according to the pattern of the curse, Weiyu wouldn't have survived to this day.
"She didn't kill him. That year happened to be the day when the Nine-Color Sunflower blooms once every ten years. These flowers are grown using the blood of centaurs, and when the juice from the stamens is used to coat our arrowheads, they are no longer ordinary golden arrows of the centaurs but Flame Crystal Arrows, capable of killing Golden Lions with a single touch. Only these arrows can truly kill the golden lion tribe. The Flame Crystal Arrow's power lasts for twenty-four hours. That winter, our fellow clan members from China arrived, starting another hunt under the pretext of saving your little brother. However, your sister used her own blood to set up various blocking barriers in the forest, delaying our time. When we finally found that Golden Lion man, it was already late in the evening of the next day, and the Flame Crystal Arrows were about to lose their power. At the critical moment, several Flame Crystal Arrows aimed at the target were blocked by another Golden Lion who suddenly leaped out... his mother. We ultimately lost the opportunity to hunt him and also lost Weiqing. She disappeared," her father said, looking at the ancestral memorial tablets towering in the shadows. "They extracted the blood of that lioness, cut her flesh, and combined it with various herbs to brew a potion, which they made Weiyu drink. While this medicine couldn't cure the root cause, it could at least prolong Weiyu's life, allowing him to survive until ten years later, when the Nine-Color Sunflower blooms again, and the Flame Crystal Arrows reappear. We can then kill the main culprit, completely breaking the curse's evil power," he continued, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "This year's Christmas Eve is also the day when the Nine-Color Sunflower blooms again."
Baili Weibu slumped to the ground, murmuring, "Why... didn't you ever tell me all of this…"
"This is not a good thing," her father's tone was heavy with guilt as he sat down as well. "Your mother and I only wished for you to live like ordinary people. But... the fate of hunters and the curse of the lion tribe has left us with no choice but to face it."
"That man... no, that lion, is he still in the forest?" Baili Weibu suddenly asked.
Her father gave a wry smile. "Silly girl. The person who brought your bracelet back is him!" He paused, "The Nine-Color Sunflower is about to bloom, and our kin arrived as scheduled. On the second day after their arrival, while 'strolling' in Biluo forest, they encountered a young female Golden Lion, who should be his younger or older sister. They seriously injured her with arrows. Although ordinary arrows cannot kill her, the arrows of our centaur clan naturally possess extraordinary power. Once she's hit, her entire body will be wracked with unbearable pain. Unless she is treated with our unique arrow wound medicine, she will suffer to the point of wishing for death."
"Are you saying he used my safety as leverage to get the arrow wound medicine from you?" Baili Weibu suddenly realized that the "classmate" who appeared out of the blue and their "chance meeting" was actually part of a hidden agenda.
"If I'm not mistaken, he lured you into the forest, created an invisible barrier with the golden lion tribe's magic to keep you circling in the woods, making sure you couldn't get out. We couldn't find you. Then, while you were asleep, he took something personal from you to bring it to me in exchange for the arrow wound medicine."
"Did you give it to him?" Baili Weibu asked in a low voice.
"I gave him a bottle," her father nodded. "I've already lost Weiqing, and I don't want anything else to happen to you. If necessary, I'll do things I don't want to do. I don't want to repeat the mistakes of the Baili family, but I have to protect my family." His expression changed, the soft lines on his face becoming cold and hard.
"Dad..." Baili Weibu's eyes welled up with tears, and she rested her head on her father's knee, just like when she was a child.
The candle had burned halfway down, and in the silence of the room, the flickering candlelight enveloped the closely bonded father and daughter, illuminating an infinite serenity before the storm.
The wooden box on the shrine shimmered, like a solemn and watchful eye, observing them in the room.
"Is there really no other way... other than hunting..." Baili Weibu felt that her head was heavy. As she murmured to herself, all she could see in her mind was the playful smile of that man when he looked at her, his concentration as he tended to the brown bear's wounds, and his hidden sadness she sensed in the cave...
The scent of his jacket still lingered on her body.
Even though he had deceived her, she couldn't bring herself to hate him, truly.
Footnotes:
[1] 成事不足，敗事有餘 (chéngshì bùzú, bàishì yǒuyú): Idiom - always failing, never succeeding; plenty of failures, but not much success.
[2] 婦人之仁 (fùrénzhīrén): Idiom - excessive tendency to clemency; soft-hearted [pejorative].
[3] Emperor Wu of Han was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC.
[4] Kangxi is considered one of China's greatest emperors, reigning from 1661 to 1722.
Translator:
So the Bailis hunted down the Golden Lions for nearly 1800 years. That's genocide...
Happy Halloween!👻
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