It was already nine o’clock at night, the darkness thick as ink.
Jiang Yan, adherent of the “sleep when there’s nothing to do” philosophy, put away the answer sheet and climbed into bed.
The livestream chat grew frantic as Jiang Yan closed her eyes before thousands of anxious viewers.
[Urgent! My brain, my brain!!]
[Open your eyes! How are any of us supposed to sleep with you dozing off??]
[You’re so cold and aloof when you don’t talk (kneels)]
[Seriously, Yu Renwan, say something! Are you seriously tucking her in?]
Although Yu Renwan tucked Jiang Yan in, she didn’t leave.
Even with eyes closed, Jiang Yan felt the burning gaze above her like a dangling lightbulb.
After a moment, she opened her eyes.
Yu Renwan’s face was nearly pressed to hers. Realizing the strange pose as soon as Jiang Yan looked up, she jerked back, and—bang—smacked her head against the bedframe.
Yu Renwan: “………”
She looked miserably at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan was used to Yu Renwan’s peculiar actions and quirks.
“Curious?”
Yu Renwan nodded eagerly.
“Why were you so close just now?”
Yu Renwan ducked her head, embarrassed. “I heard if you’re near people smarter than you, you get smarter too. I wanted to see how close I’d have to get to Jiang Jiang to become clever.”
Jiang Yan replied blandly, “You don’t need to worry. Shen Xiaoxiao will always be at the bottom.”
Yu Renwan thought they weren’t talking about the same thing, but after a moment’s thought, nodded solemnly: “Yes, that’s true! Xiaoxiao is adorable.”
[Yu Renwan’s so tactful.]
[What’s Shen Xiaoxiao doing right now?]
[Just checked, she’s happily eating red bean buns.]
Jiang Yan wedged a pillow behind herself, settling into a comfortable posture.
“What aren’t you clear on?”
“Everything, really,” Yu Renwan asked. “Isn’t Taoyuan Village patriarchal? Apart from Yun Fanxing’s family, the rest have obvious favoritism.”
Jiang Yan shook her head.
“I talked with Granny Zhuang this afternoon. She’s lived in a truly patriarchal village and genuinely senses what’s wrong in this one.”
“A real patriarchal village can’t produce girls capable of such resistance.”
“If, from birth, these girls had been told they were worthless, that only brothers mattered, that their duty was to serve men, those beliefs would become natural law—unquestionable truth.”
Yu Renwan paused to think, then said, “So someone taught them to resist.”
“Exactly. Not just one or two,” Jiang Yan replied. “If this village were really so patriarchal, no handful of teachers could make a difference. There’d have to be a constant stream of people, endlessly telling these girls what’s right, teaching them to fight back, until they awoke to their own value.”
Yu Renwan: “You mean, people deliberately did that?”
She whispered, “The girls were pressured by patriarchal thinking, and then some people kept changing their ideas, year after year, pushing them to rebel against the sacrifice.”
Jiang Yan shook her head. “No, I actually think it’s the other way round.”
“From childhood, someone gave them the right education, told them that patriarchy was wrong. When they grew a little, their parents treated them with coldness and favored their brothers—but all the while, someone kept reinforcing their education, plunging them into persistent anger and resistance.”
Her implication was clear.
Yu Renwan’s eyes widened: “You mean… the parents did it on purpose?”
“But why? Why teach them the right things, and then treat them in totally contradictory ways?”
Jiang Yan answered, composed as ever, “That’s the first point I wrote.”
She repeated herself: “Taoyuan Village is incredibly complex—there’s no real patriarchy, at least not in this generation.”
“The village isn’t patriarchal at all.”
Jiang Yan delivered her most shocking words in the calmest tone: “There aren’t any boys this generation.”
“Not just Zhou Xiahua’s brother—Yun Fanxing’s brother too, and Xu Xing’s ‘brother’ as well. Taoyuan Village didn’t produce dragon-phoenix twins, but identical twin girls—every child is a girl.”
“But the girls who were raised as boys never realized it.”
The chat fell silent for several seconds, then exploded—
[Holy crap…]
[I thought it was just Zhou Xiahua’s brother…]
[Wait, I’m baffled, gotta work this out.]
[I think this is possible. If parents deliberately kept the twins apart, never letting them sleep or bathe together, neither child would see each other’s body. So a girl raised as a boy would never know her actual sex.]
[Now I get why Jiang Yan said Xiahua’s brother wasn’t a scumbag—he noticed something strange one day and wanted to check. The first time he peeped, he was scared about making a mistake, so he did it again.]
[And since Zhou Xiahua’s brother thought of himself as a boy for so long, when he realized the anomaly, he wouldn’t first doubt himself—just see that Xiahua’s body was like his, and figure Xiahua was the boy…]
[So he went to peep at Wu Mei next.]
[Shit, it all connects…]
[But how did Jiang Yan figure this out??]
[Because Xiahua’s brother didn’t act like a scumbag—he’d protected Wu Mei, fended off her alcoholic dad, spoken in her defense, never been a voyeur before. He didn’t seem the type.]
[Though to be fair, real people are complicated—some can hurt and protect at the same time. The contradiction isn’t impossible.]
Yu Renwan was thinking the same thing as the chat and asked:
“So all the supposed boys were girls… Jiang Jiang, which clue tipped you off?”
Jiang Yan raised a finger. “Two clues.”
“First, Wu Mei.”
“Wu Mei often hid at Zhou Xiahua’s house, and Xiahua’s brother was often there. For Wu Mei to secretly like him, he must have had redeeming qualities—not just once protecting her, but in everyday behavior. He’d never acted like a voyeur in all those years, but suddenly peeped three times in quick succession—and did a sloppy job, always getting caught. That proves the behavior was abrupt and unpracticed.”
“This kind of fetish never comes out of nowhere. More telling, the day he was supposed to be away, he made a special trip home just to peep at Wu Mei—he was determined. But that alone isn’t proof. What’s more important is Wu Mei’s reaction.”
Jiang Yan continued: “After being peeped at, Wu Mei didn’t immediately tell Xiahua. She left quietly, reflected all day, then chose to end the friendship.”
“Does that match Wu Mei’s character?” Jiang Yan asked Yu Renwan.
Without waiting for an answer, she went on:
“They were about to be sacrificed, yet Wu Mei implied she’d never forgive Xiahua. She, herself, had been wounded by her family. Wu Mei, most of all, could empathize with Xiahua, so such an extreme move was out of character.”
“And there’s the poem at the bottom of the stairs—the one Wu Mei wrote.”
——“I become the world’s wind and rain.”
Jiang Yan said, “That line carries too much self-sacrifice.”
“Wu Mei broke off with Xiahua on purpose—after learning something.”
“My guess is after she was peeped at, she fought back, maybe even scuffled with Xiahua’s brother, and accidentally discovered his true sex.”
“She left Xiahua’s house, learned Taoyuan Village’s deepest secret from someone, and finally made the choice to sever their friendship.”
Yu Renwan needed time to absorb this.
At last, she murmured, “Wu Mei did it on purpose. Breaking up was good for Xiahua.”
Jiang Yan nodded.
“Second clue: Yun Mingyue and Ye Tian’s experience.”
“Taoyuan Village is a paradise, chosen by a deity to escape wartime chaos. The Cow Immortal would never tolerate a harmful god here. And since Taoyuan Village is sealed off by a barrier, with no access to the outside, the Cave God couldn’t enter after the Cow Immortal left.”
Chat was again filled with question marks.
[???]
[Wait, then what about the Falling-Flower Cave Maidens?]
[Yeah, Mingyue and Ye Tian were clearly possessed—dancing by the river!]
“It was all an act.”
Jiang Yan, anticipating the chat’s confusion, looked down and said flatly.
“When we arrived, the two were surrounded by villagers. The shaman kept whispering at them—not to possess them, but to explain, beg them to keep the secret, and teach them how to pretend to be Falling-Flower Maidens.”
As she recalled that scene, she realized she’d been too far to discern their real desires—only saw faces swirling above, and thought their souls were trapped. Later, reviewing it, she remembered their thoughts were just tangled—they were recalling everyone in the village.
Yu Renwan was lost for words.
She fumbled, “But… why?” Why pretend to be Cave God maidens?
Jiang Yan: “Because they discovered the truth.”
“That river, officially forbidden to girls, isn’t barred for male privilege—it’s because, if girls enter, and get close to the ‘boys,’ they’ll discover the boys are really girls too.”
“Even with special medicines to slow their development, there’s no way to hide everything. Clothes help, but underwater, the truth would come out.”
“Yun Mingyue and Ye Tian found out.”
“When we saw them on the bank, their dazed look wasn’t because their souls were stolen, but because they were confused. Later, the shaman taught them what to do, and they did it.”
Yu Renwan was stumped.
And so was everyone watching.
Unable to work it out, Yu Renwan stammered, “But… why?”
“Why did Wu Mei pretend to break up with Xiahua? Why did Mingyue and Ye Tian pretend to be Falling-Flower Maidens?”
Jiang Yan stretched her wrist.
“Because they discovered the truth.”
“They could no longer leave Taoyuan Village.”
“Last night, I put all the pieces together.”
“Ever since Taoyuan’s children became identical twins, the village has been fated to vanish in a few years. But that wasn’t punishment from the Cow Immortal; it was the villagers’ own wish.”
“The faith gods have no gender—they’ve existed since matrilineal ages, and if anything, their bias is toward women. Their doctrine would abhor true patriarchy, and if there were real sacrifices, it wouldn’t always be girls.”
“As I’ve said, the Cow Immortal was corrupted. Though it never asked for offerings, when presented with ‘food’, it may kill without control. And anything devoured by a faith god doesn’t reincarnate—their souls are destroyed. If this pocket world collapsed under the shock, all souls would be ruined in an instant.”
“No sacrifice, and Taoyuan collapses with the Cow Immortal’s death.”
“Sacrifice someone, and those sacrificed are lost forever.”
“This is a Miao village from Xiangxi—skilled in corpse-walking, poisons, and shamanic magic. Before this generation was even born, they must’ve found a way out.”
She unscrewed her water bottle and drank.
Finally, she looked up: “Guess what the method was?”
Yu Renwan stared, her eyes both clear and veiled.
Jiang Yan hinted, “Faith gods most love consuming desires—virtuous gods eat positive desires, evil gods feed on chaos and darkness. Once those are gone, they’ll eat flesh—sacrifice.”
“Each evil god has a preference—some feed only on lust, some on greed, others on anger. Judging by the evidence, the Cow Immortal feeds on anger.”
Now Yu Renwan understood.
She drew a deep breath, her mind lining up every previous clue.
“I… I get it.”
She looked at Jiang Yan. “Anger is the girls’ shield. Only when they’re angry enough—before the Cow Immortal devours that anger—can they safely escape into the world outside.”
“All their lives, parents and villagers pushed these girls, nurturing ever-greater anger. Their families seemed loveless, their parents cold—this was to amplify their outrage. After learning the truth, Wu Mei broke up with Xiahua to enrage her, make her hate her brother, and hate forgiveness. Mingyue and Ye Tian, after learning the truth, acted deranged so the others would grow angrier. Han Yinghuo’s mother knew her daughter was left-handed, yet slashed her right hand—to drive her to despair and greater rage.”
“And Wuhai Girls’ School… it’s to ensure, when they leave, they’re educated and skilled.”
Jiang Yan nodded.
The discussion at an end, she pulled up her covers and settled into bed.
The stream went still for some time.
At last, the comments started flowing again.
[Taoyuan Village planned to stop offering sacrifices after sending out these seven girls—willing to die together with Cow Immortal in eighteen years…]
[There’s no real justice here; most die, a handful survive—only luck or rebellion gets you through.]
[Cow Immortal could die any time, and there are only seven boats left—what hope does the village have??]
[Girls who discover the truth are no longer angry.]
[They’ve understood everyone’s suffering—and have forgiven them all.]