Bai Xue

Bai Xue lived on the backstreet of Pangzhen. An old locust tree stood by the well, where she and Chen Zhu played as children; beneath it the two buried a little clay jar and made a wish together. She called him Dazhu.

Chen Zhu left town for two years and came back in a fighter's garb, heavy with blood and road dust. In Pangzhen he killed Aunt Qin who sold steamed buns, Old Ku the apothecary, and others besides, and told her he was no longer the Dazhu she had known.

She said only that she did not blame him, urged him to repent, and spoke of the old days again and again to prove that nothing had changed while he was gone. The last thing she saw was a cloud she said looked like a little rabbit; before she finished speaking, a broad-bladed greatsword ran her through the belly.

Her awareness was placed in a female puppet at Chen Zhu's side. The old necklace he left behind restored some of it: she knew the necklace for her own, yet could not recall the past, and asked only that someone carry it to Pangzhen's backstreet and fasten it on the real her.