Chapter Fifteen: Wei Xiaoping’s Past Life

In the private room, Wei Xiaoping’s right hand moved ceaselessly over the magical orb, and as his hand glided across its surface, the enchanted mirror on the wall flickered with countless animated scenes. With each stroke, his mastery over the orb grew ever more deft.

In no time, he had already learned how to check the time required to review the records of his past life.

“It takes a whole month just to finish looking over my records? That’s far too long! How could I possibly stay here for so long?” The thought weighed heavily on Wei Xiaoping’s mind.

“Luo Zhifu said that my physical body isn’t dead yet—my soul has only left my body temporarily. Once my body awakens, my soul will return automatically to the world of the living, rejoining my flesh. By then, I won’t be able to check my records here at the All Things Transmigration Inquiry Office in the underworld!”

“So, before my body wakes up, before my soul returns, I have to finish looking over my life’s records as quickly as I can. But if I follow normal time, it will take at least a month! I just don’t have that much time here.”

“It seems I’ll have to choose specific periods to look at—the most important moments of my past. Or perhaps find some way to speed up the process.” Wei Xiaoping worked the magical orb rapidly, his eyes fixed on the cascade of images flashing across the enchanted mirror, unwilling to miss a single fleeting scene, his mind racing for any way to finish more quickly.

“The best way is to select time periods. I have no other choice. But which segment should I pick? What do I most want to see now? Oh, yes—what I want most is to find out whether Wei Xiaofan and I were real brothers in our past lives. That’s what I want to know most. Because in my present life, my bond with Wei Xiaofan is the closest. Yet now, I’ve become his enemy. I need to see why that is. Perhaps I owed him something in the past, and now it’s time to repay him in this life!” Wei Xiaoping pondered.

As he spun the magical orb swiftly, he muttered to himself, “I want to see my records from age one to fourteen!”

No sooner had he said this than the enchanted mirror on the wall began to display a series of animated scenes.

Wei Xiaoping saw in the mirror a husband and wife of about forty, dining with their three children at home.

The man wore his hair short, the woman’s hair was long, and both were strikingly handsome. Among the three children, two were boys and one was a girl, all between ten and thirteen.

The girl, like her mother, wore her hair long, while the boys, like their father, kept theirs short. The family sat around a round table, eating and chatting amiably, the picture of harmony.

And the house they lived in was so different from the one in my present life! The walls inside their home were all white and gleaming—what were they made of? There was some round object spinning on the wall—what was that? And why did their hair float up every time that thing spun, drifting as if blown by wind, yet there was no breeze at all? How strange! And their clothes were odd too; the men’s shirt sleeves and pants were so short—why wear such short garments? The women’s skirts and tops were just as brief. All their clothing was so thin—what kind of fabric is that?

So that’s what people in my past life looked like! Now, which of those children was me? Both boys had features somewhat like mine—so which one was I, and which one was Wei Xiaofan?

Wei Xiaoping was just pondering this when he heard his past life’s mother say in the enchanted mirror:

“Wei Xiaoping, dear, slow down—eat well, then study hard. The final exams are coming, and you must do your best to get into a top high school and make us proud!”

The older boy, munching noisily, replied, “Don’t worry, Mom. Dad, you too—I’m confident I’ll get into the best high school!”

At this, the tall man sitting nearby reached over and lightly patted the boy named Wei Xiaoping, saying, “That’s my good son—just as confident as I was at your age! Ha ha!”

Seeing this, Wei Xiaoping couldn’t help but talk to himself in delight: “So the older boy was me in my past life! I never thought I was even more handsome back then, and my name was the same—Wei Xiaoping. Heh! So if the older boy was me, the younger must be my little brother, Wei Xiaofan, and the girl my sister? My sister in my past life was really beautiful, and my parents so handsome—my past self had such a happy family.”

He continued to muse, “Since our family was so happy, why couldn’t we all be reborn together, or travel to another world as a whole family? Why must we be scattered apart?” Sorrow crept into his heart; the more he saw his handsome and harmonious family, the more he grieved that they could not remain together across lifetimes. “At least my brother has crossed over with me! But where did my parents and sister end up? Could they have crossed over together? Ah…”

Just then, his past mother spoke again in the enchanted mirror: “Wei Xiaofang, Wei Xiaoxiang, you two are twins, the same age, and your grades are about the same. Keep working hard—when you take your high school entrance exams in two or three years, aim to get into the same top school, so you can look after each other. That way, when your father and I come to visit, it’ll be so much easier!”

Both Wei Xiaofang and Wei Xiaoxiang responded together, “Don’t worry, Mom and Dad! We’ve always been in the top five of our grade. Brother, let’s work hard together!” The three siblings bumped their fists together, and the whole family burst out in joyous laughter.

Wei Xiaoping, seeing this, couldn’t help but smile in heartfelt emotion. Yet a touch of melancholy returned. “Was my brother in my past life not the same person as my brother now? Why different names? Then where did my present brother Wei Xiaofan come from—was he reborn or did he cross over from somewhere else? I was human in my past life, and still am—what about Wei Xiaofan? What was he in his past life?”

Unable to find an answer in the enchanted mirror to whether he and Wei Xiaofan were truly brothers in the past, Wei Xiaoping felt a pang of disappointment.

But soon he comforted himself: It doesn’t matter if I can’t see it. Perhaps Wei Xiaofan really wasn’t born to the same parents as me in our previous lives. But now, in this life, he is truly my brother. As long as my body lives, as long as my soul returns to it, as long as I survive in the world of the living, I must cherish and protect him no matter what!

For him to have crossed over or been reborn as my brother in this life, what powerful fate must have brought us together?

So I must treasure, love, and protect him!

At this thought, Wei Xiaoping looked around the room and wondered, Why hasn’t my body awoken yet?

Why can’t my soul return to it?

Did Wei Xiaofan’s thrust truly end my mortal life?

If so, if my body soon perishes, I will never see my brother again!

The thought filled Wei Xiaoping with sorrow once more.