As a child, Celestial Candle had nearly died in a great flood. She was just a little girl then and didn't reme…
As a child, Celestial Candle had nearly died in a great flood. She was just a little girl then and didn't remember much. She only recalled that it had rained for a very, very long time that year, and then came the icy water, chilling her bones with pain. Although a neighbor uncle later saved her, Celestial Candle was left with a lasting fear of water.
Her parents scolded her plenty for it, but she just listened with her hands at her sides, accepting the hitting and the cursing—as if losing the will to resist could buy her a moment's peace. Her parents' shrill voices rang in her ears, and somehow, these curses would occasionally overlap with the sound of water. The unspeakably filthy words became blurred.
She shook her head, trying to drive the sound of water from her mind, but the motion only incited her father's anger further. A loud slap brought years of grievance surging to her heart. But in an instant, she instinctively suppressed the turmoil inside, simply obediently waiting for the storm of insults and blows. In her mother's arms, her younger brother slept soundly.
At that moment, the sound of water didn't seem so terrifying anymore.