Oneshot Part 10

Ah Lang asked her what a big city was like. Chunjun said that she had pictures of the city in her cell phone in her room. Ah Lang shook his head and said never mind. The place where family were was home, and memories were also part of a person’s life. The big city was her memory, not his, so there was no point for him to look at it. Chunjun thought that he was right.

Ah Lang said, “Xiao Peng is not considered young anymore among humans. Don’t quarrel with her in the future. Also, Xiao Ping misses you very much. Remember to come back more often to see her every year. When your grandfather passed away, Xiao Ping was secretly wiping away tears every night. Before you came this time, Xiao Ping had finally stopped crying, and she hummed for several nights in a row.”

The fox said at the end, “I take back the betrothal gift. It’s not because you didn’t want it; it’s because I don’t want to give it to you anymore.” He had a cave full of treasures. Humans sang to him to please him. He had thought that the humans were after his treasure, but when he handed them the treasure, they chased after love instead. He really couldn’t understand humans.

In the end, Ah Lang put her down at the entrance of the village, just like how he had sent Xiao Peng home back then.

Chunjun looked at the village, and the doors and windows of every household were tightly shut.

Something wasn’t right.

“This isn’t my village.” She thought that this was also the fox’s tricks and felt a little creeped out. “I thought that we are already friends. You should keep your word.”

Ah Lang smiled helplessly. “This is where you should go. Go now. I’m not lying to you. Trust me.”

Chunjun was skeptical. The fox pushed her forward with his tail, and she began to drag her body into the village with difficulty. Suddenly, a window creaked open. Guizhi leaned out and waved at her, his voice from far to near, “Chunjun!”

*

At the hospital in town, Chunjun woke up from a long dream.

She was surrounded by people, and her eyes rotated with difficulty.

She saw Grandma, Dad, Mom, Second Cousin Sister, Fulin…and…Guizhi?

Her lips moved, and her mother handed her water and a straw.

“You’re finally awake,” the doctor said.

*

She was told that Fulin had been beaten a few times by Big Cousin Sister. That day, Chunjun led Fulin to the restaurant entrance to look at the fishes, but Fulin ran out, saying he wanted to see the cool Mercedes cars. Suddenly, a red car drove up on the street. Chunjun rushed out with all her might and pushed Fulin away. Fulin was completely fine, but she was hit by the car and rolled on the ground. The ground was covered in blood, scaring the onlookers.

For the next two days, she had been in a coma with a broken leg and bruises all over her body. Fortunately, her internal organs were not seriously injured.

When the relatives saw that she woke up, they were finally relieved. Everyone left one after another, leaving only her parents to watch over her. Guizhi also remained in the ward.

There was no one else in the room for a while. Guizhi smiled and winked at Chunjun. He came over and gently grabbed Chunjun’s only uninjured pinky finger. Chunjun shrank like she had an electric shock, which caused her to accidentally tear a wound and grimace in pain.

The boy looked apologetic and retracted his hand. “You really scared me to death. When you were lying unconscious, you were as silent as when I first met you. You never responded to me no matter what I asked.”

Chunjun felt her ears burning, and the pinky finger that he had touched was tingling. She said, “How can I talk when I’m unconscious?”

Guizhi smiled without saying anything.

Chunjun felt that something was wrong. She carefully recalled the scenes when she was in a coma. The betrothal gift, lantern, cliff, fox…

Her face flushed. “Did I talk?”

Guizhi nodded. “Yes. You said you like Guizhi.” He paused, “Which is me.”

If Chunjun hadn’t been immobilized on the bed, she just wanted to crawl and hide under the bed.

Guizhi said some distressedly, “Actually, there are some things I wanted to tell you properly when you go back, but it can’t be helped. You just happened to tell me first.”

Chunjun began to hear ringing in her ears, and her world was spinning.

The boy smiled brightly and warmly. He gently hooked her pinky finger again. “I like you too, Chunjun. I have liked you for a long time.” He liked her so much that he wanted to share every detail in his life with her.

*

Chunjun became a great hero in her family, and her Big Cousin Sister brought Fulin to visit her almost every day.

She recuperated in town, and Guizhi also stayed in town. When he heard about her accident, he immediately approached her parents to tell them his feelings towards her. Now that he stayed in town to accompany her, her family members were happy and excited for her. They even secretly said to her, “The young lad is very good-looking!”

Once when there was no one else around, Guizhi asked Fulin, “I heard that you like your Auntie? And you want to marry her in the future?”

Fulin was the only person in the family who hated Guizhi. He became alerted, “You are an outsider. Why are you asking these questions?”

Guizhi ruffled Fulin’s hair. “I’m not an outsider; I’m your uncle-in-law.”

“You are not,” Fulin retorted.

Guizhi pretended to be serious. “Your Auntie’s favorite person is me, and besides, she doesn’t like boys who are bad at math.”

Fulin burst into tears in the hospital corridor. No one knew what had happened, so he was beaten by Big Cousin Sister again. After returning home, he took out his math homework and started doing it while crying.

*

Most of the time, Chunjun was lying down, while Guizhi was reading beside her.

“Aren’t you going on the class trip?” Chunjun was a little apologetic. “The town is boring. You really don’t have to accompany me.”

The doctor said that she would be discharged from the hospital in a week. Her mother told her that after getting discharged, she could go back to X City earlier, but Chunjun hesitated instead. She thought of what Ah Lang had said, so she wanted to stay with Grandma for a little longer. But she didn’t want to drag Guizhi to stay in this small village as well.

Guizhi said, “Previously when you said you were going back to your hometown for a month, I was thinking, one month was a very long time. But now that we are together, it doesn’t matter where we are.”

He added, “Besides, your hometown is very beautiful, with beautiful mountains and rivers, and the way the people talk here sounded gentle and nice.” Very different from the X City dialect.

There were also many small animals. Yesterday, he even saw a fiery red fox at the entrance of the hospital. It was really stunning, but in a flash, it disappeared into the grass. He didn’t know if it was the one Chunjun had sung a folk song to. He still remembered its name, the legend of the village that Chunjun had told him, the story of Ah Lang the Fox.

END

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