Of Mountains and Rivers Extra 3

Chu Huan parked his car in front of the supermarket and got out to buy a box of oden and a pack of milk. He then opened the trunk, pulled the visibly frightened little girl out from inside, and placed her on the ground, “Here, eat.”

The little girl was tiny and barely reached Chu Huan’s thigh when stood straight. She hesitated for a moment before she awkwardly took the food and bit into the meatball.

She was probably really hungry because once she started eating, she couldn’t stop until she finished the whole bowl of oden. After that, she clumsily used her chubby fingers and tore open the milk straw before asking, unhappily, “How did you know I was in your car?”

Chu Huan rummaged his pocket for a while and fished out a simple tracking signal transmitter. He raised his hand and stuck the device on the little girl’s forehead, then rolled up his pants leg and squatted down, “Did you learn to run away from home at just five years old? You’re quite capable—how many years has it been? You’re the first one bold enough to stick a tracker on my back.”

The little girl sulked, “Are you going to send me back?”

This little girl was Old Wang’s granddaughter, nicknamed Mingming.

Old Wang had a pair of twins as grandchildren, but they were completely different not only in appearance but also personality. The boy was ordinary, playful, and mischievous at times, but when scolded by adults, he listened and knew how to behave. The girl, however, seemed to have been affected by something while still in her mother's womb and grew up to be a little weird.

Her intelligence was obviously higher than other children her age, so she couldn't play with others and had a very isolated personality. She also refused to be disciplined, perhaps with a bit of an inferiority complex. In any case, her biological parents couldn't control her at all. Until now, Old Wang… and Chu Huan, her very distant uncle, were the only ones she somewhat listened to.

Chu Huan asked expressionlessly, "If I send you back, will you just find another opportunity to run away? You fought with your little brother, so your mom scolded you a bit, but you ran away from home. Why are you so rebellious? Your mom has scolded your brother as well, so why was he able to accept it humbly?"

Mingming lowered her head and replied, “Because he’s an idiot.”

Chu Huan sighed. He had a feeling that this girl would be a handful when she grew up. So, he lifted her by the back of her collar, carrying her like a cat, and placed her in the car before saying, "Fine, genius, I'm about to miss my flight."

Mingming sat in his car, excitedly swaying from side to side as she asked, "Uncle Chu Huan, can you take me back to your house?"

"Sit properly and don't move around. There's no child seat in my car," Chu Huan glanced at her, and continued straightforwardly, "Do you know you need your household registration to buy a plane ticket?"

Mingming was stunned. This pre-school genius obviously didn't have this common knowledge. "Then what should I do?"

Chu Huan coldly chuckled, "Don't worry, your grandpa already bought the ticket for you."

Mingming was surprised. "How did my grandpa find out?"

“Duh, your mom knows too,” Chu Huan continued to deflate her ego, “Do you still think your months of meticulously planned escape was impressive? To be honest with you, the only reason they allowed you to wander off is because they trust me.”

The blow to her fragile self-esteem was immediate. 

Especially since these words came from her life idol, Mingming felt that her carefully planned and supposed grand escape had turned into a complete joke. This huge setback was difficult for the child prodigy to bear.

Chu Huan had spent the past few years dealing with the wild children of the Mountain Keepers and becoming adept at playing the tough guy. In this regard, he had learned a lot from Patriarch Luger. Nowadays, even the grown-up Flower Bud was afraid of him. Chu Huan decided to teach her a lesson and remained unmoved by the little girl's heartbroken cries as they drove to the Liyi Tribe settlement.

In recent years, thanks to the local economic development, the roads between the county town and the townships had been greatly expanded. Chu Huan could now drive almost all the way to the Liyi Tribe's river, which was less than forty miles away, even without a horse. He didn't have to endure the days of riding through the mountains like when he first arrived in this area.

And when he arrived, unsurprisingly, Nanshan was already waiting for him at the intersection with his horse.

As long as Chu Huan returned, Nanshan would come with his horse to greet him regardless of the weather.

Every time Chu Huan saw that familiar figure from afar, he would feel that the difference between a "remote and poor village" and "scenic spot" was just one Nanshan.

Mingming looked up at Nanshan and the tall horse, unsure of how to address him. Chu Huan gently pushed her from behind and said, "Call him ‘aunt’."

Nanshan interjected, "Stop making things up—where did this child come from?"

Chu Huan replied, "My godfather's granddaughter. I brought her to play for a couple of days, and then I'll take her back when I go to work."

Nanshan lowered his head and noticed that the little girl was staring at him with wide eyes.

She looked delicate in her little dress while carrying a bunny backpack, completely unlike the other children in the tribe. Suddenly, Nanshan's voice softened, fearing that he might startle her with his usual demeanor. 

He bent down, extending a gentle hand to Mingming. "Do you want to ride the horse?"

Despite being aloof from children her age and often shy around adults, Mingming surprisingly found Nanshan very approachable from the first meeting. Soon, she happily sat on “aunt’s” horse, leaving her cold and heartless idol behind.

"You came back at the right time," Nanshan supported Mingming cautiously as he spoke to Chu Huan, "The Mountain Gate turned last night, and all the Gatekeepers are here. The tribe is lively."

Chu Huan was taken aback, then his expression became complex as he glanced at Mingming. He muttered, "Oh." 

Mingming looked quite similar to her mother when she was young. Chu Huan wondered how Yuan Ping would feel seeing her.

Over the years, Yuan Ping had asked Chu Huan numerous times to bring various things back to his father, but he had never left the river himself. He nobly claimed that the Gatekeepers had never crossed the river since ancient times, which has been a tradition and a rule. 

But they all knew that Luger, despite his cold demeanor, was not really heartless. Especially towards his "son" who took advantage of him shamelessly. If Yuan Ping wanted to go back and visit, would Luger stop him?

But Yuan Ping couldn't overcome his own barrier.

People couldn't come back to life, and he was no longer entirely human. When reminiscing about old friends and relatives, he would always feel timid. Yuan Ping had asked Chu Huan to use his phone to shoot several videos of his father. Every time he got them, he would hold onto them all night long until the phone's battery ran out. Yet his return journey kept getting postponed.

Until it was postponed to a point of no return—his father passed away years ago.

As expected, Yuan Ping was stunned when he saw Mingming.

Mingming, however, immediately hugged Nanshan’s leg and hid behind him while timidly exposing only her head—not that Yuan Ping looked frightening, it was the large snake behind him that was frightening.

Little Green had no intention of slimming down at all. On this side of the mountain, it was fine, but every time the snake went to the other side and encountered the Sacred Spring, it seemed like it had found a refreshing rain after a long drought, and drank its fill and grew vigorously for months. Now, its waist had expanded from the size of a watch strap to that of a door pillar. Another size larger, and it could almost stand as tall as a person.

Nanshan bent down to pick up Mingming, letting the little girl sit on his shoulders. He then turned to Little Green and said, “The child is afraid of you, so don’t get too close.”

Little Green felt that it was already quite handsome and dashing as a snake itself, but for the first time of its life, it felt somewhat rejected because of its appearance. The snake was instantly hit hard by the rejection and dejectedly leaned its big head on Yuan Ping’s shoulder.

However, Yuan Ping was in no mood to comfort the snake. He stared blankly at the little girl who brushed past him, unable to say a word. He grabbed Chu Huan's arm and said, "She… she… she is…"

“Yeah, Lulu’s daughter.”

“Ah.” Yuan Ping exclaimed. After a moment, his shocked expression slowly settled. Then he lowered his eyebrows and looked somewhat desolate, as if a bit lost, "She… is already… this big?"

Chu Huan, affected by his sudden change, also felt a bit world-weary, "Indeed, she's going to be in primary school soon."

Yuan Ping remained silent for a long time before he spoke out, "She… What's her name? What does she like to play?"

Chu Huan replied, "Why don't you go ask her yourself?"

Yuan Ping was taken aback, then suddenly, he saw Chu Huan nodding to someone in a certain direction, "Patriarch Luger."

Yuan Ping was startled, inexplicably feeling a bit guilty. He looked towards Luger, who just gently nodded at Chu Huan, then waved his hand to call Little Green over and gave Yuan Ping a deep look.

Luger said, “If you want to leave, you can.”

Back then, Nanshan had an intention of making contact with the other side of the river, which enraged Luger, almost causing chaos amongst the Mountain Keepers. But now, he pretended to be indifferent and made the biggest concession of his life to Yuan Ping.

After speaking, Luger, who seemed as if afraid of changing his mind, quickly turned around and left with Little Green.

Yuan Ping, forgetting about the little girl who resembled his old love, hurriedly chased after him, "Patriarch!"

No one knew what Yuan Ping said to Luger when he managed to catch up to him, but when he appeared again, it was as if he had severed all worldly ties. He just smiled and chatted with Mingming, earning disdainful looks from the prodigious child from head to toe. After that, he teasingly roasted a piece of meat smeared with honey for her, thus winning the shallow and cheap friendship of the child genius. 

Throughout the entire time, he never mentioned the matters on the other side of the river, as if he had never been there.

After eating her fill with Yuan Ping, Mingming abandoned him and went to bother Chu Huan.

Chu Huan, with a weary expression, stuffed Mingming into the attic of the Patriarch’s house and sat down at her bedside, “And you still want a bedtime story—why are you so troublesome, kid? Sigh… Once upon a time, there was a turtle and a hare…”

Before he could continue, Mingming wrinkled her brow and interrupted him, “Uncle Chu Huan, do you think I have difficulty understanding?”

Chu Huan pinched his brow and said, “Alright—once upon a time, there was a princess. Her mother died and she stayed with her father. Her father, an old man, then remarried…”

Mingming slapped his arm and let out a dissatisfied grunt, “Hmph!”

Chu Huan's patience was completely exhausted, but he continued, "Once upon a time, there was a child who refused to sleep well every day and was always clamoring to hear stories. So one day, he died. Okay, story’s over, go to sleep."

Mingming felt an indescribable brush-off from him, so she pulled out her ultimate weapon: She pouted, and tears started swirling in her eyes.

“Alright, alright, alright. Story time, story time…” After a brief stalemate, Chu Huan finally compromised in exasperation, “I’ve never seen such a troublesome brat like you before.”

But what kind of story should he tell? Chu Huan racked his brains for a while, and then said, "Um, once upon a time, there was a seed. It wanted to grow up, to become as big as the whole world. All the rules within it—like the Earth's rotation, gravity, grass being green, sugar being sweet, and so on—were made by it…"

His story didn't captivate Mingming, but she began to listen increasingly attentively. Half an hour later, Chu Huan's throat was dry. He looked down and found that she showed no signs of wanting to close her eyes, so he reluctantly patted her head, "Finally, we burned down that seed. Alright, the story's over. Go to sleep."

Mingming solemnly said, "I got it. You're telling the story of the universe's big rampage!"

Chu Huan asked, “… Child, is the ‘Universe’s Big Rampage’ some kind of bizarre mobile game?”

Mingming was probably smarter than other kids, but she was still a preschooler. Smart as she was, her intelligence was limited, so she could only clumsily piece together fragments from what she heard on TV, "It's about a very, very small… "

“Seed.”

“A seed,” Mingming gestured, “And then ‘BOOM’, it grows into a very big…”

She was lost for words again.

Chu Huan took off his glasses and wiped them as he said softly, "Universe."

Mingming nodded vigorously, "The universe that grows from a seed is also growing bigger and bigger!"

Chu Huan pulled up the blanket and tucked her in. He said bluntly, "Yeah, you're really clever, but it’s time to sleep."

After he was done speaking and was about to leave, Mingming grabbed his shirt hem and asked a sharp-witted question, "So are we living inside a seed?"

Chu Huan paused his steps and asked, “What do you think?”

Mingming pondered anxiously for a long time before answering, "We might be living outside of a seed, or we might be living inside a seed. We could be living in a good seed, or we could be living in a bad seed, right?"

Chu Huan raised an eyebrow slightly, suspecting that the reason this child didn't fit in might indeed be because of her extraordinary intelligence.

Ming Ming grew increasingly perplexed, "But where are we then?"

"I don't know," Chu Huan replied softly, "No one knows where they are, understand? Alright, I know you don't understand. Please, I beg you, just go to sleep."

"I'm afraid to sleep," Mingming pouted, "What if I'm in a bad seed?"

Chu Huan hesitated for a long time, then bent down and said to the little girl, "If at any second, you don't know where you are, then wherever you are doesn't matter. At that moment, just live through it and don't jump to conclusions. But if at any second, you know you're inside a bad seed, then don't deceive yourself. From that moment on, try to find a way to escape—well, I know you still don't understand, so just treat this as just a story. Only bugs can live inside seeds. Now, go to sleep."

After Chu Huan was done speaking, he gently retrieved his shirt hem from the little girl's hand and switched off the light.

As he told the story, the melodious sound of a leaf flute outside the window never ceased. It wasn't until Chu Huan closed the door and came out that Nanshan set aside the flute. He turned to Chu Huan with a smile, and extended a hand to him.

As long as one doesn't deceive oneself and remains clear-minded at every moment, then—having someone like me is not in vain.

END.