And so, Ju Nian transferred from Cuihu Elementary School near the Procuratorate to Taiyuan Elementary School in the suburbs. At that time, there were still farmlands in the suburbs, and the roads were not as easy to recognize as in the city. On her first day of school, her aunt took her for a walk, just to help her get used to the way.
"Do you remember the way?" Auntie asked.
Ju Nian nodded.
She remembered it then, but when she walked home alone after school at Taiyuan Elementary School for the first time along the winding paths, she easily lost her way. She walked and walked, but couldn't figure out which side her aunt's house was on.
The elementary school students who had all rushed out of the school at the same time gradually disappeared from Ju Nian's sight. The children who had been walking in the same direction with her vanished after several intersections. The further Ju Nian walked, the more deserted the path seemed. The sun slowly sank below her left, and Ju Nian finally stopped, turning around aimlessly. The sunset in the suburbs was unfamiliar, the undulating waves of the distant rice paddies in the wind were unfamiliar, the inconspicuous white wildflowers at her feet were unfamiliar, the earthy smell in the air was unfamiliar, every direction—north, south, east, and west—was unfamiliar… Everything she could perceive was unfamiliar.
She knew she couldn't keep blindly walking forward. Following the route her aunt had taken her to school, she should have been home by now. Her aunt and uncle were probably waiting for her to eat. She had just moved into someone else's house and didn't want to cause them so much worry and trouble right from the start.
Ju Nian regretted it. When she first felt lost, there were several classmates ahead and behind her. Although she didn't know any of them, she could have asked them for directions. She shouldn't have been so shy. Now, everyone had gone home, like birds returning to their nests at dusk, leaving her alone.
Just as I was wondering what to do, the wind blew the grass in front of me down a bit, revealing a person's back. The person was wearing white clothes, squatting down, quiet, silent, and motionless, and I didn't know what they were doing.
Ju Nian looked around and saw no one else. Not wanting to stay lost until dark, she mustered her courage and took two steps forward.
"Hello...
The person remained motionless, lying in ambush in the grass.
The scene of a body abandoned by the roadside that Ju Nian had read in the book suddenly took root in her mind. It really wasn't a good thing for a child to read too many random books. This person had been squatting there for more than just a short while. Could he be dead? Ju Nian wondered to herself.
To this day, Ju Nian still doesn't know why, when she was ten years old, she didn't run away when faced with the back of someone who looked like a "corpse," but instead walked up behind that person in a panic, timidly and tremblingly extended a finger and poked the person's back.
When Ju Nian first touched the man's back, the man moved his shoulder. But when Ju Nian thrust harder the second time, the man leaped out of the grass like a monkey with its tail on fire.
The movement was so sudden that Ju Nian was startled, and even her scream was caught in her throat. The other person seemed just as shocked as she was, taking a step back and patting his chest, still shaken.
Why are you out here scaring people in broad daylight?
"I thought you were dead. Yes, I'm sorry." As soon as the words left her mouth, Ju Nian realized that she had probably said something wrong. Why would she curse someone who was perfectly fine to die?
She waited for the person to reply, "You're the one who's dead." But the person paused for a moment, lowered the hand that was patting its chest, and then laughed.
Now Ju Nian saw clearly that the "dead person" she had mistaken for in the bushes was just a little boy about her age, and what else could that white uniform be but the school uniform of Taiyuan Elementary School? Strangely, the boy was thin, but had a completely bald head, his entire back of his head so shiny it was like a mirror, and with the oversized school uniform, he looked exactly like a little monk who had run away from a temple to beg for alms.
A young monk lurking in the grass.
For some reason, Ju Nian also found it somewhat funny and foolishly laughed along with the boy.
"You're still poking me even though I'm dead?"
The boy wasn't much taller than Ju Nian; the wildly growing weeds had already reached above his head, and two narrow blades of grass lay across his cheeks, their tips a vibrant green with a hint of yellow. Perhaps the grass tickled his face, he reached out and brushed away the annoying leaves. He was like a clean and bright little monk, as pure as a lamp before a Buddha.
"I wanted to ask you for directions, so I called out to you, but you didn't respond," Ju Nian said, stopping her laughter and sounding slightly embarrassed. She was in third grade, and children her age already knew that boys and girls were different, let alone a stranger.
"Your voice is so soft it's like a mosquito's buzz, who can hear you? You suddenly poked me and almost scared the soul out of me. Asking for directions, where do you want to go? You don't look familiar, you don't live around here, do you?"
Judging from his appearance, he seemed like a local tyrant.
Ju Nian didn't say much, but simply asked, "Classmate, do you know which way to Xie Maojuan's house?"
"Xie Maojuan?" the boy repeated, as if digesting the name.
"Yes, she's my aunt, and my uncle's surname is Liu. Do you know where they live?" Ju Nian began to show some disappointment. She hadn't visited her aunt's house many times over the years, and she didn't know how to describe its features. The area wasn't small, and judging from his frown, he probably didn't know.
“Oh, Fruit Liu, I know him.” The boy suddenly smiled brightly, turned around and pointed in a direction. “Look, walk towards that sugarcane field, go through it, it’ll be closer that way, and then you’ll see a really tall dawn redwood tree. You know what a dawn redwood is, right? Turn left at the tree and keep walking, you’ll soon reach Fruit Liu’s house.”
Ju Nian looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a sugarcane field that stretched as far as the eye could see.
"What, you're going to take the main road? You've already gone astray; if you take the main road, it'll probably be dark by the time you get home. Don't you trust me?"
The "little monk" tilted his head, looking very serious.
"Huh? I believe you."
To prove her trust, Ju Nian indeed walked towards the sugarcane field. She hesitated five times after taking five steps, and finally decided to turn back and ask a question.
What were you doing squatting down just now?
"There's an ant nest on the ground. Hurry up, or your aunt will worry. Remember, turn left at the tree, and keep going, keep going..."
It took Ju Nian a long time to cross the sugarcane field. The sugarcane leaves brushed against her exposed skin, making it red and itchy. There was even a cut on the back of her left hand from the sharp edges of the leaves. But all Ju Nian could think about was getting back to her aunt's house as quickly as possible.
The sugarcane field finally came to an end, where a bamboo grove stretched out before them. There was a path leading directly to the bamboo grove, but where were the dawn redwoods? Ju Nian anxiously looked back, only to see the pale yellow leaves of ripe sugarcane. It was no longer possible to confront the boy.
There was only one road ahead, and Ju Nian had no choice. She thought that there might have once been a dawn redwood tree here, and the path was right to the left of it. For some reason, the tree had been cut down and its roots dug up, but the boy didn't know.
She walked and walked along that path, the sky turning gray, dark gray… the moon had already peeked out from the other side. Wasn't this path closer? Why did it seem to stretch to infinity? Her aunt's house didn't appear, no one's house appeared, and all around were slopes upon slopes of bamboo forest, no human voices, only the chirping of insects.
When darkness finally enveloped her, Ju Nian finally believed that the clean-cut, bald boy with the bright smile might have deceived her. Why would he play a trick on a stranger? The answer no longer mattered. Ju Nian didn't even know how to stop; she just kept walking and walking. The earth is round; hadn't Columbus already proven that?
Visibility on the path was extremely low; the only light she could rely on was a faint glimmer of moonlight on the horizon. In the desolate countryside, under a dark and windy sky, a lone little girl was vulnerable to anything terrifying. Ju Nian trembled, afraid that a white-clad, red-lipped female ghost might suddenly emerge from the bamboo forest. She desperately tried to banish these thoughts from her mind. In the moonlight, besides ghosts, there were also fairies, adorable fairies.
Ju Nian quickly slipped into her own little world. The tightly closed door shielded her from the terrors of the outside world, allowing her to stumble and stagger along, but never stopping. No matter how dark it was outside, in her little world, the moonlight was clear and gentle, and the flowers were fragrant.
She didn't know how long she had walked, wandering aimlessly. As she walked, for some reason, the end of the road seemed unimportant, whether her aunt's house was on the other side didn't matter, and even why her parents didn't want her became unimportant.
What is there to be sad about? Moving from her parents' house to her aunt's house is just moving from one place to another. Her heart has always lived in her own world, and she's doing just fine.
Xie Junian, a third-grader, suddenly felt enlightened while getting lost. Could it be that the wrong path pointed out by the boy who looked like a little monk had given her a Zen-like insight? Just like the Buddhist story she heard later in life, where the Buddha smiled at the Vulture Peak assembly, and everyone was silent except for Venerable Kasyapa, who suddenly understood. Haha, one mistake plus another becomes the right one, like two negatives making a positive.
Unexpectedly, the lost child had a smile on her face. She had unknowingly walked to the end of the path, where a long, winding concrete staircase stretched out, seemingly leading to either heaven or hell.
Ju Nian was exhausted. She couldn't remember ever walking such a long way alone before. Her bangs were wet and stuck to her forehead. She sat on the first step, took off her schoolbag, and wondered if anyone would come looking for her. If she quietly starved to death in this desolate place, would she look terrible?
She rested her head on her schoolbag on her knees and actually dozed off. When she woke up, she heard calls coming from near and far in the night.
"Year of the Orange... Thank you, Year of the Orange..."
Accompanying the shouts were beams of light from numerous flashlights.
Ju Nian's heart tightened, pulling her back to reality. She had gotten into trouble, and the adults were searching for her everywhere.
"I'm here! I'm here!"
Was her voice loud enough? Could the person searching hear her?
"I knew you'd be here!"
The little monk's face appeared behind a bright light. Ju Nian shielded her eyes, noticing him approaching, and leaned down to examine herself sitting on the steps.
"Are you stupid? I was just kidding you. I waited for you to turn around at the other end of the sugarcane field, but the sun went down and there wasn't a soul in sight. Why didn't you turn around?" the little monk asked.
Ju Nian used the same reasoning she had used to convince herself to convince him: "The earth is round, why should I turn back?"
The little monk, mouth slightly agape, plopped down next to Ju Nian. "Stupid, stupid!"
Ju Nian wasn't stupid. She said, "You're the stupid one. You lied to me, then came all this way to find me. By the way, when was that dawn redwood tree cut down?"
How did you know that a dawn redwood tree there had been cut down?
"You said it!"
The little monk shone a flashlight upwards onto his face, and smiled in a sinister and terrifying way.
"You're so strange. You didn't even ask me why I was playing a trick on you. Do you even know where we are?"
Ju Nian shook her head blankly; she truly didn't know.
"This is a martyrs' cemetery. Go up the steps and you'll find the martyrs' tombstones. There are so many dead people buried there. It's a good thing you weren't stupid enough to climb up there at night."
“The ghosts of martyrs are all good ghosts!” Ju Nian said with certainty.
“Wrong! Besides the ghosts of martyrs, there are many, many other vengeful spirits. This place is remote, and it's not a time to commemorate martyrs, so very few people come here.” The little monk lowered his voice and made a frightened expression. “I’ve heard that many murders happen up here. Do you know what kind of sounds the ghosts of the unjustly killed make when they appear… It sounds like crying, laughing, and the meowing of a wild cat. These ghosts can also transform, from one to two…”
"Hehe, hehe." Ju Nian suddenly laughed, startling the little monk who was telling ghost stories.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked in astonishment.
Ju Nian sincerely praised, "You're really interesting."
As they spoke, the adults' footsteps drew closer.
"Orange Year, Orange Year, are you there?"
Ju Nian quickly suppressed her smile, grabbed her schoolbag, stood up, and prepared for anything.
My aunt, uncle, and one or two other adults I didn't recognize came.
As soon as Auntie saw Ju Nian, she rushed over, feeling both angry, anxious, and relieved.
"What a terrible thing! You're a little kid, what are you doing running off to this gloomy, ghostly place after school? You're going to drive me crazy! I'll tell your parents!" Auntie spun Ju Nian around, only breathing a sigh of relief when she found that Ju Nian was unharmed. Uncle also kept a stern face and didn't say a word.
"Tell me quickly, what are you doing here?" Auntie asked Ju Nian, but glanced at the little monk.
Ju Nian couldn't help but turn her head to look at the little boy, who was playing with his flashlight.
"I got lost and wandered around until I ended up here. This classmate found me."
"Lost? How could you be so clumsy!" Auntie grabbed Ju Nian's hand without any curiosity. "Come on, let's go back. I was so busy looking for you that I didn't even have time to eat dinner. I lost you on the very first day. How can I face your parents?"
Ju Nian was surrounded by several adults as she walked forward, but she kept looking back. The bald little boy remained standing in the same spot, as if his flashlight was the most fun toy in the world.
“Aunt, he…” Ju Nian asked timidly.
Auntie walked very fast, and Ju Nian had to jog to keep up.
"That's the son of a murderer, he's no good. Stay away from him, and don't you dare play with him!" The aunt warned in a low voice only after the boy was out of sight.
"Aunt, what's the murderer's son's name?"
“Witch Rain”.
Looking back now, I realize that I first learned the name Wu Yu from my aunt's disgusted mouth.
--Wu Yu.
He is Wu Yu. A boy one year older than Ju Nian, a "little monk" who was unconventional as a child and shaved his head, the son of a murderer, an infant who was briefly adopted and then abandoned by his aunt and uncle, and... the most precious scar in his memory.
Chapter Eighteen: Fate in the Palm of Your Hand
Aunt's house was actually at the foot of the mountain on the other side of the Martyrs' Cemetery. When Ju Nian first met Wu Yu, he led her on a huge detour, ending up on the opposite side. After this embarrassing experience of getting lost, Ju Nian remembered the way back to her aunt's house perfectly.
When people ask her, "Where do you live?"
"I live below the martyrs' cemetery," Ju Nian said.
The aunt heard this and spat repeatedly. "Children say whatever they want, children say whatever they want. You're talking nonsense, only a dead man lives under a martyr's grave!"
To be fair, my aunt and uncle treated Ju Nian well. They took in this unpopular child and provided her with everything she needed in life.
My aunt is a plump woman. Everyone says that nieces resemble their aunts, but Ju Nian doesn't look like her at all. Except for her eyes, everything on Ju Nian's face is small, while her aunt's features are much larger. Ju Nian thinks that when she gets old, maybe one day she'll look like her aunt.