Chapter 130: That Four-Leaf Clover Pendant Will Never Fall (3) |
"How do you know those two characters?"
Zhang Shutong looked at Gu Qiumian as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Auntie said them in the hospital room at noon today."
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that his mom had still let it slip, though at the time he'd been lying unconscious in bed with no energy to care about nicknames or anything else.
Gu Qiumian asked again if it was his childhood name, saying it was quite cute. Zhang Shutong felt a bit defeated and didn't really want to talk to her.
What transfer student, what butterfly flapping its wings—it was all a trap Gu Qiumian had dug. Previously, Zhang Shutong had thought she wasn't dumb, in fact quite clever, but now seeing her cleverness in action was downright terrifying.
"Can you please not be so childish," Zhang Shutong said helplessly.
At these words, the princess-like Gu Qiumian returned.
She frowned, ice-cold:
Zhang Shutong knew what she meant—she was talking about not hiding things from her concerning her own matters, not playing the nameless hero, not running around everywhere risking his life. Come to think of it, from Gu Qiumian's perspective, she'd gone out with him last night, then he'd abandoned her in the middle of the night and run off again, nearly getting himself killed, all supposedly to catch the so-called culprit. Even so, it left one's feelings in a complicated mess.
This was probably one of those two accounts.
But Zhang Shutong couldn't figure out where the other account came from.
"It'd be a real shame if you don't inherit your dad's business in the future," Zhang Shutong said sincerely.
"What would be a shame?" She wrinkled her nose.
"How is it I'm always owing you two accounts?"
Gu Qiumian first wanted to laugh, then forced her face straight:
"You still have the mood to joke around!"
"It won't happen again," Zhang Shutong could only say. "I scared myself plenty this time too. Fortunately, the mountains near your place are low and the snow was thin—dangerous but ultimately safe."
His intention was to apologize. After all, Gu Qiumian had heard "sorry" so many times her ears had calluses, so he had to take a roundabout approach. But when Gu Qiumian heard this, she neither laughed nor continued being angry. Instead, she fell silent.
"Why do you always say such flippant things?"
After quite a while, she said softly:
"Do you know how many people are fine one day, but then suddenly disappear the next?"
Zhang Shutong said of course I know. He added silently in his heart, that's what happened to you last time—you thought you'd returned home safely, but then something suddenly happened.
But Gu Qiumian said you clearly don't know:
"I just want to tell you that sometimes there are no warning signs like you imagine. It might just be an ordinary evening. You ate dinner together, she came to your room and kissed your forehead and said goodnight, but you didn't say goodbye to her because you never imagined she would disappear. It really was just a very ordinary evening, a very ordinary moment. No wind, no rain, not even a special day worth commemorating, but that person suddenly disappeared. After a long time passed, you realized it had been the last time you'd see her.
"But you had so much you didn't get to say to her. You keep dreaming about her. I've heard people talk about this feeling too—like when you're dreaming, you don't know you're dreaming. You just think the person who disappeared long ago has reappeared before your eyes. You're so happy, so excited, you want to cry. But I know it's fake. At least for me it's not like that, because I'm too greedy. Even if I dream of her, so what? When I wake up, everything goes back to how it was. So in the dream, how could there be any joy? There's only fear."
"Do you understand? Only fear." Gu Qiumian looked up at him.
Zhang Shutong didn't know how to respond. He could roughly guess that Gu Qiumian was talking about her and her mother. Actually, everyone has some secrets hidden in their hearts.
The two of them sat side by side on the edge of the bed, simply looking down at the floor. Zhang Shutong occasionally glanced at the pendant behind Gu Qiumian's ear. Now it hung quietly in her hair, no longer flying about as before. So he nodded hesitantly, deliberately changing the subject:
"What did your father say about it?"
"What do you mean 'what did he say'? He made tons of phone calls today, probably trying to find that person. If it were that easy for him to just leave, that would be the strange thing." Gu Qiumian muttered. "Besides, I just told you all that and you didn't listen at all, did you? Then I won't say anything more in the future."
"I was listening."
"Don't do this again."
"Mm."
Zhang Shutong had initially thought Gu Qiumian was a superb actress—not long ago in the corridor talking about transferring schools was an act, then coming back to the room with her powerful aura was an act, even just now when her eyes got a bit misty was an act. But actually it wasn't. Now he pulled out two more tissues and handed them to the girl, not knowing how to comfort her. Some things don't get second chances.
"Actually, I've seen Auntie," Zhang Shutong finally said.
"You..." Gu Qiumian paused, stunned.
"Remember that day we watched the movie downstairs at your place? The family portrait fell, and I went upstairs wanting to help hang it back up, but Auntie Wu wouldn't let Teacher Song and me go in. When Auntie Wu was steadying the frame, I happened to see Auntie's photo. Although most of it was blocked, the part showing Auntie was just visible—she was wearing white gauze..." Zhang Shutong didn't know how to describe it. Saying things like young, beautiful, or gentle all seemed inappropriate. He just followed his heart's feeling: "Her smile was very beautiful."
"Mm, her smile was very beautiful." Gu Qiumian smiled gently too.
The hospital bed faced the window. When they sat down, they could see the scenery outside. Zhang Shutong hadn't checked his watch and didn't know the time, but dusk had arrived. The sky was painted with the last wisp of orange-red afterglow. Perhaps because they were in a small room, today's sunset seemed especially large, almost filling the entire window.
The view was excellent, stretching far into the distance—nearby buildings like tofu blocks, distant rolling mountain ranges, the lake surface glinting at the horizon, everything dyed orange-red.
Winter night was about to fall, but it didn't feel cold at all. There was air conditioning here, and also a small color TV.
He asked:
"Want to watch another movie?"
"Wait, what did you just say?" Gu Qiumian's eyes widened, her rosy lips forming a small 'o' shape.
"Watch a movie—I promised to finish watching it with you yesterday." Zhang Shutong said, picking up the remote and finding China Central Television Channel 6. The signal wasn't great. "Though it might not be Roman Holiday anymore."
"No, I'm asking what you said before that!" Gu Qiumian grew anxious.
"That day we watched the movie downstairs at your place..." Zhang Shutong said, puzzled.
"And then?"
"The family portrait fell."
"Next sentence!"
"I wanted to go in and set it upright, but Auntie Wu wouldn't let me in..."
"So you were standing at the study door, the family portrait was blocked by Auntie Wu, and in the end you only saw a small part of the photo," Gu Qiumian spoke rapidly, completing the rest for him, "You didn't see anything else, including me and my dad?"
"Of course not. Why?"
Zhang Shutong didn't understand why she was reacting so strongly. Should he not have mentioned the family portrait? Did Gu Qiumian not want others bringing up her mother?
"Why didn't you say so earlier! I thought, I thought... you blockhead! Dummy! Idiot!"
Her fair skin was also染红 by the sunset, flushing all the way to her ear tips:
"I'm leaving! The driver's still waiting for me downstairs. As if we're that close—who wants to watch a movie with you..."
She stood up as she spoke and went to pull the door open, but it didn't budge. Only then did she realize she'd locked the door herself earlier. She turned to glare at him:
"Bye-bye, dummy."
Zhang Shutong felt the avalanche must have frozen his brain, otherwise how could he completely fail to understand what Gu Qiumian was saying:
"What's suddenly wrong with you?"
"Don't. Know!"
Saying this, the corners of her lips curved into a bright smile.
Zhang Shutong watched her rush out of the room, her small boots clicking on the colorful terrazzo floor, making da-da sounds. Her steps were quick yet light, and that silver pendant always lagged half a beat behind her, swaying in her hair, but it would never fall.
...
"I've already found it."
Lu Qinglian placed the clay figurine sculpture on the stone bricks. She straightened her back and looked at the old woman standing at the side hall entrance:
"What is this?"
"A clay doll."
"Clay doll..."
Lu Qinglian softly repeated these two words, then turned her face. She looked toward the right wall of the temple. The entire wall was covered with already-faded murals that had been passed down for who knows how long.
Lu Qinglian looked at the lower right corner of the mural.
Blue paint represented the lake water.
Black paint represented the swamp.
Green paint represented weeds.
These paints had long since faded, as if covered by a layer of dust that couldn't be wiped away, but it wasn't hard to distinguish black and green surrounding blue.
A doll with indistinct features and an endearing appearance lay inside.
The doll was entirely earth-yellow, or rather, the paint originally used to draw it had been some kind of clay.
Lu Qinglian silently continued looking.
After this mural came a person lying horizontal on the ground, eyes tightly shut, surrounded by more people whose eyes were painted as inverted triangles, perhaps representing sadness.
The third scene: the person with tightly shut eyes appeared in the swamp.
The fourth scene: the clay doll had disappeared, the person with tightly shut eyes had also disappeared, the swamp was completely empty.
The fifth scene: the person with tightly shut eyes reappeared among the crowd.
The dead resurrected.
The mural ended abruptly.
Lu Qinglian withdrew her gaze and turned to leave.
But the old woman called out to her:
"Tell me, how did you encounter it?"
"By chance."
"Continue."
"I knocked that person unconscious, and following what you said, I took it to that water area to the west."
"Who had it transformed into before?"
"I don't know them."
"Put it on the altar." The old woman's voice was very low, scratching across the stone slabs like shattered glass.
She watched the young girl place the clay doll before the divine statue. The candle flame on the nearby candlestick was weak, its light licking at the clay doll's body. This clay doll had no features, only a blurred face, dim and unclear, seeming to smile yet not smile, like a child's ornament.
"Good child."
The old woman's tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed:
"Good child, you're even better than I thought. It only took you less than five days to find it."
The old woman had waist-length silver hair. She hunched over, slowly walking to the young girl's side:
"I said long ago that you shouldn't forget your duty. You are the temple keeper. Apart from this mountain, apart from serving the divine, think of nothing else."
The young girl had a tall figure. The old woman's height barely reached her shoulder, so the old woman extended that withered, thin palm and gently patted the young girl's back. With each word spoken, her palm fell on her body. Time seemed to shuttle back to when she was in her prime, only now she could no longer stroke the young girl's hair:
"Are you cold? Are you hungry?"
Lu Qinglian only shook her head, expressionless.
"You've worked hard these past days."
The old woman said slowly:
"Unlike your mother. She wouldn't listen to me, insisting on being with some man, clamoring to go see the outside world. Fortunately, she left you behind. Tomorrow you should go see her grave."
Lu Qinglian looked toward the deeper part of the altar. Besides the candlestick and clay doll, there were actually memorial tablets arranged there.
Small plaques carved from wood, placed together—these were the memorial tablets of generations of temple keepers.
Lu Qingkui.
Lu Qinglan.
Lu Qingcheng.
Lu Qingying.
Lu Qing...
Lu Qinglian withdrew her gaze and said calmly:
"I'm a bit tired. If there's nothing else..."
"Of course I know you're tired," the old woman interrupted her for the first time. "It's been snowing these past days, and you've been running around outside, haven't you? You've never taken care of yourself since you were small, coming home so late every day. I've been watching all along. Of course you'd be tired. Tell Grandma, what have you been doing these past days?"
Though the woman's voice was harsh, it gradually grew gentler. One old and one young, two women stood before the divine statue, rarely chatting about everyday matters. The temple was wreathed in faint smoke, time itself slowed down, and the candlelight quietly licked at their faces.
"Just this one thing was busy enough."
"True." The old woman spoke to herself. "After all, only five days. Grandma is old, my body has had some problems. These past days I've been staying in the side hall, haven't come out at all. Cooking, sweeping snow, wiping down the divine statue—I've left all these things for you to handle with confidence."
She paused, stopping her hand that had been patting the young girl's back, and said kindly:
"Time was so tight, and you had to go to school and handle those chores. Naturally, you were too busy to spare any time. Now this matter is finally over, so..."
Suddenly, a muffled sound—her palm struck heavily on the young girl's back:
"So, Lu Qinglian! Tell me! When did His right eye shatter!"
In that moment, sparks flew!
In the flickering flame, Lu Qinglian let out a muffled grunt, her body trembling unexpectedly. She immediately looked toward the Green Snake's right eye. The agate that had clearly been sealed with wax somehow now had another layer of cracks.
"Did you think you hid it well, or did you really think I've gone blind?"
The aged voice was like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. All this time, she'd been slowly slithering through the grass, waiting to strike.
"You—yes, you've also started having thoughts you shouldn't have."
The old woman stared at her intently, those cloudy eyes covered with a layer of white film.
"It was my mistake," Lu Qinglian lowered her eyes. "On the afternoon of December 5th. That day after I finished sweeping the snow, it suddenly cracked."
"Why didn't you say anything?" She demanded.
"Because repairing it would be very troublesome. I shouldn't have tried to save trouble by covering it with wax."
"Save trouble? Or play dumb?" The old woman said darkly. "You really don't know what this means?"
"I forgot," Lu Qinglian said in a low voice.
"I should have told you before. Now I'll say it one last time: when His right eye shatters, it means someone has returned from the future!"
The old woman's voice suddenly became shrill. She coughed heart-wrenchingly, yet still insisted on finishing her words, one syllable at a time:
"You don't know how long I've waited for this day. Find him—no matter who it is, no matter what methods you use! Bring him to the temple! Right now, you have only this one task. Don't let me discover you have any other thoughts!"
When the young girl raised her head again, her eyes had already returned to ancient-well stillness. She softly uttered a single word:
"Yes."