"Come back quickly, do you hear me...?" Anger laced with an unquestionable authority hung in the air. Yet that figure walked further and further away amidst a cacophony of surrounding noise.
"A move made cannot be taken back..."
Xitong found herself trapped in a pitch-black spatial dimension, unable to move. From time to time, a crackling static of electric current echoed through her mind, piercing her cerebral nerves and numbing her five senses.
Was she dead? Probably, Xitong thought, before sinking heavily into total darkness.
Chapter 1
At the foot of Tianyu Mountain, rushing streams abounded. The terrain was steep and treacherous, impossible for people to climb casually.
At the foot of the mountain stood a thatched cottage enclosed by a wicker fence. In front of the courtyard grew a tall ginkgo tree, beneath which sat several elderly men and women dressed in coarse cloth. From time to time, they glanced toward the fenced courtyard, then whispered among themselves. "Do you think Granny Yu can pull this off?"
"Hard to say, but surely..." The rest of their voices trailed off into silence.
After a while, the wicker gate was pushed open, and sparse sunlight spilled into the courtyard with the opening door. An elderly woman with graying temples stepped out, wearing a dark cyan cotton tunic, her hair neatly coiled into a bun held by a wooden hairpin. She raised her head, cast a cool, indifferent glance at the people standing before the gate, and said, "This little girl and I are fated. From today on, she is the child of us Tianyu people. This old woman does not want to hear a single unpleasant word." Having said that, regardless of whatever thoughts the others might harbor, she shut the door right in their faces to spare herself the sight.
Back inside, Granny Yu looked at the infant still swaddled in blankets and blowing tiny milk bubbles. A web of wrinkles softened on her stern, aloof old face into a smile. "Little girl, from now on, the two of us will depend on each other, alright?"
As if she understood Granny Yu's words, Little Tuanzi responded with a smiling, "Yi-ya."
"Let's choose a name for our Little Tuanzi. What shall it be?" Amused by the baby's reaction, Granny Yu's smile grew even more pronounced. After pondering for a long while, she gently tapped Little Tuanzi's cheek with her finger.
"Let's call her Shuqi. Books should be read with joy and easily finished; friends one longs for may never come."
"Yi-ya..." The baby murmured unconsciously, revealing tender pink gums as she grabbed Granny Yu's deeply wrinkled forefinger with two plump, dumpling-like hands.
"You like this name, don't you, little Shu?" The little milk dumpling giggled.
Smiling, Granny Yu tucked the blankets around Shuqi and gently placed her on the kang. She took her own quilts and arranged them in a circle around Shuqi to ensure the child's safety, and only then did she rise and go to the kitchen. She fetched the meager grain she had left, built a fire, stirred up some rice mush, and mixed a small half-bowl to feed Shuqi.
Four years later, in that very same fenced courtyard, the sound of reading drifted out from time to time. The soft, sweet, childish voice could melt anyone's heart. Not to mention her skin, which was as smooth and white as mutton-fat jade, and her pitch-black eyes that blinked like the dewdrops in the eyes of a little fawn in the mountain forest. She was Yu Shuqi, the baby girl rescued by Granny Yu four years ago at the foot of Tianyu Mountain.
"Little Shuer..." Granny Yu's voice arrived before she did. Hearing her granny call, Little Tuanzi scurried on her short little legs to open the door. "Granny, so many things!" Her little milk-sweet voice was filled with pleasant surprise.
Granny Yu carried a full bamboo basket of herbs on her back, held two plump rabbits in her hands, and had three pheasants resting by her feet—it was a bountiful harvest indeed. Seeing her granny step inside, the little girl scurried outside like a little thief to look left and right. Making sure no one else was watching, she patted her small chest, slipped back into the courtyard like a burglar, and briskly latched the gate.
"Granny, you must be tired. Quickly, drink some water, make sure you don't stay thirsty."
"Alright, Granny will drink right now. Our Little Shuer is still small, you must remember to rest properly too, you hear?" Granny Yu finished the water Shuqi handed her in one gulp and said gently.
"There's a grand market in town in a few days. Over these next two days, Little Shuer will keep Granny company and properly process these herbs. When the time comes, Granny will buy some flowered cloth for Little Shuer to make a new dress."
Hearing this, Shuqi's little eyes lit up. "Granny should make a new dress too. Granny hasn't worn a new dress in such a long, long time. When Little Shuer grows up, Little Shuer will earn lots and lots of money to make new dresses for Granny."
"Alright..." Granny Yu replied. Shuqi smiled, looking as if she had made a solemn resolution. Young as she was, Shuqi had always known that she was different from the other children in the village. She had no parents, only Granny. She was the one Granny had picked up on Tianyu Mountain four years ago while still in her swaddling clothes, and Granny had raised her ever since.
Before Little Shuqi could walk, to keep Little Tuanzi safe, Granny had placed her in a small wicker basket and taken her along up the mountain to gather herbs. From sunrise to sunset, the two of them lived a life that, though poor, was carefree and far easier than that of many other families.