The little figure in the corner of the wall waved a hand, as if swatting away a mosquito. "So noisy." Shifting over, the figure reached out to pull up the blanket—groping once, then twice. Where was the blanket? Where was her big, fluffy blanket? No wonder she felt so cold; the blanket had actually vanished. Was her sleeping posture really that terrible? With a helpless sigh, the little figure opened her eyes.
Her newly opened eyes remained somewhat hazy, requiring a few seconds for the surroundings to snap into focus. Blue sky, white clouds—what a fine day it was. Perfect for airing out blankets, perfect for basking in the sunshine. The figure thought to herself that winter really ought to have a bit of sun.
Sun? The little figure snapped fully awake. How could she possibly see the sun while lying in her bedroom? She sat up. Behind her was a brick wall, and another faced her directly. Covered in writing—a bunch of English sentences, or at least they appeared to be English. They looked weathered and filthy; she seemed to be inside some sort of narrow alleyway.
"What?" The figure stood up. "Weren't I sleeping in my bed? How did I end up here? Did the old lady finally get sick of me and throw me out? Even if she did, she wouldn't dump me in a place like this! What if I freeze to death? Damn it." She muttered to herself.
She looked up at the facing wall. "This wall is so tall. Is it meant to keep out thieves?" She wasn't even half its height. Damn it. Shuxin looked left and right, trying to get her bearings. Forget it; a hopeless sense of direction was nothing to be proud of. Guided by a distant commotion, she decided to head to the right.
One step, two steps—something felt off. Three steps, four steps—definitely wrong. Shuxin finally realized: these were not her legs! She lowered her gaze; these weren't her hands, either.
Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going?
Shuxin hurried back to the wall to measure herself against it. She couldn't be much more than a meter tall. Her legs went weak, and she slumped down against the base of the wall.
Her family name was Shu, and her given name was Shuxin, and she was a young woman. The name "Shuxin" came from the Classic of Poetry, signifying her parents' wish for a girl who was unconstrained by trivialities, refined and full of temperament. Shuxin had lived up to expectations, bouncing her way to sixteen as a hopeless academic slacker, and laughing her way to twenty-eight as an aging spinster.
Shuxin began to review her life. Though brief, it had been long enough. Who knew how much time had passed? Shuxin let out a long breath. Neither at the age of eight or nine, nor at eleven or twelve, did she have any memory of this alleyway. So she hadn't been reborn? Was it transmigration? Was it still the year 2023?
Shuxin looked at the wall opposite her. It must be, she figured. After all, those promotional slogans were written in English letters. It had to be a rather international era. Shuxin nodded knowingly. In her own memories, her childhood was filled with images of red scarves and family planning campaigns; this certainly didn't look like her own childhood.
So who was she, then? What about the owner of this body? At this thought, Shuxin suddenly burst out laughing, picturing a little person waking up to find themselves transformed into a twenty-eight-year-old in a state of utter panic. Still, her mother was a very "gentle" person.
Shuxin sank back into deep thought. What about the original owner's parents? No, that didn't right either. Sleeping in an alley corner like this—could she be an orphan? But wait, shouldn't orphans be in an orphanage? She ought to be in school, too. The original owner should still be under compulsory education. Was today still Wednesday?
Could it be running away from home? Shuxin looked down at her filthy little paws. If so, she had been walking for quite a while. Should she go to the police station to find the original owner's parents, or should she go straight to find her own? She'd also need to find a temple to get herself switched back. Shuxin pondered whether the temple near her house would work. Probably; it had fierce incense burners, where even on the first day of the lunar month people had to fight just to get among the first thousand worshippers, let alone claim the first incense offering.
Shuxin searched through her clothes pockets, pulling out a few coins of various sizes. She didn't recognize them. Truly the work of a runaway child—her pockets were stuffed entirely with arcade tokens, and not a single phone. To run away from home without a cell phone? What an absolute idiot.
"So hungry." Shuxin stuffed the tokens back into her pocket and stood up again. She would keep heading right. Regardless of which set of parents she was looking for, her first priority was to find a police station. She wondered if the kind police officers still provided meals when they found a runaway child; they probably did.
"Heh heh." Shuxin chuckled softly. At least this way she could legitimately call someone "Uncle." Back then, whenever she mentioned "Uncle Policeman," her mother would tease her: "You think you're still a kid? You're thirty years old, and you're still acting like a baby." Her mood suddenly soured again. Just a single night apart, and she suddenly missed her mother terribly.
Short legs were truly inconvenient. Shuxin felt as though she had been walking for ages before running into her first person: a foreigner in a long black coat and a beret, carrying a laptop bag, head slightly lowered, face tucked into his collar as he walked briskly.
Shuxin paused, thinking of greeting this foreigner or at least asking for directions. But the man took one look at Shuxin, wore a look of utter contempt, and actually sidled closer to the wall. Shuxin closed her mouth without speaking.
"I really do smell a bit." Shuxin lifted her sleeve to sniff herself. The last time she had smelled this rank must have been when she was one year old. Oh, boo-hoo, she missed her mother even more now. Oh well, it wasn't the stranger's fault; she wouldn't hold it against him. With her short little legs, Shuxin resumed her march forward.
Outside the alley, it was indeed bustling. So many foreigners—was this some kind of "Foreign Street"? Shuxin had heard that foreign countries had Chinatowns; Hua Guo ought to have something similar.
At the mouth of the alley stood a small grocery store. Its glass window featured a poster of a foreign beauty with an hourglass figure—she looked fantastic. "If I can't switch back, this time I'll definitely keep a tight grip on my mouth and make my legs move, and not be like I used to be. But that's going to be so hard, boo-hoo." Shuxin had never realized she was a girl with such a complex inner monologue.
Shuxin stepped closer to the window, wanting to see what this body looked like. Mm, although a bit thin, she was quite cute—wavy hair, green eyes, and a high bridge of the nose, much like her original self.
Shuxin felt rather satisfied and nodded to herself. But wait, something felt wrong. "Black hair, black eyes, yellow skin, we are all descendants of the dragon..."
Shuxin was a carefree sort of person, true to her name—very Zen-like. But even the most Zen person would be utterly bewildered after waking up to this sort of morning. She kept reassuring herself, talking to herself, running through scenarios of the future, and encouraging herself, until she caught sight of those green eyes, and the final string in her mind snapped.
Though Shuxin was already twenty-eight, her life beneath the red flag had been quiet, utterly ordinary, and smooth sailing. According to her parents, she had never truly grown up, remaining a child who needed their care even when traveling away from home.
There was no denying that those green eyes were truly breathtaking. Even swimming in tears, they possessed an exquisite, fragile beauty that naturally stirred one's protective instincts, making one feel that such eyes deserved to be cherished and protected.
Shuxin slumped down against the wall once more, watching the endless stream of people on the street. So she was no longer in Hua Guo? So she wasn't even a Hua Guoren anymore? How was she ever going to find her way home, Mama?