Raising a child is too hard. Even if you feed them on time and take careful care of them, they still won’t grow up smoothly without a hitch. The Swamp Monster had nearly raised Jiang Xiaoya to death once before; that was not long after summer had passed.

Jiang Xiaoya was an especially healthy child. She was brimming with energy— even if her walker was tied to a tree stump, she could still clang-clang drag the stump around and run wild; because she retained a bit of memory from her previous life, she always felt she was an especially smart child, with one mischievous idea after another popping out, climbing up and down at home, wang-wang running all over the place. Perhaps because of these reasons, her body was exceptionally good, and she never even had the usual headaches or fevers common for children her age.

Children are afraid of the heat, and Jiang Xiaoya loved most to follow the Swamp Monster into the swamp, lying prone atop a huge lotus leaf, or sitting on a floating log, being pushed along toward home by the Swamp Monster.

But the scorching summer had already passed, and the temperature dropped without anyone noticing. Not long after autumn arrived, Jiang Xiaoya caught a cold and developed a fever; her head felt muddled, and the world in her eyes seemed magnified, as if she had eaten mushrooms.

Outside the window, torrential rain poured down. She subconsciously pressed her hot little cheek against the side of the Swamp Monster’s neck.

The Swamp Monster heard the child’s breathing become rapid and shallow, like a little fish stranded on shore. It leaned in to look— the child’s eyes were tightly shut, her whole body slick with sweat.

It heh-heh tried to call her awake: Little one, wake up.

But the clingy little beagle, who was usually always stuck to it, had no reaction at all, her body frighteningly hot.

As a monster born from the swamp, it had never had a concept of illness. When winter froze everything over, it only needed to quietly wait for the thaw; when injured, as long as it endured the pain, it would always slowly heal. The Swamp Monster clumsily touched her forehead with its cheek— scorching hot. It let out anxious heh-heh sounds, an unprecedented helplessness and panic surging into its heart.

It tried to cool her down with its own face, tried to nudge her awake by rubbing against her, rubbing her again and again with its face.

Hou-hou, baby.

But it was clearly useless. After a while, not only did the child not wake up, she became even hotter, letting out uncomfortable whimpers. Jiang Xiaoya was noisy and annoying— just yesterday she had tied a whole bunch of knots into its long hair, and the Swamp Monster had been very angry— but now it felt that it might be about to lose this little nuisance.

Very quickly, the Swamp Monster knew what to do. It looked toward the human base; there was a hospital there, with many children inside.

On a night of torrential rain, the Swamp Monster arrived at the entrance of the human hospital. It knew it couldn’t directly appear inside a human hospital carrying Jiang Xiaoya. Because the last time it appeared, the people of the entire city started screaming, then shouting as they fled in one direction.

Back then, it truly had hated and detested humans, even wanted to swallow the city whole.

The Swamp Monster was very smart. It could smell the scent of fear on humans. Once they discovered its existence, they definitely wouldn’t save Jiang Xiaoya. So despite being extremely worried and on guard, it secretly placed Jiang Xiaoya at the nurses’ station, and hid itself outside the window.

Very quickly, a nurse discovered Jiang Xiaoya, flusteredly scooped the child up, and called for a doctor.

In the pouring rain, the massive being hunched its body, vigilantly staring at the scene inside the hospital window, vertical pupils contracting into a thin line, pale fingers gripping the wall tightly: if they harmed Jiang Xiaoya, there was no doubt that this terrifying monster would charge in and turn the place into a swamp.

But evidently, things were not as serious as imagined— they were even quite mundane. They accepted the suddenly appearing Jiang Xiaoya.

Only the head nurse was a little angry, because with the sharp drop in autumn temperatures, the child was still wearing sandals and a short-sleeved shirt, her shoelaces tied in a complete mess, brought in with a high fever and left at the nurses’ station.

“She’s already at 39°C. If she’d been sent any later, the child would have been burned stupid.”

“These parents are far too irresponsible. They’re about to raise the child to death.”

The Swamp Monster’s soaking-wet long hair clung to the glass. It understood every single word. Beneath the still-dripping hair, all the anger and vigilance on the pale, youthful face vanished, as if struck by those words; the heh-heh sounds in its chest disappeared.

Even the monster’s enormous shadow seemed to shrink a little.

It pressed its forehead against the cold glass, gazing longingly through the curtain of rain at that small figure inside.

It had never felt such a heavy emotion before. The rain fell harder and harder. It lay there against the window, watching for a very, very long time.

Xiaoya, don’t die.

───♡───

Jiang Xiaoya was burning up, muddled and confused, and thought she had been stolen away. But after she woke up, the nurse auntie told her that she had been left at the nurses’ station. Jiang Xiaoya knew it was Mama who had brought her here, and she immediately felt relieved.

She heard the nurse aunties criticizing irresponsible parents, and immediately raised her head to explain to the nurse auntie that her mama was very good.

The nurses were amused, but no one believed this little pitiful thing. Yes— Jiang Xiaoya was almost one year old, yet she hadn’t received a single vaccine, and she was even wearing clothes that were clearly inappropriate for the season.

Jiang Xiaoya didn’t think she was pitiful— although Mama tied her shoelaces into a complete mess, every morning the Swamp Monster would still spend half an hour fixing her shoelaces; when she said she wanted to learn to fly like a little bird, the Swamp Monster would lift her high, raise her above its head, spread its arms, and she would become the happiest little bird.

Its huge shadow always followed behind her figure as she ran around wildly. How could a Jiang Xiaoya who was wanted by someone be a little pitiful thing!

She still couldn’t speak very fluently and couldn’t explain things clearly, so she lay against the window, gazing longingly at the curtain of rain, waiting for Mama to come.

The nurses spoke in hushed voices.

Probably that if Jiang Xiaoya’s mama didn’t come to pick her up, they would send her to the base’s orphanage. Incidents of abandoning children like this were far from rare. Nowadays, there were few younglings in the base, so the treatment there was very good— always better than staying with that irresponsible parent.

But that little pitiful thing who hadn’t made a sound suddenly stood up, stumbling over her words as she said:

“My— my mama can’t see. Raising me, not easy!”

For a moment, the nurses all fell silent. They no longer spoke of that unseen parent as an irresponsible bad person.

Outside the window, the heavy rain kept falling. This world was muddy and dangerous.

If she couldn’t see, then raising a small child really was far too difficult.

But all the way until night, Jiang Xiaoya still did not wait for the Swamp Monster to appear.

───♡───

At the end of the children’s ward, there was a small parenting classroom, where young parents gathered together to learn childcare knowledge. The Swamp Monster squatted outside curiously and watched for a while. In the afternoon, a massive shadow quietly squeezed its way inside.

Its vertical pupils slowly rounded, listening very carefully.

“From one to three years old is the period when toddlers need the most careful attention. In this season, you need to watch out for seasonal influenza……”

“The timing for vaccinations is……”

It secretly listened to the human parents discussing these things. This monster was still a juvenile. It couldn’t even take care of itself properly. When it was young, its leg had been injured; its own blood flowed for a long time, and it merely wiped it off haphazardly, then squatted in the swamp waiting for it to heal on its own. Later, it limped for a very long time, then, while groping about, healed for no apparent reason.

In reality, it had only taken Jiang Xiaoya running all over the swamp. When it rained, it would just stuff her into its arms without care. It had no concept of cold— as long as it wasn’t frozen into ice, it never paid it any mind. It was much more patient raising Jiang Xiaoya than it had been raising itself, but it still seemed far too rough and simple.

It had raised Jiang Xiaoya very seriously. But it didn’t know that children couldn’t be exposed to drafts or rain, didn’t know that children needed more or fewer clothes, and didn’t even know that water from lakes couldn’t be drunk. What was influenza? What was a vaccine?

But fever could make one stupid, and could even kill. That something pediatric polio disease could make children unable to walk.

For the first time, it saw so clearly the chasm between itself and humans— not strength, not a terrifying appearance. It possessed some human emotions, yet it knew nothing at all about those details concerning love.

Parents looked worriedly at the rain outside the window:

“Sigh, I wonder whether that terrifying thing in the swamp…… will still appear on rainy days.”

And yet, that colossal being which had plunged the entire base into panic was squatting in a corner, confusedly flipping through that thick parenting pamphlet.

What kind of thing is this, can’t understand it.

Heh heh heh, throw it away!

But after a while, it picked it back up again. The usually ferocious vertical pupils looked a little dim.

───♡───

Jiang Xiaoya’s fever had gone down, but the child couldn’t fall asleep. She secretly climbed down from the bed by herself and sat at the entrance of the children’s ward, waiting for Mama. Like an abandoned little puppy, she gazed longingly at the curtain of rain outside.

But she didn’t notice that the rain drifting toward her over the threshold had all been blocked away, nor did she notice that the slightly cool autumn wind was tightly kept out. That massive figure was silently enveloping the space above her, separating out a patch of dry, warm shelter for her.

How could violent, rough gales nurture a tiny little seedling? One moment of carelessness and it would be torn out by the roots. It liked its little sprout. But how was one supposed to protect such a small thing? It was rough and unrestrained, seemingly lacking enough meticulous care.

For a brief moment, this not-very-clever colossal being even thought that perhaps it could place Jiang Xiaoya in foster care in the human world. Send her over there, let them give her those what-you-call-it shots; if they didn’t give Xiaoya the shots, it would eat them all up and destroy this place!

Of course, if they did give Xiaoya the shots, then it would temporarily stop hating this place. Once all those shots were done, and it had learned how to raise her and had become very mature and formidable, it would steal Jiang Xiaoya back.

But the Swamp Monster saw her gazing outside like an abandoned little puppy.

Jiang Xiaoya looked around, glancing left and right, thinking in dejection that she really was about to be abandoned by Mama! But suddenly, a colossal being squatted down in front of her. She immediately wanted to pounce toward Mama, enthusiastically rubbing against it.

But today seemed a little different. The Swamp Monster, which was usually always fierce, no longer let out those ferocious sounds. It looked a bit smaller than usual, and its body radiated a dispirited air.

The colossal being squatted in front of her, turned its head to the other side, and heh-heh spoke:

It might not be able to raise her well.

It still wasn’t mature enough, careful enough.

This was the first time that this swamp monster— ferocious beyond measure since the moment of its birth, always a powerful predator—openly expressed its own powerlessness and dejection. A sense of loss emanated from it as it crouched beside her, very big.

Jiang Xiaoya miraculously understood. She shuffled her little bottom over, moved close to Mama’s side, and told it:

Jiang Xiaoya was a very smart genius child! She could take good care of herself.

If Mama still wasn’t mature enough, then they could grow up together.

Snake-like, downcast vertical pupils met round, puppy-like eyes.

In the torrential rain, two figures— one big, one small— were reflected.

The raging wind said: Little sprout, I will destroy you. Go somewhere with sunlight.

The little sprout said: Mommy, you are the raging wind, but I am a very strong little sprout. I can stand in the wind together with you!