A little beagle is a small animal that is not as fierce as a tiger or a lion, nor as agile as a swift, but once the Beagle Great Demon King is unleashed, its destructive power is extremely astonishing. Ever since the children successfully released their spirit bodies, Jiang Xiaoya was getting her parents called every few days. Things like Little Bi’s spirit body tugging on a classmate’s tail, things like the Beagle Great Demon King yanking out other people’s butt fur. The little lion spirit body in the class liked to bully small, weak animals, and the Beagle Great Demon King would fly over and pluck the other party’s butt fur bald.
However, once Teacher Fangfang criticized her, Little Bi would lift her head and reveal a pair of innocent puppy eyes.
Teacher, are you talking about me?
Every time Little Bi caused trouble, Teacher Fangfang ought to call the parents.
But once she thought about how her parent was that terrifying swamp water monster squatting in the swamp… parents? What parents?
Xu Qianjun started wiping sweat frantically. “Teacher Fangfang, let’s just suppress this matter.”
So little friend Jiang Xiaoya had actually never once had her parents called!
Jiang Xiaoya liked to release her own spirit body, Little Beagle, and charge ahead of the swamp monster. Little Beagle had keen perception and an acute sense of smell. Every time, it could find a large pile of water ghosts in the ruins, then rush in and bark werwer in a frenzy.
What was very strange was that no matter how powerful other people’s spirit bodies were, they would all feel fear because of the strange magnetic field and be unable to approach the swamp monster, yet Little Beagle could climb onto the head of the colossal creature. Like a happy little dog climbing to the highest peak in the world.
Jiang Xiaoya’s spirit body liked rolling around on the grass, chasing butterflies all over the ground. What it liked most was when the swamp monster was tidying things up—Little Beagle would sprint over, do a sliding tackle straight to its front, burrow into the blanket, and poke out a fluffy little head.
The Beagle Great Demon King might not really bite you, but it would definitely chew your slippers to pieces; it might not be able to catch flying birds, but it would absolutely scatter the clothes you had just folded all over the sky.
The youth lowered his head to look at the child who had burrowed into the clothes and was wriggling around, and skillfully lifted her up.
After all, even something as difficult as knitting her a sweater had been endured—what else in this world could there still be that couldn’t be endured?
This was how one’s bottom line retreated step by step. The irritable and terrifying monster, without realizing it, had been tamed into someone who endured people.
───♡───
After drinking one deer’s milk powder, Jiang Xiaoya really did seem to become smarter! She climbed from the bottom ranks to the front rows of the class, and because her spirit body was strong and wild, she quickly became the great demon king of the kindergarten. But the Beagle Great Demon King also gained a new worry: the children in the class had begun forming cliques! The little boys and little girls were hostile toward each other, like two groups of sparrows going to war. Jiang Xiaoya was forced to get swept into this clique-forming, and only then vaguely developed some awareness of gender.
On the way home, she suddenly thought of a strange question: Mommy isn’t human, she’s a creature from the swamp—does she also have a gender?
Jiang Xiaoya’s mommy was very fierce. Although she treated her very well, she never spoiled her. She especially liked to scold her. If she came home late, it would scold her; if she ran around recklessly, she would be severely scolded. It was also particularly naggy, telling Jiang Xiaoya not to run around barefoot, able to say it ten times in a single day.
Like today, when Jiang Xiaoya ran home wearing one piece of clothing less, the swamp monster lifted her up to inspect her, immediately letting out terrifying he-he sounds, its vertical pupils glaring at her viciously:
Jiang Xiaoya, are you trying to die? Not even wearing a coat, do you want to ascend to heaven?
Jiang Xiaoya wanted to argue, but she had already been grabbed by the youth by the back of her fate-filled neck and hauled home.
She wanted to ask Mommy whether she had a gender, but her ear was being tugged so painfully—she howled loudly and had already completely forgotten what she wanted to do.
In short, no matter how you looked at it, the youth was entirely acting like a mother, making it impossible to imagine that it actually wasn’t much older than Jiang Xiaoya at all.
Moreover, the swamp monster’s hair was so long—more flowing than a shampoo commercial on television. When the wind blew and lifted it, Little Beagle loved chasing after Mommy’s hair as it flew. It would even press her down onto a stool and use its big hands to braid her hair. Although its voice was a bit hoarse—still, even female lions in nature could let out roars that made people tremble with fear.
Jiang Xiaoya very quickly threw the question of gender to the back of her mind.
In Jiang Xiaoya’s eyes, Mommy was Mommy. This was a concept without gender or age.
Like the sun and clouds in the sky, naturally flying above.
Jiang Xiaoya had moved up to the senior class!
Teacher Fangfang liked little friend Jiang Xiaoya very much, but she discovered something very strange—this child never carried an umbrella. As soon as it rained, she would stand under the eaves, tilt her head up, and not move at all, like a little mushroom.
Teacher Fangfang asked Jiang Xiaoya why, and Jiang Xiaoya couldn’t really explain it either, because her Mommy had taught her this way ever since she was little!
Jiang Xiaoya explained, “Teacher, this is my family tradition!”
Alright then—respect little friend Jiang Xiaoya’s family tradition. But not wanting the little puppy’s fur to get wet, Teacher Fangfang still gave the child an umbrella.
Jiang Xiaoya held up the umbrella, as if opening the door to a brand-new world. She held the umbrella and rushed straight into the rain, splashing through puddles as she ran wildly all the way home.
She excitedly wanted to share Teacher Fangfang’s gift with Mommy. When she lifted her head, she saw the swamp monster also standing in the rain by the edge of the swamp, slowly waiting for the rain to stop. Looking at the umbrella in her own hand, at that moment, Jiang Xiaoya felt that she was smarter than Mommy.
The swamp monster squatted quietly in the rain, raindrops pattering down along its hair. Jiang Xiaoya ran over, raised the umbrella, and stood on tiptoe. But the swamp monster lowered its head and seriously pressed Jiang Xiaoya back beneath its long hair.
It had learned this from the little deer by the roadside: when fur gets wet in the rain, as long as you don’t move, the water won’t seep into the inner layers of the fur.
Well then—family traditions weren’t so easy to change after all.
Jiang Xiaoya gloomily curled up in its arms.
Perhaps because today’s wind and rain were especially strong, Jiang Xiaoya lifted her head and suddenly saw, beneath the curtain of rain, a section of a pale chin.
Jiang Xiaoya had always wanted to secretly look at Mommy’s appearance—she had imagined that maybe Mommy looked rather frightening, or perhaps didn’t have a face at all, like the faceless people on television. But Jiang Xiaoya was a very good child. Even if Mommy didn’t have a face, she would love it very much.
But the swamp monster lowered its head. Thick eyelashes covered with a layer of pooled water, finally revealing its original appearance.
Boom rumble—torrential rain and thunder hammered against Jiang Xiaoya’s heart.
That was a very good-looking youth.
The Moon God, upon seeing a beautiful shepherd boy sleeping, would secretly ride the moon chariot to kiss the boy whenever the moon rose. If one could imagine it, that would be the beauty of this moment. But the boy cherished by the moon at this instant suddenly lowered his head, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs, and let out a he-he sound—
Jiang Xiaoya, what are you looking at me for?
In the youth’s brows and eyes, there was still aggression and nonhuman wildness that could not be concealed. It was a face that was even a bit childish, carrying the green, immature feeling of a young boy.
Jiang Xiaoya felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
She stared at the youth in disbelief. She reached out her hand and touched the other party’s throat, touching the slightly protruding Adam’s apple. Even though it had not yet fully developed, the Adam’s apple had a strong presence. The swamp monster didn’t know why, but since Jiang Xiaoya wanted to touch it, it just squatted there without moving.
Jiang Xiaoya began frantically pressing on its Adam’s apple.
She wanted to press the Adam’s apple back in!
───♡───
The sky of the little puppy’s world had collapsed—how could this be?!
She lifted the swamp monster’s hair, cupped that youth’s face to take a look, then put his face back again. Little Beagle circled around the youth again and again and again, the gloom in her heart as thick as the dark clouds over the swamp!
Jiang Xiaoya’s behavior was far too strange. The swamp monster finally realized, a beat too late, that its face had been seen. It subconsciously wanted to hide its face inward a little. But after thinking about it, why should it be afraid of Jiang Xiaoya seeing it? It immediately straightened its back and hauled Jiang Xiaoya home.
Because it looked rather young, it had never liked lifting its hair, wanting to maintain its fierce and imposing image. After all, a fierce monster whose face couldn’t be seen looked more brutal than a youth. At least during its juvenile period, this was an important disguise. But now the swamp monster had grown much stronger, much more mature, and had grown accustomed to playing the role of a parent.
Very naturally, it thought—if Jiang Xiaoya saw it, then so be it.
It had thought of many ways to maintain its parental image, but ever since that day, Jiang Xiaoya had become especially well-behaved. She no longer jumped around, and every day she just gloomily circled around it.
When a child suddenly goes quiet, they must be up to something.
Jiang Xiaoya went back and reviewed everything for a long time, and discovered that this matter had long shown signs—just like how Jiang Xiaoya had long noticed that other people’s moms were tolerant and gentle, while Jiang Xiaoya’s mom was irritable and fierce. Although there were also moms who threatened to throw their children into piles of water ghosts, they wouldn’t actually throw them in to scare them.
But when Jiang Xiaoya was little, she really had been thrown into a pile of water ghosts!
Other people’s moms, although they would play with their children, wouldn’t pretend to eat the child and chase them thousands of meters, much less rush over with a smile after the child fell flat on their butt; for a long period of time, Mommy’s favorite thing was to throw her into the middle of the water ghosts, watch her jump around unable to reach anything, squat on the wall for an entire morning, all just to hear that one sentence: “Mommy, save me!”
Only when Jiang Xiaoya was often so anxious that she was sweating all over would Mommy slowly come over and lift her away.
In short, very bad indeed!
Jiang Xiaoya used to think this was because Mommy had a strong personality. But now she finally understood why. Jiang Xiaoya couldn’t let it go and was deeply struck!
Little Beagle kept thinking about it and saved up a lot of money, putting aside all the pocket money Mommy had given her.
She ran to the base marketplace and bought an XXL dress to give to the swamp monster:
If you put on a dress, can you turn back into my gentle, watery Mommy?
But dresses didn’t have magic. They couldn’t turn a monster big brother into a fairy godmother.
A fierce swamp monster was also impossible to wear a dress.
It looked at the dress and chased her off to do her homework.
Little Beagle ran to the edge of a clear lake, squatted in the grass, and sadly played with snails.
In her fifth year, Jiang Xiaoya painfully lost her own mother!
For a child, a mother is an irreplaceable role. In a child’s world, discovering that Mommy actually isn’t Mommy is something that makes the sky collapse. On one hand, Jiang Xiaoya felt that thinking this way was betraying her Mommy; on the other hand, she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to wail and cry—her gentle, kind, beautiful Mommy had just disappeared along with a heavy rain.
Little Beagle tugged at the grass, dejected and heartbroken, muttering on and on.
In the reflection of the lake, a colossal figure appeared.
After eavesdropping on her muttering for a while, the youth’s gaze gradually turned fierce.
Recently, the swamp monster had been watching TV dramas with Jiang Xiaoya—things like adopted daughters, real and fake heiresses. In short, it began to suspect that someone had said something to Jiang Xiaoya along the lines of you’re not your mom’s biological child. Those green vertical pupils instantly filled with killing intent.
However, the most urgent matter was still coaxing Jiang Xiaoya back.
Very quickly, a big hand rubbed Jiang Xiaoya’s head hard.
The youth leaned in with a he-he sound and said:
Who said I’m not your mommy?
Jiang Xiaoya, you were born by me.
Jiang Xiaoya: “……”
To increase credibility, the youth squatted beside the child and made up a story. Its huge figure enveloped the child. And so Jiang Xiaoya heard the colossal creature he-he telling her that when she was very small, she had been an egg.
How it had picked her up, and then gone through great hardship to hatch her.
In short, from the moment she was born, she had been a child it raised—how did that not count as being born by it?
Jiang Xiaoya looked at it suspiciously. “Mom, people seem to be viviparous. And last time didn’t you say I was picked up from a trash can?”
In the end, Little Beagle slowly accepted the fact that she had painfully lost her biological mom.
Because although it was no longer Mom, that big monster would still envelop the little monster.
Only, on the way home with Mom, she no longer let Mom carry her on her back as naturally as before.
Very few children ever consider their mother’s age. Jiang Xiaoya never had either. She felt that Mom was Mom the moment she was born—omnipotent, able to summon wind and rain.
But the green, immature youth’s face beneath that long hair suddenly made the child realize that Mom hadn’t been an adult from the moment she was born.
The little monster held the big monster’s hand, walking home together with it.
She wanted to ask how old Mom was this year.
But the youth refused to tell her.
Aquatic plants and the lake’s reflection slowly receded behind them.
When she insisted on knowing, it perfunctorily said it was ten Jiang Xiaoyas old.
Jiang Xiaoya stepped on its shadow, her mind a mess as she thought: It doesn’t seem that much older than her at all, at most two Jiang Xiaoyas older—how could it possibly be ten that big! But she realized she was still very reluctant to call it big brother, and she still really wanted to stay by Mommy’s side and act spoiled!
In short, she’d wait until she grew a bit more before calling it big brother!
But halfway through the walk, suddenly, the swamp monster stopped.
It lowered its head and asked with a he-he sound: “Jiang Xiaoya, didn’t you wear long johns? Is your skin itchy—going to school without even wearing long johns? Looking for a beating, huh?”
Jiang Xiaoya: “……”
She immediately let go of its hand and ran off in a flash.
No matter tall or short, fat or thin, male or female—whoever nagged Jiang Xiaoya to wear more clothes, who cared whether she was cold or hot, that was Jiang Xiaoya’s mommy.
Just like the sun and clouds in the sky, entirely natural and rightfully so!
