After returning home, the frightened child ran a low fever and had nightmares.
In Jiang Xiaoya’s nightmares there were sharks, raging winds, and capsizing boats. But at the end of the nightmare, she would always be carried back to shore on the back of an island called Mama.
After she recovered, Jiang Xiaoya became a little afraid of the dark, probably a small psychological shadow common to children. When an elementary school student got out of school and it was almost dark by the time she reached home, running as fast as she could along the reeds of the swamp toward her house, she would always feel that behind her there was a black giant beast from the deep electric well that wanted to eat her. But as she ran and ran, just as she was about to fall into the ditch, a hand would appear behind her and lift her up.
On autumn nights, the sky was full of stars.
But if she lifted her head and saw a pair of green stars—well, that meant Mama was following her.
The shadow of falling into the elevator shaft slowly faded away like this, in the child’s heart, as if a kite had flown away. However, to avoid such a thing happening again, in the spring the elementary school called on parents to apply for satellite watches for their children. Jiang Xiaoya got a pair of Little Genius phone watches, and then she could call the swamp monster at any time.
Whether it was killing water ghosts or hurrying anxiously on the way home, as long as the watch transmitted the sound of “Moshi moshi, is Mommy there,” the swamp monster would immediately stop.
Jiang Xiaoya: Moshi moshi, Mommy, I love you!
Jiang Xiaoya: Moshi moshi, Mommy, I want to eat cream cake!
After encountering danger, the child became very clingy, chirping nonstop to the watch, but the voice on the other end of the watch would always gradually grow quieter. The child softly said: Mommy, come home early, she misses Mommy.
And so, the youth’s heart became very soft.
But for some reason, recently Jiang Xiaoya only chirped when making phone calls; when she stayed at home, she became very quiet.
The little beagle that used to let out werwer sounds seemed to have switched to silent mode. Likewise, when doing bad things or rummaging through boxes and cabinets, it was also quiet. Even when dragging the big boxes at home around and flying back and forth, it no longer made werwer sounds.
This sudden quietness made the little beagle very uncomfortable.
After returning home, the swamp monster leaned over and pinched Jiang Xiaoya’s cheek.
Could it be that some psychological shadow had been left behind? It even wanted to take the child back to the old place, or take her to catch water ghosts a few more times.
—until Jiang Xiaoya revealed her drafty front teeth.
The Beagle Demon King cared very much about face!
She quickly covered her mouth, but still heard a laugh come from above her head.
She was extremely annoyed: what was there to laugh about, children all have to change their teeth!
Jiang Xiaoya, missing her front teeth, became Jiang Xiaoxiao. It was said that you had to throw the tooth onto the roof for it to grow neat and pretty. Jiang Xiaoya piously placed it on the roof, looking forward to growing a set of pretty and hard little teeth.
When she spoke, air always leaked out, saying shi as xi, and calling Mama “ma chi”; even when she got so angry that she bit Mama’s hand, a row of neat teeth marks would leave a very obvious gap.
Mocked by Mama, Jiang Xiaoya became embarrassed and furious.
She asked: has Mama never changed teeth? Does Mama never grow up?
The swamp monster thought for a moment, then nodded.
It really had never changed its teeth.
Jiang Xiaoya suddenly realized something. It seemed that when she was little, the swamp monster had already been so tall, and now it looked no different from before at all.
Of course the swamp monster would also grow up, it was just that the way it grew was different from humans. It would not slowly grow taller, but after accumulating enough strength, after one deep sleep it would suddenly molt—its face maturing, its height stretching. These changes would not be subtle like moistening things silently, but would be completed in an instant.
Before picking up Jiang Xiaoya, it had already gone through one molting.
At that time, it had just been born, extremely young, knowing nothing except instinctively seeking food. Later, it devoured all the water ghosts of the entire swamp. Green blood flowed into the river, and after falling into a three-day sleep, the swamp monster grew out of its completely muddled infant stage. It gained clear senses of smell and hearing, and could even understand some simple language, comprehend some things.
The next molting period seemed to be coming soon as well. Just like Jiang Xiaoya’s teeth becoming loose, the swamp monster also felt the accumulated power about to break through the ground. This was equivalent to humans changing teeth and entering a growth period.
Jiang Xiaoya asked, “Then Mommy, when you molt next time, will you be able to see things?”
As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoya, whose front teeth leaked air, lay beside the swamp monster watching it knit a new sweater for this winter. Not being able to see clearly was very troublesome. When knitting a sweater for Jiang Xiaoya, it could only rely on feeling the yarn with its hands. The swamp monster could only knit vaguely according to memory, so every time it ended up being very slow.
Once, Jiang Xiaoya saw Mommy fiercely scolding the plastic bag beside her for half an hour.
The youth thought about it, and it did seem to be true.
However, it had never seen a clear world, nor could it imagine the details of the world, so naturally it did not have much expectation or excitement. The only thing it wanted to see—it hesitated for a moment, then extended its hand and touched Jiang Xiaoya’s eyebrows, nose, eyes.
Following its own imagination, it knitted a Jiang Xiaoya onto the sweater.
Big eyes, small body.
The little brat leaned over: “Mom, why are you knitting a dog bear?”
The swamp monster flew into embarrassed anger and chased the brat off to do homework!
───♡───
As it was about to enter the molting period, in order to hunt more water ghosts, the swamp monster would go very far away to hunt during the day. It would also bring back some berries or the like for Jiang Xiaoya along the way.
On this day, however, the sun rarely came out on the way back. The swamp monster was so sun-scorched it was practically smoking, and because its movements were sluggish, it was injured during a fierce battle—a long tearing wound bleeding. Since the end of its infant stage, such a serious injury was very rare.
Jiang Xiaoya Moshi moshi-ed through the watch, asking Mommy whether she had hidden properly since the sun was out.
The swamp monster perfunctorily heh-heh-ed twice: hidden properly, hidden properly.
But in fact, the enormous creature was just squatting in the swamp, waiting until the sun set, then, as usual, going to pick some berries to take home. When it returned, it was already deep night. It was raining, and it did not enter the house to wake Jiang Xiaoya.
Jiang Xiaoya had waited for Mommy for too long and had already fallen asleep. In the middle of the night, she suddenly heard some strange movement under the window. She leaned over the window and peeked out, and saw a very large swamp monster squatting in the corner, calmly pressing a towel against its wound.
But the purpose was obviously not to stop the bleeding—rather, it was to avoid dirtying the sunflower carpet at the door that Jiang Xiaoya liked. After all, when the carpet got dirty, it was always the swamp monster itself that washed it.
In Jiang Xiaoya’s eyes, Mommy was very good at taking care of people. It was not human, yet it would put a bandage on Jiang Xiaoya’s scraped knees. It did not really know how to read, yet it learned to distinguish fever medicine from cough syrup. Clearly unable to see the thermometer, it still learned to judge whether she had a fever by body temperature.
It even, like a real mother, understood the mysteries of solar terms and adding or removing clothes.
Wasn’t Mommy very good at taking care of people? Then why was she squatting there now, letting the blood be washed away by the rain just like that? The elementary school student suddenly felt very angry, because if it were Jiang Xiaoya, she definitely would not let Mommy squat there getting rained on.
The little dog dashed over, opened the door, and faced the swamp monster squatting at the doorway.
In Jiang Xiaoya’s eyes, after Mama descended from the sky to save Xiaoya in the elevator, Mama’s once precarious image had once again become strong and towering. Yet now, she felt a dull heaviness blocked in her chest. The Mama who gave her a sense of safety, why would she not take good care of herself?
That was of course because—
The swamp monster itself was still a youth. It only played the role of Mama because it had to take care of Jiang Xiaoya. All that thoughtfulness and care existed simply because if it failed to look after Jiang Xiaoya properly, she would die. Through one heart-pounding moment after another, the youth raised the child with constant fear in its heart, forced to grow into a reliable mommy.
But in reality, it was young, irritable, and rough around the edges. It knew it would not die, so it had always been careless with itself. The moment it saw Jiang Xiaoya, the enormous creature felt a bit guilty, its tall body shrinking slightly. But it quickly found its authority again, the shadow on the wall swelling back to its former size. It heh-ed as it turned its head, righteously telling Jiang Xiaoya that it was just a small accident, that it did not hurt, and telling the child to go back to sleep.
Jiang Xiaoya got angry. With fierce momentum, she dragged the very large swamp monster inside. It had no choice but to follow her through the door, watching helplessly as its own blood dirtied the carpet at home.
Even more helpless was the little beagle angrily rummaging through boxes and cabinets, its ears standing straight up.
The swamp monster was arranged onto the sofa, feeling uncomfortable all over, believing it was being underestimated—it told Jiang Xiaoya that back then, even when it had almost bled enough to form a river, it could still kill its way seven times in and seven times out among the water ghosts. In short, her mommy was a powerful, mighty, omnipotent great monster; this tiny wound was nothing more than a sprinkle of water.
Jiang Xiaoya turned back to look at the parent who showed not the slightest intention of repenting, and sighed.
Xiao Chan’s older brother seemed to be like this too. Perhaps only older brothers would be so obsessed with saving face, unwilling to show weakness in front of children.
But Jiang Xiaoya would not be helpless against it. The little Beagle Demon King took a deep breath, sinking her qi into her dantian—waaah!
The howl burst out, shaking heaven and earth.
The youth was immediately stunned.
It felt that it might have said the wrong thing.
In the end, the youth could only lower its head reluctantly, coaxing her in a humble voice: Xiaoya, Mommy doesn’t hurt.
The enormous shadow leaned over and rubbed against the child. Jiang Xiaoya said Mommy was bad; the swamp monster felt terribly wronged. It had even brought her berries—heartless little brat!
But experienced parents knew that at times like this, one must not argue with a child, or there would never be peace again. So whatever she said went. She said it was bad, then it was bad. The youth lowered its head and answered mm-hm-mm-hm perfunctorily.
The little beagle was quiet for a while, then suddenly lifted her head, wide-eyed, and told the youth in a tone like pronouncing a death sentence: if it ever came home bleeding again, she would immediately run into the swamp and roll around in it.
Swamp Monster: “……”
One had to know that Jiang Xiaoya was very hard to wash—holding down her head was like holding down a cow; wiping her hair, the little dog shook her fur like a helicopter propeller.
Blow-drying the little dog’s fur, the little dog swayed left and right, her long hair slapping people’s mouths like a tail.
Once she had fallen into the swamp, and the swamp monster washed her for a full eight hours.
It would rather go out and slaughter pigs than wash Jiang Xiaoya!
The little beagle thought for a moment, and finally made an enormous decision, telling it that actually she could also run to the manure pit—
Did you hear that, Mommy? Jiang Xiaoya loved her Mama so much that she could even make greater sacrifices for it.
Alright.
A pale, large hand moved with lightning speed and covered her mouth.
Good child, don’t say such frightening things.
Then what was to be done? This careless, somewhat irritable youth had no choice but to start living a bit more carefully. When smashing a water ghost’s head with its fist, it had to be careful not to splatter blood on itself and let Jiang Xiaoya see; jumping down from more than ten floors was no big problem, but if it scraped itself even a little, the little beagle would go roll around in the manure pit, so the swamp monster could only heh-heh its way down along the wall.
It began to try its best not to bleed, not to get injured, to return home safely and soundly.
But perhaps the reason was not only because Jiang Xiaoya was very hard to wash.
───♡───
Ever since there was a television at home, Jiang Xiaoya began to firmly believe that Santa Claus truly existed. Every December at Christmas, she would solemnly write down a wish list and stuff it into the knitted sock hanging by her bedside.
The swamp monster would take advantage of her falling asleep to squat by the bed and secretly look through it. However, ever since she discovered that Mama would secretly fulfill her wishes, this little brat’s wish list had grown from three items to thirty!
She was even afraid it wouldn’t understand, so she made it with pictures and text. Wanting this and that—why not just ask for the stars in the sky!
Yet it would still brave the cold wind and go out, gathering each item on the list one by one.
That year, Christmas arrived as scheduled. As in previous years, the swamp monster squatted by the sleeping child’s bedside and flipped through the wish list hidden in the sock. Yet inside the sock, there was only one wish:
Mama must be safe and sound.
……
The swamp monster was never injured again.
Because Mama would always fulfill all of a child’s wishes.
