The hospital bed was too small. The little dog didn’t want her mama to curl up alone in the corner; that would be too pitiful. So she pretended to be asleep and accidentally rolled off, nestling into her mama’s arms—with the two of them together, it wasn’t pitiful anymore! And so, amid the sound of rain, they huddled together and passed the days of recuperation, night after night.
A little farther from the hospital was the sea. Even from the ward, one could smell the salty sea breeze. When Jiang Xiaoya was on an IV drip, she would stare longingly at the distant shoreline every day. So after discharge, it didn’t take her home; instead, it led her on a detour and took her to the seaside to play.
The little dog had grown thinner, making her eyes look especially large. When she saw the sea, her eyes lit up and she dashed toward the waves. It followed slowly behind her, thinking not about how beautiful the sea was, but whether the little dog would trip running so fast.
After Jiang Xiaoya fell ill, the swamp monster’s mood had been very bad. Too much worry and anxiety weighed the youth down until he was exhausted. However, when the little dog came bounding over, healthy and lively, the youth looked at her and, rarely, bared his sharp teeth in a smile.
It hated most things in the world, was often irritable and gloomy, and couldn’t bask in the sun. But after raising the little dog, it often caught the scent of sunlight on her. It sniffed, and the musty smell on its own body seemed to disappear.
But Jiang Xiaoya always said that mama smelled nice, like fresh grass. She liked to sniff around just like a little dog.
It smelled the sun; she smelled the grass. The swamp monster still didn’t understand what kind of principle this was. Perhaps it was that thing Jiang Xiaoya had learned this year—what was it called, universal gravitation.
Probably because they were far from swamps and rivers, and because water ghosts seemed to be freshwater ghosts that couldn’t tolerate high concentrations of salt water, the situation in seaside cities was much better than inland. The beach here was very lively; at times like this, the citizens of the coastal city would even come out together for a stroll.
Jiang Xiaoya wanted to eat ice cream by the sea. She hadn’t had any for a long time.
But before she could run toward the ice-cream stand, she heard a burst of screams. Even though the swamp monster had stayed in a very remote, shadowy grove, it was still spotted by passersby. After waves of shrill cries, the lively beach instantly emptied out, and the ice-cream vendor bolted as well.
Only a lone ice-cream freezer remained, and a little dog standing there, stunned.
Across the empty beach, the swamp monster looked at Jiang Xiaoya. It told her that mama had scared people; tomorrow she could come by herself, and then she would be able to eat ice cream.
But the little dog didn’t want to come alone. She happily dashed up to the ice-cream stand. Hehe, a zero-yuan haul!
They strolled along the beach, the little dog chasing the waves, and the youth always had to reach out and lift her back so she wouldn’t be swept away by the surf. She shrieked in wide-eyed wonder at the shells on the ground, and the hulking creature leaned in too, slit pupils rounding, marveling together with the little dog: the snails and shells by the sea are much bigger than the ones by the river!
Neither of them had seen much of the world; even passing crabs had to be studied for a while. The swamp monster very much wanted to catch a seagull to raise, because its cry sounded nice—it wanted to bring one back to the swamp to listen to it. But Jiang Xiaoya pointed out that seagulls poop in midair, and so it gave up.
Jiang Xiaoya drew Big Monster and Little Monster on the beach.
All the way until the moon rose, the waves still hadn’t washed away the beach drawing.
On the road leaving the beach, the little dog stepped on the youth’s shadow and spoke a bit glumly: “Actually… I don’t like it either when people scream and run away like that.”
She knew mama was very good—she was the best at knitting scarves for Little Monster. Yet in this world, perhaps only Jiang Xiaoya knew that.
The little dog tilted her head back and voiced this childish grievance.
The swamp monster was quiet for a while. It actually never lied to her. The youth squatted down and calmly told Jiang Xiaoya: actually, it wasn’t good. Before, it always wanted to throw Jiang Xiaoya into the trash can. And it also really liked to go around booming and destroying cities.
It had neither morals nor ethics; indeed, in others’ eyes it was a terrifying monster devoid of humanity. It felt no guilt when killing, and destroying a city was no different to it than smashing a water ghost’s lair. Humanity’s fear and wariness were entirely justified.
It was bad. Not good at all.
It was just good to Jiang Xiaoya.
Jiang Xiaoya recalled that dream from her childhood. In a world without Jiang Xiaoya, the Tiandong Base fell, the swamp monster wreaked destruction everywhere, locked in endless battle with humanity; its green eyes were filled with nothing but hatred and killing intent. For a moment, the little dog couldn’t find any words to refute it.
The night wind carried the salty, astringent scent of the sea as it brushed past.
The youth looked at her, his voice hoarse:
“So you have to live well and be mama’s baby.”
Otherwise, it would become a very bad, very terrifying monster.
Do you understand?
With complicated feelings, Jiang Xiaoya went back to the hotel to sleep.
Then the next morning, she ate soy milk and steamed buns bought back by that very bad, very terrifying monster. Mmm mmm, so tasty, so tasty!
Jiang Xiaoya especially liked the seaside. The sunlight here was brilliant. Unlike the swamp, so damp that mushrooms could grow on one’s head. The standard of living here was much better than at the Tiandong Base; the supermarkets had everything, there was even a cinema! It was said that when water ghost tides came, locals would take boats to nearby islands to take shelter—because the seawater was salty and the sun was strong, it was very safe here.
So much better than Tiandong City, where it rained every day. But even so, after staying for a week, Jiang Xiaoya still told mama that she wanted to go home.
The swamp monster asked if she didn’t like it.
Of course she liked it. But the sunlight here was too strong—mama could only stay motionless in the hotel’s dark corners. Even a little bit of sun would scorch the youth’s skin; the curtains had to be drawn tightly.
The seawater was salty, not clear and sweet like lake water—the salt content was too heavy. Every night, mama would rinse with fresh water in the bathroom for a long time. It was like a freshwater fish reaching the deep sea, utterly unadapted.
Although they could still go out together for walks at night, Jiang Xiaoya still preferred mama’s free, unrestrained figure in the swamp.
So even though she liked it very much here, they should still go home.
They soon returned to their home in the swamp. Damp and dim, seeing the sun only a few times a year. Moss grew in the corners of the walls, and the grass fed to Ah Hua was a little moldy. But Jiang Xiaoya could sit on a floating log, the swamp monster pushing her, passing through the clear lake and the forest reflected upon it, to pick this year’s fresh mushrooms.
Creamy mushroom soup, corn-and-mushroom porridge—the swamp monster could recognize more characters now, and had learned many recipes as well. The day before yesterday, the youth had caught some loaches and made the loach-burrowing-into-tofu dish Jiang Xiaoya had been longing for.
It really wanted to put back the flesh Jiang Xiaoya had lost when she was ill. But perhaps because she was in a growth spurt, all of Jiang Xiaoya’s flesh went into her height instead. That summer, Jiang Xiaoya shot up to 158 and could reach the highest shelves in the supermarket!
Fortunately, shoe sizes didn’t change too much, or they would have had to look for shoes again. It was just that last year’s clothes were a bit short—whenever she raised her arms, a strip of waist would show. Jiang Xiaoya didn’t mind, but the youth always felt that letting a child expose her belly button would make her catch a chill, so it went out and scavenged a new batch. It often altered the sizes for her under the lamp. The ferocious predator had now skillfully learned how to thread needles and sew, and even had a colorful sewing kit.
With nothing much to do, the hulking creature was no longer so keen on going out to hunt water ghosts. Perhaps Jiang Xiaoya’s illness had made the youth feel a long-forgotten sense of loss, so the swamp became much calmer, and this ferocious monster tried every possible way to fatten Jiang Xiaoya up. The crocodiles in the swamp were far less appealing than sweet bean paste, because the youth liked seeing the little dog’s eyes light up with a sparkling gleam. That was far more satisfying than carving out the crystal core of a high-level water ghost.
As for Jiang Xiaoya, the thing she looked forward to most every day was going out to eat after school!
At this age, during adolescence, there were young couples secretly holding hands in lovers’ groves, pink love letters passed beneath desks, hazy feelings beginning to ferment. But Jiang Xiaoya wasn’t interested at all. That brief crush in her first year of middle school was just following the trend.
This year, the middle school trend became dyeing nails. Jiang Xiaoya followed Xiao Chan and dyed her fingers bright red with balsam flowers. When she got home, she excitedly dragged over a little stool and insisted on dyeing the youth’s nails.
