The swamp monster was busy watching the heat on the stove and stretched out one hand for the child to play with.

Its fingernails and toenails all turned red.

That wasn’t really a problem. It was just that when it went out to hunt water ghosts and happened to pass by some humans, when it turned its head, their screams were a bit piercing. Shouting things like “A ghost!” and “Help!” they ran away.

The hulking creature crouched by the lake, lowered its head, and curiously examined its red nails.

It thought that next time it should let Jiang Xiaoya dye them black—it would suit its ferocious, imposing appearance better.

Later, when Jiang Xiaoya’s school started trending Kitty Cat, the hulking creature’s head gained Kitty Cat hair clips, and its hands wore Kitty Cat hair ties. The youth’s long, slender figure moved through abandoned cities; when he squatted on walls and looked down at those water ghosts, he felt these gaudy little trinkets were rather in the way—yet he couldn’t bear to throw them out. In the end, he had no choice but to use a Kitty Cat hair tie to bind his long hair.

The hulking creature passed by a mirror.

Looked left. Looked right.

Mm, looks good, looks good.

But it had to hide it before Jiang Xiaoya saw—otherwise its head would be full of hair clips!

Jiang Xiaoya received a Kitty Cat doll from Deng Fei at school.

Deng Fei had always been very nice to Xiaoya. After being rejected by her in elementary school, he still followed behind her every day, proactively letting her copy his homework, smiling shyly whenever he saw her. The little white bear was very easily embarrassed; his spirit body was always secretly peeking at the little dog. In the past, Xiaoya didn’t know why, but after entering first year of middle school, she understood.

Xiao Chan asked her, “He’s so good to you—aren’t you moved?”

Jiang Xiaoya bit into her popsicle and replied indistinctly, “But being moved isn’t love.”

If Jiang Xiaoya had been lacking love, maybe she would have liked him. Deng Fei was a very gentle boy. When Jiang Xiaoya went to do cleaning duty, she would often find that Deng Fei had silently finished it for her ahead of time. The sun was strong; the boy walking in front was tall, and he would quietly block the sun for her.

But Jiang Xiaoya had been surrounded by love since she was little. The swamp monster was very ferocious, yet every morning it would fry her a beautiful sunny-side-up egg. So from a very young age, she already understood love very well.

She could distinguish clearly between love and being moved, their difference and boundaries. Her heart was full and not lacking. She had already seen the best love in the world.

That love was in her little dog backpack, in the sunny-side-up egg in the morning, in the quiet of watching television together at night. The youth’s presence had long filled every detail of Jiang Xiaoya’s youth and life.

She returned that Kitty Cat doll.

The little white bear drooped his head and asked whether she really wouldn’t like him.

The little dog happily flew past beneath the pink trees, saying she was going home to eat the food mama cooked!

───♡───

It was time for another parent–teacher meeting!

The swamp monster had never attended Jiang Xiaoya’s parent–teacher meetings, because once it appeared, little Jiang Xiaoya would become a child who could no longer attend school. This was something mama had discussed with her back when she was in kindergarten. Because the swamp monster hoped Jiang Xiaoya could attend school normally like other children, rather than be looked at with strange eyes.

When Jiang Xiaoya was in elementary school, she always prayed that there wouldn’t be parent–teacher meetings. But how could elementary school possibly not have them? The first time there was a meeting, all the parents in the class came. They sat behind their own children. Jiang Xiaoya could only sit alone in the classroom, with nothing at all behind her.

The children in the class said they had never seen Jiang Xiaoya’s parent, and secretly whispered about whether Jiang Xiaoya was an orphan. The Beagle Great Demon King rushed over and beat them all up, but back then, when she was still in elementary school, Jiang Xiaoya didn’t tell mama about it. If it was something she could resolve, the little dog never wanted mama to worry.

Still, for a child, sitting alone among all the parents, being glanced at from time to time by others, would inevitably make her feel a little at a loss in that moment.

But years later, when she thought back on those times, the little dog would feel very happy. Because back then, when the little dog drooped her ears and felt lonely all by herself, she heard some faint sounds outside the window.

She turned her head and saw a familiar figure appear beneath the shade of the trees outside the window.

The swamp monster appeared slowly.

The youth was squatting in the tree. Jiang Xiaoya was completely confused.

It wasn’t until she lowered her head and noticed its huge shadow being cast in front of little Xiaoya.

That shadow was Jiang Xiaoya’s parent!

Just like all the other children, she too had a big shadow behind her.

And so the unease and confusion vanished. The little dog lifted her head and puffed out her chest, extremely proud. Her mama was there too—it was just that no one else knew.

Every parent–teacher meeting in elementary school was spent like this. Outside the classroom window squatted her great big parent who couldn’t enter the room.

Even alone, she never felt lonely.

Later on, no one said Jiang Xiaoya was an orphan anymore. Because her little braids were always the neatest and prettiest, her clothes were always clean and tidy, in styles no one else had seen before. And when everyone went on spring outings with their lunch boxes, Jiang Xiaoya’s always contained a perfect sunny-side-up egg.

—Jiang Xiaoya must have a mama who loved her very much.

After entering middle school, those bits of gossip were still there. For example, why Jiang Xiaoya always ran off into the swamp, why no one had ever seen her parent… And when parent–teacher meetings were held, there were no big trees outside the windows anymore. The swamp monster couldn’t accompany her the way it had when she was little.

But Jiang Xiaoya had grown up. She wouldn’t feel sad anymore just because she was sitting alone.

This year, there was another parent–teacher meeting. This time, it was different from before.

Second-year middle school students had to take part in practical combat. Because she had grown up charging through water ghosts with mama since she was little, the Little Beagle Demon King took first place! Jiang Xiaoya, whose grades had always been steady but unremarkable, got such an outstanding result for the first time. Moreover, after this practical assessment, the children would have to choose their tracks—some would go into technical divisions, others would join the front lines. It was a major matter concerning the children’s futures. The teacher took it very seriously and emphasized that parents must participate.

Even Xiao Chan’s father, who lived in another city, rushed over.

But holding the invitation letter, Jiang Xiaoya felt a bit at a loss. Back in elementary school, the swamp monster could always squat in a big tree. Back then, even without a parent behind her, she could stand tall with pride—look, my mama’s shadow is here!

But now, outside the windows of the middle school building, there were only bare corridors.

The teacher even deliberately kept Jiang Xiaoya behind, gently reminding her to remember to tell her parent to come.

Then she paused and added, “If there are any difficulties, you can also tell the teacher.”

Being absent at important moments in life would always make people think the parent was irresponsible.

The little dog wanted to argue, but faced with the teacher’s gentle gaze, she swallowed her words back down, feeling sullen. When she got home, she locked the invitation letter in a drawer. Jiang Xiaoya had already prepared herself to fill in her choices alone, to attend the parent–teacher meeting alone.

She was no longer the little dog who would cry because of strange looks.

However, late at night when everything was quiet, she still wrote in her diary:

Actually, she did want mama to attend her parent–teacher meeting, just a little bit. Because Jiang Xiaoya got first place! She would definitely be praised in public. Maybe she would even get a certificate. Every time Xiao Chan’s dad got a certificate, he looked so proud.

Of course, Jiang Xiaoya also hoped that mama would take part in every important moment of her life. But if it wasn’t possible, that was fine too. Just like how in life, not everything can go as one wishes.

She wrote: People say the moon waxes and wanes; the moon isn’t a mooncake—it can’t always be round. Even if it were a mooncake, it would still get bitten by a little dog. Mm-hmm, regrets make life more beautiful!

After comforting herself, Jiang Xiaoya felt she had great literary talent—she was practically a master of chicken-soup-for-the-soul.

She finished writing and went to sleep, fully satisfied. Completely unaware that not long after she left, a hulking creature emerged by the wall.

Jiang Xiaoya now wrote all her diaries in English. Because mama now recognized more characters—if she ever learned pinyin, it would be over. When she was angry, or when they quarreled, she would grumble about mama in her diary.

For example, if her ear got tugged, she would angrily write that Jiang Xiaoya would pull out its oxygen mask in the future;

And when mama beat her, she would write: for thirty years east of the river, for thirty years west of the river—don’t bully a little dog for being poor!

It leaned closer and flipped through it.

The swamp monster couldn’t understand those tadpole-like characters.

But it had learned to use Jiang Xiaoya’s tablet learning device to take photos and translate.