It registered the account “aa water ghost wholesale.”
Group note: Xiaoya’s mom.
In the parents’ group, people often flattered the teacher.
The Swamp Monster didn’t understand, but it learned to type “+1” and “thank you, teacher.”
It typed very slowly; it took a long time to poke out a whole message. It was often the last parent in the class to flatter the teacher. Usually, by the time it finally sent that message, the topic had already changed three rounds ago.
The parents’ group started showing off gifts given to the teacher. This wasn’t a time of peace; there was only one high school in the base, and teachers held great authority. Parents and students were both in very weak positions. Even giving gifts had become something done without any attempt to hide it.
Jiang Ze didn’t know why human parents had to give teachers gifts, and slowly asked about it in the group.
Someone patiently replied: 【Xiaoya’s mom, if you don’t give gifts, how will the teacher take care of your child?】
It suddenly remembered something: Jiang Xiaoya had complained that the teacher was always moving her seat to the very back row.
A monster that grew up in the swamp didn’t understand human social dealings, but it vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Right—why should my Xiaoya sit in the last row?
So, in a rainstorm, the boy Jiang Ze appeared at the office door, carrying large bags of gift boxes.
It deliberately shrank itself down, and even tidied its hair to look normal, but its aura was too cold. Its neck turned slowly, those inhuman vertical pupils looking at the homeroom teacher. After slowly recalling how to phrase it, the boy handed over the gifts:
“Teacher, my Xiaoya—please take care of her.”
The homeroom teacher stared at the pile of gift boxes, then trembled as he watched the tall figure walk away into the rain, feeling that if he didn’t take good care of Jiang Xiaoya, he might be silenced.
Jiang Xiaoya was very depressed. Because other students’ parents secretly slipped gifts, the homeroom teacher never called on her to answer questions and rarely paid attention to her.
This semester, suddenly she was called on every single class! She had been slacking off just fine, but now she could no longer sleep through lessons!
But the next time seats were rearranged, she—who had always been unable to see the blackboard clearly—was moved to the front row.
The little dog complained that her ranking was clearly high, yet she didn’t get a scholarship.
On a stormy day, a tall shadow appeared before the homeroom teacher.
The boy Jiang Ze squatted in front of him. “Teacher, why didn’t my Xiaoya get a scholarship?”
The little dog complained that the teacher was always making her tutor the unruly students in class; they didn’t listen to her and always harassed her during lessons—she hated that arrangement.
On a windy day, a voice came from behind the homeroom teacher:
“Teacher, why does my Xiaoya have to tutor others?”
“Teacher, why is my Xiaoya in the last row in the group photo?”
“Teacher, my Xiaoya…”
(TL: I would feel like I'm being haunted actually)
Like this, every grievance she encountered at school would be smoothly resolved the very next day. Those troubling matters disappeared so quickly, as if she were favored by the god of luck.
Jiang Xiaoya called Mama and said: Hehe, Jiang Ze, I’m the luckiest little dog in the world!
Jiang Ze said: Mm.
Troublesome, difficult parents are a headache for teachers and schools. But having a parent who always argues down to the last cent for their child’s interests is a very fortunate thing. Things in this world are that simple: children who are valued will never be treated lightly.
Xiao Chan, whose parents often gave gifts to teachers, noticed something strange. She asked Jiang Xiaoya whether she had finally figured it out and had her parents give gifts to the teacher.
Jiang Xiaoya had never heard Jiang Ze say anything about it.
Mama was a big monster from the depths of the swamp—she only learned to speak human language after raising her. It hated the human world so much; how could it, like other parents, go through all those twists and turns? It shouldn’t understand these things.
But when she got home, Jiang Xiaoya found a very long chat log on the tablet. Among that group of parents flattering the teacher, she saw “aa water ghost wholesale.” She knew that Jiang Ze’s big hands typed very slowly. It hadn’t been using pinyin input for long, and its hands were especially large, making it hard to be as nimble as humans. But it would type out long messages mixed into the parents’ group, flattering along with everyone else.
Had it really given gifts? The next time she went to school, Jiang Xiaoya kept an eye out.
She hid behind a big tree and saw her god of luck.
She ran into the boy on his way to see the teacher.
Last New Year, she had thought she would soon forget this thing about liking Jiang Ze. Schoolwork was so busy—how could Jiang Xiaoya have time to think about such romantic nonsense? She felt that life was like a line of camels passing by one after another, and that she would very soon forget how good Jiang Ze was.
But through the curtain of rain, she ran over again, calling Jiang Ze, Jiang Ze.
She lifted her head from Jiang Ze’s arms.
In his eyes, she saw a tiny version of herself.
Seventeen years old, her height had reached 166. She tried hard to stand on her toes so that the version of herself in his eyes would be a little taller—but Jiang Ze was really too tall. She had to stand on tiptoe just to reach his chin.
───♡───
The second year of high school was too busy. Jiang Xiaoya’s eyesight had even started to decline. With too little time to play, the whole little dog was listless. On the television channels the Swamp Monster watched, they said that high school children were prone to psychological problems, and that parents should take their children out to relax more, otherwise they might jump off buildings.
What did “relax” mean?
The Swamp Monster only knew how to beat egg yolks until smooth; it didn’t know how to “loosen” a person’s heart. But it was probably like taking Jiang Xiaoya out for daily walks when she was little. Only now she was tired of playing in the swamp and no longer interested in playing with mud. So the Swamp Monster decided to take the little dog to the seaside for an entire vacation.
Jiang Xiaoya excitedly packed her luggage. She bought several pretty swimsuits and prepared an extra-large black umbrella for Jiang Ze. As soon as they reached the seaside, the little dog took off running across the beach.
Her face got striped with sunburn.
The Swamp Monster squatted in the shallow pool beneath the seaside rocks, watching Jiang Xiaoya run back and forth like flying a kite.
It kind of wanted to go chase sharks. There were no such fierce fish in the swamp, but worrying that the little dog might be swept away by the waves, it suppressed the urge to chase sharks.
Once, it saw a very large whale. Its massive back sliced through the surface of the water, and the column of spray it blew glittered in the sunlight—brighter and more dazzling than the light bulbs at home.
The Swamp Monster dove headfirst into the sea.
As a result, after only half an hour without watching the child, Jiang Xiaoya was almost swept away by a rip current on the beach.
The Swamp Monster had no choice but to give up the whale, swim back, and pick her up.
It scolded her under the big rock for half an hour.
That’s what having a child is like—you even have to wring the water out of the child’s clothes.
It thought regretfully of that whale.
If only it could drag whales and sharks all into the swamp. But Jiang Xiaoya said there wasn’t such a big fish tank at home. Still, she went to the souvenir shop and bought a whale model.
Fine then—Jiang Ze decided to love her for two minutes.
When the sun set, it took Jiang Xiaoya swimming in the sea, all the way to a small island not open to tourists to play. The ocean was much deeper than the swamp, but those warm seawaters were as gentle as the swamp as well. Jiang Xiaoya felt like she had become a tiny little fish beside Jiang Ze, happily drifting in the great waves of the swamp.
After coming ashore, they went together to pick up seashells and squat on a big rock to look at the moon.
Their posture looked a bit like a big and a small beggar facing the moon, begging for food.
The sea wind, the sea waves, beat against their bodies.
Under the moonlight, the little dog quietly moved closer to Jiang Ze.
Mama, I want to become very, very small—so small that you can put me into your pocket and take me with you to the ends of the earth;
Jiang Ze, I want to become very, very big—so big that you can’t ignore me. I finished changing my teeth long ago, I’m over one meter sixty now, no different from all the youthful girls in the world.
Can you hear my thoughts?
But it’s like shouting toward the waves in the middle of the ocean—the echo always comes a little slower. Maybe it takes years, months, before, on the far shore of the Pacific, a reply can finally be heard.
