Meili suddenly lost all strength and knelt in the middle of the stone flower’s core.
Those little things that called themselves moon-night fairies looked beautiful and harmless, like blooming lily-of-the-valley flowers, but in reality, they were extremely dangerous. Hesha had told her before about the monsters in those fairy-tale stories, and had mentioned moon-night fairies.
According to Hesha’s description, moon-night fairies were a kind of monster that would lure humans into the forest, causing them to become lost within it.
They especially liked to confuse children, because children were more pure. So people would keep their children away from large forests where moon-night fairies might dwell, for fear that they would be taken away by them.
Once taken away, when the moon-night fairies became bored, the children lost in the forest would be buried in the bellies of wild beasts.
Meili had never expected that she would receive such treatment.
She was already overage, past the age of being a magical girl.
Not far away, the swamp crossed through. Meili stood up and shouted toward the swamp monster: “Thanks.”
The swamp monster, who had been hunching forward as it walked, heard her voice and lifted its head to look toward her, suddenly changing direction and walking toward her.
“…You don’t need to come over, I’m just saying thanks, friend, really no need…”
The slope beneath her feet became damp, giving the feeling of stepping on soft mud. Meili shut her mouth stiffly and watched as the swamp monster came closer, lowering its head right in front of her.
Mm, what was this supposed to mean?
Meili stared at the wet gray hair before her, falling into thought. Was this swamp monster unwilling to speak or unable to speak? How was she supposed to communicate with him?
He didn’t move at all, like a math problem with no hints, making her solve it on her own.
This posture—could it be he wanted a head-pat?
Meili tentatively placed her hand on the head in front of her and patted it. Her hand touched gray mud carrying a scent of grass and soil. The swamp monster tilted his head slightly, but still didn’t move.
What did that mean?
Meili patted the side of his head again.
The swamp monster looked up at her, the gray pupils in his eyes full of confusion, mirroring Meili’s confusion like reflections in a mirror. He seemed to finally realize that Meili didn’t understand what he meant, slowly raising a hand to touch his own head, pushing aside his hair.
With his slow movement, Meili finally noticed that a tiny white mushroom had grown on the side of his head.
Meili: “…”
So was this a fish that slipped through the net earlier, or a descendant left behind by that big cluster of white mushrooms, just newly grown?
“Just this one, you really don’t need to return it to me.”
Meili pinched the white mushroom the size of a thumb, a bit worried that more mushrooms would continue growing on the swamp monster. Then wouldn’t he have to come over and return mushrooms every time, making it seem like she was treating him like a mushroom-growing substrate?
Her conscience felt accused.
Just like before, after returning the white mushroom to her, the swamp monster continued along his previous path, walking forward along the forest’s edge.
It seemed like she had nothing more to do—but Meili hesitated for a moment, lifted her skirt and chased after him, walking one meter away at his side.
It was said that wherever the swamp monster passed would turn into swamp. But after careful observation, Meili found that only the soil became loose as he passed by, not immediately turning into swamp. It would take some time before it became a mire. If he wanted to turn the surroundings into a swamp, perhaps he would need to stay much longer.
She was led here by those moon-night fairies without wearing shoes, and the stones beneath her feet had been hurting her. Now, walking near the swamp monster, the ground beneath her turned into soft mud, and it was actually very comfortable to walk on.
The damp, cool soil carried the lingering moisture of rain all around her.
She followed for a while before the swamp monster seemed to realize she was behind him. He turned his head to look at her — probably in confusion.
But he didn’t drive her away. He just glanced, then continued forward without caring.
Meili had followed him on impulse. Except for that night she chased after Mrs. Pegg, she had never walked so leisurely in the night. The night of this unfamiliar world was frightening, but tonight, she only felt tranquility and ease.
The swamp monster beside her had just scared away the moon-night fairies, and the moonlight tonight was indeed beautiful, suitable for a stroll.
She played with the tiny white mushroom in her hand, clasped her hands behind her back while gazing at the forest and the plains, taking a deep breath, feeling her whole body relax.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
The swamp monster didn’t respond, his pace slow and dragging mud and water as he walked, not even looking at the path, head lowered. Meili suspected he was wandering aimlessly.
Although he couldn’t communicate with her, quietly walking under the moonlight like this was quite nice.
“It’s getting late, I’m going back.”
“I was too scared when we first met, and hit you with a stick. Sorry about that. I dropped my lantern by the roadside, and thanks to you for helping me find it, and also earlier — thank you.”
“I’m leaving, bye.”
She waved, not caring whether the swamp monster reacted or not, and walked toward the house.
Because she left too quickly, she didn’t see the swamp monster stop in his tracks, watching her back for a long while.
In the night, the girl’s white nightdress fluttered as she ran, and the hazy moonlight draped over her.
“Meili!” Hesha stood outside the garden with a basket in hand, calling out loudly to her.
Meili was rolling up her sleeves and dress while watering the vegetable patch. Hearing the voice, she let down her dress and went to open the garden gate.
Hesha had come here to play a few times and was already familiar with the place. As soon as she entered the yard she chirped excitedly, “Let’s go pick berries! Around this time every year, a lot of berries in the forest are already ripe.”
“Alright.” Meili was quite interested in the daily activities of local young girls.
Life here was too monotonous; if she didn’t find something to do, staying home every day would be boring.
It wasn’t the first time the two girls went out together. This time too, they walked toward the small woods, arm in arm, chatting. Under Meili’s intentional guidance, their conversation included many more legends and stories, helping her accumulate a lot of relevant knowledge.
“…Another monster we often talk about is the Ruodengduo’er. They are very ugly fairies who will swap their own babies with newborn human infants, all so that humans will raise their children for them. So if someone looks very ugly, everyone will call them ‘Ruodeng’er,’ meaning they’re a Ruodengduo’er fairy’s child.”
Hesha gave an example as she spoke: “Isn’t there a person in the marketplace who often lies around by the square doing nothing? Big pig nose, big ears, tiny eyes, and his teeth stick out — they say he’s also a Ruodeng’er.”
Meili: “That’s just an ordinary person who looks ugly, right?” At least she hadn’t noticed anything strange about him.
Hesha: “I don’t know either, I can’t tell. But he’s not only ugly, he’s also lazy. Ruodeng’er are also very lazy.”
After discussing the Ruodeng’er, she talked about another monster: “Lisi fairies are the daughters of foxes. They bewitch young women, so if you go into the forest and see a red fox, you must never pay attention to her. If you can’t resist the temptation and speak to her, you will have to exchange identities with her.”
Hesha was also a brave girl, her heart harboring a childlike love for adventure. She was extremely familiar with all kinds of supernatural legends and strange fairy tales.
She was telling stories, but Meili remembered every single one — after all, she could see these things, and who knew if she might encounter all of them someday.
Whether true or false, it couldn’t hurt to learn more.
Aside from these widely known monster legends, Hesha was even more familiar with the small woods nearby. She knew exactly which grove had tasty things growing in it.
“There are lots of bushes in the woods over there, and the most berries too. I know where the sweetest berries are.” Hesha boasted as they walked, but once the two entered that grove, they found there weren’t many ripe berries. It seemed they had already been picked.
“Ah, how could this happen? Someone got here first!” Hesha complained unhappily, but soon she comforted Meili, “It’s okay, I know another place, there are lots of raspberries over there too. Let’s go there.”
Hesha took her to a wild patch she had never been to before. There were many thorns and the road was hard to walk. On the way, Hesha explained, “Lots of children go play in that grove, so they probably picked them already. But this place is close to the southern forest, children don’t usually come here, so there must still be plenty of berries.”
What greeted them, however, were empty branches, and fruit stalks where berries had been plucked.
Hesha was frustrated: “I specially brought you to pick berries, and now we haven’t picked any at all.”
“No! We’ll go to another place!” She clenched her small fists and angrily marched down another path.
“Hesha, if we go further we’ll enter the forest.”
“Yes, into the forest. Kids aren’t supposed to go into the forest, so the berries in the forest definitely haven’t been picked!”
“Didn’t you say there are a lot of fairies in the forest?”
“I don’t care, those are just lies to scare kids. I haven’t seen any. And we’ll only stay on the edge, we won’t encounter big wild beasts. It’ll definitely be fine!”
Hesha was destined to be disappointed. They entered the forest and only found a few raspberry bushes — all empty. The few scattered yellow berries were clearly unripe.
“What’s going on? Were all the berries picked this year?”
Hesha kept searching stubbornly among the bushes. Meili turned her head and saw a red raspberry fall straight from a branch beside her — and land in a pair of chubby hands.
The little creature that caught the raspberry looked different from the moon-night fairies — plump and round, wrapped in leaves.
A few of the little creatures hid behind leaves, shaking the branches. When ripe berries fell, they would rush up to catch them. A single raspberry was the size of their entire heads.
Hesha and Meili’s arrival startled them, and the little ones whispered unhappily before hugging a raspberry each and disappearing under the leaves.
Meili squatted down and picked up a red raspberry they dropped, and heard them say something about a “fairy gathering” before they left.
Hesha was still muttering about why there were no ripe berries. Meili stood up, tugged her, and said seriously: “The berries were picked by the fairies in the forest. They’re going to hold a gathering.”
Hesha froze for a moment, then held onto a tree trunk and burst into laughter.
