That evening, an unusual and heavy hailstorm hit the small town, with large, marble-like ice pellets densely falling from the sky. It wreaked havoc on the flowers, plants, rooftops, and left widespread devastation.
The following morning, as Ah-Liao was on her way to school, she saw a dead bird under the ginkgo tree. It had a white back and black wings, with its wings stiffly spread, frozen in a flying posture even in death.
Ah-Liao felt an inexplicable sadness. She dug a hole under the tree and buried the bird.
Since that day, Ah-Liao never again heard the moving singing from the ginkgo tree. Her dreams under the tree lacked a warm voice.
Moreover, she never saw the gray-haired old man in black again.
On this day, the weather was exceptionally bad, with dark clouds obscuring the sun, making it oppressively hot.
As Ah-Liao walked alone on her way back home, approaching the ginkgo forest, she suddenly had a strange sensation behind her, as if someone was quietly following her.
Ah-Liao turned around, but there was nothing behind her, no sign of anyone.
She continued walking, and occasionally, a rare breeze would pass through the ginkgo forest, causing the leaves to rustle above. The strange feeling behind her still lingered.
Meow!!!
A sharp meow suddenly erupted from the forest, startling Ah-Liao. She turned around abruptly, and within the dim tree shadows, a streak of white light descended from the sky to the ground. It was followed by a gust of wind, carrying dirt and stones, violently striking Ah-Liao and blinding her eyes. The immense force pushed her backward dozens of meters, leaving long marks on the ground from her feet.
Standing outside the forest, gazing at this once-familiar grove, Ah-Liao suddenly felt a deep sense of unease and even fear. In that chaotic forest with flying sand and rocks, where there was no light and indistinguishable sounds, there was only danger.
Ah-Liao hurriedly ran back home.
"Did you get into another fight?" A bespectacled, mild-mannered man in an apron carefully placed a steaming bowl of soup on the Eight Immortals[1] table in the middle of the room. He arranged several exquisite side dishes around the soup bowl.
Ah-Liao stood at the doorway, awkwardly rubbing her hands. Her ponytail was disheveled, there was a bruise on her cheek, and her red school uniform was stained with dirt. Most of the buttons on her jacket were missing, and the few that remained were hanging loosely.
"Two boys from the neighboring class were asking a first-grader for money, and the little kid was trembling with fear," Ah-Liao slowly edged closer to the table, eyeing the spread of food hungrily.
As soon as she stepped into this house and returned to his side, all of Ah-Liao's anxieties would disappear.
"Did anyone else see it?" the man adjusted his glasses and asked.
Ah-Liao stuck out her tongue. "It happened right in the middle of the alley behind the school, and there wasn't a soul around."
"That's good. Fighting and brawling can get you expelled. They've been waiting for this opportunity for a while now," the man sighed in relief. "Eat first or take medicine?"
"Eat!!" Ah-Liao cheered. Then she added, "By the way, something strange happened on my way back home today. It felt like someone was following me. When I passed through the ginkgo forest, I was pushed by a weird gust of wind. There were strange noises in the woods. I didn't dare to look closely; I just ran."
"Oh. I see. Come on, let's eat."
Ah-Liao had a home, but no parents.
The man by her side, tall and slender, with an inscrutable temperament, had a handsome appearance and an ordinary name—Liang Yudong.
She called him Shifu.
The title of "Shifu" was more form than substance. Over the course of eleven years, Liang Yudong, besides taking care of her food and daily life, didn't teach Ah-Liao anything.
He was skilled in medicine-making. He would gather medicinal herbs from the distant mountains, either drying or roasting them. On countless nights when the moon was bright and stars were sparse, the sound of pounding medicine could be heard from the westernmost room in the courtyard.
Once, Ah-Liao secretly peeked into the west room through a crack in the window. Under the soft yellow light, Liang Yudong held a small spoon with great concentration, scooping a spoonful of powder from a dark medicine jar and placing it into a delicate white porcelain bottle in his hand, gently shaking it. As he shook, he glanced at an old-fashioned thread-bound book placed beside him, worn and fragile like dried leaves.
Ah-Liao thought he was completely absorbed in his work, but whenever she tried to get a closer look, a gust of wind would blow dust into her eyes from the window sill. By the time she forcibly opened her reddened eyes, Liang Yudong would have silently appeared by her side, twisting her ear and ushering her back to her room with her tongue sticking out.
This kind of scene would happen several times a year. That old book was the one thing besides red bean ice cream that fascinated Ah-Liao the most.
She had peeked at it, but she couldn't understand it. The words in the book were densely packed, and they seemed to mock her like little ants with their heads high and chests out. There was one page that had been turned so many times it was almost falling apart.
On many moonlit summer nights or snowy mornings when the red plum blossoms adorned the landscape, Liang Yudong would sit at the stone table in the courtyard, pouring himself wine. As he got slightly tipsy, he would bask in the moonlight or the sparse snow and softly recite odes.
"The cold mountains turn green, autumn waters gurgle all day,
Leaning on my staff outside the thatched gate, I face the wind, listening to the evening cicadas."
The mountain breeze that passed by ruffled his neatly arranged clothes, sweeping away a few fallen flower petals and adorning his dark hair. At moments like this, Ah-Liao would hop over to him like a rabbit, standing on the stone bench, giggling as she plucked the flower petals from his head.
"Are you done with your elegant play? You don't need to eat, do you?" The harmonious atmosphere was often interrupted by a soprano voice.
Dressed in a splendid white outfit, Mo Bai, holding a basin of vegetables, walked up to them with an icy demeanor and forcefully placed the basin in front of Ah-Liao. "You brat, go wash these vegetables!"
"As you bid, Sister Mo Bai!" Ah-Liao stuck her tongue out and picked up the basin before running off.
"You have a bad temper," Liang Yudong shrugged.
Mo Bai gave him a sharp look and, glancing at Ah-Liao running away, coldly said, "I don't have as many emotions as you do. I hate acting impetuously the most."
How should one explain Mo Bai, this woman? Liang Yudong was the first man Ah-Liao had seen in her memory, and Mo Bai was the first woman she had seen and could remember.
The three of them lived under the same roof.
Mo Bai was extremely beautiful, with captivating eyes and a charming aura. She loved to dress up, wearing different styles of clothing every day, but the color was always an unchanging white. She wasn't Liang Yudong's wife, nor was she a relative. She didn't seem like a friend either; she just spent most of her days being a foul-mouth as she took care of most of the household chores. Occasionally, she would go on long trips to help Liang Yudong gather herbs, and the rest of the time, she would disappear without a trace.
Growing up, Ah-Liao had never once seen Mo Bai smile at her. Mo Bai's interactions with her consisted of yelling things like, "Take off your dirty clothes!" or "Roll back to sleep!" and when she wasn't yelling, she simply gave Ah-Liao a disdainful look and ignored her.
Ah-Liao knew that Mo Bai loved to eat fish. One time when Mo Bai was sick and couldn't eat, Ah-Liao secretly went to the river behind the mountain to catch the freshest fish for her. She almost slipped and fell into the river and drowned. When she brought a bowl of fish soup to Mo Bai's bedside, Mo Bai overturned the bowl and told her to roll away.
Ah-Liao wasn't angry about this perverted witch vs. pure lamb's way of getting along; she was just baffled. After thinking long and hard, she couldn't figure out what she had done to offend Mo Bai. Could it be that Mo Bai thought she was too ugly?
Though she was a bit confused, Ah-Liao still didn't get angry. She simply didn't have the concepts of "getting angry" or "bearing grudges."
Mo Bai, like Liang Yudong, was still the most important person in her life.
As Liang Yudong applied the cool ointment to Ah-Liao's wound, he shook his head and said, "I've told you N times, you need to be more low-key. What if you get into a fight with someone and break something?"
"I'm not a porcelain cup, how can I break so easily?" Ah-Liao grimaced in pain, "Softer, softer."
He stopped what he was doing.
"To me, you're the only one," he looked at Ah-Liao in a daze for a moment before quickly regaining his usual composure. He got up and grabbed the medicine kit, heading back into the house. "There's soup in the kitchen; serve yourself."
Shifu seems to be different lately.
Ah-Liao watched his retreating figure and carefully rubbed the corners of her mouth.
Footnotes:
[1] A square table designed to seat eight people, with a bench for two on each side.
Edit: Surname Liáng. liáng means beam of roof/bridge. Liang is also of the dynasties in China. yǔ=room/space/universe; dòng=main beam supporting a house/ridgepole(old). Figuratively, it means important person. So Yudong can be interpreted as "pillar of the universe" or "strong and vast."
mò=final/last/end. bái=white/snowy.
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