Liang Yudong first met Ah-Liao when Ah-Liao was only three years old.
When he threw a thick stack of banknotes onto the greasy, dirty wooden table, two greedy gazes sparkled like electricity. The woman's chapped lips trembled as she whispered, "I never thought we'd find a little girl in the mountains, and someone would actually be willing to pay for her." After saying this, she immediately changed her expression and cheerfully called out to the kitchen, "Girl, come out quickly."
It was the tail end of December, and it was snowing heavily in the mountains that day.
The little girl who appeared at the door looked to be about three or four years old. Her skinny body was wrapped in an old, thin sweater with cuffs and a collar that had loose threads. She held a freshly cooked pot of potatoes in her hands, and her big, dark eyes sparkled with liveliness on her small, round face covered in black and gray dust.
"Daddy," she trotted over to the man and joyfully tilted her head up, holding the potatoes in front of him, "Look, this time they didn't overcook."
The man impatiently took the bowl from her and set it aside, then lifted her up and pushed her toward the young man in front of the window. "Take her, she's yours now," he said. Then, he gave the little girl a stern look and said, "From now on, he's your dad, go with him."
What he handed over was not a person, just a commodity that could be bought and sold freely.
"Mom and dad will be really happy. That's great," the little girl stood in front of the crooked fence gate, looking back at her former "home" with a pair of big, sparkling eyes. There was no sorrow, no anger, no fear on her face, only a smile, as beautiful as a wildflower quietly blooming.
Liang Yudong watched the little girl from the moment he led her out of the house, holding her hand. She was like a docile kitten, without any resistance, letting him lead her towards a completely unknown path.
"Don't you even want to ask me where I'm taking you?" he asked her.
"I don't need to ask," she tilted her little face up, wiping her freezing nose and giggling, "You won't eat me, after all."
He shook his head, knelt down, and carefully wiped her dirty nose with a handkerchief, smiling, "You really are as clean as a blank sheet of paper."
A thin layer of snow covered the yard, and outside, a tall ginkgo tree stood next to the courtyard wall. Despite the bitterly cold weather and chilly wind, the tree was covered with layers of fresh, emerald green ginkgo leaves, so tender that it seemed they would ooze water with a pinch.
The abnormal combination of white snow and green leaves exuded an exuberant vitality.
Liang Yudong glanced at the tree, then turned and led his little girl away. On the winding mountain road, the footprints of the two, one large and one small, extended forward...
In a simple rural inn, Liang Yudong tidied up the messy bedding and frowned, "We'll be home tomorrow. Just make do for the night and go to bed early." He turned back to see her looking all around, "Ah-Liao, do you hear me?"
"Coming..." She ran to Liang Yudong's side, happily grabbing his hand, "The house here is so pretty!" With that, she leaped onto the bed, rolling around on the musty-smelling quilt and clapping her hands with laughter. "So soft and comfortable!"
"Have you never slept in a bed like this before?" Liang Yudong sat on the edge of the bed, watching the child who was flushed red with excitement with great interest.
"There are no beds in my house, only my parents' have one. But I have lots of straw! And I always sleep with Xiao Du. It's nice and warm cuddling up to Xiao Du." She hugged the pillow and pressed her little face against it, "I wonder if Xiao Du has eaten."
"Who is Xiao Du?"
"The doggy that helps Mom and Dad watch the yard. Its fur is as white as snow. It's quite big, but never seems to put on weight, always so skinny."
"Ah, that’s how it is."
Liang Yudong straightened her body and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "Go to sleep. It won't be cold tonight."
"Okay!" Her face, as red as an apple, quickly disappeared under the covers, leaving only a pair of sweetly smiling eyes. "Today, I'm so happy." She popped her head out again, looking serious. "Can I see Mom and Dad again?"
"They will be just fine," he patted her head. "Having a daughter like you is a blessing they have cultivated over several lifetimes."
"Yawn~ that's great!" She snuggled into the blanket contentedly, going to sleep peacefully. "You should go to bed early too, Shifu."
With that, she poked her head out again and smiled sweetly at Liang Yudong. "Shifu, you're really kind!"
"Uh-huh," Liang Yudong smiled awkwardly.
On the way there, he did two things. First, when they passed through a vast field, he casually gave her a name. Second, he clarified their future relationship. He didn't like calling her "girl," and he certainly didn't like her calling him "dad."
In the deep of night, the biting mountain wind whistled through the broken window. Winter in the mountains was damp and bone-chilling. Liang Yudong sat on the bed, reading by the dim light of an oil lamp. The pages of the book were yellowed, even older than the dusty lampshade. Ah-Liao slept soundly next to him, like a piglet, with her fingers innocently placed in her mouth.
Closing the book and looking at the little figure beside him, his dull face appeared deep and melancholic in the flickering lamplight.
A gust of strong wind blew in, extinguishing the oil lamp.
Liang Yudong couldn't help but sneeze.
He rubbed his nose and sighed bitterly. It turned out that he had become weak to this extent. His former abilities to traverse the skies and escape from the earth, point at wood and reshape it into a house, were now distant memories. Today, he couldn't even withstand a small bout of severe cold.
So what if he was a Ginkgo tree demon that had cultivated a human form, so what if he had practiced skills for millennia? When the great calamity approached, he, too, would be nothing more than a living skin[1] dragging on his feeble existence.
To escape meant immortality, but to fail meant doom.
This was the predestined path of monsters.
In the darkness, the rhythmic and peaceful sound of breathing beside him filled his ears, and Ah-Liao's smiling face and laughter appeared in his heart, sometimes clear and sometimes blurry...
As the first light of dawn began to appear, Liang Yudong opened his eyes in warmth. He noticed that he had been covered with a blanket at some point. Although it had a strange smell, it effectively shielded him from the cold. Ah-Liao's corner of the blanket barely covered her, and she had curled up into a ball beside him, with a small hand resting on his arm, still snoring away and drooling.
Just as Liang Yudong was shaking his head to tuck her in properly, Ah-Liao stirred and woke up.
"It seems like I'll need to glue you to the blanket for you to sleep properly and not kick it off," Liang Yudong scolded her while giving her a stern look.
Rubbing her eyes, Ah-Liao sat up and said, "I didn't kick the blanket off!"
"Then how did it end up on me?"
"I heard you coughing in the middle of the night, so I covered you with the blanket," Ah-Liao replied honestly. "I didn't kick it off."
He was startled for a moment and asked: "Give me the blanket, wouldn’t you be cold?"
"Yes, but I'm not coughing," Ah-Liao pouted. "When Xiao Du used to cough and shiver, I would just put a thick layer of straw on it and hug it, and it would get better quickly!"
"I'm not Xiao Du," he teased, giving her nose a playful flick.
"But you are by my side." Ah-Liao tilted her head and earnestly clasped her fingers, "I don't want you to get sick. When you're sick, you'll be unhappy, and when you're unhappy, Ah-Liao won’t be happy either. Ah-Liao wants Mom and Dad, Xiao Du too, and there’s Shifu also; Ah-Liao wants everyone around to be happy!"
"Silly child," he ruffled her hair, and there was an unspeakable bitterness in the smile at the corner of his mouth.
Because you're by my side...
Alright, from now on, you will only be by my side.
Liang Yudong extended his index finger and gently tapped Ah-Liao's forehead. A faint light radiated from his fingertip.
Ah-Liao, you no longer have a past, only a future living alongside me.
Footnotes:
[1] pí náng: leather bag. A metaphor for the human body (mostly used in a derogatory sense).
Translator:
As this story contains elements of cultivation, I'll use terminology like ordeal, destined calamity, inner core, and so on. If you're new to this genre, I recommend you check out this website; the blogger has done an excellent job. I've also included the link to the TOC page. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, and I will do my best to address them. See ya!
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