ঊনচল্লিশতম অধ্যায়

maybe the great sister sky finally mended her pocket, or perhaps she simply couldn't bear to watch i xiangjuan's look of utter despair any longer. the rain stopped abruptly, and a streak of sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting its warmth upon her face. freed from the curtain of rain, the world before her eyes grew much clearer, and she could faintly make out a rainbow arching across the sky above the distant woods.

after this turbulent ordeal, i xiangjuan had truly witnessed the power of the rain—it fell when it pleased, stopped when it wished, coming and going with total freedom, much like her own turbulent tears. having purged most of her pent-up emotions, she felt a profound sense of relief in her heart. crying was one thing, but she still had to pick herself up and continue on her journey, treating it as tearing apart her past self—that despondent self trapped in the rain.

looking at it from another perspective, even fierce beasts feared the rain and hid from it, yet she did not fear it at all. she had met it head-on, endured the fierce bombardment of the storm, survived the torrential downpour, weathered the whipping winds and heavy rains, pushed through the muddy slopes, and finally waited out the clearing skies and the post-storm rainbow, welcoming back her own restored morale. suddenly, she felt that she was truly extraordinary—a woman who had surpassed even fierce beasts.

she put away her umbrella, straightened her shoulder bag. her clothes and trousers clung damply to her skin, making her feel as though she were wearing a tight bodysuit. fortunately, the sunlight had broken through the encirclement, and the surface temperature was rising, preventing it from draining away her body heat too rapidly.

she would climb back up right from the spot where she had fallen. since she had just slipped down the earthen slope, she would now have to crawl right back up it. grabbing onto the vines and roots with both hands, she spent a great deal of effort before finally managing to return to the path. looking down, she saw that the yellow earth had treated her like a canvas; her hands, clothes, trousers, shoes, and even her bag were all stained and dotted with traces of yellow mud.

just as she was about to resume her journey, a voice suddenly called out from behind her.

"i xiangjuan... why are you still here?"

turning around, she discovered that it was ling yu once again, though this time he no longer held that pig in his arms.

"me?" i xiangjuan recalled her desolate appearance in the rain—a memory that belonged exclusively to her, which she had no intention of sharing with anyone else, nor did she plan to answer ling yu truthfully. instead, she countered, "why are you still here?"

"sigh, well, after feeding the pig, i was planning to take it to the animal interaction event. who would have thought it would start raining? let me tell you, that storm was quite fierce! if i hadn't had a private cabin in the woods, i wouldn't have been able to hold out and definitely would have ended up looking like a drowned rat."

as ling yu spoke, he walked toward i xiangjuan. drawing closer, he finally noticed that not a single inch of her clothing was dry—she was completely drenched through. even her hair had clumped together into several soggy strands, hanging down like distinct sections of a doorway curtain. looking at her, it seemed as though she had rolled around in a mud puddle; aside from her face, which was relatively clean, there wasn't a single clean spot on her body.

"did you take a tumble?"

i xiangjuan said nothing, merely nodding slightly. exposing such a wretched side of herself to an outsider was indeed quite embarrassing, but she was not someone overly concerned with saving face. once the awkwardness passed, she didn't care all that much anymore.

"did you fall silly from the tumble? or did you get soaked so long you've lost your wits?"

seeing i xiangjuan standing there in a daze without speaking or showing much expression—much like a newly activated robot—ling yu couldn't help but tease her a little.

i xiangjuan still didn't reply. she only felt a strong itch in the bridge of her nose, as if a surge of air within her body wanted to rush out through her respiratory tract all at once. immediately afterward, she sneezed several times in succession and shivered involuntarily. if things continued this way, she was bound to fall ill.

"you look... how about changing into my clothes? my wooden cabin is right over there, and there are clean clothes inside."

seeing that i xiangjuan remained non-committal, ling yu turned and began walking toward the cabin. after taking a few steps, he glanced back and found that she was still standing in the exact same spot, thinking to herself that this woman certainly possessed a very strong sense of self-preservation.

"don't worry, i'm not a bad person. see? my cabin is right over there!"

i xiangjuan remained rooted to the spot, completely motionless. he was truly defeated by this woman. turning around, he walked straight to the cabin, and after a short while, he returned with an outer jacket, handing it to i xiangjuan. as he had expected, she was still standing right where she had been.

for some reason, i xiangjuan suddenly felt a deep sense of insecurity. perhaps it was because she had been drenched by the rain, perhaps because she was deep in the forest, or perhaps because she was facing a complete stranger.

she didn't know whether this person before her was trustworthy. she had always avoided growing close to others easily, and this man had appeared in her field of vision three times already, taking the initiative to approach her. she had no way of knowing whether this was a coincidence or deliberate, whether it was fate or a tribulation.

seeing her continued blank stare, ling yu couldn't help but chuckle, revealing a flash of bright, white porcelain teeth. to be honest, when he smiled, he looked quite sincere.

besides, i xiangjuan was freezing cold. the longer the wet clothes stayed on her body, the more her core temperature would drop, and she had no desire to fall ill in a foreign place.

it was just a piece of clothing; surely he wouldn't spray it with chemicals or plant poisonous needles in it?

besides, given her current physical condition, would he even need to resort to such methods to deal with her? if he wanted to, he could just use brute force to carry her away right now, couldn't he?

after mulling it over, she decided to trust him just this once, taking the jacket and wrapping it around herself.

the jacket carried a faint, powdery scent of pig feed—and strangely enough, it smelled rather pleasant. it seemed he really did feed pigs frequently. i xiangjuan lowered her maximum-level psychological defenses, putting away her wariness for the time being.

"i'm heading back now! are you coming along?" ling yu turned his head to look at i xiangjuan, his gaze casual and somewhat carefree.

i xiangjuan checked the time. it was about two kilometers from here to the station; if she walked fast, she could reach it in fifteen minutes.

"no need, i'm going to the station to catch a ride!"

"today happens to be the ghost festival, so the yin energy is heavy. the sightseeing bus drivers have been given an early day off, and no more buses are coming!" when ling yu mentioned the words "yin energy," he sounded quite like a storyteller recounting a horror tale.

"ugh..." i xiangjuan was driven to the absolute limits of helplessness, feeling as though a series of black lines were sliding down the top of her head. "this island is awfully superstitious!"

a superstitious island, a superstitious driver—leaving i xiangjuan with no transport whatsoever. it was truly like misfortune opening the door for misfortune; she had reached the very peak of bad luck.

"lots of people believe in spirits these days, you know. don't you believe in them?"

"there has to be a limit to belief! believing excessively is just superstition. i do believe that spirits exist; they exist even when it isn't the ghost festival. usually, there are vehicles running at this hour, but precisely because today is the ghost festival, there are none. if that isn't superstition, what is?"

in her view, today was just like the other 364 days of the year—an ordinary day. spirits existed everywhere and at all times; there was no need to frighten oneself simply because of a date on the calendar.

"that makes a lot of sense!" ling yu said thoughtfully, before continuing, "my vehicle is right up ahead. would you like a ride?"

suddenly, the sound of a crowd shouting drifted over from behind. neither too close nor too far, it was faintly audible. i xiangjuan thought to herself that this group of tourists was probably the same batch she had encountered at the cave; they had a tour bus to pick them up and didn't need to rush for public transport.

very well, with no sightseeing bus available, she was left with only two choices: ride with ling yu, or hitch a ride with the tour group?

she and ling yu had crossed paths three times now, and she felt he was quite a warm-hearted person. not only had he lent her his jacket, but he also seemed to like animals, and so far she hadn't detected anything insincere about him.