CH 12

…water x 6

translator: baumkuchen  editors: juurensha, c3ltic 

Even though they’d said it’d be best if they quickly left, from start to finish, the three people were utterly unable to find the right way out.

The dark clouds in the sky became thicker and thicker, and the swishing sound of raindrops falling onto the trees started up around them. Even though the sound was soft, in the stifling silence of the woods, it was abnormally ear-piercing.

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The three of them didn’t speak any further, placing their entire focus on the ground beneath their feet. Because it was too dark, Lu Qingjiu had to turn on his phone’s flashlight to illuminate the path. In a small voice, he asked, “Yin Xun, do you recognise these surroundings?”

Yin Xun shook his head. Due to him walking in front, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t see his expression, but from his tone, he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood, “I’ve never seen this place before…”

With nightfall, the originally familiar mountain woods became increasingly strange, as if they had never been here before.

Just as Lu Qingjiu was thinking about what to do, he saw a beam of light shining from the midst of the deep woods. That light flashed, as if beckoning them over.

“There’s a light over there!” Zhu Miaomiao exclaimed in joyous surprise.

“Wait, don’t go over there.” Yin Xun grabbed Zhu Miaomiao, stopping her. He continued, “I’ve heard elders say that when you’re hopelessly lost in the woods, if you see a light, you shouldn’t rush over. It could be a trap set by… something.” 

Hearing this, Zhu Miaomiao was even more frightened. Her voice shaking, she asked, “Qingjiu, has the place you live in always been this exciting?”

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Lu Qingjiu was helpless, “This is also my first time…”

As the three people were talking, the beam of light came closer and closer. Next to the beam, a vague figure could barely be made out in the darkness. Lu Qingjiu shouted, “Who is it?!”

“It’s me.” They heard Bai Yuehu’s familiar voice say. 

“Yuehu, why are you here?” Upon hearing that familiar voice, Lu Qingjiu inwardly breathed out a deep sigh of relief. He knew that Bai Yuehu wasn’t a normal person. Since he’d managed to find them, he definitely had a way to bring them out of these pitch-black woods.

Bai Yuehu didn’t answer Lu Qingjiu’s question. He made his way through the dense forest, appearing in front of Lu Qingjiu and the others. Since he hadn’t brought an umbrella, he was also a bit damp. Behind the curtain of rain, his figure was slightly blurred. He waved a hand over at the three people, beckoning them over.

Lu Qingjiu nodded. He grabbed Zhu Miaomiao’s hand and walked towards Bai Yuehu. Without them noticing, several shallow puddles had accumulated on the ground that made soft splashing sounds when stepped in. 　　

“Let’s go.” Seeing the three of them come over, Bai Yuehu turned to lead the way forward. 

“How’d you find us?” Lu Qingjiu asked quietly.

Bai Yuehu replied, “I’m hungry.”

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Lu Qingjiu asked, “What? You’ve even experienced this before?”

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“Yeah,” Yin Xun answered, “That time I went up the mountain with a friend to fish and ended up hopelessly lost like this time…” 

Lu Qingjiu felt that there was something not quite right about his words, but couldn’t put a finger on it, and so could only let it go.

After walking for about twenty minutes, they finally saw the lights of the village. The rain had become quite heavy, so everyone was now completely soaked through. Even Bai Yuehu was no exception.

After a long struggle, they finally managed to return home. Lu Qingjiu let Zhu Miaomiao use the bathroom to shower and change clothes first.

Zhu Miaomiao nodded, after grabbing a clean set of clothes, she entered the bathroom. She seemed to have received a huge shock, since on the way back she hadn’t spoken a single word. 

Lu Qingjiu and the others got some dry towels to wipe themselves dry. Yin Xun said he was tired and wanted to go home and sleep, so Lu Qingjiu passed him an umbrella, and watched him disappear out the door.

Now, only Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu were left in the room. Bai Yuehu’s eyes were half-lidded, still maintaining his usual half-asleep, languid manner. Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to ask him about some things but then felt that sometimes, there were some things he was better off not knowing. Thus, the two of them tacitly kept silent, until the sound of running water in the bathroom stopped.

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Lu Qingjiu heard the water stop, but after quite a while, he still didn’t see Zhu Miaomiao leave the bathroom. Finding it a little strange, Lu Qingjiu called out, “Miaomiao? Are you done washing up?”

The bathroom was completely silent. Lu Qingjiu’s question received no response. 

“Miaomiao?!” Lu Qingjiu had a bad feeling. After a moment of hesitation, he stood up from his chair and rushed towards the bathroom door. He banged a fist against the wooden door, “Miaomiao? Are you inside?”

Still no response.

Feeling that something wasn’t right, Lu Qingjiu forcibly pushed open the door. Luckily, this old house’s locks were already old, so he managed to push open the door without having to expend too much effort. However, after opening the door, he was shocked stiff. Zhu Miaomiao, who should’ve been showering in the bathroom, was nowhere to be found. There was only an empty bathroom, and a floor filled with puddles in front of him.

“Miaomiao!!” Lu Qingjiu instantly panicked. He turned and rushed back towards the living room, yelling loudly, “Yuehu, it’s bad! Miaomiao’s disappeared!” 

Bai Yuehu looked up, his voice sounding the same as always as he asked, “Disappeared?”

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“Yes, disappeared.” Lu Qingjiu was panicked to the point that his forehead was covered in a layer of cold sweat, “She was just showering in the bathroom, but now there’s no one there!!”

Hearing this, Bai Yuehu got up from the chair and walked towards the direction of the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom door, his footsteps suddenly paused, and he looked towards the exit to the bathroom with a doubtful look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Qingjiu asked in a shaky voice. 

“Water,” Bai Yuehu pointed at the floor. “There was no water here before.”

Lu Qingjiu looked down, and almost stopped breathing. At some unknown time, two more puddles had appeared on the floor. The shape of these two puddles looked incredibly strange, almost as if a person had been forcefully dragged across the floor. It looked like they’d used both hands to try and grasp at the floor with all their might, but in the end, they’d still been dragged off.

“Miaomiao!!” Lu Qingjiu was a little panicked now, “Yuehu, what kind of monster caught Miaomiao?”

Bai Yuehu looked completely calm. He responded, “Do you know her eight birth characters?” 

Lu Qingjiu replied, “I only know the new calendar, not the old one.”

Bai Yuehu replied, “Then what character is the Miao in her name?”

“The Miao that’s made out of three water characters,” Lu Qingjiu replied, “Does that affect anything…”

“Oh, then that’s not unexpected.” As he spoke, Bai Yuehu walked towards to the courtyard outside the house. Since it was raining, the little chicks were all hiding in the chicken coop, so the courtyard had become unusually silent. He continued, “Names are really important things. Since there’s so much water in her name, no wonder that thing took a liking to her.” 

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Then what should we do?”

Bai Yuehu lowered his head to look at the water in the courtyard. After a short period of silence, he suddenly opened his mouth to speak, “Tomorrow I want to eat braised beef.”

Lu Qingjiu almost choked. He’d thought that Bai Yuehu was going to say something important, but in the end he came up with such a sentence. He could only coax him like he was coaxing a child, “Eat, eat, eat, tomorrow I’ll buy beef for you, I’ll buy 10 jin!”

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Only then did Bai Yuehu nod. He then bent over and reached a hand into one of the small puddles in the courtyard. This puddle should’ve been very shallow, but Bai Yuehu’s hand seemed to be reaching into a very deep pool. Only when the water was about to reach his elbow, did he make a move. 

Watching anxiously from the sidelines, Lu Qingjiu saw Bai Yuehu’s eyebrows furrow slightly. Then, his arm tensed, as if he had grasped onto something.

Following that, Lu Qingjiu started to hear the sound of a little child crying. With a quick jerk of his arm, Bai Yuehu fished out an indescribable object from the puddle. At first glance, it looked like a monkey, but with a human face. The fur on its body was all clumped together. His first impression of it was that it looked like an incredibly blurry and indistinct gouache painting that had been smeared and was uncomfortable to look at.

“Where is she?” Bai Yuehu grabbed that thing’s hand and asked.

The thing howled but was unwilling to answer, and it was only when Bai Yuehu faced it and opened his mouth slightly, did the thing finally stop struggling. Its body, like ice left out in the burning hot sun, began to melt. Water unceasingly dripped from its body, and when it hit the ground, it gradually formed the shape of a human. With one look, Lu Qingjiu realised — it was Zhu Miaomiao! 

Zhu Miaomiao’s figure slowly thickened in consistency. Finally, the water condensed into a human figure. Her eyes were tightly shut. It was almost like she was in a coma, completely unaware of what had happened to her.

Seeing that the thing had returned Zhu Miaomiao, with one move of his hand, Bai Yuehu threw the thing onto the ground of the courtyard. Upon making contact with the ground, it instantly melted, turning into a bottomless puddle.

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Seeing the situation, Lu Qingjiu hastily thanked Bai Yuehu, then picked up Zhu Miaomiao who was lying on the ground and brought her into the house.

Bai Yuehu stood out in the courtyard, not making a move to go back inside. After Lu Qingjiu had taken care of Zhu Miaomiao, he noticed that he hadn’t moved, puzzled, “Yuehu, why aren’t you coming back in?” 

“I’m thinking,” Bai Yuehu said.

Lu Qingjiu asked, “About what?”

Bai Yuehu gave Lu Qingjiu a faint look. “I still haven’t had dinner.”

Lu Qingjiu: “…” He seemed to have an idea about what Bai Yuehu was going to say next. 

Sure enough, Bai Yuehu’s next line was: “Should I eat it to stave off my hunger.”

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He didn’t know if it was his own misconception, but when Bai Yuehu said this, Lu Qingjiu seemed to see that puddle in the courtyard tremble slightly.

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Don’t, don’t eat that. Didn’t you say that they don’t taste good? Wait a bit, I’ll prepare a bowl of noodles for you.”

Hearing this, Bai Yuehu then nodded, satisfied, and turned to reenter the house. 

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu relaxed slightly, knowing that his family’s fox spirit no longer had any plans on beating up that strange thing again.

The author has something to say:

Lu Qingjiu: Don’t eat that weird thing, I’ll make noodles for you to eat. 

Bai Yuehu: Really?

Lu Qingjiu: Really… Wait, what are you taking off my pants for——