Returning Home

Let’s put aside the heavy topics and talk about some trivial things during the convalescence period.

That day I was feeling sick and took a nap with Dongzai. I slept from one night to the next, avoiding visitors and throwing tantrums for reasons I didn't even know.

The little fat cat is very tolerant of me. Apart from eating its five meals of canned cat food on time every day, it spends the rest of the time nestling under my arm or next to my belly and sleeping with me.

Sometimes when it wakes up, it gets up and patiently combs and licks its fur, then comes over and licks my cheek almost gently, as if it is taking care of a fragile and helpless kitten.

The doctor came to check on me once during the stay. He was quite indulgent and just reminded me not to stay hungry and upset my stomach, otherwise I would have to stay in the hospital for a few more days. He also said that some stress is normal after a major trauma, and that I may continue to avoid or become irritable, and my aggression and paranoia will also increase greatly. It is very common for me to reject and confront doctors.

I didn't say anything and buried my face in the cat's belly.

The attending physician was very calm, and said to the interns he brought with him, "Yes, write it down, that's it." After that, he calmly pushed the door and left.

By the time I woke up to the stars, I felt really full and hungry. My mood gradually returned to normal. Thinking back to the time when I was doing the ward rounds, I felt a little embarrassed and wondered why I had reached my rebellious phase at this age.

I tossed and turned, feeling a bit awkward, and then I saw a familiar figure sitting beside my bed, holding two cups of milk tea in his hands. He took a sip from each cup through the straw, leisurely holding it like he was holding a cigarette, with no intention of sharing a cup with me.

I was a little confused, thinking Sanyi was crazy too? Why was he wandering around my house so late at night? Could it be that he was insomniac and wanted to borrow the cat?

But the little fat cat has been very attached to me these past two days. I'm not being stingy, but Dongzai is a weak and helpless kitten after all. I'm afraid he will be heartbroken and miss him so much if he leaves me. How can a mature and independent adult like me bear it?

I can't lend it to him, so why don't I let him squeeze in with me? I overslept and have nothing to do, so I can take this opportunity to gossip and interrogate him about whether he has any hidden history from me during these years when he was away from home.

I muttered maliciously, and then I saw him turn around, smile at me, and then like a magic trick, he brought out a cup of steaming hot milk tea, "Here, anyone who sees it gets a share."

The tone and expression gave me a chill. Damn, it’s that damn Zhang Tianyi.

My chest exploded and I jumped up, "How dare you come back? I thought you were dead out there!"

When I looked again, he was still sitting quietly and breathing. It was actually real.

All the worries, tension, anxiety, and doubts that I had been forcibly controlling during this period began to explode. I found that I seemed to have not escaped from the fear of the banyan tree. I immediately suspected that I was dreaming and had not woken up. How could he appear like this in such a lively state? Was that bastard Sanyi playing tricks on me again?

What’s going on? Could it be that Zhang Tianyi died in some remote corner and his ghost came to see me for the last time in my dream?

Where should I go to collect his body, how should I carve on the tombstone, can I receive the incense and candles I burnt for him, how should I explain this to my parents, can they accept that their three children are actually four. In total, there are three Yi in our household registration book, so if I add Zhang Tianyi, this lonely ghost, will the household registration require me to bring him in person to see the living or dead.

A series of chaotic thoughts no longer had any logic. I started shaking inexplicably and kept thinking to myself, "Don't play tricks on me, don't play tricks on me. I'm a patient now and the doctor has said that I am aggressive. If anyone is lying to me, I will strangle him to death on the spot."

Zhang Tianyi sighed and patted my forehead.

It’s true.

I suddenly lost my temper and sat on the hospital bed in a daze. I couldn't describe how I felt. My mind was empty. It would be a lie to say that I was unhappy, but at this moment, I felt more confused than happy. I had no tears. I felt more like a dazed and empty feeling after escaping death. I could only mutter:

"I said, there's no reason why you would be in trouble. If you were dead, I would have no way out."

Zhang Tianyi had no choice but to stick the straw into the milk tea and shake it, then handed it to me and smiled, "It's getting cold quickly, why don't you drink it?"

Then he said seriously that adults should not be so ambiguous, and that we, his biological child, would not dare to do that, so he politely declined.

It was really hilarious to see him talking nonsense for the first time in a long time. When I looked closely, I saw a big "Holiday Special Buy One Get One Free" sign on my cup of milk tea, which seemed to be just an extra.

It was too absurd at the same time. I was both angry and amused. I couldn't help but laugh and cursed, "Get lost!". Then I finally relaxed.

I have to say, the complimentary milk tea is quite delicious and not too sweet.

I never liked pearl balls in milk tea, so I picked two with a straw and put them in my palm to feed Dongzai. The little fat cat was very happy and accepted everything. He immediately buried his whole face in my hand and ate it very busy.

It was funny. I stroked the silly cat and became curious when I saw Zhang Tianyi. "So where have you been recently? You and Sanyi were at loggerheads before, so why did you suddenly make peace and ask him to take over and help? And why did you hide it from me? How long can you stay this time? You won't run away again, right?"

Seeing that I still had a dozen questions that kept coming back like a machine gun, he said, "Slow down, answer them one by one. I'm here and can't run away."

I secretly curled my lips and thought to myself, that’s hard to say, your current credibility is negative.

Zhang Tianyi laughed and his expression softened: "I went back home and told my parents about the matter. I also checked some things."

This was a completely unexpected answer. I was stunned and sat up straight. My voice became very soft and I asked subconsciously: "Mom and Dad, are they okay? I, I'm doing fine..." I suddenly didn't know where to put the milk tea in my hand.

"Don't worry, everything is fine."

As soon as I nodded, my heart began to fray, for I was afraid that my parents would have something to tell him and I wouldn't know how to answer.

I was nervous and felt uncomfortable when I saw that he didn't continue talking, but I really had no right to complain. I suddenly became upset and depressed.

Zhang Tianyi explained, "At that time, I had some matters concerning the Nian family that I had to ask that father about. Sanyi didn't want to go, so I made a deal with him and asked him if he wanted me to break that guy's legs for him."

I was very surprised. Sanyi had vaguely mentioned his original background in the hospital, saying that he was the result of my mother's previous unhappy marriage. Even in his brief description, I could tell that his father was a scumbag lunatic.

"What's the result?"

"Sanyi didn't tell me where that guy went. I can only find him myself."

Zhang Tianyi shook his head. It seemed that he had no way to deal with Sanyi's stubbornness. "In my own destiny, that person went crazy for the so-called mission of the Nian family. He pushed my childhood self into the underground palace pool and disappeared. So I don't know what's going on with him here, and where he will go."

I was also wondering, so I asked Zhang Tianyi what his biological father's name was, and whether I could find it out with the Zhang family's help.

"His name is Nian Huairen." Zhang Tianyi wrote down the three specific words for me. "I asked a broker to check for me, but he couldn't be found. It's as if he has disappeared from the face of the earth."

And what's strange is that, based on his understanding of the biological father, Nian Huairen had an extremely paranoid and radical personality, but was usually well-mannered and good at disguising himself in public. Logically, he would never agree to our mother taking the child away to raise him.

"It's more likely that he would turn against me and kill Sanyi, or even attack my mother."

Zhang Tianyi said it calmly, but it made me shudder. "I don't know how this stark difference in fate between Sanyi and I came about."

I understand his concerns. "According to what you said, a man like him would definitely come to our house to cause trouble, even if he had to rob, he would take his son's body back to soak in the pool. But he never came to disturb us again?" This is not good. I am unfortunate to say that Nian Huairen has turned over a new leaf.

"Do you suspect..." I said with a cold face, "that he got mixed up with that group of vagrants."

"Yes, I suspect that Ping Ping's being targeted was not an accident. It was because Nian Huairen accidentally discovered something unusual when he wanted to harass her, so he fanned the flames and took the opportunity to take revenge."

This is very possible. After all, Nian Huairen is a member of the Nian family, and he must know something about the banyan tree and the wanderers.

In fact, after escaping this adventure, I have been reviewing the information I learned in the past, and I can’t figure out a very strange and contradictory thing:

Since the banyan tree was created by wanderers, why did it remain in the hands of the Nian family for many years, and even miraculously separated from the lake, forcing it to take root in the snow of migrating rats to absorb geothermal heat?

Why didn't the wanderers find the banyan tree, but instead rushed around, and resorted to making the yellow bud "elixir of life", causing a tragic murder similar to the goddess of Hongyan Village?

Later, the banyan tree was stolen by fake people and returned to the lake, which led to the tragic separation of Gao Liu and the female tour guide many years later, and indirectly left the Nian family with only the empty shell of the banyan tree to fight against the mountain fire and geothermal heat, and had to turn into an insect egg and transform into an alien.

There must have been an important turning point that led to a series of changes, which spanned a long period of time spanning several generations, like a domino, changing the fate of everyone including Hongyan Village, the Nian family, the wanderers, the pseudo-people, the Zhang family, Sanyi and Zhang Tianyi, me and Pingping...

Perhaps the final mystery of everything lies in the banyan tree's repeated migrations.

Nian Huairen became an unexpected clue.

What surprised Zhang Tianyi was that this time when he returned, he confessed all the complicated things going on and took the opportunity to ask our mother about Nian Huairen.

Ms. Zhang Can, who is always decisive, was stunned for a moment and said without hesitation, no need to ask, no matter what happened, it definitely has nothing to do with Nian Huairen.

That attitude was by no means one of favoritism or blind trust. Zhang Tianyi could see that his mother had no good feelings towards Nian Huairen and was stating an objective fact from the bottom of her heart.

But when asked further, the mother was very firm and said that the matter of Nian Huairen ended here and she would never discuss it with Zhang Tianyi or Sanyi again.

I was in a state of great headache. I had come to this point and I had no choice but to ask where else I could find clues. Giving up was out of the question. So I asked him what tricks he had.

"Yes." Zhang Tian smiled and pointed outside the window. After a while, Sanyi climbed in through the window with a dark face and a very strange look.

"I asked my mother to bring you and Sanyi, two rebellious runaways, back to have New Year's Eve dinner in a couple of days. Whoever doesn't show up will have his legs broken and be kicked out of our household register."

He said meaningfully, "That's perfect. You two are seriously injured. Go back and call two guys to carry you on a stretcher. Play your pity card well, and she will surely be moved."

Sanyi and I looked at each other.

"Come on, world peace is in your hands." Zhang Tianyi took out a cup of milk tea and put it in Sanyi's hand with a smile, clinking glasses with the two of us, "You're welcome, Ranzai, two more."