Chapter 3 What else can eyes be used for? Spying
Xia Zhu took out the green stone from her pocket and walked to the window.
The gauze curtain couldn't block the moonlight; under the filtered blue moonlight, the stone was crystal clear, with a faint green glow flowing within it. The stone was as transparent as glass, yet it felt quite heavy in the hand.
If the folk legend of the mandrill recorded in the book is real, then the appearance of the stone in the dream in real life may also have some basis.
Whether there is a connection between the two, the events that happened in just one day have already exceeded Xia Zhu's understanding over the past 18 years.
Anyway, after such a fierce struggle, she was no longer sleepy. She turned on the light, walked to the foot of the bed, where there was a mountain of books, tied together with hemp rope according to their categories. They were all Xia Zhu's treasures.
Today has been so bizarre; I'm more excited than scared.
Xia Zhu's inner self is not as indifferent as her outward appearance. She has an inexplicable love for the unknown, but conversely, she fears everything conventional. Just like the test phobia that she suddenly developed after the college entrance examination last year, which resembles a post-traumatic stress disorder, she is actually unsure whether she should follow the mainstream life rules, study hard for years to get into a university, and then enter society as an ordinary member of society.
Xia Zhu sat amidst a pile of books, flipping through pages of records about mountain demons, such as "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang" and "Records of Strange Things," trying to find clues related to this green stone.
But even as the rooster crowed and the sky began to lighten, she still hadn't found anything.
There is actually a lot of information about strange stones. For example, there's the story of the Three-Life Stone, which supposedly carries the spirits of past lives. The Tang Dynasty poem *Ganze Yao* records a Three-Life Stone standing on the banks of the River of Oblivion in the underworld. However, the Three-Life Stone is related to predestined relationships in past and present lives, but has no direct connection to dreams. The *Taiping Guangji* also mentions a self-ringing stone in front of the Huayue Temple during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Its mortar rang like thunder, foreshadowing the An Lushan Rebellion. If Xia Zhu's green stone is similar to a self-ringing stone, then the fact that the mountain demon hid under her bed tonight while the self-ringing stone remained silent in her pocket is clearly a dereliction of duty.
There are many similar magical stones, but none of them show any connection to dreams.
Xia Zhu planned to go back to school and use the computer in the library to search online.
Although she always believed that books held a wealth of knowledge, she felt that physical eyes were not conducive to efficient work. She was not a pedantic person; if she hadn't wanted to save more money, she would have bought herself a smartphone long ago.
After a restless night, Xia Zhu lay back on the bed, took out the green stone, and examined it closely in the sunlight. It was sparkling and beautiful, and she liked it more and more the more she looked at it.
She doesn't have many other hobbies, probably because she's used to being poor. She especially loves anything shiny and sparkly.
After lying in bed for ten minutes, Xia Zhu still couldn't fall asleep. Although her body was exhausted, her mind was unusually excited. She briefly recalled and summarized the events of the past two days. While wondering if there was something wrong with her mental state, the tangible and visible stone constantly reminded her that it was.
She had no other relatives in this world. The only things that belonged to Xia Zhu were the house her grandfather left behind and the two chickens in the yard. She didn't even have any friends, although she longed to build friendships. In 18 years, she had grown from a little girl into a young woman, and apart from her grandfather, nothing in the world could bind Xia Zhu to anything else. She stubbornly believed that to survive on this planet, one needed weight—not the physical weight gained from eating, but the collective weight of everything important to you, connected through a strong network of relationships. With this, you could firmly plant yourself on the ground.
After Grandpa passed away, the dilapidated wooden house, the two emaciated chickens, and Xia Zhu herself were like drifting duckweed, rootless and without foundation, ready to rot away at the slightest breeze.
But now, by some strange twist of fate, she possesses a sparkling stone, obtained from a dream, inexplicably, as if she has quietly connected with another side of this world. Something is calling to her from the depths of her being, though she herself is not quite sure.
"Perhaps I am the imperial horse waiting to be led away?" The legendary monster hiding in the shadows at night may not have come for the stone. Even if it just passed by the dilapidated house and was drooling over Xia Zhu's meat, that would be fine too. That is her attraction, her value.
She could wield a shovel and snatch her own life from the clutches of an invincible force.
She likes it this way.
Xia Zhu sat up in bed; the process of returning home always had to be repeated.
The curtains in the room were made of gauze that Grandpa had brought over, with a few lily prints on them. When Xia Zhu couldn't sleep on afternoons as a child, she would stare at the patterns on the curtains, watching the light circles turn into little people on the curtains, climbing over mountains made of flowers, adventuring all the way up, and finally escaping through the gaps lifted by the breeze.
Pulling back the curtains and opening the window, you see the character "早" (early) carved by Xia Zhu on the wooden table under the windowsill. The wooden table was made by Grandpa from an old door panel. Grandpa's carpentry was exceptional; it remains sturdy and stable even after all these years, just like the heart he built for Xia Zhu.
She boiled water, washed up, cooked a pot of rice, washed some greens, picked some vegetable leaves and mixed them into cornmeal before going to the yard to feed the chickens. She squatted in front of the chicken coop and patiently persuaded them to eat more so they could grow bigger. The hen and the rooster were usually fed by the aunt next door. They neither crowed nor laid eggs. Every mealtime, they would hold their heads high and walk away arrogantly, leaving Xia Zhu and the carefully prepared chicken feed with two disdainful looks.
Xia Zhu once wanted to give the two skinny chickens to her aunt, but her aunt said to keep them at home so that she could do something for her whenever she came back on vacation, just like when Grandpa Xia was still alive.
That's what my aunt said.
So Xia Zhu followed his grandfather's example, getting up early to sweep the yard, feed the chickens, cook, and then take a walk in the fields.
When she was in her first year of high school, her grandfather transferred the family's few acres of land to another owner because his health had deteriorated so much that he could no longer work in the fields.
We thought that without physical labor, Grandpa's health might improve, but unexpectedly, lying in bed, Grandpa was more like a candle in the wind. As the sun set in the east, he was burning out his life force even faster.
Grandpa said that they were born on the loess soil, and leaving the land was like severing the roots they had built over decades. So in his last few days, Grandpa insisted on getting out of bed and walking around outside.
Strangely enough, the old man's feet became steady on the ground. He walked out of the house and into the yard. The setting sun warmed his dry skin, like a mother's gentle caress. She followed anxiously behind and saw her grandfather walk into the muddy ground and stand between the vast sky and earth. The wind rushed towards them from afar. Her grandfather, like a withered tree, was also supported by the earth and comforted by the sky, sprouting the last bit of new bud.
The sunset that day was as red as a salted egg with pinkish-white powder, and the clouds were shimmering with gold. She thought that her grandfather would recover from that moment.
But after that day, Grandpa's condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was admitted to the town hospital. He lay in bed, his cloudy eyes unable to focus, yet he tried hard to find Xia Zhu's figure under the light. He shed a few tears, as if he were about to shed the last of his life.
The college entrance exam was just around the corner, which was the "most important" time in every sense of the word. Grandpa held on to his last breath, believing that his departure would inevitably affect his granddaughter's life. He was also really worried about the most precious person in the world.
But how difficult it was for his dying body to hold on; his breathing was like a broken bellows, pulling at Xia Zhu's heart.
Finally, a few days before the exam, one night, Xia Zhu sneaked out of school and took a black cab back to town overnight.
Outside her grandfather's hospital room, his breathing was rapid and slow, occasionally letting out a loud groan. Xia Zhu rubbed her eyes until they were red. She thought of her first words, then the first dress she wore, and then the countless times she followed her grandfather, running barefoot on the ridges of the fields.
Finally, she pushed open the door and knelt down beside her grandfather's bed.
“It’s me, Grandpa.”
"I am Little Candle."
The old man on the hospital bed seemed to have become much more conscious. He heard Xia Zhu's voice and tried his best to respond to her with his loudest breathing.
"Grandpa, I've come to see you." She reached out and gently combed the old man's gray hair, which felt like a pile of withered grass.
"Grandpa, I've finished my exams. I think I did pretty well. You know your granddaughter is the smartest." Xia Zhu held the old man's hand.
“There are spots available in town that can sponsor my university education. I’ve estimated my scores and I can get into the best school in the provincial capital. They have a lot of scholarships there, you remember? I showed them to you before.”
Xia Zhu's voice grew softer and softer. She saw her grandfather suddenly raise his other hand and wave it in mid-air as if he wanted to grab something.
"Grandpa, I'm capable of taking care of myself. I won't let you worry."
"From childhood to adulthood, I've always been the best, haven't I?"
"Grandpa, you should go now."
Stop struggling in pain just because you can't let go of her.
A tear rolled down the crease at the corner of his eye, where it remained forever as his skin was no longer smooth, accompanied by a huge exhale.
The testing equipment by the bedside emitted a long hum.
From then on, she became even more afraid of exams.
Xia Zhu slept at home for another night. That night was peaceful and dreamless, and nothing like the attacks of evil spirits and demons happened again.
On a weekend morning, she got up as usual, boiled water, washed up, cooked, and fed the chickens.
Then I walked around the fields where my old home used to be, gazing at the rising sun on the horizon and the birds on the telephone poles. In the morning smoke and breeze, I happily practiced a set of military boxing.
Xia Zhu loves physical fitness, firmly believing that it is the foundation of revolution.
Moreover, things like what happened last night might happen again in the future.
In the very end, she went to the place where her grandfather was buried, a lonely grave on the plain.
Grandpa said that her parents left after she was born. They were disgusted with the land and the mountains and fields, and were determined to make a name for themselves in the steel-filled places. But the mountains and rivers were high and the rivers were long, and they never heard from them again. Their fate was unknown.
Grandpa said he didn't blame them. Everyone makes different choices in life. It's just that Xia Zhu has suffered because she has no biological mother or father by her side at such a young age.
Xia Zhu didn't feel bitter at all. Her grandfather had given her enough love, and that love could make up for everything. It would never be extinguished even after her grandfather left.
Having finished my journey home, I boarded the car back along the mountain road I had come from.
In darkness, the five senses are especially acute, even when asleep.
Xia Zhu couldn't sleep well, and in her daze, she always felt a burning gaze watching her.
She struggled to wake up from the darkness, and as she opened her eyes, she reached under her pillow, where there was a small knife that she had prepared beforehand.
Above their heads, under the upper bunk, in a place that should have been empty, was a wide leaf stuck to the bed.
The dark golden veins on the leaf have a unique shape, extending from the leaf stalk and then forming a circle that connects to resemble an eye.
No, it's just one eye.
Because it just blinked noticeably.
Xia Zhu drew her knife and stabbed it into the eye on the leaf.
A note from the author:
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