Chapter 103 The Lingering Sorrow of Water (Part 1) Good Friend.
"Got it!" Jiang Qushui replied and disappeared into the bushes nearby.
The leaves rustled, sunlight filtered through the gaps, and after walking a long way, I could no longer hear the mournful farewell song for my grandmother.
To be honest, he had never met his grandmother before, and the fact that she was lying quietly in that wooden coffin with her eyes closed today didn't count.
The person he never met was his living grandmother.
If it weren't for the passing of this legendary grandmother, Mom and Dad wouldn't have taken Jiang back to the countryside.
countryside.
It's a bit strange to say this. It's not that he hasn't been to farmhouses before, but these places always have a mysterious feel to them, especially since there are more girls like his mother in his hometown. However, Jiang Qushui likes this. If it's a place with more boys, he, a ten-year-old who is not even waist-high to others, always feels that the air quality at the same altitude is not good and smells bad.
In short, it was nothing like the place he had visited during his summer vacation to catch dragonflies.
Golden light flickered among the bushes ahead, and Jiang Qushui excitedly ran out of the woods, only to discover that there was a wide and winding river there.
Although the homeroom teacher had specifically reminded him before the holidays that none of the children should swim or play in the river alone during the summer vacation, he still approached hesitantly.
He noticed a small figure sitting on the riverbank, huddled up in a ball, looking very dangerous.
"Didn't your teacher say that children shouldn't go near the river?"
Upon hearing his voice, the man slowly turned his head.
A pointed little face, big eyes, and a very indifferent expression.
Jiang Qushui's eyes widened and her face flushed unconsciously.
She is a little girl.
She is an exceptionally cute little girl.
She looked listless and didn't respond to his words at all. She just glanced at him indifferently and then turned back to face the river.
But none of this matters; it won't dampen Jiang Qushui's enthusiasm at all. He likes to make good friends in every different place so that he won't be lonely no matter where he goes when he grows up.
So he carefully squatted down next to the girl and, imitating her, turned his face toward the shimmering river.
"My name is Jiang Qushui, what's your name?"
The first step to making good friends is to introduce yourself.
But his potential friend seemed not to hear him, still staring straight ahead without saying a word. Jiang Qushui scratched his head, feeling like he had met a tough opponent. But it didn't matter, there was no good friend that Jiang Qushui couldn't get.
He was wondering whether to change the subject when the girl suddenly spoke up.
"Ji Wuchou".
"What?" Jiang Qushui blinked.
"Ji Wuchou, that's my name." Even her voice was cold yet pleasant.
"It's good that you can speak," Jiang Qushui said with a grin, looking at Ji Wuchou. "Your name is so strange."
Unexpectedly, the cold-faced child turned around and looked him up and down.
"Is your name normal?" The question was asked with a very serious expression, as if the question was directed at him without any hint of mockery.
Jiang Qushui was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"That's right, we're evenly matched!" This was a phrase he had just learned from an adult, and he could show it off to his good friend today.
However, Ji Wuchou seemed completely uninterested in his "half-baked" performance. She reverted to her previous state, staring blankly at the lake.
"What are you doing here?" Jiang Qushui picked up a pebble from the side of her feet and threw it into the water, splashing up some golden water droplets.
"daze."
Ji Wuchou replied very seriously that she was indeed daydreaming.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Qushui naturally took over the conversation.
"Daydreaming is good; I often daydream during class too."
He was always smiling, which made Ji Wuchou a little inexplicably angry. She didn't quite understand what meaningful conversation they had had, and why this stranger named Jiang Qushui looked so happy.
Unaware that Jiang Qushui had already been defined as a "stranger" in Ji Wuchou's mind, he foolishly continued his process of making friends.
"Where are your parents?" Before Ji Wuchou could answer, he quickly added, "My dad and mom are at my grandma's funeral. Look, in the woods over there." He held up a finger, pointed in the direction they had come from, then leaned closer to Ji Wuchou, waiting expectantly for her reply.
"have no idea."
Ji Wuchou glanced at the expression on the face of the person next to her; she really didn't know.
The Ji family of Puyang, Riyue Mountain, is where she was born, but she has never seen who gave birth to her or what they looked like.
I'd only heard from others that her mother died in a car accident shortly after giving birth to her.
Heaven knows, Ji Wuchou had never even seen what a carriage looked like. She had never left this mountain, only occasionally sitting by the Gongshui River during the limited time she could control.
As for her father, there is no such person.
The girl before him seemed quite different. Jiang Qushui had never met anyone as aloof, cold, and icy as her. So he decided to change his strategy. He rummaged in his pocket, pulled something out, and held it up to Ji Wuchou's face.
"This is for you! Consider it a gift for our first meeting!" he said.
A dazzling light flashed by, and Ji Wuchou subconsciously closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw a lifelike and exquisitely detailed silver snake in the sunlight.
“A gift…” she murmured, as Jiang Qushui casually placed the small, grass-stem-like object, still warm from her body, into his hand.
"Yes, yes, do you like it? I just learned this from my dad. He's a silversmith, and he's really good at it! But I'm not very good at it yet. I'll give you something else next time, when I can make something bigger!"
"Silversmith?" Ji Wuchou looked down at the small snake in her palm. It was the first time she had ever heard of such a profession.
“Yes, he can make all sorts of things out of silver—little snakes, centipedes, butterflies, and even the earrings my mom wears, all made by my dad! I’m learning from him now!” Seeing that Ji Wuchou didn’t react, he added, “What about you? What do you usually play with?”
"Play?" She looked at him blankly. Jiang Qushui thought to himself, "Oh no, she doesn't seem very happy. Maybe she just doesn't play much. After all, some children are very strictly disciplined at home."
He frowned, scratched his head, and blushed, but finally couldn't help himself and presented his hands to Ji Wuchou.
"Okay, actually... don't tell anyone else, okay..."
Actually, Jiang Qushui has a secret: he can raise a ball of water in his palm, and if he puts in a lot of effort, he can even temporarily solidify it into a specific shape.
His mother had once told him very seriously that he must never show this secret to others, but today was different; he really wanted to show it to Ji Wuchou.
And so, under someone's unexpected gaze, a ball of water trembled and appeared above his palm. Ji Wuchou could clearly see his furrowed brows, trembling body, and flushed face, but she didn't point it out. She just looked at it intently, as if it were a river.
After falling three times, the water ball finally solidified in the air into the shape of an animal. Jiang Qushui was trying hard to imagine what a rabbit would look like, but the water ball always had droopy ears like a listless pug, which made him a little frustrated.
"rabbit."
Ji Wuchou stared at the shrinking body of water and said.
Jiang Qushui's eyes, which had dimmed, brightened again, and when he grinned, two sharp canine teeth were revealed.
"That's right! There's more!"
He took a deep breath, focused his attention again, and the pug transformed back into a sparrow.
"Butterfly."
Ji Wuchou spoke again.
"That's amazing!!" Jiang Qushui exclaimed excitedly as the water droplet landed in his palm with a plop, then trickled sparsely through his fingers.
Ji Wuchou blinked and looked back at the river.
“I recognize all these animals, they’re not fun.”
"Not fun?!" Jiang Qushui was shocked, but if there's something you don't like, there's bound to be something you do like. He immediately perked up again, "Then, then, then I'll conjure up something else for you?"
So Ji Wuchou turned around and sat up straight, facing him.
But no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't think of anything more interesting, so he desperately tried to recall what he usually did at home.
What should we play?
"Oh, right!"
He conjured a square shape, but immediately frowned, it didn't look like one at all. However, Ji Wuchou moved closer, only millimeters away from his hand.
"What is this?" Her eyes sparkled, as if snowflakes were swirling within them.
"It's a television!"
"A television? What's that?" Her breath hit the water balloon, and with a gentle thud, the "television" exploded, splashing a few drops of water onto their faces.
"Huh? You've never watched TV?" He found it a bit strange; how could someone not have watched TV?
Ji Wuchou shook his head. "What is it?"
Jiang Qushui was stunned. He couldn't explain what a television was. After thinking for a moment, he simply started gesturing and talking nonsense to Ji Wuchou about the cartoons he had watched.
Then, with his last bit of strength, he conjured a game controller and started talking about his favorite game. He'd always been a smooth talker and had a great way with words. Once he started talking, he'd go on and on, always annoying the teachers and adults who wanted to cover his mouth. He'd brag to the other kids, and at first, everyone would gather around and listen with great interest. But in less than half an hour, one would say they were going home for dinner, and another would say her dad was going to have a little brother.
In short, only Jiang Qushui was still in high spirits, so there was no other way but to tell the story to the ants that were moving house by the flower bed, and to circle them with leaves, so that they could not leave until they finished listening.
Seeing the little ants getting dizzy and disoriented in the circle, and feeling a bit sorry for them, Jiang Qushui had no choice but to go home with a grin and go off to bother his parents.
To his surprise, the seemingly dazed girl in front of him listened very attentively.
Jiang Qushui was overjoyed. He stood up, hands on his hips, on one leg, shouting, "Take this from me, Old Sun!" He then climbed onto the nearby rock, crossed his arms, and spoke a string of words that Ji Wuchou couldn't understand.
One had inexhaustible energy, and the other's eyes lit up no matter what he heard. As they talked, the water on the river surface turned a warm color, and the sun was about to set.
Jiang Qushui had to go home.
He stood reluctantly at the edge of the woods, wanting to ask Ji Wuchou one last question.
"You don't watch TV or play games, so what do you usually do?"
Ji Wuchou stared at his toes for a moment, then solemnly told him.
"Practice martial arts, attend classes, sleep."
Jiang Qushui stared in disbelief, stammering, "You...you're a person from ancient times who traveled here?"
There's a similar time-travel drama airing on TV lately, and my parents have to steal the channel from him every night.
Ji Wuchou looked at his sleeves, which were wet from the water splashes, and nodded very seriously.
Grandma's funeral will last for three days. They agreed to come here again after lunch tomorrow, because he still has so many stories to tell her.
But three days is far too short for two children who have just met. Before Jiang Qushui could even ask Ji Wuchou if they were friends, her mother, who had come from the woods, grabbed her by the back of the neck.
He looked up at his mother with the excitement of a puppy and told her that he had made a friend here.
"Where did this friend come from, Jiang Qushui? Have you encountered a ghost?"
Jiang Qushui angrily pointed towards the riverbank, only to find that there was no one there, except for the newly risen moon casting its silvery light on the water.
A night breeze blew by, and Jiang Qushui thought blankly, "A ghost? Xiao Chou isn't some ancient person, so she's a ghost?"
If she's a ghost, will he ever see her again?
Sitting in the swaying car, Jiang Qushui left his mother's hometown. It was seven years later when he returned to the banks of the Gong River.
Over the course of seven years, the waters have flowed and the clouds have dispersed, things have changed and people have changed, but the figure by the river seems to have never changed.
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Author's Note: This is a brief interlude, which will likely end in two chapters. You can skip it if you don't like it.
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