0p0 Chapter 218 (Oleander)
Chapter 218 (Oleander)
Bright sunlight streamed into the room through the paper windows. The Deer Man Shop was as quiet and peaceful as ever in the afternoon. Now that it was lunchtime, the aroma of food wafted through the air, and the clattering of pots and pans echoed from the kitchen.
Soon after, the four-legged creature lifted the curtain and stepped out of the shop. A gentle breeze was blowing outside. He walked down the steps and looked around for the children who had run outside to play.
"Dinner's ready! Walnut and Fuzi! Where have the two kids been playing?"
With no other animals around, the four-legged creature had to go further afield to look for more. Its hooves clattered through the weeds, and the hem of its red-and-white auspicious cloud cloak brushed against a patch of grass, causing the branches and leaves there to tremble violently.
The Qilin sensed the movement and turned its head, revealing a huge snow leopard head with bronze-yellow eyes staring at it!
"A walnut?!"
He was so frightened that he took a step back. The snow leopard in front of him was so large that even when he was walking upright, he had to tilt his head back slightly to make eye contact with it.
The four-legged creature swallowed hard, its voice slightly dry, "When did you grow so big? Have you been eating too much junk food?"
The snow leopard tilted its head, a hint of confusion in its eyes.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, but it didn't last long before two familiar figures darted over from a distance.
"We're back!" Fu-zai shouted from afar, and Walnut, who was running ahead of her, rushed over like a shower of flowers. "What are we having for lunch today, you four-legged creature?"
The two little ones stopped in front of him, and the four-legged creature was dumbfounded. He looked at the walnut with its head tilted up and its eyes full of innocence, and then at the large Mengji on the other side. His lips trembled!
"Who are you?"
……
Oleander, the uncle of walnut.
He used to live with Walnut and his older sister. As for his brother-in-law, sorry, he didn't know him well. He had hardly ever seen him since his older sister first brought him over to introduce him and when she brought Walnut over.
However, the Mengji clan relatives do not necessarily have to stay together in reality. They live their own lives in normal times, but can still reunite in their dreams at any time.
Oleander often couldn't find his older sister in his dreams, and he believed that she must have gone to find her husband.
He thought this kind of life would continue forever, until that day. His older sister suddenly kicked him out of the house and disappeared with the walnuts...
"I couldn't find my sister's dream, so I followed this child's dream and came here. I thought my sister would be here..."
At this point, Oleander's ears drooped and his expression became dejected, but when he thought of his older sister, he rallied and raised his head again.
"But I won't give up. Thank you for taking good care of Walnut. I'm going to take her with me to find my sister."
"Ah, so that's how it is... When your sister Mian Tao brought the walnuts over, I had a feeling something was wrong, and now it seems I was right."
The four-legged creature hugged Fuzai with some emotion, but was it really necessary to explain in such detail? It wasn't like it was checking someone's household registration.
The conversation between the two parents stunned the two children. Walnut quickly jumped out of Oleander's arms and looked at Fuzai, "What about Fuzai? What should we do with Fuzai? Maybe... maybe Fuzai should come with me to find Mommy!"
"No."
Before Fuzai could speak, the four-legged creature interrupted, shaking its head at the walnut.
“Fuzai is being cared for by me at the Inari Shrine, so he can’t go out with Walnut to find his mother.”
Fu-zai nodded, "Mom and Dad said we should listen to Boss Si..."
"Huh? How could this be..." Walnut felt a pang of disappointment, her perked-up ears drooping. Fuzi pursed his lips and said nothing.
……
"Thank you for your kindness. I'll take the walnuts with me."
Oleander lowered its head and picked up its nephew, while Walnut's body hung in mid-air, swaying back and forth as it walked. It turned its head back with all its might, waving its claws, its face full of reluctance.
"Fu-zai, you must wait for Walnut! I'll come back as soon as I find Mom!"
Fuzai responded by waving her claws as well. As the two Mengji walked further and further away, her movements slowed down. When their figures completely disappeared from sight, she lowered her raised claws.
The four-legged creature sensed something and lowered its head. Fuzai stared blankly in the direction where the two beasts had disappeared. After a long while, she finally uttered those two words.
"goodbye……"
After Walnut left, the Four-Faced Beast returned to the Deer Man's shop with Fuzai.
That night...
The pale moonlight shone on the doorway, and a gentle evening breeze blew. The two brothers in the doghouse huddled closer together in their sleep, hugging each other even tighter.
Not far from them, Fuzai lay alone in a cardboard box, with nothing beside her. The sudden increase in space made her feel a little uncomfortable, and she stared at the starry sky for a long time before gradually becoming sleepy.
Her heavy eyelids slowly closed, and she habitually rolled over, placing her paws on the empty space beside her as she drifted off to sleep.
……
On the second day,
The four-legged creature lifted the curtain and came out to deliver breakfast to the three little guys outside. Brown dog food pellets were poured down, and Bai Jie and Tian Lu wagged their tails and came over.
Putting away the empty dog food packaging, Sibuxiang turned around and saw that Fuzai looked listless, with his favorite milk tea and tofu lying in front of him untouched.
"What's wrong, Fu-zai? Can't you eat?" He squatted down and patted the little fox's head.
"Uh, it's nothing, Fuzai is fine." Fuzai shook his head, trying to cheer himself up.
Bai Jie looked up and glanced this way, with dog food crumbs still stuck to his mouth. He stuck out his tongue and licked them, saying, "I think you're craving walnuts."
After he finished speaking, he looked down and found that the dog bowl, which had been full just moments before, was now empty!
"Tianlu!! You finished eating in the time it took me to say one sentence! I'm not even full yet, could you have left me some?!"
"Hehehe, I don't care, if Bai Jie doesn't eat it, it's mine." Tianlu licked his lips, turned around, and ran away!
"Stop!"
The two brothers chased each other and ran far away, leaving Fu-zai standing there in silence and Si-bu-like looking embarrassed.
This brat is spouting such obvious truths, how am I supposed to comfort him now?
……
The matter from the morning was left unresolved. Fu-zai carried her schoolbag to Xie Zhi's place to continue her class, but she was absent-minded all day. Xie Zhi noticed this but didn't say anything.
When they returned to the Deer Man shop in the afternoon, Fuzai stopped walking. The cardboard box containing the incredibly rare walnuts reappeared in front of them. It was quietly placed next to the doghouse, still bearing many scratch marks.
Fuzai stepped forward and looked inside. The inside of the cardboard box was decorated with children's doodles. Each figure looked like a stick figure pieced together with lines. There was a kitten playing alone, two big cats with kittens, and a kitten standing with another animal friend...
Perhaps it's time to go back?
……
Walnut was unaware that Fuzai, whom he thought would be waiting for him, was about to leave. He was following his uncle and had come to the edge of a vast sea.
"Uncle Oleander, where are we going to find Mommy?" Walnut asked curiously as he stood on Oleander's back, bobbing up and down with the other's movements.
"Walnut, do you still remember what Mengji's signature skill is?" Oleander said, stepping into the tide.
"Mengji visits dreams, at 500 years old he surveys the nine provinces, at 1000 years old he reads the nine heavens. After passing the dream realm of the world at a thousand years old, he will follow Mengji to explore."
As he narrated, he ventured deeper into the ocean, his feet splashing in the water, which gradually rose above his thighs.
"Then my uncle is over 700 years old, so he can freely look at the dreams on earth?" Walnut suddenly realized, drawing inferences from one instance to another.
Oleander nodded. "That's right. Now, Uncle can only not see the dreams in the sky and in the water."
As the two Mongols conversed, the waves rose again, wetting even the walnuts standing higher up.
"If we can't find my sister on the ground, then she can only be in the water...!"
As the story drew to a close, Oleander suddenly felt her feet sink into the water, and along with Walnut on her back, both beasts, eyes wide with surprise, sank to the bottom. A wave surged up, and a series of bubbles rose to the surface before the water fell silent.
Not long after...
The two Mengji, soaking wet, lay on the beach coughing violently, spitting out large gulps of seawater from their lungs, which soaked the sand.
Walnut was even more exaggerated; he was practically spitting water, and a shallow puddle had already formed at his feet.
"Cough cough cough cough! Water, water is impossible, it's too unsuitable for us Mengji to survive, cough cough!" Oleander coughed as she made her conclusion, "Let's go look in the sky, cough cough cough cough!"
So the two peaches of Mengji set off again, preparing to go to the heavens to find out what was going on.
"Without a pass, you're generally not allowed into the Heavenly Court. But it's okay, Uncle knows a secret passage to heaven."
"That was left over from the ancient times when heaven and earth were still connected. No one knows about it now. I only found out by accidentally exploring the phoenix's dream."
"This is it."
After several days of arduous travel, the two Mongols traveled by train, then high-speed rail, and finally on foot, until they reached the secret passage leading to heaven.
This is a staircase formed by clouds and mist. Looking up, it stands between heaven and earth, winding upwards with no end in sight. Just as its name suggests, it is the staircase to heaven. Its magnificence is awe-inspiring to even beasts.
"Is this the legendary ladder to heaven?"
Oleander exclaimed in surprise, then without hesitation, she led her nephew onto the platform.
White clouds swirled and billowed, his claws landing on the steps, like soft yet firm wool carpets. He climbed upwards, his voice gradually fading into the clouds as he ascended...
"When will we arrive, Uncle? Walnut is hungry."
"Almost there, almost there. If you're really hungry, just go to sleep. You'll feel better once you fall asleep."