Chapter Nine: Is it because you dream of what you think about during the day?
After all, these past two days, I couldn't help but admire her beauty, almost treating her like a brush washer.
However,
the next moment,
Qin Li, standing on the dam, looked up at Li Zhuiyuan on the balcony.
Their eyes met for the first time.
Li Zhuiyuan realized that she wasn't a figment of his dream; she had entered his dream. Dreams are projections of reality, and he had grown so accustomed to her still image that even in his dreams, she shouldn't have been able to move.
Wait...
Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly.
This time,
was it really my own dream?
Could it be possible that both Qin Li and I are participants in someone else's dream?
Or maybe I haven't had enough dreams to discern any patterns or gain much experience; I've only just started reading, and it's all beginner-level stuff.
It's like a problem is set before me, but I can't even understand the question.
Perhaps,
Qin Li might know something?
She was able to look at me on her own; could I also expect her to speak?
But now, the first floor is bustling with noise. If I go downstairs, I'd have to pass through the middle of the first floor, which isn't feasible.
The second-floor balcony isn't too high, but with my small frame, jumping down isn't realistic.
Since this might not be my dream, I don't have the luxury of taking reckless risks.
Li Zhuiyuan crouched down and waved at Qin Li below, signaling her to come closer to see if they could whisper without being heard.
But before Qin Li could react, Li Zhuiyuan heard footsteps coming from the staircase behind him.
He turned to see four elderly women approaching, dressed in brightly colored clothes, their faces heavily powdered with rouge.
They saw Li Zhuiyuan too, or rather, they seemed to be heading straight for him.
"Little boy, what are you doing here? The banquet is about to start!"
"Come on, it's time for the banquet. Hurry and get a seat in the first round, or you'll have to wait a long time for the second!"
"Yes, yes, finish eating quickly and go home to sleep so you won't be late for school tomorrow."
At banquets for weddings or funerals, when there are too many guests to accommodate at once, they are served in rounds. After the first round finishes eating, the tables are cleared and reset for the second round.
"I don't—"
Before Li Zhuiyuan could finish his refusal, one of the old women grabbed his hand.
In an instant, Li Zhuiyuan found that his original clothes had disappeared, replaced by a new but old-fashioned blue robe.
The old woman's grip was strong, pulling Li Zhuiyuan so hard that he stumbled several times. As they descended the stairs, Li Zhuiyuan tried to break free from her grasp.
Her hand was pale, a deathly white without any visible lines.
Sensing his struggle, the old woman suddenly stopped and slowly turned her head:
"Little boy, are you being naughty? Don't you want to go?"
Her voice became slow and eerie, and the light in the stairwell dimmed, casting the remaining glow on her face.
Li Zhuiyuan took a deep breath and forced a smile:
"I'll go, I'll eat at the banquet."
"Good boy."
As soon as she spoke, the light in the stairwell returned to normal.
The old woman continued to pull Li Zhuiyuan downstairs until they reached the first floor.
Originally, the first floor of Grandpa's house was just a storage room, with unfinished cement walls.
But now, the entire first floor was decorated with lanterns and colorful banners, looking very festive.
Tables were set up, each covered with a red plastic tablecloth and set with bowls, chopsticks, and cold dishes.
There were many people coming and going, men and women, old and young, all dressed in overly bright new clothes, their faces heavily powdered with rouge.
Li Zhuiyuan had a rough idea of what they were.
Because all the tables, chairs, and dishes were set up, but the usual stock of paper effigies was nowhere to be seen.
After bringing Li Zhuiyuan downstairs, the old woman let go of his hand and went about her business. Li Zhuiyuan turned around and found that the staircase he had just descended was gone.
He didn't stand still but walked towards the entrance. Grandpa's house had many doors for easy access, and now all the doors were open, making the first floor almost connected to the outside.
As he reached the entrance, Li Zhuiyuan saw two young women leading a little girl inside—it was Qin Li.
Unlike him, her clothes hadn't changed, probably because they were already suitable for this occasion.
At that moment, Qin Li's eyelashes began to flutter, and her body started to tremble slightly.
Li Zhuiyuan guessed she might be about to lash out and bite someone.
The two women holding her seemed to sense something was wrong and looked down at her. Simultaneously, the light around them began to dim, and the darkness spread. Everyone within the dim area stopped their conversations and turned to look at them with cold expressions.
Li Zhuiyuan now knew for sure: this wasn't his dream.
Nor was it Qin Li's dream.
He had never heard of anyone being punished by their dream environment for acting out of line.
This was clearly someone else's dream. Although he didn't know whose it was, the dreamer was deeply immersed, and any illogical behavior would disturb them, waking them up.
Upon waking, they might throw a tantrum; or they might kill the two insignificant intruders who disrupted their dream and then go back to sleep.
Either way, Li Zhuiyuan felt that neither outcome boded well for him.
So he stepped forward, standing in front of Qin Li, and said with a smile:
"Little sister, I finally found you. Do you know how long I've been looking for you?"
Li Zhuiyuan then turned to the two women holding Qin Li and said:
"Thank you for helping me find my sister. She tends to wander off on her own. She's not quite right in the head."
As he spoke, he pointed to his temple.
"Oh, I see."
"Your sister is here."
The two women's faces showed understanding.
The spreading shadow stopped but didn't recede.
Those outside the shadow continued with their activities, while those inside still stared in their direction.
It wasn't enough!
Li Zhuiyuan pursed his lips. He reached out and took Qin Li's hand, then patted her head gently:
"Little sister, be good, don't be afraid. Big brother is here, and I'll take care of you."
After saying this, Li Zhuiyuan braced himself for the possible scratching and biting that might follow.
But he had to take this gamble. Since Qin Li had looked up at him on her own earlier, he bet that she could continue to endure this time!
Their bodies were close, and Li Zhuiyuan could feel the girl's hand trembling.
From his observations over the past two days, Li Zhuiyuan knew that the girl disliked any physical contact from the outside world.
Only her grandmother could coax her to eat with gentle words, but even Grandma Liu didn't dare to be too affectionate with her.
However, to Li Zhuiyuan's relief, the girl's trembling gradually subsided, and her breathing became steady. Not only did she not push him away, but she also didn't try to free her hand from his grip.
Seeing the girl calm down, the shadow beneath their feet began to shrink and eventually disappeared.
The people who had been staring at them turned back to their own activities, including the two women.
Whew... temporarily safe.
Li Zhuiyuan looked at Qin Li and whispered, "Do you know what we should do next?"
Qin Li didn't respond; she just looked at him.
Alright, she probably didn't know either.
If it were daytime, and he could hold her hand while she looked at him, Li Zhuiyuan thought he would be quite happy.
It felt like a perfect piece of art was interacting and responding to him.
But in this environment, Li Zhuiyuan found it hard to feel that way.
"The banquet is starting, everyone, take your seats!"
"Alright, sit down, sit down, hurry up!"
Someone was calling for everyone to sit.
At this moment, the safest choice was to blend in.
"Let's find a place to sit," Li Zhuiyuan said to Qin Li, then led her to a table where only a little boy was sitting.
Just as they were about to sit, the little boy immediately bent down, covering the bench, and shouted:
"This is my seat! My mom, dad, grandparents, uncles, and aunts are coming soon. You can't sit here!"
They had encountered a seat hog.
If it weren't for the fact that the little boy's heavily rouged face clearly marked him as a paper effigy, Li Zhuiyuan would have thought he was Hu Zi or Shi Tou.
Last time at Uncle Beard's house, Hu Zi and Shi Tou had also saved seats for their brothers, with the same expression, tone, and posture.
"Child, child, there are two empty seats here. Sit here, so our table will be full," an old man in funeral clothes from the next table offered.
"Okay, Grandpa."
Li Zhuiyuan quickly led Qin Li over. He sat down, but Qin Li remained standing. He had to whisper, "Sit down."
Qin Li didn't move, still standing.
Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to reach out, grab her waist, and gently push her down. She sat.
However, when he touched her waist, Li Zhuiyuan felt her trembling again.
Once he let go, she calmed down.
Looking down at the hand he was still holding... Li Zhuiyuan roughly understood: this was probably the maximum level of contact she could tolerate.
"Child, where are your parents?" the old man in funeral clothes asked.
His tone was kind, but with that makeup... even the kindest person looked eerie.
Li Zhuiyuan replied, "My grandparents are helping in the kitchen. They told me to bring my sister here to eat first."
"Oh, I see. Hehe." Then, the old man looked at Qin Li. "This girl is so well-behaved. How old is she?"
Qin Li ignored him.
Li Zhuiyuan knew that even if she wanted to respond, she couldn't, as she probably didn't understand the local dialect.
Grandma Liu's family lived at Grandpa's place. Aunt Liu and Uncle Qin helped Grandpa but rarely interacted with the villagers. Even when they spoke to him, they used Mandarin, let alone Qin Li, who liked to sit motionless behind the threshold all day.
Fortunately, her silence was a good thing. If she had spoken in Mandarin, it would have attracted more curious questions. At this critical moment, the less said, the better.
"Grandpa, my sister is ten. She had a fever when she was little, and we didn't get her to the hospital in time. It damaged her brain, so she can't hear or speak."
Li Zhuiyuan deliberately spoke loudly so the whole table could hear. No matter what, he had to shut down any further questions about Qin Li.
"Oh, I see. Poor child, tsk tsk."
"Yeah, there's one in our village too. Had a fever as a child, and the adults didn't pay attention. Ended up with brain damage."
"Exactly, raising kids requires a lot of attention. Otherwise, the child suffers, and the parents suffer too, having to take care of them later."
The people at the table began to chat among themselves.
Then, the old man in funeral clothes asked Li Zhuiyuan, "How old are you?"
"I'm eleven."
Li Zhuiyuan added a year to his age. Although Qin Li was only a month younger than him, he couldn't say he was ten. They didn't look like twins, and "Mom" couldn't have given birth to two children in a month.
Otherwise, it might lead to questions about whether one was from a widowed father and the other from a widowed mother, forming a blended family.
If that happened, the whole table would likely get more involved, and maybe even the next table would join in.
"Are you in school?"
"Yes, fourth grade."
"Oh, what about your sister?"
"My sister doesn't go to school. She just sits at home all day. We only brought her out today for the banquet."
"I see."
The old man stopped asking and turned to chat with others at the table.
Li Zhuiyuan finally got a moment of peace. He glanced at Qin Li sitting beside him and leaned over to whisper:
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
This wasn't flattery but reassurance, implying, "Stay calm, don't lose control."
Qin Li turned her head to look at Li Zhuiyuan.
In her eyes, Li Zhuiyuan saw no emotion.
Then, Qin Li turned her head back and continued to stare blankly.
Li Zhuiyuan thought she probably understood. After all, she could eat on her own... she wasn't completely helpless, and she had OCD.
Every time she finished eating, Grandma Liu would clean her up.
Now, with some free time, Li Zhuiyuan began to pay attention to the dishes on the table.
Currently, there were only cold dishes: cylindrical spinach salad, century egg with tofu, fried peanuts, sliced salted duck eggs...
There were only two meat dishes: salted pork slices and braised spare ribs. However, the portions were small, but luckily, they were cut into small pieces, enough for everyone at the table to have two bites.
The braised spare ribs were placed right in front of him, meant to be eaten cold. They were sweet but not greasy. Li Zhuiyuan had been impressed by this dish at the last banquet.
But now, seeing this dish, he had no appetite. Who knew what this thing really was?
At that moment, singing could be heard.
People from nearby tables turned to look, and many stood up.
Li Zhuiyuan also turned to look. In a small open area in the center of the banquet, there stood a man and a woman, with an old man holding a musical instrument beside them.
The man and woman were dressed in opera costumes, their makeup even more elaborate, with thick powder, rouge, and exaggerated features.
Accompanied by the old man's instrument, the man began to sing, followed by the woman.
Li Zhuiyuan knew this was a local opera—Tongzi Opera.
Li Weihan and Cui Guiying had taken him to see it at the village square. The opera was characterized by its strange, high-pitched, and mournful tunes, with a strong impact.
To outsiders, it was... extremely unpleasant.
Back then, Li Zhuiyuan had just arrived in Nantong and was still getting familiar with the local dialect. While Li Weihan and Cui Guiying were entranced, Li Zhuiyuan found the music grating and painful.
This time was no different. Everyone at the table and nearby was engrossed, while Li Zhuiyuan turned to look at Qin Li. Thankfully, she showed no reaction.
As the performance continued, someone with a basket started distributing chopsticks to each table, while another person poured vinegar and soy sauce into small dishes, with six dishes per table, usually shared by two.
"Here, child, eat."
The old man in funeral clothes picked up a piece of spare rib and placed it in Li Zhuiyuan's bowl.
"Thank you, Grandpa."
"Eat, don't just look."
"Okay, Grandpa, you eat too."
"Mm."
"Woof!" "Meow!"
At that moment, Li Zhuiyuan noticed many cats and dogs running under the tables. One was right near his feet.
Li Zhuiyuan picked up the spare rib and, when no one was looking, tossed it down. The dog below immediately grabbed it and ate it.
From then on, whenever the enthusiastic old man served him food, Li Zhuiyuan would toss it under the table. Soon, a group of cats and dogs gathered around him.
These cats and dogs looked familiar; he had seen them among the paper effigies during the day. But back then, they weren't as lively or hungry.
The old man said, "Child, tell your sister to eat. She's just sitting there, not eating anything."
Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to turn to Qin Li and say, "Sister, eat."
To his surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, Qin Li picked up her chopsticks and started serving herself. She picked three dishes and placed them in her bowl, then lowered her head and opened her mouth.
Wait, are you really going to eat?
Li Zhuiyuan quickly tugged at her hand.
Qin Li turned to look at Li Zhuiyuan. This time, there was a hint of emotion in her eyes, though faint—it was confusion.
Li Zhuiyuan had to lean close to her ear. Well, it was normal for siblings to whisper:
"Don't eat, feed the animals below."
Qin Li looked down at the group of cats and dogs, then stood up and directly picked up a dish from the table.
It seemed she was planning to dump the entire plate to feed them.
This direct action immediately drew frowns of disapproval from others at the table.
Li Zhuiyuan had to stand up, take the dish, and put it back, smiling as he scolded, "Sister, this is for everyone. You can't be greedy; it's not all for you."
Seeing Li Zhuiyuan's reaction, the adults at the table looked more pleased, and some said:
"If she likes it, let her eat. It's fine."
"Just put the dish in front of her."
Li Zhuiyuan kept shaking his head and waving his hands: "No, no, that's not proper."
"Bang... crack!"
Outside, the sound of firecrackers echoed, and children at nearby tables covered their ears and screamed.
The firecrackers went off more than a dozen times. When the last one ended, the entire venue's lighting dimmed, and everyone at the tables suddenly froze, sitting upright and staring straight ahead.
Not knowing what was happening, Li Zhuiyuan quickly imitated them, glancing at Qin Li beside him. Well... she didn't need to imitate; she was a natural.
At the entrance, an old woman walked in, surrounded by a group of children.
Her presence made the entire atmosphere feel heavier.
Through the gaps between people, Li Zhuiyuan recognized her. She was the old woman he had seen in his dream at Liu Jinxia's house, the one carried by Niu Fu.
Why was she here?
He clearly remembered that when Niu Fu left Grandpa's house, he was hunched over.
The old woman was slightly stooped but in high spirits—too high, in fact. Her eyes gleamed green, and her face had fine hairs and what looked like black threads... or perhaps black whiskers.
She looked like... a cat.
The old woman walked to the main table below the stage and smiled at everyone:
"Today is my birthday. Thank you all for coming. Please eat and drink to your heart's content, hehe."
As soon as she finished speaking, the dim lighting returned to normal.
Everyone who had been