Gentle Beast

After entering sophomore year, time flew by at a particularly fast pace and it was soon the end of the year.

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu finished her final professional course, she walked out of the classroom and received a phone call from Lù Qí Chāng’s father.

Mr. and Mrs. Jǐ had retired half a month ago and were planning to travel Europe for the next six months. They had gotten visas a week before and went to Finland the day after.

Before leaving, they especially asked their old friend to take care of their daughter.

Today’s holiday began and after Mr. Lù picked up Lù Qí Chāng, he came to pick up Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.

Lù Qí Chāng and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu attended college in the same city, but his was in the south and hers in the north. The two universities were rather far apart.

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu hung up, she was too embarrassed to let Mr. Lù wait for long. When she returned to her dorm, she quickly packed up her bags and went to the school gate.

In the car, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu told him, “Thank you, uncle, for your trouble.”

Mr. Lù smiled and said, “So polite. Your father and mother aren’t around. Today vacation begun and there’s too many cars on the road. If I let you go home alone, uncle won’t be at ease.”

She smiled.

T City was about two hours drive from S City. When the car arrived at Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s house, it was already dark.

Mr. Lù gout out of the car to help her bring in her luggage and asked, “Isn’t it better for you to come eat dinner at our house today?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu shook her head and politely refused, “My parents rushed to the pet center before leaving. Now I’ll have to go pick up Gǔn Gǔn. Uncle Lù, you go home first. I’ll go home and do it a little later.”

Mr. Lù wanted to invite her again, but he saw her insistence and compromised, telling her to pay attention to safety on the road, and he drove away.

After Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu brought everything into the house, she took out her keys and went out again.

Gǔn Gǔn was just one of her reasons to go out.

She went to a nearby shopping mall and bought some bread and milk for breakfast tomorrow, then she went straight to the daily necessities area.

She pushed a shopping cart and shuttled between the shelves. Paper towels, towels, toothbrush and toothpaste, sanitary napkins. . . almost everything she took a lot of.

After finally finding her way out of that section, she moved on to the non-perishable foods. She asked a special staff member for the seeds of crops like mung beans, soybeans, peanuts and other such plants.

Afterwards, she didn’t know what else to think of and returned to the dairy section where she added several cartons of milk to her shopping cart.

. . .

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was standing in front of the checkout counter, the cashier looked at the two full shopping carts with her and hesitantly asked, “Is this all yours?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu touched her cheeks and nodded, “En, all mine.”

Taking the bill, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu counted a total of seven or eight shopping bags and that didn’t count the boxes of milk.

Fortunately, she was driving a car. Even if she had a space, she could not use it in front of so many people. She really wouldn’t know how to get it all back.

On the way, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu went to the pet center and picked up her cat.

Gǔn Gǔn didn’t get to see her for a semester and when he saw her, he rushed toward her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had just gotten her driver’s license and with the steering wheel in her hand, she didn’t dare play with him, so she said, “Gǔn Gǔn, be good.”

Gǔn Gǔn meowed twice and reluctantly knelt on the cushion.

When she got home, it was already 10:30. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took all the things she had bought and put them in her space, then she was free to take a shower.

After her shower, she went to eat something and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu returned to rest in her room.

The next day and the third, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu basically went out to purchase things.

First, she went to the clothing market, then the hardware store, then the grain and oil markets. . . In short, anything she could think of, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu went and bought them all.

From these places, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu spent her pocket money, the scholarship funds and all her salary earned as a tutor, until she had almost nothing left.

At noon on the fourth day, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had a video call with her parents.

It was morning in Finland. Her parents had just gotten up and were standing on the balcony. Behind them, there was a yellow house with a red roof sheltered by trees.

“Dad, mom,” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu greeted them.

Her mother smiled and said, “Darling, what are you doing these days? Can you talk if you’re free?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bit her lips, “Club activities haven’t ended yet, they’ll end this morning.”

“What members are there and what activities?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t lie, “Social practice.”

Her mother was a little worried, “Social activities are good, but don’t get too tired and relax. It’s a holiday so it’s time to go out and play.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took advantage of this opportunity to tell her parents, “Mom, I signed up for an event organized by the school. It takes about two months to teach in impoverished areas. I heard that it’s really remote so signal isn’t very good. You probably won’t be able to always contact me. You can leave a voicemail and I’ll reply later.”

Her mother paused and asked, “What place?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said a place’s name.

At the end of the video, her parents looked at each other and saw the worry in the other’s eyes.

Since Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s disappearance for half a year, they instinctively didn’t trust remote areas.

However, their daughter had grown up and couldn’t always be sheltered under their wings.

Mrs. Jǐ struggled for a long time, then finally compromised, “Then. . . you take good care of yourself, and pay attention to safety. Remember to regularly report to us how you’re doing.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu nodded, “En.”

Then her parents talked about what they had been doing on their vacation.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu held her cheeks and listened with relish.

Minutes before ending the video, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu suddenly called out, “Mother.”

“Darling, what else is there?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was silent for a moment then she smiled and said, “Mom, I’ll think of you.”

Her mother said, “Mom will think of you too.”

*

Early the next morning, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu got up and took Gǔn Gǔn to a friend’s home.

Gǔn Gǔn was cruelly abandoned again and was probably angry. When she left, he hid under the sofa and didn’t even send her off.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu scratched his chin, “Be good, Gǔn Gǔn, I will bring you back something delicious.”

Gǔn Gǔn just meowed and perfunctorily licked her palm.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu left her friend’s house and went into center city for a while, driving around the suburbs.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was unfamiliar with driving and was unhurried. She drove for three hours then came to the cliff.

This cliff was the one that her school trip was on and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was tossed out of the bus.

——It was always where Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had been sent into that other world.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked a ways forward, but she wasn’t familiar with this place. Her only impression was when she had a high fever and returned to the world before falling into a coma.

Her memory fluctuated but about an hour later, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stopped in front of a leafy oak.

The trunk was thick and it looked very old.

However, wasn’t what attracted Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.

It was the numbers engraved on its trunk——”1002.”

This was the date Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu entered that world. She clearly remembered when she had lost her way in the forest and she had used this method to mark her place.

Both the handwriting and shape were in line. Obviously three years had passed, but it was as clear as it had been three years ago.

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu saw the string of numbers, she was shocked.

Why had this tree appeared here?

Was it the same as her? Or. . . was it the channel between the two worlds?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had been desperate to find a way back, and she had never thought this “method” was so close to her.

These past three years, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had thought a lot.

If it was only the tree that connected the two worlds, then wouldn’t many people come and go from both worlds?

So, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu guessed that it had to have some relationship with her space.

The tree, her space, and a special opportunity, those three things could only make it possible to cross over.

As for the opportunity. . . Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wasn’t too sure but she needed to try it out before she knew.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu reached out her hand and placed her finger on the trunk with the numbers “1002”, slowly closing her eyes.

After a while, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt that the flow of air around her had gradually become faster, as if she were in a river and it washed her forward.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar force pulled at her and before she could react, she was yanked into another world.

. . .

*

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened her eyes again and in front of her were ancient trees, blotting out the sun. It was that strange and familiar primitive continent.

She turned back and the one behind her was engraved with “1002”. It seemed indistinguishable from the other trees.

. . . She had come back just like that?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was a bit bewildered. She could only think that three years ago she had almost been killed, and now she had returned to this place three years later.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked along her original route for a while. Before doing so, she changed to light running shoes and walked out of the forest.

Cross over the stream and further north, there was the Camuda Valley.

However, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not go there.

She came back this time not to reunite with Ryan.

She had left so resolutely and Ryan was so mad. He certainly didn’t want to see her again.

Three years they hadn’t seen each other, and who knew if Ryan would have a new woman?

So she just wanted to know how he was doing. It was enough to hear news about him.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked in the other direction and, if she wasn’t mistaken, then it should be where the herbivorous species were settled.

However, just a few steps away, there was a slight movement behind her and it was followed by an unbelievable voice——

“Ōu??”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu startled and turned around.

Eric stood a few steps away and his antlers were even more complex and powerful than before. He was tall and healthy and he looked at her face. His eyes widened and he was surprised, “Ōu, so good. You’re still alive!”