It was during a frustrating summer when Ye Luan was fourteen.
That summer, Ye Luan had some problems with his eyes and underwent surgery. Although the surgery was successful, the doctor advised him to avoid light for two months and then come back for a follow-up. Fourteen is an age of restlessness, and the hot summer with the constant cicada calls seemed to urge him to go out and sweat. But having just had surgery, he could only be taken by his mother to a villa in the mountains, with his eyes wrapped in bandages, quietly becoming a “blind person.”
The large villa had only his mother and an aunt hired to take care of him. Nearly a month had passed since they came to the mountain. Every day, he either went outside to listen to the wind rustling the leaves or stayed in his room listening to the radio stories. Thinking about having to endure another month made Ye Luan’s head spin.
One day, after having dinner early, he stayed outside in the courtyard as usual to enjoy the breeze. The mountain air was cool in the evening, and the aunt helped him sit on the swing, even bringing a blanket to keep the wind away. Ye Luan was bored and lost in thought when he suddenly heard unfamiliar footsteps.
At first, the footsteps were light, and Ye Luan thought he was hearing things. But then the owner of the footsteps stepped on a wooden branch with a “crack” that sounded overly clear in the quiet night.
Ye Luan was still a child and couldn’t see, so he got nervous and called out, “Who’s there?”
After a long pause, no one answered, only the constant rustling of the wind brushing past his ears.
Ye Luan turned his head slightly, took a deep breath, and was about to call for someone when—
“Are your eyes sick?”
Ye Luan was stunned. It was a child’s voice, quite pleasant, like tinkling spring water. But Ye Luan had no intention of answering him.
“Oh, I want to swing too~”
Ye Luan felt a bit annoyed: I’m like this, and you have the nerve to ask!
“Brother, can I swing?”
Ye Luan remained silent: No, you can’t.
At this moment, Ye Luan’s mother came out to take him back inside, but she saw a strange child in their yard and exclaimed, “Oh? Whose child is this?”
“Auntie, my name is Jia Jia. I’m eight years old, not a baby.”
Ye Luan was speechless: Jia Jia? Why not subtract subtract? What kind of name is that!
Ye Luan’s mother laughed, “What a good boy. Where is your home? Why are you out here at night?”
Jia Jia answered seriously, “I was chasing Shanyao, a cat. My home is over there.”
Ye Luan guessed he pointed with his hand.
His mom said, “Shall I take you home? It’s late, your family must be worried.”
“Can I come back to play with brother tomorrow?”
His mom glanced at Ye Luan, surprised: Did they become friends so quickly?
She knew her son’s temperament; he had been unhappy due to his eyes and was quite bored in the mountains. It wouldn’t be bad if a little friend could come over to chat with him. Thinking this, she smiled, “You’re welcome anytime. Auntie will bake little cakes for you tomorrow.”
Ye Luan internally rejected the idea: I don’t want to play with a primary school kid!
Unfortunately, the next day, the elementary school kid Jia Jia came running over happily.
“Brother, why is your room so empty?”
At this moment, Ye Luan was lying on his bed listening to the radio, while Jia Jia played with a Transformer on the floor. Ye Luan’s eyes couldn’t see temporarily, so his mom had packed away all the miscellaneous items and covered the corners of the tables to prevent him from accidentally bumping into things. The Transformer Jia Jia was playing with was brought by himself.
Since his mom had brought the little boy into his room, it wouldn’t be right to ignore him, especially since he seemed like a well-behaved child. Ye Luan thought for a moment and answered, “I can’t see. My mom is afraid I’ll bump into things.”
Jia Jia looked at Ye Luan’s eyes curiously, “Brother, Auntie said you had surgery on your eyes. Did it hurt?”
“Surgery involves anesthesia. I was in a daze, sleeping most of the time, so I didn’t feel pain.”
“When can you take off the bandages?”
Ye Luan sighed, “Another month. It’s hard not being able to see.”
Jia Jia put down his toy and climbed onto the bed, loyally offering, “How about I cover my eyes and play with you?”
Ye Luan: “If you cover your eyes, you’ll have to listen to the radio with me.”
Jia Jia thought for a moment, “Oh, right.” Then he laughed. Ye Luan found the silly child a bit endearing and couldn’t help but laugh too.
In this way, Ye Luan’s gloomy summer gained a bit of color. Jia Jia was lively and loved to chatter non-stop with Ye Luan. In a short time, Ye Luan was forced to learn about his favorite foods, toys, colors, cartoons, and even that his cat, Shanyao, fought with the neighbor’s dog.
Ye Luan suddenly felt that resting in the mountains wasn’t so bad. It was cool, with wind, trees, chirping birds, and a little brother who kept calling him “brother.” It had been a long time since he listened to the radio; chatting with Jia Jia was more interesting.
“Brother, Auntie said you didn’t want to come here before. Why?”
“I can’t see, it’s annoying.”
“But once the bandages are off, your eyes will be better, right?”
“Even if they’re better, it doesn’t matter. The doctor told my mom my vision will be affected, but to be a policeman, you need good eyesight.”
“Ah, why do you want to be a policeman?”
“I’ve wanted to be a policeman since I was a kid, to catch bad guys.” Ye Luan paused, “Forget it, you won’t understand. Jia Jia, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
He thought the child would take a while to think, but Jia Jia immediately replied, “I want to be a writer!”
Ye Luan laughed, “A writer? Do you know what a writer is?”
Jia Jia was indignant, “Our teacher Liu said I was the best in class at writing picture stories. She said I could be a writer when I grow up and write lots of books!”
Ye Luan guessed this teacher Liu was Jia Jia’s Chinese teacher and had probably praised him.
“I don’t believe it, unless you tell me a story.”
Ye Luan was teasing him, but Jia Jia took it seriously, “Then, I’ll tell you a story about a little hedgehog.”
Jia Jia started swinging, and Ye Luan could feel the sunlight flickering through his hair, warm and ticklish.
“A long, long time ago, in a forest, there was a little hedgehog. It had a good friend named… named Pine Blossom…”
Ye Luan chuckled, “Pine Blossom like in the snacks?”
Jia Jia nodded guiltily. “Pine Blossom” was a name he borrowed from a cartoon he watched a few days ago because he couldn’t think of a name.
“One day, Pine Blossom moved away, and the little hedgehog was very unhappy…”
Ye Luan nodded, “I think it should write a letter.”
“Yes, the little hedgehog wrote a letter to Pine Blossom and even sent a snack!”
“But the little hedgehog got the address wrong and sent the letter to the wrong place!” Ye Luan mischievously added.
“What?!” Jia Jia was flustered, “What should it do?”
“The letter went to a fox’s house. How about that?”
Jia Jia was worried, “Will the fox return it?”
“It will. It brings the letter to the little hedgehog.”
“If someone came to find the little hedgehog, it would be very happy.”
“But the little hedgehog thought Pine Blossom sent the little fox…”
“Oh no, will the little hedgehog ever find Pine Blossom?”
…
“In the end, what the fox said is up to you to decide.”
“Hmm… I don’t know.”
“If you were the little fox, what would you want to say the most?”
Jia Jia frowned in thought for a long time, then happily smiled, “Look, spring is here!”
He jumped off the swing, cheering and running around joyfully. Ye Luan seemed to catch his happiness, holding onto the swinging ropes, and laughed.
During dinner, Ye Luan’s mom teased him, “With Jia Jia keeping you company, you’re not bored anymore, right?”
Ye Luan nodded, “Jia Jia is very well-behaved.” He seemed to think of something and asked, “Mom, what does Jia Jia look like?”
After playing together for so long, Ye Luan was curious.
His mom replied, “Jia Jia is quite good-looking, especially his eyes, like a little deer’s. You’ll see once the bandages come off.”
Ye Luan thought: When he first appeared, he did sound like a little deer. But in just a few days, he would finally be able to see his new friend who was like a little deer. The thought made him a bit excited.
“Brother, Auntie said you’ll be able to see tomorrow!”
The day before his follow-up, Jia Jia came to see Ye Luan as usual. His mom mentioned during their snack time that Ye Luan would be removing his bandages, and Jia Jia was thrilled.
Ye Luan could hear Jia Jia’s excitement and found it amusing, “Yes, I’ll be back in the afternoon with some green bean cakes for you.”
“Really? That’s great!”
Ye Luan smiled, “Then it’s a deal! Make sure to come see me tomorrow!”
“Okay!”
Back then, Ye Luan was too young to understand that many things in the world often go contrary to expectations: for instance, just when he was about to enjoy a happy summer vacation, he had to undergo eye surgery and rest; or when he eagerly thought he could finally see his “unseen” new friend, he lost him instead.
Ye Luan removed his bandages, brought back the green bean cakes, and returned to the villa as promised, but Jia Jia didn’t show up.
The next day, Jia Jia still didn’t come.
Nor the third day.
On the fourth day, Ye Luan’s mom personally took him to find Jia Jia, but the villa was empty. They had already left.
Ye Luan felt a sudden emptiness inside. The green bean cakes were still in the fridge, but Jia Jia was gone.
They had clearly agreed.
Ye Luan asked his mom to contact Jia Jia’s family again. His mom inquired with the property management, who said Jia Jia’s family, like theirs, occasionally came for vacations. They also tried calling the homeowners a few times but received no response. Ye Luan suddenly realized he might have lost Jia Jia forever.
That was Ye Luan’s summer at fourteen: the darkness of covered eyes, the tinkling voice of spring water, and an unfulfilled promise. Perhaps because of the regret, over the next sixteen years, there were always moments when he would recall this past from distant memory, again and again, making it as vivid as if it happened yesterday.
Even after becoming an online writer, he couldn’t help but break this memory into countless fragments and insert them into his novels—green bean cakes in “The Last Ashes,” the fairy tale in “Lie,” and Lin Songyue in “Locked Heart”—as if making backups.
Until one day later, his Weibo was suddenly flooded with @’s from fans because a writer named Zhao Zhao was accused of plagiarizing his fairy tale in “Lie.” Plagiarism is a severe accusation, and he carefully reviewed the comparisons listed by fans, only to be stunned.
Fate loves to play tricks on people.
Sixteen years later, their next meeting was at the welcome dinner the day before the Moon Viewing Event. Ye Luan arrived early at the venue, feeling nervous. Although he had confirmed through various channels that Zhao Zhao, Zhao Yijia, was indeed Jia Jia from back then, he knew Zhao Yijia might have long forgotten this “brother.”
Ye Luan thought: Should I ask him when I see him?
Behind him, a few writers were chatting enthusiastically. They laughed and then one of them called out, “Zhao Zhao, over here!”
Ye Luan paused and slowly turned around.
He saw Zhao Yijia looking at him: First, he was stunned, then his eyes lit up, and he smiled, his lips curving like they were holding a crescent moon. Ye Luan had imagined countless times what his little partner might look like. When creating Lin Songyue, since the prototype was Jia Jia, he had poured all the best qualities he could think of into the character. But when he finally saw Zhao Yijia, he thought: Yes, Mom was right—
Like a little deer.
Ye Luan couldn’t help but laugh: Great, I’ve finally found my little deer.
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