(1)
A flashlight is enough to light up an entire room indoors.
But if you’re outside, its light instantly becomes insignificant. That beam, which seems like it could spread infinitely, suddenly gathers together, only illuminating the path ahead.
There were quite a few stars overhead tonight, but the moon wasn’t big, so it couldn’t light up the road, only vaguely outlining the shapes of the houses.
The beam from the flashlight seemed to always hit an invisible wall. Whenever Zhu Ying tried to shine it into the distance, she found it was brighter to just point it at the ground.
“Just keep it on the ground, alright… you’re hurting my eyes…” An Jing said helplessly.
“It’s my first time walking on such a dark night road. It feels so fresh—no matter how late it is in the city, it’s never this dark.”
“Be careful. There might be snakes on the road sometimes.”
“Eek?! Really?”
“Mm… but the chances are slim.”
“Don’t scare me like that. I’m most afraid of snakes.” Zhu Ying mumbled softly. “Slithery and creepy…”
“When we used to sneak off to explore the mountains at night, we were most worried about getting bitten by snakes too.”
“What did you do then? Did anyone actually get bitten?”
“We just had to walk on paths that people had already used, you know, the bare ones without much grass. Then the person in front would swing a stick to scare away any snakes. The closest I remember was right by my foot. It startled all of us. A bunch of us panicked and ran down the mountain, only to get caught by the adults. We all got a beating when we got home…”
“Hehe, you guys were so mischievous when you were kids. Weren’t you afraid of actually getting bitten?”
“We were, but that still didn’t stop us from going up the mountain at night. In fact, the scarier it was, the more exciting it felt.” An Jing shrugged. “Thinking back now, we were really bold back then.”
“So you used up all your courage when you were a kid, and now you’ve turned into little coward Xiao Jing~”
“Who’s a coward?!”
“You’re too scared to do the things you want to do. How is that not being a coward?”
“Th-That’s different!”
“Oh? I haven’t even said what it is yet, and Xiao Jing already knows?” Zhu Ying grinned slyly, grabbed An Jing’s little hand, and gently placed it on her own collarbone. “So Xiao Jing was thinking about that kind of thing. Not what I was thinking at all! Pervert Xiao Jing~”
“Hey—!”
“Not many houses in the village have their lights on.”
“A lot of the elderly are probably used to sleeping before eight. Some houses are just empty.”
“They’re built so nicely, why doesn’t anyone live in them?”
“Well, it’s still a bit far from the city. And a lot of the elderly don’t like this new place. Even though it’s nice, it’s still different from the island.”
“I don’t really understand…”
“They’ve lived there for most of their lives. Leaving the island is as hard for them to adjust to as going abroad.” An Jing looked at a two-story house with its light still on. Behind the window was the shadow of an old man, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, as if trapped in his own world.
“What’s he doing?” Zhu Ying was a bit curious.
“Maybe just thinking about something?”
“Like in novels, pacing back and forth while thinking helps you find the answer?”
“Something like that… who knows.”
“Xiao Jing, when you lived on the island, what did you do after dinner?”
“After dinner? Hmm… usually I’d go visit other people’s houses. Sometimes other kids would come to my house, and we’d gather together to play marbles or flick cigarette cards—do you know cigarette cards?”
“Cigarette cards? Like the cards you buy?”
“No, they’re made from cigarette packs. The more expensive the pack, the rarer the card.” An Jing gestured animatedly. “You fold it like this and then like this, and you’ve made a cigarette card. There are lots of ways to play: flicking, fanning, crashing into each other…”
“Is it fun?”
“Of course it’s not fun by today’s standards, but when I was little… before I even started kindergarten… it was one of the best games in the world to me.”
“Oh~” Zhu Ying grabbed An Jing’s wrist and swung it like a swing. “What else?”
“Also, at the beginning, only two households on the island had a TV. I never experienced the black-and-white TV era; when I first watched TV, it was already color. If a good cartoon was popular, everyone would crowd into that house to watch it together. Sometimes we’d bring our own snacks, sometimes we’d mooch off others…” An Jing held Zhu Ying’s little hand back. “Since there wasn’t much to do, people visited each other all the time.”
“Sounds like a really enviable life.”
“What are you talking about? If you actually lived it, it was pretty boring. Not as fun as now. Now we can watch TV, play on the computer, and there’s a lively night market…”
“Maybe it’s like when you’ve had too much rich food, you want some simple fare to cleanse your palate?”
“Yeah, it’s not bad to experience once in a while, but if you asked me to go back to living like that, I definitely wouldn’t—especially because there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand.”
“What?”
“No clean toilet at home.” An Jing couldn’t help but sigh. “The toilet is a truly great invention…”
“Eww~”
(2)
Between the villages was an empty highway.
The last light was at the end of one village, and the next light was at the beginning of another.
When they reached the middle of this curved village road, looking back, they couldn’t see the light behind them, and looking ahead, they couldn’t see the light in front either. It felt like being trapped in the darkness of the night.
The weeds on the roadside were pressed low by the wind, making a rustling sound. Although the wide road meant they didn’t have to worry about stepping into the wilderness, the darkness, which even the light couldn’t completely dispel, still made their nerves a little tense.
Zhu Ying felt her sense of touch become much sharper. She could even feel the subtle changes in the wind’s direction.
An Jing beside her hadn’t spoken for two minutes.
“Xiao Jing?” Zhu Ying finally broke the silence. “Why did you suddenly stop talking?”
“Huh? Oh… I just felt strangely… like I was walking in the Milky Way.” An Jing swatted away a mosquito trying to bite her face, then suddenly said, “What do you think about turning off the flashlight?”
“Turn it off? Then we won’t be able to see the road.”
“It’s fine. The road is wide enough; we won’t fall off. There are guardrails. Besides… I think the starlight should be enough to light the way.”
“Then… I’ll try turning it off?”
“Okay!”
Click.
It was the sound of the flashlight switch being pushed back.
The beam that had been lighting the way seemed to be swallowed by the darkness, dissipating instantly.
In front of them was a darkness so thick they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces. Both An Jing and Zhu Ying instinctively stopped, not taking another step forward.
Until their eyes gradually adjusted to the faint starlight. They slowly made out the outline of the guardrails, and gradually, the dark silhouette of the distant mountains.
“Xiao Ying… your heart is beating really fast.”
“Well, it’s so dark! Aren’t you scared at all, Xiao Jing?”
“A little bit, but I’m even more excited.”
“Hmph, would you be even more excited if you weren’t wearing any clothes right now?”
“Pfft, I’m not talking about that kind of thing!”
“What if a wild boar shows up?” Zhu Ying quickly steered the conversation back to something that seemed more serious.
“Then we run… we can’t fight it.”
“What about a wolf?”
“Then we definitely run.”
“But what if we can’t outrun it?”
“Uh… there’s a garbage room back where we came from. We can run in there and lock the door. Most wild animals shouldn’t be able to get in.”
“Pfft, what kind of plan is that?!”
An Jing laughed foolishly, then looked up at the starry sky. “When there’s no light, the stars are especially brilliant.”
“I never get tired of stars like these.” Zhu Ying suddenly nudged An Jing. “Xiao Jing… turn around for a second.”
“Why…?”
“Just turn around.”
“I can’t really see… turn… turn this way? Hey, I’m telling you now, don’t you dare run back on your own.”
“Oh? So Xiao Jing is scared when she’s alone?”
“I-I’m just worried that you’ll fall if you run back alone!”
“It’s fine, I have a flashlight~”
“Even with a flashlight, running too fast at night is still dangerous.” An Jing muttered quietly, but then the sound behind her suddenly stopped.
The darkness instantly enveloped her. It felt like she was the only person left in the world.
“Xiao Ying? Xiao Ying? Hey, hey, Xiao Ying? Where are you?”
“Did you really run back by yourself?! Is the way back this way… no, I think it’s this way…” An Jing turned her head a few times, feeling a bit dizzy.
“Boo!”
“Ahhh!!!”
“Pfft, I actually scared you!”
“What the hell?! Where were you just now? And you didn’t make a sound! I thought something happened to you!”
“I just wanted to scare Xiao Jing a little. Looks like it worked~”
“Don’t just scare people in a place this dark, okay…” An Jing pouted.
“Alright, I’ll give Xiao Jing a compensation then!”
“Huh? What compensation?”
“Hold out your hand~”
“Let me be clear: even if you put a bug or a frog or something in my hand, I won’t be scared. I grew up catching these things. You absolutely cannot scare me with that…”
“It’s not that kind of thing!” Zhu Ying said, half annoyed and half amused.
“Then… then what could it be…” An Jing mumbled and pouted, then suddenly felt a piece of cloth, not very big, land on her palm. It was warm, as if still carrying some body heat.
“Here, your compensation.”
“Wh-What is it…?”
“Guess?”
“It’s not… is it…?”
“That’s right, it’s~”
“Mmph—!”
A slender hand looped around An Jing’s arm. Zhu Ying clicked the flashlight on with a click, and the bright beam immediately dispelled the darkness around them.
Their rapidly beating hearts gradually slowed down. The two of them walking together brought each other a sense of security.
An Jing clenched the cloth in her hand and couldn’t help but bring it up to her eyes for a look.
“Wow~! Pervert Xiao Jing, you’re even smelling it!”
“Wh-What? No, I’m not!”
“I saw everything clearly!”
“Eek?!”