Little Alpaca – Chapter 108

Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun

Though Forgotten, Forever Remembered.

After a long silence, You Yan lowered her eyelashes.

She scrubbed the already tattered clothes again and again. Yi Qiu watched from the side, unsure how to comfort her for a moment. She simply flopped down beside her and mumbled in a small voice, “I like you a lot, anyway.”

You Yan pursed her lips and said, “I’ve only fed you two meals and you already like me. If someone else feeds you in the future, you’ll like them too.”

“It’s not the same,” Yi Qiu said. “I told you, I saw you in my dreams. You were very good to me. No one has ever been as good to me as you were.”

A trace of hesitation flashed through the depths of You Yan’s eyes. She didn’t answer, merely washing the clothes in her hands in silence. Then, without waiting for them to dry, she put them back on, piece by piece.

“You’ll catch a cold like that.” Even though it was summer, wearing wet clothes was never a good idea.

Yi Qiu worried instinctively, but just as the words left her mouth, she saw a current of spiritual energy begin to flow around You Yan’s entire body. In just a short while, it had dried the clothes that had just been pulled from the water.

Yi Qiu frowned, once again feeling the profound gap between a bird and an alpaca.

She stood up, a little indignant, and shook her drenched body, instantly flinging water droplets all over You Yan.

“Don’t mess around,” You Yan said, a hint of a smile flashing in her eyes. She wrapped one arm around the little alpaca’s neck and began to dry her off with the other hand.

It was that same, deeply familiar feeling again.

Once upon a time, that bird woman, who was as uncertain as cloudy and clear skies¹, had been just like this, her fingertips carrying spiritual energy as she dried her fleece, bit by bit, with extraordinary patience.

An alpaca’s fleece is thick and plentiful; it’s not something that can be dried in a moment’s time.

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but tilt her head, quietly gazing at the young girl currently drying her body.

The girl hadn’t braided her hair yet. It hung loose down her back. Her eyes were slender, and her gaze was even more gentle.

For an instant, Yi Qiu was in a daze, almost thinking she had returned to the side of that familiar bird woman.

But she quickly came back to her senses—the bird woman’s eyes were nowhere near as clear as the person’s before her.

Right, the You Yan before her had truly clear eyes.

And within those clear eyes, there was a touch of joy.

Yes, she hadn’t seen wrong. There was genuine joy in the depths of You Yan’s eyes.

It probably wasn’t a delusion. You Yan’s mood hadn’t soured because of their earlier topic. Of course, it was also possible that for a You Yan who was long accustomed to everything, a topic like that was hardly an unspeakable wound.

Sensing the little alpaca’s gaze, You Yan’s fingers suddenly stopped on Yi Qiu’s back.

“Hm?” The little alpaca tilted her head curiously.

You Yan quickly started moving again, but after a brief hesitation, she asked softly, “You said you dreamed of me before. You weren’t just teasing me to make me happy, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t. Otherwise, how would I know your name?” Yi Qiu said seriously.

“But… many people in the Kunlun Mountains know my name. It’s not a secret.” As You Yan spoke, her gaze toward Yi Qiu seemed to flicker with a kind of anticipation.

“But I just dreamed of you. Don’t you believe me?” Yi Qiu asked in return.

You Yan quickly waved her hands, her eyes full of apology. “No, that’s not what I meant… I, I…” She paused, thinking for a few seconds, then couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Then… what was the ‘me’ in the dream like? How was the dream-me good to you?”

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but ask back, “Why do you want to know?”

You Yan bit her lower lip, her innocent eyes wide, and said softly, “I… I’m afraid I’m not doing as good a job as the me in the dream, and you… you won’t like me anymore.”

Hearing this, Yi Qiu was stunned. It took a long while before she shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and said earnestly, “You won’t!”

“Tell me,” You Yan couldn’t help but press.

Yi Qiu thought about it and felt there was no harm in telling her. So she picked and chose from her memories, finding a whole heap of the bird woman’s good qualities, and told them to You Yan one by one.

She wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t said it, but once she started, she realized that the bird woman, who spoke so harshly and always loved to bully her, had actually been taking care of her in a way that left no tiny detail unattended².

You Yan listened in a daze for a long time. When the little alpaca finally finished, she tilted her head blankly, blinked, and said, “The person in your dream… is that really me? She feels so unfamiliar.”

“Unfamiliar?”

“She seems very powerful and very confident. Between heaven and earth, it’s as if no one can do anything to her…” You Yan said. “No matter how you look at it, that doesn’t sound like me.”

Yi Qiu pouted and said, “Maybe you’ll become like that when you grow up?”

You Yan said joyfully, “Really?”

Yi Qiu nodded, then couldn’t help but shake her head and say, “Actually, I think you’re great just the way you are now.”

Simple and cute, and she wouldn’t hurt people with her words. Wasn’t that better than that big mean bird?

But then again, the big mean bird had her good points too. Thinking about it carefully, it was hard to compare the two.

“Thank you, little al… paca.” You Yan said softly. She put on her shoes and socks, stood up, and patted the little alpaca’s no-longer-damp body. Then she stretched out with a big yawn. “Are you hungry?”

“A little,” Yi Qiu answered honestly.

As she spoke, she glanced up at the sun, already slanting west, and knew it was indeed getting late.

Before coming here, she had spent the entire morning running after little You Yan. How long could those two thin egg pancakes from breakfast sustain her with this level of activity?

She was definitely hungry; her stomach just hadn’t started rumbling yet.

You Yan patted her little head and said, “I have to go back and make dinner for Daddy, too. Do you want to come with me?”

“Huh?” Faced with You Yan’s invitation, the little alpaca didn’t know how to react for a moment.

You Yan thought for a moment, then added, “But my daddy is a bit fierce. It’s best if you don’t get close. Wait for me from a distance. Once I’ve made the food, I’ll bring it out for you and then take you back to the big tree hollow.”

“Okay, okay!” Yi Qiu said. Seeing You Yan crouch down, she quickly took a leap and jumped onto You Yan’s back.

You Yan stood up and suddenly remembered the dream the little alpaca had told her about. She squinted her eyes in a smile and said, “I carried you like this in my dream!”

The little alpaca replied, “You did! You carried me like this in your dream!”

The girl suddenly grew cheerful. All at once, even her steps became much lighter.

It seemed that for her, being needed even in a dream was something especially worth showing off.

“Silly happy…” Yi Qiu muttered, but the sound of the girl’s bell-like laughter reached her ears.

Once she no longer needed to slow her pace for anyone, You Yan ran much faster than she had on the way there, quite a bit faster than a fawn running through the mountain forest.

The summer wind that whipped past gently blew across the little alpaca’s fluffy cheeks, making her feel extremely comfortable.

Remembering how You Yan always used to bully her, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but have some mischievous thoughts. She started rubbing against the girl’s hair nonstop, determinedly mussing up the little head beneath her chin until it was as messy as a little red bird’s nest. Only then, as if she had gotten her revenge, did she stop her childish actions.

The little girl was like the legendary Kua Fu³, chasing the direction of the sun as she ran.

After running for who knows how long, when the clouds on the horizon had been scorched red by the setting sun, she finally set down the fluffy little alpaca on her back.

She ran a hand messily through her hair, then bent down to instruct Yi Qiu, “My home is just a little farther ahead. I’m going back now. You wait here for me for a bit. You can play around, but don’t go too far. Your spiritual presence⁴ is very faint. If we’re too far apart and you get lost again, I won’t be able to find you either.”

Yi Qiu looked into the distance. There were only woods and more woods. It seemed there was still a ways to go to You Yan’s home. She couldn’t help but tilt her neck and ask, “Can’t I go with you?”

You Yan thought for a moment. “I’ve never brought a friend home before. I’m afraid Daddy will get angry.”

Yi Qiu nodded with an “Oh” and said, “Then I’ll wait for you here.”

“Mhm!” You Yan said, then turned and ran off like a wisp of smoke⁵.

The little alpaca pouted, found a clean patch of grass nearby, and lay down with a yawn.

She didn’t know how much time had passed before she groggily fell asleep.

When she woke again, it seemed You Yan had already been sitting beside her for a while. Her long hair was once again tied into two thick braids, but they were no longer messy and somewhat sloppy like before. Only now did Yi Qiu truly see clearly that little You Yan’s hairstyle was identical to the one the bird woman had once done for her—they were two lantern braids⁶.

Sure enough, that bird woman’s sense of style hadn’t changed a bit from childhood to adulthood.

Seeing the little alpaca lazily open her eyes, You Yan couldn’t help but remark, “You really know how to sleep.”

“Are you making fun of me?” Yi Qiu asked instinctively, her eyes half-closed.

“No!” You Yan quickly explained. “I’m envious of you. Neither I nor Little Red Flower sleep very soundly. But you’re different. After you fall asleep, you wouldn’t even know if someone picked you up and carried you off. You must sleep so peacefully.”

For a moment, Yi Qiu found herself not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

She thought that if the one before her right now was the bird woman from outside the illusion, she would definitely have said: “Unmoved even if struck by lightning⁷, sleeping like a pig.”

But coming from little You Yan’s mouth, it became sleeping peacefully.

When it came to cleverness, the bird woman had certainly matured a great deal, but in matters of the heart, she was no match for her younger self.

“I’ll just take that as a compliment,” Yi Qiu said, instinctively looking around.

Sure enough, the sky outside had darkened, and she was already back in that big tree hollow.

Little Red Flower was hanging on a spiderweb in the corner, bobbing up and down, playing with who-knows-what all alone.

When Yi Qiu turned her head back, she saw that You Yan had already conjured a bowl on the ground, filled to the brim with food. There was meat and vegetables, and the aroma was tantalizing—she had never told this little You Yan what she liked to eat, yet the dishes in the bowl were all the very ones she loved to order most at inns and eateries.

“How did you know I like to eat these?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but ask, as if trying to find definitive proof that she absolutely hadn’t mistaken the person.

“I… I didn’t know. I just suddenly felt like making these today. It must be a coincidence,” You Yan pursed her lips, then suddenly curved her brows into a smile. “But now that I know, I’ll remember it!” You Yan said, picking up the bowl and chopsticks. “Hurry up and eat. You must be starving!”

Yi Qiu gazed at You Yan, a layer of mist welling up in her eyes.

You Yan: “Why are you crying?”

Yi Qiu: “I’m not. I just woke up, my eyes are a little uncomfortable.”

So it was that some people, some things—though forgotten, are forever remembered.

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