My Little Pink Crocodile - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: You Must Accept It

A gentle evening breeze carried a slight chill, making the leaves atop the nameless mountain rustle. This, accompanied by the snapping and popping of the campfire, left the two figures sitting opposite each other in a companionable silence, bathed in the warm glow of the flames.

A brilliant red wedding dress spread across the ground around the woman sitting there. Her makeup was exquisite, and the tassels of her phoenix crown swayed with the wind. The firelight washed over her in warm yellow hues; she didn’t look like a bedraggled runaway bride, but rather, her haughty expression lent her a unique, seductive elegance.

Opposite her sat Qi Yan, her face hidden behind a mask, her eyes lowered so that her expression remained unreadable.

Grace stared back and forth between the two for a moment before scotching over to Qi Yan’s side and whispering, “Why did you actually take her away?”

Qi Yan held a dry branch in her hand. Hearing Grace, her movements faltered. She looked up and met the eyes of the person opposite her. Deep within those silver-grey pupils, the sparks of the fire and Qi Yan’s own silhouette were reflected. In the flickering light, Qi Yan couldn’t discern the emotions in Jiang Yu’s eyes.

She stared, momentarily dazed, until Grace nudged her elbow a few times. Qi Yan snapped back to reality and forced herself to stay calm. No matter what Jiang Yu was feeling right now, she had to avoid it. After a moment’s hesitation, she lowered her voice and whispered to Grace.

“I… I’m not entirely sure.”

Technically, it wasn’t so much Qi Yan taking Jiang Yu away as it was Jiang Yu grabbing her hand and leading the flight. Although the people behind them had chased for a while, even Grace—who was running last—had successfully shaken them off. No matter how she thought about it, it felt intentional.

Before Qi Yan could think it through, Grace’s voice rose slightly in exasperation. “You’re not sure, yet you still took her! You…” She sounded like she was despairing over a hopeless cause.

Qi Yan knit her brows and covered Grace’s mouth. “Don’t make a scene. It might be… it might be…” Her voice trailed off. She caught a glimpse of the red figure again out of the corner of her eye and hurriedly looked away. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried the tremor of her own uncertainty and her fear of facing the truth. If she were just sitting in the guest seats watching Jiang Yu get married, she would have offered her blessings with a polite, if painful, smile. But now, by some twist of fate, she had essentially kidnapped the bride.

Jiang Yu sat there with her chin resting on her hand, looking at Qi Yan with a resentful gaze, which then shifted to Grace sitting so close to her. She seemed to mutter something under her breath before turning her head away with a huff. “Being able to take me away is the blessing of several lifetimes for you two! What are you acting so displeased about?!”

She sounded a bit aggrieved at the end, her eyes constantly darting toward Qi Yan. Qi Yan noticed her gaze and almost panicked, thinking she had been recognized. She reached up to feel the mask still on her face and breathed a sigh of relief, assuming Jiang Yu was just cranky from the long run.

However, as Jiang Yu’s eyes grew more and more piteous, Qi Yan instinctively spoke up, comforting her with her usual gentleness. “I’m not displeased with you.”

Hearing this, Jiang Yu’s expression softened slightly, though she still held her head high in a mock-arrogant display. “I’m hungry. Go find me something to eat,” she commanded.

Before Qi Yan could speak, Grace beat her to it. “If you go back and get married properly, delicacies from land and sea will be served to you. You wouldn’t have to sit out here in the cold.”

At this, Jiang Yu’s expression dimmed. She peeked at Qi Yan and asked, “Do you think so too?”

Qi Yan kept her head down, avoiding Jiang Yu’s eyes and the hope within them. After a long silence, she stared at the campfire and spoke tonelessly, as if stating a mere fact. “You should go back.”

It seemed Jiang Yu’s temper flared again. She threw a dry branch into the fire. The erupting sparks illuminated the sadness in her eyes even more clearly. She slowly buried her head in her arms and muttered, “I don’t like that ugly crocodile. I don’t want to marry him.”

Dressed in her magnificent wedding attire, Jiang Yu should have been the most beautiful bride of the day, but curled up into a ball like this, she looked heartbreakingly small. Qi Yan looked up at her, and her heart immediately softened. But since she believed Jiang Yu didn’t know who she was, she felt helpless in her desire to comfort her.

She searched her pockets and finally found a single piece of chocolate. She looked at it for a moment, sighed, and walked over to sit beside Jiang Yu. She handed it over, her eyes above the mask remaining as gentle as water, shimmering with a ripple that could enchant the soul. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Jiang Yu peeked out from her arms, the corners of her eyes red. The moisture in them was made prominent by the firelight. She stared at the chocolate for a while. “Mhm,” she hummed. “Open the wrapper for me.”

Her voice carried a sob, yet it held a strangely coquettish, spoiled undertone. Qi Yan didn’t refuse. She tore open the wrapper and handed it back. Once Jiang Yu took it, Qi Yan picked up a branch and poked at the fire, coaxing the dying embers back into flames.

She watched the fire for a moment, listening to the sound of Jiang Yu eating. “You ran away on your own,” she asked patiently and softly. “So, where are you going to go?”

Jiang Yu swallowed. She scooted a bit closer to Qi Yan and said defiantly, “I don’t know. Anyway, I’m not going back!”

Qi Yan fell silent. After a while, perhaps because she was exhausted, Jiang Yu leaned her head onto Qi Yan’s shoulder. Qi Yan’s body stiffened at the weight, but in the end, she didn’t push her away. She thought to herself: Perhaps only because she doesn’t recognize me does she dare to lean on me so brazenly.

Jiang Yu yawned. Whether intentionally or not, she murmured, “I feel like you look a bit familiar.” As she spoke, her eyes flickered toward Qi Yan, as if trying to see through the mask.

Qi Yan froze, but quickly laughed it off, denying it. “We were just lost in the mountains and stumbled in by accident.”

Even to her own ears, the excuse was full of holes. What “decent person” climbs mountains in the middle of the night? But Jiang Yu didn’t seem to doubt her. She pouted and said, “You helped me. There will be a great reward later.”

“No need, it was just a help—”

Before Qi Yan could finish, the weight left her shoulder. Jiang Yu was looking at her with an even more resentful expression, her tone brooks no refusal. “No! You must accept it! You must!”

Seeing the girl’s serious yet willful expression, Qi Yan couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, her gentle gaze laced with indulgence. “Mhm.”

Grace sat watching the two of them weave a web of lies and flirtatious ambiguity. She could only turn her head away and let out a purposefully loud sigh. “So what now? Are we still going to—”

Qi Yan cut her off immediately, out of a guilty fear that Grace would say too much. “Let’s take her away first.”

“Have you thought this through?” Grace asked suspiciously.

Qi Yan didn’t answer. She had thought about it for a long time but couldn’t find a logical answer. Her reason told her she shouldn’t do this, but her selfishness had overridden her rationality, making it impossible to judge.

Suddenly, fireworks erupted in the night sky, filling the darkness with light. Jiang Yu leaned back onto Qi Yan’s shoulder. “Those are the fireworks for my wedding,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

Hearing this, Qi Yan looked up, her heart a messy tangle of feelings. “But you didn’t get married,” Qi Yan whispered.

A strange fragrance wafted from the distance—a faint floral scent, though she couldn’t tell which flower it belonged to. “Sleep,” Jiang Yu whispered in her ear. Her voice was muffled by the boom of distant fireworks, and Qi Yan didn’t hear her clearly.

“Mhm? What did you say?” Qi Yan asked, only to realize her voice felt weak and drained of energy.

Before she could process it, the sounds grew more blurred, and the world before her eyes began to overlap in shimmering, phantom layers. After a while, she saw that Grace had already fallen asleep on the ground. She heard the rustle of movements and the clinking of hairpins beside her.

In her groggy state, a red figure appeared before her—Jiang Yu was standing in front of her—but she couldn’t see the expression on the girl’s face. After Qi Yan’s eyes closed, she had no idea what happened next.

When she opened her eyes again, they were in a completely foreign environment.

Qi Yan frowned, scanning the surroundings. When she didn’t see Jiang Yu, a flash of panic surged through her. She almost called out her name but stopped herself just in time.

The room was large and decorated in a Western style, yet it was adorned with vibrant red silk and “Happiness” characters, making it look eerie and discordant. She turned her head and saw herself in the vanity mirror. Though her hair was a bit messy, the mask was still firmly on her face. Seeing this, she felt an inexplicable relief.

Beside her, Grace stirred. “Ugh,” she groaned, trying to stretch, only to find she couldn’t move. She realized she was tied up.

Grace: “…” Well, this is kinky.

“What’s going on?” Grace asked.

Qi Yan’s eyes regained their calm. “We were probably caught while taking Jiang Yu away.”

“Didn’t you notice anything wrong?” Grace asked tentatively, her voice full of suspicion.

Qi Yan looked blank for a moment, then shook her head. Seeing her like this, Grace felt she was beyond saving.

“Fine. So, are we still running or what?” Grace asked.

“Mhm. We’re leaving this place.” Qi Yan said, but the image of Jiang Yu flashed through her mind. She hesitated for a long time before reaching a decision. “I’m taking Jiang Yu with me.”

Grace looked at her with a hint of disdain. “Oh. Well, I don’t support you.”

Suddenly, the sound of an argument outside caught Qi Yan’s attention, causing her to miss Grace’s last remark.