She Comes Into My Dreams Every Night - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Curiosity

June weather, a baby face (meaning unpredictable, referring to the weather), and mountainous regions are prone to rain. This summer downpour had lasted for several days. Now that the rain had finally stopped, the air inside and outside the house was heavy with dampness.

Fortunately, the temperature had dropped significantly, prompting Su Huaiwang to pull out the spring jacket she had just shed.

In the afternoon, the dark clouds covering the mountain peaks finally scattered. The whole “family” could come out to bask in the sun and air out the dampness.

The gentle afternoon sunlight streamed into the small yard. Su Huaiwang lay in a lounge chair, covered by a small blanket and the substantial weight of Mimi. She was drowsy, her hand intermittently patting the head of the dog lying beneath the chair.

Grandma Chen walked by, hoe on her shoulder, and called out to her: “Sunning yourself!”

The old woman’s loud voice startled Su Huaiwang from her daze. She propped herself up on her soft arms: “Yes, Grandma, would you like to join me?”

Grandma Chen skillfully pushed open the small gate in the fence, carrying a head of cabbage covered in soil: “Here, just picked from the field. I’ll give you some.”

“Thank you, Grandma.” Su Huaiwang yawned, still reluctant to move from the lounge chair. Mimi, in her arms, didn’t even lift its head.

The cabbage was placed in the corner. Grandma Chen often brought her home-grown vegetables. Initially, Su Huaiwang was uneasy about it, but now she naturally accepted the other’s warmth.

“Hey, help me look at this. Why is my phone so quiet?” Grandma Chen sat down carelessly on the lounge chair next to Su Huaiwang, fanning herself with her hat while pulling out an old-style mobile phone, her eyebrows furrowed.

Su Huaiwang leaned over, pressed a few buttons on the phone, and soon the ear-splitting music of an er ren zhuan (two-person folk dance) rang out from the device again.

“Oh, thank you so much! My hearing gets worse every day. If it weren’t for young people like you in the village, us old folks wouldn’t know what to do!” Grandma Chen gave her a thumbs-up.

The praise from the elderly is always direct and enthusiastic. Su Huaiwang had never thought she could gain approval from others by doing something so simple.

“Not at all. Grandma, you’re still very healthy, and your mind is sharp. Just let your grandson teach you, and you’ll learn quickly.”

“They’re all busy; they don’t have time to worry about an old woman like me!” Grandma Chen waved her hand: “Right, how are you and that young girl getting along?” Grandma Chen’s eyes were narrowed, clearly interested in gossip.

“Getting along in what way…” Su Huaiwang subconsciously glanced at the house not far away and quickly pulled her gaze back.

There wasn’t much “getting along” during the day, but plenty at night. Su Huaiwang thought bitterly.

However, over the last few days, there hadn’t been much “getting along” because Su Huaiwang’s moral principles had taken the high ground. She painfully gave up her harmless little hobby, and the wet dreams genuinely stopped. But because of this, she had been suffering from insomnia for the past few days, and the dark circles under her eyes were more noticeable.

“That girl is pretty, but she’s quite cold,” Grandma Chen sighed. “It looked like she was very interested in you? How about it? Have you two spent any time together?”

“Interested in me?” Su Huaiwang’s last bit of lingering drowsiness vanished.

“Yes. The first question she asked me was if there were any young people on the mountain. After I told her you were here, she asked a lot of other questions. Isn’t that being very interested in you?”

Su Huaiwang pondered for a moment, then shook her head: “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her much, either.”

“Oh, why is such a nice girl so quiet! You’re a bit older than her, so you should take her out more often. A girl cooped up in the house alone might get depressed!”

Su Huaiwang smiled but didn’t answer. Grandma Chen continued muttering to herself:

“But still, she’s so young, moving here alone… I wonder what the problem is—I’m not talking about you, Xiao Wang, oh. Look at her, she never goes out or does anything. Isn’t that strange?”

If they continued chatting in the way village aunties discuss gossip, Lin Jue would soon be imagined to have all sorts of problems. Su Huaiwang felt she couldn’t just sit by.

“It’s not that strange, right? Many people in the city are like that. Oh, why should we care about others?” Having lived here for a long time, Su Huaiwang had picked up a bit of the local accent. That last lighthearted sentence was unconsciously spoken in the local dialect.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she was slightly stunned, feeling a hint of unease.

When her parents were alive, they forbade her from learning the dialect.

But this unease was quickly washed away by reality.

Grandma Chen didn’t notice her unusual behavior, awkwardly scratching her head: “True, true. It’s normal for an old woman in her seventies like me not to understand you young people…”

Su Huaiwang quickly tried to smooth things over: “Although she doesn’t like to go out, she’s actually quite kind. She even gave me a handmade sachet.”

That sachet was still hanging on the wall of Su Huaiwang’s bedroom. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but every time she smelled that fragrance, she felt calm and peaceful.

Grandma Chen’s slightly down mood lifted, and she chuckled: “Exactly! I said, how could such a beautiful girl be a bad person? You two should spend more time together; maybe you’ll become good friends!”

Su Huaiwang knew Grandma Chen’s subtext was that she didn’t like seeing her alone. She smiled: “Maybe.”

“Alright! I have things to do. I’ll leave after sitting here for a bit!” Grandma Chen stood up from the lounge chair, and her rough hands enthusiastically patted Little Huang’s head twice. Little Huang happily barked in response.

As Grandma Chen’s figure gradually disappeared behind the fence, Su Huaiwang sighed with relief. She twisted her neck, but the corner of her eye caught a figure standing just outside the fence.

It was Lin Jue.

Seeing Lin Jue suddenly after a few days was somewhat startling: white dress, black hair, a smile on her face, staring intently at Su Huaiwang.

Su Huaiwang froze, meeting her gaze stiffly until Lin Jue pointed to the fence gate: “May I come in?”

Su Huaiwang finally reacted: “Yes, yes, of course. Come in and sit. There’s a latch on the door; just move the latch and the door will open.”

Lin Jue moved her feet. The small flowers wrapped around the fence brushed past her waist, delicate yet resilient.

Su Huaiwang silently cursed herself, feeling she had been completely addled by the wet dreams. She was restless, unsure whether it was better to stand up or to continue lying down to appear less guilty.

The kitten on her was startled by her movement and let out a soft meow. It looked around, and the moment it saw Lin Jue, its eyes widened. It immediately clawed at Su Huaiwang’s shirt, trying to burrow inside.

“Mimi?!” The T-shirt Su Huaiwang was wearing was very loose. With the cat scratching it like that, the neckline dropped, and the round, furry head immediately squeezed inside the neckline.

Su Huaiwang used all her strength to pull the cat out from her neckline, only to look up and see Lin Jue already standing in front of her, smiling as she looked down.

Wait, why did she walk so fast?

Su Huaiwang’s first reaction was to pull her jacket over to cover her neckline, but the next moment, she felt that doing so only made her look more guilty and embarrassed.

But what’s done is done. She clutched her jacket while forcing herself to say: “Sit, sit here.”

Lin Jue didn’t say anything, simply sitting down on the lounge chair where Grandma Chen had just been.

Unlike the rough village elder, the slender girl lying in the lounge chair looked like a pool of water contained by bamboo and wood. Su Huaiwang felt slightly distracted.

Just then, Mimi, whose lifeline had been choked, wailed, forcefully kicked Su Huaiwang with its hind legs, and fled in panic.

Su Huaiwang cried out in pain. Lin Jue immediately knelt in front of her, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed: “Are you okay?”

She reached out, seemingly wanting to lift Su Huaiwang’s shirt to check the injury on her abdomen. Su Huaiwang was startled. She stopped clutching her neckline and covered her abdomen with both hands:

“I’m fine, I’m fine! Just a cat stepping on me. It’s nothing!”

“Nothing?” The perpetual smile on Lin Jue’s face faded considerably. She glanced at the trembling kitten in the corner: “Does it do this often?”

Su Huaiwang didn’t know what had touched a nerve, but she keenly felt that Lin Jue was upset. She quickly waved her hands:

“No! It’s usually very well-behaved! Maybe, maybe it’s because there’s going to be an earthquake!”

After she said this, both of them fell silent.

Lin Jue burst out laughing, while Su Huaiwang’s hands remained frozen in mid-air.

“It’s true that small animals become agitated before an earthquake,” Lin Jue said seriously, agreeing with her statement.

Su Huaiwang’s overloaded brain finally caught up. She let out a dejected sigh and lowered her hands: “Yeah…” How could she have said something like that?

“Do you… know the dish ‘Dragon Tiger Fight’?”

“What?” Lin Jue didn’t catch on at first, but when she did, she couldn’t help but smile: “I haven’t killed a cat.”

Su Huaiwang sighed: “They seem a little afraid of you.”

She beckoned to Mimi, but Mimi just huddled in the corner, trembling and unwilling to move.

“Indeed,” Lin Jue didn’t look at the stubborn cat, but kept her gaze fixed on Su Huaiwang, who wasn’t currently paying attention to her: “Because of that, I’ve always been very sad.”

She said this casually, further refining the version of her past she was presenting.

Su Huaiwang looked up at her slightly, her usually listless eyes wide and round because of the angle.

Cuter than that cat, Lin Jue thought silently. From her perspective, it was hard to understand why Su Huaiwang would keep cats and dogs.

She glanced again at the three creatures in the yard besides themselves, finding them quite an eyesore.

But Su Huaiwang liked them, so she felt she should try her best to like them too, though it seemed unlikely.

She crouched down and clapped her hands at Da Hui, the braver of the two dogs.

Da Hui shrank its massive body, its fur bristling, and let out a low, threatening growl at her.

Lin Jue acted as if she hadn’t seen it, stood up again, and sat back down on the lounge chair Su Huaiwang had directed her to.

“Were you just talking about me?” Lin Jue asked.

Su Huaiwang stiffened. What could be more embarrassing than being caught gossiping by the person you were talking about?

“Yes, but we weren’t saying anything bad. People in the countryside don’t have many ways to entertain themselves, so we just talk about the newcomers. Don’t worry about it. Grandma Chen was just a little curious about you.”

Su Huaiwang carefully chose her words. She didn’t know what Lin Jue had heard, nor did she have time to wonder why they hadn’t noticed Lin Jue even though they had been talking for so long.

Lin Jue smiled: “I don’t really mind. I’m just a little curious.”

“Curious about what?”

“Curious about what you think of me.”

A heavy blow. Su Huaiwang was stunned.

Is this something they should be discussing? Furthermore, was this something they should be discussing at this stage?