Chapter 51-Doudou And Shuangshuang [Buried Memories] Part 3

Translated by Snowfall77

Thinking of Nanming’s bald, ‘old’ village chief who was barely over 20, Xia Ge conceded to Doudou’s logic: “……yeah, maybe I don’t want to be too powerful.  But I’d still like to be able to eat my fill.”

“Mmm.”

Doudou tilted her head, peering at Xia Ge for a long time.

“Shuangshuang, I know you think you’re nothing great, but then why do you shine to me?

Mentally taking stock of herself, Xia Ge was disbelieving: “……”

Doudou: “I think you’re a very splendid person.”

Despite Doudou’s sincerity, Xia Ge couldn’t help laughing.  Even though her heart was warmed.

Wasn’t she really just a good-for-nothing?  She’d actually lived for more than 20 years, but in the end she got comforted by a child.

“Well, since I’m shiny in your eyes, I guess I should take good care of you.”  Copying Doudou’s tone, Xia Ge attempted some tenderness: “Maybe I can’t become a star who lights the way of many, many people, but I can look after Doudou!”

Doudou  obediently inquired: “Ok, Shuangshuang, I’ll ask you.  What are we eating tomorrow?”

Xia Ge: “……”  Did you really have to ask that?

Starving to death while boasting about taking care of Doudou……even Xia Ge had to wonder where her confidence came from.

“Oh!  I’ve got it!”  Xia Ge smacked a fist into her palm as her expression lit up, “I know what to eat!”
An expectant Doudou beamed at Xia Ge with dazzled eyes.

“I just remembered that swamp on the other side of the village……” Xia Ge went on, “Why don’t we go over there and look around?”

Head shaking like a rattle, Doudou’s eyes immediately dimmed as she tugged at Xia Ge’s sleeve: “No, let’s no go there.  People go missing there……the villagers say that it’s full of demons who eat people.”

Xia Ge: “Sounds like a load of bullshit!  I’m strong, very strong……I’m certain I can protect you!”

Doudou’s voice was very soft: “I’m afraid of ghosts.”

Xia Ge smiled: “You don’t need to be afraid, I’ll protect you.”

Staring into Xia Ge’s eyes, Doudou seemed to be lost in thought.  Maybe she was hungry, maybe she found Xia Ge’s eyes very pretty.  But finally she pursed her lips and looked away: “Alright……let’s go.”

Adding in a whisper: “Shuangshuang, I trust you.”

Xia Ge nodded and kept talking big: “You’re right to trust me, I’m more awesome than Brother Chun!”

Doudou was confused again: “???”  Brother Chun?

Xia Ge: “……um, Brother Chun is a very fierce……shining  person.”

Getting the gist, Doudou nodded and obediently affirmed: “Yes, Shuangshuang is much better than Brother Chun!”

Xia Ge: “……”  Why did the praise not feel like a compliment?’

In truth, the only thing Xia Ge was actually confident about was that there was in fact a swamp just past the village.  Sure, the villagers gossiped about man-eating evil spirits.  But Xia Ge just told herself that a few people had probably gotten stuck in there, tried to crawl out, couldn’t make it, and thus died there.

Besides, what Xia Ge was looking for would be on the outskirts.

They’d be fine as long as they only went as far as the swamp’s outskirts.

So, under the cover of night, Xia Ge and Doudou went to the periphery of the swamp.  While the swamp was nothing but a brooding mass of darkness, Xia Ge was able to find the clumps of reeds she was looking for.  Squatting down, Xia Ge dug around in the mud for a long time, moon and stars luminous above her, with Doudou watching curiously from the side.

“Haha, found it!”  As if it were a priceless treasure, Xia Ge excitedly presented what she’d unearthed to Doudou, “No more chewing on Wutong leaves for me!  Ahhh……ah-choo!”

Since the reeds were swarming with insects, they’d made Xia Ge uncomfortably itchy, and she sneezed a few times.

Even though Doudou was frightened by their pitch-blackness surroundings, when Xia Ge’s explosive sneezes sounded, Doudou couldn’t help laughing.  Then her curiosity got the better of her and she peered at what Xia Ge was holding: “……what is it?”

“A water chestnut!”  Xia Ge’s eyes sparkled, “Food!”

“Hold on, haha, I’ll look for more.”  Crouching down again, Xia Ge rooted around until she’d finally dug up 6 chestnuts.  She’d wanted to find more, but her luck had run out.  In the end, to the accompaniment of wild dogs howling, she had to be reluctantly dragged away by Doudou.

“Let’s go, let’s go.  Dogs are barking, we don’t want to run into a tide of evil spirits,” Doudou urged.

“Evil spirit tide, what?”  A curious Xia Ge cleaned a water chestnut on her sleeve, handing it to Doudou as they walked back toward the village.

“……you know, scary stuff.”  Taking the chestnut, Doudou didn’t quite know how to explain ‘tide of evil spirits.’  Though that didn’t change that it was a terrifying, very bad thing, enough to leave a person petrified from shock.  “It’s when evil spirits gather together in the night, and devour people, and any village that encounters a wave of them is reduced to nothing but skeletons of the dead……anyways, it’s something horrifying.”

Mulling it over for another minute, Doudou added: “I’ve heard that only people who are dying or babies can sense when the evil tide is coming, cause I guess they can see ghosts……but I also heard that wild dogs will howl when one is coming.”

“Why can’t this be a society that trusts in science and Marxism?”  Xia Ge took a bite of a chestnut, savoring the crisp, sweet taste on her tongue.  The flavor lifted Xia Ge into illusion of a new life, and in a split second she tossed aside any ‘evil spirit tide’ as superstition.  After all, the laws of science couldn’t be defied.

Best to concentrate on the taste of actual food!  Finally eating like a human being!  Why?  Why hadn’t she had this idea earlier?!  Forget believing in science, Brother Chun, Karl Marx, or Friedrich Engels from now on.  Her new faith was water chestnuts!

Water chestnuts!!

No more choking on leaves!  If she had to chew another one, she’d die!  People are only truly alive when they have conviction!

Doudou took a bite of her chestnut, her eyes immediately lighting up: “It’s delicious!”

“Haha, you’re so right!”  Xia Ge was beside herself with happiness, “This is my faith!”

“Faith? What do you mean?”  Doudou was confused yet again.

“Um……”  Xia Ge gazed down at the half-eaten chestnut in her palm, “It’s……water chestnuts.”

Doudou understood instantly: “Water chestnuts are faith?”

Xia Ge: “……”

Looking into Doudou’s clear eyes, the deep guilt of corrupting the youth weighed on Xia Ge’s heart.  Coughing a couple times, Xia Ge explained further: “No……that’s not right, faith is when……you believe in something more powerful than you, maybe it’s like a person, and you take their standards and try to live by them……”

Since Xia Ge didn’t know what gods this world believed in, she tried to keep it simple: “Me, for instance, I believe in the god of wealth!  If you believe in him, you’ll get rich!”

Doudou still didn’t get it.

Xia Ge resolutely pressed on: “It’s what you believe in the most!  Whatever it is, you put your whole heart into it and it gives you strength!”

Holding up the chestnut she’d bitten into, Doudou declared with a radiant expression: “Shuangshuang is my faith!”

“Shuangshuang knows how to find food, she’s so good, even better than the village chief.  I believe in her the most!  She’s strong and she gives me strength!”

Xia Ge: “……”  Nooo……that wasn’t the kind of faith she’d meant.

And being better than the bald village chief wasn’t exactly a high bar to clear.

Xia Ge: “Um, if you want to believe in something, I’d recommend the god of wealth……”

Although, come to think of it, how long had Xia Ge believed in the god, and not only had she not gotten rich, she’d just gotten poorer and poorer……

Considering the water chestnuts in her hand, Xia Ge figured it wasn’t that unreasonable that the god of wealth was shunning her.  After all, she’d abandoned him in a heartbeat, putting her belief in chestnuts instead.

Faith really needed to be steadfast, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

Holding tight to her water chestnut, Doudou’s gaze was resolute: “I won’t.  You can believe in the god of wealth if you want, but I’ll believe in Shuangshuang!”

Xia Ge: “……”

If you’d aim that steady fervor towards the god of wealth, you’d get rich for sure, you know……

No……Doudou still didn’t understand what faith was, did she?

“Hey, look over there!  There’s fireflies!”  Xia Ge quickly changed the subject, “Wait right here, I’m going to go grab a few.”

Why was she trying to make faith this lofty thing?  It wasn’t, right?  Definitely not!  Ha!

Xia Ge swiftly tore cloth from one of her sleeves, captured a couple fireflies in the makeshift sack, tied it with a piece of vine, and handed it over to Doudou: “Here, I’ve wanted to catch some for a while, hehehe.

Doudou took the little sack of fireflies: “It’s so bright.”

Having put one over on a child, but not feeling the smallest ounce of guilt, Xia Ge laughed: “Yes, it’s very bright.”

“Oh, I like them.”  All thoughts about faith forgotten, Doudou murmured: “They’re so pretty.”

She thought for a minute, then continued: “Honestly, there are a lot of things I can’t remember clearly.  It seems like I did many foolish things, and only later did I know what it meant to like someone.  But I’d already been too stupid and I’d driven them away.”

Doudou’s voice was a little aggrieved.

Xia Ge, faced with a child who didn’t know what faith was, who didn’t know what they loved or hated, spoke with genuine sympathy: “……then you must be pretty fucking miserable.”

Doudou pursed her lips and gave a little laugh: “Yeah, so I think that if I ever get another chance, I will give her everything.  I’ll give her all the freedom she needs.  I’ll be well-behaved and I won’t do anything wrong anymore.”

Nodding, Xia Ge mulled over Doudou’s words: “Alright……I’ll hope that you get the opportunity?”

Doudou held the bag of fireflies up to her face, the warm, blinking glow filling her eyes with light: “Mmm, it’ll come.”

Hunger finally sated, Xia Ge drowsily curled up under the crooked tree, yawning while still holding the remaining water chestnuts: “I’m sleepy, Doudou.”

“Mmm, then Shuangshuang should go to bed early.”

“……mmm.”

Mind growing fuzzy, Xia Ge could barely register Doudou’s whispering in the night breeze: “Freedom……it’s not surprising……she’ll like that.”

She, huh?  Doudou, who’s this girl that you like?

Xia Ge was slightly curious……but it had nothing to do with her.  Best just to fall asleep.

Warm night wind blowing softly over her, Xia Ge slept soundly.  However, the girl named Doudou silently untied the sack of fireflies, watching them flit away, free again.

Doudou held the empty sack against her chest, a slight gleam flashing through her innocent eyes.

——This time—she won’t make the same mistakes.

If you like someone, you should set them free.

That was faith.

Brother Chun

In the early days, the term Chunge referred to singer Li Yuchun , and then gradually formed a strong Internet spoof culture . [1] Li Yuchun has had this nickname since childhood [2] . In 2005, when he participated in Hunan Satellite TV’s ” Super Girl ” audition , the title was used by the media [3] . People who dislike Hunan Satellite TV ‘s draft also spoofly call Li Yuchun “Brother Chun”. [4] After the preparation of various events (such as drafts , pop bars , endorsements, etc.), according to the statistics of Google search trends , “Chunge Culture” reached its climax in 2009. “Chun Ge” is widely associated with daily life , becoming a kind of avatar and idol, and even “Chun Ge Jiao” was born from this. In the end, the word “chun brother” evolved through several stages and became an abstract concept, not just a reference to Li Yuchun. Due to the popularity of online spoof culture, the title of “Chun Ge” is still used by mainstream media, such as Xinhua News Agency and People ‘s Daily Online . [5] [6] [7] [8]

According to spoofs on the Internet, Brother Chun is the proud and extraordinary overlord who looks down on all living beings. His mount is a grass- mud horse (the names are all swear words) living in the “Male Gobi”, and the brand of his boots is Adi Wang [9] (Adi Wang is a Chinese brand ridiculed for its botched copycat of the famous Adidas ). Brother Chun is characterized by strong muscles, very manly, domineering, and strong sexual function. He is a man among men (if someone says that Brother Chun is neither male nor female, it is disrespectful to Brother Chun), and his hobbies are “planting chrysanthemums ” and ” planting chrysanthemums”. Exploding the opponent’s chrysanthemum” (exploding anus), the signature fighting move is ” Pure Man Domineering Wave ” (or “Domineering Man Wave”). In some spoof pictures circulated in the spoof section of Maopu.com (especially the series of posts titled ” PS Plastic Surgery Team”), Brother Chun also appeared in the image of the savior together with the grass mud horse. In 2009, a so-called ” Zero Score Composition for the College Entrance Examination ” circulated on the Internet titled “I have a pair of invisible wings ” summarized the artistic image of Brother Chun as follows: “Brother Chun is a pure man, a real man of iron and blood; A father is a good son, a good brother of the people; his fists can stand on people, his arms can cross a horse; his chest is broken with a big stone, and the chrysanthemum is open to the bottle cap; a hundred women in the night can’t fall, and the chrysanthemum is still red in battle.” [10]

https:///zh-mo/%E6%98%A5%E5%93%A5

Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), socialist philosopher and one of the founder of Marxism

财神爷[cái shén yé]

the God of Wealth; very wealthy man