Chapter 11 (2/2)

“……It’s snowing.”

“A group of artists”

“……A group of artists” Chen Nian subconsciously nodded her head as she spoke, struggling to express the entire sentence without a single pause.

“arrived in,”

“arrived in”

“the snow.”

“……the snow.”

Bei Ye narrated loudly and clearly, “A group of artists arrived in the snow.”

Chen Nian, “……”

“Don’t be anxious. Repeat the sentence a few times in your hed before you speak.” Bei Ye coached her carefully.

Chen Nian lowered her eyelids. Following his instructions, she first repeated the sentence a couple of times in her heart, before carefully and slowly p.r.o.nouncing each and every word, “A group of artists arrived in the snow.”

Having narrated the sentence fluently, Chen Nian carefully and discreetly raised her eyes to look at Bei Ye; although Bei Ye’s head was lowered, he was gazing at her as well, an unmistakeable and small smile forming on the corners of his lips. Lowering his eyes, he continued reading the book.

The glow of the setting sun softly shone on Bei Ye’s face, causing Chen Nian’s heart to beat erratically.

Bei Ye resumed his narration, “The little chick drew bamboo leaves,”

“The little chick……drew bamboo leaves,” Predictably, Chen Nian began to stutter once more. Embarra.s.sed, she lowered her head in shame.

The innermost thoughts of the youthful girl was akin to a deep lake, whilst the voice of the youthful boy was akin to the bubbles that formed on the surface of the lake.

“The little chick drew bamboo leaves,” Bei Ye’s low and steady voice rang out once more.

Chen Nian collected her thoughts, and focused entirely on the sentence, “The little chick drew bamboo leaves,”

“The little dog drew plum blossoms,”

“The little dog drew plum blossoms,”

“The little duck drew maple leaves, the little pony drew the moon.

They didn’t use crayons; they didn’t use pens,

Within moments, the picture was formed.

Why didn’t the frog partic.i.p.ate?

It’s because the frog had fallen asleep in its hole……”

The blazing sun splattered reddish, blue and purple hues over the vast sky; somehow, the sun had already begun to set.

The scent of freshly baked bread wafted into their noses.

Everything was bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun.

The next morning, Bei Ye was woken by the unending stream of noises from outside the window. Struggling to open his eyes in the humid and stuffy room, Bei Ye slowly turned to look behind him, only to discover that the other half of the bed was empty.

Bei Ye sat up instantly, and surveyed the room meticulously.

Chen Nian wasn’t around.

Jumpning off the bed, he headed over to the shoe box. Although the shoe box remained in place, the two tiny ducklings had disappeared.

As the the shutter doors were locked from within, Bei Ye hopped out of the window ledge, and made his way to the walls surrounding the abandoned steel mill. Standing on those walls, Bei Ye looked at the alley pensively. It was unlikely that Chen Nian left via this route – after all, Chen Nian couldn’t even jump off the wall herself the previous day, not to mention she had two tiny ducklings tagging along with her this time round.

The barely audible sound of someone narrating drifted into Bei Ye’s ears.

Bei Ye turned back, carefully scaling the stairwell and headed to the rooftop. As he ascended the stairwell, the voice gradually became clearer and louder. The narrator had a steady and extremely gentle voice, “A thirsty crow began to scan its surroundings for water.…….The crow spotted a bottle which contained some water.……But the bottle was……extremely large,” Chen Nian paused, letting the words roll over her tongue before continuing, “but the opening was rather small. Furthermore, there wasn’t much water in the bottle……so the crow was unable to consume the water. What should it do?……”

Chen Nian sat on the edge of the roof with the book in hand, her two pale legs swinging freely in the air. Because Chen Nian had lowered her head as she read, a tuft of stray hair fell before her eyes, which she attempted to brush away but to no avail.

Bei Ye trooped over and sat down beside her.

Chen Nian closed the textbook, and placed it by the side.

The two youths sat side by side at the edge of the rooftop; beneath them, innumerable people bustled about, carrying on with their way of life whilst various buildings stretched into the distance. A railway snaked through the town, ultimately disappearing in the horizon.

Chen Nian started, “When I was looking……for books, I saw this.”

It was a small, black Bible.

Chen Nian looked at Bei Ye, the question evident in her eyes; Bei Ye ­­put on a mask of cluelessness, asking her directly, “What do you want to ask?”

Left with no choice, Chen Nian had to ask her question aloud, “Have you…….read it?”

“Nope.” Bei Ye leaned back, using his arms to prop himself up. Gazing at the sky, he continued, “My mum bought it.”

Chen Nian nodded in response.

After a few seconds, Bei Ye let out a short, cold laugh, “She uses it as a prop when she’s acting as the nun.”

Chen Nian only had a hazy notion of what Bei Ye was talking about, and furrowed her brows as she looked at him. However, Bei Ye did not return her gaze, and simply stared into the distance. The morning breeze gently whipped the stray locks of hair in front of his forehead, easily revealing his full and clean forehead. Staring into Bei Ye’s eyes, Chen Nian could tell that Bei Ye wanted to leave – he wanted to escape to somewhere far away.

The sharp whistle of the train pierced the peaceful calm of the morning. Chen Nian glanced at the bright red train, its metal exterior carrying innumerable people on their journeys to faraway lands.

One more month.

After one month, her tiny figure too, would be on the train.

The two youths gazed at the rumbling train.

The smell of freshly baked bread wafted into their noses once again. The two youths were immensely hungry.

All of a sudden, Bei Ye stood up and declared, “Let’s run away.”

Let’s escape!

The two youths quickly reached an agreement, both deciding to run away from home.

The deadline: One entire day.

With the guitar and the two ducklings in hand, the two youths leapt off the wall surrounding the abandoned steel mill, their hearts filled with anxiety and antic.i.p.ation. They purchased freshly baked bread from the bakery in the alley as rations for their journey; traversing the crowded and noisy marketplace, every single thing appearing especially new and curious to them.

One day – how far would they be able to go?

Their hearts beating in trepidation and excitement, they walked along the alleys till they reached the intersection before the railway station. From this point onwards, they left the city and the town behind them; they walked along the railway track, heading towards the unknown.

When they reached the lake, the two youths sat themselves down by the riverbank, replenis.h.i.+ng their energy by devouring their bread. They looked at the various cargo s.h.i.+ps and cruises navigating thee waters, streams of white smoke commonly emerging from their respective kitchens.

Having rested themselves sufficiently, the two youths continued their journey.

The two youths crossed the bridge over the river, the wild gra.s.s growing in clumps around the railway track.

With one entire day, they felt as though they had travelled to the ends of the world. However, Chen Nian didn’t feel tired at all. Not even the slightest bit tired.

School, home, everything seemed to have slipped away quietly. The pressure and influence they exerted on her had gradually diminished till they disappeared entirely.

She was free.

She walked beside Bei Ye as they walked on the railway track, their shoulders touching each other from time to time.

The railyway track beneath their feet began to tremble violently. Bei Ye said, “The train is coming.” The two youths hopped off the railway track. As the piercing whistle of the train grew closer, the two youths continued walking on the wilder side of the railway track where clumps of wild gra.s.s grew to an astounding height.

On the other side of the track, Chen Nian could see beautiful fields of bright, yellow sunflowers. Admring the beautiful sunflowers, Chen Nian said in a wistful tone, “The sunflower fields are so pretty.”

“Well, let’s head over there then.” As he spoke, Bei Ye had already stepped onto the railway track.

100 metres away, the train cruised towards Bei Ye at high speed. The youth easily navigated the railway track, flitting over to the sunflower fields without much difficulty. The moment he reached the other side, he turned back, waving towards Chen Nian and urging her, “Come on!”

Chen Nian’s heart tightened. Leaning forward, she turned her head to look at arriving train, the rapidly approaching train looking like a humongous metallic bug.

70 metres, 50 metres… The shrieking of the whistle and clanking of the train was accentuated by the quietness of the surroundings, nearly deafening Chen Nian in the process. Chen Nian’s heart began to beat wildly. She took one step forward. Her body was raring to head to the other side, and her brain was in a frenzied state. Her heart wanted to rush over to the other side!

30 metres, 10 metres…….

Whoos.h.!.+……

The bright red monster swallowed the sunflower fields and the youth, the huge train separating the two youths from each other.

Ultiamtely, Chen Nian didn’t take that one, final step.

The strong wind whipped Chen Nian to the point where she felt as though it was about to tear her face off and separate her soul from her body. In the wind, her white dress billowed about her like a white flag.

With the departure of the train, the youth reappeared in the sunflower field. He didn’t say a single word, and simply stared at Chen Nian quietly.

Her gazed interlocked with his. In the deathly silence, an invisible train lay between the two of them, separating them for eternity.

In the month of May,

when the flowers were in bloom and the breeze was gentle, Chen Nian stood by the railway, the initial rush of excitement from having run away faded away, and a wistful sense of sorrow gradually formed in her heart.