After the sunny gorse moon, the rain started again.
It was a rare sunny day, so Mei Li took out the quilt to dry in the sun.
Many of the flowers in the yard have withered, but they still look beautiful.
She used to live in the school dormitory most of the time, busy with her homework every day, not knowing what she was trying to prove. The days passed in a hurry, and apart from reading Mrs. Qin's letters, she had almost no free time to examine her own life.
So many years passed in monotony and boredom.
Now, she still lives alone, but without those who knew her family's past and without the busy study and work pressure, she has changed a lot without realizing it.
In her original world, she ate casually and hurriedly, but here, she prepared every meal by herself, and even planted and collected many ingredients by herself.
Without a wide variety of takeout and food, and a variety of seasonings, the food she made was not as delicious as in her previous life, but it also had its own flavor.
Stay away from people, keep social interactions simple, work hard every day, and your life will be unexpectedly peaceful and fulfilling.
When she feels tired, she will rest freely. The work at hand will not rush her and she can complete it slowly and casually.
When the weather was nice, she would occasionally take a nap under the shade of the trees in the garden, go for a picnic in the nearby forest, and trim flowers and put them in vases to decorate the room - things she would not do in her original world.
In the past, when Mrs. Qin sent her a letter, she would bring flowers with her and write in the letter: "I am enclosing a bouquet of fresh flowers from the garden. I hope you will be in a good mood."
Only after leaving that world did she realize that she could somewhat understand Mrs. Qin's feelings.
"Madam, I have become more and more accustomed to life in this world. The things that frightened me before no longer scare me. Moreover, I have a friend who will send me flowers. However, this friend is a little strange. Compared with humans, he makes me feel safer and more interesting. Isn't this a little strange?"
The air was hot and stuffy, my palms were sweaty when I was writing, and my elbows were pressed against the paper, making it difficult to move.
Mei Li finished writing a short letter but still couldn't sleep.
She opened the window and the cool breeze from outside blew in her face, blowing away her dryness. It was much cooler than inside the house.
I took a shower in the afternoon, and was sweating all over before going to bed, and the back of my nightgown was wet.
Mei Li was lying by the window when he suddenly saw a familiar figure appear not far away. The tall and thin figure, which was very different from a normal person, was obviously a swamp monster.
The wilderness under the hillside in front of the house was soaked by heavy rain two days ago, and the grass and mud were soft. Swamp monsters often wandered around aimlessly, and they happened to walk here tonight.
Mei Li's heart moved, and she went out with a lamp in hand.
She remembered the night she first saw the swamp monster, it was the same, but her mood was completely different.
She walked down the hillside with a lantern and shouted through a clump of weeds.
"Hey, are you taking a walk again?"
The slow-moving swamp monster heard her voice, stopped moving, and walked toward her.
Maybe it was a conditioned reflex. Sometimes when he didn't react, Mei Li would deliberately throw a flower to attract his attention.
And now, he will come over on his own initiative.
Mei Li thought about it and felt sorry and funny. She was really getting younger and younger, like a primary school student.
"Crackling, crunching—" Mei Li shook the lantern in her hand, and the light illuminated half of her body. The glowing insects in the grass followed the light and danced around her feet.
The swamp monster's lifeless gray eyes just stared at her, which was quite scary.
Mei Li was used to it. He stood there with him for a while, bored, and suddenly he had an idea.
"I want to go swimming in the little lake over there, but I'm a little scared to go alone. Can you go with me?"
It was unknown whether the swamp monster understood or not, as he made no sound.
Mei Li plucked a wild flower and threw it into his hand, "For you."
While the swamp monster picked up the wild flower and placed it in front of her, Mei Li grabbed the cold and wet hand.
Mei Li: "I'll take this as your agreement."
Being dragged forward by her, the swamp monster followed obediently. Although it was a tall and scary monster, it did not seem to resist, like a well-behaved child.
Mei Li held the lamp in one hand and pulled the swamp monster with the other, and walked forward along the muddy water pool.
Swamp Thing can walk in places without mud, but he prefers wet swamps and puddles of various kinds.
The two walked for a while and there were no puddles in front of them. Before Mei Li could think about what to do, the swamp monster walked out of the puddle and stepped onto the grass path.
After a while, we arrived at the small lake.
The lake glowed brightly under the moonlight. Mei Li took off her sweaty nightgown without a second thought. It was only when she took it off to her elbows that she remembered the swamp monster behind her.
Mei Li: “…” It doesn’t matter, he is not a human being anyway. And he looks so slow and ignorant, what does he know? Compared to her, he may be more dangerous, after all, she is greedy for his “body”.
After silently telling a joke in her heart, Mei Li slipped into the lake.
In the moonlight, the girl's skin was plump and white, not as gray as the swamp monster by the water. Her body sank into the lake, causing ripples on the water and temporarily breaking the waves on the lake surface.
Mei Li soaked in the water, feeling a cool sensation, all the summer heat dissipated, and she turned her head to look at the swamp monster on the shore. He was standing where she had dragged him just now, without moving at all.
"I'll only soak for ten minutes. I definitely won't make you wait too long. So, stand here and don't move." Mei Li was a little worried that he would turn around and leave. She didn't dare to swim to the other side of the lake and just paddled on the shore.
Seeing the mud and water flowing on the swamp monster's body and the grass on his feet, she suddenly wondered if she could wash him clean.
He raised his hand and splashed some water on him. The swamp monster moved, turned his head, and raised his feet as if to walk away. Mei Li immediately pulled him back.
"No, no, no! Wait for me a moment!"
Not sure what the swamp creature was trying to say, he extended his hand to her again.
Mei Li grabbed his hand and tried to make him squat on the shore to wash the mud off his body.
But as she pulled, she finally dragged the swamp monster into the lake.
With a splash, Mei Li wiped his face and looked at the swamp monster half leaning against the shallow shore.
"I don't mean to take advantage of you. I just feel uncomfortable every time I see you covered in mud and water, and I want to clean it for you."
"Wow... Look at this, there's moss growing on it. I'll remove it for you, okay?"
She didn't have the nerve to wipe the chest, so she stood a meter away and tried to wash the swamp monster's arms. She wiped it twice, and the slippery feeling disappeared, but it still felt cold.
After washing it, it looks much more comfortable.
Mei Li looked at the arm in front of her, feeling as if all the dirty clothes had been washed away.
The swamp monster didn't move, like a dummy sculpture that she could brush at will. As Mei Li brushed it, she forgot that he was still a living thing.
After brushing for a while, she grabbed the swamp monster's arm and pulled it up, "Stand up, it's hard for me to wash."
The swamp monster opened its gray eyes and sank limply into the water.
Mei Li finally realized something was wrong.
"Wait a minute... are you... melted...?"
Mei Li reached down and pulled out a handful of grayish-white mud.
Mei Li: “…”
"You really are a clay man?! Wait, don't!"
“Ahhh no!”
“Get up!”
“Ahhhh!”
Her face turned pale and she frantically tried to pull the swamp monster out of the water, but he was fading faster and faster until he no longer had any human form.
Mei Li was almost frightened to death. She thought that he had really died on the spot after being washed by the water, so she scooped the gray-white mud from the water and piled it on the shore.
After several attempts, a piece of cloth was fished out.
The one that the swamp monster wears around his waist.
Mei Li: “…” He quietly put it aside and continued to scoop up the mud.
There was a pile of white-gray mud on the shore, and Mei Li was at a loss. What should he do now? Use this pile of mud to create a swamp monster on the spot
However, she had never studied sculpture, nor had she ever played with mud. When she really tried to make it, she couldn't even shape a human figure, let alone make it look like the original.
No, think calmly, the swamp monster shouldn't die that easily, otherwise he would have been washed away by the rain long ago if he had often gone out on rainy days.
What should we do now? This pile of mud is not responding. Is there something missing
She scooped out some more plaster from the water, and saw the mud that had accidentally splashed on her shoulders and chest. She wiped it off, and all of it mixed into the mud pile.
After a long time, the pile of mud finally responded and turned into a familiar swamp monster right before her eyes.
Mei Li stared at the horrifying scene of the transformation without blinking and patted his chest.
Okay, it's okay.
At a glance, he caught sight of the swamp monster's empty waist.
Mei Li: “…!”
His hands were faster than his brain. He picked up the cloth next to it and covered it with it. Then he quickly tied the cloth into a knot to prevent it from falling.
"Huh—" Mei Li held his head and realized belatedly that although he had suffered a fright, his original intention should have been achieved.
The swamp monster now looked very clean. Although it was still wet and cold, there was no flowing mud and water, and the moss and grass on its body were gone. It looked like a newly sculpted statue, and seemed to be even whiter.
"You scared me to death." Mei Li climbed out of the water, sat on the shore to put on her clothes, and said with her back to the swamp monster.
After saying that, she turned her head to look at him, and saw that his grey eyes were still blank and his hair was dripping with water.
On the way back, Mei Li couldn't stop laughing when she recalled the moment when she was frightened. She felt that she was very stupid at that time.
"Okay, go for a walk by yourself. I'm going to bed. Good night." With wet hair, Mei Li waved goodbye to the silly plaster man, climbed up the hillside with a lamp, and soon disappeared into the garden.
The swamp monster did not go back to continue his previous walk. He stayed where he was, looking in the direction where Mei Li disappeared for a long time.
When Mei Li went to the small lake for bathing again, he unexpectedly discovered that there was a patch of grass on the shore that was particularly lush, much taller than the surrounding grass, and the wild flowers in that patch were also blooming exceptionally well.
Looking at that location again, isn't that exactly where the swamp monster had piled the mud before
So, the mud on his body can help plants grow
This... is great fertilizer!
She couldn't help but imagine the scene in her mind of the swamp monster standing in her vegetable garden, her pouring water on him, and then the muddy water flowing into the vegetable garden, and all her vegetables thrived.
Mei Li: “… No, I don’t want to!”
She's not some devil.