Two or Three Events in the Last Days 019
Chapter 19: Conjecture
Jing Lin instinctively felt that it was related to spiritual qi and asked, “Was there only this one? Did you find any others?”
Zhao Zhiwen shook his head. “I’m not sure. We only walked around the perimeter. As for whether there are any deeper inside, we’d probably have to take a boat in to check.”
The Zhao family only had a single small boat, and it was still moored at the fish pond some distance away from the lotus pond. It was already getting late, and bringing the boat over just to take a look would have been troublesome, so they did not go in. Before leaving, Zhao Chenghuai used a wooden hook to pull over several lotus seed pods growing near the edge for Le Le to eat.
On the way back, Jing Lin held Le Le’s hand while Le Le carried Duckie. The group returned to the Zhao house together. Zhou Yu had just come back as well, dragging several freshly cut ears of corn in each hand. Jing Lin put his chicks into the vehicle, said goodbye to them, and headed home. Before he left, Zhou Yu gave him several freshly husked ears of corn.
As soon as they entered the backyard, Duckie, who had been nestled inside the cardboard box against Le Le’s chest, suddenly became restless. Stretching its neck and flapping its tiny, fluffy wings, it tried to jump out of the box. Startled, Le Le quickly crouched down and set the box on the ground, gently stroking Duckie’s head as if to comfort it. “Duckie, what are you trying to do?”
After several failed attempts to jump out, Duckie looked extremely agitated. It spun around inside the box several times before lifting its neck and crying out at Le Le. The soft, tender quacks sounded especially pitiful. Le Le lifted Duckie out and had barely set it on the ground when the tiny creature dashed away at surprising speed and disappeared into the patch of weeds.
“Duckie!”
Duckie’s unusual behavior clearly frightened Le Le and startled Jing Lin as well. He grabbed Le Le, who was about to charge into the weeds himself, and told him not to worry. Then he parted the weeds and searched slowly. The pale yellow Duckie was easy to spot among the greenery. When Jing Lin found it, it was greedily biting and chewing the surrounding green leaves as though desperately hungry.
Jing Lin bent down to pick Duckie up. The moment he lifted it slightly, Duckie struggled with all its strength. Its webbed feet kicked nonstop, and it kept letting out miserable cries. The scene felt strangely familiar to Jing Lin, as though he was not holding a goose but a sulking child throwing a tantrum.
“Uncle!” Le Le called anxiously from behind him. “Where’s Duckie?”
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
In the end, Jing Lin put Duckie back down and let it continue devouring the weeds. He pulled out some of the surrounding grass to clear a standing space for Le Le, letting him watch Duckie while he headed into the storage shed.
There was no proper place at home to keep chickens. Jing Lin found several old wooden boards salvaged from a demolished house and originally intended for firewood. He used them to fence off a small area inside the storage shed and placed all the chicks there. Thinking back to Duckie’s unusual behavior, he realized he should prepare some food for the chicks as well.
After leaving the storage shed, his gaze settled on the thriving patch of weeds in the backyard. Despite baking in the sun all day, the weeds remained vividly green, showing none of the dryness or wilting that should have followed such exposure. Both their leaves and stems looked remarkably tender and full of moisture. Jing Lin selected the softest parts from the weeds he had just pulled, chopped them finely, soaked a handful of rice until soft, mixed it with the chopped weeds, and placed the mixture into the three feeding troughs that had come with the chicks before setting them among the flock.
The chicks, which had been huddled together and chirping uneasily, immediately swarmed the feeding troughs the moment they saw them. They buried their heads in the food and ate voraciously, looking little better than Duckie.
Leaning against the doorframe, Jing Lin watched Duckie dart back and forth through the weeds, nibbling here and there as if it had fallen into paradise, and sank into thought. These weeds were clearly different from those growing in the fields. The vegetable leaves Le Le had placed in the cardboard box earlier hadn’t excited Duckie this much. The reason could only be the spirit gathering array he had set up before.
Perhaps spiritual qi had always existed in this world, but if so, it must have been exceedingly scarce. Its effects on humans, animals, and plants had therefore been negligible. Back then, even his talismans had shown no noticeable changes. But now, the spiritual qi in the air had inexplicably increased. Such a change naturally brought visible effects to the environment. Duckie’s almost human-like behavior resembled the enlightened spirit beasts seen in movies, while the patch of weeds that had grown wildly overnight was another result of the concentrated spiritual qi produced by the spirit gathering array.
Jing Lin gazed at the small patch of sky above the backyard and silently thought that the world was truly changing. Whether it would be for better or worse, he had no idea.
Before darkness fell, Jing Lin prepared dinner. Cooking by oil lamp would have been inconvenient. The wood-burning stove had two large pots with a smaller one between them. He cooked porridge in the small middle pot, stir-fried vegetables in one large pot, and heated bathwater in the other at the same time. After dinner and a short rest, they would be able to bathe immediately.
Jing Lin sliced several hot peppers, husked the corn Zhou Yu had given him, and stir-fried a plate of spicy corn kernels. He then opened a can of mushrooms to serve as another dish.
During dinner, Le Le moved an extra stool beside himself and placed the cardboard box containing Duckie on top of it. While serving rice, Jing Lin glanced over and saw Duckie lying on its back inside the box with its belly sticking out. From time to time, it let out a cry that sounded both painful and content.
Jing Lin reached out and poked Duckie’s crop*. It felt swollen and full. Surely this foolish goose was not going to eat itself to death?
*Had to google this word: The crop is an expanded, muscular pouch located near the base of the esophagus in many bird species.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
After being poked, Duckie immediately squawked at Jing Lin. Its little black bean-like eyes shot him a glance before it rolled over and lay on its side.
Jing Lin: “. . .” Jing Lin was speechless. He genuinely felt as though there was some kind of spirit beast living in his house. If he had not imagined it, the goose had just rolled its eyes at him.
Le Le said from the side, “Duckie ate too much. It said it’ll feel better after resting for a while.”
Jing Lin fell silent for a moment. “How do you know that, Le Le?”
“Duckie told me,” Le Le replied with a completely natural expression.
Jing Lin paused in the middle of serving rice. “You can understand what Duckie is saying?”
“Yep.” Le Le smiled. “It said the grass was really delicious.”
Pressing his lips together, Jing Lin looked at Duckie, who was already sleeping soundly in the cardboard box, and asked, “Can you understand what the chicks are saying too?”
“No.” Le Le frowned in confusion. “The other duckies just go quack quack, and the chicks go cheep cheep. Only Duckie doesn’t go quack quack.”
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
His explanation was unclear, but Jing Lin understood. To Le Le, aside from the silly goose, Duckie, the sounds made by other goslings were merely ordinary quacks, and the chicks’ cries were nothing more than simple chirps. Only Duckie’s sounds carried a clear meaning that Le Le could understand.
Viewed that way, Le Le’s earlier abnormal drowsiness seemed to have an explanation as well. Perhaps it had simply been part of a transformation process brought about by spiritual qi. It was merely conjecture, but Jing Lin could think of no other explanation for why Le Le would say he could understand Duckie’s vocalizations.
Of course, Jing Lin had never suspected that Le Le was making things up. Children were naturally innocent, and a child of his age would have difficulty distinguishing truth from falsehood unless someone deliberately taught them otherwise.
Le Le was obviously delighted by his ability to understand Duckie. Every few bites of food, he would glance over at Duckie. Over the past two days, his appetite had finally returned to normal. When he had first awakened, he had eaten with a frightening voracity.
After dinner, Jing Lin cleaned up the kitchen and gave Le Le a bath. By then, the red bumps that had covered Le Le’s body had completely disappeared, further supporting Jing Lin’s speculation.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: One of two for the week. Reminder, Duckie is a GOOSE. This means the other duckies Le Le mentions are also goslings 🙂
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
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