Chapter 4: Yu She Dreaming of a Snake 2
He sat on the bed in a daze for a long time. Yu She didn’t know if this was his dream now, or if turning into a snake was his dream. It wasn’t until a phone’s ringtone sounded for a while and then stopped that he snapped back to reality. Out of habit, Yu She reached under his pillow, groping around for a long time but couldn’t find his phone.
Fortunately, the person calling him called again. When the ringtone sounded once more, he estimated the direction it was coming from—it should be on the sofa in the living room. For him, going to sleep was already half a month ago; it was perfectly normal not to remember where he put his phone.
The ringtone was still going, so it must be something important. He hurriedly got out of bed, put on his slippers, and walked towards the living room, but with a “bang”, he fell hard onto the floor. His vision went dark, and it took a good while for him to recover.
“Hiss~ It hurts.”
Yu She rubbed the elbow that had come into close contact with the floor. Propping himself up against the floor, he slowly stood up. Looking at his two long thighs, a flash of confusion crossed his eyes. He seemed to have… forgotten how to walk…
The ringing in the living room had long stopped, and Yu She was no longer in a hurry. He supported himself on the edge of the bed and took steps according to his memory. After practicing for a while, the familiar feeling finally returned.
Clumsily supporting himself along everything he could reach along the way, he finally made it to the living room. Upon picking up his phone, Yu She felt somewhat timid. He didn’t know how many days had passed, or whether that was a dream or if it had really existed.
He sat sluggishly on the chair, staring at the darkened phone screen. Reality finally unveiled itself in a cruel manner when the screen lit up again due to an incoming call. The screen clearly displayed a familiar name: “Zhao Ze”, a friend he got along decently with in college.
He unplugged the phone charger and pressed the green answer button.
“Hello, ancestor, you finally answered the phone. It’s been four days. Where the hell did you go? Look at how many times I called you, and no one answered when I knocked on your door. Did you go traveling?”
Hearing Zhao Ze’s familiar voice through the receiver, Yu She felt like a lifetime had passed. So it had only been four days. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to explain. Was he supposed to say he turned into a snake and went traveling in a primeval forest?
But fortunately, Zhao Ze didn’t press further. He didn’t give Yu She a chance to speak before continuing: “Your advisor is looking for you for your graduation thesis. He couldn’t find you for four or five days, so hurry up and deliver it to him.”
Oh, right, he was about to graduate. That night, he seemed to have still been writing his graduation thesis. Short of a conclusion, he stayed up for a while, never expecting to wake up in a primeval forest.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll deliver it to the advisor in a bit.”
“Alright, hurry up then. The advisor seems quite angry. But are you really okay? Did something happen with your family again? Let me know if you need any help.”
Zhao Ze knew a little bit about his family’s affairs and had said these kinds of words many times. But Yu She knew in his heart, what could Zhao Ze even do to help with those matters? Still, it was the thought that counted, so he opened his mouth to say thanks anyway.
He assured Zhao Ze that he was truly fine, and after exchanging a few more pleasantries, the call ended. Only after having some sense of reality did he feel his body, which hadn’t eaten in four days, violently protesting. He opened his phone and ordered takeout. Seeing the various delicacies on the page, Yu She, who had just come out of the primeval forest, wanted a bit of everything, but under the effect of his remaining rationality, he ended up ordering a plain white congee.
After ordering takeout, he scrolled through the messages on his phone. Zhao Ze had called him over ten times, and there were a few unread WeChat messages tagging him to submit his thesis quickly. Aside from those, there were dozens of safety propaganda text messages from the government; it turned out the government cared about him the most.
Thinking about it, he found it ridiculous himself. With both parents alive, he lived like an orphan. A strange thought sprouted in him at this moment: even if he died somewhere, probably no one would know until he rotted beyond recognition.
Now, sitting on the soft sofa in his own home, he felt no different than when he first woke up in the primeval forest—just as lonely and desolate.
The news headline on his phone screen was a photo of his “harmonious” parents walking arm-in-arm at a gala. He sneered. They did get along quite harmoniously; they each had their own homes, and neither cared about the other. It was just their children who constantly caused trouble for him, afraid he’d compete for the family assets.
People are called humans because they exist within social relations and are the sum of social relations. Looking at the sky outside the window, he thought: Did he even count as a “human”?
It wasn’t until the knock on the door sounded that he seemed to return to this world again.
He was starving. Having rice for the first time in half a month, even if it was just plain white congee, he ate it spotlessly clean. He was just short of flipping the plastic container over and licking it in a circle.
With warm food in his stomach, he regained some strength. Thinking that the most urgent matter was to hand in his thesis to his advisor, he definitely didn’t want to fail to graduate because of this and have to retake the year.
The laptop he forgot to turn off before sleeping had long run out of battery and shut down. Yu She spent half a day before finally digging the laptop charger out of his backpack. After turning the computer on, he carefully checked his thesis, ran it through a plagiarism checker one more time, and after confirming there were no problems, transferred the file to his phone. Once he went out, he just needed to find a print shop, print it out, and hand it in.
Getting off the subway, it was just a few steps out of the station to the university. He suddenly remembered he forgot to ask if his advisor was there. Yu She smacked his head in annoyance, took out his phone, and gave his advisor a call.
Unfortunately, his advisor was indeed not at the university. He had apparently gone to another university for an exchange meeting and wouldn’t be back for three or four days. He made a wasted trip.
The university wasn’t particularly far from where he lived. If he walked, it would only take about forty minutes. Holding the printed physical copy of his thesis, Yu She wandered aimlessly on the street.
Looking up, everywhere were high-rise buildings, and car honking sounds filled his ears. He was no longer in that sweltering primeval forest, yet he always felt empty inside. Walking without a destination for a long time, the streetlights along the road lit up one after another, and Yu She finally realized it was already very late.
He looked around. Where had he walked to? He opened the map app on his phone, and the app automatically popped up his home location. He followed the map’s guidance for a while, then helplessly clicked on the ride-hailing option on it.
Heavens had given Yu She a brain smart enough for studying, but when it came to recognizing directions, he was completely clueless. It got a bit chilly at night, and he rubbed his arms somewhat timidly, accidentally bumping the spot that had bruised when he fell to the floor, hurting so much he drew in a breath of cold air.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long, and the driver arrived very quickly.
He leaned against the window, watching the fleeting neon lights, and felt a bit nauseous, wanting to throw up. Only then did he realize he was carsick, recognizing how far he had walked. He wouldn’t get carsick unless he sat in a car for more than twenty minutes.
He opened the car window a large crack. The howling cold wind scraping against his face from the rapid driving finally made him feel a bit better.
Just as he was about to be unable to hold back his vomit, he finally saw the familiar buildings. He sighed in relief; he had finally arrived near his home.
Getting out of the car, Yu She hurriedly found a trash can and dry heaved. The only thing he ate all day was that bowl of congee at noon, which had long been digested. After vomiting sour water for a long time, he didn’t throw up anything else.
Entering his house, he hastily took a shower and ordered another bowl of congee. He sat on his twenty-thousand-yuan custom-made sofa, boredly scrolling through his phone. He unexpectedly swiped to a wilderness survival blogger he liked. This blogger had nothing and even had to make his own clothes. He watched it with great interest.
As he watched, he memorized the methods in his head, thinking to himself that if he went back again, he’d know how to make clothes. Wait, why was he hoping to go back? What was the point of watching this? Did he still think it would be useful?
Yu She somewhat resentfully closed the app in the background. Coincidentally, the takeout had arrived. His stomach was already uncomfortable from the carsickness, so he hastily ate a few bites and went to bed.
He stroked the soft mattress beneath him. So nice. It wasn’t the dark, damp tree hollow. Ying had definitely never slept on such a comfortable bed, nor had he eaten these modern delicacies. Poor Ying; now he didn’t even have him.
Since he had returned, that snake had probably died, right? What was Ying doing right now? Would he hold his snake body and cry? Thinking this, even he found it somewhat unbelievable. Ying probably wouldn’t cry, right? He would probably… Yu She imagined Ying’s possible reaction to his motionless corpse and laughed. In all likelihood, he’d be just like what he saw when he woke up from shedding his skin: his entire eagle face spelling out “panic.”
Thinking and thinking, Yu She couldn’t sleep. The weather in modern society had already entered autumn. If he moved slightly, the places in the blanket not touching his body were ice cold, so cold he arched his body and curled into a ball. In this kind of weather, if Ying were here, it would be very warm; his body was always hot, like a large furnace.
Later, he didn’t know how he fell asleep either. Perhaps he was truly too tired. When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. With graduation nearing, he didn’t have classes either. Every day, he just ate takeout and played on his phone at home. However, when he looked at his phone, he subconsciously checked out knowledge on operations like “firing porcelain” and “pressing oil.”
He passed a few days in a daze. He increasingly missed Ying uncontrollably, missing him smiling foolishly at him, how he would forcefully hang him on his body, and then how he would comfortably squint his eyes and rub the tip of his tail.
This longing grew wildly like weeds, making him lose interest in doing anything and unable to muster any energy. This kind of life continued until 8:00 PM on this day, when his advisor sent him a WeChat message: “I will be at the university tomorrow afternoon.”
He replied with an “okay,” put down his phone, and went to bed. Recently, he had been going to sleep earlier and earlier because Ying was in his dreams. These kinds of dreams started the day before yesterday.
In the dream, he saw Ying carefully washing the crevices of his scales, and then guarding by his side, constantly watching him. However, even until the sun went down, he showed no signs of waking up. Ying could only turn back into his beast form, grab him, and take him to a tree, then turn back into a human and hug him in his arms, and… and even licked his mouth once before closing his eyes to sleep.
He had only had that dream once, and he didn’t have it yesterday. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but he still wanted to try.
With anticipation in his heart, he fell asleep faster than usual. Fortunately, he dreamed of it again. He didn’t know how many days had passed since coming out of the water. The environment was somewhat dim. He was very familiar with this level of brightness; it should be inside the tree hollow. His snake body was there too, but he didn’t see Ying. He had probably gone hunting.
After a while, Ying returned with prey. He saw Ying toss the prey aside and then walk to his snake body. He seemed to want to reach out his claw to touch it, but as if remembering something, he stopped halfway. Then he transformed into a human and finally reached out confidently to pull his snake body into his arms.
Ying pressed his hand against the position of his chest and didn’t move for a long time. Somewhat panicked, he leaned down and pressed his face against it, then he leaned close to his face and paused for a moment. After that, at a complete loss, he shook his body, fiddled with his tail, and called his name. After tossing about for a good while, he finally stopped and sat blankly beside him.
Yu She understood. He probably didn’t have a heartbeat or breath anymore.
Translator’s Note:
- Ancestor (祖宗): A slang term used by friends to address someone mockingly, implying they are high-maintenance, hard to reach, or acting like royalty.
- Zhao Ze (趙澤): Yu She’s college friend.
- Dreaming of Ying: The transition between worlds implies time is moving forward in the primeval forest while he is back in the modern world.
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