Yunguo/Story: Difference between revisions

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No one replied, but that was okay.

|s4_title =

|s4_title =The End of the Seed’s Journey

|s4_reward =

|s4_reward =400

|s4_text = {{tx}}

|s4_text = Day 193 since leaving Gran’mama’s place.

Yunguo sat by the riverbank, chin resting in both hands, thinking about the last packet of seeds she had planted. They must be blooming by now, and soon there’d be fruit…

Such a shame she couldn’t see them anymore. People always leave. She vaguely understood that.

Yunguo let out a long sigh and counted the Dough and produce in her bag, trying to stay hopeful – if she didn’t eat or drink. Maybe she could last five more days. Still, it felt so cold.

Hugging her knees, she buried her face in her arms and rubbed at her eyes.

Suddenly, everything around her went dark. But Yunguo felt warm, as if she was buried in soil, and it would be nice to just fall asleep like that.

Then she heard the wind.

She heard water flowing.

She heard insects chirping.

She saw an earthworm wriggling beside her, loosening the soil…

Wait, where did that earthworm come from?!

“What’s it like outside? Is it this dark too?”

Yunguo heard her own voice, as if asking someone.

“No, it’s bright out there. Let me loosen the soil a bit so you can get through.”

The earthworm spoke as it wriggled upward, working so hard that Yunguo was moved.

But earthworms can’t talk, can they? They shouldn’t be able to!

“What if it’s too cold outside?”

She heard herself ask again, glancing around the warm, dark soil that surrounded her.

“There’s sunlight! Once you find the sun, it won’t be cold anymore.

As the earthworm happily burrowed its way out, a beam of light broke through the soil into Yunguo’s eyes, dazzling but warm.

Yunguo woke up, still a little dazed from the nap. The river before her shimmered with the hues of the setting sun. Beside her, the phone lit up with a message from

Gran’mama: “What did you eat today?”

Almost without thinking, Yunguo typed “Nothing yet,” but her finger hovered over the send button. After a moment, she deleted it and started over: “Gonna make some congee with apples tonight. Should be yummy.”

Yunguo pulled up a number from her contacts. Gran’mama had once said it belonged to a proper grown-up who’d traveled the universe all alone. “If you ever get stuck, you go ask him.”

“H-Hello… I’m Yunguo, from Zhuxi Mountain. We met when I was little… I’ve… um… I’ve been living by myself for half a year now, and I’ve kinda run out of money…”

She practiced saying it aloud, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt wrong, like she was calling just to be a trouble. “... This is my first time leavin’ Gran’mama… I came out of my own to learn how to grow things… She asked me to visit you first, and maybe get some lickle advice about livin’ on my own.”

After practicing over and over until she was sure she could say it smoothly, Yunguo took a deep breath and dialed the number. To her surprise, it was answered after just one ring.

“H-Hello! Mr. Mobai…”

“Huh? I’m not Mobai. This is Esa…”

“S-Sorry!!!”

Yunguo hung up in a panic, her face turning bright red despite being alone on the unfamiliar Islet.

A moment later, her phone rang again. The caller ID showed “Mr. Mobai”

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