Let's Talk About It Tomorrow

Su Li glanced at Old Buck.

Although the old man looked thoroughly unwilling, under the tyrannical pressure of his wife, he dared not speak his mind and could only lower his head to chug his wine, pretending to be deaf.

Then he looked at Sena. The girl's face was so red it looked like it might bleed, and while her hands were twisted tightly into the corners of her skirt, she never managed to say a single word of refusal.

In those eyes, beyond the shyness, there was actually a hint of... anticipation?

Su Li sighed inwardly.

"Since Auntie trusts me so much..." Su Li took a deep breath, forcing a touched smile onto his face, "then I shall respectfully obey. Please rest assured, I, Su Li, swear to the heavens that I will behave with the utmost propriety and never cross the line."

"That's more like it!" Aunt Martha slapped her thigh, her face crinkling into a blooming smile, "A family should act like a family. Sena, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and go lay out the bedding for your Brother Su! Find that thickest wool blanket!"

Sena seemed to wake from a dream. She let out an "oh," but when she stood up, her legs were weak. She walked toward the room with a stiff, uncoordinated gait, forgetting even to kick the big black dog out of her way.

She stepped right on top of it.

By the end of the meal, only Aunt Martha was in high spirits.

Old Buck had drunk himself into a stupor, muttering things about "my family's cabbage" and "pigs rooting around" under his breath.

Night deepened.

Wading Village fell into silence once more, save for the occasional chirping of insects.

Su Li held his bedroll and stood at the threshold of Sena's room.

The threshold wasn't high, but he felt it was harder to cross than a thousand-pound anvil.

He pushed the door open.

A faint fragrance wafted toward him.

It was the scent of dried lavender, mixed with the unique, sweet freshness of a young girl's boudoir. The room was dim, lit only by a tiny, bean-sized oil lamp.

Sena was sitting on the edge of the bed, her back straight as a board, her hands resting on her knees. She was as stiff as a wooden statue.

The floor bedding was already laid out right next to the bed.

"Well..." Su Li closed the door behind him, shutting out the night and the sound of Old Buck's snoring, "I'm going to sleep now."

"Mm." Sena's voice was as thin as a thread.

Su Li set down his bedding, took off his outer coat, and lay down in just his trousers.

The floor bedding was certainly more comfortable than the stable; at least it didn't prick his skin, and there was no stench of donkey manure.

But the atmosphere was excruciatingly awkward.

The air felt charged with static; the slightest movement seemed capable of sparking a fire.

Su Li could feel a pair of eyes secretly watching him in the darkness.

Sena couldn't sleep at all.

That man was in her room. He was less than five steps away from her.

She could even hear his steady breathing. It felt like a dream—an incredibly bold, incredibly shameful, and incredibly sweet dream.

"B-Brother Su?" Sena couldn't help but call out, her voice trembling.

"Yes?" Su Li replied.

"Are... are you asleep?"

"Not yet."

"Oh."

Silence.

Su Li turned over and stared at the pitch-black rafters above. This wouldn't do.

The girl was so nervous her breathing was becoming erratic; if this kept up, she might make herself sick by morning. He had to find a topic to dispel this romantic yet awkward tension.

"Can't sleep?" Su Li asked.

"Mm... a little."

"Then let me tell you a story." Su Li sat up and leaned against the wall, "Want to hear it?"

"Yes!" Sena answered quickly this time, with a hint of excitement.

As long as she could hear his voice, anything would do.

"Alright." Su Li cleared his throat, his mind racing to find material.

He certainly couldn't tell a love story; that would only lead to trouble. He needed something bizarre, grand, and completely unrelated to this place.

"This story takes place in a very, very distant land called the Great Tang of the East."

Su Li's voice was low and magnetic, echoing in the small room.

"There is a mountain there called Flower Fruit Mountain. On the summit, there is a stone that absorbed the essence of heaven, earth, the sun, and the moon. One day, with a loud 'boom,' the stone exploded."

"Ah?" Sena gasped in surprise, "The stone exploded? Did it hurt anyone?"

"No one was hurt. A monkey just popped out of a rock." Su Li smiled and continued weaving his tale, "But this was no ordinary monkey. It could run and jump the moment it was born, and two beams of golden light shot from its eyes straight into the clouds, startling even the gods in heaven."

"A monkey... can it really become a spirit?" Sena listened, dumbfounded.

In her understanding, monkeys were just annoying creatures that screeched in trees and stole fruit.

"Of course. This monkey later learned a set of skills, capable of seventy-two transformations, and could travel a hundred and eight thousand miles in a single somersault. It even wielded a staff weighing thirteen thousand five hundred pounds, which it snatched from the Dragon King of the sea..."

As Su Li spoke, Sena slowly began to relax.

She curled up under the covers, leaving only her bright, sparkling eyes visible, completely mesmerized by the story.

That bizarre and wondrous Eastern world, that lawless monkey, the monk who did nothing but chant scriptures, and that gluttonous, lazy pig... everything was so fresh and shocking to her.

She had never traveled further than the neighboring town, but in this moment, through the sound of this man's voice, she felt as if she were seeing a vast, boundless world.

Su Li was deeply immersed in his storytelling. He had slightly modified Journey to the West, stripping away the obscure Buddhist terminology and turning it into a more accessible adventure story.

When he reached the part where Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace and stole the immortal pills of Taishang Laojun, Sena giggled aloud.

"That monkey is so bad! Just like my big black dog at home, always sneaking food."

"Indeed, quite bad. But also quite free," Su Li sighed, "Doing whatever it wanted, fearing no one."

The night grew deeper.

The oil in the lamp was running dry; the flame flickered twice and finally extinguished. The room plunged into darkness.

Su Li's story also reached its end.

"...In the end, the monkey was pressed beneath Five Finger Mountain. It waited and waited there for five hundred years, just to wait for someone who could break the seal."

Su Li stopped.

The room was filled only with the sound of their steady breathing.

"And then?" Sena asked in a whisper, her voice thick with sleepiness, "Did it wait for them?"

"It did," Su Li said softly, "As long as you are alive, you will always wait for it."

There was no movement from her side.

A moment later, the sound of Sena's long, rhythmic breathing drifted over. The girl had finally fallen asleep, likely with a smile still on her lips.

Su Li let out a long breath and lay back down on his floor mat.

He had finally managed to muddle through this hurdle.

He closed his eyes, but the image of the monkey pressed beneath the mountain involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

Five hundred years. And that was just a myth.

But what about him? In this damned cycle, how much longer would he have to struggle before he could see the light?

"F-rank..." Su Li muttered to himself in his heart.

Regardless, in this world filled with the stench of fish and sweat, this room, filled with the scent of dried flowers tonight, was a decent enough harbor.

Su Li gave a self-deprecating smile and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Tomorrow..."

"We'll talk about tomorrow, tomorrow."