A Girl Like Bibi Dong

"People can overcome fate!" Bibi Dong repeated Lin Fan's words. The confusion in her eyes gradually gave way to resolve.

"Exactly." Lin Fan set down his teacup, his voice firm. "So what if you know the future? It's called the future because it hasn't happened yet. As long as it hasn't happened, it can still change."

He smiled. "Where I come from, there's a saying: 'My fate is mine to decide, not heaven's.' It sounds a bit dramatic, but sometimes it's true. The more you believe you can't escape, the more you let that so-called fate lead you around."

Bibi Dong watched him in silence.

She suddenly felt that although Lin Fan had no Martial Soul, he was stronger than most Soul Masters she had met.

"Of course, if you don't feel confident doing it alone, you can ask someone you trust to help," Lin Fan added.

"Someone I trust..." Bibi Dong lowered her eyes. She had trusted Qian Xunji before, but after learning all this, she suddenly wasn't so sure.

"Someone like me." Lin Fan patted his chest. "I'm not especially capable, and I'm blind right now, but I can keep a secret and think on my feet. If anything's troubling you, just tell me. I'll help however I can."

His earnest expression drew a soft laugh from Bibi Dong. "How would you help? Tell me stories to cheer me up?"

"Don't underestimate stories," Lin Fan said. "They're full of wisdom. Haven't you heard the saying? Ignore your elders' advice and you'll regret it."

"Since when are you my elder?" Bibi Dong chided.

"I'm a few years older than you. That counts, doesn't it?" Lin Fan lifted his chin, putting on the air of an elder.

Bibi Dong couldn't help laughing. Much of the gloom weighing on her heart lifted.

"All right, I'll stop teasing you." Lin Fan smiled too. "Dong'er, you've been asking so many questions. Did you run into some kind of trouble in the village?"

Bibi Dong paused. "No. I've just hit a bit of a bottleneck in my training."

"You can hit a bottleneck in hunting?" Lin Fan asked in surprise.

"What's wrong with hunting? You have to use your head, and you have to... improve yourself," Bibi Dong said.

"Then tell me about it. Maybe an outsider like me can help." Lin Fan sounded serious.

Bibi Dong looked at him, hesitation in her eyes.

At last, she spoke softly. "I have a... friend. It's not me, of course."

"She was raised from childhood to be a successor. Every step of her life was planned for her. She never thought there was anything wrong with that, until one day someone told her she would become a terrible person."

"She didn't believe it, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. She's afraid she really will become that person. Even more than that, she's afraid nothing she does will let her escape it."

As Lin Fan listened, his brow slowly furrowed.

"Dong'er, is this friend actually you?"

Bibi Dong stiffened. "I told you, it isn't."

"All right." Lin Fan said, "Then let me tell you about myself. The year I graduated, I thought my life was over. I went to an average school, my family had no connections, and I couldn't find a job. When I finally did, I worked overtime every day, only to get laid off."

"Back then, I wondered why I was so unlucky. I thought maybe it was my fate."

"What happened after that?" Bibi Dong asked.

"Then I went traveling, fell off a cliff, and went blind. But you all saved me." Lin Fan smiled. "See? Fate likes to play tricks. You think you've reached a dead end, but you turn a corner and find another way to live."

Bibi Dong looked at him, her gaze shifting slightly. "Your blindness is only temporary. The village doctor said so."

"And thank you for clearing things up for me."

Lin Fan shook his head gently. "I should be thanking you. You've been taking care of me while I can't see."

"Otherwise, I might have lost the will to live and died out in the mountains. Wild animals probably would've eaten my body."

As she looked at Lin Fan, her voice softened without her realizing it. "Don't talk like that. You barely survived. How can you say such disheartening things?"

Lin Fan grinned, seemingly without a care. "It just came to mind. Honestly, Dong'er, I grew up hearing that I was useless. My grades were average, and then I got laid off. I felt like a weed growing by the roadside, something anyone could trample."

"But you're nothing like a weed," Bibi Dong blurted out.

Lin Fan froze. "Then what am I like?"

Bibi Dong opened her mouth, her cheeks warming. "Like... tea leaves, maybe."

"Tea leaves?" Lin Fan sounded intrigued. "What kind of comparison is that?"

"They don't look like much, but once you steep them, you discover their fragrance." Bibi Dong's voice grew quieter with every word.

Lin Fan sat stunned for two seconds, then burst out laughing. "Dong'er, I'll remember that for the rest of my life! I never thought anyone would compare me, Lin Fan, to tea leaves. My life is complete!"

Bibi Dong clicked her tongue. "Why are you laughing so loudly? They can hear you outside."

Lin Fan waved a hand and picked up his teacup again. "A toast to you, and to your tea leaves."

Bibi Dong looked at him and couldn't help smiling too.

"Then do you think... the Bibi Dong in the novel can change her fate?"

Lin Fan paused again, then smiled. "Dong'er, why do you keep bringing up Bibi Dong today?"

"Don't tell me this friend of yours is Bibi Dong."

Bibi Dong turned her face away. "I'm just... curious. After hearing what you told me about Bibi Dong, I feel like we're quite alike."

"My parents died young while hunting in the mountains. I wanted to grow stronger, so I apprenticed myself to the village chief when I was little, all so I could kill the beast that took their lives."

Lin Fan grew solemn. "I see. I had no idea you'd been through that. All I can say is, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Fate often starts taking shape with that very first step."

"If someone had warned Bibi Dong before she met Yu Xiaogang in the novel, perhaps her fate would have changed right then."

"Unfortunately, Bibi Dong is only a character written for a novel."

"What we can do is read more, learn from what those characters go through, broaden our understanding, and change ourselves."

Bibi Dong listened quietly to the end, then nodded.

"You're right," she said softly. "From the very first step, fate could already be different."

Lin Fan smiled, his voice earnest. "Dong'er, you told me about your parents because you trust me. For that alone, I have to treat you like one of my own."

"Once my sight comes back, I'll take you out to see what's beyond this village. The world is a big place."

Warmth spread through Bibi Dong's heart, and her gaze softened. "Haven't you treated me like one of your own all along? You're always calling me Dong'er."

"That's different," Lin Fan said. "Before, I just felt close to you. Now my heart aches for what you've been through."

Bibi Dong froze.

"You said you're a lot like the Bibi Dong in that story. But you're not. She had no choice. You still have a chance, and you still have choices."

"If you really were that Bibi Dong..." Lin Fan smiled. "I'd never let you become the person she was in the story."

"But even if you two are alike, don't go turning into an ungrateful wretch like Bibi Dong!"

"An ungrateful wretch!?" Bibi Dong's eyes widened.

It seemed she had been moved a little too soon.