"Why are you crying?"
"Does it hurt somewhere? What's your name? Where do you live?"
"Are you here to look for your mom and dad too?"
"Stop crying!"
"You're so grown-up, and you're still blubbering. How embarrassing! I've known not to cry in front of other people since I was three! ...Stop crying. I'll show you something nice!"
The Little Witch's chatter kept echoing in Zheng Qing's ears. The young scholarship student raised his arm and covered his eyes for a long, long time, until tears stopped trickling between his fingers and a brilliant smile spread across his face.
"Why are you suddenly smiling now?" Zhu Si's uneasy voice rang out again. "...Crying one moment and smiling the next—you really sound like one of those crazy people in stories."
Zheng Qing lowered the hand covering his eyes, revealing their slightly reddened rims.
"You don't know who I am?" he asked hoarsely, trying to sit up.
"How strange!" The Little Witch watched him warily, the migu wood leaves on her wrist rustling against one another. "If you found a stranger passed out on the ground in the woods, would you know who he was?"
A stranger. Hearing those words, Zheng Qing felt another surge of aching bitterness.
"My name is Zheng Qing," he answered softly, stroking the red cord around his wrist. "I'm a student at First University. I came here to find a friend and take her home. She's been lost in this world for a very long time."
"It really is easy to get lost in these woods." The Little Witch sighed and sat beside Zheng Qing on the grass, leaning against the old oak with him. She plucked a mushroom growing among its roots and tore at its cap. "Even though I've been here for quite a while,