CHAPTER 241: CHAPTER 156: FERAL CHILD

The mentor smiled gently and agreed to her request.

The day to visit "friends" finally came. Sun Changkong put on a baseball cap, gathered her courage, and walked over with great swagger and bravado!

Even though her heart was pounding with nerves and fear of being disliked, she still pretended to be calm while chatting with Ji Minghuan.

She acted like she had many friends, not at all missing him.

But inside, Sun Changkong wasn’t calm at all; she was actually very happy, almost bursting with excitement... She often secretly opened one eye to observe Ji Minghuan’s expressions out of the corner of her eye.

Despite all this, she still pretended to be someone impressive. Because she feared being looked down upon, just like how the village kids used to call her a "wild child."

She worried that Ji Minghuan might call her a bumpkin who hadn’t even seen cartoons.

But Ji Minghuan didn’t insult her or look down on her. Their conversation flowed naturally, as if they had known each other for a long time.

At that moment, Sun Changkong suddenly felt silly, wondering what she was even nervous about.

So she started talking a lot to him, like she was finally letting out all the words she’d bottled up over the years.

Even when she told him that she accidentally caused many deaths and was a big bad guy, Ji Minghuan didn’t show any fear... nor did he dislike her.

Instead, he calmly said to her, "What’s the big deal? I’m planning to destroy the world someday; you’re just a small fry."

At that moment, Sun Changkong sat cross-legged on the Somersault Cloud, staring blankly for a long time, suddenly feeling like maybe she didn’t despise herself as much anymore.

She thought to herself: Turns out there are many people like her in the world.

If possible, actually Sun Changkong also wanted to be an interesting and trendy person, to share more things with him. But her mind was empty; she was a fool, a wild child, a jinx... both adults and kids disliked her, while those who tolerated her were harmed by her.

The only things she could share with others were her experiences living in the mountains.

She ran around the mountains alone, shouting and yelling, and when exhausted, she’d sit atop the mountain and watch the grass grow and birds fly. When the sunset dropped, she’d return to the village in mild embarrassment, hugging her knees on the mountainside, watching the distant lights of thousands of homes.

There were many lit places in the village, yet none belonged to her.

Sun Changkong felt that such a trendy child like Ji Minghuan surely wouldn’t be interested in mountain life.

So she thought left and right, and finally decided to show Ji Minghuan her Somersault Cloud.

She never let anyone else ride her Somersault Cloud because it was the trendiest thing about her, this wild child!

She didn’t have a Gundam robot, no expensive phone, no parents, no friends; if even the Somersault Cloud was dismissed, then she’d really have nothing left.

But perhaps her most precious Somersault Cloud couldn’t compare to the alluring colorful cartoons on TV.

Thinking of this, Sun Changkong’s nose suddenly turned red.

"Can’t cry...can’t cry...can’t cry..."

She wrinkled her nose, staring at Kong Youling and Ji Minghuan’s backs, then glanced at the incomprehensible cartoon on TV, leaned against the door, stood foolishly for a long time, hiding her red eyes beneath the brim of her cap.

At that moment, Sun Changkong suddenly lost her stubbornness.

She suddenly wanted so badly to run away, back to that mountain.

Actually, being a unloved wild child was better than being stoned or isolated by other kids... Only now did she remember how embarrassing it was when she cheerfully approached others, only to be shunned. How hurt she was back then, only she knew.

.....

.....

Kong Youling suddenly noticed with intent the dazed Sun Changkong standing at the door.

She glanced at Sun Changkong, then at Ji Minghuan, quickly jotting notes in her book, and then asked him while focusing on the TV:

"Who is she?"

Ji Minghuan looked at the words in the notebook, raised his eyebrows, and turned half his face towards Sun Changkong.

Sun Changkong stood at the door, lowering her baseball cap, rubbing her eyes while forcefully turning away, her ears red hot, as if she longed to ride the Somersault Cloud to the sky.

Ji Minghuan felt a bit puzzled, thinking maybe this "big sister" who was younger than him by a few months wasn’t as outgoing as he imagined.

"She’s Sun Changkong," he turned back and said to Kong Youling.

"Sun Wukong?" Kong Youling asked.

"Sun Wukong works too."

Finished speaking, Ji Minghuan suddenly picked up a White Rabbit candy from the plate beside him without looking back and tossed it behind to Sun Changkong.

Sun Changkong reached out and caught the White Rabbit candy.

"Big sister, what are you up to?" Ji Minghuan turned to look at her, urging loudly, "Come join us for the movie, or soon the mentor will make us go to bed!"

Sun Changkong stared blankly for a moment, rubbed his eyes hard as if he hadn’t been crying, and put on a confident expression.

After a moment’s hesitation, she walked briskly towards the TV and sat down next to Ji Minghuan.

"What are you watching?" she asked.

"Robot’s Dream."

"Oh, oh, I’ve seen that too. I totally get it!" Sun Changkong said casually.

Ji Minghuan chewed on a White Rabbit candy and said without turning around, "Then don’t spoil it for us, none of us have seen it."

Kong Youling also wrote something in her notebook, then held it up for her to see: "No spoilers, No spoilers."

The girl looked serious, her soft white hair gently swaying, tickling the words written in pencil.

Sun Changkong turned her head to look at the words on the notebook.

Actually, she didn’t understand what spoilers meant, nor did she know what "No" meant, but she still nodded and said with great confidence:

"Of course."

The three of them quietly watched TV for a while, Sun Changkong staring at the movie screen, her heart beating fast, feeling like an undercover agent in the enemy ranks.

After a moment, Sun Changkong glanced at Kong Youling past Ji Minghuan, then whispered to Ji Minghuan:

"Ji Minghuan, who is she?"

"My good friend," Ji Minghuan said.

Sun Changkong belatedly said, "Oh, I got it. She’s the ’friend with white hair’ you mentioned?"

Ji Minghuan nodded, "Yeah, but she can’t hear you speak or talk."

"Really?" Sun Changkong raised a fiery red eyebrow.

"Really, otherwise why would we use a notebook to communicate?"

Seemingly sensing they were talking about her, Kong Youling slightly tilted her head, her red eyes staring at them.

Unbelieving, Sun Changkong suddenly turned her head and rattled off a string of words at her at lightning speed:

"You’re really pretty, just like a porcelain doll. And it’s my first time seeing white hair, I really want to touch it. What’s your name? My name is Sun Changkong, named after Sun Wukong in ’Journey to the West’."

Kong Youling was dazed for a moment, then wrote in her notebook and raised it for her to see:

"My name is Kong Youling."

Looking at the name in the notebook, Sun Changkong’s ears and cheeks instantly blushed.

She paused for a moment, then frowned her fiery red eyebrows and turned to Ji Minghuan, "You lied to me! Didn’t you say she couldn’t hear me?"

"She can’t hear, but she can read lips," Ji Minghuan said lightly.

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"

"If you don’t mind the hassle, you can communicate with her using a notebook like I do," Ji Minghuan shrugged, "That’s how we usually communicate."

"Who do you think you’re underestimating?"

As she spoke, Sun Changkong’s hospital gown suddenly glowed with a strange light, the Anecdote Fragment in her heart emitting a fiery red glow, flowing through her veins, and finally spreading throughout her body.

Ji Minghuan and Kong Youling stared, both looking over. Their faces were illuminated by the light, like rosy apples.

Then a cloud formed inside the confinement room, like a white tide.

Sun Changkong raised a finger, controlling the cloud to change shape in mid-air, the white cloud sometimes forming a line of words: "Awesome, right?" and other times forming another line: "I can write with the Somersault Cloud too."

Kong Youling’s red eyes widened slightly, she clapped vigorously, and wrote in her notebook for her to see: "So impressive!"

With one eye half-open, Sun Changkong glanced at the three words in the notebook, her lips curling up to reveal a small tiger tooth, smugly saying, "Of course I’m awesome, even Ji Minghuan calls me big sister."

"...Really?"

Kong Youling turned to look at Ji Minghuan, seemingly not believing Ji Minghuan would recognize anyone as the boss.

Ji Minghuan focused on the TV, wanting to deny it, "I didn’t..."

After thinking for a moment, he popped a White Rabbit candy into his mouth and amended, "Okay, she’s the big sister."

Kong Youling wrote in her notebook for Sun Changkong to see: "Then you’re my big sister too."

Looking at the line of words in the notebook, Sun Changkong grinned, a tiger tooth showing, and wiped her nose with her index finger.

"Alright, I’ll look after you two from now on," she said confidently.