Chapter 42: Elephant Slide

Lu Yuyao was quite energetic.

After Jiang Ling fell asleep, she went out for a stroll.

Even though it had only been 6 months since her last visit to the village, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

Perhaps it was because the park had been renovated, giving her a sense of unfamiliarity.

Before she knew it, Lu Yuyao arrived at the park.

It wasn’t very large and was divided into two sections.

The outer side, which bordered the road, was filled with entertainment facilities, fitness equipment, and exercise gear.

The inner side resembled a small garden, planted with various flowers, lush bamboo, and even a small rockery.

Lu Yuyao wandered through the park.

Despite the renovation, it was mostly just a fresh coat of paint on the peeling areas and repairs or replacements for the worn-out fitness equipment.

However, the old, dilapidated stone slide had been replaced by an ‘Elephant Slide’.

There weren’t many children left in the village now, so she wasn’t sure what the point of installing an ‘Elephant Slide’ was.

Lu Yuyao looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention, she secretly climbed onto the slide.

‘I’m definitely not sitting here because I want to play on the slide. I just want to relive my childhood!’

Crawling into the belly of the ‘elephant’, Lu Yuyao gripped the handrails.

Whoosh — she slid down.

She repeated this several times until she realized she might be being a bit too childish, at which point she finally stopped.

This little park held many memories of her and Sister Chenxi.

As she settled down, Lu Yuyao couldn’t help but think of Fang Chenxi.

Her watery eyes gazed blankly at the moon faintly appearing on the horizon; the sky was slowly beginning to darken.

Before meeting Fang Chenxi, Lu Yuyao’s childhood couldn’t exactly be described as happy.

Her grandfather had passed away early, and because her parents were both working hard away from home, they paid very little attention to her.

It could be said that Lu Yuyao was raised entirely by Dong Hui.

However, after Lu Qiping passed away, Dong Hui began practicing Buddhism, seemingly as a way to find something to believe in.

It started with occasional visits to the temple, but eventually, she began going for 1 to 2 hours at a fixed time almost every day.

Because of this, during those empty hours, Lu Yuyao would be left in this small park and told to make friends with other children her age from the village.

There were very few girls in the village — only three including Lu Yuyao.

Since Lu Yuyao was the last one to join the group, she was naturally excluded.

Moreover, while the other children her age spent every day getting messy and covered in mud, Lu Yuyao always wore clean clothes and looked like a little princess.

Consequently, she was exceptionally socially isolated.

She was even bullied.

“If you dare tell the adults, we’ll never let you play in this park again,” a mean-looking boy told the then 8-year-old Lu Yuyao.

This kind of ‘bullying’ lasted for nearly 1 year, until Fang Chenxi appeared.

“Be sure to get along well with the other children,” Dong Hui said with a smile, patting little Lu Yuyao’s head before being called away by a companion she had arranged to practice Buddhism with.

Lu Yuyao walked quietly into the park.

She glanced at the ‘children’ who were playing boisterously nearby and then silently walked toward the rockery.

She circled behind it, where some bricks had fallen out of the section touching the wall, creating a hollowed-out hole.

The space inside was large enough for one or two adults to stand.

Because the opening was hidden by weeds about 0.5 meters tall, no one had discovered it.

Lu Yuyao had found this place on her second visit.

From then on, every time she came to the park, she would sit there and wait for Dong Hui to pick her up.

When she heard Dong Hui calling her name, she would crawl out and pretend she had finished playing, then follow Dong Hui home obediently.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuyao let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh.

She couldn’t believe she had been so young yet hadn’t cried or made a scene when she was bullied, staying so calm for an entire year.

“Is anyone in there?”

Hiding inside the rockery, Lu Yuyao froze.

The voice was very close to her.

Not sure if someone was calling out to her, she didn’t make a sound.

But immediately following the voice, there was a rustling in the weeds in front of the hole.

Then, a youthful, pretty face appeared, discovering Lu Yuyao, who was staring blankly at her.

Fang Chenxi revealed her white teeth and gave a mischievous grin.

“Found you!”

That lively, cheerful tone gave Lu Yuyao the illusion that they were playing hide-and-seek.

She pursed her lips and didn’t say anything, simply standing up to leave her discovered Secret Base.

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything? You’ve been caught by me, so now it’s my turn to hide,” Fang Chenxi chattered in Lu Yuyao’s ear.

Even after Lu Yuyao came out, she kept following her, but Lu Yuyao simply ignored her.

“Maybe she’s a little mute who can’t talk.”

“You’re the mute,” Lu Yuyao snapped, stopping in her tracks and turning around huffily.

“So you can talk! Why were you ignoring me just now?”

“I thought… you were here to chase me away,” Lu Yuyao said hesitantly, only speaking after confirming several times that Fang Chenxi wasn’t with the group of children outside.

“Chase you away?”

Fang Chenxi rubbed her chin, seemingly pondering why Lu Yuyao would say such a thing.

She was a clever child.

Lu Yuyao was hiding in that hole all by herself while the children outside were playing happily…

Someone must be bullying her!

Fang Chenxi was very loyal.

She immediately grabbed Lu Yuyao and pulled her toward the group of children.

She had a very strong grip, and Lu Yuyao couldn’t break free, forced to be dragged along.

“Listen up! From now on, this girl is under my protection. If anyone dares to bully her again, I can’t guarantee your butts won’t be swollen when you go home!”

On the spot, one child who didn’t believe in her tried to argue, but Fang Chenxi’s glare sent them retreating in fear, and they all nodded in agreement.

Fang Chenxi had been tall since she was young; even the oldest boy present was half a head shorter than her.

Naturally, no one dared to stand up to her.

“You can play here without worry from now on. No one will bully you anymore. If they try, I’ll come and stay with you,” Fang Chenxi said, turning to Lu Yuyao.

Lu Yuyao was dazed by Fang Chenxi’s domineering declaration and could only nod blankly.

“Oh, right, I don’t know your name yet. My name is Fang Chenxi. What’s yours?”

“I’m Lu Yuyao.”

“Then we’ll be best friends from now on.”

“…Okay.”

Lu Yuyao suddenly felt that her meeting with Fang Chenxi was quite dramatic, like a plot often found in novels, something akin to a Hero saving the beauty.

Fang Chenxi hadn’t been bragging.

From that day on, Lu Yuyao was never bullied by the other children again.

However, having seen their true colors, she didn’t want to play with them.

She continued to sit in her Secret Base every day, occasionally bringing a few picture books to read.

Fang Chenxi seemed to have taken a liking to pestering her.

Seeing her always sitting inside, she began staying in there as well.

Thus, her Secret Base became a space for two.

As they grew up, her relationship with Fang Chenxi became better and better.

They went to school together every day and always went eating or shopping together.

Lu Yuyao originally thought they would be like that forever, because Fang Chenxi had said they were best friends.

But during the summer after 8th grade, Lu Yuyao went to Fang Chenxi’s house to ask her to go shopping for books.

Instead, she was told by a worker who was moving furniture,

“The owners of this house moved away a few days ago. We’re currently clearing out the things they didn’t want.”

Yes.

Fang Chenxi’s departure was just as sudden as her first appearance when they met.