Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After returning from the Unfinished Building, the smell of urine, feces, and perfume lingered in Famous’s nose and followed it to its dream.
In the dream.
“Famous! Famous!” Someone was calling its name.
Without opening its eyes, it sat up out of reflex, then raised a front paw next to its head and made a peace sign with its paw––the most popular pose while taking photos with its fans. It had become its reflex.
“Famous? What are you doing…?”
As it opened its eyes, a slightly younger Old Time Tea appeared in front of it. It stared at its peace sign, confused.
Famous quickly put the paw behind its head and pretended to scratch itself. It then tilted its head and looked around.
The long carriage parade team was resting not far away. Kitchen smoke wafted through the air, carrying the nice smell of cooking food.
The carriages formed a circle, protecting the ladies inside. They even hung fabric curtains to prevent perverted men from peeping in on them.
The men in the parade all slept around the carriages, but they were getting up now. Everybody seemed so tired and were complaining and sighing in low voices.
The night watch team came back with muskets, rifles, and long knives. Most people slept immediately upon their return, hoping to get some sleep before departure. They could eat breakfast while walking. A few team leads were debriefing Wu Mancheng.
Wu Mancheng, Wu Ning’s father, had another sleepless night. He cheered everybody on with red eyes, promising that they would all be paid a fortune as long as they could arrive at Binhai County safely.
He was not so generous back in Foshan, but he no longer had any better options under the current circumstances.
They were in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere––a dangerous area that the wedding parade team had been trying to avoid at all costs. It was far away from the biggest road, and they could not return anytime soon.
It was pouring rain that night. The flooding river destroyed the dock and submerged the river bed. At midnight, when the sleeping people suddenly woke up from their dreams, they realized that the murky water from the river had already flooded the room. Their shoes were floating around. As the rain continued, Wu Mancheng made a quick decision to travel forward at night and take a detour. Worse things might have happened if they had stayed and waited.
The next morning, the exhausted parade team suddenly heard a loud noise behind them––from the direction of the dock––like a thunder clap in the sky.
The pulling horses suddenly stood up as if they sensed something. They roared and stopped following commands; the carriage drivers could not control them.
The river had broken the levee. Not a single person in that village had managed to escape.
After a sleepless night, people were on the verge of falling asleep while they walked. They started panicking after they heard the news. Had it not been Wu Mancheng’s strict discipline, then they might have left and scattered all around.
The flood chased after them at a high speed.
During the emergency, the wedding parade team took whatever road was in front of them to reach the highest ground. After they had finally escaped the flood, they were already far away from the planned route.
Luckily, in case of rogue bandits, Wu Mancheng had asked all the closest team members to carry hidden guns. They could use them to hunt and to protect themselves against robbers. The team was well prepared before departure, and they could replenish their food and water in the villages along the way. They would not be hungry.
Going back was as hard as moving forward, but Wu Mancheng didn’t allow them to head back. Therefore, they had to push forward.
Famous, Old Time Tea, and Galaxy followed them all the way.
“Famous, are you okay? You seem a bit weird today…” Old Time Tea mentioned with concern.
Famous shook its head in embarrassment: “I’m fine… It’s hard to explain, but I’m fine.”
“That’s good.” Old Time Tea nodded, then pointed at the forest ahead with its paw. “There’s a stream over there, and the water is clear. Famous, would you like to wash up? If you wait until everyone gets up, the stream may smell like urine and feces…”
Famous smiled bitterly. Why was it having so much trouble with urine and feces?
It looked toward the carriages and heard some women talking behind the fabric curtains. The ladies were up already; they might start washing up and dumping the toilet soon. Just as Old Time Tea had said, with any further delay, it would have to wash upstream.
Yet, Famous was a dog; it was not as fussy as cats in terms of being clean. It didn’t really care about washing up.
“I’ll skip it. Are they leaving soon?” it asked, checking the hour in the sky.
Old Time Tea was a bit confused as well. “Normally we’d be on the road by now… But today they are still silent. This is really weird… Famous, you can go wash up. No worries. I’ll get you when the parade leaves.”
“Fine…”
Although Famous didn’t really want to wash up, it didn’t want to be a dirty dog in front of Old Time Tea. It ran into the forest, found the stream, drank some water, then dipped its head into the water, and shook its hair dry.
The stream water tasted so sweet––totally unlike the tap water in the real world. It tasted much better than the mineral water that claimed to be drawn from mountain top lakes. Even Fina’s Evian water was not nearly as good.
After washing up, Famous ran back to where it had slept the night before. The parade team was still there and there was no sign of departure. Many people surrounded one carriage, pointed fingers, and whispered with each other. Wu Mancheng looked very worried, sighing with his hands behind his head.
“What happened?” Famous asked.
Old Time Tea shook its head. “I don’t know. Someone seems to be sick. I just saw the accompanying doctor go inside the carriage. He has yet to come out and it has been a long time.”
The only people who slept in the carriages at night were either women or relatives of the Wu family. It must be someone important. The ordinary, lower-class people all slept outside.
If Wu Mancheng had sent for a doctor at the cost of delaying the trip, the sick person in the carriage must be important.
“Could Wu Ning be sick?” Famous asked anxiously. It would be bad if Wu Ning, the bride, fell sick.
“No. That’s not Miss Wu’s carriage,” Old Time Tea said in certainty.
“Oh, that’s great.” Famous was relieved. As long as Wu Ning was fine, it would be okay. The other people were not important to it. They were all extras in a film; they didn’t even play supporting roles.
Galaxy meowed in the grass nearby, jumping happily toward a butterfly that was dancing on a wildflower. It seemed that even the end of the world could not disturb it from catching butterflies.
Famous was hungry and wanted to ask when breakfast was. Then the curtain opened, and an old, white-bearded doctor came out of the carriage, waving his hands at Wu Mancheng. Even if they could not hear what he was saying, they could tell from his face that the patient in the carriage was not doing well.
