The strange thing was that there was only a basin of soil, but when it was poured on him, it expanded like foam, quickly filling up the bathtub and burying his body.
“Why do we need to bury you in the soil? Are your wounds still not healed?”
“Wa-ter.” He said it word by word.
I came to my senses and turned on the shower immediately. As soon as the water hit the soil, something underneath began to wriggle. In an instant, countless branches and vines broke through the soil and grew all over the bathroom.
Damn, am I f*cking saving my husband or growing potted plants?
Before I could recover from the shock, Nalin’s head, which was lying on the ground in front of me, shrank into a small ball. When I looked again, it was no longer him, but the missing tree puppet!
“F*ck…” I grabbed the branch growing on the tree puppet’s head. “What the hell are you? Where’s Nalin? The one who was with me last night couldn’t be you, right?”
Damn it, I had sex with this tree puppet last night ah?
“Ran, Ran.”
When I heard the tree puppet still calling me in Nalin’s voice, I got furious and grabbed its head: “Where is Nalin? Tell me now, or I’ll burn you to death!”
“I, am, Nalin.”
“Bullsh*t! When Nalin first came to my house, you were still under the bed!”
“I am part of Nalin. We are one. I am him, and he is me.” The tree puppet spoke out word by word, but the meaning was clear. I let go of the branch in my hand and stared at the tree puppet in the soil: “You are a part of Nalin?”
The tree puppet nodded slowly, and the branches crackled.
“Yes, hand.”
I was afraid I would break its neck, so I quickly covered it up and said, “You mean, you are Nalin’s hand.”
The branches swayed and rustled, as if nodding, “Yes.”
I frowned, still unable to understand the current situation, but reluctantly accepted it: “You only have your hands here, so where are the rest of you?”
“Went to, heal the wounds.”
“You went to heal your wounds, but you didn’t tell me? I was scared to death.” I let go of the hand and stared at the little tree puppet. “Where did you go to heal your wounds? I want to find you.”
“You, stay at home, and wait for me to, come back.”
“No. You left me at home without saying anything, leaving only one hand to accompany me. That’s too much.” I crossed my arms. “I don’t care. Tell me where the rest of your body is, or I’ll burn your hand. Do you believe it?”
“You, won’t.”
I snorted coldly, went into the kitchen to get a lighter and scissors, and approached the branches above the little tree puppet’s head: “Will you tell me or not? I’ll torture you to extract a confession!”
My butt was suddenly hit. I turned my head and saw a vine attached to my back, hanging above the tail vertebrae, bent like a snake, and aimed at my butt.
I was both ashamed and angry that I picked up the scissors and chased the vines around the room. I was so tired that I was out of breath and was dragged to the sink by several vines. I couldn’t stand it anymore and glared at the tree puppet: “If you want to touch me, you have to be a whole person! I will really be angry!”
The vine hesitated for a moment, then slowly pulled away, and I fell limp on the washbasin.
“I told you to get your hands, feet, and brain back; otherwise, don’t talk to me!” I pulled up my pants, snorted coldly, slammed the door, and locked him in the bathroom.
While having breakfast, Cheng Wan called me and said that Flavio still wanted to see me and asked me to bring my new work and Muse over. I refused without hesitation.
After our last meeting, I had completely lost my admiration for this former idol. And just thinking about the way he coveted Nalin made me feel like I had swallowed a fly, I was both disgusted and furious.
After entering the studio, I resumed working on the unfinished painting, but my mind kept drifting to memories of my past life. When it came time to add color, I couldn’t help but paint Nalin’s eyes in the deep sea-blue of his youth. Yet no matter how I mixed the pigments, I couldn’t quite capture the pure, breathtaking shade I remembered. Something was missing, and I wasn’t satisfied.
“You don’t like how I look now.”
Just as I was immersed in painting, a vine suddenly coiled around my waist, creeping up to my wrist.
“Who said that! Don’t get me wrong, I just… feel a little regretful.” I put down my paintbrush and led the vine to the bathroom. I was surprised to see the room full of blooming red camellias. Under the shadow of the tree, there was a snow-white figure sitting — it was clearly the teenage Nalin, who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old.
But his eyes were still red, and his lower half remained tree roots, anchored in the soil.
I stared, dumbfounded. “Na… Nalin? Your hands grew into…”
“The rest of me can’t return for now, so I’ll keep you company like this. Is that alright?”
I stared in surprise at the young-looking Nalin for a moment before snapping out of it. Then, I went back to the bedroom and found an old T-shirt to put on him.
Surprisingly, Nalin obediently let me help him put on the shirt. I couldn’t help but chuckle and teased him, “Little Brother, you’re so soft and delicate ah. How about Gege take care of you from now on?”
In an instant, I was pinned down on the ground by him. “Don’t think that just because I look smaller, I can’t do anything to you. Even if I appear to be only five years old, you are still my wife.”
“At most, you can only play with some tentacle play.” I raised an eyebrow, glancing at his tree-root-like lower half before spreading my legs toward him. “If you have the ability, turn back into the form you had last night and take me. What? Without the rest of your body, you can’t maintain a full human form anymore?”
His pupils constricted, and the roots under his abdomen twisted, wrapped around my ankles, and went into my trouser legs, spreading and climbing along my legs. I grabbed a bunch of them that were trying to go behind my buttocks.
“I won’t give it to you. I don’t want to do it with your hand. Nalin, tell me, where are you?”
“I’ll be back soon.” He kissed my cheek and whispered, “In the next few days, you just need to feed me some raw blood and raw meat and keep this part of me here.”
“Raw blood and raw meat?” I was stunned. “Is the kind I bought at the supermarket last time alright?”
“En.” He nodded. “If you don’t go out, I can ask Bai Ha’er to catch some wild animals.”
“This is in the city, where can there be wild animals? Catching mice and wild cats? That’s too disgusting.” I took out my mobile phone and went straight to Hema Fresh to buy a few pounds of raw beef.
When the bell rang and I got the raw meat, I went back to the bathroom and found that the youth in the bathtub had turned back into that little tree puppet again.
“What’s wrong, Nalin?”
I went to the bathtub and patted the tree puppet, but the puppet didn’t respond at all, it was like a dead object.
I panicked and quickly took the raw meat out of the bag and put it on the soil. Then I saw the vines instantly wrap around the raw meat like a python that smelled blood and devoured it all in no time.
Fortunately, he still knows how to eat…
I comforted myself, sat on the ground, and looked at the tree puppet, my eyes blurred for a moment.
“What happened to you? I’m very worried. I don’t know what to do. Nalin…”
The vine brushed my cheek, gently wiped my tears, and then reached for the mirror.
Stroke by stroke, it wrote a few words in blood. “Don’t worry, don’t leave home, wait for me to come back.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.” I hugged the tree puppet, buried my face in the soil, and fell asleep unknowingly.
In my dream, I was running in a vast expanse of white snow, chasing the figure of Nalin, who was in front of me, but I could never catch up with him. Every time I tried to reach him, he disappeared.
I woke up with a start, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a bright camellia.
“Nalin.” I lowered my eyes and looked at my arms, my heart suddenly sank.
The tree doll has shrunk a lot, now only the size of a palm, and the vines have become much sparser and seem to be withering. Only a camellia flower is blooming in the palm of my hand, as if it is using up its remaining vitality to provide nourishment.
“What’s wrong with you?” I was at a loss. Seeing the bag on the ground, I hurriedly took out my cell phone, ordered more than ten pounds of raw beef, and rushed to the kitchen. Just as I took out the knife to cut it, my wrists were tied by vines.
The vine hit my butt hard, pulled out the knife, and threw it far away.
I rushed to the bathroom and stared at the palm-sized tree puppet: “Nalin, if you don’t come back and something happens to you, I won’t live alone. You know, you are everything to me in this world.”
The vine that bound my wrist trembled and froze for a long time, then it slipped into my fingers, opened my palm, and wrote on my palm stroke by stroke: “Don’t be impulsive, don’t leave home, and contact Qing Jue.”
Qing Jue… Qing Jue Daozhang?
I nodded and quickly flipped to Mo Wei’s WeChat.
“Mo Wei, Nalin, and I may need you guys’ help.”
“Brother Ran? What happened to you? Where are you?”
“I’m at home. You know the address. Can you and your master come over?”
“We’ll fly there right away!”
In just three hours, the doorbell rang. I rushed to the door and looked through the peephole. It was Mo Wei, Qing Jue, and the young Taoist priest named Xiao Qi.
“Nalin, they are here.”
Seeing the vine tied to the door slowly open, I hurriedly led the guests in.
“Thank you, Daozhang…” I was about to serve them tea, but Qing Jue waved his hand and said, “Take me to see the Young Saint Lord first. It’s him who’s in trouble, right?”
I nodded and led them to the bathroom. Seeing the little tree puppet in the bathtub, the three of them exclaimed, “eh”. Mo Wei couldn’t help laughing, but when I glared at him, he pursed his lips and didn’t dare to laugh anymore.
“Is this… split?” Qing Jue looked the tree puppet up and down. “I’m afraid he was seriously injured and damaged his source body, so he had to split into two.”
