Little Pink Starfish

“Shopkeeper, how did this tree come about?” Qiu Ling looked curiously at the tree in the courtyard.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t answer her question directly and instead asked what she thought of the tree.

“It’s beautiful,” Qiu Ling said. “It’s just like something out of a fairytale.”

She had just come from cram school and came by the tavern to see Tang Shi. Compared to Tang Shi, Qiu Ling clearly had way less free time. This was her first visit to Yuan Yuanyuan’s place in a while.

Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at the tree, then turned to look at the person lying flat out in the hallway.

The man was now wrapped in two thick quilts, with a small fire burning nearby. He was still wearing that same hospital gown.

…

Originally, Yuan Yuanyuan had planned to take him straight to the police. But on second thought, she hesitated.

This guy… when he passed through the courtyard earlier, he seemed to see the tree there.

Yuan Yuanyuan crouched by him and sniffed for a while but still couldn’t figure out what species he was. If he was human, something felt off. If he was a monster, there wasn’t much demon energy on him. So she didn’t dare call the police right away.

She and Tang Shi carried him to the hallway, tucked him in with two blankets, lit a fire, and waited for him to wake up. Human or monster, anyone with spiritual power wasn’t going to die that easily, so she wasn’t too worried.

Then she just… forgot about him entirely. She turned around, fetched a basin of water, and continued cleaning windows and doors.

…

What the hell… Where am I?

He groggily opened his eyes. Before they were even fully open, he was hit with a wave of green—so bright it nearly blinded him.

What the hell… what the hell… what’s going on?

He turned toward the big tree beside him. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

In the distance was a tiny snowman made from a pile of swept-up snow. He stared at the snowman, then back at the vibrant green tree, suddenly feeling like he’d wandered into some mysterious realm.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still the same snowman and green tree—no change.

Scanning his surroundings, he realized he was lying in a narrow corridor. Not far away, someone dressed in a black down coat, bundled up from head to toe, stood silently…

“Um, excuse me?” he asked cautiously. “Could you tell me… where I am?”

“Huh?” The black-coated figure turned around. All he could see was a shadowy face. “You collapsed in front of my house. This is my home.”

“…I’m really sorry.” His tone turned awkward.

It felt like… he was a scammer faking an injury.

“No worries.” The black-clad person turned back around. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

He froze. Sat in place, suddenly falling silent.

…

Yuan Yuanyuan watched as the guy slowly woke up. After he sat up, his eyes were blank and dazed.

…That look set off alarms in her mind. She had taken him in temporarily but really didn’t want to get caught in some cliché amnesia plot like, “Who am I? Where is this? What’s my name?”

So she made the first move, asking where he lived. If he was a runaway from some hospital, she could just drop him off—do a good deed and be done with it.

The man sat there a bit longer, staring blankly to the side. Yuan Yuanyuan kept sneaking glances at him, worried he might suddenly drop the dreaded “Where am I?” line.

Luckily, he didn’t. Instead, he turned toward her and cautiously said:

“Hey, bro… do you do fortune-telling?”

…

The next day.

The tree in the courtyard swayed gently in the wind. On a bamboo pole, quilts and clothes hung out to dry.

The person doing the laundry wore a military coat, hair sticking out like a bird’s nest.

Yuan Yuanyuan sat in the hallway, watching him, thinking: What kind of punishment is this? Just yesterday, this guy was a decently handsome young man. Now he looked like a rugged mess.

As the owner of a clothing shop… well, after months of business, she finally kind of looked the part. And now, this little shop had finally taken in an assistant.

Congrats, congrats.

His name was Liu An, a young monster.

He had a soft, youthful look—a baby face—but he rarely smiled and always looked kind of blank.

According to him, he had been hospitalized, and one day a Taoist priest suddenly showed up. He freaked out and fled halfway through treatment.

He said he was from S City.

When Yuan Yuanyuan asked why he was in the hospital, he explained that a major monster in S City had recently stirred up chaos. He was caught up in the mess, got injured, and had to seek treatment. The monster hospitals were overwhelmed.

Even though his story sounded rough and a bit vague, his tone was calm—like he didn’t take it too seriously. Yuan Yuanyuan kind of respected that. It was oddly admirable.

From what she knew, S City really was in chaos lately. On the day City C reopened, a bunch of S City monsters had flooded in, desperate for shelter.

But few made it to the juvenile zone. Yuan Yuanyuan had only seen this one. Other zones had a few more.

She noticed Liu An often spaced out, lost in thought. But she didn’t ask. With him around, she didn’t have to be in the shop all day. Sometimes she even went home for a nap.

“Shopkeeper, how do I do this?” he asked.

“That one? Try chanting the spell more clearly and then release the energy from your palm.”

Liu An quietly hung the blankets and clothes. He’d been living here for a few days now. The job didn’t pay much—or at all, really—but it included meals and a place to sleep. Not bad.

His body had recovered a bit over the past few days. And to him, the last couple of days felt almost like being reborn.

He didn’t want to do anything else—just stay quietly in this little place, watch the tree, and rest.

The tree in the courtyard was beautiful. In the dead of winter, it was like a blessing. Liu An felt that maybe, he was staying here… just for the tree.

Otherwise, who the hell would work for this little?

While he was hanging laundry, he suddenly heard someone coming through the door. He turned—and saw a stunning white-clad female monster walk in.

Liu An’s hands paused. He looked at the woman, then at the shopkeeper standing up, eyes tracking between them.

“That’s the shopkeeper’s girlfriend,” a little girl beside him said. “She doesn’t visit often. But the shopkeeper says she’s a lotus demon.”

Liu An sniffed. Sure enough, there was a pleasant lotus fragrance in the air.

He resumed his laundry.

He had only recently learned that this was a clothing store. It had taken him a few days to figure that out—there were almost no customers. If the shopkeeper hadn’t told him directly, he’d have no clue what the store was for.

When he went out shopping for groceries, he asked around about the store. According to others, this place was the den of a terrifying, bloodthirsty, eerie monster.

Liu An listened quietly, then turned back toward the courtyard with the big tree.

No way…

What was once a gentle, serene courtyard suddenly took on a sinister and creepy vibe.

The vegetable vendor auntie said the monster lived here because it was the juvenile zone. He wanted to catch young monsters and devour them to cultivate evil magic.

She said the tree was there to lure little monsters in. While scolding a child, she warned them not to play in that yard—it was far too dangerous.

Uh… I’m a monster too, you know.

But even other monsters were afraid. That said a lot.

The first time Liu An heard that story, his brow furrowed slightly. When he returned to the store, he took another careful look around.

And over the next few days, he realized—there was only one real employee here. The shopkeeper. The same one he first saw in a down jacket.

“Why don’t you ever talk?” asked another little girl.

“Mm… probably just in a bad mood lately,” Liu An said.

This was the first time he’d seen her. It took him a while to confirm—she was human.

That had surprised him. But it wasn’t his place to say much. After all, he was just a stray that got taken in.

“Why are you in a bad mood? You frown more than the shopkeeper,” said Qiu Ling, the little girl.

Liu An looked down. Qiu Ling sat on the porch, bundled up in a down coat, holding a thick “Five-Year College Entrance Exam” prep book.

“You’re getting ready for the college entrance exam…” He squatted down and looked at the book, suddenly reminded of his own past.

“Bad mood… Just ran into some things,” Liu An said.

Qiu Ling looked at him curiously. He wasn’t sure what to say to this human kid. There were so many things he couldn’t talk about. But for some reason, he kind of wanted to say a little more to her.

In this unfamiliar place, she was the only person who gave him a sense of warmth.

“…It’s about school,” he finally said.

He looked at the tree in the courtyard. “I worked so hard to get into a school I thought I’d never make it into… and then suddenly, I got expelled.”

“E-expelled?” Qiu Ling stammered, realizing she might’ve touched a sore spot.

“Getting in was tough. From the start, I always felt… different from everyone else,” Liu An said, lowering his head.

He paused, then chuckled faintly. “Other people got picked up and dropped off by their parents, cared for by their teachers, sailing through life. I carried a sack of steamed buns from home and begged my way in. And now… I’ve been kicked out. No idea where to go.”

“Can’t you… talk to the school? Ask them to let you stay?” Qiu Ling asked timidly.

“Nope.” Liu An sat down beside her. “The school is strict. I broke the rules, so I deserved to be expelled. I wanted the diploma, but now it feels like all my hard work was for nothing.”

Qiu Ling stayed silent.

“So study hard,” Liu An said suddenly, turning to her.

He was thinking of all sorts of messy things.

He’d said more than usual today. But in this moment, having someone to talk to about everything… made him feel kind of happy.

Suddenly, noise came from the front gate.

“What’s going on?” Liu An asked.

“Shopkeeper—something happened over there?” Qiu Ling said.

They both turned to look. The man who had just gone out with the white-robed demon girl was now rushing back, walking so fast it looked like the wind was following him.

“What happened to the shopkeeper?” Liu An asked.

“Don’t know. Looks like it’s serious?”

Yuan Yuanyuan was in a panic.

Just moments ago, the white-robed demon girl had informed her that recently, some Taoists were planning to come kill her.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood frozen, completely dumbfounded, as the girl handed her a wanted poster.

…For a moment, Yuan Yuanyuan’s whole world spun upside down.

Oh. My. God.