Ji Ting's Diary

My new novel, I Picked Up Trash to Raise You, Big Brother!, is now underway. Please add my upcoming novel, My Wife, Aha!, to your reading list.

June 13, 3536

Mom told me to go with Dad. Mom cried.

June 13

There are mechs everywhere in the sky. I saw lots of dead people. I escaped, but I couldn't find Mom or Dad, so I had no choice but to go with that mean kid. He told me to get lost and said he'd beat me to death if I kept following him, but I was scared, so I had no choice but to stay with him.

June 14

I kept walking with Cheng Huo. There were more and more dead people along the road. Cheng Huo said he wanted to board a starship and leave. I knew he didn't want to take me with him.

I don't understand why I used to hate eating eggs. Now I can eat eggs, and that's good enough. I can even eat the diced carrots I hate most.

I miss Mom.

June 14

Big Brother Cheng Huo and I watched the starship fly away. He cried.

June 15

There was no one anywhere. We found some bread. He got three pieces, and I got half a piece. I cried from hunger in the middle of the night, so he gave me another piece.

June 16

Big Brother Cheng Huo knows how to catch sand mice, so I won't go hungry anymore. I found a very, very big egg. Maybe I laid it. A baby hatched from it. He has four teeth and can eat very soft things.

Big Brother Cheng Huo ate my bunny. I was afraid he'd eat the baby too, so I hid him in a wrecked car.

June 16

Big Brother Cheng Huo still found the baby.

He said it wasn't an egg. It was a round incubator made especially for infants, and I'd picked up someone else's abandoned child.

June 26

Big Brother Cheng Huo agreed to keep the baby. He said that after we left this place, having the baby with us would make it easier to get food from softhearted adults, and then we could take him to an orphanage.

June 28

Big Brother Cheng Huo's real name is Qi Zhuo.

August 13

There are monsters everywhere. We might die soon.

August 28

There's only one starship left. We have to sneak aboard and get out of here.

We don't want to die.

November 7

That person said the baby is the future son of Big Brother Qi Zhuo and me. Some kind of spatial error brought him to our side. I think that person is right. Everyone is hatched from an egg by their parents, and the baby hatched by Big Brother Qi Zhuo and me is our son.

But why is Big Brother Qi Zhuo yelling and screaming like he's gone crazy?

Shou: Ji Ting, gong: Qi Zhuo

Happy ending

[An unconventional coming-of-age journey, with interwoven timelines]

Please add my upcoming novel, My Wife, Aha!, to your reading list.

Spiritual energy is dwindling across the world, and the five-year-old little golden dragon Yun Mian is growing weaker by the day. To preserve the golden dragon clan, they have no choice but to arrange an early marriage between him and Qin Tuo, a twelve-year-old little vermilion bird.

On their wedding night, candlelight flickering red, Yun Mian pulls out a whole pile of things. “Wifey, do you know how to play with grasshoppers? What about stone people fighting? Or Granny Cricket riding a big horse?”

The young man parts his thin lips. “No. Get lost.”

Yun Mian is bitterly disappointed. “You don't know how to do anything. How are you supposed to be my wife? Hurry up and go learn. Once you know how, you can play with me, and I won't divorce you.”

Qin Tuo looks down at the little bundle, who isn't even as tall as the edge of the bed, and says coldly, “Make another peep and I'll cut off those two buns on your head.”

“Th-those are my horns.”

When disaster strikes, the two little ones flee to the wilderness. Yun Mian cries as he eats the food Qin Tuo made, then complains through his tears, “Your cooking tastes bad. How are you going to take good care of your husband like this?”

Qin Tuo grits his teeth and snaps the chopsticks in his hand.

Yun Mian makes a new friend, a little carp spirit. The two hit it off at once, becoming fast friends and teaming up to play stone people fighting.

“This is my wife, ” Yun Mian meets Qin Tuo's hungry-dragon glare and fearfully sucks his tongue back in. “Wifey... Brother Carp and I are discussing something. You can stand over there and pour us tea, fan us, and fetch things.”

Qin Tuo's eyes flash with menace. He throws down the firewood he's just chopped and rolls up his sleeves. “I'm going to rip out your dragon tendons and peel your dragon hide right now. Calling me Dad won't help.”

Years later.

“Husband, am I taking good care of you? Are you satisfied? Do you still want to divorce me?” Qin Tuo's voice is hoarse, his breathing unsteady.

Yun Mian, who had just crawled away, is dragged back again. “...You don't have to take care of me anymore... Sob...”

Yun Mian is the shou, Qin Tuo is the gong

A small-minded, overconfident golden dragon shou

@Jinjiang Xiao Er

Theme: No matter what hardships you face, always keep an optimistic heart