He just broke up with his girlfriend and is already living with the devilish rich girl.

That summer, the cicadas were chirping particularly loudly.

The air was filled with a stuffy, humid, and fishy smell, mixed with the muddy smell of the river water and the sour stench wafting from the distant garbage heap.

Bai Ziheng squatted by the river, holding a tattered comic book in his hands.

The book was found by my sister while she was working in the junkyard under the bridge; the pages were curled at the edges.

But he was so engrossed in watching that he didn't move for a long time.

"Sis, this comic is great."

"Mmm, it looks good."

Without turning her head, the older sister bent down to pick up plastic bottles on the riverbank.

The sun was scorching, and she squinted, her forehead covered in sweat. The fertilizer bag in her hand dragged on the ground, already half-filled with bottles and flattened cans.

She was wearing a faded school uniform with frayed cuffs, which were crookedly stitched together with different colored thread.

Bai Ziheng turned another page and was just getting to the exciting part.

A rustling sound came from the archway next to the bridge.

He looked up and glanced at it.

My sister was still on the riverbank, tiptoeing to reach a bottle stuck in a crevice in the rocks, humming an off-key tune.

My older sister is great in every way, except that she sings terribly.

Almost none of the sentences were in tune.

He looked back at the underpass; it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

"Sis, there seems to be something inside."

"Huh? What?" The older sister squinted, the sunlight so bright she couldn't open her eyes.

"Wait a minute~ I'll be done picking them up soon~ I'll buy you some bread tonight~"

Bai Ziheng heard that voice again.

He closed the comic book and took a few steps toward the bridge arch.

The tunnel under the bridge was cool and shady, a world apart from the scorching heat outside.

After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a woman huddled in the corner.

His hair was disheveled, and he was wrapped in a pile of tattered cloth.

The exposed arm was so thin that the shape of the bone could be seen.

Several empty cans and moldy bread crusts were scattered at my feet.

Her hair covered most of her face, and she was huddled in the deepest shadow of the bridge arch, looking quite disheveled.

Just as Bai Ziheng was about to approach, she raised her head, revealing a pair of eyes that did not belong to a human beneath her bangs.

His vertical pupils emitted a faint, dark golden light.

"roll."

Her throat was dry and hoarse, with a deep, guttural sound.

Bai Ziheng stopped in his tracks.

"Do you need any help?"

The woman froze, her shoulders began to tremble, and she buried her face in her knees, unable to look at him.

"Get out... or I'll eat you up."

Then Bai Ziheng heard his stomach growl.

He slowly took a few steps back, then turned and ran back to the riverbank.

My sister had finished cleaning up that stretch of riverbank and was carrying a bag back home, calling out to him from afar to hurry up and catch up.

At night, the small house was so stuffy and hot that I couldn't sleep.

The older sister fanned Bai Ziheng with a palm-leaf fan.

In the middle of the night, Bai Ziheng opened his eyes and glanced at the table in the light of the street lamp outside the window.

There were two small breads in the bag. He left one for his sister and then slipped out the door with the other.

The moonlight shone on the river, making it sparkle like shattered silver.

He placed the small bread at the entrance of the bridge and unwrapped it.

"I've put it here, it's delicious."

A deep, guttural sound came from under the bridge, like a wild beast's warning.

Bai Ziheng turned and ran.

He went again the next day.

I didn't bring any bread this time, but I did bring a piece of candy, which was given to me by the grandma at the grocery store next door.

He gave one to his sister and kept one for himself at the entrance of the bridge.

He said, "I've put it here," and then turned and ran.

On the third day, I brought half a steamed bun.

On the fourth day, I brought a banana, which my sister brought back from the supermarket where she works. It was a little black, but my sister said it was still edible.

One day, a torrential rain caused the river to rise rapidly.

When Bai Ziheng went to the stone bridge again, he slipped and fell into the river.

The current was rapid and muddy. He struggled for a few moments before being swept away, swallowing several mouthfuls of water, and his consciousness began to blur.

Just then, he felt a claw grab the back of his collar.

When he woke up, he was lying in the grass on the riverbank, soaking wet and shivering with cold.

He coughed as he sat up and glanced back at the arch of the stone bridge.

He went again that night.

He took the dinner his sister had left for him—a bowl of porridge and half a salted duck egg—to the entrance of the bridge.

"You saved me, didn't you?"

There was a long silence in the underpass, then a hoarse voice came from inside.

"What a strange little thing, aren't you afraid of me at all?"

"You haven't hurt me, and you even saved me. I'm not afraid of you."

Bai Ziheng sat at the cave entrance, hugging his knees, and after thinking for a moment, added another sentence.

"Compared to you, the people who bully me at school are scarier. They threw my backpack in the toilet last time."

A groan came from the darkness, sounding like a sneer or gritted teeth.

"Humans will always be like this; even young ones can't learn kindness."

Why do you live under a bridge?

"Do you think I wanted this?!"

The voice suddenly rose in pitch, as if it had been struck in the most painful spot.

But then it went down again, so low that it was almost inaudible.

"...Where else could I go?"

Bai Ziheng remained silent.

After a while, he asked, "Where are your parents?"

"I don't remember that kind of thing very clearly anymore."

"You have no friends, and I have no friends either. You have no parents, and neither do I."

Bai Ziheng tilted his head.

"But I have an older sister, and she's really good to me."

"This has nothing to do with me. Get lost and don't come back."

Bai Ziheng left, but he came back the next day.

This time, he pulled out the old comic book without its cover from his schoolbag.

"I brought you my favorite comic, but actually, this is the only one I have."

He showed her the cover.

The girl on the cover has two small tiger teeth showing, and she smiles in a way that is both mischievous and beautiful. Behind her stands a knight with a sword.

The cover was soaked in water and dried in the sun, so it was wrinkled, but you could still make out the lines on the picture.

Deep inside the bridge arch, the huddled dark figure slowly began to move.

She climbed out.

This was the first time he had seen her clearly.

The woman's body was emaciated, and the tattered cloth wrapped around her body smelled musty.

But that face wasn't a human face.

The distorted skeletal outline, the slightly protruding mouth, and the sharp teeth peeking out from between the teeth even when the face is expressionless.

His skin was rough and ashen, like withered tree bark.

She picked up the comic book with her withered hands, looked down at the cover for a while, her nails were long and yellow, but she was very careful when turning the pages.

I was afraid of tearing the fragile paper.

"What are you looking at, you human cubs?"

"It's very interesting! It tells the story of a human knight and a demon girl going on an adventure together."

"I don't understand, little one. Explain to me what a knight is and what a demon is."

"You're such a grown man, don't you know this?"

She looked up and glared at him.

The vertical pupil narrowed to a slit in the darkness; any child would have been terrified and cried on the spot.

But Bai Ziheng just pursed his lips and sat down.

"You have such a bad temper."

"roar--"

She shoved the comic back into his hand, but moved it half an inch closer to the opening so that the moonlight could just shine on the pages.

Bai Ziheng turned to the first page and began to tell her a story.

From that day on, he often came to the bridge hole to read comics with the monster.

The monster will also pick up some things.

There are shonen manga that are only half-finished, and magazines that have been soaked by rain.

There was even an adult comic book.

Upon opening the document, both the human and the monster gasped in surprise.

Then the monster threw the yellow book into the river.

The bridge archway was cold and damp, filled with the smell of mildew mixed with the pulp of old book pages.

Sometimes I can stay there for an entire afternoon.

When she reads comics, she always gets very close, her hair hanging down to cover half of her face.

"Why would this man risk his life for that woman? He's about to die himself."

"Because he is her knight, that's how he loves her."

"Fool. What's the point of talking about love if you're dead?"

"That's what true love is, you just don't understand."

She growled, clearly displeased.

Isn't this human baby a little too precocious?

Turning to the next page, she patted the back of his hand, her fingernails almost scratching his skin.

"Take your time, I haven't finished reading yet."

"Didn't you say you couldn't watch it?"

"I like listening to you talk, hurry up and talk, or I'll eat you up."

Later, Bai Ziheng discovered that this monster was particularly childish.

They are even more emotional than the children in school.

It roars when the protagonist is defeated, and grinds its teeth when the bad guys succeed.

When she saw something touching, she would turn her head away and remain silent, her ear tips turning slightly red.

When he told a funny story, she giggled beside him.

Bai Ziheng got goosebumps from hearing this and covered his ears, backing away.

"You'd better stop laughing, it's scary."

"I'll eat you."

"You always say that line, can't you say something different?"

One day, he came without his comics.

He sat at the entrance of the bridge arch, hugging his knees, with a faded old schoolbag at his feet.

"This is the last time I'll come to see you."

Her claws stopped.

"My sister wants me to study in another city."

"Kind people are willing to sponsor us. My sister said the school there is free and even provides food."

His voice was calm, so calm that it didn't sound like that of a ten-year-old child.

We're leaving tomorrow.

She managed to squeeze out a sentence in a hoarse voice, as low as a stone sinking into well water.

"You're leaving me? Is it because... I smell bad, that I'm scary?"

Bai Ziheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly waved his hand.

No.

"It's because my sister wants me to have a good life."

"She has dedicated her entire life to me, collecting bottles and washing dishes every day, never buying medicine even when her hands were cracked, so... I can't let her down."

"elder sister."

She repeated the word, as if savoring a flavor unrelated to herself.

After a while, she suddenly asked, "Do you like your sister?"

"Of course I love her. My sister is the best person in the world to me."

"So, do you want to be with your sister? Like that knight and the devil lady."

Bai Ziheng tilted his head.

"That's my family. We'll always take care of each other, but it won't be like the relationship in comics. Why are you asking?"

The monster did not answer.

She simply buried her head deeper into her knees, letting out a low snoring sound.

After thinking about it, I still didn't say anything.

"That's wonderful," she finally uttered with a sigh.

The sunset on the horizon burned a fiery orange-red, and the river surface shimmered with scattered gold.

Bai Ziheng sat at the entrance of the bridge arch, hugging his knees, watching the sun about to set, and suddenly spoke softly.

"I really hope I can meet a girl like in a comic book, a little bit bad, but only nice to me."

"That way, I can also become her knight."

He turned to look at the monster, a smile on his face.

It sounded like he had said something completely ordinary.

The monster didn't speak.

Those dark golden vertical pupils stared at him motionless in the darkness, their thoughts unknown.

It took her a long time before she turned her face away.

"How old are you to be thinking about these things?"

"I'm ten years old!"

"A ten-year-old is still a brat."

Bai Ziheng stood up and patted the dirt off his bottom.

He placed the old comic book without its cover at her feet; the girl with the little tiger teeth on the cover was so blurry that she was almost unrecognizable.

"Here, take this. We can look at it together next time we meet, and I'll bring you a new one."

He picked up the old schoolbag, turned around, and ran out of the underpass.

My footsteps crunched on the riverbank, the gravel and dried mud making a soft, clattering sound.

"goodbye!!"

The monster did not respond.

The boy shouted again.

"My sister said it! If you want to see her again, you have to say goodbye!!"

The monster's figure slowly disappeared into the darkness.

But Bai Ziheng clearly heard two words carried by the river breeze.

Goodbye.

...

...

The bridge arch is still the same bridge arch.

Although she is illiterate, she knows this comic book by heart.

The girl on the cover has two small fangs showing, and a knight with a sword stands behind her.

She didn't know the knight's name, but she thought he looked a bit like a boy squatting under a bridge, basking in the sun and reading comics.

Then she remembered something else.

She didn't even know the boy's name.

She huddled in a dark, damp corner.

The girl on the cover looked at her, and she looked at the girl on the cover.

She reached out her hand, her fingertips tracing the girl's smiling face.

She hoped the boy would be like that knight, brave, upright, and kind.

But she never dared to put herself in that devilish lady's shoes.

Because she's too ugly.

That knight was simply too dazzling.

But if I could become like her...

and you.....

Bai Ziheng opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling.

And then there was the face of the girl who sat by the bed, tightly holding her own hand.

"You're awake...?"

Her pupils were slightly red and glistening with tears.

But he still had that mischievous smile on his face.

"My lord knight..."