That day, Yaoyao walked with a light step to Bubu Pharmacy. He bypassed the medicine cabinets with practiced ease and found Qiqi sitting on a small stool in the backyard where medicinal herbs were stored.
Qiqi was holding an exquisitely bound book. The cover was painted in warm tones with two foxes snuggling together; the big fox was gently circling the little fox with its tail, its eyes full of motherly affection. The little fox looked up with an innocent and dependent expression.
Beside the illustration was elegant handwriting: "ali and mama."
"Qiqi, what are you reading?" Yaoyao leaned in and asked curiously, bending down and keeping his voice very low for fear of disturbing his little companion who was immersed in the book.
Qiqi looked up, and those eyes that often appeared somewhat hollow seemed a bit more focused at this moment. He looked at Yaoyao, then down at the book in his hands, and said in a slow tone, "It's Yaoyao... I'm reading... a storybook, Mr. Bai... gave it to Qiqi."
As he spoke, he also picked up a small notebook resting on his knees, turned to one of the pages, and pointed to the crooked but extremely earnest handwriting on it: "Gift, must... remember."
On that page of the notebook, besides the title of the book, two simple circles were drawn, with "Ali" and "Mom" labeled next to them.
This was Qiqi's unique way of remembering things.
"Mr. Bai gave it to you? That's wonderful!"
Qiqi stretched out a small finger and pointed at the words on the cover one by one, trying hard to identify and read them: "A... Ali... and... Mom."
"ali and mama?" Yaoyao repeated, thinking the name sounded very warm.
Yaoyao sat down beside Qiqi and looked at the picture book curiously. "What's the story about?"
Qiqi tried hard to recall, his finger pointing at the pictures on the pages as he read the contents of his notes word by word: "Little fox... Ali, and Mom... lived in the forest. Mom... taught Ali... to find food, hide from the rain, and meet... friends."
His reading speed was very slow, but he was very serious. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting faint spots of light on the two little ones.
Yaoyao listened quietly, nodding from time to time.
"Ali... asked Mom, why... is our tail... red?" Qiqi continued reading, his finger unconsciously stroking the little fox's fiery red tail on the page. "Mom said... because... it's like the sun, like fire, it's... a very warm, very beautiful color."
Reading to this point, Qiqi paused for a moment, as if digesting the sentence. He looked at his own hand, then at Yaoyao's lively face.
"What happened later?" Yaoyao asked softly.
"Later... Mom... was gone..." Qiqi's speech slowed even further, and a tiny ripple seemed to appear in his vacant eyes.
Yaoyao also stopped smiling, his small hands unconsciously tightening.
Qiqi turned to the last page.
On the page, only the figure of the little fox, Ali, remained. He stood under a large tree, looking up at the starry sky.
The starlight shone on him, and his expression was not one of sadness, but rather one of nostalgia and a little bit of realization.
The text beside it read: "Mom turned into the brightest star in the sky, always watching over Ali. Ali knows that as long as he looks up, he can see Mom's love, just like starlight, it will never disappear."
"...Mom, is gone." Qiqi looked at the picture and repeated once more. His voice remained steady, but Yaoyao heard something unusual in it.
Yaoyao sat beside him and started reading along. But as he read, his eyes couldn't help but turn red. Little Ali's questions in the story were so innocent, and the mother's answers were so gentle yet tinged with sadness.
"Is Ali's mom... gone?" Qiqi looked at the fox mother and child embracing in the picture, then at the notes he had taken, appearing somewhat confused by the concept of "death." To him, it was both familiar and incredibly foreign.
"No, Mom is always there... just like what the mother said in the story, she just changed her way of staying with little Ali." Yaoyao sniffled, trying hard to explain. "Just like... like even though Qiqi sometimes forgets things, Mr. Baizhu and I will always be with Qiqi! Love doesn't disappear!"
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