End of the EraCh203 - I Am a Tree

I am a tree.

  a5Guy1

I don’t know when it started, a seed fell to the ground, and on a day of spring blossoms and the earth’s revival, it took root and sprouted from the leaf-covered hillside.

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There are no other companions nearby. Those grasses that sprouted together with me are not the same species as me. I don’t know what they are, or even what kind of plant I am. I just know that my leaves look different from theirs.

  6XM9Z3

Until that year, when I finally grew tall and bloomed…

Blooming, bearing fruit, pale yellow flowers, and green fruits gradually turned red. The children who came to play in the mountains pointed at me and called me “jujube tree,” so I realized that I was actually a jujube tree. 

My fruits are very popular with those children, but it only lasts for a short while. After the fruits are gone, they no longer gather around me as they used to.

The mountain wind blows throughout the year, the weather changes from blooming flowers to falling flowers, to winter snow and summer rain, and the days pass by. I grow taller and taller, day by day.

  d9UAs8

Actually, I am quite bored. Standing on the hillside, watching the occasional passing children, birds, and insects, I feel an indescribable envy towards them.

I also want to have a pair of feet like theirs, or wings will do! It’s better than standing here stupidly every day, just silently watching everything around me, right? But I just grow taller and thicker slowly, and even… gradually aging.

  D2yYeM

I wonder if when resentment becomes strong enough, your wishes will come true?

On that day, when the earth shook and a small stone got stuck in my tree hole, I suddenly realized… I can move!

  3V5CGj

Pulling out my roots, twisting my trunk, shaking off the leaves on my head, watching the few leaves and little yellow flowers fall—can I really move?!

Chrysanthemum Garden.

I am grateful for the earthquake and that small stone stuck deep in my tree hole! I don’t know what they are, or what this excited and joyful energy between heaven and earth is, but I know that because of them, I can use my roots as legs and walk out of this mountain, to see everything around!

  eDptU4

Stepping forward with my roots, I walk in the somewhat unfamiliar forest in an instant. The trees around me “watch” me with envy. I know they also want a pair of “legs” that can move freely, but for now, it seems that only I am lucky enough to have them.

Silently apologizing to them, I resolutely head towards the path where those children will pass by when they descend the mountain.

  Lo7SxQ

A vine entwines around me, emitting a scent indicating that it seems to want to go down the mountain, to leave this place. But its roots cannot support it for such a long journey, so it entangles me, wanting me to take it away.

I know it, and I also know that if its roots penetrate my body, all the nutrients I absorb will be wasted on it, and it can even forcibly take away my own strength, causing me to wither and die. How could this be? I still want to go far, far away, to see the tall buildings that birds talk about, and the cars that insects mention!

  IWBn0Z

I struggle desperately, but I can’t break free. It seems to feel my unwillingness and attempts to penetrate my bark with its roots. I just fall to the ground and roll around. After all, I am much heavier than it, right?

The breath of two humans appears nearby. I don’t know why, but I feel very close to their breath. Perhaps they can help me? Humans have many, many ways to do many, many things, right?

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

  7UKjJs

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  qHILJZ

I thought that my future would be like that of an old tree nearby, slowly withering away until I could no longer absorb nutrients from the soil, and then completely lose my life. But I never thought that I would be burned to death completely by a terrifying fire, leaves, and roots included…

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…Wait, if I’m really dead, why can I still continue to “think” about these things?

  dEzxlW

Snap, crackle… tiny branches, tiny trunks, tiny roots… I seem to have returned to that moment when I just sprouted, ready to absorb the heat of the sun and nutrients from the soil to grow vigorously. There is still that small stone embedded in my chest, and I can still feel the abundant energy between heaven and earth!!

Turning my head, I “see” those two people not far away. Suddenly realizing that I just crawled out of the old, charred “clothes,” I instinctively cover my face, turn around, and desperately run away with my roots… Oh, that fire was a bit terrifying, and also, I seem to be naked…

  d2f8zj

Wait, isn’t there bark on the surface of the tree? Why do I feel “shy”?

Stopping my steps, I “look down” and hmm, there is indeed bark, it’s not too embarrassing just now… wait, embarrassing, what is that?

  dINEyL

Following the almost unrecognizable path downwards, I finally arrived at a place.

Giant eggplants, giant cucumbers, do people in their village really know how to treat plants? Can they make these originally small plants grow so big? Shouldn’t I pay them a visit? I also want to grow taller and bigger, to see those trees in the mountains, but in just one night, they have grown so much taller and bigger! I don’t want to be left behind by them again, to be laughed at by them!

  fngwV

The village is silent, except for some barking dogs and annoying giant roosters, almost nothing can be seen… Of course, I can still feel the breath of those two people I encountered during the day, but… would they release such a terrifying fire again, in case they came back for me?

Wandering around until the moon climbed up the sky, I finally saw some figures. But no one paid attention to me, even when I reached out my roots and entangled one of them, trying to communicate, he just gnawed and bit my tree roots, refusing to acknowledge me.

  shS2xH

A sour feeling arises in my heart, I don’t know what it is, I want to talk to them, to let them take me to see tall buildings and ride on fast-running cars. But from these “people,” I can’t feel that vitality…

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Yes, the vitality of the children in the mountains, the vitality of the two people I encountered today during the day. I want to find such people, let them take me, and go see the outside world together.

  pB4xWM

Quietly shrinking at the entrance of the village, my body inexplicably becomes very small.

The two people I met yesterday passed by me, but they didn’t notice the shrunken me until they left the village, brought out many things from a nearby square-shaped house, and then, sat on something that made “vroom vroom” sounds, and left.

  g13BE7

Ah! I really want to ride, I really want to ride! That should be the car that the little birds and insects talked about, right?!

Watching their departing figures with resentment, I just turned big and wanted to catch up, but the person behind the car suddenly turned his head—It was him yesterday, the one who could spout fire! Quickly hide, hide!

  HN4flA

It took me several days to come to this place, where I can feel the breath of many, many people.

But even with so many people, I can still distinguish the breath of those two people. It wasn’t until now that I could confirm that because they also have those bright stones on them, so I can feel them… Yes, that kind of stone and them have completely merged into one feeling for me, like a bright sign. Even if they are far away, I can still feel them.

  SeyLPr

The two people are acting together, which makes me very happy. This way, I don’t have to worry about who to follow. Because even though the short one can breathe fire, he likes to laugh. The tall one, cold as ice, may not breathe fire, but he can cut off those trunks and vines without hesitation!

I followed them quietly in this place for two days. In the meantime, I was hit by huge hailstones, causing many flowers and leaves on the tree to fall.

  ad570e

Until the third day, they and many other people boarded those supposedly fast-running cars—can they really run so fast? Why can I catch up with them every day??

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Until that day, by the riverbank, I watched their car sliding down and about to fall into the water. This won’t do, those fish have a strong attack power, and might damage them!

  kUmb82

I desperately held onto the car. Are those foolish humans not aware that while their companions are crossing the river, the fish are secretly spitting water upwards towards the bridge?!

When I finally pulled the car up, those two people… saw me! Saw me again!

  sAFuyV

I hastily covered my face, fearing they would set fire to me, but I also wanted to sit in the car, even for a while… let me just sit for a while! It’s tiring and troublesome to walk with tree roots! And occasionally, I trip over because of too many tree roots!

I think my sincerity moved them, and they took the shrunken me with them, allowing me… finally! to sit in the car!

  oQpJWc

Although the car was discarded by them soon after, the shrunken me still found a place in their pockets. And they even invited me to eat their food, although the taste… well, it wasn’t great, but seeing as they were willing to carry me, I decided to generously forgive you humans!

Hiding when there were many people, helping them out when there was danger, this was the tacit understanding between me and these two young men. We were great partners and companions! I think there hasn’t been any jujube tree as lucky as me!

  dWGiuN

Until I met those two little guys—just as cute as the children who used to run around me in the mountains! No, they were even cuter, and they could talk to me!

Someone to talk to, to chat with, to give me good food, to play games with me… thanks to Mother Nature, thanks to the rain from the sky, thanks to the soil from the ground, I finally had real companions, friends, and… family.

  Z5FMQd

Tiancheng called me “sister.” His reason was that I had little yellow flowers on my head. I didn’t know if jujube trees had genders, but I instinctively felt he should call me brother. But, I was the most generous jujube tree in the world, so after correcting him for the fiftieth time, I simply gave up on this matter.

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I accompanied them on travels and adventures, and we even saw the legendary sea together!

  7LjhNv

Each of us used our abilities to make our lives better, so I would hold up a big umbrella for them when it rained heavily, extract water from the soil for them when they were thirsty, and help heal their wounds when they were injured.

And they played with me, traveled with me, gave me good food, and even carried me in their pockets, avoiding my too many roots and tripping over myself.

  d9Yi4R

Until we got the big car again, and I could sit in the car again!

Watching the big dog foolishly running alongside the car outside the window, haha, even Abu was my ride! The twins often took me for rides on its back. Oh, this is the difference between family and pets, look at that poor little thing, you don’t even have a car to sit in.

  WY v7L

In the distant north, in that huge city where not a single blade of grass or moist soil could be seen, the short one found his mother. Although there were many houses and tall buildings here that I had been curious about before, I didn’t like it here at all.

But fortunately, they would take me on adventures every time they went out. And when we returned to the Stone City, Mom would make delicious food for us… yes, Mom, the person Tiancheng and Tianyu called Grandma, was also my mom.

  ljCzqB

Who made me meet their “dads” first? And, and, I’ve lived for a long, long time, so to speak, I should be Tiancheng and Tianyu’s elder, right?

I don’t like this place, but there are people I like here. So, I can endure living here for the sake of the people I like. Fortunately, my roots can still penetrate through the hard floor here and absorb the nutrients inside.

  NpdJgY

After traveling around with us and returning home shortly afterward, everyone decided to leave here completely.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Please don’t ask me for specific reasons, after all, I’m a tree, and what I need to consider are more profound issues of humans and nature, not why everyone is moving? Where are we moving to?

  gFja5

There were a few more members in the family, and after adventuring in the charred world for a while, we gained a few more members again.

During the last adventure, I found many of those shiny stones, which Mom, Tiancheng, and the new little brothers praised for a long time. But the short one fainted… and the tall one was very upset.

  kFxQ8d

After the short one woke up, for some reason, I suddenly felt that something seemed different… no, something was about to happen, and this thing, was so good, so good that it made me excited, made me excited, made me look forward to it.

That huge disc, those trees planted by Tiancheng, the nutrient-rich soil… this is my new home, yes, it’s home, a place where I live together with my family, a place where we will never leave in the future!

  IpgGBz

A long, long time ago, I didn’t like staying foolishly in one place. So, I gained the ability to wander around, and so I met them.

And now, knowing that I have a home, I am once again looking forward to this place. Although it seems to be a place where I have to stay for a long time and not wander around, I still like it from the bottom of my heart.

  cgdBqk

Standing quietly by the pond, watching the children laugh and swim in it, watching Mom make a table full of delicious food with the little brothers and sisters. I thought for a long, long time, then turned to look at the slowly moving scenery under the flying disc, and suddenly understood.

What I have always looked forward to is not the days of wandering around alone, even if I am just a tree, standing foolishly in one place without moving, as long as I have family around me, I won’t feel bored.

  cA28ap

What I have always looked forward to is a place where I can truly stand firm, with people who value me and whom I also value.

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Being here is really good.

  7imJdk

Thank you, crystal that got stuck in my tree hole that day, for letting me meet these people.