黄处连环画 · 等你来补页

Grown-up Xiaoman returns to Huangchu. At Grandpa Zhong’s house, she digs out a picture-story book from her childhood.

Its pages are already yellowed, and its illustrations are faded — only the last page remains blank. Xiaoman strokes the indentations on it and unties her She ethnic ribbon. The half-phoenix woven onto the ribbon fits the indentation perfectly to form a complete pattern. All at once, a rustle rings in her ears.

Lizi creeps to the edge of the frame and whispers: “Yunni… someone is outside the painting.”

Yunni touches the frame, and soft ripples of light spread across the paper.

Xiaoman gasps, “Can you see me?”

Yunni smiles: “This time, your voice doesn’t fade away.”

Xiaoman asks, “Do you live inside this book?”

Lizi shakes his head: “We are the story this book preserves.”

The colors of the ribbon bleed into the pages. The sounds of mountain winds, gurgling streams, ribbon-weaving, and soft thuds of pears falling into bamboo baskets drift out from the book. Five marks surface on the paper: terraced fields, Unity Square, the Old Tree, Mountain View Space, and Fo’er Rock.

Xiaoman looks out of the window at Huangchu, familiar yet strange. She hugs the book tightly: “Let’s retrieve our memories and start where the story began.”

Lizi bursts with excitement: “We’ll go with you!”

Yunni reminds him: “We cannot leave the book.”

Lizi stares at his paper-thin form for a quiet moment, then says earnestly: “Then… you must take the book with you.”