The White Olive Tree

Chapter 38

Li Zan had a nightmare during the night.

Since being with Song Ran, he hadn't had nightmares for a long time. Perhaps it was during the day when CANDY won the Pulitzer Prize.

While taking Song Ran out for dinner and shopping, a foreign child bumped into his leg and fell, crying loudly. The foreign child had dark eyes that triggered something in him.

That night, he had a dream. In the dream, an Eastern man embraced his wife, and two little boys and a girl held onto their parents' clothes. They stood side by side in a blank space, silently staring at him. Their eyes were dark and hollow.

Li Zan woke up with sweat on the back of his neck, hearing his own breath being unusually rapid in the quiet night. But he quickly restrained himself, afraid of waking up Song Ran beside him.

It was a little after three in the morning, and there was a faint light outside the curtains. The world was so quiet that he could hear the insects chirping.

It was already the end of April, but the night still had a slight chill.

Li Zan carefully turned to the side, lightly holding Song Ran's waist, intending to go back to sleep. However, her hand reached over and hugged his waist.

After a moment of silence, Li Zan whispered, "Ran Ran?"

"Yeah?" She opened her eyes, clear and bright in the dark night.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No, I woke up halfway." Her voice had a nasal tone, sounding soft and cute. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah."

"What did you dream about?"

"It was all about Dongguo. Dreams of explosions, people getting killed."

Song Ran said, "I usually have nightmares about the same things."

"Why did you wake up too? Did you have a dream?"

"Yeah, maybe because of the award. I also thought about those things," she frowned, "and a bunch of people want to interview me again, a bit annoying."

"Then just turn off your phone and ignore them."

"I'm thinking the same."

Li Zan's hand brushed her face, his fingers gently stroking her temple, and he asked, "How did you usually cope with nightmares before?"

She said, "Just lying there, looking at the ceiling. And then slowly, the sky would brighten."

Just like him.

At that time, it was impossible to close one's eyes and attempt to sleep. Trying to sleep would only result in insomnia, with the images replaying, making it even more agonizing.

Song Ran stretched her hand out from under the covers, yawned lazily, and then draped her arm around his neck. "But now you're here," she said.

Li Zan suggested, "Do you want some warm milk? It might be comforting."

"I also want to eat steamed buns."

"Alright." Li Zan got up, put on a robe, and said, "Stay here."

However, Song Ran still put on a robe and slipped into slippers, following him.

The robes and slippers were a couple's set they had bought last week while shopping at the supermarket, blue and pink.

Song Ran previously thought all kinds of couple items were silly, but after being in a relationship, she unexpectedly bought a bunch herself, even insisting on having matching toothbrushes and cups.