The fair and delicate little hand stretched out from the blanket and wiped the tears at the corner of Su Bai's eyes without much experience. Su Bai became dazed; he turned his head around and climbed up. Both his hands held on to the edge of the blanket and carefully lifted it up.
The little fella who was wearing only a red dudou[1] was covering his face. He then slowly moved his hands away, looked at Su Bai and stamped his chubby little foot as he chuckled merrily.
Su Bai was smiling. The little fella was also smiling. Both adult and child were smiling together.
The little fella opened his arms wide towards Su Bai, asking for a hug. Su Bai opened his arms and hugged the little fella in his embrace as his face touched the little fella's face.
Su Bai had not shaven his beard since entering the story world. His beard poked the little fella's delicate face making him feel itchy. But Su Bai could see that the little fella really liked him.
[1] In Ancient Chinese, 兜 referred to a kind of helmet or hood. By the time of the development of the dudou, it had taken on extended senses of encasing or enwrapping something as in a hood, scarf, or loose parcel. Dùdōu may thus be understood as Chinese for "belly wrap" or "cover", referring to its early use to flatten the breasts and, within traditional Chinese medicine, to preserve stomach qi. Using the same characters, it is also known as a doudu or doudou. The latter form is diminutive and is particularly used for the dudous worn by Chinese children.
[2] The Qiang people羌族are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China, with a population of approximately 200,000 in 1990. They live mainly in a mountainous region in the north-western part of Sichuan on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.
[3] Maitreya is regarded as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita. According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha). The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya refers to a time in the future when the dharma will have been forgotten by most on the terrestrial world.
[4] Bhaiṣajyaguru, formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja ("King of Medicine Master and Lapis Lazuli Light"), is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha", he is described as a doctor who cures dukkha (suffering) using the medicine of his teachings.