Chapter 2: Little Rabbit Island

Who said the protagonist always had to save someone?

Besides, Wang Jiexiang hadn’t seen any kind of script labeling her as the indisputable female lead. If this was a story about rescuing a trapped Yin Xian rabbit, she might very well be the villain.

Plenty of people remain friends after breaking up, helping each other out of old affection. But Wang Jiexiang and Yin Xian were not those kinds of people.

Looking back on their relationship, both had admitted it was a huge mistake.

Wang Jiexiang had said, “I must’ve been brain-dead to chase after you.”

When Yin Xian heard that, he let out a string of cold laughs.

“My fault then. Must’ve been insane to agree to date you.”

That cold laugh was his trademark: thin lips pressed together, a contemptuous crease between his brows, and eyes cold as ice.

Yin Xian never sounded like he was just venting. Wang Jiexiang always lost her temper first, and always lost her mind faster.

“What do you mean by that? We were together for five years. Now you’re saying you regret it?”

“No regrets,” he said with a smile, not giving an inch. “Come on, it’s not every day you get to waltz with a pig.”

“Say that again. Who’s the pig?”

“Whoever’s asking.”

Back when they were together, they were dirt poor, squeezed into a leaky ten-square-meter rental, struggling to get by. But hardship didn’t bring them closer. On the contrary, they fought—small spats every other day, major blowouts every third.

Wang Jiexiang’s mouth was never as sharp as Yin Xian’s. She’d never won a single argument with him.

Now that Yin Xian had turned into a rabbit, she found him much more pleasing to the eye than before.

Like right now: the little bunny was floored by that “not really,” pupils trembling, jaw hanging open, too stunned to speak.

Wang Jiexiang took the opportunity to pinch his chubby cheek, thinking: when he was human, he at least had some angles. What has he been eating to get this round?

Unfortunately, Yin Xian was still Yin Xian. Once the shock wore off, he stared at her with his squished face and fired back with sarcasm.

“Didn’t think you were this useless. Not going to save me, and you’ve got the nerve to touch me?”

Wang Jiexiang was easily provoked.

“Useless? I choose not to save you, it’s not that I can’t. In this short time, I’ve already figured out your situation.”

The bunny scoffed. “I don’t buy it.”

“There are a few possibilities: One, you’re a rabbit, and this place is called Little Rabbit Island. Clearly your home. Just cultivate here in peace, and in a few thousand years, you’ll turn back into a human. Two, the Rabbit King’s taken a liking to you and dragged you back to be her husband. I don’t know any spells, so how am I supposed to help? I suggest you marry into the royal rabbit family and make the best of it. Three, you’ve done too many bad things and got cursed into a rabbit. You’ve seen fairy tales, right? The Frog Prince, Snow White—combine the two and that’s you. Stay here and wait for your one true love to wander by and kiss you. Boom, human again. Happy ever after.”

The bunny reached out a paw to touch her forehead. “You okay? Hit your head?”

Wang Jiexiang clamped his paw midair, snarling, “You’re the ridiculous one here. After we broke up, you vanished for years. Now suddenly you show up as a rabbit, asking me for help. As if what I said could be more absurd than that. You turned into a rabbit. Try using normal logic to make sense of any of this.”

Yin Xian looked at his tiny paw caught between her fingers and had to admit: he was the more ridiculous one here.

“Okay, let’s go with your theory.”

He took a deep breath and carefully went over her points. “First, I’m a human, not a rabbit. I can’t cultivate into a human. Second, like I said, there’s no Rabbit King on this island—just you and me. Third, the third…”

Wang Jiexiang noticed he trailed off and looked at him.

The chubby little rabbit was staring intently at her face.

She reminded him, “Third is you waiting for your true love’s kiss.”

“Right,” he reminded her in turn. “You said you were my girlfriend.”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Wang Jiexiang corrected, deadpan.

Why was this bunny staring at her mouth?

He leaned in closer. “Are you sure you’re not my true love?”

Wang Jiexiang was about to say no. But as the words reached her lips, she hesitated. They had dated for five years, after all. Even if he used to call her ugly, fat, pig-brained, always dragging people down… true love wasn’t entirely out of the question.

“I’ve been on Little Rabbit Island all this time, and you’re the only one who’s shown up.”

So maybe she was the true love.

Their eyes met. The bunny leapt toward her lips. Wang Jiexiang swatted him away without breaking a sweat.

“You were going to force a kiss on me? So ungentlemanly.”

She stood up, hands on her hips, chin raised coldly. “I already said I’m not saving you.”

The bunny’s big eyes drooped, the deepening crease in his eyelids hiding a trace of gloom. He looked utterly defeated and pitiful.

Without his usual biting sarcasm, Yin Xian—now a little white bunny—looked innocent and well-behaved. If Wang Jiexiang hadn’t pinched her thigh just now, she’d probably be on the ground cooing, “Don’t be sad, bunny.”

“Don’t blame me for being heartless. Do you remember what you said when we broke up?”

He looked up. “I don’t.”

“I don’t remember breaking up with you, don’t remember dating you. Honestly, Wang Jiexiang, I have no idea who you are.”

That—unsurprisingly—pissed her off all over again. He added,

“Want to take a walk around Little Rabbit Island with me?”

Little Rabbit Island was circular, surrounded by ocean. The paper crane that brought Wang Jiexiang landed in the island’s northernmost clearing. South of that clearing was a well-lit, neatly paved stone path connecting a series of uniquely styled homes.

It was a tiny island. From the northern edge, you could see clear to the south.

Wang Jiexiang walked the stone path with the bunny at her side, surveying the surroundings.

Visually, it felt like a quiet early autumn street: grass, trees, streetlamps, houses. The lights glowed warmly, and even the shadowed bushes looked harmless. If not for the talking bunny, she’d never believe this was another world.

But just as the bunny said, there were no other creatures in sight. Every house they passed was dark.

“Do any of these houses look familiar to you?”

The bunny looked up at Wang Jiexiang. The sky behind her was starting to pale.

“Never seen them before,” she answered firmly.

“What stage of life did you meet me in?”

“What?” She didn’t catch the connection between his questions.

The bunny stepped forward, glancing left and right. “These are all houses I once lived in.”

“The first one we passed belonged to my dad’s family. I was born there. Then we moved for his job—see that yellow apartment? That was during elementary school. In middle school, when my parents were divorcing, I stayed with my grandfather for two years—that wooden one’s his house. To the right now is the boarding school I spent high school in. On the left is my first workplace dorm. I worked at an auto repair shop and got assigned a room.”

Wang Jiexiang was stunned. “These are houses from totally different places, all crammed onto this island?”

“Yes.”

She walked over to the work dorm and tried peeking through the window. The glass was opaque and white—no way to see inside.

“Have you tried going in?” She knocked. The sound was dull and hard, like hitting concrete.

“No, they’re all locked.”

Even with such simple features, Wang Jiexiang could read a trace of frustration in the bunny’s face.

He opened his mouth, then hesitated.

“What is it?”

He gave her a long look. “Getting close to them makes me feel weird. Fragments of old memories flash in my head.”

“Alright.” Wang Jiexiang guided him back to the stone path. “Maybe if we find the place where we lived together, you’ll remember me. It was a shabby old house in a narrow alley, blocked from sunlight by rows of wooden cabins. Across the way was a public restroom. If we find it, we could try getting in through the roof—it used to leak all the time.”

The island wasn’t big. Yet by the time they reached the far south, they still hadn’t seen any house matching her description.

They’d arrived at the southern tip. A flashy animal home caught Wang Jiexiang’s eye. Its roof was red, two luxurious stories tall. Probably where Yin the Bunny lived.

Up close, she noticed a sign by the burrow.

Wang Jiexiang read it aloud: “Fei Fei’s House.”

Fei Fei? Yin Xian always used to call her that.

Pointing at the sign, she asked, “This Fei Fei…”

Before she could finish, the bunny interrupted, glancing past her.

“The sun’s up.”

Wang Jiexiang turned. The dazzling sunlight washed everything white.

Her eyes stung unexpectedly. She shut them tight, waiting for the sensation to pass.

When she opened them again, she was back in her bedroom.

Straight ahead—her broken window.

The wind rushed through it, and Wang Jiexiang scratched her head in a daze.