【Zhou Fumei】The Immortal Witch and the Child She Picked Up

(07)

This is the third time Faust miscalculated the experimental data today.Adding and subtracting decimals is easy to say but difficult to teach.Mephisto was so impatient, he would yell at Faust if he made a slight mistake, which made the little snake tremble with its tail between its legs every day.

I can't stand the forget-me-nots in the basin. "I said, Lord Mephisto, human children need to be taught slowly, and you can't teach them well, so why not..."

"Let him go to school? Don't be kidding." Mephisto sneered and pressed Faust, "If you let this thing out, it will never come back."

"Where can he go if he doesn't come back?" Forget-me-not patted the leaves. "Dear one, do you have any? Friends, not to mention any? Master Mephisto might as well worry about whether he will be eaten by wolves on the way to school."

Mephisto snorted coldly, pinched Faust's chin and asked, "Do you want to go to school? Play with your peers every day~" Although he sensed the witch's resentment, Faust really wanted to go out Turning around, he mustered up the courage and nodded.

Mephisto left at noon and came back at night with a schoolbag and some carbon pencils. "The formalities are all done. Turn this crutch clockwise once and click three times, and you can go anywhere you want. I suggest you go to the fifth lesson in the forest under the tree. Don't go directly to the school. You will be found. Turn counterclockwise Click three times, and you can return to me." After speaking, he poked Faust on the forehead.

"And—" the witch's eyes were full of false warmth, "This is the magic that you will die tomorrow night. Remember to come back and let me untie it~"

In fact, if Mephisto didn't mention it, Faust didn't think about it at all.

(08)

Faust did not return.

After school at four o'clock, Mephisto would open the door and wait at three o'clock.

Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock... Faust did not come back.Mephisto suddenly felt ridiculous.It's nonsensical to raise a human cub and not eat it right away, but let him out.Alright, it might be time to single out a village hunter tonight.

At eight o'clock, Mephisto began to poison his staff.At nine o'clock, he sharpened his knife by the way.If you really can't beat it, give yourself a good time.

It's ten o'clock, why the hunter called the little bastard hasn't arrived yet.What does the church in the village do to eat.

Eleven o'clock, oh, the forest is too dark, normal people don't have the courage to come at night.Very good, Faust, who is bleeding from the seven orifices tomorrow, will make the witch more guilty. He may have to pour sesame oil on the stake, and before that, he must be tied up with an iron maiden and paraded through the streets.

At 11:30, Mephisto couldn't sleep.The strange fighting spirit made him shiver all over his body. He wants to kill people now, wants to kill people very much, wants to ignite the whole forest and sprinkle potions to summon the dead, wants the volcano to erupt and then spread malaria—wait a minute, why am I making such a big fuss, isn’t it? Did a toad escape?

Mephisto froze.

Why am I angry.Hateful, angry, angry, angry, bastard, trash, the bastard of a prostitute in the human gutter——

He took his cane and put on his cloak and rushed out. He didn't bother to ride the broom and teleported directly into the school.He had had enough, raised his left hand to let the vines cover the buildings, snapped his fingers and the ground began to vibrate.Numerous scorpions and centipedes came out of the cracks in the wall, secreting venom sparingly.

Amidst the roar and scream of the poisonous bug, Mephisto suddenly heard the child's laughter.

stop laughing?

Mephisto was so angry that he was going crazy, the ghostly aura made snakes and scorpions dare not block the way, and there was a clear path between him and Faust.The witch opened the gold pocket watch, her eyes widened and she laughed wildly, "You have 5 minutes left, my dear little bastard. Do you have any last words?"

Faust's eye sockets and eye whites were red, and his nose was scratched, but he smiled flatteringly at Mephisto and walked over cautiously.

"It's useless if you tell me you regret it now."

"Great." Faust's voice was still hoarse. "Brother Mephisto still wants me."

ha?Who doesn't want who?

"I lost my stick. I said to every crow that passed by, please send me a message to Mephistopheles, but they ignored me...I looked for it, ran and ran in the building , In the end I couldn’t even find the way out of the school... It’s so dark here, I’m scared..." The snot dripped down again, Faust wiped it hard, and the nosebleed leaked out.

"But, I knew when I saw the scorpion and the spider, you're here, you're here to pick me up." He threw himself into Mephisto's arms, trembling, and after making sure he had caught the witch, he clenched his fists and cried loudly .

Mephisto put away his staff, squatted on the ground and kissed the little snake's forehead.Wrap him in the cloak, open it again, and you're home.

(09)

Faust grabbed Mephisto and refused to let go.

The fear of not being able to get home yesterday left the child with a livid face and pitiful dark circles under his eyes. "I said, it's fine if you don't want to relax when you sleep, it's time for you to go to school." Mephistopheles suddenly felt so miserable, and had to be like an old mother at the school gate with her child.

"If I get lost again, will Brother Mephisto come looking for me?"

The witch sneered, "I don't know whether you are running away or lost."

Faust blinked his eyes, wanted to say something and then held back.He never thought of leaving Mephisto, but Mephisto didn't trust him.Yes, I am a useless child, and I am not good at addition and subtraction.Mephisto thought he could multiply, but he couldn't at all.Taking advantage of Mephisto's inattention, to calculate 4x5, add up four 4s, and to calculate 5÷8, use every number less than 2 to see who is just right.

(10)

"What? You just learned multiplication and division???! What was the data you gave me before!!"

(11)

"Wash your parents' feet??"

(12)

Among the strange parent-child homework given by the school, the only thing that made Mephisto feel worthwhile going to school was the reading class.

[Faust] reads a bedtime story to [Mephisto] every night.

Mephisto refused to admit that this was a childish parent-child game. After all, Faust took a book in human language and had to translate it into a witch's language at the moment of reading it, and it also had to be full of voice and emotion--this is very important for the child's language level. There is a great improvement.

The sage that said "You're a good father" went into the pot the next day, along with the five crows who refused to help Faust.

"The sage removes the fishy smell, and the crow meat is delicious." Faust, who didn't know the inside story, seriously praised Mephisto, who rarely cooks.

(13)

"Brother Mephisto, when is my birthday?"

The witch froze.Of course he didn't remember, but for some reason, he felt that it was not good to say that he didn't remember directly, and he didn't want to make it up. "Why are you asking this?"

Faust lowered his eyes, with a tangled expression, quietly raised his eyes to see Mephisto's face, and said tentatively, "I want to hold a birthday party at home. I've made friends."

"Don't even think about it." Mephisto's face instantly became extremely ugly. "What do you think I am? A witch! If someone finds out, just wait to be burned alive—you can't escape either."

"If being a witch is hard work, you don't have to do it." Faust didn't dare to look into Mephisto's eyes when he said this.In fact, he also wanted to say, you are not a witch and I will stay by your side, but this may make Mephisto even more angry, so he didn't say it.

"Get lost." When Mephisto stopped yelling, it was clear that he was really angry.

(14)

Faust put down his schoolbag.

"I don't want to go to school anymore."

"What are you kidding?!"

"I'm serious." Faust was already as tall as Mephisto, and he was not used to it, so he still wanted to look up at Mephisto. "Since I went out, I seldom work for Mephisto, I seldom talk, and I often bicker... I think more and more differently from you, we, we...!!"

Mephisto was suddenly speechless.

Faust and his witch sat on the table back to back without saying a word.Faust took Mephisto's hand and pressed it to his face.

"The sun is setting," said Faust.

(15)

Tonight Faust lay alone in bed for a long time before Mephisto came.They were about the same height, and Faust could no longer rest his head on Mephisto's arm—before going to bed.Still not very honest after falling asleep.

"Ghost knows when your birthday is." Mephistopheles grinned, "It was Christmas seven years ago when I dug you out of the dead." "I was five years old then." "Yeah."

"Then Christmas is my birthday."

"Whatever you want."

"...Mephisto..."

"Ok?"

"Today I forgot to prepare a bedtime story."

"It doesn't matter, I'm so sleepy."

"Why don't I recite a text for you."

"You carry it, I'm going to sleep anyway."

Faust nodded.

"The story is about a prince who fell in love with a rose, quarreled and ran away from home. I started——

I have traveled deserts and sunsets,

I went to seven planets,

I've met many, many people,

I should judge her by her actions, not her words.Hua's thoughts are always unpredictable.I am too young. "

"

Faust watched Mephisto fall into a deep sleep.He got into the witch's arms as lightly as possible and insisted on reciting the text.

"I don't know how to love her."

TBC

In Chapter 3, the Aloe Witch who ran to the depths of the forest sang a cheerful song, but her voice became hoarse after a few words, and she shed tears while coughing.

(16)

"What was that thing you memorized last night?" Mephisto asked, chewing on a muffin, "How can children's textbooks be so unrestrained."

"Ahh...that's, an excerpt. Extracurricular readings."

"It's very interesting. Let's borrow a few copies and read them back."

At first, it was good to listen to "The Little Prince" before going to bed, but Faust thought that Mephisto would like to listen to "Prince Stories", so he followed up with "The Happy Prince", and he was kicked out of the witch that night bedroom.The next day it was "The Thrushcross King", Mephistopheles commented with satisfaction: "You should tell some stories about flowers, plants, warblers and swallows."

On the third day, Faust talked about "The Nightingale and the Rose".

(17)

"Everyone is going to bring a plant to school today."

Mephisto froze and thought for a long time, what could be elegant and show the majesty of the strongest witch with a radius of [-] kilometers.

Faust left with a basin of aloe.

(18)

"Can I borrow a cage?"

"Are you bringing animals again today?!"

"Well...not too big."

Tsk.Flaming Lizard A can't go out.

"This dark Sylvia mole, take it well, it can be seen no matter how dark it is, and it is extremely resistant to drugs. Don't let him eat ginger soaked in amaranth, it will go crazy."

"Okay, thank you Brother Mephisto." Then he released the poor mole when he went out.

Faust himself had caught a mouse last night, and all he needed was a cage.

(19)

The "death magic to be dispelled at night" that Mephisto gave to Faust will not be interrupted.After Faust took care of him to put on his shirt and socks, he would poke the little snake on the forehead and insert his fingers into his messy curly hair and rub it for a while.

The magic is broken with a goodnight kiss.

But in fact, Faust, who never thought about running away, had long since forgotten Mephisto's threat that he would die if he didn't come back every night. In his eyes, when he was in school, the clingy witch started to kiss.

(20)

"Will Mephisto come to my graduation?"

"Graduation? How long have you been in school?"

"Four years." Faust frowned.

Because the witch has eternal life, she is not very sensitive to time, just like a mayfly will pick a second to commemorate every hour.Faust suddenly felt a little lost. For him, this is a day of rapid growth and understanding of the world. It is 1/3 of the life he has experienced, and it is a very important part of Faust.But to Mephisto, the immortal witch, it's like blinking an eye.It doesn't matter as if the morning glory blooms and falls?

He suddenly wanted to ask Mephisto if he was just a pet or a pot of medicinal herbs.

He opened his mouth and closed it again.What if the answer is "yes"?What can he do.

Mephisto didn't even bother to answer his crying.

After that night, Faust's sleeping appearance became much more honest, he no longer squeezed into the witch's arms, let alone rubbed against the witch's flat chest.But he would cry, and very occasionally, Mephisto could hear him.So he patted the boy on the back.He could feel that Faust seemed to have a problem, but it was only for the little boy to figure it out.

(21)

Faust asked Mephistopheles what happens after death.

Mephisto didn't answer him.

"Is it black? Asleep? Does it hurt?"

"I don't know, witches don't die."

"... Am I going to die?"

"Yes." The witch replied firmly. "I can't make the medicine of immortality. You can try it if you want, anyway, you still have decades left."

The little boy who was already as tall as a witch put his schoolbag on his back and opened the door silently.Mephisto didn't cast a spell on him that would kill him tonight, and he didn't plan to cast it again in the future.

Anyway, sooner or later he will die.

(22)

immortal.

Then asking the teacher about this should be a joke.After all, if children nowadays want to attract the attention of their favorite teachers, they will ask emerging questions such as steam engines and flame reactions.Booming machines, dazzling gears, shiny mercury, and newer and newer things make human beings seldom keep their eyes on themselves.

Yes, human beings have so little time.So little that you can only pay attention to a little bit.What about the witch who has a lot of time?

Faust didn't want to think about it any further.He is going to the library to return books today.It's terribly quiet here, and there is a narrow, opaque space between the bookshelves.Many times I search for it, forget what book I want, stare at the spine of the book in a daze, until the sun slides to the window, and the light of the setting sun hurts my eyes.He came to borrow the history of philosophy he wanted, and when he recovered, he had two fairy tales in his hand.

He wasn't surprised he kept thinking about Mephisto.

He was surprised, why, he was deliberately avoiding Mephisto.He could swagger and write "Borrowing Fairy Tale Books" on today's todolist, but he didn't.

Faust intends to walk back to the forest today.

The schoolbag is not heavy.He knew he was enough to walk home before twelve o'clock, so he picked up the pine cones and snakeberries on the ground.Mephisto would not let him eat snakeberries, so when he picked them up, he only crushed them on his fingertips, and his fingers gradually became sticky.He's just delicate and doesn't really want to go home.

As he passed the last human structure, he plucked a rose.For some reason, this thing can't grow in Mephisto's garden, so if you want to use it, you have to go to the market to buy it.When he was five years old, people thought they would buy it for his mother. When he was ten years old, they thought they would buy it for his childhood sweetheart. He is 15 years old.

Faust thought, he bought flowers at the age of 15 and said he would give them to his lover. When I went to buy flowers at the age of 25, I said I would give them to my fiancée, and when I was 35, I said I would give them to my wife.

After 150 years, it is not his turn to worry about who will buy flowers for Mephisto.

Mephisto’s closest companion to the flowers is his thorny assistant, who is responsible for guarding the witch’s hut. No one will listen to what he says except Mephisto, and Faust, who has “worked” here for ten years, has to follow them humbly. You can only pass by saying hello.They have thorns, but they don't bloom.

(23)

"I am back."

Mephisto is not there.

The witch hates doing housework, even if she really cooks and eats herself, she doesn't know how to wash the dishes, so it's obvious that Mephisto hasn't eaten.Faust fried two eggs and sat at the door waiting.

Mephisto was back soon too.He saw Faust froze for a moment, and took off his shoes without saying a word. He wanted to say something but he didn't say anything in the end.

The human boy said that he needed a small piece of land, and started to write a tomato observation diary today, but the witch asked him to shovel the rosemary.

"If you don't explain what's going on today...forget it." The witch looked so tired that she didn't even have the intention to get angry, and she didn't eat the supper made by Faust.

Faust didn't sleep with the Witch either.

(24)

Faust opened the moment the witch knocked on the door.

The two sat on the small bed.Faust's bed was just the right size when he was five years old, and it was too crowded for two 15-year-old children to use as a sofa.

Faust asked, is it okay to kiss goodnight, Mephistopheles nodded, and moved closer, ready to kiss the forehead of this naughty child. "Little brat, lower down."

"Yeah." Faust boldly kissed Mephistopheles' forehead.

In the room, Faust's heartbeat was so fierce that it was about to shatter, and there was a loud roar. He didn't dare to look at Mephisto's expression, he was as stiff as a zombie buried in Halloween, until Mephisto returned. Kissed the tip of his nose.

"The witch will die too. When she falls in love with someone, the countdown to eternal life begins." Mephistopheles thought for a while, but did not add the word Faust at the end of the sentence.

Faust has been curled up in his little old bed ever since, like a cat squeezed into an Erlenmeyer flask.Mephisto probably pretended not to notice on purpose.Faust couldn't sleep well at night, so he simply went downstairs to serve his tomatoes.He even squeezed the Mephistopheles into a ball, scraped away the moss as thick as a squirrel's tail, and put sand on it.

"You give me a little more than enough."

"sorry."

Faust's little tomato eventually died, so he moved the creeper back into place.But Faust's pillow was still in his room - not in its place - Mephistopheles' room.

Every day Mephisto would knock on the little boy's door and kiss him good night.But Faust no longer has the courage to take the initiative to kiss Mephisto, he is no longer a child.

Before going out in the morning, Faust asked, "Let me confirm again, 'When the witch falls in love with someone, the eternal life begins to count down'. Are you kidding me?"

"I don't need to lie to you. There are many ways to kill a witch in "The Chronicle of a Witch". How about you, want to kill me?"

"I'm just scared. I'm afraid that Mephisto will die." Faust grabbed his schoolbag and ran away, his thoughts were in a mess, and his heart was throbbing just looking at Mephisto.

(25)

"Did you be seen by magic?" Mephisto asked while directing the brooms to move the furniture.

"What happened?"

"The crows in the city say that the hunters will come and kill us tomorrow afternoon. The crows say it's tomorrow afternoon, and that's tomorrow morning."

"Can't Mephisto win?" It stands to reason that Mephisto, who is belligerent and thirsty for killing, would not back down, he wished for a battle every day.

"After the spell is cast, all living things will be burned except me." After finishing speaking, he continued to tidy up the books, "I can borrow your carrier pigeon to say goodbye to my friends."

The human child squeezed the hem of his clothes and tried his best to say:

"Can I leave later? There's still something I want to sort out, and I'll come to you in a few days."

"If you want to be burned to death, you don't have to go."

The witch's hand to collect the things froze in mid-air.

That's right, this child is a human being, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't leave, he is a child kidnapped by a witch, as long as he asks for help from the human world, someone will come to take him away.By the way... what did he mean by what he said yesterday?Why is he acting so strange these days?He spends more time with human beings than he does with himself and human teachers. What will he talk about in class?

Yes, he is...human.And I am a witch.Mephisto suddenly couldn't understand what he found the market from school last night, and then the forest map from the market, and even on the way home, he was still thinking about whether to cut open the stomachs of all the wolves and leopards on the mountain. Is Shide here?What a fool I am, the Witch thought.I have seen through every room and every sewer, but I haven't seen the heart of this little bastard.He didn't think like I did at all.

"Mephisto likes me too, right?"

The witch froze.He deserved to deny this self-righteous boy with vicious words, grabbed the test tube anxiously, and cleared his throat: "You think too much."

"I also hope that I'm overthinking, it's better that I'm being sentimental." Faust bit his lower lip. "But you, who didn't let me make friends, now allow me to say goodbye with carrier pigeons. You don't give me the curse of sudden death if I don't come home at night. If I don't go home, you go out to find me." Faust paused, "I don't like it. Why do you accept my kiss?" He took a step forward, approaching the maddened witch, "If you don't like me, please kill me and the hunters, come! Prove it to me, Mephisto !!"

"Don't make excuses there. It doesn't matter if you want to go back to the maggot's nest, anyway, you are a worm. Okay, you can go away." Mephistopheles sneered and put on his cloak. "If you appear in my territory again in the future, I will kill you."

The witch took the suitcase, slammed the door and left.Although he knew that the sound insulation of the door was very good, Faust still covered his mouth and tried not to cry out.

The witch ran to the depths of the forest, sang a cheerful song, but her voice became hoarse after a few words, and she coughed and shed tears.

TBC

[Faust wants to plant tomatoes, the garden is full, and Mephisto asks him to shovel the rosemary. 】

Rosemary's flower language: Keep the beautiful past as a memory, every time you think of it is very sweet.