pillow mountain river

The snow fell harder and harder, and the world was white.

The open space in front of the house was covered with snow, and the flat ground was like ice.The thin peach trees were covered with falling snow, and the peach branches were almost crushed by the snow.

Er Dong knelt on the ground, his face turned pale from the cold, and snow covered his shoulders and the top of his head.

After a while, the bamboo door was pushed open from the inside out.

The man was dressed in Tsing Yi, and his figure was as tall and straight as a bamboo. He stood on the steps and stared at Er Dong.

Er Dong still lowered his head, perhaps his brows and eyelashes were covered with snow, so he didn't raise his eyes to look at Master.

"Do you know your mistake?"

The man's voice was as flat as ever.

Er Dong raised the corners of his mouth bitterly, but only mentioned Xiexi, and he was punished to kneel in the snow.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Er Dong asked hoarsely.

In fact, he should have understood a long time ago that whether he did something wrong or what he did right, in the eyes of Master, it is all the same.I have never entered his eyes.

The man lowered his eyes and looked at Er Dong.

Er Dong had accumulated grievances for a long time, and couldn't help bursting out, "Why can you smile at others, but treat me coldly? Are you so disrespectful to me?"

"Obviously I am the one who faces you day and night!"

The tea seller, the shop owner, and the master all treat each other with gentleness, but once they face him, their attitudes are completely different.

He has no parents, no relatives and friends, and he has only known Master since he can remember.

Master is everything to him.

However, his questioning could only be met with the man's silence.

Er Dong's heart felt as if a vat of vinegar had been spilled, full of sourness.He pursed his lips tightly, trying not to let out the words that had reached his throat.

However, he couldn't control the gushing emotions.Facing Master's expressionless face, Er Dong's lips trembled, and he heard his own hysterical cry.

"If you don't like me, why accept me as an apprentice? I'm not your apprentice, and I don't need to be trapped in this yard with you!"

Er Dong's consciousness was already confused, his eye circles were red, and he stared straight at the man.

"Come in after you wake up," the master turned and entered the room.

The bamboo door creaked and closed slowly.

The snow kept falling, and Er Dong's knees were buried in the snow.

The young man's thin body is like a peach branch in the cold wind, a gust of wind howls past, and it may break it.

Er Dong felt cold all over, only the tears in his eyes were burning hot.

He didn't understand, really didn't understand.

In the past, he thought that the master was cold-tempered so he seldom paid attention to him, but the master would smile and listen gently, but he never knew it.

For so many years, he could only look at the master's back when he was reading a book, or glimpse some of the master's profile through the open window.

The two live under the same roof, and sometimes their relationship is as if they are strangers.

Xu Shi's eyes were blurred by tears, and the scene in front of Er Dong's eyes became more and more blurred, as if a layer of mist had formed on his eyes.

His vision suddenly went dark, and his whole body fell into endless darkness.

In the darkness, Er Dong walked in a daze, the surroundings were opaque, he didn't know where he was going.

Suddenly, dots of starlight floated in the sky, and the starlight kept wandering, as if guiding Er Dong to a certain place.

He hurriedly followed, like a person in a cave who found the exit.

A flash of white light flashed, and Er Dong covered his eyes with his sleeve.

When his vision returned to normal, he smelled the strong fragrance of peach blossoms.

Er Dong looked around and saw a peach forest. The peach trees here were different from the thin peach tree in the yard. Each tree was full of luxuriant branches and branches full of flowers.

"Hey, look up."

A voice came from overhead.

Er Dong followed the prestige and saw only a few peach blossoms falling slowly.

"Here," said the voice again behind him.

Er Dong was patted on the shoulder, and he looked back, only to see a man with thick black hair, looking at him with a half-smile.

This person's eyes were actually dark red, but Er Dong didn't feel scared, maybe it was because he was too beautiful, which weakened his fierce aura.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time," the man leaned closer, with the tip of his nose almost touching Erdong's neck.

He exclaimed as if smelling a jug of good wine, "It smells so familiar."

A thought suddenly popped up in Er Dong's mind - this person might bite his neck off.

Instinctively, Er Dong pushed the man away and kept running forward until he was out of breath, then he stopped to catch his breath.

"Old friends meet, is this how you treat me?"

The man jumped down from the peach tree, his black hair hanging on his chest, adding to his beauty.

how so fast

Er Dong couldn't make a sound, just stared at a pair of eyes, and when this person approached, he sat down on the ground in fright.

The man sighed lamentingly, "You've become such an ugly face now, I can't even keep my mouth shut."

Can he eat people?

"Demon, monster?" Er Dong said falteringly.

When the man heard the word "monster" coming out of Er Dong's mouth, he laughed more flamboyantly, "Demon?"

"The only demon here, isn't it you?"

Er Dong couldn't move, and watched the man approach gradually.

The dark red eyes are like pools of coagulated blood, reflecting a face.

After Er Dong saw his own reflection in the man's eyes, he took a deep breath.

How did he become like this man?

After the snow stopped, the first ray of sunshine dispelled the nightmare.A charcoal fire was burning inside the house, and the cold air outside the window could not blow in.

Er Dong opened his eyes, he remembered that he was kneeling outside the house, then fainted and had another nightmare.

But now, he was lying on his own bed, covered with a thick quilt, his cheeks were flushed red by the heat from the charcoal fire.

Er Dong wanted to sit up, but as soon as he moved, a small cough came out of his mouth.

"Cough cough."

Er Dong covered his mouth, but he still couldn't stop coughing, as long as he coughed, his lungs would also ache.

As footsteps approached, someone lifted the bead curtain and walked in.

The master was sitting by the bed, holding a porcelain bowl in his hand, as soon as he approached, Er Dong could smell a strong smell of medicine.

"Drink the medicine," the master said.

Er Dong stretched out his hand, and before he could take the bowl, the man scooped up a spoonful of medicinal soup and brought it to his mouth.

With warm medicine on his lips, Er Dong looked at Master as if waking up from a dream.

"Bitter?"

Although the master's expression was as usual, and there was no expression of pity on his face, but Er Dong was still very satisfied.

Er Dong shook his head, he thought to himself, no matter how bitter the medicine is, he will swallow it.

The man raised the handle of the spoon, and the medicinal soup flowed into Erdong's mouth.As soon as the medicine collided with his tongue, a strong and pungent bitter taste rushed straight to the sky.

Er Dong leaned over and vomited out the medicine, and he was still retching after vomiting all the medicine.

He wiped the corner of his mouth, "Master, I vomited accidentally, give me the bowl, and I will drink it myself."

"Forget it," the man stood up and took the medicine bowl away.

Er Dong looked at Master's back, and the uncomfortable feeling in his heart hadn't subsided yet.He looked out the window, only to see the vast expanse of snow.

He should have swallowed the medicine, but he vomited out the medicine that Master painstakingly brewed.

Would Master blame him for being ignorant? Thinking of this, the cough that had been stopped with great difficulty came out of his throat again.

After coughing for a while, sleepiness came up again, Er Dong lay on the pillow, half asleep and half awake, the master came again.

"Change the pill, swallow it."

The man spread out his palm, on which lay a pill the size of a lotus seed.

Er Dong swallowed the medicine with water, before the bitterness spread on his lips and tongue, the balls fell into his stomach.

The master took away the charcoal basin and lowered the window, "No need to get up, you can rest for a while." After saying that, he left.

Er Dong picked up the quilt, buried his face in the soft quilt, he kept giggling, the corners of his mouth were frozen.

Master actually didn't hate him that much.

Er Dong originally thought that the wind and cold would get better soon, but he didn't expect that he had been lying on the bed for three days.

He used to be in good health, but he didn't suffer from wind and cold. He only needed to drink a bowl of medicinal soup flushed with water, and within two days, sweating would be enough.

"Master, there's no need...cough cough... boil the medicine into pills," Er Dong said.

The hand that the man handed over the elixir froze and stopped in mid-air.

"The tongue can't taste the bitterness."

Er Dong glanced at the bean cakes on the table, he couldn't eat anything recently, when Master went to Mao Village yesterday, he brought him a bean cake.

This is his favorite snack on weekdays, but it tastes like bitter medicine.

Bitter medicine and sweet cakes slowly became tasteless in his mouth.

"It would be great if... cough cough... bean cake can be stored for a longer time. When I recover from illness, I can eat it... cough cough... in one go."

Er Dong fell into a drowsy sleep for a few more days. Although he took pills every day, his illness did not improve.

He felt that he was like a tree. Before winter came, the leaves fell one by one, and finally the branches were bare, leaving nothing.

The thin peach tree in the yard was as thin as ever, but there were still a few yellow leaves sparsely hanging on its branches.

Er Dong used to always worry that this peach tree would die one day, but now it seems that maybe after his own death, it will still live in such a dishonorable way.

Will I die?

The disease dragged on for a whole winter and never got better.

Er Dong was exhausted all over, and he seemed to be struggling even to think wildly.

One night, Er Dong heard the sound of falling snow in his sleep.

The charcoal fire in the house was burning well, and even though it was freezing outside, the house was as warm as spring.

As Er Dong fell asleep, he suddenly felt something sticking to his forehead. The cool thing dispelled the dry heat accumulated by relying on charcoal fire for a long time.

He was so comfortable that he wished that the thing could stay on him for a while longer.

However, someone seemed to be taking it away, and Er Dong grabbed that person in a panic.

don't go...

The man stopped.

After Er Dong woke up, what imprinted in his eyes was a picture-like peaceful sleeping face.Long eyebrows like thick black ink flew into the temples slantingly, the bridge of the nose was as high as carved from jade, and the eyes that made Er Dong fearful and happy were closed, blocking the indifference in the eyes.

Without a pair of sharp long eyes, this face suddenly became gentle.

Er Dong admired it quietly at first, and then he realized that he had actually slept all night holding his master's sleeve.This time, he became extremely anxious, and simply closed his eyes and continued to pretend to be asleep.

There was a rustling sound beside him, and the man got up.

Er Dong secretly opened a slit in his eyes and glanced at the master's back. The long hair pulled up by the bamboo hairpin was a little messy, but he couldn't tell that he had been lying with someone on the small bed all night.

Er Dong originally wanted to take a nap and take a peek, but the sound of coughing betrayed him.

"It's time for us to travel far," Zhen Hanshan said.

Er Dong said in surprise, "Didn't you forbid me to go out again?"

It was because he asked too much about Xiexi that the master punished him to kneel in the snow.

"Besides," Er Dong lowered his head and said sullenly, "I'm not in good health, and it will drag you down."

"Don't ask, just do it."

Er Dong should be happy to be able to go out again, but this serious illness has consumed too much of his mind, he has been lying down for a long time, and he doesn't want to move too much.

In the evening, Master delivered the medicine again.Er Dong didn't even look at it, but took it and ate it.

After swallowing the medicine, not long after, his whole body became much lighter and he no longer felt groggy.

It's strange to say that I took a lot of medicines before but they didn't get any better, but I took this medicine today, and it took a long time to see results.

Er Dong lifted the quilt and excitedly went to look for Master. He opened the door and shouted, "Master! I'm fine! I'm fine!"

The master raised his head, but there was no half smile on his face.

It was as if Er Dong had been splashed with a basin of ice water, and the smile on his face faded a bit.

"The return date is uncertain this time, you should pack your things first."

Er Dong asked, "Where are we going this time?"

"You will know when you arrive."

"Now that the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, the road is difficult to walk."

The master glanced at him, Er Dong covered his mouth, and muttered: "I won't say anything, I'll go and pack my things now."

"Don't go, come here first," Zhen Hanshan said.

Er Dong walked over.Zhen Hanshan said again, "Closer."

Er Dong took another small step.

Zhen Hanshan directly grabbed his wrist and brought him in front of him.Although Er Dong lived under the same roof as Master, Master never liked being too close to him, and Er Dong rarely got so close to him.

Once he got close, the grass-like smell on Master's body became clear. That kind of smell is not good, after all, it has a bit of astringency, but it can't be said to be bad.

The scent of grass and woods makes one feel like being in the mountains and forests, this is the most refreshing smell, but Er Dong feels dizzy as if he had secretly drunk old osmanthus wine.

Zhen Hanshan stretched out his hand close to Er Dong's neck, and Er Dong retracted his neck nervously.

The man said helplessly, "What are you afraid of?"

Er Dong didn't know, Master just took off the collar around his neck, but he made a big fuss.

After Zhen Hanshan took the collar away, he signaled Er Dong to go out. Before leaving, Er Dong glanced at the collar he was wearing next to his body.

The collar seemed to emit a golden light, Er Dong rubbed his eyes, and the light disappeared again.

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