pillow mountain river

Here comes the kid again.

The child is not tall, with slender hands and feet, but he has a mouth that can't stop talking.

"The sun is so nice today, it's warm, and it makes people feel comfortable. Do you like it?"

"By the way, you usually only come out at night, and the sun hasn't set yet!"

Did not get any response, but the child got used to it, and continued chatting without changing his face, "Tonight is Hangu's autumn banquet, do you know what an autumn banquet is? Every year when the weather is good, Hangu always holds an autumn banquet. It’s about thanking God.”

The child continued, "Tell me, why do you have to hold an autumn banquet in a calamity year? The autumn banquet is getting more grand every year, but I don't see the cold valley blessed by God. It rained a lot last year, and the crops were flooded. I was hungry for a whole day." Belly of winter."

The child was squatting on the ground, playing with the dead leaves on the ground, when suddenly a boy appeared behind him.Juveniles are about the same age as children.

The young man hurried over and asked, "A Zhen, who are you talking to?"

The boy named Ah Zhen was startled, almost sat down on the ground, and said falteringly, "I didn't talk to...who, you, why are you here?"

The boy was busy talking to him about the autumn banquet, but he didn't notice the strange embarrassment on Ah Zhen's face.The boy said, "Why are you bored in the medicine garden all year round? There is no one here, and you are not afraid of being suffocated to death! Tell me, can you go to the autumn banquet tonight?"

"I, I won't go," Ah Zhen lowered his head and glanced at his partner.

"Oh! Why don't you go! Ah Zhi has already gone, she is interested in you, why don't you hurry up!"

Ah Zhen said, "I really don't want to go to the autumn feast, the medicine garden still needs to be taken care of."

The partner hated iron for being weak, gritted his teeth and said: "You are really elm-headed! If you don't go to see such a beautiful girl, you will soak in the medicine garden all day. Even if this soul grass can really bring the dead back to life, it will be your turn?"

Ah Zhen was silent.The young man waved his hand and said, "That's all. If you don't go, forget it. I'll secretly leave you two steamed buns. You can ask me tonight."

Ah Zhen smiled and thanked his partner.

When the partner walked away, Ah Zhen turned to look at that person.The phantom under the sun is like a shadow, and when the floating clouds cover the scorching sun and cast a shadow, the phantom becomes clear.

The man was dressed in green, expressionless, but his appearance was extremely outstanding.

His gaze may have fallen on the young man, or the herbs in the medicine garden, or maybe everything has not caught his eyes.

It wasn't until Ah Zhen spoke again that he lightly raised his eyelids and looked at the boy indifferently.

"I don't like autumn banquets. God is not good to people. Why do we have to thank him every year? If God really blesses mankind, how can there be mountain torrents and droughts?"

The young man looked down. If the elders of the clan heard what he said, he would definitely be punished.

"My parents died very early. There was a flood every year, and they pushed me up to the roof. In the blink of an eye, the water washed them away... After the flood receded, I searched for a long time, and I also found Not to them. Many people died that year, and the shore was full of bones..."

"They say that gods are immortal, why are people so fragile... Floods, mountains and rivers... Scores of people die."

Xu Ying still looked at him indifferently, like looking at a moth with fluttering wings, whether it was dead or alive, flying high or sinking, it had nothing to do with him.

Ah Zhen wiped away her tears and looked at Xuying with a smile, "Fortunately, there is a soul grass. The flowering soul grass can bring people back to life. One day, I will plant a flowering soul grass."

"I know who you are? Flowers, grasses, insects and fishes will turn into demons when they open their intelligence. You are a spirit transformed from a soul grass." Ah Zhen stared into Xu Ying's eyes.

From the moment he saw this person, Ah Zhen knew who he was. Every soul grass was cultivated by him, and he could sense the changes of the soul grass in the dark.

Xu Ying finally took a serious look at the boy.

There was a slight smile on the young man's dull face, which could be called delicate.

From sunrise to sunset, Ah Zhen stayed in the medicine garden for a whole day.In addition to the soul grass, there are all kinds of medicinal herbs in the medicine garden, all of which are taken care of by Ah Zhen.

Xu Ying saw him alone carrying a wooden barrel half a person's height, which was heavy and filled with water.Ah Zhen was carrying the wooden barrel and had to rest for a while after walking for a while, but he never stopped, busily shuttling through the huge medicine garden.

Ah Zhen is an orphan who grew up eating a lot of food. These years are not good, and every family lives with tight waists, and has no time to take care of others.

Ah Zhen ate weeds, drank muddy water, and grew up stumbled, but because he was hungry and cold since childhood, he looked very young.The wrists and ankles are slender than those of the same age, as if they could be broken by a gust of wind, and the heavy wooden barrel is almost as heavy as him.

Until sunset, after taking care of the medicine garden all day, Ah Zhen was finally free to lie on the ground, look up at the stars in the sky, and take a little rest.

Seeing a particularly bright star, he sat up happily and pointed it to Xu Ying, "Look there! What a bright star!"

Xuying stood under the tree, the shadows swayed, and the moonlight was like water.

Ah Zhen looked back at Xu Ying, the man under the moonlight looked like a fairy, if there were a fairy in the world, it would look like this.

How can the gods respond to the echoes of mortals.

Ah Zhen knew that it was normal for that person to never pay attention to him, not even bothering to say a word.However, he still hoped that one day he would hear a response from that mouth.

However, Ah Zhen did not wait for that day.

That year, the spring in the cold valley did not come, and the winter snow covered the ground.The elders of the clan were very anxious and invited a wizard from another clan.

The wizard said that they violated the secrets of heaven and tried to use the soul grass to extend the lives of mortals, so they would be punished by heaven.

The elder ordered that the soul grass be destroyed, not a single one left.

"A Zhen, don't go anymore!" Ah Huan held his partner's hand, "My father said that the soul grass is the source of disaster. You have planted the soul grass for many years, be careful of being implicated!"

Ah Zhen insisted on going her own way, "I finally got the soul grass! One day, we humans can be like gods, and we will not die of illness or old age."

"People can't be gods. If you die, you're dead, and you won't come back!"

Ah Zhen clenched her fists tightly and pursed her lips tightly, and it took a long time before she opened her mouth and said, "Ah Huan, the day your aunt died of illness, didn't you ask me to plant a flowering soul grass and save your aunt? ?”

"A Zhen, we have grown up. I am not a child, and you are not a child anymore." A Huan stared at A Zhen's eyes and said, "I know, you have always wanted to see your father and mother again, but you are dead. will never come back.”

"I didn't think about it just for myself." Ah Zhen's eye circles were red, "Ah Huan, can people only be so humble? Floods, wildfires, serious illnesses, famines... people die every time."

A Huan said, "Whoever made us give birth is a human being. Since we are human beings, we should look like this. Besides, you know better than anyone else that soul grass is extremely difficult to grow. This thing is not tolerated by heaven. To be extinct!"

"A Zhen! A Zhen! Don't run away..." Ah Huan didn't expect his partner to burst out with different strength than before, and ran away from his hand, even he couldn't catch up.

There are more than a dozen soul grasses planted in a corner of the medicine garden. The warm spring has not arrived, and more than half of the soul grasses that were hard to survive are dead. There are only a few leaves that are yellow and sick. Lush and verdant.

Ah Zhen was out of breath, her lips were pale, and beads of sweat rolled down from her temples.He carefully separated the roots of the soul grass from the soil, and Ah Huan's call came from behind him.

Holding the green soul grass in her hands, Ah Zhen looked at the soul grass in the soil, and hurried away from the path.

It was cold outside the house, the sky and the earth were the same color, and the ground was covered with ice. He slipped and fell on the path several times, his ankles were red and swollen like steamed buns, but even half a leaf of the soul grass in his arms never broke.

Ah Zhen ran for an unknown amount of time, but couldn't run anymore, and knelt in the snow panting for breath.

This remote bamboo forest is far away from human settlements, even firewood cutters rarely come here.

Ah Zhen pushed aside the accumulated snow and carefully buried the soul grass, her hands were red and stiff.When he planted the soul grass on his knees, the man stood in front of him.

As soon as she looked up, Ah Zhen saw his indifferent face.

"I'll come and see you when I'm free," Ah Zhen said with a smile on his face.He staggered to his feet and nearly fell into the snow again.

The man looked at him weak and weak, indifferent.

"Goodbye," A pillow said.

Ah Zhen walked for a while, and glanced at the man in the bamboo forest from afar, the blue phantom was like an unattainable moonlight.

Back in Hangu, there are already people waiting for Ah Zhen.Dozens of adult men held torches and surrounded the entrance expressionlessly. In the middle of the crowd was an old man in fox fur.Ah Zhen looked at this battle, even though he had already predicted it in his heart, his face turned pale.

"Kneel down," the old and calm voice came from the old man's mouth.

Two tall men stepped out from behind the old man, and they held Ah Zhen and subdued him to the ground.

The old man continued, "Ah Huan, but he removed the soul grass?"

Ah Zhen raised his head with difficulty, and he saw a familiar figure in the crowd, it was a tall boy.The boy was ashamed and in a trance, but he still came out from the crowd and stood in front of Ah Zhen.

"Take him to the altar and find out the whereabouts of the soul grass," the old man gave the order as soon as Ah Huan stood up.

The two tall men dragged Ah Zhen to the altar, Ah Zhen couldn't move under the two men's hands, his stomach was full of discomfort, and he vomited once before reaching the altar.

The people of Hangu surrounded the altar.

"A Zhen, if you really took the soul grass, hand it over!" The girl under the stone steps wanted to cry.

"Ah Zhi, go home quickly! Don't stay here!" The girl's father reprimanded, "This kid has been a strange guy since he was a child, and he brought back the soul grass! Who knows what he has in mind!"

Ah Zhen remained silent, and looked up at the bright moon in the sky.The moonlight was as gentle as gauze, shining on his face, as if a soft silk slipped across his eyelids.

"If he doesn't say anything else, let's go to the instrument of torture," the old man said in a deep voice.

"Where did you hide the soul grass?" one person asked.

Ah Zhen didn't respond, the knife slipped through his arm, blood dripped to the ground.

"Where is the soul grass?" the man continued to ask.

The knife pierced the young man's pale skin again, and the bright red blood gushed out like a spring.After a while, the pool of blood on the ground gradually spread, and the blood flowed down the steps until it reached the feet of the onlookers.

The moon is fading, and the new sun is rising.The sun sets in the east, and the stars reappear.

The onlookers gradually dispersed, and even the executioners left. The boy locked on the rack hung his head and closed his eyes tightly.

There was no one under the altar, only one person standing vaguely under the shadow of the tree.The man walked slowly and slowly to the altar.

Ah Zhen had a feeling in his heart, and opened his eyes with difficulty, "You... are here." He was bruised all over his body, and it seemed that even his throat had been cut countless times, and a strong smell of blood gushed up from his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I... broke my promise, I'm afraid I won't be able to see you in the future," Ah Zhen looked at the man with clear eyes.

He murmured to himself, "If there is an afterlife... I don't want to be a human anymore. It's fine to be a tree or a rabbit. Being a human is too tiring."

The wound on Ah Zhen's body no longer bleeds, and her thin, paper-like body gradually cools down in the cold wind of early spring.

Thousands of years later, the sea has changed.The once low-lying cold valley has turned into a forested and verdant cold mountain, and generations of people have reproduced endlessly.

An ordinary day.In order to avoid hungry wolves, a pregnant female rabbit passed through a bamboo forest and came to the stone crevice in the open space, where she gave birth to a litter of young rabbits.

One of the young rabbits in the litter opened its eyes.

The bamboo bushes swayed slightly in the evening wind, and the sound of the wind sang far away.

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