past

Hearing that Wei Ming wanted to build a boat, the big tiger leaned down//, spread its wings, and signaled the two to sit on its back.

Wei Ming asked inexplicably, "Do you have a solution?"

The big tiger whined twice, and Tan Changxing said, "Let's try."

So Wei Ming hugged the little tiger, and sat on the big tiger's back with Tan Changxing.

The big tiger took a run-up, flapped its wings and flew into the sky.

Wei Ming grabbed the fur on the tiger's neck and looked down carefully. Qianchen Island was extraordinarily large, with five hills, surrounded by the sea. In the distance was the vast ocean, and there was no shadow of land.

Flying over two hills, the big tiger adjusted its direction, changed from flying to gliding, gradually descended, skimmed through the woods, and came to the middle of a mountain.There is a particularly eye-catching big tree, about the width of ten people hugging each other, with a huge umbrella-shaped canopy. The big tiger folded its wings, landed lightly, and bent down to let the two people get down.

The tree seemed to be a bit bigger than ordinary trees, and the powerful roots protruding from the ground intertwined and spread. Wei Ming looked at the big tiger and didn't understand what it meant.

The big tiger jumped on the root of the tree that came out of the ground, and cursed vaguely in pain: "Go away!"

Wei Ming and Tan Changxing looked up in surprise. They had been on the island for about half a month, and it was the first time they heard human language.

The big tiger bit the branch, grinding its sharp teeth back and forth, and a human face appeared on the thick trunk: "Let go!"

The big tiger spat out the branch and looked at Wei Ming proudly.

Wei Ming and Tan Changxing stared at the face on the tree trunk and took two steps back.

Tan Changxing was a little timid: "What kind of monster is this?"

"Don't you think it's strange that the animals on the island can understand what we say?" Wei Ming whispered, "But I'm not surprised when I see it."

"Huh? Are you... people?" Human Face Tree's eyes widened in surprise, "I haven't talked to anyone for a long, long time."

"Excuse me, are you...?" Wei Ming asked.

"My name is Xiaoshu." Human Face Tree said, with a shy expression on his face, "It's the name you gave me."

Tan Changxing silently looked at the trunk of the human-mask tree, which was surrounded by about ten people, Xiaoshu?Where is it small?

"You said, someone gave you a name?" Wei Ming grasped the point, "When?"

"When I was a young sapling." Human Face Tree said reminiscently, "At that time, I was short and couldn't shine in the sun. Some people came to chop trees with axes. I was afraid, but unfortunately I didn't I can talk, and can only imitate the calls of animals. They discovered me, named me Xiaoshu, taught me to speak, and played with me." The human-faced tree looked towards the foot of the mountain, "Later, they never came to me again, I was alone Standing here, waiting for them for a long, long time."

"Do you know who they are?" Wei Ming asked.

"They use numbers to match each other. The one who taught me to speak is 79, the one who named me is 82, and the one who played with me is 97." Human Face Tree said, "A long time ago, this place was very lively."

The human face tree refers to the fact that 8000 years ago, when Dust Island was used as a prison for righteous monks, the monks exiled on the island were erased from their names and called by numbers. They suffered from birth, old age, sickness, and death.

Tan Changxing said, "Do you know how old you are?"

The human-faced tree was stunned, and said: "The annual rings of the tree can record my age, but I can't cut myself off."

"Big Tiger thinks you can do us a favor." Wei Ming said, "I want to build a boat and send him home." Wei Ming pointed to Tan Changxing, "a boat that can cross the sea."

The Human Face Tree sneered and said, "Are you dreaming? When those people came, none of them came by boat."

"Then how did they get here?" Wei Ming asked.

"Use boxes to contain things that fell from the sky." Human Face Tree said, "I know you don't believe it, but I have seen with my own eyes that big boxes fell to the ground one after another, and the people who fell to death became food for the people who survived. .”

Wei Ming's complexion was not good, he felt sick, Tan Changxing tried hard to erase the image in his mind, and asked, "Do you know any way to get out of the island?"

"Yes, yes." Human Face Tree replied, "But it depends on whether you have patience." He smiled mysteriously, "There is a group of whales near the island, black and white, they swim very fast, I heard that they can swim in two days. Going back and forth between the mainland and the island, they like the starry sky and want to collect stars. There is a kind of flower deep in the forest, I named it Xingzhan, it blooms once every two years, and it blooms for ten days at a time. The transparent petals look like small cups and stamens It will shine, like a fallen star. If you can find the star calendula and go to make the whales happy, maybe they will be willing to send you to the mainland."

Tan Changxing counted silently, blooming once every two years, ten days at a time, purely by chance, according to his bad luck, he may not come across a single flower in 100 years.

Wei Ming asked, "Do you know which creature produces glue?"

"Glue? You mean that kind of sticky liquid that dries up and is hard to tear off?" Human Face Tree asked, "Then you're going to look for the big snail."

"Snail?" Wei Ming asked in bewilderment.

"Don't take the green snail, which has a blue shell with white spots. The green one is poisonous," said the human-faced tree.

"Okay, thank you." Wei Ming memorized the characteristics of snails, and smiled at Tan Changxing, "We are looking for snails while building a boat, and we will always let you go home."

Tan Changxing pursed his lips and smiled, his eyes were lacquered and bright like stars: "Okay." He said in his heart, it doesn't matter if he doesn't go back.

Wei Ming looked up at the sky and said, "Shall we go?"

"Hey, don't rush away." Human Face Tree said, "Chat with me for a while."

"It's getting late." Wei Ming said, "We have something to do when we go back." They haven't cleaned up the half giant beast brought by the little tiger yet.

"Well, don't you guys want blue snails? I'll let the big tiger catch them for you, ten for one morning." Human Face Tree said pitifully.

"Twenty for one morning." Tan Changxing bargained.

"...Let's take a step back each." Human Face Tree said, "Fifteen."

"Okay." Tan Changxing nodded, and said to Wei Ming, "Let's bring the small pieces of wood over and do it while chatting."

"Okay." Wei Ming replied, "Let's go back."

The big tiger lay on the ground, and the cub nestled awkwardly on the big tiger's front paws. The big tiger grinned silly.

Sitting on the back of the big tiger, facing the sunset, he flew back to the mountain hut. The big tiger squatted on the ground, looking at the little tiger reluctantly.

"Do you want to invite your father to have barbecue together?" Wei Ming asked the little tiger.

The little tiger shook his ears, and howled at the big tiger. The big tiger's eyes lit up, and he ran over to help Wei Ming drag the giant beast.

Tan Changxing followed behind them, feeling warm in his heart, he said, "Wei Ming!"

"What?" Wei Ming turned around, let go of his hand, and let the big tiger drag the giant beast into the courtyard.

"I'm actually not in a hurry to go home." Tan Changxing said, "We can take our time."

"Okay." Wei Ming said with a smile, with a little softness at the end of his eyes, "Let's take our time."