Of Mountains and Rivers

Chu Huan had a conversation with the elder and Ruge that day, instead of clearing the clouds, the two sides became more confused.

Especially when Chu Huan mentioned that "Walnut" was conscious, the old and fragile elders were obviously frightened.

As one of the two sacred objects of the mountain guards, the "Sacred Fire" has been handed down for countless generations in the hands of the clansmen, and it has never been heard that it has the potential to become a spirit.But, then again, this holy fire has such an extraordinary status, but it has been silent for so many years. Apart from being unable to burn and absorbing fire, it has never shown any difference from ordinary walnuts, so it seems that it has a little consciousness of its own. reasonable.

The elder vacillated between the two conclusions "There is something wrong with Chu Huan" and "There is something wrong with the holy fire", and in the end he was still undecided and walked away unsteadily. Chu Huan hurriedly called him: "Wait a minute, elder! Can I ask you about the characters of the mountain guardians when I have time in the future?"

The elder waved at him from a distance, leaving him with a exhausted back.

The topic of changing blood has also been left alone for the time being.

What kind of fetish is this "walnut"?What can it do?

Where did Chu Huan himself be picked up by Chu Aiguo?

And how to successfully sneak to the sinking ground without letting Nanshan interfere?

This has become the three unsolvable puzzles entrenched in Chu Huan's heart. The first one seems to be known to no one at all, and the second insider has passed away.

The third……

If the gate of the mountain is turned upside down and the entire settlement of mountain guards is transferred back to another world, Chu Huan can't stay, then all his previous plans will be cancelled, and his action time may have to be brought forward this winter.

In fact, if it is possible, Chu Huan does not want to hide it from Nanshan. Whoever does something for the person he loves actually hopes that the other party will know. , I found this silent dedication.

But everything is imminent, and Nanshan will spare no effort to obstruct it, so Chu Huan can only hide it.

He only felt that he was groping for a narrow passage in a fog.

The future is bleak. For Chu Huan, the only thing that is relatively certain is that the weight of the delicate snake will rise in a straight line.

The little viper has grown into a big viper with a fat head and big ears, but its intelligence has not kept up with its body. It has already forgotten the new and old grudges with Chu Huan. Stick to him and act like a baby.

So every day before dawn, Chu Huan would be woken up by the thicker and thicker snakes, and he would swear and get up, take a basin of mountain water, and pour himself a crystal clear and cool heart. Waking up and napping, during which time he had to fight [-] rounds with the "little green" who was relentlessly trying to wrap himself around his neck.

This fat man didn't have the aloofness and reservedness that a poisonous snake should have, and Chu Huan felt that he was about to fall out of cervical spondylosis from it.

Therefore, Chu Huan adhered to the good tradition of "It's better to be happy alone than to be happy with everyone". When he got up, he would bring the big-armed poisonous snake "Little Green" to Yuan Ping's place, so that Yuan Ping could also be happy every day when he opened his eyes. At that time, I was bathed in the friendly bright red letter of the big snake.

In this way, Chu Huan will be chased and killed by Yuan Ping angrily for more than an hour as he wished, and he will have a fruitful morning training in the mountains and forests with real swords and guns.

When Yuan Ping was angrily going to guard the mountain gate, Chu Huan climbed to the mountain guard's residence on the top of the mountain and asked the elders to learn how to write.

The elder’s residence was simple and there was no teaching equipment, so he only gave him a long slab of stone. Chu Huan could only curl up his two long legs that couldn’t fit, half kneel and half sit on the ground, memorizing by rote The heavenly scriptures of the earth-study mountain guards have completely reduced from a supporting teacher to a student who has been physically punished.

The elder, the old goat, said to Chu Huan at the beginning: "The place where the fall is dead, and the Nanshan patriarch will not let you go, but we don't dissuade you, but help you hide it from him. This is actually using you. do you know?"

Chu Huan: "Stop talking nonsense, teach me quickly."

The elder found a nail half a foot long, and nailed it to a dozen old sheepskins every day. The nail was nailed from head to tail, making a dozen thick. How many.

Among them, the daily expressions spoken by the mountain guards are only a small part, and most of them are sacrificial and various ritual expressions that Chu Huan has never heard of.If he mispronounced or wrote something wrong, the old goat would take him for granted. Now that Chu Huan is a big boy, he is suddenly regarded as an apprentice in the old society who wears open crotch pants. Of course, he can't bear this kind of self-respecting stick teaching.

Just when he was about to abandon the moral norms of respecting the old and loving the young, and took the case, the old goat didn't blow his beard or stare, but just slowly chewed the licorice he didn't know where to pull out, and said something strangely: " Alas, an outsider is an outsider, and they swear that what they say is for our patriarch—it’s all good words.”

Chu Huan immediately lost all anger, sat back aggrieved, and continued his unreliable foreign language learning with humiliation.

After going on like this, it’s okay for a day or two. He was so busy that he didn’t show his face for a few days in a row. Gradually recovering from the sparring, they gradually lost track of him without even following him.

One day when Chu Huan was tutoring foreign languages ​​at the elder's home, it happened that Nanshan came to discuss something with the elder, and the elder hurriedly stuffed Chu Huan into the woodshed in the backyard.

Chu Huan was covered with dry firewood and straw, and listened nervously to the movement next door with his ears pricked up. The more he thought about it afterwards, the more he felt that there was something wrong with this matter-this was exactly the rhythm of being caught!

In the courtyard separated from him by a wall, Nanshan explained the business to the elder in a few words, and when he was about to leave, he finally couldn't help asking: "Elder, has Chu Huan been to your place recently?"

The elder opened his eyes and spoke nonsense, confidently: "Come to me? What is that little boy from the other side of the river doing here? Looking for scolding?"

Nanshan thought for a moment, said nothing, and nodded to leave.At this moment, he inadvertently lowered his head and glanced at the wooden table on one side, and his movements suddenly stopped.

On the corners of the wooden table with four feet of different heights, there are a bunch of densely packed small holes, some deep and some shallow, pierced by long nails.

Nanshan raised his eyes calmly, and glanced at the elder. The old goat's face immediately tensed up, his eyelids were lowered, and he muttered something intently.

Nanshan reached out and touched the nail hole: "Is the elder teaching any child to read recently?"

Chu Huan, who has ears on the wall, felt tight—the cramming teaching method of using nails to nail books is an old tradition!This stupid old goat.

The elder pretended to be stupid: "Uh...huh? Well, that girl Huaguduo comes here occasionally."

Nanshan's eyes sank, and he stared at the elder silently for a few minutes.He has been the head of the patriarch for a long time, and he is no longer the little boy who was taught by the elders. His eyes seemed to be heavy, and the elders could hardly lift their heads, so they had to stiffen their slender necks. Scalp facing Nanshan's scrutiny.

After a period of unbearable silence, Nanshan's brows trembled slightly, and his tone was very intriguing: "Oh, please take care of the elder, but she is still young, teach her slowly, don't push her too hard."

The elder was speechless and could only laugh dryly.

After finally sending Nanshan away, the elder probably broke into the firewood room to relieve the pressure, and beat Chu Huan with a board: "You don't know how to block it with a stone, useless..."

Before he finished cursing, he was held down by Chu Huan, and he was clamped under his armpit rebelliously.

Chu Huan tightly covered the old goat's mouth, and pressed him to the corner of the wall.

Sure enough, after a while, Nanshan's voice came leisurely from outside: "By the way, elder, I just forgot one thing."

The elder was covered in white sweat, and then he felt the hand that held him lightly, and then turned around, Chu Huan's figure rolled over the wall on his side, like a swallow, and disappeared in a blink of an eye Mi... This person became alert, and he was really good at running away from battle.

The elder straightened his bellyband, opened the door to Nanshan like a dog, and asked patiently, "What else can the patriarch do?"

Nanshan could not help but let him break into the yard directly, his eyes swept around the elder's territory, wishing he could not even let go of the cobwebs in the corner, he turned his head and smiled at the elder gently: "That's right , I heard you talking just now, did someone sneak in and make trouble?"

Senior citizens:"……"

Since the people sent out couldn't keep an eye on Chu Huan, Nanshan finally spared a day to go into battle the next day. He was not so easy to deal with, so Chu Huan had no choice but to fight a guerrilla with him.

Nanshan is a local snake who is familiar with the terrain. Chu Huan's concealment and anti-tracking skills have received professional training. Taking into account factors such as the right time and place, the two should be considered equal. Chu Huan didn't feel that he had lost Nanshan's sight until the sun was about to set .

Chu Huan breathed a sigh of relief, and planned to take a detour to the elder, only to realize that he had accidentally walked into the small woods where he used to hide in leisure when he first arrived in the Liyi tribe.

Suddenly, Chu Huan heard a "pop" and "pop" impact sound. At first, the frequency was very high, and it was close to hacking. Later, he might have lost his strength, and the sound became more and more chaotic.

Chu Huan paused, didn't want to go forward to disturb, just wanted to go back the same way, just about to leave, he heard a "choke", it seemed that something metal fell to the ground, and then, a thin cry came from the rustling out from under the leaves.

Is it a child?

It was already late, and even if the gatekeepers were heavily guarded and there were no monsters on the top of the mountain, it was still impossible for a wild beast to appear. After hesitating for a moment, Chu Huan turned around, opened the dense forest, and walked in following the sound.

He saw the little bald head.

An iron rod was lying under the little bald man's feet. The iron rod had spikes at the tip and shone with a faint cold light. No matter the length, weight or lethality of this thing, it was obviously not made for this kind of meatball-like little bean to play with... …should be a grown man's weapon.

The little bald head's little paws were worn red and swollen, and he sat on the ground in embarrassment, crying a few times, holding back for a while, and crying a few more times when he couldn't help it.

The wooden stakes standing next to it were covered with marks from the sharp iron rods, which were scattered and disorderly.

Even if he is a mountain guard, the little bald head is not as big as a bean, and he doesn't have much strength. Holding the adult's sharp weapon, he desperately pokes the marks on the stake, but it is not as deep as the elder's nails.

Chu Huan came out from behind the tree: "...Ankaraiya."

This little devil is as annoying as his father Xiong. Every time Chu Huan saw him, he would do everything possible to detour. The little bald man's long name.

The little bald-head stared at him blankly for a moment, then lowered his head, and rubbed his eyes vigorously—it didn't take long for the little poisonous snake to grow into a big poisonous snake, and the crying kid actually learned to pretend that he didn't cry.

But his pretense didn't last long, the little bald man pretended to be more aggrieved, and finally he gave up on himself, got up from the ground, and threw himself at Chu Huan sobbing.

Little bald head: "Abba!"

Chu Huan caught him, hugged the little bald head, sighed, and let the little boy cry on his shoulder, with snot and tears all over him.

The little bald head let go of his throat and howled, startling the birds in the forest. This movement finally attracted Nanshan who had been thrown away by Chu Huan.

Nanshan saw his footsteps from a distance, but he didn't step forward. Instead, Chu Huan heard the sound of footsteps keenly, and looked back at him. His eyes collided, and Nanshan's heart skipped a beat.

Then, he saw Chu Huan walking towards him.

The little bald man didn't know how long he had been crying, and he had already cried himself out. He was limp, and Chu Huan stuffed him into Nanshan's hands, and walked over.

When the two passed by, Nanshan suddenly said cruelly: "No matter what you want to do, I will never remember it, and I won't be grateful to you. Don't waste your efforts."

Nanshan didn't know that he still had a few years to live. The short term might not be longer than two or three years, so he played a little trick. What can the dead remember and be grateful for?

Chu Huan paused, turned his head to look at him, but didn't respond, just smiled.

It was a kind of indulgent and pampering, insightful smile, as if he knew everything and planned everything.

Nan Shan panicked at that moment: "Chu Huan!"

Chu Huan responded with a good temper: "Huh?"

"What have you been doing recently? Have you been to the elders? What are you going to do?" At the end of the speech, Nanshan's tone became almost severe, and he asked him closely.

Chu Huan turned his eyes, suddenly raised two fingers, and flirtatiously kissed Nanshan, then he flashed into the woods like a ghost, and when Nanshan chased after him with a little bald man in his hand, he was already Even Chu Huan's hair could not be found.

Chu Huan didn't go back to his residence, because he was afraid that Nanshan would wait at the gate of his courtyard at night, so he went down the mountain to the gate, intending to find a random room in the gatekeeper's empty house.When he came to the small house settlement behind the mountain gate, he encountered Yuan Ping painting strange figures on a mountain wall.

Relying on the elder's teaching effect, Chu Huan recognized it for a while, and then recognized that it was a calendar.

The gatekeeper also has a date, but through the explanation of the elder, Chu Huan has figured out that the time on both sides of the gate is different. From the perspective of the river, the world that the gatekeeper transferred to this side may only have one season. However, the transferred mountain guards actually stayed here for a long time. Judging from the number of days in Yuan Ping's paintings, there are at least more than 300 days, which is close to a whole year.

Yuan Ping didn't raise his head: "What are you doing here?"

Chu Huan silently found a place next to him, sat on the floor, and watched Yuan Ping mark the past days one by one as if counting down. At the end of the calendar, Yuan Ping drew an end symbol with black dye.

In their text, the words "end" and "death" are written very similarly, and beginners have to work hard to distinguish the subtle differences. At first glance, this calendar almost looks like a countdown to death.

Chu Huan suddenly remembered the corpses that he had seen all over the mountains when he just arrived here. Now there are so many mountain guards, and they can fight side by side with them. What about when the mountain gate is turned upside down again?

The fall is so close, all the monsters are trying to occupy this mountain gate, to get the holy spring and the vitality from another world. The mountain guard is the carrier between the two worlds. When they are forced to leave again, the gate guard will face what?

Chu Huan stared at the word "End" at the end of the calendar for a long time, then he suddenly said: "I plan to leave in two days."

Yuan Ping's hand stopped suddenly: "What did you say?"

Chu Huan didn't answer, Yuan Ping suddenly turned his head to look at him: "I thought you at least went back to get some guns..."

Chu Huan interrupted him: "I'll go back, at least I won't be able to come back until the mountain gate turns around again. Are you still alive then?"

Yuan Ping was taken aback, and after a while, he said, "If the gatekeeper can be regenerated by the blood of the mountain guard, then I... will be equivalent to returning to the resurrection point."

"Death cannot be resurrected. The reborn person may have a shadow of the past through the memory of the mountain guard, but that is different." Chu Huan smiled bitterly, "At least your former patriarch is not as easy to talk to as he is now."

Yuan Ping was silent for a long time, and then he suddenly became serious: "The life of a gatekeeper is not the same as the life of a person in the usual sense, and of course we can't look at our death the way you look at death——Chu Huan , In principle, we are this mountain, but we have become different people through your memories, as long as the mountain does not die, we will live forever..."

Chu Huan: "Don't talk about that, so you revealed my plan to Nanshan."

Yuan Ping did not respond, and acquiesced.

Chu Huan looked down at his hand. His hand was scarred, but slender and strong. The palm was not particularly generous among men, but when he held it, it was as secure and reliable as if he could hold all fate.

His recovery speed was terrific. Yuan Ping, who practiced with him every morning, felt the brunt of it. During the high-intensity continuous rotation, not only did Chu Huan not appear exhausted, but his reaction and energy had almost returned to his peak state.

"Don't be so dumb," Chu Huan said, "I've almost carried the elder's sheepskin back. Other things, the goat's face and your water ghost patriarch's eyes are also darkened. I think I should prepare for it." Everything is ready and ready to go.”

Yuan Ping became angry: "Didn't you see the old man's divination results? Die! You are neither a mountain guard nor a door guard. You are in a hurry to seek death. Are you sick? Did Nanshan let you go - he didn't interrupt." Your legs are the only ones! Is this the right way for a lover, idiot?"

Chu Huan: "You know nothing."

After hearing this, Yuan Ping put down the brush and planned to exchange life experience with him.

But Chu Huan didn't seem to notice his aggressiveness, and sat on the spot as if meditating in Zen, motionless.

"It is very lucky to have such a person who allows you to go through fire and water for him." Chu Huan said, "It makes people feel like they are alive again."