Solstice Secrets

Zhuang Zhou and his party moved very slowly.There is no other reason, Xiao Mao'er and his servant are not familiar with the mountain road, so they can only look for the traces left by Xiao Hui while walking.Brown Tang was eager to try at first, but then went astray, was sprained after being beaten up by Xiaomianer and his servant, and obediently followed them forward.

Zhuang Zhou felt that his dog son was really stupid and pitiful.Zhuang Lin used to say that brown sugar can't be raised foolishly all day long, it needs to be trained how to make it comfortable.But the thing about training is to give it instructions, to reward it if it does well, and to punish it if it does not do well.How could Zhuangzhou be willing.Looking at it now, a dog's nose is actually not as sensitive as a cat's nose. This is really... How embarrassing!But looking at the limp little brown sugar, Zhuangzhou felt that he was already very sad, and he, the head of the family, must not hit it again at this juncture.

Dogs also have pride.

Zhuang Zhou rubbed Brown Tang's neck, comforted it and said, "These cats have been living in the wild, and their survival skills must be better than yours. Don't be sad."

Brown Tang yelled pitifully twice, and rubbed its head against its daddy's palm.

"We each perform our duties," Zhuang Zhou continued to cheer it up, "Maomao is responsible for finding the way, and you are responsible for catching bad guys. You see, Daddy and these adults can't do much right now. We have to be patient."

Brown Sugar snorted twice, and seemed less irritable.

The big cousin praised it behind him, "Smart and obedient."

Brown Sugar flicked his tail, calmly accepting others' compliments.

Zhuang Zhou sighed softly, "Winter Solstice always says that animals are very smart and can understand human speech."

The uncle thought for a while, "Actually, there is such a saying in our mountains. There are mountain gods living in this deep mountain, and they can talk to animals, and those beasts are willing to listen to them."

Zhuang Zhou was not interested in such legends. He looked at the two cats in front of him who were still sniffing around for signs, and the anxiety in his eyes could not be concealed.

At this moment, there was a rustling sound in the dense forest, like thousands of small silkworms chewing mulberry leaves together.From far to near, water surged towards them like waves.

Brown Sugar suddenly became irritable, and lowered his body towards the direction of the sound, a warning whine sounded from his throat.The two cats that were exploring the way ahead also arched their bodies, baring their teeth and howling.

"Oops!" The uncle's face changed slightly, "Mountain rats...we have encountered a swarm of rats!"

Zhuangzhou was still a little unresponsive, but the faces of the people in the village changed.

Old Zhao also called out, "I haven't seen a group of rats in action for many years. It's been more than twenty years. I saw it once when it snowed heavily. There was an earthquake in the mountains. The rats didn't know what was going on, so they didn't run out of the mountains. Instead, he ran into the mountains...wouldn't it be another earthquake in the mountains?"

The words sent a wave of fear through the crowd.

The big cousin was also a little bit drummed in his heart, and was thinking about discussing with everyone what to do, when he turned his head, his eyes became straight.

A large wave of black goats rushed over like a wave, and the one running in the front was an old goat that was bigger than a cat, its mouth and beard had turned white, and there was a little goat lying on the back of its neck.

Old Zhao asked his cousin hesitantly, "Why does this look so much like that old mouse in our village?"

The big cousin was also a little dazzled.

Before they had any reaction, the group of mountain rats had already passed them and ran towards the hill ahead with a clear goal.The two hunched cats meowed a few times and ran after them.Brown Tang also seemed to be stimulated by something, and with a sudden struggle, he broke the leash out of Zhuang Zhou's hand.Brown Tang lowered his head, picked up the leash by himself, and ran after the cat without looking back.

Zhuang Zhou, "..."

He thought it was normal for cats to chase after them. With so many mice, maybe the two of them would have a kind of surprise that was falling from the sky.But what did the brown sugar coax?Zhuangzhou couldn't laugh or cry, so he could only catch up.This place is deep in the mountains, it may be difficult to find it if it gets lost.

As soon as he chased him like this, the people in the village could only follow suit.For some reason, they have an extremely strange trust in the old mouse in the village who has lived for an unknown number of years.In their conception, the rat is a spiritual thing. How could it harm the villagers after eating so many delicious things in the village?

When a group of people chased over the hill, they saw a huge fat bird hovering above the rats.

The villagers calmed down. This is obviously a pet kept by the whole village.These things have lived for a long time and have spirituality. This must be because they know that the people in their village are busy looking for someone, so they came to help.

Must be.

Mountain mice and birds passed by, and other animals appeared one after another behind the group of mice: rabbits, raccoon dogs, argali, deer, foxes...

These inexplicably appearing animals seem to have no connection with each other, but they walk together so harmoniously and naturally.As if it was a matter of course, they should appear in this unnamed mountain depression at this season and at this time.

And the direction in which they are heading seems to have an inexplicable gravitational force, attracting them to approach step by step, even ignoring the danger that the appearance of human beings may bring.Even the timid rabbits calmly chased the group of argali in front of them as if they hadn't seen these villagers, and hopped past them.

Zhuang Zhou had an unbelievable feeling. He never dreamed that one day he would see a fox and a rabbit marching side by side, and a mouse and a lynx coexist harmoniously.He felt that he must have traveled into a fairy tale.The villagers around him even stared.They have heard that there is a mountain god in this mountain since they were young. This must be the manifestation of the mountain god, right?

Even the gods have come to help them, what kind of shit poachers, what is there to be afraid of? !

The villagers proudly carried their own guys and trotted after him.

At the same time, Ling Dongzhi was sitting at the entrance of the cave in a daze.

A group of poachers gathered on a slope not far away to count their prey.Although it was winter, the strong smell of blood was still suffocating.Raccoons, foxes, mountain rabbits... the most common ones are foxes.Auntie is right, this little thing called a blue fox has smooth fur and dark blue color, it is indeed very beautiful.

Ling Dongzhi took a hasty glance and didn't dare to look again.He was tied hand and foot, and even with a dagger in his pocket, he couldn't beat seven or eight adult men with guns.What can you do if you are not reconciled, you can't just rush forward and kill someone on the barrel of a gun.

The leading man suddenly raised his ears, and asked the people around him suspiciously, "What's that sound?"

Needless to say, other people also noticed the change in the forest.A faint rustling sound came from a distance, gradually approaching the slope.The leading man straightened up and looked around alertly.His eyes suddenly jumped, and a big gray-white bird suddenly appeared in the sky above the valley. A condescending attitude of scrutiny circled them slowly.Immediately behind it appeared the second, third, and fourth.These birds are slightly smaller than the first one, but they are faster, and when they dive down, the airflow from the wings is awe-inspiring and murderous.

A timid man raised his gun, trembling, trying to aim at the first big bird that appeared.The leading man glanced at this scene out of the corner of his eye, hurried over and reached out to hold down the barrel of his gun.Although they were just a few flat-haired beasts, he subtly felt an atmosphere of tense confrontation.Before he figured out what was going on, he didn't want to be the first to break the balance.If they are only attracted by the bloody smell of the prey, then they can find a way to lure them away with the meat of the prey.What really disturbed him was the strange noise in the woods.The approaching sound and the inexplicable tense atmosphere hovering in the valley made people feel uneasy from the bottom of their hearts.

The rustling sound in the dense forest became more and more clear, and a gray-black tide appeared at the end of the field of vision, rushing towards them quickly, making one's scalp numb.

"It's a mountain rat!" The young man who was filling the snakeskin bag with prey cried out in fright, "The mountain rat!"

The leading man slapped him backhanded, and shouted sharply, "What are you shouting for?!"

The man with a Zangbian accent asked him hesitantly, "What's the matter? Bloody smell?"

The eyes of the young man who had been slapped were wide open, and his legs and feet seemed to be a little weak, "These mountain mice can't come out easily in winter. They are afraid of the cold, so they hide in the cave. I grew up so big, I never I've seen mountain rats come out in winter. Damn, this is too evil, is it going to change the sky?!"

The leading man and the man with a Tibetan accent looked at each other in surprise, and looked away in unison.They both saw inexplicable fear in each other's eyes.

Mountain rats gathered more and more, layer by layer, and soon surrounded the slope.The poachers had to return with sacks of prey.A few timid ones couldn't hold back and fired a few shots, but there were too many mountain rats, and it was unclear whether they could be hit with one shot, but these small animals became more ferocious.A few even rushed to the shooter like lightning, scratching and biting as if venting their anger.The guns that fell on the ground were also swarmed up by mountain rats and dragged them away.

The leading man had no choice but to tell everyone to retreat to the cave, and pushed Ling Dongzhi, the burden of the captives, to the entrance of the cave to block it, serving as their first line of defense.

Ling Dongzhi was also dumbfounded, and wondered if he was hallucinating when he was dragged to the entrance of the cave.Xiaohui also heard it when he asked Dandan to go to Mi Tuan to bring in rescuers, but he didn't expect Dandan to be so powerful and bring so many rescuers all at once.Even the big fat bird that told him his life experience and its accomplices came together. I have to say that with these few sentries creating momentum in mid-air, the arrogance of the poachers was much lower than before.

Ling Dongzhi glanced across the tide-like rat swarm, and when he saw the larger animals appearing behind the rat swarm, he couldn't help blinking hard.

Deer, foxes, argali with horns, foxes, and some beasts that he could not name, walked behind the rats one by one, as if they knew that they were the second team in the procession.They walked together silently without making any sound, but the visual impact brought by this scene refreshed Ling Dongzhi's world view in an instant.

A mournful howl tore through the illusory background of the fairy tale scene in front of me, and several swift figures flew across the distant mountain ridge.

"Oh my god, it's a wolf!" The poacher in the cave screamed, "Wolf!"

Wanting to run but unable to, fear quickly spread among this group of people.

However, the strange thing is that the animals in the valley seemed to have not heard at all, and were not affected by the wolves at all. They were still silently watching the cave where the poachers were hiding, shrinking the encirclement step by step.It seems that the wolves are just their backing, and they can rely on them to stand here.

Ling Dongzhi stared dumbfounded at the incredible scene in front of him, the shock in his heart could not be described in words.

He suddenly understood everything.There is no confusion, no doubt, and no anxiety to be proven.He is the descendant of this mountain, the descendant of the ancient tribe in this mountain that has lasted for hundreds of years.The blood of the mysterious family known as the mountain gods was gurgling through his body at this very moment.He is one of the mountains, the forests, the rocks, the frozen streams, the thousands of animals.Even though they are thousands of miles apart, they are still breathing with this land.And the thousands of animals in this deep mountain are all his companions. Although they are not related by blood, they have a bond stronger than friends.

This is where his life was born.

A drop of tear slowly slid down the corner of Ling Dongzhi's eye.But another kind of deep and warm thing broke the shell in his heart, sprouted branches and sprouted quickly, smashing the thick barriers in his heart inch by inch, those things that had followed his instincts layer by layer since he was young. The built-up defense that you think is unbreakable.

Ling Dongzhi's extremely cold heart, at this moment, finally found the most rooted belonging in the depths of the soul.