Mortal Mirror

Today is the Winter Solstice. Snowflakes fluttered in the sky, scattering across the heavens, gradually swirling in the cold wind.

Upon the desolate mountain, a few large poplar trees, stripped of their bark, creaked and groaned in the wind. Dozens of sheep struggled to walk on the hillside, the scene stretching out vast and bleak.

"Damn that landlord's wife! Making me herd sheep in this godforsaken weather! She really doesn't treat people like human beings."

Amidst the swirling snow, a sallow-faced boy, around fifteen or sixteen years old, was wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded coat full of holes, stuffed with a lot of dry grass and a few scraps of cloth.

The boy was named Li Ergou. Ergou, Ergou, in reality, his life was worse than a dog's.

Li Ergou used his chapped hands, blue with cold, to tightly wrap his worn cotton coat, but it still couldn't resist the biting wind, making him shiver all over.

Looking at the flock of sheep in front of him, he salivated, wishing he could take a bite out of their plump buttocks.

Unfortunately, these were all the landlord's property. Even if a single strand of wool was missing, he would be severely beaten.

"Grumble, grumble..."

His stomach began to rumble again, shamelessly. He had only drunk a few mouthfuls of cold water in the morning and eaten a cornbread bun the size of an egg.

Such a small amount of food was naturally not enough. Every day, he had to dig up some wild vegetable roots or grass roots to eat; otherwise, he would starve to death before nightfall.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, making it extremely difficult to find wild vegetable roots. He could only wait for the snow to melt.

He had no choice but to settle for second best and gnaw on tree bark.

There was a knack to eating tree bark. The outermost layer of the tree bark couldn't be eaten. It was not only old and rough, making it impossible to swallow, but it also couldn't be passed after eating. Only the slightly tender inner layer could be eaten.

There were many trees on the mountain, but the elm bark was the most delicious.

The innermost layer of elm bark didn't taste bitter and had a very strong filling effect.

But you had to remember one thing: you couldn't peel off all the tree bark at once; otherwise, the tree would die, and you could forget about eating tree bark in the future.

It could be said that he had gnawed on all kinds of tree bark on this mountain. This was all the experience he had gained from gnawing on tree bark over the past few years.

Today, he walked a little further because the nearby tree bark had almost been completely gnawed away by him.

After searching for a long time, he finally saw a very large elm tree. This elm tree was quite old, with a thick trunk, as thick as two people could embrace.

He looked at the large elm tree, feeling excited, thinking that he would rely on it to survive before the New Year.

Just as he was happy, he suddenly saw a flying squirrel watching from the treetops. Seeing this creature, a gleam of light couldn't help but appear in his eyes. A flying squirrel meant that there was a hole in this tree.

These creatures stored a lot of food in their nests every year, things like acorns, hazelnuts, and other nuts. If he could find its nest, he wouldn't have to gnaw on tree bark anymore.

He hurriedly excitedly circled the large elm tree, searching for it.

After searching for a while, he couldn't find a hole, not even a small opening, at the base of the tree.

He quickly climbed up the tree. Country children climbed trees like it was a game. He was as nimble as a monkey, and in just a few moments, he darted up the tree.

When he climbed up the tree, he was dumbfounded. He could see that there was indeed a huge tree hole in the trunk of the large elm tree.

This tree hole could accommodate a person, but the area around the tree hole was covered in burn marks. It seemed that this elm tree had been struck by lightning.

Seeing this scene, he felt slightly disappointed because flying squirrels usually wouldn't nest here.

But he still jumped into the tree hole with one ten-thousandth of hope. What if, what if there was a flying squirrel's nest here? He would rather search in the wrong place than let it go.

The tree hole was very deep and dark, but was he afraid? He was only afraid of being hungry.

Without any hesitation, he jumped down.

"Ouch!" Li Ergou cried out in pain, not expecting to bump into something hard. This thing was sharp, cutting a small opening in his leg, and a lot of blood flowed out.

It was a section of a tree trunk that hadn't been completely burned. He felt annoyed and cursed his bad luck.

The place where he landed felt very hard. This wasn't the touch of dirt or a tree trunk. He was a little puzzled. He brushed away the dust on the ground and revealed a bronze mirror.

The mirror was unknown how many years old, with an ancient style, and was dull and lusterless.

Perhaps the light inside wasn't good. He didn't notice that the blood from his leg flowed onto the mirror and was actually absorbed by the mirror, disappearing without a trace.

He cursed at the tree trunk a few times and picked up the mirror.

It could be seen that this thing was about the size of a fist, round, and although it had lost its luster, it was still bronze.

If he took this thing to the blacksmith, he should be able to exchange it for a lot of food.

At the thought of food, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and even the wound on his leg didn't hurt anymore.

He looked at the mirror with joy, played with it for a while, and thought about the good things, hiding the bronze mirror in the lining of his clothes.

It could be said that even if the landlord's wife searched him, she wouldn't be able to find this thing.

After searching around, he still couldn't find the flying squirrel's nest. He felt very disappointed, but he was used to this kind of thing, so it didn't matter.

After wasting some time, seeing the sky darkening, he climbed out of the tree hole, found the sheep, and limped back home, driving them.

At the foot of the mountain was Wanglong Village. Legend had it that someone in the village had seen a divine dragon flying over, and from then on, it was called Wanglong Village (Dragon-Gazing Village).

The village wasn't big, with a hundred or so households, and more than half of them were tenant farmers of the landlord's family.

His father had died young, and he was sold to the landlord's family as a servant by his second uncle when he was seven years old.

To put it bluntly, his life now belonged to the landlord's family. They could beat him if they wanted to, scold him if they wanted to, and no one would care even if they beat him to death.

The richest man and biggest landlord in Wanglong Village was called Huang Shikun, who was also his master. This man was fierce and cruel, and inherently stingy.

It was said that his father was beaten to death by him for eating an extra mouthful of salted duck egg yolk. He treated his own father like this, let alone others. People gave him the nickname Huang the Skinflint.

By the time Li Ergou got home, it was completely dark.

As soon as he put the sheep into the sheepfold, he heard a fierce voice coming from behind him, "Damn you! Coming back so late! Were you slacking off outside again? Hurry up and get me some water for my feet!"

Hearing the tone, Li Ergou knew that this was the landlord's wife's voice.

He cursed inwardly, knowing that this woman was looking for trouble again. Turning around, he saw her fat body and a face full of angry flesh, glaring at him.

Li Ergou didn't dare to retort. In his heart, he cursed her ancestors for eighteen generations.

But he had to force a smile on his face, not daring to argue; otherwise, he would definitely be beaten again. He quickly ran to the woodshed.

Arriving at the woodshed, everyone had left, and there was still half a bowl of vegetable soup on the table.

His stomach was extremely hungry, and without caring about anything else, he gulped it all down.

This vegetable soup was clear and watery, with only a few rotten vegetable leaves in it. Eating it didn't do much good, but it was better than nothing.

He saw that there was still half a bowl of food left in the big black dog's dog bowl.

He grinned wickedly and kicked the big black dog in the butt, chasing it away.

Then, without minding the dirt, he picked up the dog bowl and started eating. He was surprised to find that there was actually a piece of shredded meat in the dog food.

He cursed inwardly, even the dog has meat to eat! Damn landlord's wife, evil landlord! The most cultured old man in the village once told him, 'Don't underestimate a poor youth!' If I, Ergou, ever have my day, I'll settle this score with you sooner or later!

Saying that, with a trace of anger, he threw the shredded meat into his mouth. Damn it, the taste was excellent.

In fact, in recent years, he had to thank the big black dog for saving his life. If it weren't for it, he would have starved to death long ago.

It's just that the big black dog seems to have gotten thinner again.

Half a bowl of dog food, although it only filled his stomach a little, was much better than starving.

After boiling the water, he quickly took it to the landlord's wife. Then, he went to the village head to fetch five large buckets of water before returning to his room to sleep.

Calling it a room was actually worse than the woodshed, with drafts coming from everywhere.

Fortunately, he was diligent and would pick up more firewood every day to heat the kang. This was the only time he could enjoy himself.

Although Li Ergou was fifteen years old this year, he was malnourished, thin, and sallow-faced, looking like a half-grown child.

At this moment, he didn't go to sleep immediately in the quilt. Instead, he took out the small mirror, reflecting the moonlight.

It could be seen that the front of the mirror was blurry, and the pattern on the back wasn't very clear. He looked carefully, and it seemed to be the shape of a small deer. Unfortunately, over time, the shape of the small deer only had blurry lines.

He flipped it around, looking at it, and the more he looked at the small mirror, the more he liked it. For a moment, he was a little reluctant to take it to exchange for food.

While playing with it, his stomach rumbled again, feeling extremely hungry, giving him a feeling of scratching his heart and liver.

He quickly took out a palm-sized multigrain cake from under the kang mat. Although this thing was unpalatable, it was better than eating tree bark directly.

This cake was something he had secretly hidden away, planning to use it in case of emergency.

The cake was dry and difficult to swallow. He choked after eating half of it and quickly put down the cake and the mirror to get water to drink.

Coincidentally, the cake was placed on top of the mirror.

In the time it took him to turn his head, he saw a faint light flash on the mirror, and the cake magically disappeared.