little turtle in the reeds

Sunday.

Early in the morning, Xu Yiran discovered that Yuan Ye had gone out.After walking to the kitchen in a low mood, he saw a post-it note on the refrigerator.

To Xu Yiran: The boss called urgently and went out first.Breakfast has been bought, eat it while it's hot.

——Yuan Ye.

Xu Yiran silently put away the post-it note, and stared for a while after posting it.

Today is December 24th, Christmas Eve.

He slowly moved to the dining table, turned over the large bowl that was upside down on the table, and saw the hot preserved egg and lean meat porridge and deep-fried dough sticks underneath, poked the convenience bag on the outside, and said "swish" "In the sound, he sighed silently.

Back in the room, he pulled out the chocolates hidden last night from the depths of the closet, shook them, and sighed again.

This is what he did with great difficulty after consulting Wei Shao and behind Yuan Ye's back.At the beginning, I wanted to make it look like a heart, but I didn't expect that after it was formed, it turned into a bunch of unknown shapes.

Forget it, anyway, Yuan Ye has no time for the festival, so he might as well eat it himself.Xu Yiran thought, such an ugly chocolate should not be given away.

Thinking about it, he opened the bag, just stretched out his hand, hesitated for a moment, and took it back again.

Anyway, I did it by myself, I am a bit reluctant.

Xu Yiran hid the chocolate again and returned to the dinner table.He thought to himself, he could use the breakfast bought by Yuan Ye as a Christmas present.Thinking about it this way, he felt much better and ate very well.

At noon, he sent a text message to Yuan Ye, asking him if he would go home for dinner.Yuan Ye couldn't tell, he was busy.

Xu Yiran asked persistently, what about at night?If you have time, go out and have a big meal.

Yuan Ye replied, you can eat by yourself, I really don't have time.

Xu Yiran threw away the phone, fell on the bed, and beat the quilt several times.

Thinking about it carefully, he is also extremely busy, even busier than Yuan Ye, and he has no time to spare.

Xu Yiran got up and ran to the balcony to check the weather.The sun is shining.He ran back to the room, took the quilt out to dry first, and then took the mop to mop the floor. He mopped the balcony, the living room, and the room, inside and out.

After finishing the weekend cleaning as usual, he made himself a cup of tea, took the pen and notebook, and went to the balcony to conceive the outline of the draft.

He has been submitting manuscripts to magazines for several years, and was rejected all the time at the beginning. Later, he was able to pass the first review and second review, and later, he was able to earn some manuscript fees.He has always earned not much, piecemeal, five or six hundred, and two or three hundred, and sometimes even a few tens of dollars a month.Until last month, he transformed into a girly magazine, and earned a full 1000 yuan in manuscript fees that month.And the editor said that his manuscript received a good response, so he made an appointment with him again.

The theme of this issue is: "The human face does not know where to go, but the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze." The protagonist is required to, as a scholar, meet a boudoir lady, or a geisha oiran, or an elf and ghost by chance, and start a story. A short and romantic love story with deep feelings and meaningful meaning, with a touch of melancholy at the end.

Xu Yiran: "..."

While drinking tea, he conceived the outline, and when he finally got a clue, he was already full of water.He got up and went to the bathroom, and when he came back, he wrote a few words on the manuscript paper——

The Scholar and the White Fox (Outline) [Title to be determined]

The story begins——

When Chunwei was approaching, the scholar went to Beijing to take the exam. He found an ancient temple on the mountain, stayed in the Buddhist monastery, and studied hard day and night.

This night, as usual, he read until late at night.The candlelight gradually dimmed.He picked up the scissors at hand, got up and wanted to cut off the excess candle wick, but suddenly heard the cry of a woman in the courtyard.

The scholar put down the scissors, intending to go out to investigate. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a book of ghosts and ghosts, and couldn't help hesitating. Where did the woman in the dark temple come from? Maybe she encountered ghosts and ghosts.

He was hesitating, when suddenly, a red embroidered shoe fell from the beam.He turned pale with fright, and backed away again and again, the woman crying in his ear became more and more bitter and sharp, as if it was right behind him.He didn't dare to turn his head back, rushed to the door, opened the latch and wanted to escape, but there was a man in white standing in front of him, who was about to raise his hand to knock on the door, but almost bumped into him.

The man in white asked him why he panicked, and he quickly grabbed the man in white and told him about the ghost he encountered.Strange to say, as soon as the man in white appeared, the crying of the woman disappeared.He was panicking and didn't know why, the man in white led him back to his room, he calmly said, reading the books of sages, he has a great righteousness in his chest, why should he be afraid of ghosts.

The scholar is ashamed.The man in white smiled slightly, said a few words of comfort in a soft voice, and said goodbye.The scholar hurriedly asked if Xiongtai was also a Juren, and if he could leave his name.The man in white smiled and shook his head, drifting away.The scholar was very disappointed.Afterwards, I asked the monks in the temple, and they all said that they were high-ranking hermits in the mountains, and they usually don't see outsiders.The scholar had to give up.However, since then, when I read books every day, I always think of the back of the man in white who is drifting away.This outstanding demeanor of a high-ranking scholar in the mountains made him envious and yearning for it.As time goes by, I become sick from longing, and I can't afford to get sick.

The scholar was bedridden with no family or reason, and thinking that the exam was approaching, this sick body would never recover, so he couldn't help feeling disheartened and weeping secretly.That night, he developed a high fever and was in danger.In a daze, he vaguely heard someone coming to his bedside, caressing his forehead, and sighed helplessly, that's all, that's all.He felt the cool temperature on his forehead, opened his eyes, and saw the man in white smiling beside him.He hastily stretched out his hand to grab the man in white, but he was weak and weak, so he could only murmur, don't go.The man in white held his hand and said softly, go to sleep.

When he woke up the next day, the scholar was relieved of his ailments and refreshed. Thinking of what happened last night, he hurriedly got out of bed, only to see a man in white pushing the door in. He said calmly, yesterday he has moved into the monastery.The scholar was startled to realize that he was not imagining everything, his idiotism made people see everything.He blushed and wanted to explain, but the man in white had already left.

Every night after that, the scholar could hear the sound of the piano from next door.The mountains and rivers are intoxicating.Scholars often stop at the corner, listen to the sound of the piano, imagine the posture of the man in white playing the piano, and feel in a trance.

Come in, the man in white said.

The scholar smiled mischievously, and walked into the courtyard next door, only to see a man in white with a crown, a long gown and wide sleeves, looking like a fairy.The scholar can't help feeling ashamed.The man in white asked him to come forward to play, but he was about to refuse, but the man in white refused to say anything, and took out the flute from his sleeve.The two played the piano and flute together, and they were happy for a while, far surpassing the gods.

As time goes by, the scholar does not know the years in the mountains.Suddenly one day, when the former boy came up the mountain, it was actually the old mother from his hometown who sent him to inquire. After two or three years, there was no news.The scholar turned pale with fright, and hurriedly asked the boy how his home was.The boy said with tears in his eyes that his family misses him very much. If he doesn't win, he might as well go home.

The scholar was busy packing his luggage, but he remembered the man in white and went looking for him again.The man in white asked him if he was not happy in the mountains, and he answered blankly, yes.The man in white asked again, in this case, why did he leave, and he replied that there was still an old mother at home who needed to be worshiped.The man in white said lightly, in that case, let's go.After the speech is finished, people have gone, and the ancient temples, monks, and even the flowers and plants in the Zen courtyard have disappeared.The little servant was astonished, he kept saying hell, and hurriedly dragged the scholar down the mountain.

The scholar was dazed for a moment, only to realize that everything in the past was a mirror image, but it was just a dream, and his heart ached so much that he burst into tears, looked around, and called the man in white to the sky, describing him as crazy.The little servant was terrified, and persuaded, it was clearly a trick of ghosts, sir, don't be confused.The scholar only said that he didn't understand, and went to the mountain to find it, and kept saying that he didn't want to leave.

At this moment, the scholar suddenly felt severe pain in his chest, looked down, and saw a white jade hand reaching into his chest, intending to dig out his heart.He looked up, and the surrounding scenery changed again. In front of him was a dilapidated temple with only broken walls and ruins. It may have been abandoned for a long time.When he heard the person behind him chuckle, he said in satisfaction that his heart was really hot, and the taste was even more so than ordinary people's hearts.

Hearing this familiar voice, the scholar turned his head with difficulty, and he saw the man in white.The man in white smiled, and said to him, brother, thank you very much, if I eat this heart, I will become a real adult.The scholar was stunned, but he was speechless.The man in white grabbed his heart, slowly withdrew his hand, raised it to his mouth, and ate it mouthful like a delicacy.The scholar fell to the ground, and when he was about to die, he wanted to hold the hand of the man in white, but he no longer had the strength to lift it up.

The man in white finished eating his heart, saw that the scholar was still alive, his eyes were wide open, his throat was hissing, he couldn't help smiling, thinking that this person must hate him.He bent down and listened to him, but he heard the scholar murmur, "Great, you didn't leave."

The man in white raised his head in surprise, and saw the scholar slowly closing his eyes, slightly curling the corners of his mouth, leaving a serene smile.The man in white was stunned for a moment, a pain in his chest, two lines of clear tears silently dripped down his cheeks.He picked up the scholar, blankly pressed his hand on the scholar's heart that had a big hole in it, and said to himself, is this the feeling of an adult?

He only knows that if a demon wants to become an adult, he has to exchange a person's sincerity, but he doesn't know that after the exchange, his heart will hurt.

And there is no cure for this heart-wrenching pain.

After Xu Yiran finished writing the last sentence, he picked up his phone and looked at it.About half an hour ago, the editor knocked him on QQ and asked him how the manuscript was going.

Xu Yiran took a photo of the written outline and sent it to the editor. After a while, the editor cautiously replied: "Daddy, are you in a bad mood today?"

Xu Yiran: "No."

When he went back to edit, he checked his phone and found that Yuan Ye really hadn't sent him a text message all afternoon.In the past, if he went out, he would basically have three or five questions, asking him if he had lunch, what he ate and so on.

Xu Yiran put the phone aside, picked up the pen calmly, and planned to continue changing the outline.

After all, the requirement is "melancholy", and the current plot is a little too warm.

The phone screen flickered.

Edit: "QAQ, sir, can you change the last paragraph, what we want is 'a touch of melancholy'..."

Xu Yiran picked up the phone and replied, "Okay."