Eternal

In the evening of that day, before it was completely dark, I stood at the door of the twins' room again and asked, "Now I'm going to the forest of yesterday. Will you stay at the inn, or go with me?"

No one responded.

Movements could be heard in the room, but no one made a sound.

I nodded to myself, "That's fine, I'll tell Xiaoer to deliver the dinner to your room. I'll try to get back as soon as possible, so don't worry."

After speaking, I walked downstairs without hesitation.

***

For several days in a row, I would repeat questions and leave messages like this, and then go to the forest to collect prey and herbs.

The ones who accompany me are naturally big cats.

If there is a third-party bystander in such a situation, he may ask me this way:

"Why are you like this? Knowing that they won't respond, why do you still come here every day?"

Then, I will definitely answer him with a smile, "This is the 'Agreement of the Three' among human beings."

Yeah, three deals.

It has nothing to do with so-called dignity, nothing to do with patience and love.

It's just a norm and agreement of human communication.

I am Party A, and they are Party B. Because of the relationship between the two apprentices, we have to be connected temporarily.

But we are unfamiliar strangers, so we must rely on such daily inquiries and dialogues to establish accurate information transmission.

I asked, but they made noise in the room without answering, indirectly expressing that they knew.

And the third sentence I seem to say to myself is to tell them that I know they are safe in there, but I just don't want to talk back.

This will not only ensure that both of us are safe and sound, but will not be disconnected.

So good.

Such days continued until the day before the one-month deadline was approaching.

"Today is the last day I went to the forest where I met you, do you want to go and see it with me?" It was still the first sentence of today's three agreements, but this time I changed the lines.

It was quiet inside for a long time, for a while——

"Why is it the last day? Where are you going?" Wan Zhao asked with her head poked out.

"Well," I nodded with a smile, "Tomorrow is the day you Brother Jing promised to come back, and I happen to be going to the next town."

"Oh," Wan Zhao lowered her head and thought for a while, then raised her head after a few seconds and asked, "Then what if Big Brother Jing doesn't come back tomorrow?"

"If I don't come back, I have to leave." I replied calmly.

"Why? Maybe he was just delayed by something, can't you wait a few more days?" He asked anxiously.

"First of all, this is just your assumption. It's not true that he won't come back." I patiently explained, "Secondly, even if this assumption is true, it doesn't conflict with my imminent departure. If I leave, I will leave some silver taels for the shopkeeper here, and trouble him to extend your Brother Jing's room for a little longer. If he comes back, tell him where we are going. How can I say that I have lived here for a long time, this Just a little favor, the shopkeeper should be able to help."

"Us?" Wan Zhao suddenly raised his head, "You want to take us along?"

"That's natural." I nodded, "But it also depends on your intentions. If you don't want to, I can find another way."

"What way? Entrust us to someone around here?" He said angrily.

"Of course not." I shook my head with a smile, "I am indifferent, and there are no familiar and trustworthy people around here. It is too uncertain to entrust you to them."

"That?"

"You should still remember that I am a master of medicine?" I said meaningfully.

He was stunned for a moment, and after a while he reacted and shouted, "Despicable, you actually want to drug us!"

"You guessed it yourself, I didn't say that." I patted his head amusedly, and retracted my hand before he could react, "Okay, just a kid, don't think about it so much, Brother Jing Whether I come back or not is still a matter of disappearing! Ah, I will be delayed when I go out because of your tossing around."

"Why?" Wan Zhao suddenly asked.

"what?"

"Why do you go out to the forest at this time every day? Is it not good during the day?"

"This," I shook the big cat in my arms, "it's nothing, it's just that I like this time of day, neither hot nor cold, the sun has a little afterglow, and there are not many pedestrians on the street - I like to be in such a time Slowly walking to the forest in the atmosphere. How, is this explanation satisfactory?"

"Hmph." Wan Zhao snorted slightly, but didn't reply.

"Since you have no intention of going, then I-"

"Who said that! We're going!" Wan Zhao interrupted me.

"That's it—" I looked behind him at Chunzao who walked to the door at some time, looked at their clothes and said, "You can go, each of you can add another piece of clothing."

***

In the mountains and forests, I walked slowly with spring morning and evening photos.

"Is that Ye Mingzhu in your hand?" Chun Zao asked suddenly.

I glanced at him in surprise, "Yes, why, do you want it?"

"That's not true." He gave me an angry look, and finally said with some sadness, "It's just a little nostalgic. When we were young, Dad always used this to tease us...but now..."

After hearing this, Wanzhao hugged him into her arms with some distress.

I thought about it in distress, and suddenly I had a flash of inspiration, and I rummaged through my cuffs to find it.

"Yes. This is for you." As I spoke, I handed over an extra night pearl in my hand.

"This?"

"Go on. This was given to me by a member of staff who happened to be treated when I passed by a relatively wealthy town before. It should be my gift to my disciples and grandchildren." When I said this, I paused, "This is for Chunzao , I will make up for the evening photos later.”

"I don't need it." Wan Zhao replied with some awkwardness.

I smiled and said nothing.

After dealing with the first two holes and destroying the traps there, we come to the third trap.

Unexpectedly, there were actually two little guys waiting for us there.

"Huh? It's you two little guys." I squatted down with great interest and stopped a few steps in front of them. "Why, you know I'm leaving tomorrow, so you came to see me off?"

"Squeak-cheep--" the big one barked twice, and pushed the little fox beside it a few steps forward.

I couldn't judge its meaning for a while, so I had to guess, "Do you mean to give me your child as a pet?"

"Squeak—" the big fox squeaked, looked at the little fox with some nostalgia, and then ran away without looking back.

"Squeak—" the little fox yelled sadly, but didn't make any move to catch up, presumably it had been explained beforehand.

"This is really—" I looked at this scene and pulled my earlobe with some headaches:

Whether it's an animal's instinct to sense danger or something else, it's too—

Thinking of this, I inadvertently saw a pair of shining eyes staring at the little fox.

It's a night photo.

Thinking about the gift just now, I smiled and put down the big cat, picked up the little fox and handed it into Wan Zhao's arms.

On the way, the little fox kicked his legs twice, but finally stayed still.

"No, this is the gift I promised you just now, evening photo, do you like it?" I asked.

"Hi-I like it." Wan Zhao's thin voice came.

"It's fine if you like it." I nodded and told them to stand aside with the big cat and start to deal with the third trap.

A quarter of an hour later.

"Why do you have to leave the day after tomorrow?" Wan Zhao suddenly asked.

"No reason." I replied without raising my head, "I just think it's the best."

"Where is it, in case Brother Jing--"

"Late photo!" I stopped the movement of my hands and looked at him with some seriousness, "There is one thing you need to understand: don't always use your own imaginary things as arguments."

The two children seemed to be frightened by my harsh tone, and they fell silent all of a sudden.

I sighed, and said in a soft voice, "I made this decision because of the rules and operation mode of the game between people——If I hadn't met the three of you, I might have left here half a month ago , because I am not the kind of person who is used to staying in one place for a long time. But I met you, this fact cannot be changed, so my behavior and practices have also changed accordingly - this month is decided by you Brother Jing The day when I come down——If there is no deadline he said, I might wait here slowly with you until something or an opportunity happens that we have to leave—but since you Brother Jing said If this deadline is exceeded, it means that he is very sure that he will come back on time as agreed, and once the assumption of not coming back that you mentioned really happens—no matter what kind of unknown situation it is, no matter whether he is It doesn't matter if I come back a few days late, a few months late, or never come back—before guessing various reasons, the signal of "he didn't come back as promised" means that I must leave first. Only Leave first before anything else can happen—”

After I finished speaking in one breath, I took a breath, and then continued, "—Maybe you don't understand these words now, but it doesn't matter, you will definitely understand in the future. Now—you just need to understand, at this moment you Just stay here, appreciate the night pearl in your hand, look at the newly acquired little fox, or look at the beautiful night in this forest."

After finishing speaking, I ignored them, bowed my head and continued to do my own thing.