Shimmer Forest

"Are you kidding me!" Uncle Wu suddenly raised his voice and grabbed his collar excitedly: "That kid is only 14 years old!"

"Do you think I do?" I don't know if it was because of anger or sadness, Su Jingran clung to the wall tightly, his body trembling violently: "Why is it that child? Why not me? All I can do now is to let that child Hurry up and marry the child, and have a little baby in his place."

"If it was a baby, wouldn't it be painful?" He pressed his eyes with one hand, trying to stop the overflowing sorrow: "Am I crazy for thinking like this?"

"You fool. You are still the same as before, pretending to be indifferent to everything, but always taking care of everything alone." Uncle Wu's voice gradually softened, and he hugged the other person's body that was gradually slipping, as gently as comforting a child Pat him on the back: "That child, this is exactly the same as you, so it makes people worry."

The house returned to silence, only the silhouettes of two people reflected on the window, looking warm but cold.Su Jin outside the door put his palm on the door, and then slowly slid it down, looking lonely.

"Stupid?" Wu Hao, who just came back, didn't know what happened, and stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked at him worriedly.

"En?" Su Jin came back to his senses, looked at the worried face of the man, and forced himself to laugh: "The two of them are fighting fiercely, so let's not bother."

Maybe he thought others couldn't see it.But Wu Hao clearly saw the expression of pretending to smile when he was about to cry: "Bookworm..."

"Let's sleep together today." Su Jin walked down the stairs, pulled his shoulders forcibly, made him turn his back to her, and then leaned his head on his back: "Don't look back, and don't ask anything."

It's rare for Su Jin to be so active, but he can't be happy no matter what.

The night was low and the moon was shining brightly. The frosty moonlight extended the lonely figures of the two infinitely.

No sleep for one night.

After dawn, Su Jin still unabashedly disliked Wu Hao and fought with him as if nothing had happened.

Wu Hao was very concerned about what happened last night, but he had promised Su Jin not to ask anything, so he didn't mention it again.

More importantly, he vaguely felt that it was something untouchable.

The relationship between Su Jin and Jiang Xiaoyu became closer, but unexpectedly he didn't feel uncomfortable, maybe because the relationship between those two people looked more like brother and sister.

Xiaoyu has fully integrated into the life of the village, no longer blushes at every turn, learned to catch grasshoppers and unicorns, and knows how to greet people proactively.Even without the two of them, she would go to other people's houses to play, and when she came back, she would hold a bunch of snacks in her arms.

... Or rather, Su Jin made her more cheeky.

Occasionally, she and Su Jin would sit side by side by the river embankment, staring absently at a distant place.

Wu Hao thought, maybe it's because they can always see the same scenery.

"Hey, Xiao Hei, are you finally not being a light bulb?" Seeing Wu Hao who was watching the two of them from a distance, Su Jingran walked over with a cigarette in his mouth, smiling like a punch.

"Stop talking nonsense, you're a pervert." Wu Hao gave him a sideways glance, grabbed a handful of soil by the river embankment, and threw it over.

"Ahem, is that your attitude towards elders?" Su Jingran quickly covered her nose with her hand, and stepped back a few steps.

"Do you look like an elder?" Wu Hao patted the soil on his palm, and as if he remembered something, he turned his head and looked at him with serious eyes: "Speaking of which, the bookworm has been a little abnormal recently, what do you know Bar?"

"...I didn't expect you, a fool, to be so observant!" Su Jingran was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his hair with a smile.

"Observation, I don't have that kind of thing." Slapping his hand away impatiently, Wu Hao lay flat on the riverbank, looking at the vast sky above his head: "It's just that I care too much about nerds. .”

"I advise you to give up." Su Jingran squatted down next to him, frowned and took a puff of cigarette: "Our family has a mission to pass down from generation to generation, and he must leave an heir."

"mission?"

"What, did your father really not tell you?" After flicking the cigarette ash, Su Jingran looked into the distance, and sighed in his words: "You should be clear, this is the border area with the other world. That’s why there are many otherworldly creatures haunting them. In addition to the kind youkai, there are also many violent ones.”

"People in our family have shouldered the important task of allowing the creatures of the two worlds to coexist peacefully for generations." After a pause, Su Jingran put away his usual cynical look, and his deep eyes were very serious: "Once our bloodline is severed, we will die." How terrible things will happen, you should know?"

"I don't know." Wu Hao replied decisively and resolutely: "I only know that for me, the most terrifying thing is losing Su Jin."

"Hey... are you serious?" Su Jingran paused for a moment with the cigarette in his hand, and looked at him with a little surprise. Seeing that he was not at all moved by his question, he could only sigh deeply: "Don't be so selfish, do you think it doesn't matter if you give up the life of the whole village?"

"However, it's too unfair for one person to take on such a responsibility." Looking away from him, Wu Hao muttered in a low voice, not knowing whether to tell himself or him.

"He couldn't choose the family he was born in, so he was destined to bear these heavy things. This is his fate."

"Fate..." After hesitating for a long time, Wu Haocai pondered, and asked slowly and hesitantly, "Is it something so irresistible?"

"That's right." Thinking that he was finally shaken, Su Jingran silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"In that case, it must be because of fate that Su Jin and I got to know each other." Wu Hao raised his eyebrows, and the corners of his lips were more cunning: "So, I won't give up on him either. From that moment on, the fates of Su Jin and I were linked together."

"He keeps a distance from people all the time, because he doesn't want to leave any worries here. One day, he will leave his hometown like me, and go to subdue those monsters who make trouble in the world. Maybe he will die outside at any time." Su Jingran Pressing the cigarette out on the ground, the smile in his eyes gradually disappeared: "You are just an ordinary person, you can't do anything. Don't be so stubborn, there is still time to get out now."

Wu Hao saw that he was about to burst out of laughter, his dark skin turned red: "What are you laughing at?"

"Ha." After coughing a few times, Su Jingran covered his eyes with his palms, and he couldn't tell whether it was ridicule or joy in his voice: "You and your stupid old man are really too similar."

"What are you talking about, so happy?" Before he could refute, Su Jin who heard the movement came towards them.

"I'm talking about your lifelong event." Su Jingran stood up and patted the dirt on his body: "Why did you leave such a cute little bride alone?"

"Are you still talking nonsense?" Su Jin looked helpless, but he didn't panic after being teased: "Be careful that Xiaoyu really goes to the police."

Su Jingran smiled, and looked at the river embankment not far away.Jiang Xiaoyu was catching fish in the river with her trousers rolled up, when she saw their eyes, she smiled and jumped up and waved.

"You noticed, that child's is different." Taking out another cigarette, Su Jingran took out the lighter from his pocket, lit the cigarette, and began to talk about it to himself: "She suffered a lot because she could see monsters. The outside world is different from here, no one believes in the existence of monsters, she is regarded as a liar, or even a mental patient, she is excluded every day, forced to take some antidepressant drugs, and suffers harassment from some nasty monsters."

Su Jin nodded, looking at Xiao Yu happily playing in the water, she couldn't help worrying: After she returns to the city, will she return to that kind of life?

"In the outer world that abandoned their beliefs, people resisted everything beyond their own understanding, self-righteously believing that they can do everything with their own strength, so they no longer believe and feel creatures other than themselves." Sighing and exhaling a puff of smoke, Su Jingran sensed his worry, smiled and rubbed his hair: "Don't worry, people are also very adaptable creatures who know how to go with the flow. When Xiaoyu grows up, she gets used to the life in the city. After that, it is estimated that it will gradually disappear.”

"I don't understand." Wu Hao lowered his head angrily, and clenched his fists: "I obviously worked so hard to see the same scenery as you. Why do you think it's better to not see it in that place?"

No one answered, and perhaps no answer was needed.The three of them quietly looked into the distance, watching the sunset slowly dissolve on the horizon, dyeing the embankment a faint red.The crimson-purple clouds floated slowly, like a sigh, fainting in the low-hanging sky.

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In the early morning, Jiang Xiaoyu was awakened by the noise outside the house.

Lazily pushing open the door, rubbing his eyes, what appeared in front of him was the bustling and bustling street scene.

Both sides of the relatively spacious road are lined up neatly with stalls, and people rush between the streets, holding all kinds of props for making food in their hands; Looking for and handing things back.

"Oh, are you awake?" Su Jin happened to pass by her carrying a box, and said hello by the way: "Good morning."

"Morning." The drowsiness faded, and she was mostly awake, looking around curiously: "What are you doing?"

"Prepare for the temple fair." Putting down the box, Su Jin stretched: "When the summer is coming to an end, it must be held."

"Temple fair?" Xiao Yu tilted her head, thought carefully for a long time, and soon had a look of sudden understanding: "Ah, I heard from my mother that it is a place where you can buy many good things, but you have never participated in it! "

"Really, let's play it all after the preparations are over."

"Stinky boy, don't be lazy!" An uncle with a turban and a thick beard came over and kicked him: "Don't you stinky boy play every day?"

"Don't be like this, Old Uncle Wang." Su Jin patted the dirt on his body, and reluctantly picked up the box again: "It's just chatting with friends."

"Oh, it's Xiaoyu." Uncle Wang found Xiaoyu who was standing beside him in a panic. He threw the firewood on his shoulders on the ground and walked over to rub her head: "Be happy, today But it’s a day when everyone puts down all their work and has fun.”

Uncle Wang's hands are big and rough, with dust and wood debris that can't be washed off, but they are so warm that they want to make people cry.Xiao Yu held back her tears with all her might, and nodded her head vigorously.

"Dead old Wang, what are you doing?" Aunt Wang came running not far away, kicked him down, then knelt down and wiped her face with a rag: "Looking at it made the little girl cry. "

"Ouch, my old waist." Uncle Wang stood up tremblingly, and wailed with his voice open: "Stinky bitch, I didn't scare her. Hey, that brat over there, stop laughing, give it to me." Prove it!"

Su Jin restrained her schadenfreude smile, looked away and whistled as she had nothing to do with herself.

"That..." Before Old Uncle Wang got angry, Xiao Yu's weak voice interrupted the meaningless quarrel.She grabbed Aunt Wang's sleeve and raised her head. She was shy but determined: "I...I want to join, please let me help."

"Huh? Oops..." It was probably the first time she wanted to participate in group activities so actively, and Aunt Wang was surprised but also happy: "Really? Don't force yourself."

"It's not forced." Xiao Yu blushed, shaking her head like a rattle: "I'm willing to help."

"That's it." Aunt Wang stood up, and smiled at him with the other two, but the smiles were a little sinister no matter how you looked at them: "Then you should be prepared to be commanded to death, little girl, hehehehe ..."