Of Mountains and Rivers

Nanshan's eye sockets are deep, but his eyes are very shallow, and his emotions are always clear at a glance.

When he said this, there was a hint of expectation in his dark eyes, and the panic derived from it was wrapped around the expectation. There were all kinds of flavors in it, but there was no persecution alone.

Sometimes silence is better than sound, and no persecution is the greatest persecution. Chu Huan felt out of breath after only one glance.

He suddenly lay on his back on the grass-colored withered yellow ground. There was a lingering earthy smell in the soil, as if there was a year-long haze from light to dark. Only the lavender flowers that had just bloomed were on the side of his face. There is an illusion-like slightly sweet fragrance.

Chu Huan didn't answer Nanshan's question, but asked first: "Since you can't get out, why do you need someone to teach Chinese?"

Nanshan was silent for a while: "I hope that one day the clansmen can leave here, look at the outside world, take a ride on your subway that runs faster than a horse, fly in the sky, and taste what you have never eaten before." things. This piece of landscape is too small, and if you look at it from generation to generation, you will always get tired of looking at it."

Chu Huan: "How?"

"I don't know, find a way." Nanshan said, and then he added, "Maybe I can't do anything until I die, but I think before I die, I can always give other people time, a little hope, or other things." What clues."

Chu Huan refused to believe in "chance" and "miracle". He didn't think so after hearing Nanshan's words, so he asked casually, "Even if you die, there is no hope?"

Nanshan paused for a moment, as if he had heard a Chinese word with an uncertain meaning. After pondering for a moment, he looked back into Chu Huan's eyes and asked seriously: "Doesn't 'hope' refer to something in people's hearts? Why? Will it be?"

Chu Huan was shocked.

He suddenly didn't want to correct Nanshan's mistakes, and he didn't want to tell him that the word "hope" could be a noun or a verb, with different usages and different meanings... because he thought this expression was really beautiful.

If that's the case, people probably don't lose hope, do they?

Chu Huan squinted his eyes and looked directly at the sky that had begun to become obscured by the setting sun. After a while, he said: "Sometimes, some things are too difficult, and people can't see the possibility of success. Of course will be disappointed."

"Yes," Nanshan said, "but even if it doesn't work out, isn't it good if I find out the possibility?"

Chu Huan was speechless.

If finally unable to turn the tide, at least find a glimmer of life through painstaking efforts?

His heart was suddenly moved, and he was dizzy for a moment, and he couldn't restrain himself from probing: "Do you want to keep me?"

Nanshan was stunned by his sudden question.

As soon as Chu Huan blurted out what he said, he immediately regretted it. He felt that he was being sentimental for asking too much.

Even if a person's face is as thick as a city wall, it is always embarrassing to be self-indulgent. He forced a smile in Nanshan's unexplained daze, and was about to laugh at the embarrassment he caused. After a while, I heard the other party say: "The main reason is not this."

The corners of Chu Huan's mouth froze as he raised it, the smile lines at the corners of his eyes disappeared, and his smile became a bit bitter.

...Sure enough, it's still self-indulgent.

In fact, it was only a little bit short, and Nanshan nodded.

The idea of ​​"Chu Huan will stay forever" made him feel an indescribable joy in his heart. He would be attracted to people from the other side of the river, which seemed to be the fate left in his mother's blood.

But Nanshan hesitated for a moment, but still held back, he remembered that when he brought up this topic with Chu Huan several times, Chu Huan would deftly avoid it.So for no reason, people probably don't want to stay, right?

Nan Shan clumsily picked out the right words, trying to organize them into a reasonable sentence: "After the shock period, the gate of the mountain will be reversed. When we reach the other side of the gate, we will enter a very difficult period. This is what we say 'Winter'. In fact, you should have discovered that we don't have the concept of 'spring, summer, autumn and winter'. It doesn't look too cold when it's the coldest here, and it doesn't look too hot when it's the hottest. It's just that I heard you say it that time. The leaves will fall off in winter, that’s why I used this word——When it comes to ‘winter’, you will find that Mutai is actually not a very ferocious thing, it’s very dangerous here, your body is too weak, accept the blood exchange ceremony, it will be much safer .”

The body is too weak...too...weak...

Chu Huan hadn't fully tasted the bitterness from the cognition of "I'm really self-indulgent", Nanshan actually spared no effort to make up for him.

That's great.

Chu Huan choked for a while, then teased angrily: "Then I can become a copper-skinned iron bone? Three heads and six arms? Wearing underwear backwards? Or suddenly there are a few more brothers with floral belts piercing grass skirts?"

The signal that Nanshan was always going off track unexpectedly met Chu Huan at that moment, and he unexpectedly heard the sourness in Chu Huan's words.

"I didn't mean that. Ankaraiye said that you are very powerful, but your health is indeed not good. Usually this kind of injury," Nanshan looked at the knife wound on Chu Huan's arm, and explained hesitantly, "We will take a half day's rest to recover." Heal, you took the medicine, it still takes a long time, it seems like the blood is not flowing, don't you feel it?"

Feel like your platelet count is too low?

Chu Huan raised his eyebrows: "Yes, I am a mask that can be pierced by a branch."

Nanshan was stunned at first, and then he looked like he was found out for doing something bad: "How do you know? Who told you?"

Chu Huan squinted at him for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Nan Shan's elbow and threw him back. Nan Shan was not on his guard against him, and did not dodge in astonishment.

Chu Huan tilted his head slightly, and suddenly smirked: "Are you ticklish?"

Nanshan: "Huh?"

Facts proved that he was afraid, Chu Huan locked his joints, pressed him to the ground and creaked, the patriarch's mournful majesty was swept away, he dodged, out of breath, and worried about the injury on Chu Huan's arm, he didn't dare to struggle, let him go Aggrieved and indulged Chu Huan, her hair was disheveled, she looked like a big girl who had been wronged.

A crisp cry came from the bare treetops not far away: "Ah, bobcats are fighting!"

When Chu Huan looked up, he saw Hua Guduo covering her little follower's mouth, and ran away without looking back.

Chu Huan: "...Unlucky boy, your whole family is bobcats."

Nanshan was amazed: "Do you understand? I thought it was Ankara Yiye talking nonsense."

Chu Huan shrugged and let go of Nanshan.

Nanshan didn't get up, only moved his fingers slightly.

The harmonica hanging on his waist suddenly gave out a long and layered chant. Chu Huan was stunned as he looked at Nanshan's wrist lying flat on the ground.

With his fingertips flicking slightly, the invisible airflow flowed continuously into the fine air holes of the imported piano under the command of Nanshan, and a string of coherent and precise notes floated out, although a bit blunt.

Nanshan: "This is what my dad brought through the exchange of blood, and he passed it on to me."

Chu Huan immediately thought of the renminbi that Nanshan waved and held lightly near the county station, and then thought of the wind arrow that the mad dog Mutai roared and spit out by the river.

It's not even like bullets, they are silent, with immeasurable power and precision.

Nanshan can use it to play a soft tune, and of course it can stab him right through without warning.

Chu Huan was silent for a long time, straightened his messed up skirt, and sat down beside him.

He is rarely so stern. In Nanshan's impression, Chu Huan is an easy-going person who almost drifts with the crowd, lazy, muddling through everything, rarely curious, and rarely serious.

Then he heard the rare and serious Chu Huan say softly and clearly: "No."

This answer exceeded Nanshan's expectations, he almost didn't realize it, and asked subconsciously: "Why?"

"I can't meet your conditions." Chu Huan put one arm across his knees, reached into his arms and touched it, and found that the smoke was gone. It must have been treated as a harmful item by Nanshan, so he had no choice but to withdraw his hand. .

"If I know for sure that I will die tomorrow, or next month, or even a little longer, a year later, then I promise you that I will say nothing, but how long is a human life? Maybe I will die tomorrow. What kind of accident, I will stop eating after a while, and maybe I will live like a tortoise bastard. For decades, no one knows what will happen to me. Since I don’t know what the future will hold, of course I don’t know. It is impossible to give you a lifetime promise, and if I give it, I will lie to you."

Nanshan remained silent.

Chu Huan: "As for whether I will be solidified, am I still normal now? When you find out that I am abnormal, just drag that black guy over and give me another bite. It's okay. Although I am very 'fragile', but As long as you don't aim at the vital parts, one or two bites probably won't kill me."

Although Nanshan didn't say anything on the spot, his dejected look was like when he heard that the long-awaited support teacher refused to come in the county where he met by chance.

"Nanshan," Chu Huan called him softly, "the other side of the river is my home. There is nothing going on at home now. I don't need me for the time being. It's hard to say in the future. Maybe my wife is mediocre and won't need me all the time, but once that If there is anything, any summons, I will climb back even if I am crawling—it’s not that I don’t like you and the clansmen, if possible, I hope to abduct you all, understand?”

Nanshan bowed his head: "We have a boundary that we cannot cross, but the boundary has no limit for you. In fact, even if you agree now, you will regret it in the future. Once you leave the boundary, I will not be able to catch up with you."

Chu Huan smiled: "I know."

Chu Huan patted the hay on his body and stood up: "You saved me and took care of me. You are my friend. With friends, some things can be fooled casually, but some things can't be joked. You must say it clearly ——Such a solemn promise is the same as an IOU for borrowing money, and it cannot be signed casually."

Nanshan looked at him deeply.

Chu Huan thought for a while, and added: "Other occasions—for example, when I praise you for your tasteful clothes, you can just listen to it and don't take it seriously."

After he finished speaking, he stepped back towards the direction of the cave.

Nanshan: "What are you going to do?"

"Go and meet my senior again," Chu Huan said, "By the way, see if those rifles are still usable."

Nanshan followed him all the way back to the cave. Chu Huan asked him to hold a torch to illuminate for him, then bent down, carefully opened the clothes of each veteran, checked their serial numbers and names, and recorded their personal information one by one.

Nanshan asked: "What are you doing?"

Chu Huan: "I can't let them live here without seeing the dead or the dead. I will write it down first. After I go out in the future, I will try to find their family members and report a funeral for them."

Nanshan: "Reporting a funeral means telling others that someone is dead."

Chu Huan: "Yes."

Nan Shan said, "But they're not dead yet."

"Why aren't they dead? In my opinion, they are dead," Chu Huan said. "They have no consciousness or thoughts here, just a body...or the remains, for some reason, they just don't rot. Without metabolism, there is no death." life."

Nanshan thought for a while: "I don't think so."

Chu Huan: "Huh?"

Nanshan said: "In my opinion, as long as you are not dead, even if you have nothing, you are still alive."

Chu Huan looked back at him in astonishment.

Nanshan explained in a good-tempered manner: "Maybe our place and yours walk less and are far away, so everyone thinks differently."

"No, I think you're right," Chu Huan recollected Nanshan's words incessantly, "You're right, chatting with you can make people feel better for a long time, and many things suddenly become brighter."

As he was talking, he suddenly laughed, and after transcribing the last veteran's message, Chu Huan said: "If I can bring you back, I must sell you to a sports goods advertiser. You just have to say to the camera' Anything's possible' is enough, and the advertising dollars are skyrocketing."

Nanshan automatically interpreted the "camera" as "immediate shooting", and hurriedly declined embarrassingly: "No, just shoot as you like, and you don't need to pay for it—let's go, I'll buy you a drink."

Chu Huan's smile collapsed: "Then, then there is no need."

Nanshan wondered: "Why, don't you like drinking?"

Chu Huan covered his stomach: "I don't want to be an urn anymore."

After a long translation in his brain, this sentence ran through Nanshan's boundless reflex arc, and he laughed after a long delay.

The two walked to the courtyard of the patriarch's house together. It was already dark at this time, and the bone lamps inserted everywhere in the clan were very obvious. Chu Huan suddenly remembered: "By the way, if it is possible, can I see your father?" ? I still want to talk to him about some problems."

Nanshan's expression darkened.

"He died when I was young, and I don't even have any memory of him." Nanshan said, "He... Let me tell you, mainly to let you know better. It is best not to mention him in the clan in the future, especially in front of the elders."

Chu Huan frowned slightly, feeling that there was gossip here.

"He lied to his clansmen and my aunt. After gaining power through the blood exchange ceremony, he always wanted to abandon us." Nanshan stared at the ground, "The reason why he didn't leave immediately was because of the gatekeeper."

The gatekeeper was full of treasures, and when Chu Huan heard this, he already understood in his heart.

"He secretly killed several gatekeepers, hid in the cave over there, divided their bodies into various strange bottles and jars, collected the blood together, and was found halfway away with these things , I heard that the previous gatekeeper patriarch almost turned against my mother because of this."

Chu Huan: "... what happened next?"

"Later, my grandmother led the whole clan to kill him."

It's really inconvenient for Chu Huan to comment on such bloody housework, so he could only say: "Well...your mother is really a heroine, what is that called? Oh, you can afford it and let it go, you have a clear distinction between what you like and what you don't like."

"She is also dead." Nanshan said softly, "We mountain guards value promises, and a marriage contract is one of the most important vows. Unless the other person dies, there will only be one person in this life, and breaking it will not be good Die. Since she led someone to kill my father, of course it is impossible for her to survive alone."

Chu Huan: "..."

How come no one informed him that there is such a cruel custom?Fortunately, I didn't agree just now!