Solstice Secrets

A long howl pierced the silence of the night.

The people by the fire stopped their movements at the same time, and looked sideways at the same time.The door of the cave was broken and could not be locked, so it had to be closed.If there is a fierce beast coming to collide, it will definitely be overwhelmed.Except for Ling Dongzhi, everyone became nervous.The faces of the poachers who were huddled in a corner of the cave changed.Ling Dongzhi guessed that they still wanted to take advantage of the night to do something small, but now that they knew there were wolves haunting outside, the idea of ​​grabbing the gun and fleeing would be snuffed out immediately.

A man in the village suggested with a trembling voice, "Wolves are afraid of fire, let's build a fire outside."

The leader of the police squad spread his hands in embarrassment, "There is not enough firewood." The sun had already set, and it was dark everywhere. It was very unsafe to send people out to collect firewood.Moreover, there are eight poachers who are tied up hand and foot. If the police guarding them cannot suppress them in number, I'm afraid there will be trouble again.

The eldest cousin looked at the people on his side, and was about to volunteer to get some firewood nearby, when Ling Dongzhi said: "Don't be nervous, the wolves won't attack us. They just stay nearby."

The police captain turned his head and looked at the two people huddled in a corner of the cave with a strange expression, "How do you know?"

"Listen." Ling Dongzhi signaled him to pay attention to the movement outside, "The voice is very long, the tone is very slow, and there is no murderous intent. I think they are protecting us and guarding these people at the same time." He pointed and shrank A couple of poachers in the corner.

Several policemen showed disbelief.

Old Zhao coughed, "The old people in the village say that the wolves are sent by the mountain god to guard the forest. They don't tolerate poachers who are crazy." He gave a vicious look at the people in the corner.

The poacher stared back with a fierce look in his eyes.

Ling Dongzhi had no doubt that if there were no wolves outside, these people would not be willing to sit here tied up.

"The wolves will not harm us." Ling Dongzhi hugged a few lazy cats, and assured everyone, "They are like the guards on this hill, they can distinguish who is a stranger with malicious intentions. "That's all he can say. As for whether they believe it or not, that's not his concern.

Everyone half-believed what he said, but luckily, the wolves really didn't take any attack on them, they just guarded a place not far or near, so that they could see a creepy green forest as soon as they opened the door. light spot.

The place where they stayed was the cave dwelling where the gangsters took Lingdong Solstice to spend the night the previous day.At that time, Ling Dongzhi's face was covered with something, and he didn't see anything. Although he was a little puzzled, he didn't think deeply about it.Returning to this place again, Ling Dongzhi felt that everything in this place was weird.The remote mountain, the cave dwelling where people once lived but collapsed due to the earthquake, the combination of these clues is enough to make Ling Dongzhi a huge doubt in his heart.

First of all, this place is very remote, no matter it is very far from Shiliu Village or the two villages in the back mountain, and the location is also far away from the mountain road connecting the front mountain and the back mountain.Even my uncle and Lao Zhao who have lived here for most of their lives never knew that there was such a place in the deep mountains.

Judging from the scale, there should have been a village here.Several nearby cave dwellings were buried by rocks, and some only had half a wall or a dilapidated door and window left.The cave dwelling they lived in was the most well-preserved, but apart from heavy furniture such as tables, chairs, and water tanks, there was not even a piece of cloth left, and no useful clues could be seen.Or there were some clues left in the past, but they were destroyed by people like poachers who stumbled upon it.

Zhuang Zhou didn't speak, and let him lean on his shoulder and think about his thoughts.Sitting in the corner of the dilapidated cave dwelling, watching the blazing fire, with one arm around his lover, and the other stroking the pet dog lying on his lap, although there are a large group of irrelevant people around, Zhuang Zhou still There is a feeling of contentment.

Ling Dongzhi heard Zhuang Zhou's low laugh, and couldn't help asking him, "What's wrong?"

"Listen," Zhuang Zhou raised his chin towards the outside, "it's the first time I heard a wolf howl. Recalling Brown Tang's usual howl, I think it really seems to be imitating a wolf."

"Isn't it said that huskies are a subspecies of wolf?" Ling Dongzhi glanced at Brown Tang, who was sleeping soundly with his head on Zhuangzhou's lap, and couldn't help smiling, "However, wolves are awe-inspiring, but brown sugar is likable. "

Zhuang Zhou also laughed, "I saw a wolf today, it was frightened."

Ling Dongzhi squinted at him, "What about you?"

Zhuang Zhou said honestly: "I was also terrified. There are so many animals, you know, I even saw two leopards. They are so big and mixed with deer, sheep, and roe deer. It's incredible gone."

"Is the mountain god manifesting?"

Zhuang Zhou was silent for a moment, "I told my uncle that we will also donate money to renovate the mountain temple together when we go back."

Ling Dongzhi thought it was inconceivable that this person would donate money to build the temple.

Zhuang Zhou glanced at the sleeping people around him, and whispered, "Winter Solstice, I think this village is weird, like..." He thought for a while, "Like Captain Jack's ghost ship."

Ling Dongzhi pondered for a while what he meant by these words, then he shook his head and said, "Zhuang Zhou, it's actually not that mysterious. The reason why these animals gather here is because I am a child born in this mountain."

Zhuang Zhou was surprised, "You were born here?"

Ling Dongzhi felt that he obviously didn't understand the meaning of his words, "There are some legends about mountain gods in this place, and their people know the language of animals. As for me," he hesitated, and said slowly: "I am Children of this clan."

Zhuang Zhou's eyes straightened slightly, "Then your father..."

Ling Dongzhi shook his head, "I was the child he picked up. At that time, their youngest son died at birth, so my father picked me up. My mother and brother should have been kept in the dark."

Zhuang Zhou looked at him and suddenly felt distressed, "You just found out?"

Ling Dongzhi nodded, "The animals here told me." He looked straight into Zhuang Zhou's eyes, and barely made any sound with his slightly opened mouth, "Zhuang Zhou, don't you understand? I can understand animals. Let’s talk to them. Today’s animals are assembled by me asking the mountain rats.”

Zhuang Zhou opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.In the blink of an eye, he suddenly remembered the scenes he had seen before: Ling Dongzhi was sitting on the sofa, Brown Tang was sitting opposite him, the two were... arguing; he carried the injured kitten to He Qing's clinic, behind him Following a few kittens in line; he hugged the stray dog ​​and told himself its name was Mao Mao... All the symptoms he thought were paranoia now had an explanation.

Although this explanation is far beyond the scope of knowledge he can understand.

"Do you remember, I picked up brown sugar once, and when you came to pick it up, I asked you to tell it the story of "Wolf is Coming"?" He looked at Zhuang Zhou's slightly dull face, and pursed the corners of his mouth , Said lightly: "That's because brown sugar lied to me, it said it was kidnapped by your gardener to sell."

Zhuang Zhou was stunned, "No wonder you asked about my gardener..."

He felt in a dreamlike trance, looking at the dog son lying on his lap sleeping on his back, it was hard to imagine that this guy who was a bit off-line could be so... nasty.

He stammered and asked Ling Dongzhi, "Then...the cats..."

Ling Dongzhi nodded, "This is my secret."

Zhuang Zhou suppressed the shock in his heart.This news is too untrue for him, maybe it will take him a long time to digest the so-called secret of Winter Solstice.But with Ling Dongzhi's cold personality down to the bone, he is willing to believe in himself and confess his secret to himself, this is really an unexpected surprise for Zhuang Zhou.

Ling Dongzhi looked at him intently, the expression on his face slowly relaxed, "Are you scared?"

Zhuang Zhou took a deep breath, turned his head to look at the narrow smile on his face, shook his head and smiled, "I think it's incredible. The world view has completely collapsed." He laughed again.Ling Dongzhi's words gave him an illusion, as if he was still a child, sharing a secret with his companions that he couldn't tell adults.

The unfamiliar pleasure is like the fearless and hopeful guess about the future in youth.It made him full of expectations for the life that has not yet come.

"Will you tell me what Brown Sugar said after that?"

"I can think about it."

Zhuang Zhou grabbed his shoulders and carried the belt in his arms. He saw the little policeman sitting at the door watching the night glanced at them with slight suspicion in his eyes.In order to rub medicinal wine on Ling Dongzhi's injured ankle just now, the two sat in the corner of the cave on purpose.When they spoke, their voices were so low that it was impossible for others to hear what they were saying.The little policeman thought that the two big men behaved too intimately together.Zhuang Zhou smiled at him, looked away, and asked in a low voice, "How did the clan you mentioned lose you? Has anyone looked for you?"

Ling Dongzhi shook his head, "At that time there was an earthquake in the mountains, maybe they all suffered. The two people who left me at the door of my aunt's house were both injured, and what happened later. I suspect that this is where they lived back then. .”

Zhuang Zhou carefully looked at this dilapidated cave dwelling.He couldn't imagine what he would be like today if Winter Solstice hadn't been thrown away and brought back to Binhai by Ling's father and mother.

"It doesn't look like anything special," Zhuang Zhou said softly, "I'll accompany you to look around at dawn."

Ling Dongzhi closed his eyes and hummed, the corners of his mouth curled up, forming a seductive arc.