Bamboo branch girl

The sea breeze blows coolly.

It's time for the adults to go to sea again, and there are only old people and children left in the village.The little fat man is just too lonely, so he just jumps around. If he can see his parents often, he will definitely stay at home and read a book in peace.

Thinking of staying in this village for generations, inheriting his father's career, and being arranged for his life, the little fat man always felt that something was missing.

The little fat man took Zhuji to the beach, sat on a rock, and motioned her to sit next to him.

Zhuji came over, tugged at the little fat man's sleeve, and asked in a low voice: "Little fat man, little fat man, when will Huang come back?"

Along the way, Zhuji didn't know how many times she asked this question.

"It's inappropriate for you to call me Fatty..." The little fat man rubbed his chin, "All the cute girls in the village call me Brother Fatty, what about you..."

"Fatty...brother?" Zhuji read out each word.

"Brother Fatty...Brother Fatty...sounds weird. Forget it, let's call it that first, and I will tell you as soon as I come up with a nice name in the future." The little fat man looked at the sea and sighed in one breath.

Those parents in the village, when the child was just born, saw what the child looked like, so they screamed casually.For example, Little Fatty was like a round ball when he was born. People in the village said he was fat, so they called him Little Fatty.

He would also like to have a normal name, like a city person.There is a surname and a first name, which sounds majestic.

After a long time, the little fat man got tired of sitting on the reef, so he took Zhu Ji back to the bamboo forest.

Zhuji didn't realize anything, and just followed, as if she had completely forgotten about Wannianzhu beating her just now.It seemed that there was only that momentary memory, and it quickly dissipated.

Even what happened yesterday, what I did the day before yesterday, where I went to play the day before yesterday, and after I slept, I forgot everything.

To put it simply, she remembers people, doesn't remember things, or selectively forgets some things.

She would just ask repeatedly: "When will Huang come back?"

The little fat man yelled at Zhuji: "Zhuji, you have asked this question many times. The day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow!"

If she keeps doing this all the time, the saint will be angry.The little fat man finally understood why her father beat the child.

Zhuji also knew what it means to be angry. Seeing that the little fat man's facial features were all crowded together, she stopped talking. She squatted down and hugged her knees to play with the withered bamboo leaves on the ground.

The little fat man noticed that his tone was a bit serious, and he was embarrassed to admit his mistake, so he ran back to his home, turned back, put the sweet potato in his arms, and put it on the ground.

Since Zhuji doesn't eat meat, she should be happy eating sweet potatoes, the little fat man thought.

No child will have trouble with delicious sweet potatoes, and even the stubborn child will be fine if he eats his sweet potatoes.

Zhuji was really curious, she leaned over, stretched out a finger and poked the sweet potato on the ground, making the sweet potato roll on the bamboo slices.Rolling back and forth, rolling back and forth to the little fat man's feet.

The little fat man didn't pay attention, he stepped on the sweet potato, grunted, his center of gravity was unsteady, he faced the ground, fell to the ground abruptly, and was forced to stuff a mouthful of bamboo shavings.

He got up angrily, and spit out the bamboo chips with a few bah bah.

He gathered the dried bamboo leaves and slices around him and piled them into a pile. He found a few dry bamboos, stepped on them, and placed them in the air around the bamboo slices.He took out a fire pocket from his pocket, blew on it, and when he saw sparks, lit the bamboo leaves, and the flames came out.

The little fat man had quick hands and feet. He picked up a bamboo branch, put sweet potatoes on a skewer, and roasted them in the fire. After a while, the aroma of roasting spread around.

The fire was dancing, touching the sweet potatoes, popping up sporadic flames on the bamboo tubes that were not dry enough, and the surrounding temperature rose.

Zhuji was afraid of the heat, so she took a few steps back and asked, "What is that?"

The little fat man twirled the sweet potato on the bamboo branch to make it evenly heated, and then said to Zhuji, "This is fire."

Zhuji asked again: "What is fire?"

The little fat man listed Zhuji one by one: "Fire can cook many delicious things, light up, and warm the body. If there is no fire, human beings will not be able to survive."

Zhuji covered her eyes, she couldn't get used to it: "...it's so bright...where did the fire come from?"

Where did the fire come from?

The little fat man didn't know either, but judging from Zhuji's current reaction, she didn't like to be close to Huo.

Think about it too, fire can almost restrain living things in this world, especially plants.Thunder makes fire, but water suppresses fire, and water comes to cover earth.Although life and life restrain each other, from a broad perspective, soil is the lord of all things.And plants are born from the earth, and humans come from the womb of their mothers, but humans are the masters of the world.

The little fat man scratched his head: "This... I don't know, it is said that it was brought down from the sky by Vulcan."

Zhuji didn't ask any more, and she repeated her previous words in a twisted manner: "When will Huang come back?"

"Ask again...for the last time, it's the day after tomorrow, which is tomorrow's tomorrow!" The little fat man threw away the sweet potato, spread it on the ground in large letters, rubbed his round belly, and said, "Although my little fat man is not enough for him." Handsome, not as capable as him, but you won't be left out in the cold..."

Zhuji moved over slowly, imitating others, patted the little fat man's head lightly, and said softly, "Don't be sad...I'll play with you."

The little fat man shook his body, warmed by Zhu Ji's behavior.

"That's right! Come, come, put this sweet potato here." He got up on the spot, patted Zhuji's head in the same way, picked up the half-baked sweet potato just now, put it in Zhuji's hand, Pointing to the fire and said.

Zhuji trembled, clutching the handle of the bamboo branch tightly, not daring to go over to the fire.

The little fat man saw that the fire was almost gone, and there were only a few sparks hidden under the ashes of the bamboo, so he said to pick up dried bamboo nearby, and then let the fire start.

Just when Zhuji was hesitating, a wind blew in the bamboo forest, and she smelled a pungent smell, and coughed non-stop.

She looked back and found that there was thick smoke rising behind her, not just a small pile nearby, but also dancing flames in the distance.Zhuji called the little fat man who was picking up firewood: "Fire, there's a lot of fire."

The little fat man looked at the sound.

Behind it turned out to be a large pile of small piles of fire!

God didn't know how to send some wind, and the fire was encouraged by the wind, and it grew crazily, spreading along the dry bamboo in the bamboo forest.

Oops!The flames fly so far!

Without even thinking about it, the little fat man threw away the dried bamboo in his arms and ran towards Zhu Ji.

That's too late!

The wind is blowing, and the fire is also burning.

In just a moment, the fire can devour even raw bamboo, and there is a wall of fire in front of it.

The little fat man hurriedly shouted at Zhuji: "Zhuji! Zhuji! Go!!"

Zhuji couldn't walk, she was surrounded by raging fire, and she was a dead end wherever she went.Even if they are not burned to death by the fire, they are likely to be suffocated to death by the smoke.She is but a bamboo branch, and plants are very afraid of fire.

Holding the sweet potato in her hand, she never dared to relax.

"Zhu Ji! Damn it!" The little fat man cursed, not knowing why the heavens are going crazy today, and the wind is blowing again and again at the critical moment!

A person's strength is limited, and the adults are not around, what should I do? !What should I do? !

But he was already unable to protect himself, and his surroundings were also on fire, and there was still a way to go, if he continued to stay here, he would die too!

Put out the fire!

God, let it rain in time, God!The little fat man was helpless, and praying for rain was his only hope.

Seeing that the fire engulfed Zhuji bit by bit, the little fat man cried and yelled, but no one responded, and his only passage was almost submerged in the sea of ​​flames.

The little fat man who is usually the king of children will also appear cowardly in the face of unreasonable disasters.

Yes, he can't do anything, he's just a kid.

While comforting himself, the little fat man held his nose and escaped out of the bamboo forest along the edge.He ran to wipe away his tears, and to the direction of the village, tearing his throat, shouted: "Fire! Fire!"

The old man and the child heard the little fat man's desperate cry, and they all came out to see what happened.Looking at the burning mountain bamboo forest, some told them to fetch water, some told them to stand still, and some were so frightened that their legs went limp.

Spring is not a dry season, so why did it burn?The older people in the village had experience, and they comforted other people in the village, saying that nothing happened.

Almost every 30 years, the bamboo forest in the back mountain will inexplicably burn, and it only happens in the spring rainy season.According to the past situation, the bamboo forest usually burns until the evening, and then there will be a heavy rain accurately, and the fire will be completely extinguished.

What a legend!

The little fat man didn't believe it, he thought it was his fault, it was caused by roasting sweet potatoes in the bamboo forest!It's not some legend.

But what can be done, the bamboo forest is full of fire, whoever enters will die.

They waited until evening, waiting for the heavy rain.

Sure enough, the legend did not lie.

When the heavy rain came, all the fires in the bamboo forest were extinguished, leaving only a bare mountain with a few sparse bamboos standing upright.

Then, nothing.

The mountain is empty, weeds, beetles, nothing left.

The little fat man's legs went limp, and he slapped himself in the face desperately, tears and snot streaming down his face.When the adults who had gone out to sea came back, he knelt down in front of all the villagers and his father, and told the truth.

It's not a legend, but he himself is committing suicide.

After knowing the truth, the father slapped him mercilessly: "Who told you to play with fire? Let's see if I beat you to death today!"

"Okay, just hit the long memory a few times." An old man stopped the little fat man's father from continuing to hit.

The old man has rich experience and is also superstitious about legends, so he naturally wouldn't blame the child for the incident.On the contrary, he thinks it is good that the child is fine.

"The entire bamboo forest has been burned like this. If it spreads to the village, I don't know how it will end."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! In the bamboo forest... in the bamboo forest... there's another child!" The little fat man knelt and kowtowed to apologize.

Blame him for being naughty!It's all his own fault!If Zhuji really died, he would have a restless conscience for the rest of his life!Even if he becomes a monk, his sins cannot be washed away.

"What child?" The little fat man's father paused, and a bad premonition struck him.

"She...she is from the next village, so I brought her over to play, but...the result...was surrounded by fire and did not come out..." The little fat man still said that Zhuji was a child from the next village , not some monster.

"You little fat man, you even killed the children in the next village!" His father casually picked up a bamboo fork, and hit the little fat man's hands and feet until the little fat man's hands and feet showed clearly visible bloodstains before he threw it. Throwing the bamboo fork, "Little brat, I told you that you are an evil star! Damn it!"

"Okay, what's the use of just scolding the child, everyone, hurry up and find out, I'll go to the next village and ask who has lost the child." Apply ointment to his bloody hand.

If Huang Zai...he would have predicted it.Then, such a terrible thing will not happen...

Almost everyone in the village thought so.

"Come on! God is evil! If that child dies, and others blame you, I will beat you to death!"

The little fat man's father gave the little fat man a vicious look, and then ran up the mountain to find the child.Everyone knows that there is such a big fire, no matter how hard you look for it, you can't find it.

Perhaps that child has been reduced to ashes, not even bones left.

The author has something to say: Brother Huang will come back in the next chapter.