"Isn't this road too difficult to walk?"
"Bang-ah-"
…
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a cry from behind. It seemed that the fall must have been serious.
Ji Huai stopped and turned around, seeing that the other party's nose had been bruised and bleeding, and his head was covered with dead grass.
"You are so stupid." The thin dark man next to him helped him up and scolded him lightly.
"Didn't you see the stone? If you scold me again, I will go back and you can find it yourself!" The person who fell was also unconvinced. He touched his nose and gasped in pain.
"Hey." The thin black man quickly grabbed him and said a few words in a low voice, "I promised you well, but now I'm regretting it. If something happens in the future, don't expect me to help you! Even if my mother comes!"
The injured man was not happy, but he did not leave. He said angrily, "I pulled out my mother again. So many people can't find her. How can we find her?"
Ji Huai looked at the faces of the two of them and guessed a bit. It seems that there are two brothers, the older brother is the dark and thin man, and the younger brother is the slightly thinner man. They were dragged here.
"If I help Mr. Cheng find Zi Jiu and arrange for you to find a job in the Cheng Mansion, that's not..." Before the thin black man could finish speaking, seeing Ji Huai walking forward, he quickly stopped and said, "This brother Don't leave yet, we agreed to go into the mountain together, but we can't split up in two groups, that would be too dangerous."
Ji Huai answered calmly: "It's okay. You guys should rest first. I'm not tired yet."
"You are also here to see Zijiu, right? I know roughly where it is." The thin black man spoke quickly, trying to attract his attention.
Hearing this, Ji Huai really stopped and stood aside waiting for them, his deep eyes also fell on him, waiting for the next step.
"Someone saw me last time, and there was more than one person..." The thin black man helped his brother up and told him all the news he knew. There was no very useful news, but compared to the others, it was roughly Got a direction.
On the mountain behind the thousand-year-old tree in the Western Forest, several people had seen Zijiu appear.
But that thousand-year-old tree...
The thin black man supported his younger brother and looked at the mountain that seemed to be not far away. The mountain was covered with dense trees. Birds were chirping one after another, but the light purple figure was nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, the road is winding and winding, and we don’t know how far we have to go. Turning around and looking back, they didn't know how far they had gone, and the road back was not smooth.
"Are you still going?" Ji Huai asked again.
The two of them were out of breath, but they saw that he was not even breathing, so he stood aside and asked them.
"Yes!" The thin black man gritted his teeth and gave up.
Ji Huai didn't say much and continued walking forward.
Before walking a few hundred meters, the two people behind him were frightened to the point of losing their courage. Their faces were extremely pale. Looking at Ji Huai, he quickly grabbed the black snake with a branch, trampled the snake's head to pieces in a few times, and threw it away. In front of them.
"Poisonous... poisonous snake." The person next to the thin black man held his arm, still sweating, and tried to pull him back, "Brother, stop looking for it, go back, let's go back."
The thin black man swallowed, as if he hadn't recovered yet. He wasn't very courageous to begin with, so he just came here to have a look. He dared to go into the mountain later, but he was only emboldened to see that Ji Huai seemed to have some skills and follow him.
He has not been favored by Mr. Cheng recently. He got two rare birds and found someone else to take care of them. He has been left out for a long time, so he is anxious to catch his breath.
"Do you remember the way back?" the thin black man asked in a low voice.
"How can I remember? Brother, you didn't mark it?" The other party was also confused.
Slender black man: "..."
He marked a section of the road, and because he was paying attention to the people in front of him, he relaxed his vigilance, so he forgot about it.
"Then how do we go back?" The speaker looked at the thin black man and his words were trembling.
The thin black man's eyes flashed, he swallowed, and when he looked at Ji Huai, he considered his words, "Brother, why don't we go back? It's only half way and it's so dangerous. If we go further in, we still don't know. Whatever you encounter... Besides, you may not be able to see Zi Jiu, and if you see it, you may not be able to catch it."
"Then why are you here?" Ji Huai asked with raised eyebrows.
The two choked on their words.
Even if you see it, it will be difficult to catch it, but the temptation is very strong. What if you see it and you can catch it? What if you find its nest? What if we are so lucky and our ancestors are in smoke
"I'm still going to look for it, you guys go back." Ji Huai said and continued walking forward.
"Hey." The thin black man stepped forward to hold his hand. When Ji Huai raised his hand and made a warning gesture, he quickly stopped and kept trying to dissuade him, "It's really hard to find. If it's easy to find, Everyone has found it, so many people have come to look for it, but only a few people have seen it.”
"Then I'll go look for it even more." Ji Huai's expression did not change, he spoke without hesitation, and he became even more interested.
Seeing that he could not speak, the thin black man became even more anxious. Finally, he had no choice but to say through gritted teeth, "We don't know the way back!"
If you take the wrong road and can't get out even in the dark, isn't that just waiting to die? If you encounter venomous snakes and beasts, it will be a meal on your plate.
"I made a mark, just follow the mark." Ji Huai pointed to a place nearby. The grass at the fork in the road was bent in a different direction, which seemed obvious.
After he finished speaking, he already lifted his legs and walked forward.
When the two thin black men saw the mark, they didn't hesitate much and just wanted to get out of the mountain quickly.
The three of them split into two directions, and Ji Huai continued walking straight into the mountains.
After crossing the mountain and the thousand-year-old tree in front, he arrived at the place where Zi Jiu was rumored to be seen. He was observing along the way to see if there were any black mulberry trees.
This month, the fruits of the black mulberry tree are ripe.
He had not found any black mulberry trees since he entered the mountain, but he had to look again to see if there were any in this area.
The black mulberry tree is quite easy to recognize. This kind of tree is different from other trees. It has luxuriant branches and leaves, but few fruits. It is not tall, but the leaves are red, which is particularly conspicuous.
As he expected, there were two in the center of the mountain, and there were quite a few fruits on them. There are obvious signs of pecking, and it is definitely not picked by humans.
After walking on the mountain road for so long, Ji Huai felt a little thirsty. He climbed up a tree and picked black mulberries to eat, while looking around.
The black mulberry fruit tasted a bit astringent, but was very sweet afterwards. After eating, he picked some and planned to take them back to Tang Xiuer to eat. This thing was still old, so he could pick more.
The fruit is small and unremarkable in appearance, but the fruit has a very unique fragrance, which is rich but not pungent.
Ji Huaini climbed up the tree and put the fruits he picked in his pocket. After filling half the bag, his hand suddenly stopped, his eyes fell to one place, and his ears moved accordingly.
This bird call is different from other bird calls, and is very similar to the sound two years ago.
After staring for a while, sure enough, I saw the purple figure on the tree opposite. Even if it was hiding in the dense woods and its feathers were too bright, Ji Huai's sharp eyes could still recognize it at a glance.
He quietly got down from the tree and hid in the jungle.
After a while, the bird flew out. It had light purple feathers, red claws, and a colorful tail. It was the bird that everyone wanted to catch recently.
Its flexible little eyes turned and looked around, then quickly flew to the black mulberry tree, and began to peck at the black mulberry fruit with its pointed mouth, eating one after another.
After eating several of them, it held a few more in its mouth and then flew away.
Ji Huai walked out, kept looking at the direction it was flying, and quickly followed it to the side. His sharp eyes locked on a location and he quickly went over to take a look.
The nest it builds is not high, but it is very secretive and difficult to find.
After the male bird put down the black mulberries, he turned around and flew over to pick them again. It can be seen that there must be young birds in the nest waiting to be fed.
Ji Huai observed for half an hour and saw that there was another female bird in the nest. However, the gap between the female bird and the male bird was too big. She was much smaller than the male bird. Secondly, the feathers were not that gorgeous and the overall appearance was inferior. a lot of.
After making inquiries, he was not in a hurry to catch him, but turned around and went down the mountain.
The sun is already tilting, so we need to speed up our pace.
When he got halfway, he found two people in front of him. The thin black man's brother was sitting on the ground and wailing. The thin black man tried to carry him down the mountain, but he couldn't walk a few steps.
The other party was in severe pain, so he couldn't stay well at all and wanted to roll on the floor.
Seeing Ji Huai come back, the thin black man seemed to have seen a life-saving straw and said hurriedly: "My brother was bitten by a poisonous centipede. Is there anything you can do? What should I do?"
Ji Huai walked over and saw that the other party's feet were swollen and he was howling desperately. The pain was so painful that it was worse than death.
"Let's go down the mountain quickly?" The thin black man asked Ji Huai to carry his brother down the mountain with him, and promised, "I will definitely thank you when the time comes. I hope you can help me."
Ji Huai did not reply, but looked around and focused on a bush. Its branchlets are brown, the leaves are multi-shaped, the surface of the leaves is dark green, and the back of the leaves is pink-green.
He walked over, picked up a stone on the ground, and scratched the surface of the tree. Thick white juice flowed out. He caught some of it with a branch, walked back, and said to the thin black man, "Hold him down."
"Okay." The thin black man didn't think too much. After hearing his words, he directly held down the person on the ground.
Immediately afterwards, screams were heard one after another, frightening many birds in the jungle to fly away.
The thin black man saw that Ji Huai showed no mercy at all. He took the white juice and applied it on the injured leg. Forget it, Ji Huai started to rub it vigorously, causing the person to faint from the pain.
He felt pain just looking at it.
"The juice of Cimu can detoxify the centipede and reduce the swelling in a while." Ji Huai said.
"Thank you." The thin black man was extremely grateful. He gritted his teeth and struggled to carry his younger brother on his back, and went down the mountain with Ji Huai.
When we reached the foot of the mountain, the night became much darker. The person behind him slowly woke up and stopped wailing. Looking at the leg, he saw that the swelling was much less than before, and the burning sensation had also eased the pain.
Ji Huai glanced at his legs and didn't say anything. When he left, the thin black man came to him and said seriously, "I will repay this kindness when I have the opportunity in the future. I am working in the Cheng Mansion. If anything happens to you in the future, or you are caught." Zi Jiu, you can go find me. Although I am not a popular person around Mr. Cheng, I can still get in touch with him. Just tell him to look for Mr. Heizi."
Hearing this, Ji Huai nodded, "Thank you in advance."
"It's us who want to thank you. If it weren't for you, I really don't know what we would do. By the way, did you find anything when you went to the mountains?" Heizi asked again.
Ji Huai shook his head.
Heizi looked disappointed and comforted him, "The purple chirp is hard to find, and the mountains are dangerous. If you can't find it, you don't have to force it. If you catch other rare birds, I can also help you negotiate a good price with Mr. Cheng." ."
Ji Huai did not refuse and agreed.
The two Heizi brothers walked slowly, and Ji Huai wanted to go home in a hurry. Since there was no danger on the road, they left separately.
After Ji Huai returned to the city, he sold the poisonous snake before returning home.
When he got home, it was already dark and the shops on the street had lit lanterns. He knocked lightly on the door.
"Who is it?" A female voice came from inside, still cautious.
Ji Huai: "It's me."
Hearing his voice, the people inside quickened their pace.
"Go slowly."
As soon as he reminded him, the people inside walked slowly again.
The door opened and she appeared in front of him, her expression still full of grievance and anxiety, like that of a little woman, "Why did you come back just now? Why do you have to do so late?"
"Chores." In order not to worry her, he didn't say much. He put his hand on her shoulder and walked in together. He handed her the twenty copper coins he bought for the poisonous snake, turned around and closed the door and said, "Stomach I’m hungry, what can I eat?”
"I'm waiting for you to eat." She didn't have any doubts, carefully put away the coins, and pulled him towards the kitchen.
She cooked rice, fried bacon, spicy tofu, and vegetable soup.
Ji Huai consumed a lot of energy today and ate half a bowl of rice in a few seconds. He urged Tang Xiuer to eat more. After she was full, he ate all the rest.
Tang Xiuer boiled water for him to take a bath. Ji Huai took out a large handful of black mulberry fruits from his pocket and put them in a basket. "Eat more while they are freshly picked, otherwise they will not be so delicious tomorrow."
She took a look, her eyes raised, "How come there is such a fruit?"
He had picked this fruit before, and she was very impressed because it was sweet and delicious. At that time, the Ji family had not yet been divided, and Ji's mother was still there. Most of the fruits were divided between the eldest brother Ji and the second brother Ji's family, but she only got a few.
It was delicious, so she remembered it for a long time.
"I saw it when I was passing by, so I picked some." He didn't say much, took his clothes and went to take a shower.
Tang Xiuer washed more than twenty pills and put them in a small bowl. She couldn't help but taste one during the process. It's so sweet, as sweet as the one I had a long time ago.
When she returned to the house, she ate a few pills. Seeing that Ji Huai had just put on his underwear, she picked up one to feed him.
"Just eat." He tilted his head slightly.
"Eat one." She insisted on feeding him, but Ji Huai couldn't resist and could only open his mouth and eat.
"Isn't it sweet?" she asked.
"Sweet." Ji Huai bit her twice and continued. Looking at her standing in front of him with her head raised and looking at him, he naturally lowered his head and kissed her red lips, kissing her like a dragonfly.
Before Tang Xiuer had time to feel embarrassed, he had already turned around and walked to the bed, preparing to fall asleep.
The tips of her ears felt warm, she smiled wider, and stuffed another black mulberry into her mouth. The sweetness in her mouth penetrated her heart.