"Why? Why do you say that!" Zhu Xuan became excited.
"Because Shi Yitong is only nineteen years old!" I said loudly, "Look at him, do you think he looks like someone in his thirties?"
Zhu Xuan was stunned, "But..."
"The lifespan of human beings is much shorter than you think." I said calmly, "It is impossible for us to maintain our original appearance after thirty years."
"But it's impossible, that string of jade, that string of jade belongs to him!" Zhu Xuan said excitedly, "I can't admit it wrong!"
"If you're talking about this bracelet," Shi Yitong took the bracelet off his wrist and said apologetically, "I found this from my grandfather's belongings. My grandfather always liked to collect some weird things when he was alive. Although I Not sure where the bracelet came from, but basically, whoever it had previously belonged to should have passed away."
Shi Yitong put the bracelet in Zhu Xuan's palm, Zhu Xuan took it over in a daze, and looked up at Shi Yitong, "So... you're really not him?"
"I don't even know who you are talking about." Shi Yitong laughed dryly.
"So, I've been making mistakes all along?" Zhu Xuan looked at us suspiciously.
Several of us nodded together.
"Oh, uh..." Zhu Xuan's face immediately turned red from embarrassment, he lowered his head in embarrassment and dared not look at us, "Sorry, I, I don't know..."
"It's okay, it's not your fault." Shi Yitong patted Zhu Xuan's shoulder carelessly, "It's just that you really fell in love with me suddenly, I'm really relieved."
Hearing this sentence, several people laughed lightly.
"So, what's going on?" I asked, looking at Zhuxuan on the bed, "Would you like to explain it to us?"
Zhu Xuan looked at me, then at Shi Yitong and Su Xiaoyun, and nodded slowly, "This is a long story, and I don't know if I can explain it clearly."
"Then you can make a long story short." Su Xiaoyun said with a smile.
"Hmm." Zhu Xuan sat up leaning on the mattress and began to tell us this curious story.
"Thirty years ago, when the beasts began to harass Diecui Mountain." Zhu Xuan said slowly, "There are many legends about me in this city, and some say that I was there to save the flood. , Some people say that I am protecting the soul of the general, but in fact I am very ashamed. I came here just to enjoy the mountains and rivers. The scenery of this place is very beautiful, with green mountains and gurgling water, so I For a long time, I lived in the mountains, enjoyed the natural scenery, and chatted with the small animals in the mountains. At that time, Ye broke into my life."
"The one you mistook for me?" Shi Yitong interjected.
Zhuxuan nodded and continued, "Ye is a human being, he is the son of a hunter, so I can often see him go up the mountain to hunt. But every time he harvests not much, just some small animals, pheasants or rabbits , sometimes there are some fish. Even hunters, very few people go up the mountain every day, so I gradually got to know him after going back and forth. I taught him how to hunt, so gradually, he also shot some bigger ones Something. Something like a deer or a goat."
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"How did you do it!" Ye yelled excitedly, "You don't even have a gun! You just killed a sika deer with nothing!"
"I didn't kill it." Zhu Xuan laughed and walked away from the fallen deer, "It just passed out. It's not difficult, as long as you are familiar with the structure of these animals, it is very easy to knock them out simple."
"Wow—you're so handsome!" Ye didn't agree with Zhu Xuan's modest words at all. He walked around the fallen sika deer and said in amazement, "It's incredible! You are the most handsome man I have ever seen. Great hunter!"
Zhu Xuan smiled, knelt down to look at the deer carefully, and asked, "So—are you going to kill it and take it back?"
"Why not?" Ye said excitedly, "This may be my biggest prey this week!"
"However, she is a doe." Zhu Xuan said.
"What happened to the doe?" Ye asked strangely.
"Look, she is producing milk." Zhuxuan pointed to the lower abdomen of the sika deer and said, "This means that she is still a mother. This kind of deer has three to five lambs in one litter. If you kill her Dead means that somewhere on this mountain, three to five fawns will be starved to death."
"Really or not." Ye stood up and scratched his head, "If that's the case, forget it."
Zhu Xuan laughed, "Forget it? Are you going to give up your biggest prey in a week?"
"I can't help it, how could I have the heart to attack a mother." Ye said seriously.
Not long after, the sika deer really just like what Zhu Xuan said, woke up leisurely, shook its head, stood up and ran away.
"You, if you are always so kind, you will never be able to hunt good prey." Zhu Xuan teased with a smile.
"What does that matter?" Ye waved his hands carelessly and said, "I just need to be able to meet Zhuxuan every day as I am now."
For a moment, Zhu Xuan's face felt a little hot.
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"Then what happened next?"
"Afterwards, life lived peacefully like that. Ye would go up the mountain from time to time and chat with me. Although the more we got along, the more he doubted my identity, but probably Ye's temper was too straightforward, and he never I asked who I am. Slowly, as time goes by, about a year or two. The relationship between Ye and I is getting better and better, even surpassing that of friends. We not only meet on the mountain, but also We will go to the market together, go shopping, and once I even went to his house and met his father."
Zhu Xuan sighed, "I always felt that life would go on like this without any change. I like him, and I know he likes me too. Until one day...he suddenly came to tell me that his father Arranged a blind date for him, and if there is no accident, he will get married in the second half of the year."
"How come..." Su Xiaoyun murmured.
"I'm not human, I've always been used to the same life, used to the same things around me, and never thought gender was an issue. I always forget that he is a human, and humans are to reproduce Yes." Speaking of this, Zhu Xuan lowered his eyes, "He is already 23 years old, and his father found him a girl of the right family. I heard that girl has never even met him, and she will be forced by her family. I wanted to marry him. I tried to persuade Ye's father, but he threw him out of the house in a rage. I also tried various methods, but they all failed in the end. "
"Then I started to realize that there was no way he and I could be together, there were so many barriers between us, and even apart from all the barriers, I was going to live a lot longer than him. So I see Then he married another girl, got married, and had a baby. I started to think that life is not bad, and I watched him live a good life. His wife is very good and can take care of the house in order. He started Working, he rarely comes to the mountains to hunt anymore. But once or twice a month, he would come to Diecui Mountain, pretending to be hunting, but actually came to see me."
—————
"In the water! In the water! Come on, don't let it get away!"
"Where is where?" Ye shouted, "Why can't I see it?"
"The right side, it's on the right side of your arm!" Zhu Xuan jumped up on the bank, pointed to the water on the right side and said, "It's right there!"
"Wait, I saw it!" Ye's eyes fixed on the water area, he grabbed a fish tightly with both hands, and threw it up, "I caught you!"
"Great!" Zhu Xuan applauded happily, picked up the big fish, and threw it into the bamboo basket beside him, "It took a lot of effort, and it almost ran away."
"It's unfamiliar." Ye smiled and walked up from the water. He looked at Zhuxuan, hesitated for a while, and then spoke slowly.
"Azhu."
"Huh?" Zhu Xuan sat on the rock, raised his head and smiled, "What's wrong?"
"Why do you never grow old?" Ye looked at Zhu Xuan and asked.
Zhu Xuan's smile faded away, and he looked at Ye with a complicated expression, and remained silent without speaking.
Now, thirty-year-old Ye sat side by side with him, while Zhu Xuan still looked like a teenager.
"Azhu, you... aren't human, are you?"
The probing in Ye's tone made Zhu Xuan feel strange, he frowned, not knowing the meaning of Ye's words.
"Do you know..." Ye rubbed his hands and said hesitantly, "something is not quite right recently. Do you remember that I told you a long time ago about the fact that someone in the village died after going up the mountain? Now There again."
Zhu Xuan didn't speak, just looked at Ye quietly.
"This time is more terrifying than before. Not only the people who went up the mountain, but also people who were dragged away in the village, and when they were found, there was only a mutilated skeleton left. The people in Longning Temple The monk said, this is not a wild beast, but a big monster that was sealed here before was released, so it hurts people everywhere... "
"And do you think I'm that evil monster?" Zhu Xuan lowered his head and said in a low voice.
"What? Of course not!" Ye showed an unbelievable expression, "How could you miss me so much?"
"Isn't it!" Zhu Xuan raised his head abruptly, his eyes full of anger, "You often don't come here for several months, hiding in your own small hut to live. You finally came today Did you come here just to tell me this? Who asked you to come? Is it your wife or your village head? Just to let you ask me if I am the big man-eating monster?"