Chapter 16 The ‘stick’ here

Wu Laogui is like this. He has to find something to say to make himself feel important, even if he has nothing to say. But Cheng Xin, who is always gentle and calm, seems to be at odds with Wu Laogui. Anyway, whenever Wu Laogui starts talking nonsense, Cheng Xin can’t help but say, “You think you can get cold? You think you can get tired of floating? Come on, don’t you know you can rest in the jar? Can’t you just keep quiet and die?”

Wu Laogui looked at Cheng Xin Ge with a look of calmness and indifference, and pretended to pull on his flowery suit, which he could not actually touch, and adjusted his sunglasses. He then gave Cheng Xin Ge a “huff” and floated back into the jar. Then, Wu Laogui’s voice came from the jar: “Since ancient times, everyone has died. To put it bluntly, who dares to say that they will not become a ghost in the future? No one can! You can be cold? You can be tired? Hmph, you dare look down on ghosts.”

Chengxin’s smile became stiff, and he threw the small jar at me and said, “Stay away from me.”

I took the jar and stuffed it into my bag, saying, “Don’t talk nonsense to me. I don’t have a good temper, and the worship routine doesn’t work on me either.”

Sure enough, it was quiet in the pot. I took Ru Xue by the hand, smiled, patted Cheng Xin’s shoulder, and said, “Actually, it’s not bad to argue. At least you can see how much your Northeastern dialect has improved, right?”

Chengxin brother smiled and said a few words, and he was too lazy to say anything else. He turned around and went on his way, probably because he was so angry with the old ghost.

After all, Zhang is not a talkative person. After getting used to it, these things did not avoid him. After being haunted for so many years, he should be able to know that there are things in this world that ordinary people don’t know. Deliberately avoiding taboos is not honest.

I thought that Zhang would just ignore it as usual, but in fact, he frowned slightly, opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t say anything, but I saw it in my eyes.

He didn’t mention it, and I didn’t either. We just walked hand in hand. I’ve known Ruoxue for so many years, and we’ve always restrained ourselves from getting close. But as we got closer, I realized that love is like a seed. As long as the environment is right, no matter how much you restrain yourself, it will still grow like crazy. Just like the vines in summer, if you’re not careful, they can climb all over the wall. Just like these days, Ruoxue and I have become close and intimate again, but we don’t want to say anything.

Holding her hand, at first I was just worried about her, and I also felt that a man should take care of a woman. But after holding hands for a few minutes, my heart started to beat again. Although I kept telling myself that this was not an intimate action, my feelings rushed from my heart to my head, and then I got hot. Then my body got hot, and my palms actually began to sweat profusely.

As if she sensed something, Ruoxue calmly pulled her hand out of mine and said, “You can just carry my bag for me. I can do it. If I can’t, I’ll ask you.”

When she said this, she still had that clear and light expression, but I clearly saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. Women are always more sensitive and delicate than men. I can be very casual and think that getting along is happiness. When emotions are surging, I don’t bother to think about it so much. I don’t care about the future, the constraints, but Ruoxue is not going to work. Since there is no result, and since it has been ‘luxurious’ for half a year, why bother? We can only live together with a boundary, just like people standing on both sides of a cliff looking at each other, so close, but separated by a chasm.

I felt a little sad in my heart, and tried hard not to think about it, but the atmosphere had already become awkward. Chengxin, who understood everything, wanted to adjust it, but he was helpless and unable to do so. He also fell into a kind of sadness, thinking of Shen Xing again? The promise of the next life!

Old Zhang is a taciturn man. Perhaps he doesn’t want to pay attention to the thoughts of a few young people. After all, he has experienced most of life and has seen many things with a light heart. He just leads us along the way.

Occasionally he would say, “There’s a path up the mountain, it’s not too bad, it’s a path after all, it’s a relatively easy day, put in a little effort, I’ll get you some wild game for dinner tonight.”

In this cold weather, climbing up, Lao Zhang’s words undoubtedly gave us a shot in the arm. Thinking about hot water, warm fire, and hot meals, we even walked more energetically at the moment.

We set off at around 9 a.m. and didn’t arrive at the place the eldest brother’s son had told us about until 6 p.m., when it was already dark. We could see a small wooden house with a raised floor from afar, which was naturally very different from the kind of shack I had imagined in the fields of Sichuan.

Once inside, Zhang quickly lit the fire pit with a flashlight, then found two oil lamps and an oil can in the corner of the room, filled them with oil and lit them.

After all this, the room had become bright and warm. I then saw that the small wooden house was much better than I had imagined. There was a large wooden bed by the wall, covered with unknown animal skins that looked like they had been sewn together from scraps. I looked closely and it seemed to be rabbit skin, spore skin, or something.

There was a large table by the window, with some miscellaneous things on it. I saw some spices and the like.

The authentic part of the house is the fire pit, and there is a large pot hanging over it. In short, the basic necessities of life can be dealt with here.

Lao Zhang took out some tobacco and lit a pipe next to the fire pit. He took a few puffs and then asked if I and Chengxin wanted some. Chengxin and I don’t smoke pipes, but the smell of it made me feel very at home.

“I don’t smoke at home, my wife nags me about it, but once I’m in the mountains, I can’t help it. In fact, the hunter understands the hunter best. In these mountain huts, you can escape the cold, drink some hot water, and prepare some seasonings. Sometimes it can save a person’s life. Therefore, these huts always have these things on hand. Whoever uses them will be replenished the next time they go into the mountains. If they can’t be replenished, they will leave some money and goods. I’ll rest my feet here for a while, and then go get two snow rabbits to eat.” Old Zhang smoked a pipe and told us.

Chengxin is a foodie and couldn’t help but say, “Old Zhang, I heard that the grouse in this forest are delicious. How can we catch rabbits at night? Can we get grouse?”

Lao Zhang smiled and said, “There are a lot of snow rabbits here. Who can blame these rabbits for being so prolific? Grouse and the like are already rare in the outer reaches of these mountains. It depends on luck. In the future…” At this point, Lao Zhang’s face had an unnatural expression, and then he said, “In the future, if you go deeper, you will have the luck to see many animals. As for how to catch rabbits at night, I’m sure I’ll find a way. Just wait and see.”

After saying this, Lao Zhang stared at us nervously, and I knew what he was thinking just by looking at him. I knew what he was thinking, and I knew that Chengxin and Ruoxue knew it too. They were more perceptive than I was.

I couldn’t deny anything. Thinking about the way Zhang looked at us on the road, I felt that Zhang would have something to ask us tonight, so I didn’t say anything else. I’ll talk to Zhang again tonight. I think that at least we shouldn’t force others to do things.

Sure enough, seeing that we had not expressed our opinions, Zhang became even more unnatural. He looked worried, but in the end he did not say anything. He left the house with his shotgun and his bag of things.

I insisted on going with Zhang, mainly because I didn’t feel too tired and was curious about how Zhang hunted rabbits. I followed him, thanking my master for laying a good foundation for me since I was young. I thought that if I learned from Zhang, I might want to live in the mountains in the future. I wouldn’t starve to death.

Old Zhang hesitated for a moment and said, “Okay, there’s no one powerful out there anyway, so there’s no danger. Just follow me.”

Ru Xue climbed onto the large wooden bed and curled up to sleep in the warm light of the fire. As for Cheng Xin, he took out an old-looking medical book and started reading. They weren’t interested in going with me, so I followed Old Zhang.

We walked in silence all the way, and before I knew it, we had already left the path and were approaching the forest at night.

In the forest at night, with a flashlight, Zhang walked in front of me and said to me, “Follow my steps so you don’t step into the snow.”

I was about to ask what a snowdrift was when I suddenly heard a loud cry, followed by a flapping sound. I looked up and saw a large shadow pass not far above my head, which startled me. When I looked more closely, I saw a huge strange bird sitting on a short tree not far away.

I didn’t recognize what kind of bird it was, and before I could say anything, Lao Zhang said anxiously and carefully, “Don’t make a sound, be careful, this is the ‘stick’ here.”

What is a stick?