Chapter 21: Wu Dandan’s Encounter with a Demon

Faced with Zhang’s questions, Shen’s face didn’t look good either. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of the right words for a while, so he said after a while, “Zhang, it is said that there are big things in the depths of the forest. If these big things make a fuss, the little things will naturally run out. You said it right, didn’t you? A few days ago, Yuan told me something.

“What is it?” asked Zhang, who was determined to go with us on an exciting adventure.

“I don’t think this is reliable, but you know that Lao Yuan is not the kind of person who likes to brag. If you meet someone who likes to brag, especially someone who brags about the old forest, you will definitely make others leave, thinking that it is disrespectful to the mountain god. So, this unreliable thing, after Lao Yuan said it, I also think it is reliable.” Lao Shen said this to Lao Zhang.

Old Zhang is not a hot-tempered person. Seeing that Old Shen was hesitating, and since it was something he cared about, he finally couldn’t help but urge him, “Don’t mumble. If you have something to say, just say it. We’ve all been in the forest for so many years, we can’t accept any strange things.”

“You know that everyone in our village is not a timid person? But in terms of courage, who dares to compare with Wu Dandan? But do you know that a while ago, Wu Dandan was sick? Scared!” Lao Shen seemed to be about to say a long story, so he simply squatted in the snow and started filling his pipe.

Old Zhang also squatted down with Old Shen, and the mysterious atmosphere of the beginning of the conversation also aroused the interest of the three of us. Hurry up, and also rub down to Old Shen and squat down to listen to what Old Shen is saying.

As for the others, I guess they knew about it, but they didn’t really believe it, so they weren’t too interested, but they sat around drinking, eating, smoking, and so on.

“Wu Dandan got scared and sick? That’s rare! I was in the city a while ago. You know my son is going to take the college entrance exam, so I wanted to keep an eye on him! This time I came to the mountains and went straight to my eldest brother’s house, not to your village. I really didn’t know about this, but Wu Dandan is a first-class scoundrel. Who would scare him sick?” It seems that Old Zhang really didn’t know anything. He squatted down and began to ask Old Shen what was going on. I could clearly feel that Old Zhang was really surprised that Wu Dandan could be scared to death.

Lao Shen was also very clear about it and said directly, “He was scared sick because Wu Dandan’s wife said that Wu Dandan saw a real monster! Then he was scared sick. Do you think this is believable? Obviously not? The legend of the monster has been circulating in the old forest for thousands of years. Who do you think has really seen it? Everyone who has seen it is dead. How come you, Wu Dandan, can come back alive?”

“Well, that’s true. Even if some people have seen it, they can’t say it out loud. It’s disrespectful, and you’ll get into trouble if you do.” Old Zhang added.

“These taboos are useless to Wu Dandan. He doesn’t care. This hurts his face. A big man came back scared and wet, and as soon as he came back, he lay down. Isn’t it frustrating? If he doesn’t find a reason to shock people, can he pass on his face? So, when his wife spread this rumor, no one in our village believed it! It wasn’t until Lao Yuan came that we realized that Wu Dandan was Lao Yuan’s nephew. When his nephew got sick, how could he not come? Later, Lao Yuan told us about it, and I thought it was a bit more reliable.” Lao Shen took the wine pot from the other side and took a sip. Only then did he finish his story in one breath. After he finished, he let out a long sigh, and a puff of white smoke came out of his mouth. It was clear that he had warmed himself up.

“Tell me more, quickly,” said Lao Zhang, who didn’t say much, but said a few words to fill in the gaps, but he said what we were thinking.

“At first, it wasn’t a big deal. Wu Dandan just wanted to catch fish. You know the fish in our forest are rare, fresh, and delicious. He said that there were people from other places who would pay a high price for them, so Wu Dandan went! You also know that Wu Dandan is called Wu Dandan because he has a lot of guts. He dares to go where others dare not go, and he dares to provoke people who others dare not provoke. So, after a while, he headed towards the deep forest.” After saying this, Lao Shen’s pipe was finally loaded, and he was busy lighting it.

Old Zhang was also lost in thought. After Old Shen had finished lighting the fire, he asked, “You say Wu Dandan went into the deep forest? How deep is that forest?”

How deep can it be? No matter how brave he is, he wouldn’t dare go into those forbidden places. It would be too dangerous! It’s just a little further than the few mountains where we live. You know that where there are few people, there are also many fish. Wu Dandan was so happy that he forgot the time and stayed in the deep forest until it was dark. It was unrealistic to rush back to the forest we were familiar with. Wu Dandan thought at the time, The deep forest is probably exaggerated by people, and besides, he didn’t go too deep. It’s fine to spend the night in the deep forest, just be careful. While it’s still light, catch some more fish and stay! But before they could spend the night, as soon as it got dark and the moon came up, something happened.” Old Shen said seriously.

As soon as his words had finished, a man next to him said, “Isn’t that right? This guy doesn’t know how to be respectful, doesn’t respect the lessons left by our ancestors, and it’s only natural that he’d be scared silly when he met them. Next time he’ll understand. This time we’ll give him half of the venison we hunted, and the calf has been lying in bed for almost a month, so he’s a bit more energetic now.”

Lao Shen chuckled and said nothing. That’s how men from the Northeast are. Don’t expect his words to be warm and affectionate. They may be as cold and hard as iron that has been frozen by snow, but in fact, he cares about you, just as he did by giving half a roe deer to you.

But Lao Zhang was impatient and said to the man, “Stop talking nonsense and let Lao Shen speak quickly.”

“It was that night. Wu Dandan was still busy in the river when he saw a woman watching him from the far bank. You know, it was cold enough in the forest in early October, especially at night. The woman was wearing white clothes, which made her look wrong and scared. Wu Dandan was not afraid. Who else could turn the world upside down? He called out to the woman, telling her, “Big sister, don’t run around in the woods at night. There are so many strange things going on. In fact, at the time, Wu Dandan thought that they were city people from other places, and they just liked to find excitement and run around in the woods. And they didn’t care how strange their clothes were. The woman, hearing Wu Dandan call out to her, was not afraid, and did not avoid it. She walked straight towards Wu Dandan, standing far away on the shore, and then said, “Brother, you caught so many fish, can you give me one? I will pay you.” Wu Dandan thought to himself, it is fate to meet someone at night, what is the value of a fish? Just say it’s free, just give me a fish.” Old Shen said this, and took another puff of his pipe. After a long stream of smoke came out of his nose, he continued.

Wu Dandan was straightforward and the woman was not fussy. She thanked him immediately and asked Wu Dandan to throw the fish back to her. She said she was afraid that her clothes would get wet and it would be cold at night, so she didn’t dare to come down. Wu Dandan really threw a fish to her. But the woman picked up the fish, laughed, and didn’t leave. She stared at Wu Dandan with her eyes and didn’t say a word! Wu Dandan said that he didn’t know if he had seen it wrong at the time. He always felt that under the moonlight, the woman’s eyes were green. When he looked closely, there was nothing. The strange thing was that the woman’s eyes were exposed, and even the lower half of her face was wrapped in white cloth. Originally, Wu Dandan felt nothing, but when he looked at those eyes, he got goose bumps. So he deliberately said, “Big sister, don’t stare at me all the time. I’m embarrassed.” The woman heard him and laughed again, shaking the fish in her hand and saying, “Isn’t it fresh to watch the fish? I’m leaving, I’m leaving.” She was about to leave when she turned back and said to Wu Dandan, as if talking to herself, “This fish is not as delicious as the heart meat, but the heart meat is rare, and the fish is good, so it’s better to eat fish.” Lao Shen said this and shuddered himself, which scared us.

It is estimated that he wanted to finish the story in one breath, so after a shiver, he continued, “What does this mean? At that time, Wu Dandan didn’t think much about it, just thinking, there are women who like to eat offal? Don’t you think those things are smelly? Thinking, Wu Dandan glanced at the woman, and it was this glance that caused the trouble. How can you say this? Wu Dandan’s exact words were, “Look at the way she walks, it’s not normal, it feels like her whole butt is shaking, it’s so seductive! Which man wouldn’t take a second look? But didn’t we say at the beginning that the woman was fully covered, and that the skirt underneath was made of several layers of white cloth? When he looked, there was a wind, and the woman was twisting so hard that the skirt slipped up a little, and then blew up a little. Guess what he saw?

Lao Shen looked at us with a look of fear. Even though I had experienced so much and was used to seeing horrible things, I was still shocked by the horror that Lao Shen had brought up, and I cursed myself for being useless.

Old Zhang was already urging him on: “What? Hurry up and say it!”

This is a test of one’s imagination!

Lao Shen was in a panic, saying, “You saw a big yellow tail wagging inside the skirt, and two fluffy legs. This is not all. Wu Dandan remembered what she said, that she liked to eat heart meat, which made him panic. Barely keeping himself from falling into the river, Wu Dandan stood there stupidly for a while, until the woman disappeared, and then he turned around and ran. He was lucky that he ran out of the forest that night and found a hunter’s shack to rest. When he got back to the village, he thought about it carefully and thought that if he hadn’t thrown a fish to him that day, he would have been eaten.

Old Shen finished talking about Wu Dandan here. It was a very simple matter, but it took us half a day to come back to our senses.

I had a thought in my head at the time: Is it real? A demon in the making? I’ve never seen one before!