"Zhou Li, I think she's afraid she's taking a fancy to you. ”

"Don't talk nonsense. ”

"Really. You are good-looking, and people like to be good-looking. Huai Xu sat under the eaves and listened to the movement coming from the kitchen, teasing Zheng Zhilan's dog from time to time, "You see that as soon as people meet, they will kill chickens for you to eat, and they will also name and pick the biggest one." ”

"People can hear it. ”

"That's right!"

Huai Xu was silent, and instead concentrated on bullying the dog.

The demon beside Zheng Zhilan has already walked towards the chicken coop.

Although this demon is in an erect human form, its appearance is far from that of a human - his mouth is behind his ears, his skin is scarlet, and his face is like wearing a hideous mask, and he has no expression. And his fingers are especially slender, with pointed claws.

Perhaps underneath his loose robe was the body of a monster.

The chickens in the chicken coop were frightened and flew wildly, only the strongest big held his head high, his eyes were full of unyielding fighting intent, and when he was caught, he kept turning his head and pecking him, swearing to defend the dignity of the chicken king.

Cutting throats, bloodletting, scalding, plucking.

Open the intestines and break the belly to take the chicken offal, set up a fire and burn it again.

Coherent.

Huai Xu couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

Zhou Li was embarrassed to eat alone, he ran to the demon to help him make a mess, and when he was done, he walked to the kitchen again, and he saw Zheng Zhilan cutting vegetables inside, and he was actually very familiar with it.

"Is there anything I can help me with?"

"There's no reason to ask guests to help. ”

"I'm afraid you're not very good. ”

"Habit becomes nature. Go sit and sit, I don't have much to do here, but it's good to see the rain. Zheng Zhilan said, "I have been cooperating with Qinghe for many years, and we all came over like this." ”

"Okay. ”

Zhou Li stood by the kitchen and looked at Zheng Zhilan.

She remembered the placement of everything in the kitchen, because she remembered, her movements were even more familiar than ordinary people, and Zhou Li quickly realized that she could only continue to add chaos when she went in, so she silently retreated.

The rain became heavier and heavier, and it crackled in the mountain village.

Zhou Li sat under the eaves, and the rain splashed on his feet, and in the mist, the road they came from was long gone, and the whole mountain was shrouded in clouds and mist, and the light gradually dimmed.

This meal was made for a long time.

It wasn't until the sky had turned gray and black, and the world was covered with rain at night, that Zheng Zhilan and Qinghe came out with their meals.

"It's time to eat. ”

The mountain village was pitch black, and there was a light on.

There are only two pots of dishes.

A pot of roast chicken, chicken plus chicken blood and chicken offal, with a little potato as the base, green pepper color, there is a big pot, in the past, Zhou left a family of four to eat firewood turkey, and there was not such a large portion.

A pot of sour radish and duck soup is best to drink in summer, and it also just neutralizes the fire of the firewood turkey.

Serve with two bowls of dipping water.

Zheng Zhilan looked in Zhou Li's direction, holding a bowl in her hand: "Serve rice?"

"I'll do it myself. Zhou Li hurriedly got up.

"It's fine. ”

"Thank you then. ”

The rice is a traditional drained rice, steamed in a wooden retort, with moderate softness and hardness and clear grains, Zhou Li likes this taste the most.

Zheng Zhilan put a bowl of rice on everyone, sat down and said, "Usually only the two of us eat cooking, and we don't pay much attention to it, I don't know if it suits your taste." ”

Zhou Li squeezed out a smile: "You are too polite." ”

At this time, Huai Xu had already sandwiched a piece of hot chicken thigh meat into his mouth, which was so hot that he exclaimed again and again, but he was reluctant to spit it out.

After swallowing it, he said straight: "It's so fragrant!"

Zheng Zhilan smiled.

Zhou Li glanced at her quietly from time to time, he really wanted to know how her eyesight was, but he was embarrassed to ask directly.

Zheng Zhilan seems to be unaware of this.

After eating silently for a while, it was Zheng Zhilan who took the lead in breaking the silence, she glanced at Huai Xu and said, "It's rare to see a demon like you, who looks exactly like a human." ”

Huai Xu was a little busy, and took the time to answer: "Wo is proficient in the art of changing hair and camouflage......

Zhou Li stopped his chopsticks: "I forgot to introduce, his name is Huaixu." ”

"Huaixu?" Zheng Zhilan looked at the demon beside her, "Coincidentally, his name is Qinghe, I met him in April, at that time he was ignorant and couldn't remember who he was, I heard people say that April is also called Qinghe, so ......"

Suddenly, Huai Xu was stunned.

He still had a piece of potato on his chopsticks, his mouth was full, and he stared at Zheng Zhilan in a daze.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Li asked.

"No, nothing. Huai Xu reacted and continued to do what he had done before, "This sounds a little familiar to me. ”

"Really?" Zheng Zhilan looked at him.

"He's only been waking up for over a year. Zhou Lidai Huaixu explained, "The memory has not been restored. ”

"Uh-huh!" Huai Xu took the time to nod.

"No wonder. ”

Zhou Li found that Zheng Zhilan's craftsmanship was really good, she lived in such a remote area, it stands to reason that spices and condiments should not be easy to buy, but she can still make dishes with good fragrance.

After eating a bowl of rice, he added another bowl.

Huaixu has already dried the third bowl.

At this time, a series of dog barks came from outside, and Qinghe went out to take a look, and came back and said, "There is one less sheep." ”

Zheng Zhilan nodded and shouted out-

"Steamed buns!"

A border herd jumped in.

Zheng Zhilan said to it: "Go and find it, go together." ”

The border shepherd sprang out again.

The barking of dogs faded away.

Huai Xu swallowed the meat in his mouth with difficulty, frowned and reminded: "We saw a big demon on the way here, it was terrifying, I could feel the anger on his body, could it be that he did it?"

"No, he's our patron saint. ”

"Patron saint?" Huai Xu was full of question marks, "That demon is full of starlight, and his eyes are red, not to mention sheep and dogs, I guess he has killed a lot of his kind, so he can be a patron saint?"

"Maybe you're not wrong, but he is indeed our patron saint and has been watching over us for many years. Zheng Zhilan said calmly, "We have a temple here, not called the Yin and Yang Temple, but the Temple of the Evil God, and it is for him." I remember that when I was very young, there were many old people who would go to worship him every year, but then the old people died, and after my grandfather died, I was the only one who believed in him. ”

"What is he guarding you?"

"I heard that in ancient times there were many monsters and people were terrible, and we worshipped him, offering him a sacrifice that was only enough to eat once a year, and he promised that no evil monsters or people would enter the village. ”

"I'm afraid he thinks this is his territory, right?" Huai Xu guessed, "If it's my territory, I can't tolerate that messy stuff coming in." ”

"It's more than that. Zheng Zhilan shook her head.

"How?"

"In the past, when the ancestral hall was still there, I went to check some information with Qinghe, and through my contact with him, I guess he was once called evil by people. When the ancestors of the village found him many years ago, he was seriously injured and dying, most likely beaten by demons or people. The villagers struggled for a long time and chose to treat him. Maybe it was an agreement made at that time, or maybe it was that we formed this relationship with him as time slowly evolved. ”

"Hey, this demon still knows how to repay it!"

"Well, he's bad-tempered, he's fierce, he's hot-tempered, but he's guarding this place until everyone leaves here, or no one believes in him anymore. ”

"It's just you in this village now. Zhou Li interjected.

"Yes, the landslide destroyed half of the village, and the government moved people out. ”

"What about you?"

"I didn't go out, and I was alone anyway. A half-blind man, almost everywhere. Zheng Zhilan smiled, filled herself a bowl of soup, and waited for Bian Shangqing to remind her that she would stop when the soup was full.

"Don't you have a family?"

"Dead. ”

"I'm sorry. ”

"It's not dead, there are a few uncles, they wanted me to go out with them, but they didn't agree. ”

"Are they afraid of you?"

"A little, but I'm still grateful that they endured their fear to persuade me, and persuaded me several times. Zheng Zhilan waited for Tang Liang, obviously she hadn't spoken to anyone for a long time, especially Zhou Li, who was a person of the same kind, who was a person who had few words, but now she couldn't help it.

"I was just thinking what would he do if I was gone too?"

"That's right. ”

Zhou Li knew that she was not referring to Qinghe.

Huai Xu held the bowl and kept blowing the soup, and when he heard this, he glanced at Zheng Zhilan through the edge of the bowl, and said, "How do you know that he wants to stay here? Maybe he is just trapped in his promises, but in fact, he also wants to leave here to find freedom?"

Zheng Zhilan shook her head: "I don't know, he doesn't speak, I don't know what he thinks." ”

Huai Xu was silent.

The overhead light flashed twice.

Zheng Zhilan glanced outside and said softly: "The heavy rain washed down the telephone pole the year before last, and the person in charge of electricity ran a long way to repair it, so don't have another accident this year." ”

The dog outside had returned, mingled with the barking of the sheep.

Zheng Zhilan breathed a sigh of relief and asked the two: "Kill a sheep tomorrow, do you like to eat mutton?"

"Love!"

Huai Xu replied without hesitation.