The night wind blows the hills, the mountains and forests in the distance are like sleeping beasts, the blood moon is in the sky, and the scarlet light envelops the earth.

"Is this life also an ordinary life?"

Sitting on the bluestone not far from the front of the house, this is not the first time Chen Qingniu has asked himself like this.

This night sky is not the night sky in his memory, this world is not the world in his memory, and even he himself has changed from a strong young man with a strong body to a weak young man now...... Before you know it, it's been thirteen years!

Growing up, he never stopped wanting to change the status quo.

When he was a child, he wanted to behave differently from ordinary people, so he wrote a few lines of poetry and told a few words of truth with the memory of his previous life, but soon, he was imprisoned at home by his biological father and mother, who were mountain people who didn't know half a big character in this life, as an evil spirit, and poured Fu Water without saying anything, and didn't let him go out for three months.

When he grew up, he could go down to the field to plant rice and go up the mountain to chop firewood, and he also tried to exercise his physique, he believed that as long as he persevered day after day, one day he would be able to use his ability to get out of this small ravine and go to the outside world to display his talents, but soon the cruel reality turned his budding hope into despair - he couldn't eat enough, he couldn't even eat enough for two meals a day, and where did he still have the strength to do those things outside of life.

"I don't want to live like this!!"

Chen Qingniu stood up and stared at the night sky above his head, the blood moon stained his eyes red, as if it had also aroused the most primitive desire in his heart, and for the first time in thirteen years, he roared out what he thought without hesitation.

No response!

The night wind was still howling unkindly, and the beasts of the mountains and forests roared from time to time, and only this small ravine would have a little more peace and tranquility in the faint light.

God has never given Chen Qingniu the slightest preferential treatment just because he is a traverser, he didn't have it before, and he never counted on it in the future.

"I believe in myself! I won't give up!"

Even so, Chen Qingniu was still unwilling to live an ordinary life, on the contrary, after shouting, he strengthened the desire in his heart.

People can live ordinarily, or they can bravely break through, during which they will definitely encounter setbacks, and they are more likely to fall to death on the road, but people must have a heart that is not willing to be ordinary.

"Brother, Daddy asked me to tell you to go back to sleep. ”

Just when Chen Qingniu was firm in his determination, an immature voice sounded behind him.

Chen Qingniu turned around, jumped down from the bluestone, picked up the child in front of him, and said with a slight smile: "I know, let's go back." ”

The child only felt that the fifth brother in front of him seemed to be a little different from before, and as for how it was different, he couldn't tell it when he was young.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, the child leaned on Chen Qingniu's shoulder and said weakly: "Fifth brother, can you bring Ah Qi with you when you get up early tomorrow to go into the mountains to chop wood, Ah Hua and Ah Ming have agreed to pick fruits together tomorrow." ”

If it was in the past, Chen Qingniu would definitely say something "Dangerous in the mountains, Brother has time to pick some back for you", but this time he agreed without thinking too much, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, Brother will definitely protect Ah Qi." ”

The night was dreamless, the first wisp of smoke broke the silence of the ravine, and some early farmers in the village were already busy in the fields, and everything was revived and it was a new day.

Chen Qingniu also got up very early, and after eating breakfast early, he picked up the big bamboo basket on his back, and put on the woodcutter on his shoulder, and before he had gone far, he saw a small figure behind him chasing closely.

Chen Qingniu stretched out his hand to hold Ah Qi, and pointed to the small bamboo basket that the little guy was holding in his other hand, which contained two tightly wrapped lotus leaves, Chen Qingniu smiled and asked, "What is inside?"

Ah Qi, who was originally still elated, immediately wilted as soon as he heard Chen Qingniu's question, twisted and pinched, opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but after all, he couldn't resist Chen Qingniu's eyes that gradually became stern, so he had to explain aggrievedly: "This, this is what A-Niang secretly stuffed to me, A-Niang said that if we can't pick the fruit, these two lumps of gnocchi will make us eat when we are hungry." ”

"Brother, Ah Qi knows that he is wrong, Ah Qi will return it to his mother, Ah Qi knows that his mother must be hungry, Brother Don't drive Ah Qi back. ”

Chen Qingniu looked at the seventh-brother who was only six years old in front of him who was already so sensible, and those truths that wanted to teach people were swallowed back into his stomach after all, he patted Ah Qi's little head, and said with a straight face: "Don't take it as an example!"

"Ah Qi really knows that he is wrong!"

Ah Qi nodded his little head a few times, and there is no doubt that the children of poor families have already understood things.

After the episode, the two children, one older and one younger, walked towards the outside of the village, and several teenagers and girls were already waiting at the entrance of the village, all of whom were fellow villagers who went into the mountains to chop firewood together on weekdays.

The ravine, which has no name, is home to about 100 families, all of whom are poor farmers who have settled here since their ancestors and have been working in the fields for generations.

There is no school in the village, and children have to bear the burden of life from the moment they become sensible, from weeding in the fields to cutting firewood in the mountains, from planting rice and carrying water to digging and plowing the fields.

Chen Qingniu is thirteen years old this year, and in a few years, he may go to the landlord's house to work as a cow and a horse, like most of the young people in the village, to reduce the burden on the family and save some wages to prepare for the future family, wife and children.

After a short wait, there were already more than a dozen children as big as Chen Qingniu at the entrance of the village, all of whom were carrying half-human-tall bamboo Lou and carrying a woodcutter with a small arm, and there were only three or four little guys like Ah Qi.

Chen Qingniu and the others simply said hello, and when they saw that everyone was together, they walked towards the mountain together.

This is also a tacit understanding, although as long as you do not enter the depths of the mountains and forests, there are basically few jackals, tigers and leopards, but there are few poisonous insects and poisonous snakes along the way, and they are all small children, climbing trees and crossing the stream will inevitably have accidents, walking together, in case something really happens, someone can immediately return to the village to report the news.

Fortunately, the whole way into the mountain was quite smooth, although a few little guys were very naughty, but still knew that the sense of proportion did not run around, about half an hour later, a group of children came to the usual place to chop wood.

Going into the mountains to chop firewood is not just a simple chopping of firewood, otherwise these children would not have left home early, running so far away, they go out early and return late, and go up the mountain to cut firewood, in fact, it is also to reduce the burden on the family - a bundle of firewood, sold to the landlord's firehouse, can be sold for half a penny.

After a short rest, the children began the work at hand, as long as it was not the busy farming season, they would go into the mountains to cut firewood, and they already knew the requirements of the landlord's firehouse, what trees to choose, how thick the branches should be, and how long each section should be.

Ah Qi and a few other little ones were playing on the side, or picking grass and chasing butterflies, or playing and playing, and when they were tired of playing, they rummaged around for small trees or shrubs that had borne mountain fruits, and tried their best to get the small fruits on the trees into the small basket they carried.

Around noon, except for a very small number of children's bamboo Lou has been filled, the rest of the people are still a little behind, Chen Qingniu is the same, the few trees he chose today are not easy to climb, even if he climbs, it is not easy to hold the knife to force, his right hand has a new callus, and the original calluses have also worn out two.

But then all the children would stop and rest for a while, and if they had food, they would have a not too full lunch at the nearby stream, and if they didn't, they would have to look around for some mountain fruits to satisfy their hunger.

After coming down from the tree, Chen Qingniu looked around, but he didn't see Ah Qi and a few little guys, so he asked the fellow villagers on the side, "Which of you saw Qingshi them?"

Chen Qingshi is Ah Qi's name.

"Weren't they still here when I got off the tree?"

"I just saw Qingshi and Xiaohua picking fruits there, this is a blink of an eye, it should be to the front, Ah Niu, don't worry, Xiaohua is not the first time to come to the mountains with me, there will be no accident." ”

A child who was drinking water pointed out the direction to Chen Qingniu.

Chen Qingniu looked in the direction of the child's finger, there were a few small bushes that bore fruit, the ripe fruits had obviously been picked, and the rest were only some small green and yellow fruits.

"Ah Qi!"

Chen Qingniu walked towards the bushes, shouting as he walked, but did not respond.

Chen Qingniu frowned and quickened his pace.

When he came to the bush, Chen Qingniu called a few more times, but there was still no response, and the other children also noticed this side at the moment and came over one after another.

"Rustle, woo-woo-woo......"

But at this moment, the sound of a little girl running and whimpering suddenly came from the end of the bush, and the children immediately tightened their hearts and immediately rushed into the bushes.

"It's Xiaohua!"

"Why are you the only one, Xiao Ming and Qingshi?"

Seeing that there were only Xiaohua among the few little guys, the children asked questions one after another.

The child who had previously given Chen Qingniu directions squeezed forward, hurriedly picked up the little girl, and said while wiping her tears: "Don't be afraid, don't cry, don't cry, there's a brother." ”

Immediately, he turned to the other children and said, "She is only six years old, don't scare her." ”

The little girl hugged her brother and cried a few times, which stopped the fright a little, but she was still sobbing, and said intermittently: "Ah, brother, go and save Ah Qi, he ......"

Chen Qingniu heard Ah Qi's name, and rushed out with an arrow, if he was just an ordinary thirteen-year-old child, he would definitely grab the little girl in a panic and ask what happened, but he was not after all, he only asked three words: "Where is it?"

"Front, front, woo woo, on the edge of the cliff in front, Ah Qi saw a ......"

Before the little girl finished speaking, Chen Qingniu had already rushed out, and soon, he saw the other two little guys and Ah Qi who was hanging from a tree on the side of the cliff.

It was a fruit tree growing on the cliff, and the tree was covered with red mountain fruits, Ah Qi, who happened to be hooked by a broken branch and his pants, and the whole person was hung on the tree with his back up.

"Woo, woo......"

The little guy was obviously frightened, and just cried so blindly that he forgot how to say it.

"Ah Qi, don't move, my brother will come to save you immediately. ”

Chen Qingniu comforted Ah Qi while walking towards the edge of the cliff, but the next moment, a hand grabbed him.

"Ah Niu, are you crazy?" are the children of the same villagers who rushed over, "Ah Yong has already gone back to the village to report the news, the adults will arrive soon, this tree is so far from the edge of the cliff, you climbed over and didn't save the bluestone, you will fall." ”

The words of the fellow villager were like a basin of cold water poured on Chen Qingniu's head, making him sober up a little.

Chen Qingniu went to see it again, the fruit tree was about twenty meters long, and the position where Ah Qi was hung was about ten meters away from the edge of the cliff, and the branches were staggered and messy, if he climbed up the tree like this, not to mention whether he could climb to the position where Ah Qi was hanging, that is, how to pull Ah Qi up, and then bring him back to the cliff safely.

At the same time, another thought also came to his mind, the cliff is very high, looking down at the bottom of the cliff, but there is a height difference of tens of meters, if you fall, it is natural to die, and this life, he has just begun, he is only thirteen years old, he has tried again and again to change the status quo, not because he has lived enough in two lives, on the contrary, he wants to live better.

But the next moment, Chen Qingniu still broke free from the hindrance of his fellow villagers, and said solemnly: "Ah Qi can't wait! If the mountain wind blows, he will fall before the adults come." ”

"Give me the rope that binds you to the firewood, it should be long enough to pick it up, and I'll go and save him. ”

A fellow villager also wanted to dissuade: "But in case ......"

Chen Qingniu shook his head and said, "No case, he is my younger brother!"

The children no longer persuaded and worked hard, and soon, one end of a rope long enough had been put on Chen Qingniu's waist, and the other end was tightly grasped by the children.

Coming to the edge of the cliff and climbing the fruit tree, even if there was no mountain wind, Chen Qingniu felt that the whole person was trembling, which had nothing to do with whether he had fear of heights, even if he was just an ordinary person in his previous life, this was already considered a high-altitude operation, and except for a rope that was not too strong, there was basically no safety guarantee.

Slowly, no matter how slow, Chen Qingniu was extra cautious every time he moved forward, which was different from cutting wood and climbing trees in ordinary times, not to mention that Ah Qi was still hanging on the branches, he didn't dare to move too much.

Fortunately, after a while, Chen Qingniu finally came to Ah Qi's position, at this moment the fruit tree had already begun to shake a little, and the next moment, Chen Qingniu saw a suitable position, and after fixing himself, he bent down and grabbed Ah Qi.

After pulling Ah Qi up, Chen Qingniu was relieved and said with a smile: "Don't cry, my brother said that he will definitely protect Ah Qi!"

Unexpectedly, after Chen Qingniu's words, although Ah Qi was still choking, he really stopped crying, and whispered as if he had made a mistake: "I, I lost the gnocchi when I picked the fruit, and I saw that there was a big fruit here, so I ......."

"I know," Chen Qingniu didn't let Ah Qi continue, but put the rope around his waist on Ah Qi, "Ah Qi, brother is following you, can you climb back by yourself?"

If you carry Ah Qi on your back, not to mention whether Ah Qi can hold him tightly in the process of climbing the tree, even with Chen Qingniu's current physical strength, you will definitely not be able to do it, and if you hold Ah Qi, it will naturally be even more impossible, give the rope to Ah Qi and let him climb back by himself, Chen Qingniu will follow closely behind him, this is the safest way at present.

Ah Qizhong nodded his head and said, "Ah Qixing." ”

As soon as he said to move, two figures, one large and one small, climbed towards the cliff.

Originally, everything went well.

However, when the two of them were less than five meters away from the cliff, a gust of mountain wind blowing from under the cliff caused the whole fruit tree to shake for a while, Chen Qingniu felt bad, and scolded the wind for coming too untimely, but it was already very close to the cliffside, and he hurriedly shouted: "Ah Qi, don't stop, go forward......

It's just that before the words were finished, he and Ah Qi were blown off the trunks.

Ah Qi was tied with a rope, and he was pulled up after a few slight touches on the cliff, but Chen Qingniu was not so lucky, he originally grabbed another branch, but the mountain wind seemed to be coming at him, the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and soon, the branch broke, Chen Qingniu still wanted to catch it, but grabbed a piece of dry bark.

Chen Qingniu only felt a sense of weightlessness coming, and the whole person had fallen towards the cliff.