Shennongjia in late autumn is like a huge palette, with reds in full swing, bright and dazzling gold, and clear pale green...... The wooded area is rendered into a colorful sanctuary.

The three of Yunkai drove through it, as if they had stepped into an endless kingdom of colors. Looking out from the winding mountain road, the red leaves, ginkgo, fir, cork and arrow bamboo forests paint the majestic mountains into green, yellow, orange and red, render them into a golden ocean, and depict the world in fiery red.

Yan Xiaoyi shouted all the way, holding the camera and shooting wildly. Lao Du deliberately slowed down the car, pointed to the red leaves on the side of the road from time to time, and introduced the guests endlessly: "This is the cocoon, and the frosted leaves are redder than the maple leaves...... It is a fragrant fruit, and a foreigner says that it is the most beautiful and moving tree in the Chinese forest...... Oh, there's a persimmon tree in front, see? The trees are full of persimmons, let's pick a few to eat, it's very sweet......"

Before Yan Xiaoyi could stop the car, she pulled the car door and jumped down, walked through a low bush, and rushed impatiently under the persimmon tree. The leaves on the tree have already fallen off, leaving the red and heavy persimmons hanging on the branches, looking like a small lantern from a distance, Yan Xiaoyi can't reach the persimmons on the branches, the monkey hurriedly kicked the tree, seven or eight ripe persimmons crackled and fell, Yan Xiaoyi quickly caught one, wiped it on the sleeve and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Wow, that's sweet!" Yan Xiaoyi nibbled on the persimmon and admired it with satisfaction.

Yunkai and Lao Du also rushed over, Lao Du shouted "continue", kicked the persimmon tree, Yunkai and Yan Xiaoyi ran around the tree, and each picked up two or three persimmons. The ripe persimmons were soft, and Yan Xiaoyi, who was very happy and sad, accidentally didn't catch it steadily, and was smashed on his head and bloomed, making his head full of bright red juice, as if he had been opened.

Yun Kai pointed at Yan Xiaoyi and laughed wildly, Yan Xiaoyi washed his hair with water, and kicked the trunk of the tree as if he was revenge, but was stopped by Lao Du: "Don't kick, leave some for the little guy in the mountain." We have a rule here that all the fruit should not be picked, and the superstitious saying is that it is reserved for the mountain gods, in the words of you city people, for the small animals in the mountains. In winter, when the mountains are covered by heavy snow, it is difficult for animals such as monkeys and mink to survive......"

Yan Xiaoyi hurriedly stopped, but he didn't expect the villagers of Shennongjia to be quite environmentally conscious, so he asked curiously: "Mink Liangzi is a god horse animal?" ”

"Mink grain is our local word here, which is squirrel." Lao Du took the two back to the car, and when he restarted the car, he said: "This little thing is very fun, and it runs fast." I'll tell you, mink will also dry persimmon cakes by themselves! When I was a child, I saw that they would carry persimmons to the trunk of a tree to dry, dry them, and then drag them back to their nests to put them in the winter, and then eat them when there is a shortage ......of food in the winter."

"It's amazing!" Yan Xiaoyi then asked: "Brother Du, is there really a wild man in Shennongjia?" ”

"Yes! There are a lot of you people in the city, don't you all come for the savages? As soon as Lao Du mentioned this topic, he gushed out: "The wild man is here with us, and it is called the wild man Gaga-Gaga is the meaning of grandparents and grandmothers." If a child likes to cry, the adult will scare him and say, "You're still crying!" The Savage Quack is coming! "Usually this trick is very clever, and children dare not cry when they hear this. When we were children, savages were synonymous with horror in our hearts, because adults said that savages would eat people......"

"Haha, isn't this just Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma Wolf?"

"Pretty much. It is said that when a wild man catches a person, he will grab his two wrists and laugh until he faints with laughter, but those two hands will not let go of his grasp, and you will not be able to break free no matter how you do, and after a while, the wild man will wake up and eat the person. So later, people came up with a way, put two bamboo tubes on their arms, and if they were caught by the wild man, they would grab them on the bamboo tube, and when the wild man fainted with laughter, they would take off their arms from the bamboo tube and escape......"

"This story is made up, do the savages have a second?"

"It's not a story, it's a real story." Old Du Sha said matter-of-factly: "The medicine pickers in the mountains used to carry bamboo tubes with them, and I used to wear them when I was in elementary school!" ”

Yan Xiaoyi asked, "Then has anyone seen a wild man?" ”

"Yes, many people in our village have seen it, but the wild man ran too fast, and he disappeared after a hula." Lao Du nodded and said: "A few years ago, there was a man in the next village who had been missing for many years, and then suddenly ran out of the mountains, with a big beard and hair that was longer than his waist. If we're lucky this time, maybe we'll be able to see the traces of savages in the mountains, and savages will run away when they see the living, so don't be afraid......"

Lao Du told the story of the savages while driving, and after more than two hours, he drove into the depths of the deserted forest area, and the road became bumpy. The rain in the forest area is abundant, there is a light rain in the afternoon, Lao Du said that it will stop after a while, sure enough, the rain did not stop for long, but the forest area after the rain is more mysterious and beautiful, the colorful mountainside is wrapped with a dreamlike fog veil, like a colorful oil painting, and the top of the mountains in the distance has long been covered with snow, like a dream under the rain curtain, which makes people linger and be excited.

It is inconvenient to light a fire in the forest area, but fortunately, Yan Xiaoyi has a gas tank and a stove in his backpack, cooks a few bowls of instant noodles by the stream, and continues on the road after dealing with lunch. The deeper they walked into the forest area, the altitude was getting higher and higher, and the temperature was getting lower and lower, Yun Kai and Yan Xiaoyi had added clothes halfway, and when it was approaching the evening, they still felt cold, so they put on sweaters, sweaters, pants and down jackets.

Before dark, Lao Du drove into an abandoned village. It is said to be a village, but in fact it is a few connected mud houses, and after the establishment of a nature reserve in the forest area, the original owner of the house moved to the outside of the mountain, and the tent in the room can be sheltered from the wind and rain. The biggest advantage of these mud houses is that there are no trees around, so there is no risk of fire, and the forest police also turn a blind eye to the travelers who make fires and cook here, and these mud houses have gradually become a post station for travelers to gather.

Lao Du, who is familiar with the way, actually turned out a bag of potatoes near the stove, which the locals call "artichoke", probably left by the previous travelers. Lao Du found some dry firewood from the nearby forest, lit a fire in the fire pit, and buried a few potatoes in the firewood pile. Yan Xiaoyi asked inexplicably: "Brother Du, ...... are you?" ”

Lao Du patted the firewood ash on his hand and said proudly: "Pimple fire roasted artichoke, an authentic local specialty, you will know later!" ”

It was already dark outside, and the three of them sat cross-legged on the dry leaves, chatting casually around the fire. After a while, Lao Du pulled out the potatoes from the firewood pile and threw them to Yunkai and Yan Xiaoyi, Yan Xiaoyi grabbed them in his hands and threw them out, shouting: "It's so hot!" ”

Seeing this, Yun Kai immediately retracted his hand, found a stick and pushed the potato to his feet, grabbed it again after a while, and learned from Lao Du to peel off the half-burnt skin and bite into the soft noodles in his mouth. Lao Du asked, "How is it, is it delicious?" ”

"Delicious, delicious! Brother Du, hurry up and bake it next! Yan Xiaoyi took a few sips of the roasted artichoke in his hand, stared at the fire with drooling eyes wide, and anxiously waited for the new goods to come out.

Just then, a car horn sounded outside. After a while, a man and a woman walked in behind a middle-aged sister-in-law, Yunkai and Yan Xiaoyi looked up and saw that the sister-in-law was the one who gave them the map at the bottom of the mountain.

Lao Du seemed to be quite familiar with his sister-in-law, got up and beckoned them to sit down, and threw the freshly baked roasted potatoes to the three newcomers. The girl was about the same age as Yunkai and Yan Xiaoyi, looking at the roasted artichoke black, she was a little disgusted at first, and after the man's attempt, she barely picked it up and took a bite, and then her eyes widened, and she didn't care about the black and dirty, and she couldn't get enough of eating black circles in her mouth.

After getting acquainted with each other, the topic of conversation finally returned to the wildlings. As Lao Du said, many people come to Shennongjia for the savages, and this is the case with these two travelers who came all the way from the north. It turns out that the two are brother and sister, the elder brother is called Ling Guangyu, and the younger sister is called Ling Yixiang.

The legend of the savages in Shennongjia has a wide influence and has existed since ancient times. There have been many records in ancient Chinese books, and the description in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is "Xiaoyang, which is a person." Human face, long lips, black body with hair, back-heeling, smiling when you see people. The poet Qu Yuan wrote in "Nine Songs? Mountain Ghost" wrote: "If someone is in the mountains, and Xue Lixi takes a female basket, that is, he is embarrassed and should laugh, and Zi Muyu is good and slender." "In recent years, there have been many expedition members and tourists who have witnessed the presence of wild people.

More than 10 years ago, the Chinese Academy of Sciences had specially organized a savage expedition team to conduct a large-scale investigation in the forest area, collecting hundreds of savage hairs, finding hundreds of savage footprints, and also finding the bamboo house where the savages lived. Unfortunately, no wild man has been captured so far, so the Shennongjia wild man is still an unsolved mystery.

Among the four outsiders, Ling Guangyu, who is about thirty years old, is the oldest, has a relatively calm temperament, and gets along with Yunkai and Yan Xiaoyi quite happily, and the only one who is not a river crab is Ling Yixiang. Coming to explore the primeval forest, this peacock girl is still wearing fur, and she is quite complaining about the dirt and mess of the abandoned earthen house, always muttering that the sparks in the fire pit will burn her fur. Yan Xiaoyi was a cheap-mouthed person, so she couldn't look at it and said, "Sister, the environment in the house is too bad, why don't you go outside and be with the savages?" ”

"Do you want to care? Even if you are with the savages, you are more comfortable than with you! ”

The sister-in-law sneered and didn't speak. Ling Guangyu glanced at his sister and said, "Yixiang, how can you talk to people?" Then he turned his head to Yan Xiaoyi and Yun Kai and apologized and said, "Don't mind, you two, my sister has such a temper, and her knife mouth and tofu heart are ......."

"It's okay, it's okay." Yun Kai smiled and said to the mud: "Maybe as soon as the little pot friend is naughty, he will attract the wild man Quack, just so that we can have a glimpse......

"Hahaha......" Everyone laughed, and Ling Yixiang blushed and stopped talking.

Lao Du took the raw meat from the car, sprinkled it with a little salt, and grilled it on the fire, and soon the enticing aroma came out. Yan Xiaoyi, a foodie, also bought a few good bottles of wine at the bottom of the mountain, took them out and poured a glass for everyone, except for Ling Yixiang frowning and pouting to say that he didn't drink it, everyone else drank a little, and he didn't bother to pour the remaining half bottle, holding the barbecue with his left hand, dragging the wine bottle with his right hand, eating deliciously, and the small half bottle of liquor was quickly poured into his stomach.

After they had eaten and drunk, they each slipped into the tents they had set up around the fire and fell asleep to the howling mountain breeze and the occasional howl of wolves. Not long after falling asleep, Yunkai was woken up by Yan Xiaoyi's yelling, and the thing tore open the tent in horror and ran out, jumping around the embers of the fire and shouting: "Help! There are snakes, there are snakes! ”