The life of the barren mountain store has reached the end of the solar calendar. One night, I was leaning against the window and looking at the mountains, and suddenly I wanted to go to the mountains, and I was a vegetarian every day, and if I could come back with a rabbit or something, it would be good for me and Rose and Donald and his wife to replenish our bodies.

At breakfast the next day, I told Fifth Uncle Tang about this idea, and at the same time raised my own worries, saying: "The weasel we saw in the canyon at that time was too big, and I was afraid that there were big guys in this mountain." ”

Fifth Uncle Tang and Aunt Yang were silent for a while, and then Aunt Yang looked anxious and helpless, and said in a suppressed voice: "Child, you can't go to the mountain!" ”

"Huh? Why? ”

Fifth Uncle Tang continued: "I told you, there are immortals in the mountains, right?" ”

"That's what I said," I scratched my head, "but ......."

"But you young people don't believe it!" Fifth Uncle Tang said and looked at Rose again, "If you can get some meat for this girl to eat, of course it will be a good thing, but the game in this mountain is really untouchable!" ”

Rose became interested and asked, "What is the reason?" Tell me about it. ”

"Alas," Fifth Uncle Tang took a moment of relief, put down his chopsticks, and said, "Do you remember that Mountain Emperor?" The man who privately enclosed the king here in his early years! In fact, the old people in our village all know that although he is not a true son of heaven as he said, he is really a messenger sent by the gods in the mountains! ”

"The gods asked him to spread the word to the mountain villages near us, and we must prepare tributes to the gods every New Year's Day, and the people in our village can't leave casually, they have to live here for generations, and they have to worship the gods in the mountains all the time!"

It dawned on me, "Oh! That's why you keep saying you can't leave the village and you can't go into the mountains! ”

"That's right! If Xiu'er runs away and gets lost, can I not look for it! Fifth Uncle Tang knocked on the cigarette pouch, he was used to not smoking when Rose was present, maybe he didn't have much tobacco, "If we don't comply, the Mountain Emperor will punish us in the name of the gods, we don't dare not listen!" Later, the Mountain Emperor was captured, and the immortals could only come to collect our tribute in person! ”

"What tribute?"

"It's mostly fruit." Fifth Uncle Tang pointed behind him, "The farthest orchard behind the village, where it is prepared for the immortals, we can't eat it casually." ”

"No wonder." I thought to myself, no wonder I hadn't given us fruit to eat, and sometimes I would be stopped when I wanted to go around the orchard, let alone the only greenhouse in the garden. After thinking about it, I then asked, "But didn't the emperor who went to arrest the mountain also go into the mountain?" They didn't find the gods either, did they? ”

Fifth Uncle Tang shook his head, "At that time, the immortals hadn't come to collect the tribute in person!" And they won't collide with the political F, that is, restrict us little people! Don't look at them, they usually don't see a trace, but if they don't prepare tribute, the gods in the mountains will send monsters to eat people! ”

Rose took a sip of porridge and asked, "What monster?" ”

Aunt Yang persuaded again and again: "Don't ask! Don't ask! Can't inquire about this! Every time we go to the service, we have to close the doors and windows tightly, and no one is allowed to look at it! They said that if you look at it, you will be caught by the monster! ”

"You still don't believe me," Fifth Uncle Tang saw my thoughts, "Do you see my son?" He didn't believe it at first! If you don't do good farm work, you have to pull a group of workers into the mountain, and you can't stop it! In the end, so many workers died, and he himself became what he is now, but he didn't know what happened to them in the mountains! My son, just let go of our old couple like this, as well as Xiu'er and their mothers, they will scream when they lie there every day, and they will do evil! ”

Aunt Yang also wiped her tears when she heard this, "No, the children of the next few families are too, they are not allowed to go out, they have to go outside the mountain to see the world, but they can't come back now." The people of the barren mountain store are this fate, and they can't escape! ”

The old couple's words also dispelled my idea of going into the mountain, but what they said made me and Rose talk for a long time when they were still fine, and the fairies and monsters still didn't believe it, so we guessed what kind of beast in the mountain made Uncle Tang's son become paralyzed now.

After washing up at night, I couldn't sleep in bed, so I used my imagination to think about what mountain monsters and beasts were in the mountains, and I also thought that if the mountain god gave me a miracle or something, I would fly into the sky and do anything.

I don't know how long later, I suddenly heard a movement outside the door, and soon a skinny little guy came in through the window, just fell to the ground I already recognized by the moonlight, that is Tang Wushu's granddaughter Xiu'er, I didn't get up immediately, just squinted to see what she wanted to do.

Xiu'er first looked inside, and then walked towards my bedside, and seeing that I was sleeping soundly, she groped lightly as if she was looking for something, until she felt the handle of the gun under my pillow, as if she had finally found what she was looking for.

When the girl tries to pull out her hand. When I was shooting, I pretended to turn over in my sleep and tried to get her to let go and give up, but Xiu'er was just startled and retracted her hand, and soon touched it again.

I suddenly opened my eyes and grabbed Xiu'er's wrist and asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

"Let go of me!" Xiu'er struggled immediately after the initial panic, "Let go of me!" I'm looking for Mom! ”

"You don't have to take my gun for anything." I got out of bed and dragged her out, "Let's go, go find your grandparents." ”

"Let go of me!" Xiu'er suddenly kicked on my ankle, and the momentum was not small.

I lifted her up, slung her on my shoulders and walked out.

When I came to the door of Uncle Tang's house, I knocked on the door, and after a long while, I asked tremblingly, "Who?" ”

"It's me Xiaoshi, Fifth Uncle, your granddaughter ran out."

Then I heard the sound of putting on shoes on the ground, and the sound of the soles of the cloth shoes rubbing against the concrete floor was particularly harsh, and Uncle Tang quickly opened the door, and was startled when he saw Xiu'er, "Ouch, why did this kid run away again?" ”

"Ask her yourself." I handed Xiu'er over to Fifth Uncle Tang, and then turned around and went back.

"Bad guys!" I turned my head and saw Xiu'er hiding behind Fifth Uncle Tang and scolded me viciously.

The next day, Uncle Tang told me that this child always felt that her mother was still alive, so she wanted to go to the mountains to find someone, but she couldn't find the corpse when it was burned, so she could only slowly enlighten Xiu'er over time.

On New Year's Day 2018, when we are about to meet, I no longer have Yutian New District, nor do I have a grand party, mellow wine and enchanting girls, so I am ready to spend plain and plain time with Rose, sometimes looking at Rose's belly, I look forward to the moment of the birth of a new life as soon as possible.

But I didn't expect it to be so soon, and before I was eight months old, Rose was born prematurely.

On the evening of January 1, 2018, Aunt Yang ran into our room with several old ladies in the village, and I was kicked out, waiting for the news from inside with Uncle Tang, who was smoking a cigarette bag and pot outside.