To the southeast of the kingdom of Rohan lies an independent town called the Charr, in which a group of human branches called the hobbits live.

The hobbits have a very simple character, they do not have the wisdom of elves, they do not have the strength of dwarves. Even with an average stature of only about one meter, they can't even learn the intrigues and power tricks of normal humans, because they like to spend all their leisure time in taverns and charming tobacco.

The horse-drawn carriage creaked around the quiet and peaceful town of Shire.

On the carriage was an old man with a white beard, wearing a gray cloak and a pointed hat. The old man waved to the hobbits working on both sides with his pipe, and from time to time he spat out a few smoke rings, which seemed to be very familiar with these people.

With the friendly smiles of the hobbits working on both sides, the carriage drove along the tree-lined paths and approached the picturesque world.

The brass bells on the carriage sang happily, and a hobbit boy who was reading a book under a tree suddenly pricked up his ears.

The hobbit boy was stunned for a moment when he heard the brass bell, then held the book in his arms and ran forward quickly chasing the brass bell of the carriage.

"Gandalf, you're late!" The hobbit boy stood on a dirt slope and shouted loudly at the slowly passing carriage.

"Crunch"

The carriage slowly stopped with the words of the hobbit boy, and the white-bearded old man in the gray cloak on the carriage took a deep breath of smoke, slowly raised his head, and said calmly: "Wizards are never late, you need to remember this, Frodo. Baggins! ”

Gandalf's face was as pale as he spoke, and his eyes were not cloudy when ordinary people were old, but full of indescribable wisdom, like a sublimation after reading all the states of life.

The hobbit boy named Frodo was slightly stunned by Gandalf's calm face. And Gandalf, who had always seemed calm after seeing Frodo frozen, broke this calm, and a bright smile bloomed on his face, and his smiling eyes narrowed together.

"I miss you, Gandalf, you haven't changed at all!"

After seeing the smile on Gandalf's face, Frodo slammed into the carriage and crashed directly into Gandalf's arms, laughing loudly and laughing, full of joy at reunion.

"Let's go, little Frodo, I don't want to miss your Uncle Bilbo's birthday party!" Gandalf smiled and stroked Frodo's hair as the carriage slowly moved forward.

Along the way, Gandalf and Frodo kept talking and laughing, as if they wanted to make up for all the wrong time in the carriage.

"Gandalf!" Frodo fell silent abruptly amid laughter, and only when Gandalf looked at him suspiciously, did Frodo raise his head and whisper, "Uncle Bilbo has been strange this time, stranger than ever!" I always felt like he had something on his mind, and he was still hiding it from me! ”

Frodo said as he looked at Gandalf, who was fumbling his cigarette before putting down his pipe, scanning the book in Frodo's hand, and asking, "People always need to keep a little secret." ”

"Secret!" Frodo tucked the book into his arms, and then spoke with some uncertainty: "Gandalf, does Uncle Bilbo's strange behavior have anything to do with you?" ”

Gandalf raised his eyebrows, looked at Frodo in some surprise, and then closed his mouth tightly.

"Forget it, it's better not to tell the secret!" Instead of embarrassing Gandalf, Frodo stood up and gave him a hug, whispering, "Glad you're back, Gandalf!" ”

Frodo was only one meter two tall when he stood up, and although this height was already the best among the hobbits, he still looked like a child in front of Gandalf.

Gandalf took Frodo in his arms, and his white beard fluttered in the wind: "Me too, it's a pleasure to meet you, Frodo!" ”

The carriage was still moving forward, and Gandalf the white-bearded snuggled up to Frodo, a diminutive little hobbit, leaning on their horses and watching the sun set, playing a beautiful picture in this silence.

"Stop!"

The carriage drove past numerous low huts before finally stopping at a sign at the foot of the hill that read "Tree Bag Hole".

Gandalf stopped the carriage and stepped out of the carriage with a gray cane as tall as a man. Frodo, on the other hand, packed up his luggage from the carriage and watched Gandalf head towards the gate.

"Knock knock!"

The gray cane tapped on the low door, and then a great complaint was heard from inside the house: "I have no wine or bread here." Let's go, let's go, I don't welcome visitors from afar, and I don't welcome any distant relatives! ”

A roar made the happy Gandalf stunned slightly, and then he shook his head with a wry smile, leaned closer to the low door and whispered: "What about the old friend from afar, is the old friend welcome?" ”

"Old friend!"

The man in the room was visibly stunned at Gandalf's words, and then the closed door was pulled open, and a hobbit with thick brown hair poked his head out.

"Gandalf!" Looking at Gandalf standing outside, the impatience on the hobbit's face quickly disappeared and was replaced by a smile of surprise.

"Bilbo, my old friend. Gandalf, Grey-robed wizard, I wish you a happy 111th birthday! ”

Gandalf took off the pointed hat on his head, and Bilbo, who was pleasantly surprised, greeted him warmly.

The hobbit's dwarf house made Gandalf a lot of constraints when he walked in.

Bilbo welcomed Gandalf into the living room and said, "My old friend, I'm so glad you to come to my 111th birthday!" You know, no relative would want you to live long. Especially the bastards who are waiting to share my property, I'm fed up with them, they wish I was going to die sooner! ”

"Yes! That's a shame, they never know how legendary you are, and they don't know what an incredible experience you have! ”

Gandalf sat on the small couch and smoked a cigarette, but with these words, Bilbo's original warm smile became a little flat, and he hurriedly poured water into Gandalf's cup.

The small teacup was filled with water in an instant, but Bilbo continued to pour the water, unaware of the fact that the cup was full, allowing the hot water to flood the rim and flow outward.

"Bilbo, my old friend! It's time to decide, you should fulfill your promise and let go of that ring! Gandalf grabbed Bilbo's wrist and woke him out of his state of distraction.

"Oh! Yes, you're right! I was just thinking about those relatives, they made me lose my temper so much! Instead of answering Gandalf's words, Bilbo put the kettle aside in response to the question, and again turned the conversation to the relatives who were peeking at his property.

"Bilbo, don't lie to yourself, I'm talking about the ring, you can't take it forever!" Gandalf mercilessly exposed Bilbo's lies, and his sincere gaze looked him in the eye, leaving Bilbo with no room to dodge.

"Elves have three rings, dwarves have seven, and humans have nine. I don't know which one you have, but it was made by Sauron. The longer you wear it, the more you'll lose yourself while getting help from it, and you've been carrying it for decades. ”

"Trust me, my friend. For so on, all nine of humanity's kings have become ring slaves, and I don't want you to be the tenth! Gandalf's tone was quiet, he hadn't asked about the ring's origin in all these years, because he had always believed that Bilbo would keep his promise to give it up on his 111th birthday.

Bilbo fell silent during Gandalf's words, his face becoming more and more hideous, as if he had been tormented by Gandalf's words.

However, this torment did not last long, and Bilbo took a deep breath and said slowly, "Gandalf, I think you forgot a fact! ”

Bilbo slowly looked up and said to Gandalf, word by word, "I am the owner of the ring, and I have the right to decide whether it will stay or not!" I regret it now, I'm going to keep the ring! ”

"Leave the ring!" Gandalf stood up abruptly and said incredulously, "You wrote in your letter to me that you said that you were now having more and more difficulty resisting the temptation of the ring. You made me travel all the way from the Mage's Tower to get here, and said that you would give the ring to Frodo, your dearest and dearest Frodo, in my witness! ”

Gandalf looked at Frodo in disbelief, but Frodo whispered to himself as if he had lost his mind, "No, Gandalf! I regretted it, I was going to leave the ring, I didn't want to give it to anyone. It doesn't matter if it's Frodo, or you Gandalf! ”

Gandalf took a few steps back in the middle of this sentence and sat down on the couch with a sluggish ass.