When Zu'er put on the torn padded jacket that had been sewn up many times, she knew that winter was coming.

It's just that this year, who came to the island with winter, there are two strange men.

This is definitely big news for a village that has not been visited by outsiders for several years.

Zu'er is just an ordinary girl in an ordinary fishing village on this ordinary island, sixteen years old, it is the age to find a good family, as the saying goes, the children of the poor are in charge of the family, in this village where everyone can only barely make ends meet, as a woman, Zu'er cares much more about her own one-acre and three-point soybean land than those two strange men of unknown origin.

However, there were only about 100 households in the village, and some rumors still drifted into her ears more or less.

For example, she heard that the two men lived in a stable outside the village where there were no horses for a long time, and one of them was sloppy with two tattered knives tied to his waist, much like those wanderers in the big city, who did not speak every day, ate some simple dry food, ate and slept, and ate when he woke up. There is also a man dressed in white, it is said that he is very handsome, and every morning he always comes to the village with a smiling face that makes the girls blush to ask for some food, and then helps the fishermen to do some nets to catch fish, clean the yard chores, very talkative, and talk very different from those rough men in the village who have not read, only a few days, and many people in the village are familiar with each other, and even several girls have the idea of making a promise.

Thinking of this, Zu'er's face turned red for no reason, she secretly scolded herself for not being ashamed, and then, as usual, began her work: fried soybeans.

There were originally three villages on this island, and the other two villages were slightly more than the number of people in this fishing village, but over the years, a plague spread out somewhere, once people were sick, they could not live for a day, and what was even more terrifying was that they heard that the dead people who were buried in the earth would always wake up within a few days, wandering around like losing their souls, and biting people when they saw them, and the bitten people would immediately become this kind of thing that people were not ghosts and ghosts, and the other two villages were implicated by the plague and had become two ghost villages.

Zu'er had never seen this terrible walking corpse, and she didn't know if it was true or not, she only knew that the village was protected by Lord Chang, whether it was pirates or those ghosts, they were all vulnerable in front of Chang, who was already a cultivator.

When it comes to Chang, Zu'er's eyes are a little confused, yes, in this small village of ordinary fishermen for generations, which daughter doesn't look forward to marrying a good man like Chang.

The girl's thoughts were still far away, but a powerful knock on the door brought her back to the choking stove, she pouted a little angrily, and asked, "Who?"

"It's me, Zu'er. "Outside the door was a deep voice.

When Zu'er heard this, his mouth pursed even higher, and a hundred reluctantly opened a small crack in the creaking wooden door.

"Hehe, Zu'er, open the door and let me in. Outside the small crack of the wooden door is the face of a fisherman tempered by the sea breeze, it is a big pillar, a typical fishing boy, honest and honest, when he laughs, he shows a mouthful of big yellow teeth, and the most important thing is that in recent years, he has always been unashamed to entangle himself, making many people in the village laugh.

"Something just outside the door said, I'm going to fry soybeans. "Zu'er is about to close the door.

"Don't shut it down, it's like this, the brother who came to our village a few days ago thought of you asking for some food in this house today, you think you should give him some, people don't want you for nothing, help you work." The pillar beckoned back, revealing his trademark smile again.

Zu'er reluctantly opened the door, glanced at the man in white behind the big pillar, and then his face turned red into a ripe peach.

The winter on the island is colder than on the land, but Zu'er looked at the man's handsome smile and felt warm all over.

"That ......" Zu'er hung her head shyly, a little annoyed that she was wearing such a ragged jacket, so her two little hands pulled the corners of her clothes tightly, and she was speechless in shame.

"The girl is frying soybeans. The man in white glanced at the stove in the house, and said with a smile: "I happen to have some spices here, cinnamon, star anise, peppercorns, etc., if the girl doesn't dislike it, I'll exchange this bag of spices for a bag of fried soybeans for the girl."

Zuer quickly glanced at the bag in the man's hand, and then buried his head again.

A few years ago, when there were still trading ships coming and going on this island, there were often merchants transporting some similar spices to the island, but now that the plague is rampant, it has been a long time since I have seen ships from other big islands here, so although the man's bag of spices is not a rare and rare thing, it is more than enough to change this large pot of fried soybeans.

Zu'er didn't reply for a long time, and the man thought she was still hesitating, so he continued in his warm and mellow voice: "The girl grinds these spices into powder, and adds them to the soybeans when she stir-fries them, so you can add a lot of flavor, if you think it's not cost-effective, I can help the girl do what I can, do you think?"

"No, no, no, no need, just take this pot of soybeans, I'm just ....." Maybe because of nervousness, Zu'er's voice trembled a little.

"One bag for another, not one pot. The man in white said as he handed over the bag of spices, and a cloth bag of the same size.

Zu'er wanted to say that it was actually the man who lost, but when she saw the man's firm eyes, she lost the courage to speak, hurriedly took the spices, and then began to pack the soybeans, but she was a little unhappy in her heart, so she used her strength to hold up the small cloth bag when she loaded the soybeans.

"Thank you, girl. The man in white took the heavy cloth belt and bowed to Zu'er very solemnly, which made the cramped Zu'er not know what to do, no one had ever taught her such a thing as a return gift. When she came back to her senses, the man in white had already left, and only the big pillar that was still smirking "hehe" was left at the door.

"Zu'er ......"

Zu'er glared at the big pillar fiercely, and closed the wooden door with a "snap".

The busy day passed quickly, and the parents, who had worked outside the home for a long day, returned home, and the father, who had little harvest but was extremely tired, hurriedly pulled the batter from the bowl as usual, and his wrinkled face, looking far older than his real age, picked up a few fried soybeans and put them in his mouth.

"Zu'er, did you put something in today's fried soybeans, they taste so fragrant. Father put down the dishes and chopsticks in his hand and looked at Zu'er strangely.

"Today, the people who live in the stables came and exchanged a bag of spices for a bag of soybeans with me, and this fried soybean has some spices, so the taste is not the same. ”

"That person doesn't lose a lot, you girl, and you don't persuade you. The mother on the side reproached.

"I persuaded him, but the man ......"

"Okay, that's it, when I came back from the ship, I didn't even see a star in the sky, tomorrow it will be a heavy rain, you will have dinner later, and send an umbrella to someone's house, which can be regarded as a show of our hearts. In the end, it was the father of the head of the family who made up his mind.

Zu'er ate silently, blushing and softly "en", ......

The country road was quiet, Zu'er changed into clean clothes, and walked on the ridge of the field by the moonlight, holding two oilcloth umbrellas in his hands. The horse shed at the head of the village is actually very far away from the village, and Zu'er stepped on the potholed dirt road with one foot deep and one foot shallow, hoping that he would walk faster, but also hoped that the road would be farther, and his mood was very conflicted.

But no matter how far the road is, there is always an end, and Zu'er's hurried footsteps, the dilapidated stable, soon appeared in front of Zu'er. Zu'er rubbed the oilcloth umbrella that was about to be covered in his hand, and hesitated.

"Is there something the girl is here?" a gentle voice sounded from behind, but it startled Zu'er. Zu'er turned around with an umbrella and saw a man dressed in white standing in the dim light, behind the man, there was a man with long hair covering his eyes, and he was only wearing a thin gown in winter, probably the taciturn man in the village.

"Father said it was going to rain heavily tomorrow, so I asked me to bring you an umbrella. Zu'er settled down and handed over the umbrella.

The man in white didn't take the umbrella, but said slowly: "Lao Lingzun is bothered, the two of us just stayed here for a while, and we are ready to leave here tomorrow, let's take this umbrella girl back." ”

"Senior brother, people are also a lot of thoughts, it's not easy for you to excuse the little girl like this and go back, it's just two umbrellas, take it away. The down-and-out man behind the man in white patted the former on the shoulder, with an inexplicable smile on his face, which made Zu'er's heart chill.

"Then it depends on the brother's wishes. When the man in white heard his senior brother's words, he no longer shirked, solemnly put the umbrella on his bag, looked at Zu'er again, and asked, "It's getting late, why don't I send the girl back?"

"No, no, no. Zu'er hurriedly waved his hand, like a frightened deer, turned and ran away, but after a while, the figure disappeared into the vast night.

The lights in the stables flickered on and off, and the Luo Tuo Langren, who was called Senior Brother, yawned a long time and asked lazily, "When will the water ghosts of those islands in the west come to this island?"

"At the rate we had estimated, it should have arrived tonight. The man in white stood with his hands in his hands, looking into the distance, and the salty night breeze on the sea lifted the placket of his clothes, fluttering and dancing.

"I'll stay here that night, and my brother will go to the village to have a look?" The senior brother touched the untrimmed stubble on his chin, and his gaze, which was covered by his messy long hair, also fell on the gloomy sea in the distance.

"That's fine. The man in white nodded in response.

Zu'er walked on the way back, already far away from the stable, the fluttering little heart gradually calmed down, perhaps regained his composure, Zu'er found that the surrounding dead woods were silent, intertwined branches with teeth and claws, like a group of demons.

The moonlight was cold, and there was no one in the fields. Although he secretly scolded himself for being cowardly in his heart, Zu'er couldn't help but speed up his pace.

I don't know if it's dazzling, Zu'er feels that something is moving in the mud pond in the field, and there is also a slight chilling friction sound under the crooked neck tree on the side of the road, as for the mass grave next to the tree that is about to be buried by the wild grass, Zu'er is trying his best not to look over there.

Suddenly, there was a "grunt" sound behind Zu'er, who could no longer bear the fear, tears burst out of his eyes, and he ran forward lifelessly, the ridge was very muddy, and he lost a shoe after running a few steps, but now Zu'er, who is bent on running for his life, can care about turning back to pick it up.

I don't know how long I ran, Zu'er saw a slightly rickety back at the intersection in front of him, and the heart that was about to jump to his throat fell back again. That's the village watchman, originally just an idle lazy man in the village, because of the relationship with the village chief, so he arranged an errand for him to beat the watchman, ordinary Zuer saw that person at night, although he didn't hate it, but there was no good feeling at all, and now when he saw him, it was like finding the backbone of the heart, and he felt very stable.

It's just that this watchman has his back to Zu'er, he doesn't know what he is looking at, and he looks very focused.

"Hey!" Zu'er shouted, and the watchman ignored her.

"Strange, is there something wrong with this person's ears?" Zu'er slowed down, limped to the back of the guard, and patted him lightly on the shoulder.

The watchman reacted, his body did not move at all, the unattractive head, but turned to the back, a pair of white eyes without pupils, staring directly at Zu'er, and then, a nightmarish voice appeared in Zu'er's ears.

"Goo. ”