In winter, in the afterglow of the setting sun, a woman is pulling a child, about thirty years old, holding a little boy in her right hand and a broken bamboo basket in her left hand, which is covered with a piece of linen cloth.

There was silence all around, except for the footsteps of mother and son echoing in the empty woods.

"Mother, why do we go to the temple to worship? The thunder god is not good at all, and we can't eat enough every year for sacrifices. ”

The woman looked at the little boy and touched his head dotingly, "Who said that the thunder god is not working, we will at least have to eat this year, this year there is a great drought outside the mountains, many people are hungry, and it is the thunder god who blesses us to have something to eat." ”

The woman's voice was soft, but years of hard work had taken away her youth and her beautiful voice.

"However, you don't have to take the best things to sacrifice, today is the New Year, my mother should eat the chicken, how tired you are this year." ”

The little boy was sensible, but his pouting mouth showed that he was not happy.

"Learn to be good, don't talk nonsense when you get to the temple, Thor will punish you if you know it, if you don't have anything to eat, you will be a little beggar"

"Got it"

The immature children's voice dragged these three words for a long time.

The woman shook her head and walked on.

This child's name is Chen Xueliang, and he will be eight years old after the New Year.

"Mother, what's outside the mountain? Aunt Du said that you are the only one in our village who is from outside the mountain? You tell me the story outside the mountain, and I promise not to talk nonsense when I get to the temple. ”

The woman looked at the little boy's slightly proud face, pinched his nose, and said with a smile, "Okay, I dare to threaten your mother, if you can be obedient later, I will tell you when I go to bed at night." ”

"Yes"

After saying this, the little boy spread his steps and ran to the front, for he had heard the story many times and knew all the details of the story, but he still insisted on asking, and the woman insisted on telling it.

The baby in the mountain does not count the years, and the years are depriving every childlike heart, and the story outside the mountain is like a seed, which has already been planted in this young heart, and he continues to look forward to it with the years.

The beauty outside the mountains spurred him to grow up year after year, and also drove him to dream of getting out of this closed mountain village.

But what his mother didn't tell him was that there were still mountains outside the mountains, but the beauty of longing for was also a kind of beauty after all, and beautiful beliefs took root and sprouted to bear beautiful fruits.

The beauty outside the mountain is not better than a grass and a tree in a small mountain village, its beauty and ugliness are intertwined, and together they ripen one beautiful fruit after another.

The woman walked in silence, not knowing what was going on in her heart.

"Mother, look, it's a rabbit. ”

The little boy barked as he picked up a rock and threw it at the rabbit.

"Why are you hitting these critters again?"

The woman asked with a cold face.

"Mother, how bad the rabbits are, they always eat our crops. ”

"It was at another time, and it didn't eat it in the winter. ”

"But"

"There's nothing but, how many times has my mother taught you, you can fight when it eats the crops, but you can't beat it when it doesn't eat, although we are poor, we can't bully animals weaker than us. ”

The little boy felt very aggrieved, and in his opinion, sooner or later he had to eat the crops, and it was the same in the morning and in the evening.

Although he was very aggrieved, the little boy still followed closely behind his mother, and the outline of the mountain temple was already very clear.

With the departure of mother and son, the grove returned to its former tranquility, and a solemn atmosphere enveloped the place, as if it had never changed since the dawn of time.

This is the depths of the Southern Barbarians, where outsiders rarely come here, and the small mountain village is only six or seven households, scattered on various hills, and the people of the village are not as amiable as the people in other places, in fact, they never interact with each other whenever possible, as if each family has its own business.

Except for Chen Xueliang's family, all the other people are descendants of the barbarians, and they believe in the god of thunder, which is said to be their ancestor.

Legend has it that before these barbarians came here, this was the territory of Ryoma, the ancestor Thor suppressed the beast, leaving a part of the tribe to guard here, in order to commemorate the achievements of the ancestors, they named this place Ryomazhuang.

A Thunder Temple was built in the place where the beast was sealed, and the town of Eternity was sealed here.

Seven years ago, Chen Xueliang's mother came here and took Chen Xueliang, who was not yet a full moon, to settle down here.

The villagers were very curious about this strange mother and son at first, but after being curious, they still returned to their own families and had nothing to do with each other.

For these villagers, anyone can come and go, as long as they don't interfere in other people's affairs, they are good neighbors.

"Mother, Thor looks really scary, do you say there's really a dragon horse sealed down here?"

"Yes. ”

"You've seen it?"

"Nope. ”

"And how do you know there must be?"

"You'll find out when you're older. ”

"Then what do you say Ryoma looks like, is it as scary as Thor?"

"I don't know. ”

"You don't even know it, it must be a lie. ”

"What you don't know isn't necessarily a lie. ”

"Tell me what it looks like?"

Questions are raised again and again, and again and again back to the starting point, and for the little boy, there are always endless questions.

"Okay, let's go quickly, it's getting dark, don't you want to hear the story outside the mountain?"

The woman said with a smile.

"Then, mother, let's compete to see who runs faster, and if you lose, answer me a question, okay?"

"Okay, can you run? If you don't run, I'll run first, and don't cry if you lose." ”

"Mother, you're fooling, I haven't shouted yet. ”

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the mother and son gradually disappeared at the end of the path, and the silence returned to the outside of the temple.

The first time I tried to write a novel, in this novel, I wanted to follow the protagonist and find the meaning of human life.

In everyone's heart, there is an illusory world built by themselves, where they can do everything, and where all the rules are set by themselves.

How to grasp the relationship between fantasy and reality, and how should the protagonist choose when faced with different choices?

I remember when I was watching "Anna Karenina" before, I read a short story, and someone asked why she wanted Anna to die, and Leo Tolstoy replied that she wanted to die.

It is a miracle that a novel has its own life and its own trajectory after being guided by the author.

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