"Brother Baiyi, you're back. ”

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Zuo Tian heard a crisp shout, followed the sound and looked, only to see a girl wearing coarse linen clothes, but her face was extremely delicate, standing in front of the house, seeing Zuo Tian hurriedly put down the bamboo basket in her hand, and ran over happily.

"Brother Baiyi, what good things did you bring back today!" the girl said playfully, and naturally took the heavy firewood on Zuo Tian's back with both hands and put it down with some difficulty.

"Nanxiu ......"

A trace of embarrassment flashed on Zuo Tian's face, and then disappeared in an instant.

"Hmph! What good things can there be in the back mountains besides those rabbits and pheasants, cowards who can only set traps......"

A somewhat immature but pretended old voice came from the room.

"Ash, how can you say that about Brother Baiyi!" Nanxiu looked angrily at the room.

I saw an eleven or twelve-year-old boy running out of the room, and the boy was wearing a pigtail, and the braid was cute as the boy ran and bumped and bumped.

The young man ran to Nanxiu, made a grimace at her, shrunk his head again, slipped through the crook of the left heavenly arm, and then stood at the gate of the courtyard and shouted inside: "Coward, coward, coward is a monster that doesn't grow up, a monster is a coward......"

Nan Xiu's face was flushed, and he rushed over to beat the dead child, but the boy ran away as soon as he saw that the situation was not good.

Standing on the threshold, Nanxiu looked at the young man's back with an ugly face, as if she remembered something, her face changed, and when she turned around, she saw Zuo Tian's clenched hands slowly loosening.

"Brother in White......"

Nanxiu stepped forward and just wanted to explain but was stopped by Zuo Tian reaching out.

"It's okay, Nam-so. ”

Zuo Tian said calmly, and then returned to the house without saying a word, slammed the door with his backhand, and leaned back against the door panel with tears streaming down his face.

Ash and Nanxiu are the children of his eldest brother, Nan Shugen.

In the past, every time Zuo Tian came back with the hunting team, Xiao Zhi would take his hand and go around the village with his might, and show off when he met people: "See, this is my brother in white, he is a hunting team, you don't know about the hunting team, right? That's the only team in the village that can go up the mountain to hunt those beasts, it's amazing!"

At that time, Zuo Tian didn't remember his name, because he liked to wear white clothes, and Nanxiu and Xiaozhi called him "Brother White".

He still remembers the day when Nan Shugen was worried about what to call him in the future because of his amnesia.

Nanxiu, who was still a little girl, stretched out her fleshy little hand and patted the stupid Xiaozhi, and said to Xiaozhi in her immature voice: "Brother, since this brother likes to wear white clothes, let's call him Brother Baiyi in the future." ”

Later, Zuo Tian remembered his name, but Nanxiu and Xiaozhi were used to shouting, and they didn't change it again.

And today, it was the first time that Zuo Tian heard from Xiaozhi's mouth that he called himself a monster.

He can not care what other children say about himself and scold himself.

But when he heard these words from those closest to him, he felt as if he had been abandoned by the world.

The heart that has calmed down all these years has been torn apart again, and the person who has been torn apart is the person he thinks is the closest to him.

Just a few months ago, he finally convinced himself.

He thought that he would no longer live in other people's words, and he would no longer become sad because of other people's words.

But now, he knew he was wrong.

Why, I want to be an ordinary person, I haven't done anything bad, why do you treat me like this, and why do you say I'm a monster?

He roared inwardly, suddenly remembering the child who had been burned to death.

The child was just a newborn baby, and he didn't do anything to harm the interests of the village, let alone do anything harmful, but he was still burned to death.

While his mother knelt on the ground and prayed, the men threw the baby into the fire like a dead dog.

Just because he's different from them, he's got an extra tail and he's considered a youkai!

I thought of the indifference on the face of the man who had lost the baby, the numbness of the bystanders, and the misery of the mother.

He couldn't help but cry again.

What kind of indifferent world is this?

Bang!

"Brother Baiyi, are you really okay?

Nam-su banged on the wooden door and shouted anxiously on the other side.

"I ...... I'm really fine, Nanxiu, let's go!"

Zuo Tian suppressed his emotions to the extreme, and anyone could guess his mood at the moment.

Resentment, grievance, pain, all kinds of emotions erupted in his chest.

"Brother in white......!"

Bang!

The door opened.

"I said yes, I'm fine!"

Zuo Tian yelled, pushed open the door and yelled at Nanxiu, and then rushed out.

Nanxiu seemed to be stunned by this scene and stood stupidly in place.

The wind was whistling in his ears, and his body seemed to have infinite power to vent.

He roared and ran, unleashing all the emotions he had suppressed for years like a madman.

Whew~Whew~

Finally tired, Zuo Tian knelt on the ground, but his mouth was full of bitterness.

He can't do anything, and he can't change it.

He can't really integrate into the village, and he can't change their perception of himself.

In their opinion, he will always be an outsider who doesn't know the details, and he is a monster who doesn't grow up.

Even the people he used to think were closest to him now began to mock him.

The tears on his face had been dried, and he reached out to wipe a handful of non-existent tears, and he realized that before he knew it, he had run to the place where Old Man Li told stories every day.

It was almost dusk, and the old man and the child who listened to the story had long since dispersed, leaving only the old tree, alone in the not fertile, or even somewhat arid land.

The wind is blowing.

Whew!

It's like a whisper in the crowd, and it's as if someone is talking something in your ear.

"Even you look down on me!"

Zuo Tian roared and kicked at the old tree, and the force of the shock made him hold his foot and burst into tears, but the old tree was unscathed.

He stood up in annoyance, but he accidentally caught a glimpse of the dilapidated thatched hut in the distance, and a memory flooded back to him.

Hesitating, Zuo Tian limped towards the thatched house.

This is the residence of Old Man Li.

"You're here. ”

It seemed that there was no surprise to Zuo Tian who came uninvited, and Old Man Li's calm voice fell into the ears of Zuo Tian, who had just stepped into the door.

The furnishings in the house remain the same as before.

And Old Man Li also sat on the ground, with his back to him and didn't look back, only hearing the sound of a knock, not knowing what he was tinkering with.

Hearing the old man's calm words, Zuo Tian seemed to be infected as well, and his somewhat irritable heart slowly calmed down.

Came to the old man's side.

I saw flowers of various colors on the ground.

Old man Li frowned, and then picked a few of them in thought, and then put them in a jar next to him and mashed them.

He poured the mashed flower mud on top of a clean coarse cloth, wrapped it in a ball and squeezed it vigorously.

Drops of crimson liquid are poured into the prepared dish.

Zuo Tian suddenly realized that the colors that Old Man Li added to the painting were made in this way.

Old man Li not only knows how to tell stories, he can also draw all kinds of strange things.

Inside the room, there were animal skins hanging on the mud-made walls, and on the animal skins were painted beasts that Zuo Tian had never seen before, as well as square or twisted objects.

In the past, Zuo Tian liked to come here the most, and every time he returned from hunting, he would bring some wild game from the mountains to this lonely old man Li, and the old man Li would also pull him with his dry hands and point to the animal skins on the wall, chattering to him and telling him stories.

Every time he talked about how the beasts in the animal skins were hunted by him, and how wise and powerful he was when he was young, Zuo Tian would look at Old Man Li with a suspicious look on his face.

And at this time, Old Man Li would blow his beard, stare at Zuo Tian, and then raise his fingers together like a child, repeatedly reassuring that what he said was true.

The first time, Zuo Tian was still suspicious, but later Old Man Li assured him more, so he didn't believe it.

Zuo Tian knew that Old Man Li was just too bored to talk to someone.

It's just that every time Zuo Tian asked what the square and distorted objects in the animal skin painting were, Old Man Li would be silent, and then look at the animal skins with his incomprehensible eyes.

"Where can I go to paint?" Seeing that Old Man Li had finished making it, Zuo Tian said hesitantly.

In the past, because of curiosity, Zuo Tian accidentally walked into Old Man Li's house and found those hanging animal skins, and he also became interested in the beasts painted on it, because these were all things that had never been seen in Daqing Mountain.

At that time, he would always run to the small stool handmade by Old Man Li willfully, copying the works on the wall, and Old Man Li was not angry, just stood next to him and talked about what kind of demon beast this was, its habits and weaknesses, Zuo Tian only listened to the story, and when he was impatient, he would mutter, "It's so noisy." ”

He hadn't been here since rumors spread in the village that he was a youkai.

Every day, I live in a simple house, and every time I go out, I am also cautious, and even listening to stories I sit in the corner for fear of being discovered by others.

Old man Li glanced at him a little strangely, but he didn't speak, nodded and got busy with his own business.

Zuo Tian picked up a paintbrush made of unknown beast hair and stared blankly at the demon beast that Old Man Li said on the wall.

The eyes of those demon beasts converged, and they seemed to be watching him as well.

For a moment, Zuo Tian seemed to see those hideous monsters on the wall come to life, and then bared his fangs at him.

When I closed my eyes, my mind was a tumbling blood red.

The brush moved, and the tip of the pen was stained with the most vivid red paint, like the color of blood.

One stroke, one stroke at a time, crooked lines were drawn, but it was not any of the monsters on the wall, he looked at his masterpiece with disgust, he hated this color.

Black eventually replaced blood red, but he was still not satisfied, and his calm mood gradually became irritable.

"Your heart is upset. Old man Li's words rang coldly in his ears.

At some point, Old Man Li stood behind him.

Zuo Tian turned his head and faced a pair of old eyes, without the cloudiness of the past.

In these eyes, Zuo Tian felt that he had become transparent, and the thoughts buried in his heart could no longer be controlled.

Take a deep breath and pick up the paintbrush in your hand.

"Grandpa Li, do you say that there are really immortals in this world?"

Zuo Tian whispered, as if he was talking to himself, and seemed to want to get an answer from the old man.

It's just that there was a tremor in his voice that even he hadn't noticed.

The hand holding the brush was also white from too much force.