Tao Yao left, and Aunt Long went back to her own house to cook.

Inside and outside the house, only the monotonous sound of Uncle Jian's striking iron remained, one by one, as if it was knocking on Ming Ke's heart.

Ming Ke pushed open the half-hidden door next door, walked in, and sat silently in the darkness by the door, looking at his uncle who was sitting by the fire and striking iron.

The light of the stove was very bright, but the darkness in the shadows was even thicker, and the uncle was sitting in a wheelchair, as if he didn't notice Ye Mingke's arrival, but continued to use his only remaining hand to wave the heavy hammer, knocking the iron in front of him again and again.

Every knock is the same intensity, the same sound quality, the same interval.

It seems that in the past ten years, the uncle has not changed at all.

Ye Mingke hugged his knees and buried his head deeply.

"Uncle, you knocked me upset. He said sullenly.

"It's you who upset yourself, not me. Uncle Jian continued to beat, staring at the iron in front of him without the slightest shift.

"Yes, it's me who is upset, but it's not that the master won't let me go to the academy, but you won't let me go to the school, right?"

Ye Mingke raised his head and asked his uncle.

He didn't blame him, because he was the person he trusted the most, and if he couldn't be trusted, who else could he rely on?

He just wanted an answer, and he was tired of the muddy, confused days.

The days of not knowing where you came from, not knowing where you are, not knowing when it will end.

"Yes. Uncle Jian replied, his answer as monotonous as his tapping.

"Why?" Ye Mingke asked.

"You almost died. ”

"Bang"

Uncle Jian's words were still calm, but his hammer was not hammered for the first time, and the sparks bloomed from the iron block, making a screeching sound.

"Heh, I almost died. ”

Ye Mingke let out a piercing sneer in this piercing sound.

"Isn't it an accident, according to you?"

"When the fog arose in the forest, I carried Qiaoqiao on my back with great triumph, so I stumbled and fell into the mountain stream, and was washed by the river into the forbidden sacred mountain, and it was not until the night of the fifteenth that the master led someone to find it. ”

"As for the tigers I mentioned, the dried corpses and the strange birds that Qiao Qiao said, those were all our two children who were blistered with fever and fainting, and scared ourselves. ”

"Isn't that so? Since you said it was all an accident, what does it matter if I go to school again?"

"That's what they said, not what I said. ”

Uncle Jian paused, then swung the hammer again, and the monotonous sound of striking iron sounded again.

"Uncle, someone really wants to kill me. ”

Ye Mingke looked at his uncle seriously excitedly.

"I really met a white tiger that day, and that white tiger was so weird. As soon as it entered the river, it was as if it had melted out of thin air, and I suspected that it was not a white tiger in the mountains and forests at all. ”

"Also, the others encountered a simple maze that day, but Jojo and I encountered a terrifying illusion, which was really wrong. ”

"Uncle. ”

"I know. Uncle Jian's response was still as monotonous as the sound of his iron.

Ye Mingke saw that his excited words were only exchanged for three words from Shu Bo, and suddenly he didn't know what the meaning of what he was talking about.

He fell silent.

All that remained in the room was the monotonous sound of striking iron.

One bang, one bang.

"Uncle, you know everything, but why don't you tell me anything?"

Ye Mingke buried his head deep in the crook of his arm again, and his voice was muffled, as if coming from the depths of his soul that had been suppressed for a long time.

"I could choose to tell you, but I don't want to lie to you. If you ask for it, I can give you a lie that will give you peace of mind. ”

"That's how most of the people in town live, it's just simpler, and they'll make a lie for themselves. ”

To Ming Ke's surprise, this time Uncle Jian stopped striking iron. He looked back at Ye Mingke, with a bright light that Ye Mingke couldn't understand in his dark and quiet pupils.

"Then why can't you tell me the truth?" Ye Mingke raised his head from the crook of his arm, looked at Uncle Jian and asked seriously.

"The time has not yet come. And the timing doesn't depend on me, it's up to you"

"Now you don't have the ability and the will to take on the truth. Uncle Jian said.

"Then how do I qualify to know the truth?"

Ye Mingke's eyes were bright. After so many years, although he never lied to him, his uncle, who had always been silent, showed his inclination to tell him the secrets that had tormented him for so many years.

"Proof. Prove yourself. Uncle Jian said slowly, "I will give you a few goals and training methods to reach them." As long as you reach it, I will choose to tell you an answer that you want to know. ”

"But you have to understand. Training can be much more strenuous than you might think. ”

And the secrets that are sealed away by others often carry unbearable pain. ”

He raised his eyes to look at Ye Mingke, but found that Ye Mingke was sitting in a daze, his eyes reflecting the fire were very bright, but he didn't react.

He thought Ye Mingke was hesitating, yes, where would ordinary people pay so much to find those secrets that were destined to be painful?

But that's okay, after the truth is revealed, even if he is caught off guard, even if the pain is only temporary, even if he becomes radical because of this, but in such a world, maybe he can live a simpler life.

Although, there is still some disappointment.

"It's time to eat. Aunt Long's greeting came from the courtyard, breaking the silence.

"Once training starts, you can't stop until you reach your goal. Think about it today. After Uncle Jian finished speaking, he slowly rocked his wheelchair and went out.

"Hmm. Ming Ke got up with his head down, walked to the back of his uncle's wheelchair, and pushed his uncle to the courtyard.

This lunch, Ye Mingke was the first to finish it, and after saying to Uncle Long and Aunt Long, "I'll go out", he ran out of the yard.

He ran on the bluestone streets of the town, his steps were brisk, like a gust of wind.

His heart was filled with excitement, apprehension, faint fear, and inexplicable longing that even he himself did not understand.

It makes him want to run and chase as hard as he can.

But there was no hesitation as Uncle Jian thought. It was very strange, even he didn't quite understand it, but when he heard Uncle Jian's words, he knew that he would definitely choose to embark on the path of pursuing the mystery.

Although the path made him nervous, frightened, and uneasy, he was still excited, excited, and thirsty.

Like, the moth that is destined to pounce on the fire.

He ran and ran, stopped, and it seemed as if he had a thousand words hidden in his heart to tell.

Then he remembered the girl who was looking at him earnestly with her head tilted slightly in the firelight, and listened quietly to his words.

Jojo.

He turned and ran in a different direction.

It was his third day back in town.

The so-called "accident", which still haunts me when I recall it, did not bring him any harm or change like a dream on the surface.

The quiet town seemed to be as peaceful and harmonious as usual, but in fact, two families disappeared into the town so quietly.

On the surface, he was unharmed, but in fact his illness had become more serious and dangerous due to his risk of inspiring the healing of a strange illness that he had had since childhood.

As he ran, he visibly felt faster and more powerful than before.

This is what the strange illness brought to him.

But in addition, there is the heat of fire all the time after waking up, and the desire to eat like a black hole in the belly.

At Aunt Long's lunch just now, he basically didn't dare to eat anything.

During these three days, he waited for the restlessness of his body to subside after the onset of the disease, and he adapted to the new and less

Hunger is even more terrible. And what is she doing?

Why didn't you come to see him? Not even a word.

He ran to the village dye house, but he hesitated in front of the vermilion gate and did not dare to knock.

The dyeing house is the largest house in the town after the village chief's house and the schoolhouse, with the highest wall, the thickest gate and the lowest presence in the town.

Except for the occasional person entering and leaving, the vermilion lacquer door was closed day and night, cutting off the sight of other people's prying eyes.

Most of the town knew that there were three people living in the big house, a woman, a middle-aged man and a little girl.

Occasionally, a family living nearby would hear a faint noise coming from the heavy door, but the family seemed to keep everything, good and bad, inside the heavy door.

Ye Mingke lingered in front of the door, never able to muster up the courage to knock on the door, the heavy door seemed to have some kind of boundary, refusing all contact with the outside world, dividing the inside and outside of the door into two distinct worlds.

It was as if knocking on that door would disturb a world, a world that was hostile and wary of the outside world.

Just as Ming Ke was hesitating whether to turn to find Tao Yao instead, the heavy gate creaked and opened a gap.

A middle-aged woman wearing a cloth dress with a sallow face walked out of the door sideways with a package in her hand, and the package in her hand was just casually wrapped, revealing a messy color of red, red, green and green, which may have been dyed fabric.

After she went out, she looked up and suddenly saw Ye Mingke standing in front of her door, her eyes were as muddy and dull as dead fish beads, and there was obvious indifference and alienation on her sallow face.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?"

Ye Mingke was startled by the middle-aged woman who suddenly went out, and felt the alienated and cold attitude of the middle-aged woman, and he was a little nervous.

"Uncle...... Hello mother, I'll look for Qiaoqiao. ”

The middle-aged woman looked up and down at Ye Mingke, who was standing at a loss, with cold eyes, and said expressionlessly: "You are Ye Mingke?"

"Yes...... Yes, aunt, do you know me?" Ye Mingke asked nervously and in surprise, he didn't expect that the dyerhouse, who basically didn't have anything to do with the people in the town, would know his name.

"Oh, that's all she knows about you. ”

"Come in. ”

The middle-aged woman had a look of indifference and faint disgust on her face, but she reached out and pushed the door open a little more, motioning for Ye Mingke to enter.

"The dead girl has been crying for days to see you, and she is making people to death. Hurry up and finish reading and leave quickly. ”

The middle-aged woman's sallow face was undisguised with meanness and impatience.