The thrilling contest was over, the birds returned to the dense bamboo canopy and chatted happily, there were no more fluttering fallen leaves, and everything suddenly returned to calm, as if nothing had happened in the bamboo forest.

Xiao Qing only felt a burst of men's sweat rushing to her face, and saw that Fang Hong was already sitting beside her.

Except for him, Xiaoqing and his backpack in the cave, Fang Hong could no longer see half a snake shadow. There is no chimney on the top of this cave, and it is obviously a wide charcoal cellar, which is estimated to hold nearly 2,000 catties of steel charcoal. The chimneys of the charcoal cellars are cut from the foot of the surrounding walls, and they lead vertically up to the outside world along the inside of the walls. Therefore, the burning method inside the cellar is different from the burning method outside the cellar. The burning mode outside the cellar is that the flame rushes upward, and the burning mode in the cellar is that the flame descends, that is, when the wood-burning hole is sealed, there is a lack of oxygen inside, and the oxygen from the outside is transported from a chimney in the wall to the foot of the hole, so the flame goes down, and carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other water vapors are discharged from the other chimney to the outside due to heat. Fang Hong had seen charcoal burning, so his eyes quickly searched the chimney at the foot of the wall, there were two chimneys, both of which were surprisingly large, and it was not a problem for the big snake to get into such a chimney at all.

"Brother Fang, why didn't you kill that big black snake just now?" Xiao Qing lowered his eyes and looked at the thick pine hair on the ground and said.

"I can't kill it. Fang Hong kept scanning the surrounding cellar walls and said.

"You're a liar!" Xiaoqing said.

"It didn't hurt me, I have no reason to kill him!" Fang Hong replied like this, and he himself felt funny.

Xiao Qing really laughed softly and said, "If it hurts you first, then can you still kill it?"

Fang Hong snapped her fingers lightly and said, "At least it can't hurt me, and since it can't hurt me, I don't need to hurt it." After all, I hit it with a stone first! ”

"Did you hit it?" Xiaoqing said with a smile still looking at the ground, still looking melancholy.

"If I didn't hit it, how could it come out and trouble me?" Fang Hong said, wiping the sweat from his face.

Xiaoqing chuckled softly: "For example, the current situation, can you hit it?"

These words made Fang Hong stunned! Yes, there is no snake in front of me, and according to the current situation, how could I hit the snake with the stone throwing just now!

He immediately said earnestly, "I guess that stone I just hit you, right? That's why you called it to give you air!"

Xiaoqing still smiled: "Did you say that your stone would hit me?"

Fang Hong also smiled: "Yes, if it hits you, you will definitely scream, but I couldn't hear people's screams just now." Besides, I can't see you outside, but you see me inside, at least when I'm ready to throw the stones, you can get out of the way, right?"

"But......" Fang Hong wanted to say but stopped.

"But what?" Xiao Qing still didn't look at Fang Hong. Just look at the pine hair in front of you.

"But, since I didn't hit the snake and didn't hit you, why did it come out to trouble me?" Fang Hong said.

"Because it's their home. Whenever there is any movement in their home, they will come to see it! Xiaoqing said, picking up a small branch from the ground and scraping pine hair aimlessly.

"Heh, Xiaoqing, why are you with them, aren't you afraid that they will bite you?" Fang Hong said.

"They won't bite me!" Xiaoqing still shaved the pine hair and said: "More than ten years ago, when I was very young, one day I came to this mountain with my grandmother to collect medicine, and I came across a black snake, the size of a hookah, and the snake was bleeding and had several wounds. Grandma found a few herbs, mashed them, applied them to the snake's wound, and then used a turban to cover the wound for it, and it was also very tame and did not struggle. So we'll leave it. ”

Xiaoqing continued to scrape the pine feathers with the branches and said: "Later, we came to collect medicine again, and we met it again, and it followed us all day long, and it followed us wherever we went." It wasn't until we came home later that my grandmother told her that we had gone home, and it didn't follow us down the mountain as if she understood. ”

Fang Hong said: "Oh! I also feel that this snake is human, it just saw that I didn't fight back, and then it stopped attacking me. If I'm not mistaken, you asked the other two snakes to bring my backpack and hat for me, right?"

Xiaoqing stopped laughing, sighed and said, "Yes! Thank you, Brother Fang, for your mercy. ”

"I'm thanking you, Xiaoqing, if it wasn't for you just now, the other two snakes would definitely besiege me with that big snake, I don't know if I would sleep here and never wake up!"

Xiaoqing finally turned her head to look at Fang Hong and said, "No, I just don't want them to die!" Because I feel like you're an invincible person! ”

Fang Hong met Xiaoqing's gaze, feeling that Xiaoqing was ten years more mature than her actual age. Her gaze is a melancholy gaze, a mature gaze, a responsible gaze, which is only three points of happiness, but seven points of misery and helplessness - in short, this gaze should not be the gaze of a young girl.

Fang Hong avoided Xiaoqing's gaze and said indifferently: "People are flesh and blood, not iron, and there is no invincible person." Sometimes it's just luck! Of course, if the three snakes besiege me at once, I will never be able to escape, and if I can't escape, I will really kill them. ”

When he said "kill them", Fang Hong's expression became cold, and his eyes faintly emitted murderous aura.

Xiaoqing seemed to tremble, and the branch in her hand fell on the pine hair.

Fang Hong said, "So, when did this place become the home of the snakes, and how did the other two smaller snakes come from?"

Xiaoqing picked up the branch again and continued to shave the pine hair and said: "Later, when my grandmother and I came to collect medicine again, it suddenly rained lightly, and the black snake came from nowhere, so we circled around us, and then slowly walked towards the mountain recess, we seemed to understand its meaning, so we followed it, and followed it into a hole." When we got into this hole, we found two more little snakes, and these two little snakes seemed very friendly to us, and I thought they were so cute, so I played with them, and the rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and then I fell asleep, and I slept in my grandmother's arms. When I woke up, I was already at home. Since then, my grandmother has only come to our house once a year. ”

"Isn't your grandmother from Xizhu Village?" asked Fang Hong.

"No, my grandmother is from the city! It's just that every time she comes to my house, she has to go to Xizhu Mountain to collect medicine. Xiaoqing said.

"So, your mother-in-law and your mother are both Han Chinese, right?" Fang Hong said.

"My grandmother's house is all Chinese-speaking. Xiaoqing said.

"It's very rare for people from the city to marry into the countryside!" Fang Hong said.

"At the beginning, my mother-in-law saw that my father often went to the city to sell bamboo chairs and bamboo tools, and he was honest and had good craftsmanship, so she deliberately made do with my father and mother. Speaking of this, Xiaoqing's face became even more gloomy.

Fang Hong saw that Xiaoqing was unhappy, and hurriedly said, "Oh! I see, so you came to see your three friends today?"

Xiaoqing said: "I came from the city to see my aunt last night, and I stopped by to see them today." There are four of them: Black Big, Black Two, Black Three and Black Four, and Black Two didn't come out today. ”

"Oh ! " Fang Hong said: "You're not afraid of wild boars?"

Xiaoqing said: "I just need to come to the bottom of the mountain and call it, and it will come to pick me up." With it by my side, I'm not afraid of wild boars. ”

Fang Hong said, "So, have you ever seen a wild boar?"

Xiaoqing shook her head and said, "I've been here several times and I've never met it. ”

"So do other people know that you have these friends?" asked Fang Hong.

"Except for my grandmother, no one in our village knows about it. ”

"So your grandmother is ...... today." Why didn't you come?" Fang Hong seemed a little conflicted when he asked this, he was worried that Xiaoqing's grandmother had passed away, and he was afraid of touching Xiaoqing's injury.

Who knew that Xiaoqing said loudly: "Maybe you will see her soon, maybe you will never see her again!"

What is this? Fang Hong was about to say something. But seeing Xiaoqing turn her head to face him again, she smiled and said:

"Brother Fang, the 'panda' I helped you manage the day before yesterday didn't break any of its places, right?"

For some reason, when Xiaoqing asked this, although her face was smiling, her eyes were flustered, and her hands and feet were trembling slightly.

Fang Hong glanced at Xiaoqing, and said leisurely: "Of course, there is no missing ear, and there is no lack of nose and eyes!" Just ......"

When Fang Hong said this, he glanced at Xiaoqing again, although the light was dim, he could still find that Xiaoqing's face was pale...... Its laughter is like crying! She didn't even ask.

Fang Hong continued: "It's just that this 'panda' was broken off on the road and trampled on again!" Then we didn't want it. ”

Xiao Qing actually giggled again when she heard this: "You dragged your words just now, I thought that the panda was missing a leg or an extra tail, it seems that Brother Fang, you will not only fight, but also scare people!"

Fang Hong smiled and did not respond. Because he knew that Xiaoqing would ask something soon.

Sure enough, Xiaoqing restrained her smile and continued: "I heard that my dad was going to search your trouser pocket yesterday? Did you put something in your trouser pocket so that he could find out?"

The corners of Fang Hong's mouth flashed with a smile that Xiao Qing couldn't detect. He snapped his fingers lightly and said, "I also think it's strange, I picked up a horse tooth stone on top of the stone Bengtan yesterday, and he knows it." Did he keep stalking me! ”

When Xiaoqing heard this, her brows furrowed! The smile also became brighter, and she said deliciously, "That sister asked you in the car to let him hear." ”

Fang Hong pretended to be surprised and said, "Oh! It turned out that as soon as we got in the car, he kept eavesdropping outside the car! ”

"No!" Xiaoqing said: "When he saw you getting into the car, he chased him with a stick, and my aunt immediately cried and chased after him...... Aunt thought that you would drive away as soon as you got in the car, but who knew that you were still in the car......" Speaking of this, she actually glanced at Fang Hong, and her face showed a shy look.

"Oh, we ate as soon as we got in the car, and at that time our stomachs were empty!" Fang Hong hurriedly said.

Fang Hong didn't know that her dignified manhood was so embarrassed at a glance than a weak girl!

"Brother Fang, I can't see that you actually like horse tooth stone! Could it be that today you are also here to find horse tooth stone! It was only now that Fang Hong found that Xiaoqing's melancholy eyes had decreased a lot. He naturally understood what Xiaoqing meant. So he said:

"I'm here to find medicine. ”

"Looking for medicine, looking for herbs?" asked Xiaoqing in surprise.

"Yes, I met an old man the day before yesterday, and he gave me a prescription, and my first memory reminded me of this place!"

"So, you also came to look for herbs yesterday?" Xiaoqing became more and more cheerful!

"Yes. Fang Hong said: "It's just that I didn't expect to run into a stone mussel and see a wild boar, so I ran back!"

Xiaoqing giggled: "You're not afraid of wild boars at all, are you?, you're worried about that sister!" Well, I really envy that sister......"

Fang Hong didn't expect Xiaoqing's emotions to become active so suddenly! There is also a tone of ridicule for himself.

Fang Hong avoided the topic and said: "It's a pity, I can't find my way up the mountain until now!" I thought your friend's home was the door to the mountain! ”

Xiao Qing smiled when he heard this: "No wonder you have to fight when you walk into a charcoal cellar!"

Fang Hong also smiled and said, "Of course! If two knives were stuck on either side of the cave and another big stick hit me on the head, I wouldn't be miserable! ”

Xiao Qing frowned slightly when she heard this, and said:

"Have you always trusted your instincts and judgment?"

"Yes!" Fang Hong said: "It's a pity that it doesn't work this time!"

When Xiaoqing heard this, she suddenly got up and said to Fang Hong: "Brother Fang, come to help!"

Fang Hong frowned when she heard this, and slowly got up.

Xiaoqing pointed to Fang Hong's back and said, "Brother Fang, look at what we are leaning back to?"

Fang Hong turned around, only to find that he and Xiao Qing had been leaning against a weedy earthen gate, Xiao Qing motioned to Fang Hong and her to block the hole like this earthen door, Fang Hong found that this earthen door wall was a cement door, just made into a basin, and the outward side was filled with sand, and the sand was already overgrown with weeds. Now it's so outward that you can't see a hole in it from the outside, and no one would have thought that there would be a hole here. Fang Hong now finally understood what was going on when he saw the hole at the foot of the mine this morning!

Fang Hong and Xiaoqing moved the cement door out together, and a pitch-black hole appeared behind the cement door, and wisps of light mist emerged from the hole, and there was a faint spring flow.