Tree 1
If trees had eyes, there would be no secrets under the sky. The roots buried deep underground would transmit everything to and fro. They are a whole, sharing the information of sunlight and rain.
…
The thread she bought was very thin, so she knitted very slowly, and it took her several hours to finish the work.
The solid-color hat seemed a bit monotonous, so she wanted to mix the colors together to create a bright and vivid effect, just like Liu Qingliu's warm and free-spirited personality. This color was almost right, so she stretched out her hand to reach another ball of silk thread spread on the bed. When she bent down and raised her head again, a long black shadow suddenly flashed past the opposite window.
It was like a person jumping away with both feet together, a movement that could not be compared to leaves being blown by the wind.
But outside... there are only trees?
Yinsui would not jump to conclusions and thought it was just his dazzled eyes. The lights in the room made the outside dark and blurry. He had to stand up and go to the window to get a general idea of what was happening.
There was no one outside, even the trees were standing still.
Most of the trees in Liu Dong's house are magnolias, cedars, camphor trees and other species with straight trunks and few branches. Therefore, even though they are arranged in an orderly manner, they can be clearly distinguished at a glance, and they all stand in the same place without moving.
It's not a tumbleweed, so it would be strange if it moved, but it is this strangeness that is worthy of suspicion.
It was late at night and the main house facing the inside was dim. I guess Ji Xunjin had already gone to bed. It was impossible for him to wake people up for something that might be unfounded, but he had to remind them, at least to be on guard.
Yinsui: Something shook outside just now.
It was past one o'clock, and Ji Xunjin was not asleep. He sent a reply in just a few seconds, which was concise and to the point.
Ji: I'm coming over
Yin Sui: Not now, I will see if there is any more.
He retracted his foot when he was almost done walking up the stairs and edited the message: What do you suspect?
Silver Years: Tree
Ji: Please pay attention. If you need anything, call me. Just like this time, you can call me for anything. It’s better to be careful.
Silver Age: OK
There was no movement. It seemed that nothing unusual would happen tonight. Perhaps he realized that he was being watched, so he didn't show his true colors for the time being. To be on the safe side, he wrote down the initial appearance: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. There were seven trees. I could count them at a glance, so it would be effortless to compare them later.
She took off her coat, climbed onto the soft bed sheet and stretched out her arms and legs. She was tired, so tired. She hadn't done anything all day but was just so exhausted. It was as if a big hole had been broken in her body and all her energy had been drained out.
As expected, when I woke up it was already bright daylight.
One person can sleep in any time he wants, but if there are people who need to eat together, if one of them doesn't wake up, the others' breakfast time will be delayed, so he puts on his coat and trousers and opens the door to go out.
The living room is very large and seems empty when no one is around. Ji Xunjin is not in it.
The message I sent fell on deaf ears without causing any ripples. I guess he hasn't gotten up yet.
Yinsui breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the big sofa where the movie was played. The living room used a projector to play movies. She was not very good at using the new electronic products, so she just sat there for a while and felt sleepy again. Her body slowly slid down. She tried to stay awake and lift herself up but couldn't delay the process of lying down.
Sleepiness flowed over me like water, and self-control was like a wall full of holes in front of it, and I couldn't stop it.
Ji Xunjin, who went to bed late and woke up late, felt doomed when he opened his eyes and looked at the time. When he went down the stairs and saw Yin Sui sleeping sideways, he felt even more doomed. He thought something had happened and he didn't know that the important target who had just come the day before was staying in the living room so late at night.
"Why are you sleeping in the living room?"
Yin Sui, who was woken up, finally sat up straight. He had evolved a spine from a mollusk. "No, I woke up this morning and sat here waiting for you. I just got sleepy again."
Ji Xunjin said apologetically, "Don't wait for me next time. I can sleep until noon."
"It didn't take long. I had just woken up when the message was sent. Want to order takeout? There's not much in the fridge."
"Do you want to go out for a bite to eat? I can drive back and buy it."
She was still listless as she drank her juice box. Her eyelids were drooping even after a long rest. She spoke lightly as if she was tossing and turning in a half-asleep state: "I don't really feel like going shopping."
"The vegetable market?"
"I'll go," he agreed straightforwardly. Then, worried that it was to relocate to a new location, he added, "If it's convenient."
Ji Xunjin smiled, pushed the door open and drove the car out of the garage: "It's more convenient than the former."
After the car slowly started and drove onto the road, Yinsui found that what he said was true. The mansion was in the suburbs far away from the city center, and the shopping mall was not as close as the vegetable market.
"Chestnuts for sale, freshly baked chestnuts—"
"Come on, come on, don't miss it if you're passing by. This secret recipe for psoriasis is only 9.9 yuan!"
"Beautiful lady, are you buying groceries?"
The shouts came one after another, one after another, exuding the warm human touch.
Ji Xunjin, adorned with designer brands, moved expertly among the vendors, fitting in even better than Yin Sui, who had lived near the market for years but had rarely been inside. Within seconds, he'd squeezed into the fan-shaped crowd surrounding the owner and offered his money: "Large portion, 30."
The boss, who was busy and sweating profusely, liked him as someone who paid cash directly without wasting any extra time, and he could receive the money and the goods at the same time.
While waiting, Yinsui listened to the bustling crowd around him. For example, a few steps away, a man bent down to grab a handful of celery, weighing it in his hand. While choosing, he spoke to the vendor, "Auntie, why aren't you selling tomatoes lately?"
"It rains every day, and the tomatoes are flooded. They don't taste good, so I just keep them at home."
"I said the ones you grow are the best. I want to buy some to make scrambled eggs for my son."
The vegetable seller smiled so hard that the wrinkles on her face spread out. "Tomatoes grow quickly, and it won't be long before a new batch comes out. Come back in a few days and I'll definitely let you eat some."
When the man got on his motorcycle and slowly weaved through the crowd, the owner, with his hands free, saw that she had been staring at him without saying anything, so he took the initiative to greet her, "Would you like some food? They're all grown in our garden, so fresh."
It is indeed fresh. The vegetables are sprinkled with water, making their colors look particularly bright. Some are covered with mud, and it can be seen that they have just been picked from the field. They are neatly arranged for people to choose.
You can buy it and use it as a side dish.
"How much is this?"
Following the direction of her finger, the aunt understood. "You mean Shanghai green? It's not expensive, 5.5, and it's easy to cook when you get home. Just add some oil to a pan and stir-fry, and it's a must-have home-cooked dish. Would you like to try two pounds?"
Two kilograms seems a bit too much, if Uncle Liu doesn't come back and it's just the two of them.
Ji Xunjin, who had just finished shopping and was standing aside, suddenly interrupted, "Wasn't it 3.5 last time? Did the price go up?"
The shop owner's warm smile was a bit awkward: "Ah, it's been raining a lot lately, so the price has gone up. But since you're an old acquaintance, I'll still give you 3.5. The lady here will also be 3.5."
“…” People’s hearts are unpredictable.
Ji Xunjin didn't reply, but turned and left. Seeing the two people leave together, the boss knew that he had offended them. However, there were many new customers here, and not long after, a hearty greeting rang out again: "Homegrown, very fresh, you won't be cheated if you buy it."
"Why are you still happy?"
"I think it's a bit amusing." It turns out that some people still take the trouble to use an abacus in the vegetable market.
"Life depends on it. I'm not working hard enough to achieve the right goal."
The end of the street was much quieter, without the noisy sounds of bargaining. Ji Xunjin suggested that they go out for a walk, and she naturally had no objection. The two of them walked along the sidewalk, with a row of white poplar trees standing upright on both sides facing each other.
There were dark spots of varying shades on the dark gray tree trunks, shaped a bit like eyes. When the sunlight happened to shine from the front, all the eyes stared at them with bright eyes.
An "eye" on one of the trees was particularly lifelike, and Yinsui couldn't help but take a second look.
Ji Xunjin happened to see a fruit cart trying to sell fruit. The traffic was heavy and dusty, so she stood by the tree in her light-colored clothes, waiting. She could have avoided its gaze by taking a few steps or changing direction, but she was afraid of a tree spot, or even being forced to flee secretly. Even if no one knew, she didn't want to do it. She thought, "I'll just cover it up. Who's staring at me?"
Covering the uneven surface, Yinsui rested against the tree as if nothing had happened. Then, the rough surface seemed to move and rubbed against the palm of his hand. When he suddenly pulled it back, he felt it move again. When he took his hand away and exposed it, its eyes were still staring straight ahead with wide eyes.
But what she felt in the first few seconds was it blinking in her hand.
So was it really the case that the trees jumped and moved by themselves last night, but she had just moved and didn't know where they were originally growing?
After hearing this, Ji Xunjin guessed what was going on and suggested that they stay out of the spotlight and live somewhere without trees.
"Wait a little longer, what if it's an illusion?" she evaded the question.
It shouldn't be an illusion, but I haven't gained anything recently after joining the organization. Ever since I saw the dawn, I haven't had the patience to wait for the sky to brighten on its own. Now that there are signs, I hope they will emerge quickly.
When he returned to the room where he had spotted the flickering shadow last night, Yinsui, taking advantage of the good weather, raised his phone and took a picture from left to right of all the plants he could see from the window. Among them, there were three large trees and four shrubs that were relatively close and could be seen clearly at night.
"Isn't Uncle Liu coming back for dinner?"
"Don't worry about it. Uncle Liu used to travel a lot. He works in an office, but he has to run around coordinating team formation, collecting and distributing information, and so on. He does a lot of field work. If you ask me if he's busy, it's just that there are a lot of trivial matters - boring?"
“A little.”
Ji Xunjin turned around and went to the study to get a stack of information organized in a folder. It was obviously a combination of many books with one or two pages printed from each. Most of the information was introductions to items, sacrificial supplies, famous antiques, mixed with occult science popularization and folk legends. The paper was smooth and clean, as if it was newly printed.
"If you're bored, you can look at these things. Maybe they'll be useful, maybe not—I hope not."
"I hope so."
The two men uttered the last few words almost simultaneously, looking up at each other for a few seconds. Yin Sui broke the deadlock first: "Why not?"
“Because they’re usually difficult to deal with.”
"Oh," she reached out to take it, "I was just collecting game illustrations, just kidding."
The rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other is incessant, like a symphony, first soft and gentle, then exciting and sharp. The thicker leaves will make a distant whistle-like sound when they pass by quickly in the strong wind, flying from the depths to the periphery near people.
He frowned slightly, remembering that he didn't feel any wind when he first went out.
The dark eyeballs rose from the white water like a black full moon. Ji Xunjin, who had regained consciousness, quickly glanced at the lush branches and leaves above his head, and the sound stopped abruptly after that.
At this point, how could I not understand? Today was a sunny day, and the trees that appeared out of nowhere and then fell silent as soon as they were discovered must be causing trouble.
"The trees are getting a little noisy."
"Because it's been quite windy these past two days - there's been no wind these past two days." The online weather forecast only showed a level 2 breeze.
"Um."
He took out a piece of white paper from the small package and pinched it between his fingertips. The paper limply hung half-flying, the wind unable to even make it float completely.
Although the wind may have died down after they woke up, as it was strong enough before, both of them had a different intuition.
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