Chapter 809 Don’t Trust Humans Easily
Bai Xiaohua is a young, underage baboon who has only recently entered the world, and is also the only baboon left in the world.
From as far back as it can remember, it has lived in a dense forest, where there are many small animals like itself.
Rabbits, monkeys, butterflies, birds, fish... and an old tortoise that has lived for many years.
Bai Xiaohua's favorite thing to do every day is to snuggle under the big tree with her friends and listen to Grandpa Xuan Turtle tell stories from the past.
From the story of the old man the black tortoise, Bai Xiaohua learned that there was a creature called a human living outside the forest.
They were incredibly intelligent creatures who created a world unique to them, unlike their great forests, a world of wonders and vibrant colors.
Because of Grandpa Turtle's story, many children yearn for the world outside the forest, and Bai Xiaohua is no exception.
But when Grandpa Turtle learned of their thoughts, he smiled faintly at them, shook his head, and said something too profound for them to comprehend.
"Humans are the most complex creatures. They are kind yet cruel, generous yet selfish, intelligent yet cunning. They can be very good or very bad. Therefore, do not easily trust humans, as it may bring you misfortune."
Bai Xiaohua was completely bewildered when she heard this. Her mind, like a blank sheet of paper, had only a vague impression of the word "human."
This impression wasn't particularly pleasant, which diminished its longing for the world beyond the forest.
However, some friends still couldn't resist the temptations of the outside world and resolutely left the forest.
That year, Bai Xiaohua said goodbye to one of her very good friends, a silver-throated long-tailed tit, all white with fluffy feathers like cotton balls, and adorable in appearance.
Bai Xiaohua was very reluctant to part with it and tried several times to keep it, but ultimately failed.
Before leaving, the titmouse told it that it was a bird and should have been soaring in the sky, seeing the mountains and rivers of the world, the vast earth. This forest was too small, too small to contain the ambitions of its little chubby bird.
It wanted to go out and see if those beautiful landscapes that seemed to exist only in stories really existed.
Bai Xiaohua didn't quite understand its persistence, and could only watch it leave, never to return.
My friends say it may have died outside, or it may have been blinded by the colorful world outside and will never come back.
The departure of the titmouse did not seem to have any particular impact on Bai Xiaohua's life. However, many years later, she would occasionally think of her little friend, remembering that there was once a little dumpling that especially liked to build a nest on her head and share interesting stories she had heard from other friends.
Spring came and autumn went, and in the blink of an eye, a long time had passed. Grandpa Turtle, who was already very old, finally couldn't survive that winter and closed his eyes on a red-hued evening.
Before passing away, Grandpa Turtle looked at Bai Xiaohua gently for a long, long time, and finally sighed helplessly. He patted her head with his front paw and told her, "You are different from us. You are a lucky little animal, but this luck may bring you good fortune or misfortune. Remember, don't trust others easily."
After Grandpa Turtle finished speaking, he fell silent and remained motionless.
Bai Xiaohua couldn't understand why her grandfather, who usually loved to joke and laugh with them, had stopped opening his eyes and speaking.
It stayed by Grandpa Turtle's side for a long time, until the warmth of Grandpa Turtle's body completely dissipated, before accepting the fact that Grandpa Turtle would never open his eyes again to talk to them or tell them stories.
Grandpa Turtle's death seems to have opened Pandora's box.
Those friends who were originally very close to Bai Xiaohua began to split into two groups, and either left or died, departing one after another.
The once bustling forest gradually became deserted. The departure of the children seemed to have taken away the vitality of the forest, and the lush and vibrant colors gradually faded and became dull.
Once again, Bai Xiaohua happily ran to the base of the big tree, only to find that she could no longer see her old friends. Feeling deeply disappointed, she finally made up her mind to leave the forest.
It wanted to know what it was, why it could live longer than all its companions, and even more so, what the outside world was like, which it knew was dangerous but still attracted many companions to run out into.
Bai Xiaohua took nothing with her, only filled with anticipation and trepidation, as she embarked on her journey to the human world.
However, the first wave of humans it encountered was not friendly to it.
Its appearance is very similar to that of a fox, and its tail fur is fluffy and snow-white. It was spotted by a group of poachers as soon as it left the forest.
They wanted to kill it and skin it to make fox fur coats.
Bai Xiaohua was terrified. Although she managed to escape the poachers' pursuit thanks to her agility honed in the forest, she was injured and left with a limp.
It was at this time that it encountered the second type of human that Grandpa Turtle had mentioned.
It was a thin, white-haired old man with a hunched back, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, who found Bai Xiaohua, who had injured her leg and was shivering from being soaked to the bone.
At the old man's place, the injured Bai Xiaohua received proper care. Her injured leg was treated and corrected, and she was given enough delicious food to fill her stomach.
Its attitude towards the old man gradually changed from initial defensiveness and resistance to affection and attachment.
The old man named it Bai Xiaohua. Like it, he was a particularly lonely old man. His wife had passed away early, and his only son died in an accident before he could get married and have children, causing him to outlive his son.
He never remarried or had any other children. He lived a lonely life, thinking he would just continue living like this, half-dead, waiting for the day he couldn't take it anymore and died so he could reunite with his wife and children.
Unexpectedly, they found Bai Xiaohua, and the two of them lived together for a long time, relying on each other for survival.
As the old man grew older, a number of illnesses began to appear, and in the end, just like Grandpa Turtle, he left Bai Xiaohua.
On the day the old man died, Bai Xiaohua, who already understood the meaning of death, cried very sadly.
It didn't understand why these people who were good to it would leave one by one, while it was still just a cub, and it didn't know what would become of it after losing this family member.
That's when the man appeared. He came to Bai Xiaohua when she was most heartbroken and helpless, helped her bury her deceased grandfather, easily entered Bai Xiaohua's heart, and took her out of that dilapidated shack.
At the time, Bai Xiaohua thought this was the luck Grandpa Turtle had mentioned; it had met good people, one after another, who had led it to heaven.
Little did they know that heaven and hell are separated by only a thin line.
(End of this chapter)
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