Chapter 33 Chapter 33 The Actor and the General
The small signs on the tree were rustling in the wind. Shen Muyun looked at the elder walking away, then at the table beside him. There were many empty small signs on it, and there were also pens and ink next to them.
"Huainan, do you want to make a wish? For example, hope that our project goes smoothly."
Lu Huainan took a small sign, looked at it, picked up a pen, and wrote a few words on the sign. Shen Muyun leaned over to see it clearly, but was directly blocked.
"Brother Yun, don't peek at this, or your wish won't come true. I'm going to hang it on the highest branch, maybe it will come true."
Chen Muyun looked up at the highest branch. It looked unrealistic. He took a pen and wrote on the sign: "May you have a carefree life, may you live a hundred years, may the project go smoothly." It was a relatively common wish.
Lu Huainan quietly walked behind him, glanced at his wish, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he snatched it directly from Shen Muyun's hand.
"Hey, hey, hey, Huainan, what are you doing? Isn't it said that it won't work?"
"If I say it's going to work, it's going to work. Brother Yun, is that all you can wish for?"
Shen Muyun sat on the chair, closed his eyes and thought for a while, it seemed that there was really nothing to write. When he opened his eyes, his eyes met Lu Huainan's, "Ahem, well, let's leave it at that."
Lu Huainan seemed a little dissatisfied, and added something more to it with a pen, but he didn't show it to Shen Muyun.
Shen Muyun stretched out his hand to snatch the sign from Lu Huainan's hand, but suffered a disadvantage because of his height.
"Brother Yun, okay, I'll hang the sign up."
Lu Huainan looked around and found a ladder in the corner. He happily moved it over and checked it. It was quite sturdy. "Brother Yun, please hold the ladder. Even if it can't reach the highest point, I want to hang it higher than others."
Shen Muyun held the ladder leg and looked up at Lu Huainan. He felt dazed, as if he had seen such a scene somewhere before. For a moment, he didn't know whether it was the original owner's memory or the original memory that were intertwined. He was a little dazed.
Lu Huainan picked a branch that had few signs on it and was tall. He took advantage of his height to hang the sign up, lowered his eyes to look at Shen Muyun who was lost in thought, and got down the ladder.
She reached out and gently patted his shoulder, "Brother Yun, what are you thinking about? Why are you so engrossed?"
Shen Muyun immediately came back to his senses, “Well, it’s nothing, let’s go into the village and take a look.”
"Oh, you really didn't think of anything?"
Shen Muyun shook his head and looked back at the tree, “Well, nothing.”
The two entered the village side by side. There were not many people in the village, and there were only a few crisscrossing gravel roads. Lu Huainan had prepared a plan in advance. With a detailed map of the village in his hand, he found the homestay they had booked.
The moment he entered the door, Shen Muyun felt something was wrong. The layout here seemed a bit ambiguous.
The receptionist had a cheerful look on her face as she looked at the two men coming in. She was slightly surprised before returning to normal.
"Welcome to stay, do you have a reservation?"
Lu Huainan took out the reservation form and said, "I booked this one. I remember this was the only room left."
Lu Huainan blinked at the receptionist, who immediately understood, "Yes, it's the peak tourist season recently, and we're the only B&B in Baitou Village, and it's a wedding-themed one."
Shen Muyun was originally sitting aside waiting, and the water he had just drunk suddenly spurted out, "cough cough cough..."
Lu Huainan immediately walked to Shen Muyun's side, patted his back, and asked in a low voice, "Brother Yun, are you okay? Your injuries are still not fully healed. If I had known earlier, I would have come to inspect alone."
"Well, it's okay."
"I searched for a long time before I finally saw this place. It's peak season, so we can only stay together. It's a double room, which is enough for the two of us."
Shen Muyun's face instantly turned red. Although he accepted this arrangement, he felt it was weird.
"Well, um, there's nothing I can do about it. This is a business trip, a business trip."
Lu Huainan squinted his eyes, smiled, took the room card from the front desk, and waved it towards Shen Muyun, "Brother Yun, let's go."
Shen Muyun followed behind Lu Huainan and looked around. It was really a wedding theme. There were even wedding characters on the doors, and some doors had lanterns. Shen Muyun blushed and just wanted to get into the room quickly.
Lu Huainan saw clearly that he had booked this place on purpose. As for the B&Bs around, there were certainly more than one, and the peak season was not now.
The room opened with a "beep".
Shen Muyun's face turned redder when he saw what was inside. What was that? The beds were all heart-shaped. Forget it, forget it. I just came here to inspect. It's nothing, nothing, it's really nothing, he kept comforting himself.
Lu Huainan scratched his head, turned around and smiled at Chen Muyun, "Um, Brother Yun, I don't know the situation here either. This is my first time here. I didn't expect..."
"Well, it's okay, it's okay..."
Shen Muyun placed the luggage directly at the entrance and smiled at Lu Huainan, "Huainan, aren't we going out for an inspection? It's only a little after six o'clock now, shall we go out and take a look?"
Lu Huainan nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. This place is actually quite suitable for tourism development."
The strange feeling disappeared after the two of them left the B&B. Shen Muyun breathed a sigh of relief, thinking of the scorching gaze at the front desk just now, and he felt like he had goose bumps all over his body.
Lu Huainan walked in front, turned around and looked at Shen Muyun, his mind was calculating loudly.
When I entered the village, I only saw the unknown tree at the entrance. I had a lot of luggage with me and didn’t look carefully at the surrounding scenery.
"Huainan, when we entered the village just now, there was a river over there. It looked like there was a lot of water. Maybe we could do some water activities there."
"Yeah, I just saw it, but how should I put it? Maybe the conditions there aren't up to par. Rafting and the like require a drop. The riverbank is a bit flat, but there's plenty of water. You could consider bamboo rafts or something. Yeah, we can discuss that. This village is generally low-lying, and it's at the foot of the mountain. I'm worried about the rainy season, mudslides, flash floods, and heavy rains. These are all uncertainties."
Shen Muyun took the tablet and wrote down the concerns that Lu Huainan had expressed one by one.
Walk a little further, along the small gravel road, pass through several houses, and you will see an ancient well. Moss has grown on the stone slabs, and it looks like it has not been used for some years.
Shen Muyun approached Lu Huainan and said in a low voice, "Every grievance has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor, I am here to lock your soul!"
Lu Huainan was so happy that he turned around and covered his mouth. "What's your grievance? I can handle it for you. Don't come to me. I have someone I like."
Shen Muyun listened to Lu Huainan's words, and his heart sank suddenly. It was as if a stone was pressing on him. It was a strange feeling, but it seemed that something was wrong.
Lu Huainan tilted his head and whispered eerily in Shen Muyun's ear, "Brother Yun, look, there seems to be a human handprint by the well. Do you think a Sadako will appear, with disheveled hair, crawling out directly, and then with black nails on her shoulders..."
Lu Huainan slapped Shen Muyun's shoulder suddenly. Shen Muyun's hair stood on end instantly, his eyes widened, and he wanted to shout something but his throat seemed to be blocked.
Seeing Shen Muyun's frightened look, Lu Huainan quickly helped him calm down, "Brother Yun, Brother Yun, are you okay? I was just teasing you."
Shen Muyun punched Lu Huainan in the chest. "How could you joke like that? You scared me to death. I really thought something would come out of the well."
Their words attracted the elder nearby to come over.
"Hey, old man, we meet again." Lu Huainan put his arm on Shen Muyun's shoulder.
Shen Muyun felt somewhat uncomfortable. Has their relationship really gotten to this point?
"This well actually has a story to tell."
Shen Muyun liked to listen to those old stories, and looked at Lu Huainan with twinkling eyes.
Seeing that Shen Muyun liked it, Lu Huainan asked directly, "Um, old man, can you tell us about it?"
"sure."
The elder walked to the well and touched the edge of the well. "Actually, I also heard it from my elders. It's the story of the actor and the general."
"That's a story that happened about three or four hundred years ago. There was a famous female role in this village. She went to the teahouses in the city to sing for the wealthy families. This child was pitiful. She was an orphan since childhood, but she was born with a good voice. She found a master, but the master passed away early. Fortunately, he learned almost everything."
Shen Muyun was so engrossed in listening that there seemed to be some rain in the sky. Lu Huainan took off his coat and wrapped it around Shen Muyun.
"Back then, this place was still a frontier, and the imperial court had sent troops to garrison here. The general loved listening to music, and he would always go to the teahouse to listen. He would often reward the child, and the two of them gradually became familiar with each other. It was like a patron-client relationship, but it wasn't quite that. As time went by, more and more people started gossiping about him. Back then, it was nothing like it is now. That was a serious taboo, and the person would be thrown into a pig cage."
Shen Muyun nodded, looked at the clothes on his shoulders, and smiled at Lu Huainan.
"The villagers took advantage of the general's absence and captured the child. He drowned in the well you see here. When the general returned, the villagers said the child slipped and fell in. Since then, the general has been guarding the well day and night, saying he's stationed there. He even built a small house. You see, it's behind you."
Chen Muyun and Lu Huainan looked back. The thatched cottage looked modern. Could this story just be a story?
"But there's no such thing as an impenetrable wall. When the general learned that the child's death was closely related to the villagers, his hair turned white overnight. He was a general, and he couldn't harm the people, nor could he watch the person he loved die like this. He couldn't accept it, so he volunteered to go fight there. Not long after, he received news that he had died on the battlefield..."
Shen Muyun pursed his lips. It turned out that all the stories he heard were tragedies, which was also amazing.
Seeing that Shen Muyun's face looked strange, Lu Huainan whispered, "It's just a story, Brother Yun, we can still go somewhere else for a stroll."
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