After nightfall, the outside world was plunged into pitch darkness. The candlelight in the room flickered, as if it would go out at any moment. Lu Qingjiu huddled under the covers because of the cold, but she could still hear the seemingly endless rustling of snow falling to the ground.
Having slept for too long in the afternoon, Lu Qingjiu was now much more awake. He sat on the kang, holding a book in his hands, reading the words on it in the dim light.
Xiaohua and Xiaohei were already asleep, and their even breathing sounds added a comforting atmosphere to the room.
Lu Qingjiu read until around eleven o'clock, and his eyes began to tire slightly. Although he still didn't want to sleep, he put down his book and decided to lie down on the bed to rest. With this thought in mind, Lu Qingjiu stood up, extinguished the candle, and then walked to the bed, intending to close the window a little more for sleep. But as he closed the window, Lu Qingjiu glanced outside and was stunned by the sight. He saw cracks in the sky, resembling aurora borealis. Compared to daytime, these cracks were striking in the night sky, impossible to ignore. From within the cracks, mist, resembling mountain mist, emerged, spreading continuously into the surrounding sky. What surprised Lu Qingjiu the most was a beam of light projected from the cracks, illuminating the nearby forest as if it were daytime.
On the path outside the forest, a group of people with indifferent expressions were slowly moving from Shuifu Village towards the light. Because they were too far away, Lu Qingjiu could not see the appearance of those people, but judging from their clothes, these people were most likely villagers from Shuifu Village.
Lu Qingjiu watched as those people gradually moved away from the village and headed towards the beam of light. They were like moths to a flame, and even the howling wind and snow could not stop them. Step by step, they were getting further and further away from their home.
"Why are they coming out!" Xiaohua's surprised voice came from behind. Lu Qingjiu turned his head and found that Xiaohua had woken up at some point. He stood by the bed and saw the scene outside the house, and saw those humans moving towards the light column.
"I don't know." Lu Qingjiu shook his head.
"Yeah, it's snowing suddenly. What are the villagers of Shuifu Village going to do?" Xiaohua jumped onto the table in front of the window. His eyesight was much better than Lu Qingjiu's, who was almost human. He could see the people clearly and asked, "Where are they going?"
Lu Qingjiu said, "Perhaps something is calling them." Last winter, Shuifu Village had actually shown signs of something unusual. Throughout the entire winter, Lu Qingjiu had barely seen any of his usual neighbors. While it could have been the cold weather that kept people from going out, seeing no one for the entire winter was a bit too much. Lu Qingjiu had suspected something back then, and now, all of those suspicions had been confirmed.
"Why do I think I saw Li Xiaoyu?" Xiaohua said with eyes wide open, incredulous, "Why did he go out too..."
Lu Qingjiu said, "I now suspect that we are the only family left alive in the entire Shuifu Village."
Xiaohua showed a sad expression. Lu Qingjiu thought he was sad that he had lost a true friend, but who knew his next sentence would be: "Then I taught Li Xiaoyu math for so long in vain."
Lu Qingjiu: “…”
Xiaohua: "He even lied to me that he improved on his exams."
Lu Qingjiu: “…”
Xiaohua: "Woo woo woo, humans are all big liars."
Lu Qingjiu didn't know what to say for a moment. Thinking of the scene of Xiaohua tutoring Li Xiaoyu by candlelight every night, she actually understood Xiaohua's sad mood.
Li Xiaoyu was among the crowd, heading towards the beam of light. Like soulless zombies, the villagers of Shuifu Village slowly walked towards their destination, one after another. When they reached the beam of light, their figures gradually dissipated, merging into the wind and snow.
Lu Qingjiu reached out and held Xiaohua in his arms. The man and the pig sat by the bed and watched quietly.
"I don't quite understand what happened." Xiaohua whined, "I'm just a little Dangkang. My mother stuffed me into the human world, saying it's safer there."
Lu Qingjiu asked: "How did you get here?"
Xiaohua said, "There's always a way."
Lu Qingjiu said: "What if we hadn't saved you at that time..."
Xiao Hua said helplessly: "We have to wait until we grow up before we can eat it. When I grow up, I will be able to escape."
Lu Qingjiu hesitated to speak after hearing this, and finally did not tell Xiaohua a cruel truth - in the human world, there is a food called roast suckling pig.
The villagers seemed to have finally left. When the last person disappeared on the mountain path, Lu Qingjiu heard a loud noise. This noise came from the horizon and actually shattered the window glass. Lu Qingjiu and Xiaohua were not paying attention and were also half-dazed. If Lu Qingjiu had not been sitting, he would have fallen directly to the ground.
There was a buzzing in his ears, and Lu Qingjiu's vision was spinning. It took him a while to recover. When he recovered, five dazzling flames appeared on the horizon. No, those were not flames, they were five giant dragons covered in red scales. Behind them, a glaring hole appeared in the sky. The hole was an irregular shape, as if the sky had been torn apart.
Lu Qingjiu's head was still dizzy. He felt an itch in his nose and reached out to wipe it away. Only then did he realize that he was bleeding from his nose. However, Lu Qingjiu didn't have the energy to care about this at the moment. He tore off a piece of paper and blocked his nose, then continued to look up at the sky.
But to his regret, the five dragons had vanished. Only five fiery red streaks could be seen amidst the dark clouds. The snow continued to fall, and the night sky was dazzlingly bright.
Xiaohua also woke up from her coma and asked in confusion what had happened.
Lu Qingjiu said: "I saw five dragons..."
Xiaohua asked, "How many?"
Lu Qingjiu: “Five.”
Xiaohua was shocked, then shuddered, and whispered to Lu Qingjiu to explain that dragons in the other world are creatures at the top of the food chain and are also gods that control heaven and earth. Yinglong is yang, and Zhulong is yin. The combination of yin and yang gives birth to all things.
It can be said that only in the human world can he live in peace with the dragon clan. If he were in another world, he would probably have become food for the White Moon Fox long ago.
Xiaohua trembled and said, "How could five dragons enter the human world... This doesn't make sense."
Lu Qingjiu frowned. He knew it was unreasonable, but he had no idea what was about to happen and no way to solve it.
After that, no more strange sounds were heard. Aside from the gaping hole in the sky and the five fiery clouds, everything seemed like Lu Qingjiu's hallucination. He sat by the window for a while, making sure there was no movement outside. Then he found some tape and newspaper to cover the glass to prevent any drafts, and then he decided to curl up in the warmth of his bed.
But just as he walked to the bed, Lu Qingjiu suddenly remembered something and felt extremely uneasy. He sat on the edge of the bed for a while, but still felt uneasy, so he simply stood up and walked out of the room.
Seeing this, Xiaohua hurriedly asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'll go check at the door." Lu Qingjiu said.
"What are you doing at the door?" Xiaohua didn't understand. "It's so cold outside..."
Lu Qingjiu shook his head without explaining. He didn't really have a reason to go out at the moment. It was just that when he thought of a certain terrifying scene, his sixth sense drove him to walk towards the yard with determination. The snow in the yard was very thick, and it made a crunching sound when he stepped on it. Lu Qingjiu blew some warm air into his palms and then rubbed them vigorously. It was very quiet all around, with only the sound of falling snow. Lu Qingjiu stopped at the gate of the yard. He remembered Bai Yuehu's advice to him before leaving. Bai Yuehu told him not to leave the yard. In this case, he opened the door to see what was happening outside. It didn't count as leaving the yard.
Lu Qingjiu held his breath, gently pulled out the bolt, and pushed open the iron door of his home. With a slight creak, the iron door revealed a gap, and Lu Qingjiu saw what was happening outside.
The outside was not much different from the courtyard; it was still covered in snow, but the fiery red light emanating from the large hole in the sky illuminated everything. Lu Qingjiu saw the path in front of his house, the pickup truck parked across the path, and the tall cypress tree next to the pickup truck. Everything was normal, no different from the past.
Lu Qingjiu breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could even finish his breath, he became nervous again because he noticed something different in the snow near his corner. The snow there was higher than elsewhere, making it easy to miss at first glance, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that something seemed to be buried there.
Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment and didn't leave the yard directly. Instead, he turned around and took a bamboo pole used to build grape racks in the garden. He stretched it out from the door and poked it at the snow pile. After sweeping the snow off the top of the snow pile, the thing underneath was revealed. Lu Qingjiu took a closer look and almost gasped.
There was actually a person curled up in the snow. The person was wearing black clothes and his face could not be seen clearly, but Lu Qingjiu clearly remembered that Yin Xun had a down jacket like this.
"Fuck." Lu Qingjiu couldn't help but curse softly. He threw the bamboo pole away and planned to grit his teeth and go out to pick up the person lying in the snow.
Just now, when Lu Qingjiu saw those villagers walking up the mountain like ghosts, he wondered if something might have happened to Yin Xun's ancestral hall. He felt uneasy and thought it would be better to go out and take a look. He was shocked to find that Yin Xun was actually lying in the snow, and it seemed that he had been lying there for a long time.
Lu Qingjiu took a deep breath and took a step out of the yard. As soon as he took a step out, he understood why Bai Yuehu had told him not to leave the yard. It was so cold outside, so cold that he wondered if he would freeze instantly. Warm clothes were completely useless in the face of the freezing wind. The wind seemed to penetrate his body through the cracks between his bones, making Lu Qingjiu's teeth chatter with cold. With difficulty, he controlled his body and walked to the unconscious Yin Xun. He grabbed one of his hands and began to drag him back.
Yin Xun was completely frozen solid. He was dragged by Lu Qingjiu without even changing his posture, remaining curled up in the same place.
Lu Qingjiu walked with difficulty. All he could see was wind and snow. He couldn't even open his eyes. The heat in his body was rapidly dissipating. He walked through a distance of just a dozen steps, but it felt like he had gone through eighty-one difficulties.
"Huff...Huff..." Finally reaching the door, Lu Qingjiu used up all his strength and took Yin Xun through the gate of the yard.
The moment they entered the room, they both fell to the ground. Lu Qingjiu's face turned blue from the cold. It took him a while to recover, and he sat up and closed the door. After the door was closed, the temperature in the yard began to rise. Lu Qingjiu felt that he had finally come back to life. The originally chilly yard now became a warm home in his eyes.
"Yin Xun, Yin Xun." After recovering, Lu Qingjiu quickly went to look at Yin Xun.
This sight scared him half to death. He saw that Yin Xun had been completely frozen solid, his black eyes staring straight ahead, covered with a thin layer of frost. Lu Qingjiu touched his cheek to confirm that he was really frozen solid.
If this were a normal person, Lu Qingjiu would have probably started thinking about where to bury him, but Yin Xun had died once after all, so he shouldn't be that fragile. Lu Qingjiu thought about dragging him into the house to thaw him out.
So Lu Qingjiu took the stiff Yin Xun to the room with the charcoal fire, unbuttoned his down jacket, and let him lie down near the charcoal stove.
Xiaohua was frightened by the person Lu Qingjiu brought in. When she saw that it was Yin Xun, who was so frozen, she asked in horror, "Why is Yin Xun like this?"
Lu Qingjiu looked worried: "When I went out, I saw him collapsed outside. I don't know how long he has been frozen."
Xiaohua: "Then...can it still survive after it thaws?"
Lu Qingjiu poked Yin Xun's head, which was harder than a rock: "I don't know. Let's try to thaw it first. If it doesn't work, wait for Bai Yuehu to come back and see."
Xiaohua looked worried.
But at least Yin Xun was found and he was not left outside freezing. At least he could be rescued. Lu Qingjiu went out for a while and felt cold all over. He was afraid of catching a cold, so he quickly changed into dry clothes and huddled in bed.
"Just put Yin Xun there?" Xiaohua glanced at Yin Xun who was still like a statue.
"Just leave it there." Lu Qingjiu tucked half of his face into the quilt, his voice a little muffled, "It's too cold outside the yard. I fucking thought I was going to die outside."
Xiaohua patted Lu Qingjiu's head with her pig's hoof to comfort him.
As his body warmed up, he began to feel sleepy. Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to stay with Yin Xun, but it would be a long process for Yin Xun to thaw. He waited and waited, and then fell asleep in a daze.
The next morning, Lu Qingjiu woke up from her dream and dazedly saw Yin Xun still lying in the same position next to the charcoal fire. Her head shuddered and she immediately woke up: "Xiao Huaer, did you turn him over last night?"
Xiaohua was awakened by Lu Qingjiu and shook her head blankly.
Lu Qingjiu quickly got up and turned Yin Xun over. When he turned him over, he felt that half of Yin Xun's body had returned to normal, while the other half was still hard and cold. Lu Qingjiu called Yin Xun a few times, but Yin Xun didn't respond. Lu Qingjiu was a little worried and said, "Will this thawing work?"
Xiaohua had no idea if it would work, but she still had to offer words of comfort. "It's okay," she said. "I read a story about a fish that was kept at zero degrees Celsius and revived after ten years. Yin Xun's structure is even simpler than a fish's, so there's no problem."
Lu Qingjiu: "...Where did you read this story?"
Xiaohua: "Storytelling."
Lu Qingjiu: "..." Yin Xun, I'm afraid you're in great danger.
But after all, they were best friends. Lu Qingjiu didn't want to give up treatment and decided to eat a roasted sweet potato to calm down before continuing to thaw Yin Xun. The sweet potato was roasted warm, and it was still a little hot when he took a bite. Peeling the skin, the soft flesh inside was really warm in his mouth, and even the sadness of Yin Xun being frozen into a statue was reduced a little.
"It's so delicious." Xiaohua said with emotion, "I really want to drink a pot of warm mutton soup."
"I want to, too." Lu Qingjiu sniffed, feeling like he had a cold. The temperature outside the yard was too low. If he hadn't run fast, he would probably be the one to thaw out along with Yin Xun.
"Oh, it seems that Yin Xun is not going to get better. I'll help him eat this sweet potato." Xiaohua skillfully peeled the sweet potato slices with his hooves. His sister was still sleeping, the fox cub didn't like to eat vegetarian food, Yin Xun was still cold, and the remaining sweet potatoes were all for him and Lu Qingjiu.
Lu Qingjiu said: "Okay, I'll help him eat one too."
The two of them were happily peeling sweet potatoes, completely unaware of the statue as Yin Xun's eyes slipped open. Of course, if they had seen it, they would probably have just thought it was just water dripping from thawing...
After lunch, Lu Qingjiu unfortunately found that he had a cold. First his throat was itchy, then he sneezed and had a runny nose. He quickly went to find medicine and increased the dosage.
Yin Xun thawed for a day, and in the end, one-third of his body was still frozen. Xiaohua and Lu Qingjiu had completely given up watching over him. They teamed up with Xiaohei and the fox cub to get a pot of mutton, planning to have mutton soup.
Because of a cold, Lu Qingjiu directed Xiaohua and Xiaohei to get in touch with water. Although these two little pigs only had pig trotters, they were very flexible in doing things and were no less capable than Yin Xun.
Lu Qingjiu lamented that he hadn't discovered the two pigs' extraordinary talents earlier. Xiaohua puffed out her chest and spoke ill of him in front of Yin Xun: "My brain is not water."
Lu Qingjiu said tactfully: "It's not nice for you to say that, Yin Xun is still here."
Xiaohua: "He hasn't even thawed yet."
Lu Qingjiu said, "What if he can already hear the sound even though he hasn't thawed yet?"
Xiaohua said, "Then should we plug his ears first?"
Lu Qingjiu: “…” Yin Xun, you really shouldn’t have offended Xiaohua.
But joking aside, Lu Qingjiu and Xiaohua were so relieved because they had long since discovered that Yin Xun's thawed parts had regained the feel of human skin, completely different from those of a frozen person. Yin Xun's skin was very elastic, and if you pinched it a few times, bruises would appear. This was definitely not a reaction that a dead person would have. Lu Qingjiu pinched it a few more times to make sure he was seeing things.
Xiaohua said, "Isn't it a bad idea to pinch his face?"
Lu Qingjiu asked, "Then where do you want to pinch?"
Xiaohua said: "Of course it's the place with more flesh..." He looked at Yin Xun's butt.
Lu Qingjiu: “…”
Xiaohua said faintly, "Just like when he pinched me."
Lu Qingjiu finally decided not to get involved in the love-hate relationship between Xiaohua and Yin Xun, letting them play freely.
The three little pigs and Lu Qingjiu ate the hot mutton soup pot with great relish. Lu Qingjiu felt that her cold had gotten much better. The soup pot was prepared a lot more roughly than usual, after all, the two little pigs were not experienced, but it was very good for them after a few days of eating dry food, especially the mutton was of good quality. They quickly finished the meat, leaving a large pot of soup.
Just when he was about to finish the soup, Lu Qingjiu heard a soft whimpering sound coming from the bedside. He listened for a while before he was sure that he was not hallucinating. He hurried to the bedside and found that Yin Xun had thawed out at some point and was crying aggrievedly.
Lu Qingjiu quickly carried him to the bed and said, “Yin Xun, don’t cry, it’s okay.”
Yin Xun burst into tears, but his words were not so touching. He said: "Lu Qingjiu, you son of a bitch, you didn't even give me a piece of mutton."
Lu Qingjiu: “…”
Yin Xun: "I don't have a friend like you."
Lu Qingjiu: "..." He glanced at the bruises on Yin Xun's face, which looked like he had been beaten, turned around silently, scooped up a bowl of hot mutton soup, and handed it to Yin Xun.
Yin Xun was starving. Although he resented not having the mutton, at least he had some soup, which healed much of the pain in his heart. He gulped down three or four bowls of soup in one breath before finally recovering. He reached out and rubbed the frost off his eyelashes, mumbling, "I thought I was going to die."
Lu Qingjiu asked, "Why are you at my doorstep? Didn't I tell you not to go out?"
Yin Xun shook his head, a look of fatigue on his face, and explained to Lu Qingjiu what had happened. It turned out that after the snow began to fall, the candlelight in the ancestral hall became dimmer and dimmer, and no matter how hard they tried, they would not light up, and finally all went out. The undead spirits that were suppressed inside filed out, and Yin Xun was unable to stop them. He saw the undead spirits go out and head towards Lu Qingjiu's house, and fearing that these things would harm Lu Qingjiu, he ran towards this side. However, the temperature outside the yard was so low that Yin Xun, who was about to reach his destination, was frozen into an ice cube just a few steps away.
Fortunately, the undead did not come to Lu Qingjiu's house, but went directly up the mountain.
After listening to Yin Xun's description, Lu Qingjiu felt extremely complicated. He touched Yin Xun's still wet head and said, "I'm sorry."
Yin Xun said with emotion: "No, this is my own choice."
Lu Qingjiu felt a little embarrassed: "No, I mean I should have left two pieces of mutton for you."
Yin Xun: "..." It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as he did, he was filled with rage again, nearly overturning his bowl. Finally, with Lu Qingjiu's promise to make another pot of mutton soup tomorrow, he reluctantly calmed down. But his anger didn't last long, because when he went to the bathroom to change clothes, he saw bruises on his face.
"Fuck, Lu Qingjiu, are you human? Couldn't you be a little gentler when you hit me?!" Yin Xun's angry roar came from the toilet, "I feel like I got beaten up by someone!"
Lu Qingjiu knew he was in the wrong, so he pretended not to hear. He looked at his nose and his heart, then closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
The author has something to say:
Lu Qingjiu: If this were in summer
Yin Xun: Then I won’t be frozen into a popsicle?
Lu Qingjiu: I can use Yin Xun to make iced yellow peaches...
Yin Xun: ???
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