The next morning, I was woken up by a squeaking sound beside me. Hearing that familiar sound, I was startled and my first thought was to check if my warehouse had been looted.
Yesterday I was so focused on protecting myself from tigers and leopards that I completely forgot about the monkeys that had left. When I opened the banana leaf covering my basket...
call……
I breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, the pork jerky inside hadn't been touched at all. Those monkeys were smart enough not to try and steal my supplies while I was asleep.
"Um?"
Suddenly I felt something wet behind me, like something was poking my back. I reached out and pulled it out, and found it was a fruit that looked like an apple, but much smaller. I didn't know what it was called.
When I got up, I found several such fruits beside me, and then I knew what was going on.
I've never seen this kind of fruit before, so I definitely didn't bring it here. That leaves only one possibility: maybe the monkeys brought it from somewhere else for me to eat.
Last night, I vaguely felt something fall from a tree, but I didn't pay much attention at the time. Now I think it was probably because the monkey threw fruit at me.
Soon, my idea was proven correct. A monkey hopped and skipped near my residence, though it was still somewhat afraid of my brightly colored leopard-skin pajamas.
The monkey was holding several identical fruits in its hand, with one in its mouth. Seeing that the monkey meant no harm, I immediately took off my leopard-skin pajamas and gestured to the monkey to indicate that I meant no harm and that it could rest assured.
Whether the monkey understood or not, it scratched its head with its paw, and then, as if making some kind of decision, cautiously approached my residence.
Just as it was about to reach my hammock, I don't know if it was the smell of the leopard skin or something else, it became very nervous. Its monkey-like face kept changing expressions, from fear to excitement to happiness.
When it faced me, it lowered its body even further, displaying its softest part—its belly—directly in front of me, and then patted its belly to show me.
I know that when an animal is willing to expose its most vulnerable belly, it means that it wants to show me goodwill by adopting a humble posture.
Faced with this interesting and intelligent creature, a smile appeared on my lips, and I patted my belly on the ground to show that I was just as friendly to them.
The monkey seemed delighted by this, squawking and then hopping around on the branches. Perhaps this is the simplicity of animals; their joy and sorrow are written all over their faces, unlike humans who hide them.
After jumping around for a while, the amusing monkey cautiously approached me again. At the same time, it lay on the tree trunk, its body forming a low-angled acute triangle, with its long arms outstretched.
At that moment, it was holding a fruit in its hand. I could tell it was trying to befriend me with the fruit. It really was a monkey that understood human relationships.
However, its comical appearance is more like that of a child who wants to play with firecrackers but is afraid of them exploding. It can only squat down, cover its ears, and stretch its hand far out to light the firecrackers placed on the ground with a lighter.
I was amused by this clever monkey, and I laughed as I patted my belly to show it, indicating that it shouldn't be too scared.
The monkey shakily offered me the fruit, and I tried my best to be gentle as I accepted the monkey's kindness.
People used to go to Mount Emei to feed the monkeys, but I never imagined I'd be lucky enough to be fed by them today. Thinking about it, I felt a bit amused and exasperated; it seemed like I'd switched places with a monkey from Mount Emei.
I took the fruit, took a bite, smiled, and nodded at the monkey to show that I was very satisfied with its gift.
Seeing that I had accepted its kindness, the monkey happily did several somersaults. Only then did I notice a scabbed-over wound on the monkey's rear end—it was the same one I had injured with the wooden spear.
I was taken aback. I didn't expect this monkey to be so magnanimous, not only not holding a grudge. But I soon found out what was going on.
The monkey with the injured bottom stood on a branch and yelled a few times. Then, all the monkeys, big and small, gathered around me, their squeaking and chattering filling the air.
That's when I realized that the monkey I had stabbed was the king of this group of monkeys. At that moment, the cunning monkey grinned and pointed at me, then at the leopard skin on the tree bed.
Then it pointed to itself, and then jumped onto the branch and pointed to all the monkeys that had gathered there.
At first I didn’t understand what it meant, but then I realized that it was coming to me as the Monkey King to discuss something, and I immediately understood.
This kid saw that I killed the leopard and assumed I must be stronger than it. They saw that although I looked similar to them, they weren't sure if I meant them any harm.
That clever monkey king came up with this compromise of sending fruit to test my intentions and see if I meant no harm and was willing to befriend them.
The Monkey King then summoned all his descendants to introduce me, as if to say, "Today you are our big brother, and these are your little brothers. You'll have to look after us if anything happens in the future."
Monkeys don't have the concept of "everyone," so they called all the members over and pointed to them. They specifically and repeatedly pointed to the leopard skin, making their meaning quite clear.
They were afraid of that thing and wanted to seek my protection.
I smiled and nodded at the Monkey King, then symbolically took a small piece of wild boar jerky from my basket and handed it to him as a gesture of goodwill.
The Monkey King was delighted to see this, and carefully took the jerky from my hand and put it in his mouth to eat. His squeaking laughter showed that he was also very satisfied.
And so, we two primates, who do not speak the same language, formed an alliance in this incredible way.
And I inexplicably became the leader of a group of monkeys, and also gained my first batch of friendly neighbors since arriving in this place.
However, I am still very fortunate to have met these clever and kind monkeys when I was down and out and lonely.
Subsequent events have proven that my alliance with these monkeys today is not a joke, but rather the right choice.
These monkeys did more than just keep me company; they helped me a lot on many occasions, but that's a story for another time.
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