I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

Song Mo sat in the living room with a large, bright yellow pomelo in front of him.

The tree stump huddled on the carpet, its roots obediently coiled, its two thickest branches draped over its front, like a well-behaved student being invited into an office for a talk.

Its body trembled, and a small pile of fallen leaves accumulated at its feet.

Ah Yan has already let it go.

"I am not a bad tree."

The tree stump repeated itself, the sound coming from beneath the bark, muffled and deep:

"I am... a good pomelo tree. I saw you in that crowded place."

Song Mo remembered that when she took Ayan and Azhu to get player certificates, there was a tree stump arguing with the staff.

—That tree stump that insists its exact address is "next to the third big rock in Lover's Lake".

"The tree didn't do it on purpose."

The tree stump sighed in grievance:

"We trees aren't people. We can't just dig a hole anywhere with water and call it home. They insist my address is invalid... When I heard you say you wanted to buy a big yard, I thought..."

"You think you can just sneak in and get away with it?"

At the end of the Song Dynasty, it was somewhat amusing.

The Xie Zhi later replied to her that the night the curse master was running down the mountain, a tree root got caught in the car wheel, which caused the accident.

That was no coincidence.

Instead, it was the tree stump that was helping out from the shadows.

It just seems unaware of what happened next.

From the tree's perspective, it's a group of people running up the mountain, and then running down the mountain like madmen.

……

……

"I didn't do it on purpose, I can pay the rent!"

The tree stump waved its hand, and a few leaves on top rustled: "Could you please not chase me away?"

Its tone was extremely pitiful, and Song Mo rubbed his temples:

"If you want to stay here, you need to explain your background first. I can't just let a stranger... a strange tree into my house."

Upon hearing that Song Mo wasn't going to send it away, the tree stump perked up immediately, shifting forward and scraping its roots against the paving stones.

"I didn't originally live by the lake. In the beginning, I was just a seedling, growing in front of someone's house..."

So for the next ten minutes, Song Mo was forced to listen to the pomelo tree's "path of origin":

The tree stump itself was a pomelo tree. The owner neither treated it well nor badly, but it bore pomelos every year. The fruits were large and round, with thin skin and lots of juice.

Every autumn, that family would bring a ladder to pick the pomelos and take the best ones to the street to sell.

The tree doesn't feel tired at all.

It's only natural for a tree to bear pomelos.

After an unknown amount of time, and as generations of people lived in that courtyard, the pomelo tree suddenly came to life.

It began to see people, understand what they said, and even dream at night.

The pomelo tree was naturally delighted and wanted to share its joy with the family.

Then, in the middle of the night, this guy took a tree branch and knocked on the owner's window, calling the owner's name.

The next day, the terrified owner immediately brought a saw and cut the pomelo tree in half, leaving only stumps.

The pomelo tree was in pain and scared, but it dared not move or speak again.

Later, when that family wanted to build a new house, they discussed in the middle of the night that they should also dig up the tree roots.

The tree stump was scared, so it took advantage of the darkness to pull itself out of the soil and run away.

The rest of the story is known to the Song dynasty.

……

……

"It ran away?" Ah Yan became interested upon hearing this, and floated over to the tree stump to examine it closely.

"You're a tree, how can you run on your own? Are tree spirits like you, able to grow legs and run?"

They ran away.

The tree stump nodded earnestly:

"I walked on roots. At first, I hopped around and could only walk a short distance, but it got much better later."

I'm afraid of being discovered, so I don't grow leaves or bear fruit; I just find a secluded place and plant myself there.

Sometimes I go out for some fresh air in cemeteries, sometimes on barren mountains, until it's safe and no one's around.

Even though I was so careful, people from the Special Investigation Bureau still came to my door with strange little boxes and told me that "non-human players" must register and cannot become monsters without a license...

The tree stump spoke incoherently, and the more he talked, the more grief-stricken and indignant the expression on his bark became.

Song Mo understood.

She twirled the pomelo in her hand and listened quietly to the tree stump's complaints—the tree stump wasn't lying, the pomelo was indeed growing quite well.

The peel is yellowish-brown, and when you hold it in your hand, you can smell a faint aroma of lemon candy, somewhat like the scent of bergamot.

At this point, Song Mo had not yet realized that something was wrong.

She casually peeled off a petal and put it in her mouth, but her expression froze the next second.

It has a sour taste.

The familiar taste seemed to briefly return to her taste buds; she could taste a slight sourness from her teeth to her throat.

She ate another piece in disbelief and found that the flavor was slowly fading, as if she were sucking juice through a plastic film.

Although the flavor is very mild, it does have some taste.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he couldn't resist chewing on pomelo peel. The fluffy peel felt like rubber when chewed, but it also had a flavor.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's not how you eat a pomelo!"

The tree stump was dumbfounded, and then, with a series of "plop plop" sounds, it frantically produced another pomelo and quickly handed it to Song Mo:

"I want to eat the meat inside!"

Seeing Song Mo's expression, Ayan assumed there was something wrong with the pomelo, so she immediately snatched it from her and stuffed it into her mouth. The next second, the ghost's entire face scrunched up—

Blood and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, her entire ghost trembled with pain, and her hair shook and turned into wavy curls.

"So sour, so sour, so sour—!"

Ah Yan squatted on the ground with her tongue sticking out, but the next second, as if she had just realized something, she looked at Song Mo with ecstatic joy:

"My lord, you... you can taste it..."

"It's very sour." Song Mo nodded and continued stuffing pomelo into her mouth. "Although the taste gradually fades, it's definitely there."

Since her resurrection, she hasn't tasted anything "flavorful" in food for a long time.

She had thought it would take months, or even years, for her to rediscover the taste.

Who knew that life would suddenly give her a huge surprise.

Ayan stood up abruptly, grabbed a few more slices of pomelo, and fed them to her mouth one by one.

He tried them all one by one at the end of the Song Dynasty.

Both pomelos were sour and astringent, the kind of fruit she would never eat again after just one bite in her past life.

But now, she was very serious, as if savoring a delicacy, and carefully finished eating the pomelo.

Ah Yan, overjoyed and shedding tears of blood, rushed to the kitchen and pulled out all the sauces, sugars, vinegars, and Sichuan peppercorns, handing them out to Song Mo one by one.

Song Mo ate a little of everything, and seeing A Yan's expectant and excited expression, he shook his head regretfully.

It has no taste.

Only the fruit from this mysteriously unknown tree stump has a sour taste.

Ah Yan's eyes dimmed for a second, then she quickly darted to the tree stump, tears of blood dripping down her face.

"You! Now! Right now! Bear fruit for me! Lots of fruit! Sweet fruit! If they're not sweet, hang them up and pluck out your leaves!!"

Ah Yan was extremely fierce, and the tree stump was terrified.

A few branches trembled violently, and fruits fell down with a "plop plop plop" sound, almost like hail.

Green, yellow, and half-green pomelos were scattered all over the ground.

"Don't scare it; the taste of this fruit is probably related to its mood."

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he quickly stopped A-Yan—perhaps in the tree's perception, fear was the taste of sourness.

The latter then reluctantly stopped.

"or……"

Seeing that Song Mo wasn't angry, the tree stump boldly said:

"Just let me stay. I can bear fruit every day, and I'll give you a hundred, no, two hundred fruits every month!"

When I'm in a good mood, the pomelos that grow will be incredibly sweet, much sweeter than the ones I have now.

I don't need wages or food. I can even watch the gate for you, and I can catch mice for you. I already noticed there were a lot of mice in your yard..."

As it spoke, it emphasized the words "catch mice" a little more.

"Those rats are mine. I will tell them not to harm your root system."

In the end, Song decided to leave the tree stump.

"You can stay here, and you don't need to bear so much fruit, one a day is enough."

If you see strangers coming up the mountain, tell Ayan. If the fruit doesn't grow, don't force it. I'll have Ayan introduce you to another non-human player later. Can you read?