Calabash Fairy

On a mountaintop not far from White Tiger Cave, a hunched figure dressed in golden robes and deep green stood quietly.

"Heh~ It seems the little tiger realized something was wrong and has already left."

"In this way, I've gained the benefits and repaid the favor. Good riddance, good riddance!"

As he spoke, the figure shook his head and chuckled as he left the area.

............................

Three months later, a brand-new cluster of houses had been built on the east side of Xiahe Village, surrounding Qingfeng Mountain.

The villagers of Hongmu Village have finished their autumn harvest as quickly as possible and have all arrived. They are now tidying up their homes and continuously improving and expanding them.

It was evening.

In the mountains not far from Hongmu Village, several burial mounds stand quietly.

In front of the grave mound, the stone tombstones are engraved with their names from their lifetimes. These people were the ones who were killed by the wolf demon on their way from Redwood Village.

Some were recovered with only fragmented bones and pieces of clothing, while others were left with nothing but their personal belongings, to be buried here...

At that moment, Xu Hu was standing silently in front of the grave until a familiar voice came from behind him.

"You are here indeed."

"The old village chief?"

The thin, hunched old man chuckled, shook his head, and stroked his beard, saying:

"Hehe~ You can't call me village chief anymore. The current village chief of Redwood Village is you, Xu Hu."

Xu Hu turned around, looked at the village chief's increasingly aged face, and said with a gentle yet helpless expression:

"Haven't you been feeling a bit unwell lately? Why aren't you resting properly? Why did you come all this way?"

The old man chuckled and stepped forward, standing beside Xu Hu, and said with a light laugh:

"I'm just here to see our new village chief, and also to pick a good place for myself. I think this is pretty good~"

Upon hearing this, Xu Hu lowered his head in silence.

Among the village chiefs of the six villages, the old village chief of Hongmu Village is the oldest, at eighty-seven years old this year, which is undoubtedly a long life in the mountains.

However, the old village chief's health has been deteriorating day by day lately...

The old village chief stepped past Xu Hu, walked a few paces forward, and stood on the hillside. Looking at the setting sun and the fiery red clouds on the horizon, a mixture of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both感慨 and lairs of relief) and 让聚 (ràngjù, a sense of peace and acceptance) flickered in his cloudy old eyes…

"I've witnessed too much life and death in my life, said goodbye to loved ones, said goodbye to friends, until I was all alone. Now, it's finally my turn..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Hu was startled. A sense of unease welled up in his heart, and he quickly looked up, only to find that the old village chief was nowhere to be seen!

"Village Chief! Grandpa Village Chief!!"

Xu Hu quickly stepped forward, calling out anxiously, and two old, gentle voices slowly reached his ears.

"Tiger, everyone in this world will eventually die, so there's no need to be sad about it."

"Having lived to this age, seen you grow up safely, and witnessed the village's safe relocation, I am already content and have no regrets..."

Xu Hu's unease grew stronger, and he anxiously looked around, trying to spot that familiar figure, until a call came from the distant hillside.

"Brother Xu Hu!!! The village chief has passed away at home! Please come back quickly!!"

At that moment, Xu Hu froze on the spot, his eyes vacant, his tall and strong body seemingly drained of all strength, until two warm tears streamed down his cheeks...

On Qingfeng Mountain, Fang Yan looked at the scene below and sighed softly. Then he looked at the old man beside him.

"Is that all?"

The old village chief looked at Xu Hu below, nodded gently, then turned around and bowed deeply to Fang Yan.

"I am already content to say goodbye to Tiger this time, and I dare not ask for anything more."

"I am deeply grateful for your immense kindness! I can never repay you in this life! I only wish to repay your kindness in the next life!"

Fang Yan shook his head slightly and turned to walk towards the mountain god temple.

"There's no need for that. After all, I've received your offerings for three months."

"Go in peace. Now that I have received offerings from Redwood Village, I will naturally protect the villagers."

The old village chief bowed and saw Fang Yan off from afar until Fang Yan's figure disappeared from sight...

Nighttime, at the village chief's house in Xiahe Village.

Yang Dongdong was hunched over the table, writing something absentmindedly, until Yang Sheng walked back from outside and slapped a book directly on his head.

"Snapped!"

"Ah! Father..."

Yang Sheng looked at his eldest son and said calmly:

"You look so distracted. Have you finished your work for today?"

"not yet..."

Yang Dongdong shook her head, still somewhat dazed.

Seeing this, Yang Sheng thought about what had happened that night and guessed why his eldest son was like this. He simply sat down opposite Yang Dongdong and snatched the notebook from his hand.

"Don't bother recording it today. Even if you do, you'll have to recalculate it tomorrow, which will only lead to more errors and make things more complicated."

"Tell me, what did you see?"

Yang Dongdong was taken aback when he heard this, and felt an increasing affection for his father as he looked at his increasingly aged face.

"Father, I've never seen Brother Xu like that before. He's such a strong and upright man, seemingly invincible... but today he's hiding in his room, crying so sadly..."

"Father, I want to help him, but I can only watch and do nothing..."

Upon hearing this, Yang Sheng silently gazed at the bright flame on the oil lamp on the table, and after a long while, he slowly spoke:

"Actually, your brother Xu was not only raised by Village Chief Hu, but also saved by him."

"what?"

Yang Sheng glanced at his son and continued:

"Xu Hu has been different from other kids since he was little. Not only is he strong, but he also eats a lot. Can you imagine that a six-year-old child eats the equivalent of two adults' meals three times a day?"

"In Redwood Village, food was already hard to come by, and his family was frightened by the child's appetite. Adding to that, someone had gossiped that the child was a born freak! A monster!"

"The news spread far and wide, and the Xu couple actually believed it and tried to drown their own son that very night! If it weren't for Village Chief Hu discovering it in time, taking Xu Hu away, and suppressing the rumors, things might have turned out differently..."

Yang Dongdong looked at Yang Sheng in shock, clearly having never heard of this before.

Which man in the village wouldn't envy Xu Hu's strength? And which girl wouldn't want to marry him? He's a strongman who can fight a bear!

But did this very Brother Xu have such an experience in his childhood...?

Yang Sheng shook his head slightly and sighed:

"In other words, people are foolish. Even if someone is incredibly lucky and becomes a genius, they are almost mistaken for a monster and killed by their own hands."

"Perhaps our ancestors saw many such things and wanted to move those books into the mountains so that we, their descendants, wouldn't really become ignorant mountain people."

"Reading can enlighten you..."

Yang Sheng said with emotion, stood up, and then took the book back to the house to continue writing for the Mountain God, leaving Yang Dongdong sitting on the stool in a daze.

The next morning, as soon as Yang Sheng opened the door, he saw Yang Dongdong standing at the door with dark circles under her eyes.

"Father, I want to open a school to teach all the children to read!"