Chapter 8 - Misunderstanding (1/2)

”Yes, I am... er... I'm sorry if I scared you that time, I didn't want to.” Hei said in an apologetic tone.

While he was apologizing to Lei Lei for the scare of the other time, she smiled and gently replied in a calm voice, ”You don't have to worry. You didn't scare me, don't worry. Instead, I tried to look for you soon after you disappeared because the forest is a dangerous place, but where did you go?”

This question had tormented her for the whole year. Lei Lei, after all, couldn't imagine how a child of that age could wander alone towards the interior of the forest from which even his father with the other adults of the village prefers staying away.

Since they had expected such a question, Hei responded by following the script invented by his mother, ”Uhmm... actually, a little after meeting you, I was called by my mother, and then we left immediately. We were passing through, and we had to go in a hurry. That's why you didn't see me; I'm sorry I made you search in vain.”

Hearing this, Lei Lei smiled cheerfully heartened. In the end, she managed to reveal the mystery that enveloped Hei, that strange child dressed in silver who had disappeared into the forest.

'Fortunately, he had his mother. Dad was right. Such a small child couldn't have wandered alone through the forest.'

”Don't worry; it's all right. Rather than that, why are you here? Are you passing through with your mother again?”

”Ehmm... yes. We finished the things we had to do, and mother said we could stay here for a while to rest, and she permitted me to visit the village. Actually, this is the first time I visit a village. I wondered, could you guide me?”

A truth not fully revealed. This was the most effective way to ask for something when, at the same time, you wanted to keep some things hidden.

Although it was not easy to identify the truth from what was false, there were still people able to understand by various methods whether what one person said was true or not, not to mention those who could do it innately without the need for tricks or particular techniques.

Therefore, Hei, by telling the truth, even if not totally, would have been credible in front of anyone's eyes. Besides, who would have ever imagined that the mother he was talking about was not a human being but a spirit beast? No one would have ever thought of such a thing, considering there was no evidence that such a thing had happened in the past.

Upon hearing this, Lei Lei was impressed. She didn't expect that Hei had never visited a village, but then, she thought that perhaps he had always been in the city and therefore it was reasonable that he didn't know how a village was structured. The fact that it was the first time Hei was visiting a human settlement didn't even come into her mind.

”Sure, why not?. Don't worry; your big sister will take you for a complete tour of the village. If you want, you can stay with us for lunch with your mother, what do you say?”

”Uhmm... mother doesn't like being around other people very much. At first, she didn't want me to come here, but I insisted, so she permitted in the end.”

Hearing that, Lei Lei understood why the child had a slightly nervous expression while talking to her. It was probably due to the absence of his mother, who hadn't wanted to accompany him. So, bending her knees a little to lower herself to the same height as Hei, she extended a hand towards his head to cheer him up.

But, just as she was about to stroke Hei's head, she noticed eight small purple lights shining toward her. At that point, she was able to focus on what those eight lights were, and she discovered that on Hei's head, there was a palm-sized spider that looked at her curiously.

Finding out that it was a spider, she instinctively blocked her hand as she screamed in fright, and she fell on the ground.

Because of that sudden scream, Xing was seized by fright and made a small gasp as she hid back inside the silk hat. Hei instead, noticing the fear that Xing had, put himself on all fours on the ground while he ferociously looked at the girl who had frightened his sister.

Ye also came out of the scarf, and she hissed ferociously at Lei Lei. Seeing that there was also a snake, the young girl was even more afraid. This was because, despite having grown up in a village and having some familiarity with animals, the spider and the snake emerged suddenly from the strange child, represented feared and repulsed species by the majority of people.

Hearing her daughter's scream, Lei Lei's father, who was at home while having breakfast, came out the back door with a long butcher knife, and with a worried voice, he screamed, ”Lei, where are you? Are you okay?”

It was a middle-aged man who already began to show some wrinkles. His graying hair and his massive build gave a ferocious sensation to the man but at the same time, melancholy. The brown eyes of the man moved quickly in search of his daughter, who he found shortly after sitting on the ground. In front of her, there was a child dressed in silver with a small snake coiled on his neck.

Seeing the snake, Lei Bai knew instantly why his daughter had screamed. Then he said authoritatively to the child on all fours on the ground, ”Don't move for any reason, child. You have a snake attached to your neck, I don't know if it's poisonous or not, but for your safety, don't move.”

Then he approached cautiously towards Hei holding the long knife tightly in his right hand. He intended to get as close as possible so as not to alert the snake and then cut off its head with a sharp blow.

Sensing the man's intentions towards his sister Ye, Hei turned to stare fiercely at him. His gaze became thinner as he revealed a row of white teeth and hissed like a snake. His legs were ready to snap at any time, while his left hand went behind his back to grab the wooden spear fixed there.

Seeing the child do such actions and show him an angry and ferocious look, Lei Bai was stunned. He didn't expect a child of this age to give such pressure only with his eyes; rather than a child, he seemed to be facing a beast ready to jump on him at the slightest signal. He also could see that the snake didn't seem to want to hurt the child, but it had also turned to look at him with ferocity.