C110 (1/2)
That night, after Master saw that we had all lied down, he jumped off the wall. The Senior Brothers and Sisters all slept soundly, and only I was able to hear him.
I quietly followed him, but I didn't dare to follow him too closely. I was worried that Master would notice me, so I followed him from afar. The fox blood spurted out, and I fell to the ground on all fours, quietly following him.
He took out some paper money from the bag in his hand and quietly burned it, one by one. I couldn't see his expression behind him, I only felt that his back was a little lonely and desolate, who the hell was this paper money for?
”Shuhua, take it and spend it, don't think about saving it. Right now, senior brother is doing this business. We have plenty of money.” His Master's tone was sorrowful, as if she was mourning for an old friend. Listening to this name, it was a woman's name. If her Master said he was her senior brother, then the person her master was mourning for was her junior sister.
After eavesdropping for a while, I felt bored, so I prepared to slip away. Just as I was about to leave, I saw Master standing up and taking out a long piece of yellow paper from his pocket, it was about the height of a person and had been cut into the shape of an adult by his master. With his graceful figure and full face, I focused my eyes and saw that he was a beautiful woman.
His Master carefully put the paper man away, then took out a small bottle. She unscrewed the bottle and poured the liquid on the paper man. The paper man slowly stood up.
When the paper man stood up, I heard a faint laugh. It was a woman's laughter, and it was from the paper man. The paper man turned around and actually turned into a woman.
His Master seemed to be very dispirited as she said to the paper man, ”Shuhua, after all these years, you are still the same as ever.” That woman was wearing red and grey pants, and her hair was combed meticulously. Her hairstyle was the same as it had been many years ago, and her facial features were exactly the same as the paper man's. She was a rare beauty, and her eyes were clear as she looked at Master with a smile, ”Senior Brother, long time no see.”
His tone was as though he was meeting an old friend. I was surprised that Master had the ability to turn paper men into living people, but thinking about this, my fingers were already itching. Tomorrow, I must get Master to teach me this skill.
His Master said, ”Sit down and talk.” The woman sat down, and the two of them looked at each other. They didn't speak for a long time, but the love in their eyes was so deep that I couldn't shake it off. I could feel the love between the two of them from a long distance. What relationship did these two have? No, that can't be right, this woman is clearly a paper man, she definitely doesn't have any life. Could it be that this was just a trick by Master? However, who was his Master playing tricks in the wilderness at this time of night?
After a while, the woman leaned her head on her master's shoulder and nestled against him. My master's body shuddered, as if she wasn't used to being so intimate with me, I was greatly shocked. No wonder Master said that I was chased away by Qian Zhen.
The master told her everything that had happened in the past few years, but the woman just agreed and didn't say anything about me. I was very curious, could it be that this paper man also knew that I was a paper man?
After a while, the two of them finished their conversation and the master stood up. The woman also stood up, and they held hands as if to part, the atmosphere was a little sad, I felt it too, Master comforted her, advised her not to be sad, there was definitely still a chance to meet again. The woman was sad for a while, wiping her eyes, smiling at her master, but I couldn't see the tears in her eyes, so it's no wonder, they were made of paper, how could there be tears.
The woman's legs suddenly went soft and she fell to the ground. She turned back into a piece of paper. Master picked up the yellow paper and I left before Master could even turn around.
When he returned to the store, he quickly lied down and pretended to be asleep. However, all he could think about was his master's strange actions, what exactly was that paper man? Could it be that his master was lonely in his later years and had used forbidden techniques to turn the paper man into a real person to ease his loneliness? This was too much of an exaggeration. Not long after, hearing the sound of his Master entering the room, his Master poured a cup of water for him to drink before entering the room to sleep.
When we ate, we complained that the steamed buns today were not tasty, but the congee was pretty good. After drinking a few mouthfuls of congee, Master said, ”Sigh, the current standard of living is up, but the taste of the food has gone down, let's just talk about this millet. The millet congee we ate at that time was called fragrant, you know, when the rice porridge was served, it was very fragrant and we drank it in two gulps, not even a little bit of the taste of the food now is good for us, but it was good for us to eat until we were full.” He pretended to sigh.