bookbashuk Chapter 474 The Matter of Reincarnation
Chapter 474 The Matter of Reincarnation
Feng Lie burst out laughing: "Little Lu, are you checking my household registration?"
Little Deer turned around and glared at him: "I didn't ask you!"
Feng Lie shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.
Just like when he was still in modern times, he usually wouldn't dare to respond if Feng Xiaolu confronted him.
Qi Lan looked at the little deer's dirty but curious face, and the smile on her lips deepened.
"I've lived for five hundred years," she said. "I've never eaten a person, nor do I intend to. If you want to hear a story, I'll tell you later."
"Okay!" Little Deer nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling.
Chen Anran stood aside, watching this scene without saying a word.
Little Ling'er ran over from the other side and grabbed Little Deer's hand.
"Third Uncle! Is that you, Third Uncle?"
Xiao Ling'er was very excited. She hadn't expected to see not only her second martial uncle but also her third martial uncle. The only pity was that she hadn't seen her master yet.
However, Xiao Ling'er believed that she would see her master sooner or later.
Little Ling'er held Little Deer's hand, her eyes shining brightly, and kept calling out "Third Uncle" to Little Deer, leaving Little Deer looking completely bewildered.
"Third Uncle?" Little Deer tilted its head, its fluffy deer ears twitching. "Are you calling me?"
"Yes, yes!" Xiao Ling'er nodded vigorously. "You are Third Martial Uncle!"
Little Deer blinked, looked back at Chen Anran, then at Feng Lie and Feng Changyuan, and finally fixed her gaze on Xiao Ling'er's face.
"Little sister, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?" she kindly reminded her. "I'm not some Third Uncle, my name is Little Deer, and I'm a little mountain spirit. Look—" she pointed to the deer ears on her head, "I have ears, I'm a deer spirit."
Little Ling'er paused for a moment, looked at the fluffy deer ears, then at the deer's familiar face, and suddenly burst into tears.
"Third Uncle... Third Uncle, how did you turn into a monster...?"
The little deer was startled by the sudden crying and stood there helplessly, wanting to comfort her but not knowing how. She could only turn to Chen Anran for help.
"Um... what's wrong with her? Did I say something wrong?"
Chen Anran walked over, squatted down, and gently patted Xiaoling'er's shoulder.
"Little Ling'er, don't cry."
Xiao Ling'er sobbed as she looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears: "Junior Uncle, Third Uncle, she..."
"She's not your third martial uncle," Chen Anran said gently. "She's like Sister Wei, just someone who looks a lot like your martial uncle."
Chen Anran's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Xiaoling'er's head.
She sobbed, looking at Chen Anran through teary eyes, then at the deer, and then at the deer's fluffy ears.
"But...but she looks exactly like my third martial uncle..."
"Yes, exactly the same." Chen Anran nodded. "But she's not Feng Xiaolu. Her name is Xiaolu, she's a little mountain spirit, and this is the first time she's met us."
Xiao Ling'er sniffed, tears still on her face, but gradually stopped crying.
She looked at the fawn, and the fawn looked at her.
The two little girls stared at each other for a long time.
The little deer suddenly grinned, revealing two small tiger teeth: "The way you cry is really funny, just like that little rabbit in the mountains, who cries like this every time it can't find a carrot."
Xiao Ling'er paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.
The smile, tinged with tears, was much brighter than before.
"I'm not like a rabbit!" she said.
"It's so similar!" Little Deer said seriously. "The eyes are red, and the nose twitches. It's just like it."
Xiao Ling'er was both amused and annoyed by her. She reached out to push her, but Xiao Lu jumped back and dodged, laughing even louder.
Chen Anran stood up, watching the two girls playing together, and a slight smile curved her lips.
Feng Lie leaned closer and whispered, "Is that all? You were crying like a baby just now."
Feng Changyuan rolled his eyes at him: "What do you know about children's affairs?"
Feng Lie retorted, unconvinced: "You understand?"
Feng Changyuan replied matter-of-factly, "I don't understand either."
Qi Lan burst out laughing.
She walked to Chen Anran's side, her gaze falling on Xiaolu. Watching her and Ling'er chasing each other playfully, her amber vertical pupils held a complex meaning.
"Chen Anran," she said softly, "how exactly is this cycle of reincarnation calculated?"
Chen Anran did not answer.
Qi Lan continued, "Your eldest senior sister is the real person. Your second senior sister was reincarnated and is still human. Your third senior sister was reincarnated, but became a demon. Is there any significance to this?"
Chen Anran was silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know."
"have no idea?"
"Hmm." Chen Anran looked at the hopping figure. "The matter of reincarnation is one of the greatest mysteries in the world."
Qi Lan nodded thoughtfully.
Over there, Little Deer and Little Ling'er, having finished playing, ran over hand in hand.
"Junior Uncle!" Little Ling'er looked up, "Sister Little Deer said she's taking us to the mountains to pick up her friend! Let's hurry!"
Chen Anran nodded. "Then let's go."
The car is back on the road.
Because there were more people, the seating arrangement in the vehicles was changed.
Jiang Yan drove the third car, with Chen Anran, Lu Kong, and Huiming sitting inside, all very quiet. The middle car was occupied by Qi Lan and the Feng family uncle and nephew. As soon as Feng Lie got in, he started rambling on about "the little deer actually becoming a demon," only to be slapped on the back of the head by Feng Changyuan, finally silencing him.
The atmosphere in the lead car was somewhat subtle.
Master Tianbao drove, glancing in the rearview mirror every now and then, the smile on his lips clearly indicating a hint of anticipation for a good show.
In the back row, Wei Yiran sat on the left, her hands folded on her knees, her posture as dignified as if she were attending a banquet in the palace. Her gaze was fixed on the fields rushing past the window, her eyelashes slightly lowered, revealing no expression.
The little deer sat on the right, its body almost pressed against the car door. Its fluffy deer ears stood up alertly, glancing left at Wei Yiran, then right at Xiao Ling'er, and then forward at the driver, Master Tianbao, just like a little beast that had wandered into unfamiliar territory.
Only Xiaoling sat in the middle, completely unaware of the strange atmosphere, and was excitedly introducing the scenery outside the window to Xiaolu.
"Look, Sister Deer! There's a river over there! And cows by the river!"
The little deer looked in the direction she was pointing and sure enough saw several water buffalo lying in the river, only their two dark noses and a pair of curved antlers showing. Her eyes lit up and her ears perked up.
"I've seen it!" she said. "Back in the mountains, there was an old water buffalo spirit. It was incredibly fierce. Anyone who came near its territory would be gored by it with its horns. But the stories it told weren't very interesting; it just kept repeating the same few ones over and over."
Little Ling'er giggled: "Cows can tell stories?"
"Yes, yes," the little deer said seriously. "Everyone in the mountains tells stories. The old hedgehog is the best. He says he's lived for three hundred years and has seen many, many things. But he has a bad memory; he forgets where he was in his story and has to start all over again."
Little Ling'er listened intently and pressed on, "Then what's the best story it ever told?"
The little deer tilted its head and thought for a moment, and its ears tilted as well.
"There's a story... It's about a very, very long time ago, outside the mountains, there was a very, very big city, and there lived many, many people in that city. Those people were incredibly powerful; they could fly, they could shrink and grow, and they could even control the wind and rain."
Little Ling'er blinked: "Isn't that an immortal?"
"Yes, they were immortals." The little deer nodded. "The old hedgehog said that back then, the immortals and the monsters lived together, played together, ate together, and told stories together. Then, I don't know what happened, the immortals ran away, and the monsters hid in the mountains and never dared to come out again."
As she spoke, she suddenly sighed, her mature demeanor making Xiao Ling'er laugh.
Wei Yiran continued to gaze out the window, but her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Xiao Lu turned her gaze away from the window and secretly glanced at Wei Yiran.
She glanced at it several times.
This woman hadn't uttered a single word since getting on the bus; she just sat there like a statue. But that statue was truly beautiful, more beautiful than a fox spirit from the mountains. Her skin was as white as snow, her eyebrows were arched, and her lips were pursed; even without speaking, you could tell she was saying something.
And those eyes.
The deer secretly glanced at it again.
Why are those eyes so long? The corners of her eyes slant upwards, and her eyelashes are thick and long, like two small fans. Every time she blinks, those two little fans flutter, making the little deer feel ticklish.
She felt a little inclined to talk to this beautiful woman.
But what should I say?
The fawn scratched its head, and its ears twitched.
She suddenly remembered what the old hedgehog had taught her: "If you want to talk to someone, start by complimenting their looks. Everyone loves to hear compliments, even monsters, and people love them even more."
Xiaolu thought this made sense.
She cleared her throat, about to speak, when she noticed the woman suddenly turn her head and meet her gaze.
The deer paused for a moment.
Wei Yiran was also taken aback.
The two of them stared at each other for two seconds, separated by Xiao Ling'er.
Then Wei Yiran first looked away and then looked out the window.
The little deer opened her mouth, but the words "You're so beautiful" stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them.
Little Ling'er, completely oblivious to the subtle tension between the two, was still asking, "Sister Little Deer, what happened next? Where did the fairy go?"
The little deer snapped out of its daze. "Ah? Oh, then...then the old hedgehog forgot and said we should start over. I heard it three times, and every time I heard that it said to start over, but I still don't know what happened after that."
Little Ling'er let out a disappointed "Ah!" but then perked up again: "It's okay, when we get to Yunyin Mountain, I'll have Uncle Jiang take pictures of you! Lots and lots of pictures! When we get back, you can show the pictures to Old Hedgehog, and maybe he'll remember what happened next!"
"Taking a picture?" Little Deer blinked. "What's taking a picture?"
Little Ling'er thought for a moment and tried her best to explain in a way she could understand: "It's... it's about printing your image on paper so you can look at it whenever you want. Uncle Jiang has a treasure; he can just snap a picture of you and capture your image, and after a while it will turn into a painting that looks exactly like you!"
The fawn's eyes widened in surprise.
"Really?"
"Really, really!" Xiao Ling'er nodded vigorously. "I took so many pictures! I'll show them to you when we get to Yunyin Mountain!"
"Really?"
"Really, really!" Xiao Ling'er nodded vigorously. "I took so many pictures! I'll show them to you when we get to Yunyin Mountain!"
The deer's curiosity was piqued, its ears stood straight up, and it wished it could fly to that "Hidden Cloud Mountain" right now.
But her gaze couldn't help but drift to the side.
The woman continued to gaze out the window, as if she hadn't heard anything.
The little deer suddenly seemed a bit discouraged.
She didn't know what she was frustrated about. She didn't know this person at all, and this person hadn't said a single word to her since getting on the bus, but she just couldn't help wanting to look. She looked, but dared not look too long, afraid of being discovered.
The little deer scratched its head and decided not to think about it anymore.
She turned her head and continued to chatter with Xiaoling, asking all sorts of questions, from "taking pictures" to "Yunyin Mountain", from "Yunyin Mountain" to "what do those immortals eat", and from "what do they eat" to "do they catch demons and refine pills".
Xiao Ling'er answered each question one by one. Occasionally, when she couldn't answer, she would scratch her head and then say confidently, "You'll know when we get there!"
The little deer was amused by her mature demeanor and kept laughing. As she laughed, she suddenly heard a very soft sigh from the side.
The sigh was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
But the little deer's ears twitched; she heard it.
She turned her head and saw Wei Yiran still gazing out the window, her profile as soft as a veil in the afternoon sunlight. Her two small, fan-like eyelashes drooped slightly, obscuring her beautiful eyes. Her lips were gently pursed, as if she were thinking about something, or perhaps not thinking about anything at all.
The little deer opened her mouth, but the words "You are so beautiful" got stuck in her throat again.
The car continued forward, and Xiao Ling'er was still chattering about Yunyin Mountain, from the Linggu stewed chicken at Xian Shan Fang to the games in the internet cafe, and then from the internet cafe to the glowing cups in the bar.
The fawn's eyes grew brighter and brighter as it listened, its fluffy ears standing straight up, tilting left and right, just like two little rabbits chasing after the sound.
"Then, do you have any storytellers where you live?" Little Deer couldn't help but ask.
"Yes!" Xiaoling nodded vigorously. "Sister Qi can tell so many stories! She told one called something like... something like The Little Mermaid. It was so beautiful, but the ending was a bit tragic. I cried for a long time after hearing it."
"The Little Mermaid?" the fawn blinked. "What's the sea?"
"It's a huge body of water, bigger than a river, so big you can't see the end!"
The little deer tilted its head and tried to imagine it, but couldn't. So it decided to stop thinking about it. Anyway, it would naturally be able to see it when it got to that Cloud Hidden Mountain.
Her gaze couldn't help but drift to the side again.
The woman remained motionless, gazing out the window, like a breathing statue. Sunlight streamed in through the car window, casting a faint golden hue on her profile, making even the finest downy hairs clearly visible.
Little Deer secretly glanced at her several times and suddenly realized that the woman's eyelashes really could flap.
She blinked, and her eyelashes fluttered. Blink, flutter, and the fluttering brought back that ticklish feeling in the little deer's heart.
She thought, "I wish I could talk to her."