The Rural Doctor of the Mountain Spirit

  At that time, the village was in a state of deathly silence, and I even felt that the entire village was completely deserted. The desolation made one's heart feel chilled.

  And after I got the permission from that old man in the temple, I took out the drum and stood at the gate of the temple, seeing everything in the village.

  I have a premonition, a very bad one. This small village may become a dead village tonight, with everyone in the village dying, not a single person will be left alive.

  To be honest, at that time I was just a kid. When I had such a premonition, I felt extremely desperate and at a loss. A child, actually having to face such things.

  I held the drum in my hand, but I was so flustered that I hesitated to strike it. At this moment, all I wished for was an adult standing behind me, giving me some slight guidance, letting me know what to do next.

  However, when I turned around and looked back, there was no one around.

  Xiao Sen, you are destined to be different from other children. You will face everything alone, endure all the pain, and no one can help you.

  Muttering to myself, I raised my hand and struck it with force. In that instant, the drum in my hand let out a deep and muffled sound. Suddenly, I felt something spreading out in all directions from the drum. The feeling was very clear, like a ray of light, or a gust of wind. But in fact, it was just the drumbeat.

  I struck it repeatedly, and the drumbeat spread out in all directions. Like a wave, it advanced in all directions.

  Suddenly, a series of shrill screams rang out in the village. The screams were really terrifying, like the screams of children, and also like the screams of women.

  The sounds rose one after another and spread all around the village.

  At this time, I saw the trees around the village start shaking non-stop. The direction of the shake seemed to be from the village to the outside. In other words, it was as if something inside the village had run out and caused the trees to shake non-stop.

  At that moment, I was completely stunned. I really didn't expect that when the drum sounded, such a thing would happen. I held the drum and continued to beat it non-stop.

  As I clapped, countless black shadows suddenly ran out around the village. I wasn't mistaken, they were indeed black shadows.

  The moment these dark shadows appeared, a shrill cry suddenly rang out. These dark shadows were moving at an incredible speed, flashing by like lightning.

  I stood there in a daze, stupidly staring at those dark shadows.

  Next, I will strike the drum. At the same time, I kept observing the surroundings of the village and saw those black shadows constantly running out of the village. When I struck the drum for a full hundred times, the entire village suddenly became completely quiet, without a single sound.

  The same was true, and no dark figures ran out of the village either.

  And when I finished drumming, I suddenly felt a wave of fatigue, I don't know why, just now when I was drumming, I didn't feel like I used much strength at all, but at this moment, I felt as if all my energy had been drained.

  I finally stood up wearily and slowly walked home.

  When I returned to the house, I almost fell directly to the ground. But I endured my fatigue and crawled back to Wu Xianyi's room little by little. As I entered the room, I lit the kerosene lamp and saw that Wu Xianyi was exhausted, his body hadn't moved at all.

  It was obvious that Wu Xianyi hadn't woken up at all during the time I left the house. I got up tiredly and felt Wu Xianyi's pulse with my hand. His pulse was still the same as when I left, without a single change.

  But fortunately he's fine, I can finally rest assured. At this moment, I felt tired and my consciousness relaxed, and I fell asleep directly.

  I don't know how long I slept, but I had a dream, a very scary dream. What the dream was about, I've also forgotten. In the middle of the night, I was startled awake once.

  When I woke up, I found myself crying because my face was covered with tears.

  I think it's likely that my mental endurance has reached its limit during this period. I wiped away my tears and slapped myself hard on the face.

  I remember my father saying that men cannot admit defeat, and they cannot cry. If a man cries, no one in this world will pity you. So I don't cry, I absolutely cannot cry.

  I closed my eyes and wanted to fall asleep again. However, I felt extremely uncomfortable in my heart, very uncomfortable.

  When I close my eyes, the faces of my parents always appear in front of me. I even think of Grandpa, yes, those were good days. But now, everything is shattered.

  "Unconsciously, I softly cried out: 'Dad and Mom, where are you? Don't you want me anymore?'"

  Tears streamed down my cheeks, I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help it.

  I don't know how long it took, but I finally fell asleep again. When I opened my eyes again, it was already the next morning. I slowly got up from the ground, touched my cheeks and found that the tears on my face had dried up.

  I went to wash my face and only then did I manage to wash away all the tears that had been left on my face from crying last night.

  Then I went into the house as usual and felt Wu Xianyi's pulse. To my surprise, Wu Xianyi's pulse was slowly recovering at this moment. I was overjoyed in my heart and couldn't help but let out a loud cry.

  Next I ran out of the house, fetched some water and wiped Wu Xianyi's face clean.

  But Wu Xianyi didn't seem to notice at all, and there was no sign of him waking up. I softly called out next to Wu Xianyi's ear: "Wu Xianyi, can you hear me?"

  Wu Xian didn't react at all.

  I scolded him again: "You old man, when are you going to wake up? If you don't wake up for the rest of your life, do I have to take care of you for the rest of my life?"

  But after I finished scolding, Wu Xianyi still didn't have the slightest reaction. I started to be unscrupulous, having been suppressed by him for days, and today I should take revenge too.

  I scolded Wu Xian loudly: "You old rascal, are you trying to be unreasonable? If you don't wake up now, I won't wash your face for you, I won't give you a bath, and I won't cook for you either."

  I have to admit, I was too young at that time, and when I spoke, it was in a soft and weak tone.

  But after I scolded him, Wu Xianyi still didn't have the slightest reaction. Suddenly, I had an idea to slap him on both ears while leaning on his body.

  This idea is too terrifying, because I didn't realize how evil I was. Thinking of this, I really went to see Dr. Wu Xian. But what I didn't expect was that Dr. Wu Xian suddenly opened his eyes here.

  I had just raised my hand, and saw that his eyes were open, which gave me a big fright. I quickly put down my hand, turned around to Wu Xianyi and said: "You, you woke up really early, actually I was just going to take your pulse."

  Wu Xian glared at me for a while before saying, "You little brat can't even fart without me knowing, and you still want to deceive me? Are you trying to slap my face?"

  This guy actually guessed what was on my mind, which surprised me and also made me blush.

  Wu Xianyi suddenly said: "You little guy is really against it now, has become a master of skills?"

  I was a bit embarrassed and said to Wu Xianyi: "You misunderstood, how dare I?"

  "I see you're not just daring, but also really capable of doing this."

  This old guy just woke up and wouldn't calm down. I really regret why I didn't run faster, I had to give him a slap in the face.

  But Wu Xianyi had already woken up, so I naturally didn't dare to do that.

  But Wu Xianyi suddenly asked: "How's the matter I entrusted you with?"

  I nodded: "Of course it's done, I went to the ancestral hall, got the drum and even beat it."

  "Xiao Sen, I was right about you after all, you didn't disappoint me. Only..."

  "What's that?"

  Wu Xianyi wanted to speak but hesitated. He shook his head: "Nothing, I actually want to thank you. If it weren't for you this time, I would have died nine times and come back to life once, and the whole village would have been implicated."

  "I'm fed up: 'What exactly do you want to say?'"

  I stared stubbornly at Wu Xianyi, and he seemed to have to answer: "But from now on, your fate will be tied to this drum."