Chapter Twelve Interlude

  "Old man, I've never done anything like catching wind and grasping shadows. I really saw the Snow Grandmother, that white, white, white tail." At this point, Old Man Liu seemed somewhat agitated, with a terrified expression on his face.

  A white tail? Hearing this, I became interested. Generally speaking, as a scenic area, the Fourth Niangzi Mountain shouldn't have any wild animals, but the old man said he encountered something with a white tail. If it's what they call 'Snow Grandma', I definitely wouldn't believe it. But if it's a white fox, I would slightly believe it. After all, compared to the supernatural and mysterious 'Snow Grandma', I think it's more believable that there are wild animals on the mountain.

  "I remember that night, I went up the mountain to patrol as usual. At first when I entered the mountain, it was very quiet around me, with only the sound of my footsteps in the snow."

  "But after walking for a while, it suddenly started snowing in June!"

  After listening to the old man's words, I felt more and more absurd, but thinking carefully, the old man didn't need to joke with Sheng Ge and me. I didn't speak, just listened to the old man continue talking.

  "It snowed in June, isn't that strange? It's snowing and I want to head down the mountain early. If the snow gets heavier, it'll be harder to get down. There was still a short section of road that hadn't been inspected, so I continued walking along the mountain path. The snow in the sky got bigger and bigger, and looking at the remaining distance of just a few meters that hadn't been inspected, I thought to myself that it's unlikely anything could cause a mountain disaster over such a short distance. So I turned around and headed down the mountain."

  When I heard this, I secretly laughed and didn't expect the old man to also have a lazy time, but what he said next completely piqued my interest.

  "At that time, I turned around and walked down the mountain, but before I took a few steps, I heard some movement behind me, like someone walking on the snow, making crunching sounds. At that time, I thought it was just my imagination, so I didn't pay attention to it and continued walking down. But the sound seemed to be getting clearer and closer, as if it was right behind me! I turned around and what I saw was unbelievable!"

  At this point, the old man slammed his hand on the table, scaring me who was listening to him carefully.

  "Then who is that person? That's obviously 'Yuki Jiji'!"

  "What's a 'Snow Grandma'?" "Old man, did you really see the Snow Grandma? What does she look like?" I was very curious when I heard the old man say he saw the Snow Grandma. Before this, I had heard Grandpa talk about many strange and mysterious things, but what the old man said now seemed to be something like a fairy tale that I had never heard of before.

  Upon hearing my doubts, the old man took another puff and said slowly, "As for what Snow Grandma looks like, I didn't see very clearly, but I did see Snow Grandma's tail and shadow. Although it was snowing, relying on the moonlight, I could still make out the shadow. The shadow was standing up just like a person, so it must be Snow Grandma." As he spoke, the old man stood up and walked to the window, exhaling a mouthful of smoke.

  Like a fox, there are also those that can stand up. Although this idea is somewhat comical, it's not throwing out the possibility of standing-up foxes. As for what Old Man said about really having Snow Grandmothers, I'm extremely skeptical.

  "Old man, you must be mistaken. These foxes can all stand up. I'm saying, old man, aren't you being too sensitive?"

  After hearing my words, the old man was unhappy and immediately put on a face. "Although I'm old, my body is very good and my eyes are not dim. I am absolutely not mistaken. Moreover, when we moved this group of fox cubs into the mountain that year, I was also there. I dare to guarantee that even if the entire Fourth Daughter Mountain were turned over, it would be impossible to find a single fox."

  I rubbed my nose and didn't dare say that the old man was stubborn, so I had to listen to him continue.

  Before the old man could say a few words, I heard Da Zhuang's loud shout coming from outside. I thought to myself that finally, reinforcements had arrived. As for what the old man said, I didn't really believe it. I just thought that when the old man went up the mountain, he only encountered a fox that could stand on its hind legs, and it was impossible for it to be a Snow Goblin. If it were really a Snow Goblin, wouldn't the old man have seen a god?

  The loud and clear voice of Da Zhuang is extremely loud. Although it can't reach the effect of an explosion in your ear when you're indoors, it's inevitable that you'll hear it clearly.

  Dazhuang came in like he was entering his own home, walking in with a swagger, and saw the old man give him a sloppy military salute. Looking at Dazhuang's sloppy salute, I patted my own forehead, thinking to myself that this kid, who looks like a hooligan, is actually giving a military salute, isn't he ruining the salute? When real soldiers give salutes, they're neat and tidy, not like Dazhuang's behavior now.

  I originally thought the old man would get angry when he saw Da Zhuang's behavior, but unexpectedly, the old man suddenly revealed a smile like thunder on a sunny day. When the old man opened his mouth to speak, I almost fell over. "Hmmm, good kid, much better than Xiao Ke. You must be Xiao Ke's friend? Teach him some military etiquette in the future, or else this little brat will always walk around like a hoodlum."

  Having heard Old Master's words, I clearly saw the triumphant smile at the corner of Da Zhuang's mouth, and thought to myself, wait a moment, I must teach him a lesson later.

  Then I chatted with the old man for a while before Da Zhuang and I returned to our temporary residence.

  The old man's house is divided into three houses, I and Da Zhuang live in this one, ** and Ali live in the smallest two of the three houses, while the old man lives in the largest one.

  "Have you guys gone out to the nearby shops and seen what I want?" I asked as I sat on the bed.

  Dazhuang just entered the house and lit a cigarette. "Ah, I just went out with them two and asked everywhere, but there are only two things that can't be bought."

  "What are the two things that can't be bought?" I heard Da Zhuang say that there were two things that couldn't be bought, and I couldn't help but worry a little. Earlier, I had made a list for Da Zhuang of all the things we needed to find the grave in the mountains, and I hadn't included anything too hard to find on it - everything he was supposed to buy could be found in the market.

  Dazhuang spat out a mouthful of smoke "One thing is what shovel you wanted, those two words you wrote were too fancy, neither of us could understand them, so we didn't buy it. And the second thing was that hoof."