In the afternoon of April, the shadows of the trees danced.

The sun shines on the overlapping stilted buildings, adding a bit of hazy light and shadow to the entire Qian Jiang Wu Village.

At the entrance of Qian Jiang Wu Village, under the square eaves made of wood, there are three grandmothers who are sewing embroidery.

They wore long red and black dresses, with their long hair tied on top, a red flower tied on the right side, and a silver pendant made of phoenixes and butterflies attached to the flower.

The three grandmas didn't wear any silver ornaments on their bodies, and they looked about the same age, all around sixty years old. At the moment, they are chatting while embroidering the cloth in their hands.

"There are still five days until the Gunzang Festival. I don't know how long the bulls can fight in the ceremony."

"It must be a long fight. After all, Shangling started feeding the bulls two years ago."

"This Guzang Festival is held at Shangling in our village. The terrain of Shangling is steep and never open to the outside world. No outsiders should be invited."

"It's possible. By the way, speaking of outsiders, I heard from Xiaoyang this morning that a college student will come to our village to serve as a teaching assistant in two days' time."

"What! College students?" Their Qianjiang Wumiao village hadn't been to college students for several years. In the past few years, every time a college student came to teach, he would leave due to various reasons. The one who stayed the longest only lasted for more than three months. "Is it a girl or a boy?"

"Said he was a handsome young man."

The three grannies were talking vigorously, at this moment, a deep male voice came from their side——

"Excuse me, is this Qian Jiang Wuxialing Village?" The voice was very pleasant, mellow and magnetic, and there was a bit of unruly laziness in the polite questioning tone.

The three grandmas all looked at the person who interrupted their chat.

It's an outsider, carrying a black bag, taller than Xiao Yangdu, who is the tallest in their village. He wore a black hat on his head, and the face exposed under the hat was extremely handsome, even more beautiful than those stars on TV.

Facing the direct gazes of the three grandmas, Lin Ye paused for a moment.

Maybe it's because came to this strange Miao village for the first time, or maybe it's because this is Xie Jinling's hometown. So at this moment, being looked at by the three old people from the same hometown as Xie Jinling, Lin Ye rarely felt a long-lost tension.

His lips moved slightly, and under the gaze of the three old men, he repeated what he had just said. But this time, his speaking speed was much slower than before.

Before coming here, Lin Ye had a detailed understanding of Miaojiang and the Miao nationality. He knew that the Miao nationality has more than 200 branches and more than 40 different dialects and local languages.

I also learned that the Miao people can be divided into two categories: mature seedlings and raw seedlings.

Ripe Miao is the kind of Miao family that is almost sinicized, while raw Miao is the opposite.

Just before he opened his mouth to ask, he heard that the three old people were communicating in Chinese. Although they spoke with a relatively strong accent, they should be as mature as seedlings.

Because the phone's map navigation can only lead here, if you go further in, you need the map drawn by Xie Jinling for him.

And all the way here, he didn't see any stones engraved with the name of the village around him, so in order to avoid going to the wrong village, he asked the three old people.

"This is Qian Jiang Wuxialing Village, young man, are you here to visit our village?" It was Grandma Yiye who was sitting in the middle who spoke.

Her face is covered with wrinkles, but her eyes are piercing, and when she smiles, she gives a warm and hearty feeling.

Lin Ye thought for a while and said, "I'm here to find friends."

He sent a message to Xie Jinling three days ago, but the other party has not responded yet. Afterwards, he called several times, but all failed, probably because the signal in the mountain was not good and the Internet was not connected.

Lin Ye remembered that Xie Jinling once said that the village where he lived was a bit special, almost isolated from the outside world. Lin Ye knew that generally only so-called seedlings would live in inaccessible and steep areas, and such areas are mostly deep mountains and old forests.

In the map that Xie Jinling drew for him, it said Qianjiang Wushangling Village.

Together with the Xialing Village that can be guided on the map navigation, it is collectively referred to as Qian Jiang Wu Village.

"Come to find a friend, which one is it from?" The grandmother who first chatted with Lin Ye asked, and put the embroidery in her hand next to the bench: "I will show you the way."

Just as Lin Ye wanted to say that he didn't bother, he could follow the map and walk forward by himself, the grandma had already stood up. Judging from this posture, he has already made plans to lead him the way.

The signal in this mountain is weak, Lin Ye thought for a while, he can't contact Xie Jinling for the time being, and it would indeed be more convenient for him to have this grandma guide him.

"Grandma, I'm going to Qian Jiang Wushangling Village." Lin Ye said truthfully.

When the grandmother heard this, her already striding steps stopped abruptly.

The eyes of the other two grandmothers also became a little strange.

Noticing the change of the three old Miao family members, Lin Yegang wanted to ask if any special procedures were required to enter the Shangling village. The grandma who was going to lead the way asked him aloud: "The friend you are looking for lives in Shangling?"

When she said this, she turned her head to look at Lin Ye, looked Lin Ye up and down again, and confirmed, "Are you sure it's Shangling?"

Lin Ye nodded slightly: "On the map he drew for me, the address is Qian Jiang Wushangling Village."

"The map drawn?" The grandma who was about to lead the way seemed to think of something suddenly when she heard it, she pursed her lips, and after thinking for a few seconds, she stretched out her hand towards Lin Ye: "Young man, first give me the map. Let me see."

Lin Ye moved his fingers on the screen, quickly enlarged the map drawn by Xie Jinling in the photo album, and then handed the phone to the old woman.

The granny lowered her head, looked at the hand-drawn map carefully, and then asked, "What's the name of the friend you're looking for?"

"Xie Jinling, his name is Xie Jinling." Lin Ye didn't know if Xie Jinling had a Miao family name in Miao Jiang, and if so, what was his Miao family name. He thought that since the other party didn't specifically mention this point, it means that it is also possible to directly say this Chinese name.

As it turned out, he was not wrong.

As soon as the grandma who led the way heard the name, she looked at Lin Ye differently. The corner of her mouth curled up, and a brighter and more eager smile appeared on her face than before: "I didn't expect you to be Xiao Jin's friend!"

"Come, come, I'll show you the way." Grandma smiled so much that her white teeth were exposed, her eyes were also very loving, and she kindly signaled Lin Ye to move forward: "Let's go, young man, follow me."

Under the guidance of this grandma, Lin Ye passed rows of stilted buildings on the slope. Perhaps it was because of his attire that he looked like an outsider, and he attracted a lot of attention along the way.

Lin Ye found that these Miao people who lived in Xialingzhai wore clothes with relatively simple styles except for the complicated patterns.

Most of them were dressed just like the grandma who was leading the way. He didn't wear any silver jewelry on his body. There are even clothes that some people wear, which is the kind of clothes they usually wear.

"Young man, I think you are about the same age as Xiaojin. Are you a classmate that Xiao Jin met during the few months in high school?" The grandma who led the way took the initiative to talk.

"Well, he sat at my front desk during class." Lin Ye recalled the time when Xie Jinling transferred to Cheng Lin, and a warm feeling emerged from the bottom of his dark eyes. The overly sharp facial features seemed to soften at this moment.

"The front desk... no wonder, no wonder." Grandma joked with a smile: "Sitting close, feeling deep."

deep feelings...

Hearing the last three words, the corners of Lin Ye's lips curled up slightly, and he nodded, "Our relationship is indeed very deep."

The grandmother who led the way pointed to the front: "After this road goes all the way to the end, it will belong to the boundary of Shangling."

Lin Ye looked in the direction Granny pointed, and the distance was about 700 meters. The higher you go, the narrower the road paved with goose warm stones and bluestone slabs, and there are fewer and fewer stilted buildings on both sides.

Looking back from the end of this road, you can faintly see the winding mountain road and a towering mountain peak.

The shape of this mountain is exactly the same as that drawn in Xie Jinling's map.

Lin Ye chuckled lightly.

The grandma who led the way looked at him: "Young man, it's a coincidence that you came here. Xiao Yang should still be at Shanglingkou right now, so he can take you into Shangling Village."

"Xiao Yang?"

Grandma laughed and said, "Xiao Yang is the next patriarch of Shangling Village, and he and Xiao Jin grew up together."

Lin Ye narrowed his eyes: "Grow up together?"

"That's right, Xiao Yang said when she was a child that she wanted to... Hey!" Grandma hadn't finished her sentence when she suddenly saw something and her eyes lit up, "Xiao Yang!" The young man who came out of the bungalow waved: "Xiao Yang, wait a minute!"

The man called Xiao Yang who was being led by the grandmother stopped, turned around and saw the grandmother, and walked over a few steps: "What did Ada call me?"

His voice was deep and thick, mixed with some dialect accents.

He looks to be only in his twenties, tall and tall, with neat short hair, healthy bronze skin, tough and deep features, and wearing a light dark blue Miao suit.

At this moment, although his mouth was asking Grandma, his eyes glanced intentionally or unintentionally at Lin Ye standing aside.

Granny noticed the look in his eyes, and introduced: "This little Alang is Xiao Jin's friend, he came to look for Xiao Jin, you guide him."

"Xiao Jin's friend?" Sang Linyang was a little surprised, and then looked at the boy in front of him who looked taller than him with a wary look, "What's your name?"

"Lin Ye."

"Linye..." Sang Linyang said the name in a low voice, as if recalling something: "Are you a classmate Xiao Jin met in Chenglin?"

"Not a classmate," Lin Ye corrected, "It's a partner." When the grandmother who led the way asked him, Lin Ye didn't specifically correct anything. But at this moment, for some reason, he just wanted to emphasize this point.

partner?

Hearing this description, Sang Linyang's face paused slightly, and an incomprehensible emotion flashed in his dark pupils, so fast that he could hardly see clearly.

Afterwards, he said, "My name is Sang Linyang."

He didn't intend to talk nonsense, and after introducing himself briefly, he said to Lin Ye: "The mountain road into the village is not easy to walk, so follow closely."

Compared with grandma's enthusiasm, Sang Linyang's attitude is much calmer.

Lin Ye could vaguely feel that the other party seemed to have a faint rejection of him, and even at a certain moment just now, he seemed to have caught a trace of deep-seated hostility in the other party's eyes.

Of course, he didn't like this man named Sang Linyang very much either.

…………

The mountain road to Qian Jiang Wushangling Village is indeed very difficult to walk.

Compared with the green ecological area developed by professional green foresters in the city, this place is more inclined to a primitive and natural ecology as a whole.

The mountains are lush and the leaves are lush. Almost all are uphill, and the road is winding and rugged, covered with thick weeds.

If ordinary people walk on this kind of bumpy mountain road, because they are not used to it or the method is wrong, it will not take long before they will feel sore legs and feet.

But Lin Ye is different. He used to like to go to remote areas for outdoor sports, so walking this kind of road is very handy.

Along the way, Sang Linyang led the way, Lin Ye followed behind, and the two did not have any conversation.

When he reached the top of the mountain, Sang Linyang stopped suddenly, turned his head and said to Lin Ye, "Wait here for me." After saying this, Sang Linyang walked to the right.

Lin Ye looked towards the front right where Sang Linyang was walking, and there were two large windmills about a few hundred meters away. Looking through the gaps between the layers of leaves, you can see three large fan blades on the big windmill.

This kind of wind power generation equipment is widely used in the mountainous area.

Lin Ye was thinking about the gear box inside the windmill shifting speed when he heard a few rustling sounds from the side and rear.

this voice...

Lin Ye's expression became serious in an instant, and he immediately turned sideways to look in the direction of the sound.

I saw that two meters away in front of him, weeds about one meter high were shaking slightly.

At this moment, Lin Ye faintly felt an extremely tense and dangerous atmosphere, as if he was being watched by something.

His lips were tightly closed, and his sharp eyes were fixed on the weed pile in front of him. While breathing lightly, he slowly moved his hand to the back, ready to take the short self-defense knife placed on the outermost side.

It was at this time that the air suddenly tightened.

When Lin Ye felt that something was about to rush out from the haystack directly in front of him, a crisp sound of a bell suddenly sounded behind him.

In the next second, there was a "whoosh", and at the moment when a gray thing that was as fast as an afterimage rushed towards him, Lin Ye's wrist was pulled by a strong force to the tree trunk on the right.

By the time he reacted, his whole body had already been grabbed, and his back was directly pressed against the strong and rough tree trunk.

Immediately afterwards, under such unexpected circumstances, he heard a voice that was so familiar to him...

"Stop it, big dog."

The voice was clear and pleasant, like the gentle breeze blowing from the mountains, drifting into his eardrums from right in front of him.

Lin Ye's body froze for an instant, and his heartbeat suddenly began to speed up uncontrollably at this moment.

His Adam's apple rolled slightly, and the emotions spreading from the apex of his heart seemed to be surging from the tide.

One second, two seconds...

It took almost five seconds before he suppressed the emotion that was about to spread, slowly lowered his head, and looked at the person standing in front of him at the moment.

In the more than three years after he and Xie Jinling parted, Lin Ye imagined countless times the scene of reuniting with Xie Jinling, and also imagined countless times in his mind what Xie Jinling would look like three years later.

In his sketchbook, there are already countless pictures of Xie Jinling that he imagined three years later, sitting, standing, raising eyebrows and smiling lightly, obediently drinking milk tea, each one is beautiful.

However, at this moment, when he really saw Xie Jinling in person, Lin Ye realized that the Xie Jinling he drew three years later was far less than the shock and amazement brought to him by this person in front of him.

I haven't seen you for three years, Xie Jinling has grown taller,

The figure looks taller and taller.

His eyebrows and eyes are brighter and more charming than before. The tear mole under Peach Blossom's eyes also changed from a light color to a lustrous red.

There was no paint on his face, his black ink hair was loose, and only two thin braids were braided on each side.

The halo mottled down from the gaps in the leaves, casting light and shadow on his delicate facial features, and the ruby ​​with feathers attached to the earrings was extraordinarily bright in this green shade.

And these are far inferior to the brilliance shone by his amber pupils. That gleaming sense of freedom is a kind of arbitrariness without any restraint, which can be turned into a sharp knife or a snake that is twisted and entwined.

At this moment, Lin Ye realized it very clearly. The former little rose has turned into a red thorn, which is domineering, strong, and confusing.

During the brief eye contact, Lin Ye thought a lot.

The throbbing heart made him stunned. For a moment, he even forgot to react.

Xie Jinling raised her eyebrows slightly, looked at Lin Ye's eyes that were as black as ink under the brim of his hat, raised them and smiled lightly, and when Lin Ye was still in a daze, he stretched out his right hand to take off the peaked cap on his head.

The left hand close to the heart was placed on the back of Lin Ye's neck.

In the next second, he pressed Lin Ye's head down, and then gently pressed his forehead against Lin Ye's forehead.Using the ancient forehead sticking ceremony handed down from Qian Jiang Wushangling Village, I sent a welcome symbolizing a beautiful meaning to Lin Ye's arrival.

"Lin Ye, long time no see."