The red-crowned crane said so optimistically, and Zou Xianci believed it. He also raised his brush and said excitedly, if you are the reincarnation of the big-headed cicada, please accept my worship. Thanks to your secret help, I was admitted to the art school in the provincial capital. It would be unworthy of a gentleman to know a favor but not repay it.
You don't have to be polite. The red-crowned crane flapped its wings like snowflakes and said, I help you to repay your kindness! It would be best for us to keep this matter to ourselves.
Okay, I won’t say anything anymore. Since the big-headed cicada has been reincarnated as a red-crowned crane, from today on, I will no longer draw cicadas, but only red-crowned cranes. Zou Xianci stared at the angelically beautiful red-crowned crane in front of him, and he was really ready to paint it, so he said this.
You don't have to draw me. I am not looking for you today to ask you to draw my appearance. I have something to ask you. So said the red-crowned crane.
What's up? As long as I can do it, I will do it. Zou Xianci put down his brush, clenched his fist and said firmly.
There is a deserted lake in the south of the Yangtze River. There is a deserted island in the lake, where many migratory birds live. Many people secretly shoot the birds with shotguns, but no one protects them. The red-crowned crane spoke melancholy with its small round eyes.
Zou Xian said "Oh", but before he could answer, he saw the red-crowned crane taking off with its wings spread out, its shadow as white as snow flakes blending into the sky. Zou Xianci watched it chase for a few steps, but his foot missed the mark and he fell awake. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying on the bamboo bed. He sat up, wiped the saliva from his mouth, and quietly thought about the scene in his dream and what the red-crowned crane said.
Where is the deserted lake in the south of the Yangtze River? He wanted to find out. When he went out to inquire, someone looked at him and said, "There are many deserted lakes in the south of the Yangtze River. Which one are you looking for?" Zou Xianci couldn't answer. After all, it was a dream and he didn't know whether it was true or false. He almost lost the confidence to ask about it.
Just as he was returning, before he reached the door of his home, he heard the chirping of birds, so loud, one, two, three times. He looked up following the sound and saw a red-crowned crane hovering above his head, exactly the same as what he had seen in his dream. , is flapping its snowflake-like wings gracefully.
Zou Xianci raised his voice and asked, "Red-crowned crane, if you are the one I dreamed of, please lead the way for me!" I don’t know where the deserted lake in Jiangnan is. Some people say that there are many deserted lakes in the south of the Yangtze River. Even if I find one, I don’t know if it is the place you told me in your dream. So I hope you will lead the way, otherwise, I really can’t find it.
The red-crowned crane hovering overhead made a cry similar to that of a white goose. Maybe it was answering, but Zou Xianci couldn't understand it because it didn't speak human language at all like it did in the dream.
Zou Xianci looked at it eagerly and said, "I can't understand the bird song you are talking about, so stop talking and lead the way with me!" Take me to the deserted lake in the south of the Yangtze River you mentioned to see if there is anyone shooting birds with a shotgun.
The red-crowned crane could understand his words, and with a cry of "chirp-", it immediately stretched its slender neck to the south, and then slowly flew forward, as if a white flag flying in the sky was giving him guidance. right direction.
At this time, whatever direction the red-crowned crane was flying in the sky, Zou Xianci was walking on the ground in that direction. After walking and walking, he arrived at a city in the south of the Yangtze River.
The red-crowned crane watched him from the sky and gave him accurate navigation. Zou Xianci passed through the city again and reached the outskirts of the city. In front of him was the Yangtze River, which was impassable.
Zou Xianci took a boat to the other side, jumped over the side of the boat and landed. When he looked at the sky again, he saw the red-crowned crane flying very high, gradually disappearing into the clouds and disappearing.
He continued to stare at the sky, hoping that the red-crowned crane would appear. Even when his neck felt a little sore, he did not lower his head.
Suddenly, he felt someone slap him on the back. Zou Xianci looked away from the sky and turned around to see a pockmarked man holding a shotgun. He stared at Zou Xianci and asked, "What are you looking at?" young man. Zou Xianci said, I looked at the red-crowned crane in the sky, but for some reason it suddenly disappeared.
oh! I also found the red-crowned crane. It was flying in the sky and disappeared for some reason. I was taking a shotgun and preparing to shoot birds on the deserted lake 4 kilometers away. Unexpectedly, I saw a red-crowned crane flying over from the sky in the north of the Yangtze River. I planned to wait until it flew a little lower and then wait for an opportunity to shoot it. Unexpectedly, it never stopped. Flying low seems to have discovered me, but now I don’t even have a shadow. When the pockmarked man said this, he asked with a confused look on his face, why are you looking at it so intently with your bare hands and not hunting it?
When Zou Xianci saw that he was dressed as a hunter, he had no good impression of him, so he asked rhetorically, is there anything wrong with me looking so intently at the red-crowned crane flying in the sky? He also thought of what the red-crowned crane said in his dream. There were many people hunting birds on the deserted island in the deserted lake, and the pockmarked man in front of him was one of them. No wonder the red-crowned crane in the sky disappeared without a trace. It turned out that it had discovered this particularly insidious hunter with a shotgun.
After thinking about it like this, Zou Xianci softened his tone and advised, "Uncle, the red-crowned crane is a national first-level protected animal and cannot be hunted." The pockmarked man sneered and said that even if it is a nationally protected animal, I still dare to hunt it. If I catch it, I will be considered unlucky. If I don’t, I will be considered lucky. I'm going to the deserted lake to hunt birds. Who can stop me?
Zou Xianci really couldn't do anything about the pockmarked man, so he followed him to see what the deserted lake described by the red-crowned crane in his dream looked like.
There is a city in the south of Jiangnan, which the locals call Nancheng for short. In a park in Nancheng, an old man with a pale face was doing Tai Chi. His movements were very slow, even slower than the slow motion on TV. It was so slow that only patient outsiders were willing to watch quietly.
At this moment, there was indeed a man standing at the entrance of the park looking at the old man doing exercise. He remained silent and held a net bag in his hand. Inside was a heavy package of things wrapped in newspapers. What was it? Outsiders don't know, only he himself knows.
This person was none other than the pockmarked man Zou Xianci met last time. He stared at the old man who was doing Tai Chi, not with patience or curiosity, but with purpose.
When the old man finished his exercise, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, picked up the shiny oily crutches placed on the grass, and walked out of the park step by step to the park gate. The pockmarked man quickly came up to him and started chatting with him with a smile on his face, "Hello, old man!"
The old man stopped and asked, "What's the matter?" The pock-marked man said, I often see you playing Tai Chi in the park. Of course it is good for you to exercise, but I found that your complexion is not very good, and your eyes are a little yellow. I feel that you may have some minor illness, or you may not pay attention to nutrition. . As he spoke, he opened a package wrapped in newspaper in his net pocket - ten dead wild ducks for the old man to see. He also said that this is pure game, rich in nutrients and can replenish the body. Seeing that you are so old, I want to sell it cheaply. for you.
Unexpectedly, the old man kept shaking his head, saying no. He walked on crutches. The pockmarked man followed him and said, "Old man, buy it!" This is a wild duck brought from the deserted lake. The old man shook his hand and said that I was a vegetarian and would not even eat domestic ducks, let alone wild ducks. The pockmarked man squatted down in frustration, wrapped the dead wild ducks tightly in a net bag with newspapers, and carried them to another place for sale.
