Chapter 9: Encounter with Wolves
This was already Juzi's third escape, and it was also the farthest she had run since she started running away.
Last night, Juzi suddenly had a dream. She dreamed that her grandmother was standing on a hill at the entrance of the village, calling her name from afar. She wanted to turn around and answer her, but for some reason, her feet kept walking towards the woods, not listening to her commands at all.
She only heard her grandmother say, "I'm tired of waiting, please come back soon!"
Whenever Orange thought of this strange dream, his heart ached.
Grandma had protected her like the apple of her eye since she was a child, but now she had gone into the mountains and would never come back. Grandma's illness must be serious, and she might not be able to wait... Juzi wished she could grow wings and fly back to Banpo Village.
Although it was impossible for her to invite Lao Ba back, and she had no idea whether she could save grandma if she went back, she still wanted to escape.
She wants to return to Banpo Village alive. Only if she is alive can she uncover Lao Ba's den in the Mihun Valley and make sure that Lao Ba dies a miserable death!
Lao Ba had just returned from outside the mountain last night after transporting grain, oil and salt. She took advantage of Lao Ba's tiredness and ran out early this morning.
A few days ago, when Lao Ba was not around, she had already made all kinds of preparations for escape. She kept applying salt water to the wounds on her body, hoping that they would heal quickly. She also stole a few matches and two steamed buns from the mute several times. When she went out this morning, Juzi pulled a few unripe tobacco gourds from the opium field. On the one hand, she could boil water for her grandmother to drink when she got home, and it was said that it could also cure diseases; on the other hand, it was to prevent herself from getting addicted to smoking on the way.
Then, Juzi carefully checked the traps and snares around the shack, and marked each one so that only she could understand. She counted them, and there were five traps and two snares in total. But there were still some that could not be found. I heard from Shadiuer's mother that Lao Ba was an old hunter, and the traps he set were not visible to ordinary people.
Juzi deliberately walked back and forth along the edge of the woods, wading out a few safe paths with his feet, and planned to take these paths when he escaped.
When she was walking on these roads, Juzi's feet were caught by the rope twice, but it was thanks to Shadiu'er's mother who helped her. She could see that Shadiu'er's mother was trying to help her. Although she herself had long lost confidence in escaping, she was still willing to let Juzi go through this, as if doing so would give her a little comfort in her despair.
As soon as Lao Ba came back, he went to inspect the opium fields. He was very dissatisfied with the work done by everyone, so he stood at the edge of the field and cursed, then went back to sleep in his shack. It took several days and nights to go out of the mountains, which was really hard for an old man like him.
At this moment, Juzi's eyes and ears were as sharp as the big black dog at home. She guessed that Lao Ba must be sleeping like a dead pig, and she was so excited that she wanted to shout. The opportunity finally came!
Juzi didn't sleep well that night. When the howling of the wild animals on the mountain quieted down, she quietly got up and slipped out of the shack. If everything went well, she could be home in the afternoon. This thought made Juzi feel full of energy and her courage swelled.
When it was dark enough to just see the shadows of the trees in the woods, she ran into the woods along the path she had passed countless times. The shadow of the shack behind her soon disappeared into the trees.
Her heart was beating out of her throat, and her feet felt like they were equipped with Hot Wheels. The soles of her old rubber shoes seemed to leave the ground and fly over the grass.
I looked around and realized, oh my god, this is the first time I’ve run so far!
Orange was greatly encouraged and her steps became lighter... As she ran, she made marks on the trees. She thought that if she saw the marks she made later, it would mean that she was lost, and she must never run to a marked place again!
But she had just walked a short distance when she felt something was wrong: How could she leave marks behind her? Wouldn't that leave a map for Lao Ba? After dawn, Lao Ba could easily catch her by following these marks.
Thinking of this, Orange never dared to break those pine branches again.
Fortunately, she was able to part the bushes ahead, weaving in and out of them, moving forward without stopping. As long as she could move forward, there was hope!
Suddenly, Juzi tripped and when she looked down, she saw a horrible sight. Small piles of bones were scattered in the grass, some of which were still very fresh.
Occasionally, one or two skeletons would appear, staring at her with their dull black eyes, empty and hollow.
Juzi felt difficulty breathing, and her hands and feet were weak. She carefully walked around the bones, trying to find a place to pass through, but suddenly she smelled a strange, foul and smelly odor, a bit like the smell in the sheep pen or pig pen at home.
Juzi looked up suddenly and was stunned: she saw a yellow-haired old wolf sitting in the bushes in front of her. The wolf was as big as a half-grown calf! The old wolf was sitting on a slightly higher place like a mighty king, with his eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of fierceness. His big pointed mouth was raised high, and a piece of white hair on his chin pierced Juzi's eyes in the sun, making her feel frightened.
Orange's feet suddenly seemed to have taken root and were stuck in the same place, unable to move.
There must be a wolf den ahead! Juzi had heard from Shadiuer's mother a long time ago that there was a big wolf den in this forest, with dozens or even hundreds of wolves, who would come out at night.
Lao Ba often fed the wild beasts with human flesh in order to seek peaceful coexistence. Now, she finally ran into them, and this time it was very dangerous!
The old wolf, who looked like a human and was sitting solemnly, was the sentinel at the gate of the mountain stronghold. She even vaguely saw a few wolf cubs playing in the grass in the forest behind the "sentinel" old wolf.
Orange knew that if he accidentally provoked the old wolf today, as long as it roared, a large group of wolves would come at his beck and call... Orange would have no chance of escaping their encirclement.
Juzi backed away slowly, step by step, trying to keep her face calm, but her legs were shaking uncontrollably and she couldn't stand steadily.
She saw the old wolf slowly stand up, as if hesitating whether to rush up to fight the intruder.
It even turned its head back, as if giving a wink or a signal to the wolves in the forest. Orange's heart immediately jumped to his throat...
Finally, her hand touched a big tree behind her, and she quickly dodged and hid behind the tree, but her eyes were still fixed on the old wolf, fearing that it would jump up from behind and pat her shoulder when she was not paying attention, and then tear her apart without mercy.
This is the habit of wolves. They are more insidious than foxes and like to attack humans and animals in secret.
The yellow wolf did not rush forward. It stood still, defending its territory and refusing to give an inch. It seemed that it had no intention of taking the initiative to attack.
Juzi remembered what Shadiuer's mother said, that Lao Ba bribed the wolves in the mountain with human flesh, so only he could come and go freely in the wolf's territory.
At this moment, Juzi no longer thought that Shadiuer's words were complete nonsense.
Now they could only avoid this place and find another way out. Juzi quietly walked more than ten meters away, and then, using the cover of the bushes, ran desperately towards the side of the wolf's den. She was really afraid that the old wolf would come to his senses and chase her again!
Finally, she climbed over a hill and slowed down, but she didn't dare to stop. She panted and looked around, trying to identify the surrounding scenery. Here was a small patch of birch trees, there were a few beauty pines. She wanted to remember the places she passed by.
But as she walked, the same scenery kept appearing, making it increasingly difficult for her to tell which places she had just walked through and which ones she had not been to.
The fog rose, and her heart tightened even more. She could not tell east from west, south from north, front from back, left from right.
Ever since she encountered the wolf's den, there seemed to be no road at all in the forest. She had to wriggle around in the gaps between the branches. This required her to keep changing directions, and in a short while, she no longer knew where to run.
Now, the fog had dissipated, and it seemed that Lao Ba's camp had been left behind by her again, but she was still confused about the direction.
Thinking of how Shadiuer's mother had escaped three times and returned three times by herself, Juzi's legs couldn't stop shaking. She really couldn't imagine what it would be like if she suddenly ran to Lao Ba without any armor, and how the bastard Lao Ba would torture her in various ways.
The crying and screaming sounds from the camp just now rang in her ears again. When she thought of Lao Ba torturing her in the dark shack, Juzi wished she could bang her head against a tree and die.
Suddenly, there was a crisp sound under her feet, and Juzi fell flat on her back without any preparation. She got up and saw another skeleton hidden in the grass, and she had just stepped on it and broken several ribs!
Looking again, oh my god, there was a large pile of bones in front of me, covering the entire forest. The bones were very old, as if they had been eroded by wind and sun for many years, and had become the same color as rotten leaves.
The round skeletons were looking around in the grass with their teeth bared, indicating that these people must have fallen down while trying hard to determine the direction before they died, just like Orange was doing now.
Orange was so frightened by the scene that she dared not make a sound, as if she was afraid of waking up the ghosts and getting them to harm her.
Could this be the Japanese devils or the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces that entered the Soul-Losing Valley and never left? Juzi had heard about this from the elders, but once she saw it in person, she was still scared out of her wits.
She slowly got up from the ground, was stunned for a moment, then ran away, falling countless times along the way. She didn't know how long she ran before she stopped to catch her breath.
Just as she wiped the sweat off her face with her sleeve, she looked up and saw a large field of brightly coloured poppies in the morning light...
At this moment, the enchanting poppy flowers looked like a pool of bright red blood in Orange's eyes, drowning the entire Mihun Valley and the entire Orange...
This Lost Valley is simply a huge maze, and it seems that this maze was set up by Lao Ba himself, and the layout is completely according to his wishes! Orange fell down with a "thump".
And just like that, the third escape attempt failed.
That night, Lao Ba called her over.
Juzi entered Lao Ba's shack with the intention of going to die. Unexpectedly, Lao Ba seemed to be in a good mood. He handed the pipe to Juzi, but she blocked it with one hand. He just asked her how her cultivation was going recently? Was she used to the life in the mountains? She drooped her eyelids, listened to Lao Ba smoking his pipe, and guessed what Lao Ba would do to her next after putting down the pipe, and her heart beat like a crazy rabbit.
This time, Lao Ba didn't hang her up. He just blindfolded her and made her lie on his lap to eat the soft, mushy stuff. He panted like an old cow and asked her hysterically, "Is it delicious? Is it delicious?"
Juzi wanted to bite off his vital organ, then bite off his dry throat and drink his blood! But she just thought about it to relieve the hatred in her heart, and finally did not dare to practice it seriously.
She relied on all kinds of bloody imaginations to maintain her emotions, and at least she didn't go crazy on the spot. But a thought flashed more and more clearly in her mind: Kill Lao Ba! Only by killing him can she and the other women have a hope of escaping. As long as Lao Ba is alive, there is no way for them to survive! Hurry up, before she is poisoned by Lao Ba like Dafeng and can't tell the difference between good and bad, loyalty and treachery.
Lao Ba's broken body finally stood up at the last moment. He hurriedly pushed her to the ground and vented his pent-up anger at lightning speed. Then he said to Juzi with satisfaction, "Go ahead. Come back tomorrow."
Come back tomorrow ? You may not be alive before tomorrow!
Juzi gritted his teeth in his heart, his face as calm as death.
She walked backwards out of the shack and spat several times on the ground: "Bah... old bitch!" She felt that her mouth was so dirty that she wanted to cut off her tongue and feed it to the wolves! Juzi plucked a handful of weed leaves from the bushes and stuffed them into her mouth and chewed them vigorously. The bitter, astringent, numb and spicy leaves made her vomit.
After vomiting, she grabbed another handful and stuffed it into her mouth with tears in her eyes. She suppressed her nausea and chewed it madly, then vomited it all out. Only then did she expel a long breath of foul air from her lungs.
Kill Lao Ba! This thought has never tortured Juzi so strongly as it does now.
But who can help her in this matter?
When they returned to the shack, the women were already asleep. After Xiaoduo died, the straw bed they shared became much wider, and the terrifying sound of Xiaoduo's gnashing teeth in his dreams could no longer be heard. However, Juzi tossed and turned, thinking about her worries, and could not fall asleep.
Dafeng and the others' submissiveness and blind faith in Lao Ba made Juzi feel desperate from the bottom of her heart. These women believed in Lao Ba's "magic" and "curse" in the forest, so they gave up the idea of escaping.
But after Juzi escaped several times, she ran back in a daze, just like when Shadiu'er's mother escaped. This made Juzi feel from the bottom of her heart that she could not believe their words completely, but she could also not not believe them.
She must find a way to get out of the mountain, then kill Lao Ba and lead everyone back home.
The idea was made up, and Juzi felt relieved. She soon fell asleep sweetly amid the wolf's howling.
The days go by one by one.
As the autumn wind gradually rises, the poppy flowers on the mountain gradually fade, and the opium gourds have grown.
Now the women's task is to cut small holes on these tobacco gourds, and then wait for the white fluid that comes out of the wounds to solidify into small round beads, and then carefully pick them off with their fingernails. These are the raw materials for the "precious medicinal materials" that Lao Ba wants to harvest.
These days, the strange aroma of boiled tobacco paste began to waft over the mountain.
Lao Ba's trusted mute woman also began to get nervous, so Lao Ba handed over the most important production process to her - busy day and night with making finished products with the harvested tobacco pulp.
The work of cutting tobacco became more and more arduous every day. Juzi's hands were worn out again and again by the handle of the knife, and blood kept flowing down.
Looking at the endless fields of poppies, the countless small gourds were like stars in the sky, and it seemed that they would never be finished. Several women were so tired that they fell all over the place, and they snored as soon as their heads touched the straw mat at night.
But Lao Ba still called people according to his own life routine. As usual, the mute would come to the shack every night to "match couples", and Orange was called over more and more often.
Now, Lao Ba no longer bullies Ju Zi like he did the first time and abuses her to death, but his useless organ needs women to caress him in various ways, but it is still useless. Ju Zi has suffered countless humiliations for this. She often suddenly raises her head from Lao Ba's crotch and stares at his intoxicated look with her white eyes, wishing she could bite off the exposed blue veins on his neck and suck his blood and eat his flesh like a beast! She almost shouted out several times: "Sooner or later, I will kill you, you villain!"
The mute woman always came to call Juzi at night, which made Dafeng, who had always been in love with Lao Ba, feel threatened. She cursed at Juzi angrily and glared at her.
Every night when Juzi walked out of the shack, Dafeng would complain loudly behind her, deliberately letting her hear:
"She is getting closer and closer to heaven now. We have been here for such a long time, when will we be able to achieve the right result?"
"Hey! Don't you see that among us, who isn't dark and skinny, just a bag of bones? Juzi is white and plump, and looks cooler than us..." Shadiuer's mother sighed and continued the conversation, but Dafeng still shouted unwillingly:
"This bastard Lao Ba, is he a real god or a fake one? This god is quite picky..."
"Didn't you say he was the prince charming?" Shadiu'er's mother said with some sarcasm.
"I've told you before that Lao Ba is a liar, but you just don't believe it..." It was Lan Zi's voice.
“Shh…”
As Juzi listened to the women's discussions, she recalled what the people of Banpo Village said about Lao Ba.
People have always believed that Lao Ba is not an ordinary person, and these silly women followed him because of the so-called "immortal spirit" in Lao Ba. Lao Ba took advantage of these people's lack of brains to do evil so blatantly.
It seems that it is not so easy for her to deal with Lao Ba in front of these women. The mute woman and Dafeng alone will ruin her plan.
Juzi knew that she had to find a way to make them recognize Lao Ba's true face first.
After much hesitation, Juzi finally reached the door of Lao Ba's shack. Just as she was about to go in, she saw the mute woman standing behind a wooden pillar with a gloomy face. Her heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
Every time when he came back to Lao Ba's place, the mute woman would stand at the door of the shack and wait until she saw Juzi go in, and then she would leave.
As for where the mute woman was when Lao Ba was torturing her, and whether she heard all of Lao Ba's tricks clearly, Juzi didn't know.
She just felt that the mute's mood tonight was a little different from usual, as if he had a great resentment in his heart.
She wanted to greet the mute, but she didn't know what to say, and there was nothing to say. This woman who circled around Lao Ba day and night usually didn't show her emotions, and she couldn't speak, so no one could know what she was thinking.
Juzi suddenly thought of the relationship between Yaba and Lao Ba. She knew that Yaba was obsessed with Lao Ba to the point that he was willing to risk his life for him. Even when Lao Ba played with women day and night in front of her, she could calmly turn a blind eye.
Is the mute really not jealous at all and doesn't care at all? Orange was startled by this question. She raised her head and looked at the mute, and sure enough, she saw a distorted face.
Juzi got goosebumps all over his body and quickly bent down and entered Lao Ba's shack.
That night, Lao Ba seemed to be in a bad mood. With a gloomy face, he looked at Ju Zi's naked body for several times, and pinched here and there with his sharp nails, looking absent-minded.
Juzi had never looked at Lao Ba straight in the eye, but now she had a belief that influenced her, so she quietly observed for a long time and decided to take the initiative to talk to Lao Ba.
"Myna, is there something bothering you?" Juzi imitated Dafeng's voice and called out "Myna", feeling as uncomfortable as if he had chewed a grain of sand.
Lao Ba didn't say anything, just glanced at her with the corner of his eye, and suddenly applied force with his nails. Juzi was caught off guard and screamed in pain, and immediately bit her lip.
"You little devil, have you finally come to your senses?" Lao Ba's words didn't sound like those of a "goddess". When Juzi was a child, she had listened to storytellers and those who had some knowledge of Taoism didn't talk like that. On what basis did Dafeng and the others believe that Lao Ba was the "goddess" who could lead them to heaven? Could it be that he had a different tone when he spoke to Dafeng and the others?
An idea slowly took shape in Orange's mind.
The next day, when Lao Ba called Juzi over again, several women, led by Sha Diu'er's mother, followed Juzi's instructions and quietly followed Lao Ba's shack, hiding in the bushes to "eavesdrop on what was going on," just like eavesdropping on the conversation of a bride and groom in the village. Juzi wanted the women to recognize Lao Ba's true colors so that she could convince them to join her in dealing with him.
Juzi suppressed her heartbeat and walked into the shack. She knew that at this moment, through the cracks in the straw shed, several women were staring at her and Lao Ba! As soon as Juzi entered, she deliberately teased Lao Ba to say dirty words, but Lao Ba suddenly stopped talking and just kept torturing her in different ways.
What the women outside the shack heard was no different from what they heard in Lao Ba's shack. In this way, Juzi's "rebellion plan" was ruined by Lao Ba again.
Back in the shack, none of the women said anything. Only Dafeng was mumbling, "What's the point? Let's listen to how Lao Ba played tricks on her, trying to make others jealous? What a joke! If I knew what was going on, I wouldn't go! It's really disgusting..."
"Okay! Stop making things worse!" Shadiu's mother finally couldn't help but retort to Dafeng. The shack was completely silent.
Despite this setback, Juzi still didn't give up, and she secretly made a plan to follow Lao Ba. This time she didn't want to alarm anyone, she had lost confidence in these numb women, she wanted to do it alone!
Finally she made up her mind. The old lady made up her mind and left the village without hesitation. Turning the corner of the mountain on the north side of the village, she entered the dark old forest.
If you walk a little further into the forest, you will soon reach the so-called "Valley of Confusion".
Except for the first day when she followed the whole village here to call back the souls of Xiaoduo and Juzi, it was her first time to return to this place that the people of Banpo considered taboo .
I have lived in Banpo Village for most of my life. Which mountain have I not climbed? Which forest have I not entered? But the strange thing is that I have never been to this place! This is all because of the legend about "Ghost Valley".
For women of her generation, they were told by adults when they were young and by men after they got married what they were not allowed to do and where they were not allowed to go. They would never break these rules without permission.
Although her heart was beating a little fast, she was not scared to the point of stopping. She couldn't come here in vain, she had to find the path that led the orange to the mountain, and the child would definitely leave a mark behind.
What she was most anxious to find out was what in the forest had fascinated her son Gou Dan'er recently...
Usually sitting in her own yard and looking at Beishanzui from afar, she had imagined the situation in this forest countless times.
After entering the forest, she realized that this place was completely different from what she had imagined. This forest was not like other forests, with neat trees and evenly spaced shrubs in the middle. The trees here were so thick that several people could not hug them, and a large tree could cover the ground for dozens of meters. There were densely packed fallen trees everywhere, covered with green moss, so rotten that it felt like stepping on tofu when you stepped on them.
She looked around hesitantly for a while, undecided about where to go, feeling like she had nowhere to go.
This place is indeed a good place to pick mushrooms. The rotten wood that has been rotting for who knows how many years is full of various mushrooms, and you can't pick them all. No wonder there are always people in the village who come here regardless of the danger!
Mother Orange carefully identified the path in the woods, but to her disappointment, she had no clue at all.
Maybe Juzi and the others left in a hurry, leaving no footprints or marks. Even Goudan often came to play secretly, but he left no trace. Erzhuzi's father also came in, and he hasn't gone back yet. Where did he go now?
The woman sat down on a piece of rotten wood with weak legs and feet. The wood was not rotten enough to be poked with a hole. Next to her buttocks grew a bunch of small yellow elm mushrooms, light yellow, watery and transparent like glass. She carefully picked the mushrooms with her hands, put them under her nose and smelled them. What a fragrance!
After the fragrance, she suddenly felt that the mushrooms were smelly again, so foul that it made her feel nauseous.
She threw the mushrooms far away, but the stench became stronger and stronger.
She sniffed in disgust and found that the stench came from the rotten wood under her butt.
She slid down from where she was sitting, walked to one end of the fallen log, bent down and took a look. She saw that the hollow heart of the fallen log was stuffed with some strange things.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a corpse! There was very little flesh left on the body, and there were several black holes on the face. It was clearly a skeleton, and one of its arms was missing.
Mom Orange suddenly remembered the human arm that the big black dog brought back.
She felt extremely frightened and suddenly shouted hysterically towards the woods:
"Goudan! Goudan! Where are you?"
No one responded in the woods. Only the sound she made caused waves of echoes among the mountains and forests. "Buzz...buzz...buzz". The woman felt that every hair on her body stood up.
Lying on the soft lichen, Goudan stretched out his arms and legs to face the sunlight that filtered through the branches and leaves, like strands of broken gold, and felt very happy.
He squinted his innocent eyes, and the dense leaves were deformed in the halo, becoming strange and interesting, swaying slightly in front of him.
Goudan was immersed in his own fantasy, with a look of satisfaction on his face, like that of a suckling baby.
For more than 20 years, Goudan's parents, grandmother and sister have always treated him as a child, and Goudan himself also felt like a child.
So, until a few days ago, he had been content with the happiness of being a child.
But that afternoon, something in his life was suddenly awakened. Now, his originally quiet heart often felt restless, making him want to do something, but he had no idea what to do or how to do it.
According to Goudan's character, he would not come to this forest alone. This place that adults were afraid of made Goudan feel scared.
That noon, Goudan was wandering around the village bored, when he saw Erzhuzi and his mute woman leaving the village and walking into the forest where few people went.
Curiosity is a child's nature. Although Goudan is over 20 years old, he still maintains this precious curiosity. He sneakily followed the two people up the mountain.
Erzhuzi was a short man, one of his legs seemed to be a little short, he swayed with every step, and he jumped up and down. But his woman was tall, white and plump, she swayed her waist when she walked, which made Goudan feel a little itchy in his heart, he couldn't explain why.
The light in the woods was getting dimmer and the road was becoming more and more difficult to walk on.
Goudan followed them, not knowing how far they had walked, until they gradually disappeared from view. All he could hear was Shaerzhuzi's "hehe" laughter coming from behind the dense bushes, as if someone was tickling him.
Goudan thought that Erzhuzi must have found a big ginseng, or picked up a bunch of good mushrooms. Otherwise, what was there to be so happy about?
Goudan pushed aside the bushes blocking his way, climbed up a small hill, looked down, and was immediately stunned.
A white thing was rolling in the green grass, and Erzhuzi's silly laughter came from under the white thing.
Goudan suddenly felt as if he was electrocuted and his whole body shook. He saw two big white breasts suddenly fluttering up from the grass. The big purple nipples on them made Goudan think of his mother at an inappropriate time.
Goudan couldn't see the crazy woman's face clearly. He just felt that the white flesh was so dazzling that it made his heart suddenly beat around in his chest like a little rabbit.
Goudan was completely frozen in the bushes, unable to move. His eyes and mouth were wide open, and sticky saliva was flowing onto his shirt without him noticing...
Later, after an unknown amount of time, Goudan saw the fat, white, dumb woman slowly crawling up. She searched for her clothes in the bushes and put them on one by one. But Erzhuzi was still lying on the ground and refused to get up.
...Now, Goudan was lying in the forest in a daze, and in front of him was the grassy area below the hillside. The scene that day took place on that green area, and Goudan remembered it clearly.
Since that day, he couldn't help running into the woods often.
But now Goudan was very puzzled: why did the two people, one white and one black, never appear again? Watching them playing in the bushes gave Goudan the happiest feeling in his life, and he could never forget that scene.
At the moment, he could not see the scene he hoped for, and he had an inexplicable worry in his heart, like a worm crawling inside, wanting to scratch it but couldn't, wanting to catch it but couldn't, and he felt completely lost.
Just then, he suddenly heard his mother calling his name in the woods:
"Goudan! Goudan!"
"Mom! Mom! Mom..." Goudan, who was frightened, suddenly showed his childish nature. He immediately responded, got up and ran towards his mother.
