In the old houses of Kagawa Castle, lattice doors were erected in front of the main hall as soon as winter came, and they were not removed until the chilly spring weather subsided. My family was especially late in removing them, because during the transition between winter and spring, there were always strangers visiting outside the lattice doors. At these times, my grandfather would come out in person to entertain them. Although he greeted them very politely, he never invited these guests in. This situation lasted until early April, so the green onion-colored early spring scenery in my childhood memories was always embedded in the window panes with patterns such as bat squares and swastikas.
But whenever I asked about it, my family would always say in confusion that they had never encountered such a thing. If they were guests, they should have knocked on the door. Besides, the lattice door was obviously not closed during the day after the spring. Only my grandfather would take a sip of tea slowly and shake his head in a serious manner: "It's not something that can be told to outsiders… Got it, Fire Wing, Ice Fin!"
Although my father is a real twin, Bingfin and I are often regarded as twins. In fact, I was born a month earlier than him. This is because my grandfather followed the weird old rules and made us both wear ear-length hair, old-fashioned clothes, and call each other by our very difficult nicknames. If we violated these rules, my grandfather, who was usually very gentle, would fly into a rage, like a different person. It is said that elderly people have the same temper as children, and this is absolutely true.
But later we realized that there was a reason for grandfather's rules…
I remember when I was a kid, in the early spring afternoons, I hated taking naps and often sneaked into the study after Bingfin fell asleep to pester my grandfather to tell me stories. At this time of year, the sunflower outside the sunny window was covered with fluffy light pink balls, and a refreshing citrus-like fragrance wafted from the dark green leaves with gold edges. My grandfather always sat leisurely under the mottled shadows of the flowers, with a wisp of tea smoke rippling in front of him. In the warm sunshine, I ate candies and cakes while listening to stories, and I fell asleep on my grandfather's lap.
But there are exceptions. I remember it was the day before the Flower Festival. When I came to the study, I found that Bingfin, the sleepyhead, had arrived before me. He was leaning on his grandfather's left hand, as if he had suffered a great injustice. When I saw him, I immediately frowned – he deserved it, because he had soiled my new clothes!
In order to go out for an outing tomorrow, my mother specially sewed two small jackets with lion patterns for us. After starching them and hanging them to dry yesterday, I found that they were all splattered with blue ink this morning. How can I wear them out? Thinking back, Bingfin was playing with my grandmother's tongcao flower dye last night. There was no one else, so it must have been him who splashed it! Seeing that the new clothes had turned out like this, I immediately pulled my aunt over. My aunt frowned and looked at them carefully for a while, then scolded Bingfin severely.
Bingfin suffered a loss, so of course he would not let it go. But it was useless even if he complained to his grandfather, because he was obviously in the wrong!
I was about to list Bing Fin's crimes, but Grandfather waved over here, so I had no choice but to move to his right side. Grandfather couldn't help laughing when he saw me like that. He held me up with one hand and Bing Fin up with the other: "Hey…you two can't quarrel anymore! Come on, hold hands!"
I shook my hands vigorously to protest, but under the threat of "I won't like you if we don't make peace", I had to hold Bingfin reluctantly. But as soon as I touched his hand, I felt it was rough. I shook him off and looked down, and even my fingers were black. Where did this guy go just now? His hands were full of dust! In the face of my dissatisfaction, Bingfin seemed to have forgotten the scolding just now, and kept smiling foolishly.
"You guys, this won't do!" Grandfather smiled helplessly and tried to mediate again, "Until I say yes, you must hold hands like this, and never let go no matter what happens! Otherwise, I will tell you the story of chopsticks a hundred times!"
I quickly clenched my ice fins – I really like my grandfather's stories, but the one about chopsticks is an exception! My grandfather has told the story of a chopstick and a pair of chopsticks seven or eight hundred times! At the end, he always says "brothers are united, eat pears with tendons". I don't know why adults have such strange tastes. I don't think pears with tendons are delicious!
For the sake of immediate benefits, I hurriedly showed a friendly attitude to Bingfin. Seeing how "harmonious" we were, my grandfather was satisfied and began to tell a story. He said that among the guests outside the lattice door, there was a person who particularly liked to eat his nails. If you meet this guest, don't invite him in. It's easy to identify this guest – his nails are different from others…
Grandfather's stories today were particularly boring, and they made us sleepy. Seeing that we were distracted, Grandfather sent us out to play. I was still angry about the new clothes, and I didn't want to be with Bingfin at all, but I didn't hear Grandfather say that we could let go, so I had to keep shrug and ignore him. But today this stubborn guy was a little strange. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye and he was still grinning. I don't know what's wrong with him.
Just like that, Bingfin and I awkwardly walked to the main room. This usually warm and bright room was now gloomy and cold. I don't know why, the lattice door was closed tightly in broad daylight. But even so, it shouldn't be so dark. It's a sunny afternoon now, why is it as dark as evening? Has the weather changed? If it's cloudy now, there will be strong winds tomorrow during the Flower Festival!
I looked up in confusion, but suddenly found my mother standing outside the dark lattice window, with the gray sky behind her; she didn't say anything, just smiled and leaned over the window pane. Maybe my mother was holding something so she couldn't free her hands to open the door! I hurried to help, but I was held back – I couldn't let go of the hand holding Bing Fin!
I couldn't open the tall and heavy door with one hand, but I couldn't let my mother stand outside the door, so I shouted anxiously, "Mom, can you come in by yourself?"
"If you say so, I'll come in!" I heard a rustling sound. It might be that my mother was putting down something to catch the wind. When the strange sound stopped, my mother put her hand on the lattice and pushed the door. At that moment, I saw an indigo shadow flash by…
The central door creaked open to both sides, and the bright green light suddenly lit up my eyes – it was a sunny day, why did it look gloomy when I looked through the window pane just now? But I couldn't care less for the moment, because my mother stood outside the door and opened her arms to me: "Come… walk with me!"
Let's go outing today! I immediately ran towards my mother, cheering, and even forgot about the new clothes. But Bingfin was like a nail on the ground and refused to move. He must be jealous of my mother taking me out to play, so he deliberately went against me! Although I really wanted to let him go and leave him alone at home, my grandfather always found out that we didn't obey his instructions. If we were to be exposed again this time, I'm afraid that the story of chopsticks and the story of the nail-eating guest would bombard me one after another…
Seeing that I didn't come over, my mother got a little anxious. She paced outside the door for a few times, and finally stepped over the threshold carefully as if she was afraid of falling. She also stretched out her toes and touched the ground, just like walking on muddy ground. After making sure everything was normal, she walked over quickly, hugged me with one hand and Bingfin with the other. So she wanted to take us with her! Although I was very angry that Bingfin had soiled my new clothes, it was really not fun to go outing alone. Thinking of this, I shook Bingfin's hand, turned around and made a face at him to show forgiveness, but he still smiled foolishly, not realizing my magnanimity at all.
But what puzzled me even more was the look on my mother's face. She picked us up gently, but didn't walk out the door. Instead, she looked around and put us down again. "What should I do… I can't take us away…" My mother muttered in a low voice and changed direction, but picked up Bingfin alone. Just as I was wondering, my mother left him and picked me up again. Before I could sit firmly in her arms, my mother put me down again, turned around and looked left and right for a long time, and still picked up both of us. I thought that after so much trouble, I could finally go out this time, but I didn't expect that my mother would still put us down in annoyance, looking around in a dilemma: "No, there are three of us…"
"Hurry up, Mom! It will be dark if you don't go out now!" I was in a hurry to go for an outing and couldn't help shaking my mother's wrist with my empty hand, but my attention was attracted by a blue shadow. No wonder there was a blue light when I opened the door just now – I am very familiar with my mother's hands. When did she get indigo nails on her fingertips?
"Mom's nails are ugly! I don't like them!" My wish to go out was not met, and I immediately complained loudly, thinking that I couldn't hold the cucumber but the gourd.
“I don’t like it…” Mom’s expression was already very anxious, and now she looked even more anxious. She kept repeating fragmented sentences, “What should I do? I don’t like me… I can’t take me away…”
Why is mom talking so confusingly today? I unconsciously increased the strength of my fingers clenching the ice fins, and my eyes couldn't help but follow the strange blue nails, watching them stop at mom's lips…
Click, click, click… click, click… a strange sound was heard, and a strand of indigo thread fell from the corner of my mother's mouth, gradually falling onto the clothes in front of her chest, gradually turning into a pool of dark blue water stains, which continued to spread…
It turns out that I blamed Bingfin wrongly – because these water stains were the blue ink that splashed on the two new jackets!
Click-click…click-click…accompanied by this strange sound, my mother approached us again. From a close distance, I could see clearly what the blue line was – my mother was biting her nails, and dark blue blood was flowing from the fingertips that were bitten by the line!
Not only the nails, "Mom"'s face also turned blue. Is that because the color of blood is indigo?
——There is a guest who likes to eat her nails. Don’t let her in… It’s easy to tell her apart because her nails are different from others… She has a unique——
Blue nails!
Why didn’t I remember it just now – in the story that I had been listening to, the forbidden guest my grandfather mentioned had indigo nails!
I was so scared that I tried to run, but Bingfin seemed to be completely stunned. He just stood there with a silly smile on his face, holding my hand tightly, and didn't move! Seeing the "mother" with green nails getting closer and closer, I cried anxiously: "You are not my mother!"
Upon hearing this, "Mom" immediately stopped biting her nails and rushed over to hug us: "It's Mom! Follow Mom…" Then she picked up Bingfin. The surroundings suddenly became dark, and the cold wind blew into my neck. My eyes, which were dazzled by the gray sand, finally saw clearly – it was not the weather that changed at all, but the huge green flesh wings behind "Mom" that covered the clear sky, and the wind from the gray wings blew the main room into a mess!
What should I do? Bingfin…will definitely be caught by Qingjian!
I cried and clenched Bingfin's fingers tightly – I can't let go even if I'm taken to the sky with him! My grandfather said that no matter what happens, I must never let go!
They all closed their eyes and left everything to fate, but something unexpected happened – the "mother" with blue nails dropped the ice fin again, just like when she first entered the house! Her face turned blue, she flapped her wings like crazy and spun around, biting her nails hard, and blue water stains splashed all over her body: "What should I do? I can't hold it! Which one is mine? There are three…three babies!"
"Your baby is not here." In the chaotic dust, Bing Fin, with a silly smile, suddenly said, "Because you are Guhuo Bird."
The frantic expression froze on Qingzhi's face. At the same time, the strong wind from the giant wings stopped as if it had stepped on the emergency brake. The strange "mother" shrank rapidly as if it had lost its breath. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a large bird with indigo claws. From its short beak of the same color, it kept making sounds like grinding bones. The bird spread its wings and suddenly disappeared in the dazzling sunlight.
I didn't even bother to wipe the tears from my face. I was so surprised that I couldn't even close my mouth. Why did Qingzhi's "mother" suddenly change when she heard the words "Guhuo Bird"? Bingfin seemed to see through my doubts. He still smiled foolishly and said slowly: "Because that is her real 'name'!"
This is not Bing Fin's voice! When he called out "Guhuo Bird" just now, it was clearly – Grandfather's voice!
Before I could scream, the Bing Fin holding my hand gradually changed its appearance – how could I have mistaken it for a human? It was clearly a bamboo frame with thin paper pasted on it to make a lantern! The lantern looked like a fat boy sitting on a unicorn, smiling naively, just like Bing Fin's smile just now!
"Hey? Huoyi, why are you over there? Aren't we holding hands?" A familiar voice came over the colorful lights. I saw Bingfin's face covered with tears and mud, and he kept shouting in surprise, asking me what's the use. I still want to know what's going on!
Somehow, Bingfin and I were holding the left and right hands of this paper boy respectively. No wonder Qingzhi said there were "three" babies in total!
Throwing away the lamp, Bingfin and I stuck out our tongues at each other and laughed – we must quickly go to the study to tell grandfather what had just happened: we really met the guest who couldn't be invited in, and the two of us drove her out together!
The afternoon sun was shining obliquely, and the air was filled with the fragrance of new grass. Under the eaves, my mother was taking away two new dresses with lion patterns. She frowned when she saw me.
"How can you lie?" Mom came over and tapped my forehead. "Your clothes are obviously clean, why did you complain to aunt that your brother made them dirty? If you bully your brother again, mom will not like you anymore!" I hugged my hands in front of my forehead and smiled foolishly, but mom would never guess why I was so happy – because her nails were not blue!
Just when I was smiling, I suddenly heard my aunt's scolding voice from inside the room: "Bingfin, come here! Look at what you have done to the room! You even took out your fertility lantern and told me not to go to the study!"
You are talking about the paper boy just now! From where I am, he has indeed turned into Bingfin; but from where Bingfin is, it is clear that I look like Guishihei or Guhuo Bird ! "Why isn't it my fertility lantern?" I protested with some dissatisfaction.
My mother packed her clothes and walked quickly into the house, answering me casually, "Because you are a girl, that is the Qilin Fertility Lantern." Although she almost lost her legs when she saw the mess in the main hall, she still tried to comfort my aunt, "Changxia, maybe grandpa just passed away, and the children missed him, so they dug out the Lantern Festival gifts he gave them…"
"But grandpa was just telling us a story!" Bingfin pulled me back to the main room and argued unconvinced.
"Look, Xun, this kid is talking too much!" Auntie said as she slapped Bingfin on the head. She looked delicate but had a hot temper. Mom rushed over to persuade her, which made Auntie even angrier: "Nonsense kid, let the owl catch you!"
"It's the Guhuo Bird! The Guhuo Bird with green nails!" I reminded loudly from behind. Seeing my mother and aunt's surprised and annoyed expressions, Bingfin and I made faces at my grandfather who was standing silently at the door of the study. My grandfather smiled slightly and hid in the shadow of the flowers under the south window. His expression was so proud!
Guhuo Bird, also known as the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, the hidden flying bird, the night-walking girl, etc., likes to steal people's children and raise them as her own. When patrolling at night, she saw children's clothes drying outside, and she used blood spots to mark them, so families with children were not allowed to dry their children's clothes at night.
"Blue Nails"