Thunder 's Triumph in the Wilderness Chapter 9

The sun rose, and the rays of light were like a piece of colorful satin, slowly spreading out in the sky, mountains and forests. Old Grayson turned around and said goodbye to the other white elephants one by one. Their trunks entangled together for a long time, rubbing each other affectionately. The elephant's eyes were crystal clear, sparkling with tears. Old Grayson finally walked up to me and stretched his trunk to my face. Unfortunately, my nose was too short to entangle with his nose. On the tip of his nose, the scar torn by the evil tiger had not healed yet, and there were traces of blood. I held his nose with my hands and stroked it gently. Yes, he went to the grave because he was too old and was dominated by the natural law of life's decline. But if he had not fought with the evil tiger and was not bitten by the evil tiger, the candle of his life could have lasted for at least three to five months. In this sense, he came to the elephant tomb early to save me. My eyes were wet, and I hugged his neck and K!ssed his face.

After the farewell ceremony, the Old Grayson walked to the edge of the stone pit tremblingly, raised his trunk and let out a long roar towards the bright and dazzling morning sun that had just jumped out of the mountain. The morning light shone on his body, and he turned his head to look at us with reluctant eyes, then raised one of his front hooves and stepped forward. In front of him was a 5-meter-deep stone pit. As the elephant's hoof stepped into the air, his huge body tilted sideways and slid down the steep pit wall, with mud and sand rolling down. The pit wall looked like a waterfall, and a mushroom-shaped cloud of dust gushed up from the bottom of the pit. On the stone pit, six white elephants lowered their heads and noses, and there was a solemn silence. The elephants' attachment to life and calmness towards death really moved me. When the dust settled, I leaned over and saw the Old Grayson lying at the bottom of the pit, covered with a thick layer of mud and sand, with an elephant's skeleton accompanying it. It was still alive, but could no longer stand up.

Pilixiong led the white elephants around the pit three times, roaring as they walked, and held a mourning ceremony unique to the elephant society. Then, they went into the jungle, picked leaves, young bamboo, wild banana cores and various edible grasses, and threw them into the stone pit. The food was piled several feet high in front of Lao A'dai, enough for him to eat for ten days. Lao A'dai stayed at the bottom of the pit, using the food to fill his stomach, waiting for the god of death to take him away. Everything was arranged properly. At noon, Pilixiong led the elephants back along the original route. They knew how to keep secrets. The three adult elephants straightened the fallen thatch and straightened the crooked saplings as they walked, and rearranged the lifted kudzu vines. The huge corridor that the elephant team had drilled out of the bushes when they were marching was repaired and closed, and basically restored to its original state.

It was the morning of the third day when I returned to the rubber field. I was tired, sleepy and hungry and was eager to go home. I had not walked far when Thunder Pili caught up with me and blocked my way with his body. At first, I did not react. I thought it had a poisonous sting in its skin while crawling in the bushes and wanted me to help it remove it. I fumbled around on its body, looking for thorns, and it impatiently swung its nose to push my hand away. Its ears were flapping and clacking. Obviously, I misunderstood what it meant and it was restless.

I looked around in confusion, not understanding what was going on. It stood in front of me, pressing its trunk against my lips again and again and roaring. I tried my best to dodge, but my face was still smeared with a lot of fishy mucus secreted from the elephant's trunk. It was very much like the K!ss of lovers in love, but I knew that Thunder Pili would never be interested in playing the K!ssing game with me. He must be hinting at or telling me something he thinks is the most important. What exactly is it? I had a lot of guesses. He became more and more anxious, pushing and pulling me to the intersection of the elephant tomb, and his trunk was shaking like a pendulum.

I suddenly understood. Oh, after all this time, it was worried that I would spread the secret of the elephant graveyard. It wanted me to make some kind of promise not to do anything that would harm the interests of the white elephant family. I patted its nose and said, "I understand your thoughts. Don't worry, I'm not an ungrateful villain. I will never betray you." It stared at me with suspicious eyes, and puffed air from its mouth to express its distrust. In order to get rid of its entanglement as soon as possible and to completely dispel its suspicion, I grabbed its two tusks, pulled them to my chest and gestured, "Well, I swear that if I reveal the secret of the elephant graveyard and do something to let you down, I will let your tusks pierce two bloody holes in my body."

It slowly retreated to a small tree as thick as a bowl. Suddenly, it roared loudly and rolled the tree with its trunk. Its two tusks stuck into the soil like shovels. It twisted its neck hard and pulled the small tree up by the roots with a "whoosh". It threw the small tree in front of me provocatively. Its action was obviously the most severe warning to me. I couldn't help but feel a palpitation and a chill.

After that, I kept my promise to the big white elephant Pilixiong and kept the secret of the elephant tomb. About half a month later, Ah Xing from the village outside the mountain came to me and mentioned that his mother was seriously ill and was admitted to the hospital. He urgently needed hospital fees. Without the money, his mother could only go home and wait to die. I asked if I could help and lend him some money. At that time, I was in a difficult situation. I was an educated youth. How could I have enough money after earning a few work points? Although my parents were in Shanghai, they lived in poverty. How could a young man ask them for money? After Ah Xing left, I thought about it. The villagers in the village were so good to me, and Ah Xing's mother treated me like her own son. I She had stayed with me for three days and three nights when I was sick. How could I ignore her now that she was sick? But where could I get the money? Finally, I thought of the ivory of old Ah Dai buried in the elephant graveyard. An ordinary ivory is worth thousands of yuan. Among all Asian elephants, the ivory of white elephants is the best, and it is the best product for making ivory carvings. One ivory can be sold for thousands of yuan. If I dig it out, it can help Ah Xing out of her urgent need. I think the white elephant family should also understand my unjust act. After thinking it over again and again, I decided to go to the elephant graveyard and get two tusks. I once set up road signs with white gauze on the way to the elephant graveyard. It was not too difficult to follow the road signs. I found the elephant tomb again. The sun was setting in the west. A group of vultures were circling over the elephant tomb, making a series of hoarse and unpleasant chirps. Old Grayson had died a long time ago, eaten by packs of wild dogs, vultures and crows, leaving only a white skeleton. I bravely climbed down the stone pit, took one deep step and one shallow step to come to Old Grayson. I shook the ivory in its mouth. The two black eye sockets on the skull were facing me. Maybe it was my psychological effect, I felt a resentful and cold light in the eye sockets, as if silently condemning me as a despicable tomb robber. Old Grayson died early to save me from the cruel tiger. But I felt ashamed and guilty, and almost lost my courage. I took a few deep breaths to stabilize myself. I thought, once life is over, we will know nothing. This is true for humans and even more so for animals. These precious ivory, buried in the stone pit, corroded and rotted, is a pure waste of resources. What a pity! I picked up these ivory to let the treasure see the light of day again. It should be worth it to be able to make some contribution to mankind. Thinking of this, my courage increased suddenly, and I twisted hard and quickly removed the two tusks from the old fool's mouth. The two tusks weighed about fifty or sixty pounds, and I could barely carry them and walk.