They walked slowly in the wind and snow. He and she, they were two wolves. He was large and sturdy, with spirited eyes and strong, powerful teeth and claws. She, on the other hand, was completely different—small and delicate, with a black nose and eyes that were always moist, carrying a kind of hazy mist like a soft southern breeze. His style was like the mountains; hers was like the water.
Just earlier, because she deliberately caused trouble, a rabbit had run away right in front of them.
He had won her over when he was still a young wolf. Then they depended on each other and lived together for a full nine years.
He was always scarred and weary from constant battles. And she, like a mischievous troublemaker, kept adding more problems for him outside of his natural enemies. In his rage, he plunged repeatedly into desperate situations, saving her from misfortune each time. At that time, he was like a fierce war god, no opponent could restrain him. Nearly all of his success and honors were created because of her. Without her willfulness, he would have been just an ordinary wolf.
As night gradually fell, he decided to get food to satisfy both her and himself as soon as possible.
It was very dark, and with the heavy wind and snow, as they walked toward a distant village where faint lights were visible below the mountain, of course, they could not find that well.
She was then watching a swirl in the snow, when a muffled thud came from somewhere underfoot. Only then did she realize he had disappeared from her sight. She ran to the well. There was a moment when he had fainted, but he soon woke up and immediately assessed his situation. He realized that he had only fallen into a dry well, and thought this was nothing serious.
He asked her to stand back, so she wouldn't get hurt when he jumped out of the well. She heard a confident deep breath from the bottom of the well, followed by two sharp scratching sounds coming from near to far, then the heavy thump of something falling.
His leap just now had soared over thirteen feet high, but he was still quite far from the well opening. She lay on the edge of the well, at first sobbing, and then could not stop and cried out loudly. She said, 'Wuwu, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have let that rabbit go.' From the bottom of the well, he laughed instead. He was amused by her tears…
Sometimes she stepped away from the well platform, then returned to its edge again.She always felt that during the time she was away, miracles were more likely to happen. She looked around there, hoping that by the time she returned to the edge of the well platform, he would already be standing there, sweating profusely, panting, and foolishly smiling at her. But he wasn't. At dawn, she left the well platform again and disappeared into the forest. \ When night fell, she returned to the well platform, exhausted. Throughout the entire day, she had only caught a squirrel that hadn't grown up yet. She saw that he was still busy there, working so hard that he was drenched in sweat. He was scraping the frozen soil off the well walls, claw by claw, collecting it, putting it under his feet, and stomping it down. He must have been working for a long time. His ten paws were completely split, constantly bleeding. \ She told him to rest for a while, and she would continue the work. At dawn, they stopped. They were satisfied with their work. But two boys from the village discovered them. \ They discovered him lying at the bottom of the well full of hope. Then they fired a shot at him in the well. He immediately fell and could not get up again. \ She returned here after the sun had set. But she did not approach the well platform. Under the clear night sky, she heard his howls. He was warning her to return to the forest, to stay far away from him; he had lost too much blood and could no longer stand. She heard his howls and lifted her head, howling towards the well platform. She was asking what had happened. He did not answer directly; he told her not to interfere, to leave immediately, to leave the well platform, leave him, and go deep into the forest. \ The two boys could not understand how those two wolves could howl and make sound, yet no shadows could be seen. But their confusion did not last long; she appeared. The two boys were stunned by her beauty. At first they just stood there, frozen, then one of them realized. The gunshot was muffled; she was like a clean breeze, disappearing into the forest. At the moment of the gunshot, he let out a long howl in the dry well. It was a howl of anger, a heart-rending howl. \ At dawn, the two boys could no longer stay awake and dozed off. At the same time, she approached the well platform; he lay there, immobile. She crawled onto the well platform, whining sharply, urging him to hold on; as long as he had a breath left, she would rescue him from this damned well.
The two boys later woke up. For the next two days, she kept wrestling with them. The two boys shot at her seven times in total, but none hit her. During those two days, he kept howling in the well.
But on the morning of the third day, their howling suddenly stopped. The two boys poked their heads down to look down. The wounded male wolf was already dead there. He had been killed by the ram, his head tilted against the well wall, his skull shattered, brain matter splattering everywhere. The two wolves had been trying to get back into the forest. They almost succeeded. They later fell into a disaster. First him, then her; in fact, they had always been together. Now one of them was dead. If he died, the other would never appear again. Wasn't his death for that very reason?
Two boys returned to the village to get ropes. But they stopped before walking far. She stood there, draped in silver-gray fur, covered in scars and blood. She looked utterly exhausted, physically and mentally ruined, her fur fluttering in the wind, giving a floating sensation, like the most classical ghost in the forest. She slightly tilted her chin up, as if sighing softly, then briskly ran toward the well platform. The two boys were almost stunned, until the last moment when one of them hurriedly raised his gun.
When the gunshot rang out, the snow that had been paused for two days and nights began to fall again.
