Iron Snow Clouds

Chapter 2497 (Two Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety-Seven) Just Now

Tie Jinjue said, "After we talked for a while, he told me that he originally felt sorry for getting lost, but when he saw the 'thorny thing' I drew, he remembered that he had seen something similar on the way here, so he didn't feel so sorry anymore."

"What's so strange about the similarities? Many cacti look similar. He is really surprised by the rare things he sees!" Tie Wandao said.

Tie Jinjue continued, "I was very curious why he called the 'cactus' a 'thorny thing', and even wondered if it was because I didn't draw it like it, but I thought that was not the case. I also thought that maybe it was not appropriate for them, the Taoist priests, to say the word 'cactus' in some circumstances, so they used 'thorny thing' to refer to the cactus, but I felt that I had never heard of such a situation before. I pointed to the cactus in the painting and asked him, 'What did you call it just now?' He told me that he had just called it 'thorny thing'. I asked him if Taoist priests could not call it by any name, and he actually told me that if he knew its name, he would naturally call it by its name, but he didn't know what it was called."

Tie Wandao said, "He doesn't even recognize the cactus. Is he pretending to be stupid? Not only does he think I don't have a brain, he also thinks you don't have a brain either."

"He was smiling awkwardly at the time, and it seemed to me that he was a little embarrassed because he didn't know the name of that thing. From his expression, I felt that he really didn't know." Tie Jinjue said.

"How could he not know about cactus?" Tie Wandao asked.

"I was also very confused!" Tie Jinjue said, "I asked him if he had never seen something like this before. He said he had, and that he had just seen it when he was lost today. I said I was asking about 'before', and asked him if he had seen this thing before he saw it when he was lost today. He shook his head and told me that he had never seen it, and that he had only seen a limited amount of things."

"How is that possible? This is too... You won't believe it, will you?" Tie Wandao said to Tie Jinjue.

Tie Jinjue said: "I thought it was so strange! After all, cacti are not uncommon in the Tiecang tribe, and I think he must have seen cacti at his age. But the way he spoke to me didn't seem like he was lying on purpose, and I could tell he felt embarrassed. I asked him if he liked to joke with people, and he said to me in confusion: 'Are you kidding?' I told him some words related to joking, and then he told me that he also liked people who liked to joke, but he wasn't joking. He also asked me why I said he was joking, and asked me if he had said something wrong."

Tie Wandao thought to himself: Elder Tie said he was joking and didn’t say he was talking nonsense. He really gave him enough face, but he still refused to admit it!
Tie Jinjue continued, "I asked him to recall what he said before. He asked me what exactly he said that made me think he was joking. I said something about 'something with thorns'. He was stunned at the time and told me that it was the first time he had seen 'something with thorns' today and he didn't know its name. He also said, 'I'm sorry to make you laugh, Elder Tie!' He then said that he had never seen it and really didn't know. Later he said that sometimes it's embarrassing to know less. Judging from his expression at the time, I think he really didn't know the name of the thing he was talking about."

(End of this chapter)