After the rain, the cloudy mountains were as clean as water, and the blue sky was as clean as transparent crystal. There was also a brilliant rainbow, which seemed to have opened the door to the mountain to Zhang Shaofei and the others.
Colorful wild flowers bloomed along the roadside, dotted in the lush green grass, attracting the sound of butterflies and bees. All kinds of ivy are wrapped around the century-old trees, making it even more green and lush. Birds are chasing and playing in the forest, and swallows are dancing and singing. Towering boulders stand among the layers of mountains.
The flowing clouds come out of Xiu and flow among the green mountains. Yunwu Mountain is like a fairyland on earth.
There is a winding mountain road at the northern foot of Yunwu Mountain, leading directly to the top of the mountain. This ancient post road is an important passage connecting Taizhen with Enkaiping and Yangjiang seaside.
For thousands of years, the melodious tinkling of bells has broken the silence in the mountains from time to time. "The bells ring in the mountains and the caravans come", the caravans coming from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau carry the exchanged materials and walk back and forth on the ancient post road, bringing a unique style to the ancient post road.
Seeing caravans passing by on the ancient post road from time to time, Zhang Shaofei suggested to Liang Futian that instead of taking the popular ancient post road, he should take a remote mountain path to avoid being noticed.
Liang Futian is from Yunwu Mountain and is very familiar with the surrounding environment. He directed Zhang Shaofei to go up the convenient mountain path.
Liang Futian was more than thirty kilograms heavier than Wang Shaoxiang, and it was very difficult for Zhang Shaofei to carry him up the mountain. But Zhang Shaofei gritted his teeth and walked up the mountain step by step. He knew that every step forward was one step closer to his destination.
Zhang Shaofei carried the big man Liang Futian on his back and finally climbed up a steep slope with scattered rocks. The scenery in front of him suddenly became clear: a flat lake with sparkling clear water reflecting the blue sky. Small fish with silver scales swim freely in the water. Various aquatic plants grow along the lakeside, and various unknown wild flowers bloom.
Next to the lakeside spring, there is a large turtle-shaped stone.
"What a view!" Zhang Shaofei couldn't help but praise it.
Liang Futian patted Zhang Shaofei on the shoulder, pointed to the crystal clear spring on the left, and said, "A Fei, put me down."
Zhang Shaofei: "Uncle Futian, what's the matter?"
Liang Futian: "Let's all have a drink from the Fountain of Youth."
Zhang Shaofei put Liang Futian down, took a breath, pointed at the spring water hit by Bai Lian, and asked: "Did you just say that this mountain spring is called the Spring of Youth?"
"Yes," Liang Futian introduced, "We mountain people have a common habit. Whenever we go into or out of the mountains and pass here, we like to drink a few sips of spring water from the Spring of Youth."
Zhang Shaofei pondered: "Fountain of Youth? Listen to the name and look at the spring water. Could it be that this spring water has the effect of immortality?"
Liang Futian said seriously: "Immortality is a lie, but it is true that drinking it can make people live longer. Not to mention, there are many centenarians in our Liangtian village. Jin Quanpo, the oldest living person, is 110 this year. At four years old, he is still hearing and seeing well, and he can still feed chickens, wash vegetables, and cook at home."
Wang Shaoxiang: "When I was in Taizhen Mountain, I often heard people say that people here in Yunwu Mountain live very long lives."
"It's good to have good mountains, good water, and good people." Liang Futian pointed to the huge rock by the spring and said, "Look, this big rock weighs at least 100,000 kilograms. Does it look like a turtle?"
Wang Shaoxiang looked at the big stone and said, "After you reminded me, this big stone really looks like a big turtle lying by the spring drinking water. Turtles are long-lived creatures!"
Zhang Shaofei smiled and said: "Ah, the person who named this spring the Fountain of Youth must be a great scholar who has read poetry and books."
Liang Futian: "We have no way of verifying whether the name of this Fountain of Youth was given by a great scholar, but it must have been given by a man of great wisdom."
"You are right." Zhang Shaofei turned around and said to Wang Shaoxiang, "Mother, if you drink this spring water, you will live longer. You drink it first."
Liang Futian praised: "A Fei, you are such a filial son. Good things always come first to your mother."
Wang Shaoxiang walked hard up the mountain with crutches. He was very tired and sweated a lot. He was very thirsty at this time. He came to the spring, put down his crutches, bent down and drank the spring water with both hands. It was refreshing and sweet. Straight to the heart. After Wang Shaoxiang drank it, he suddenly felt refreshed. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth, licked it back and forth, and shouted repeatedly: "This spring water is refreshing and sweet! Fei'er, come and take a few more sips." "
Zhang Shaofei carried Liang Futian up the mountain, sweating more and burning with thirst, so he and Liang Futian drank as much as they wanted under the Fountain of Youth.
The hunting dog Awang followed Liang Futian up and down the mountain and would come to the fountain of youth to drink water. At this time, after everyone drank the water, they rushed to the spring, lay down and drank heavily.
After drinking the water from the spring, they sat down to rest under the boulder beside the spring.
The mountain breeze blows in our faces, and everyone feels that their fatigue has been reduced a lot.
Not far from the Fountain of Youth, a wooden plank bridge flies over the lake.
Zhang Shaofei stood up and looked at it: this bridge is about five feet long, the middle piers are made of natural boulders, and the bridge deck is composed of three long thick wooden boards.
Liang Futian pointed to the other side of the lake and said: "After this beam-protecting bridge, there is a mountain path leading to our Liangtian Village."
"Beam-protecting bridge?" Zhang Shaofei's heart was touched. "The name of this bridge is a bit strange. Why is it called beam-protecting bridge?"
Liang Futian explained: "As the name suggests, this bridge protects Liangtian and the people passing by Liangtian, and also protects the safety of people around Liangtian Village."
Zhang Shaofei was puzzled: "Please explain in more detail."
Liang Futian raised his hand and pointed at the bridge: "Although the bridge is not wide, it is seven or eight feet high above the water, and there are big rocks protruding from it, but there is no danger in walking across this bridge."
Zhang Shaofei didn't believe it: "No way. The bridge is so narrow, what if people accidentally fall off the bridge while walking?"
Liang Futian's tone was full of seriousness: "Over the years, people have crossed the bridge with the big buffalo and accidentally fell, but they were all unscathed."
Zhang Shaofei and Wang Shaoxiang exclaimed: "There is such a magical thing."
"We don't understand the reason, but it's all true! That's why we all call this bridge the beam-protecting bridge. There are many magical things on Yunwu Mountain." Liang Futian raised his head and looked up the mountain, "Okay, the sun is gradually It’s getting higher, let’s hurry on.”
"Okay." Zhang Shaofei carried Liang Futian on his back again, while Wang Shaoxiang leaned on crutches. Everyone easily crossed the girder bridge and walked up the winding mountain road.
The ancient trees in the mountains are towering to the sky, and vines hang down from the tall trees, blocking out the sky and the sun. White plum blossoms dot the green mountains in the distance, and wild flowers are in full bloom. The waterfalls are noisy, and there are countless stones of different sizes in the stream beside the path. There are many smooth stone mortars that are well-abraded and distributed in groups on the rocks. A gurgling stream flows happily from the side.
As they walked, Wang Shaoxiang, who was walking up the mountain on crutches, seemed to find something: "Fei'er, why are the grass sparrows on Yunwu Mountain green?"
Zhang Shaofei followed what Wang Shaoxiang pointed and looked up. He saw old vines clinging to the tall trees. Strings of green flowers hung on the vines. These flowers were very similar to grass sparrows. The brown fluff on both sides of the calyx resembled grass sparrows. The two small eyes on the head, the pointed mouth, and the open petals are like the wings of a sparrow. When the mountain breeze blows, the flowers sway gracefully, like a sparrow fluttering its wings.
Before Zhang Shaofei could reply, Liang Futian had already rushed to speak: "What's hanging on the tree is not a sparrow, but a sparrow flower."
"Grain sparrow flowers?" Wang Shaoxiang muttered, "Why do grass sparrows also bloom?"
Liang Futian laughed after hearing this: "Auntie, what's on this tree is not a flying sparrow, but a flower that looks like a sparrow.
Zhang Shaofei laughed: "Mother, these are indeed flowers hanging on the big tree. You are old and can't see things clearly in the distance."
Wang Shaoxiang laughed: "Fei'er, if you say so, mother, my eyes are dim with old age, and now I can't even think about how old I am."
Liang Futian: "I can't blame you for this. Many people who first arrived at Yunwu Mountain saw strings of grass sparrow flowers hanging on the trees and mistakenly thought they were grass sparrows."
Along the way, they saw many grass sparrow trees. The strings of grass sparrow flowers were more vivid and lifelike than those of living grass sparrows.
Zhang Shaofei carried Liang Futian on his back and arrived at the halfway point of Yunwu Mountain with his mother-in-law Wang Shaoxiang. A fork in the road was right in front of them.
Liang Futian heard Zhang Shaofei's gasping for breath and knew that he was very tired, so he said: "Brother A Fei, this is called 'Lingji', let's take a rest here."
