Longjiang is located in central China, at the junction of the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi. The landform is dominated by mountains and hills, and the territory is mountainous.
In the Longjiang mountainous area during the National Day, the autumn air is crisp and the sun is shining brightly.
In the afternoon, a middle-aged man in his thirties walked slowly along the winding mountain road.
The middle-aged man is short in stature, wearing a shirt and trousers, with a Chinese character face, a straight face, gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a small crew cut, but the hair on the top of his head is a bit sparse, and he is obviously starting to go bald.
There was a mobile phone in his jacket pocket, and wired headphones hung in his ears. He was probably listening to the mobile phone, looking left and right, looking at the scenery in the mountains from time to time, and nodding to say hello to the oncoming mountain residents.
At a corner of the mountain road, a mountain man in his fifties came towards me carrying a load.
He quickly greeted:
"Uncle Qi, you are back from working in the mountains."
Uncle Qi has a square face, a thin body, but a good spirit.
"Xiaosheng, what are you doing in the mountains?"
"Uncle Qi, isn't this the National Day holiday? I'm going to visit grandma's grave."
"I see that your hands are empty and you didn't bring any incense or candles. If you had called me earlier, I would have asked your aunt to prepare some for you."
"It's okay, I think it's fine as long as it comes to my mind."
"Okay, be careful. There are no people in the mountains for a long time now. The vegetation is growing like crazy. Be careful of snakes!"
"I know, I'll pay attention."
"Okay! Then stay at my house that night. Your cousin works outside all year round, and we, the old couple, live a lonely life, so it's just a good time to liven things up."
"I'm not leaving today. I'll stay at your house for two days. Speaking of which, I haven't been to Zhangshi Mountain in more than 20 years. The last time I climbed it was when I was in elementary school. I want to climb Zhangshi Mountain tomorrow."
"Okay, then come back early."
After saying hello, the middle-aged man continued to move forward slowly.
The middle-aged man's name is Han Xiaosheng. After graduating from college, he stayed in a big coastal city to work. However, he was too straightforward and not smooth enough in his work. He always relied on his sincerity to treat others and did not know how to turn around. As a result, work and family were not smooth. .
Recently, he is planning to change his environment and look for a job in the Shenzhen area, where the wages are relatively high.
In time for the National Day, he went back to his hometown to see his parents, and also wanted to visit the grave of his grandmother who had died many years ago.
Grandma loved him very much when she was alive. Because he was her eldest grandson, he enjoyed special treatment.
When I was a child, my grandma loved to sit at the gate and bask in the sun.
At night, grandma always lies on the bamboo deck chair and enjoys the cool air in the yard.
At this time, Han Xiaosheng and other children always like to sit next to grandma and listen to her telling stories.
In this era, entertainment life in China was very poor, so listening to the old people telling stories was one of the few entertainments for children.
Grandma doesn’t have many stories, but there are always a few stories that she tells over and over again, but the children never tire of hearing them.
The story that Han Xiaosheng remembers the most is called "Man perishes for money, and birds perish for food." It is a simple story, but grandma can tell it so ups and downs that it is exciting and makes the children's eyes sparkle when they hear it.
Privately, the children often discussed why Qiu Sheng, who had found the gold, did not keep it until it was ready, and why the crow had to hold such a large piece of meat in its mouth until it exhausted all its strength and fell into the fire.
What impressed him most was a folk song his grandma often told them:
"Mufu Mountain is ten thousand feet high; Zhangshi Mountain is where monks come from; five-pointed peaks are pointed to each other; Phoenix Pond is where immortals come from."
Mufu Mountain is a big mountain in front of my hometown and the highest mountain nearby.
According to grandma, the local mountain people have been spreading this folk song from generation to generation, all by mouth. Grandma also heard it passed on to her by her grandma, asking her to pass it on and not to be forgotten by future generations.
Grandma doesn’t know why this folk song has been circulated, but grandma’s grandma said that the ancestors of the Han family have been circulating a saying that Mufu Mountain was called Tianyue Mountain in ancient times. It once exceeded ten thousand feet in height and was the center between heaven and earth. As a pillar, this matter was recorded in the ancient books of our ancestors. Later, when we encountered wars and turmoil, those ancient books that recorded the events were no longer found.
Zhangshi Mountain is a big mountain behind my hometown. According to the legend my grandma accepted, it was once a Taoist dojo of Zhang Tianshi, where Zhang Tianshi once practiced immortality and attained Taoism, and finally ascended there.
Later, Han Xiaosheng went to Zhangshishan for a trip under the guidance of his primary school teacher. He saw many traces left by Zhang Tianshi and saw the Taoist temples. However, the Taoist temples were deserted and deserted, with only a few Taoist priests. I didn't see any Taoist cultivators either.
The five-pointed peaks in the song are five peaks. The peaks are pointed, and the five peaks form a circle with the peaks facing each other.
Grandma couldn't tell where the Phoenix Pond was. She just heard from her ancestors that it was a place where gods and goddesses haunted.
No one knows how long this folk song has been circulating in the local area. According to grandma, it should be thousands of years old.
According to her, the ancestors of the Han family settled here thousands of years ago and regarded it as their ancestral home.
Later, after several wars, the ancestral land here became desolate.
After the war hundreds of years ago, Longjiang became deserted.
The Ming Dynasty, which began to recuperate, migrated people from various places on a large scale to fill the no man's land caused by the war.
The Han family responded to the imperial court's call and moved from Lujiang County, returning to the ancestral land mentioned in ancestral classics.
Generations of Han family members lived frugally, actively opened up wasteland, accumulated a lot of wealth, and purchased this area, hoping to use the feng shui and luck here to bless future generations.
After Han Xiaosheng's ancestors settled here, they traveled through the nearby mountains and forests and found a mountain peak with good feng shui as a resting place for the deceased members of the Han family.
After deciding on the location, the Han family planted peach trees on the mountain.
When the peach trees grow up, they become part of the nearby scenery.
When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the mountains are covered with pink peach blossoms. The scenery is so beautiful that it cannot be expressed in words.
Because the mountain is full of peach trees, it was named Taoshu Slope by the ancestors of the Han family.
According to my deceased grandma, this Feng Shui and luck really work.
Since the first generation of ancestors were buried here after death, the ancestors of the main line of the past generations have also been buried nearby after death. However, this line of the Han family has gone through the turbulent periods of the Ming, Qing, and the Republic of China, but it has never suffered serious damage. , has been passed down, and the incense continues.
The peach trees on Taoshu Slope have gone through hundreds of years of ups and downs and still show their splendor.
Later, when things changed, the peach trees disappeared, and large areas of tea trees were planted, forming a tea mountain.
After the mountain was closed for afforestation, more pine and fir trees appeared.
After many years of closing the mountains for afforestation, no one has cut down the vegetation in the mountains, causing the vegetation to grow wildly and the roads in the mountains to be covered up in the grass.
Han Xiaosheng could no longer see the mountain road in his memory. He could only rely on the direction in his memory to separate the grass and trees in the mountain, and then reached his grandma's grave with difficulty.
He knelt in front of the grave, bowed several times, then stood up and looked around.
Thinking of the scene of playing on the hillside when I was a child, it seems like it was yesterday. I can't help but feel a little emotional. Time flies so fast. I have grown up in a blink of an eye. My grandma who can tell fairy tales has also passed away. Those ancient stories passed down from generation to generation have passed away. The legend will gradually be submerged by the prosperous world until no one knows about it.
Due to the abundant rain in Longjiang, the vegetation around the tomb grew wildly, covering part of the tombstone. Han Xiaosheng couldn't stand it and started weeding.
It's just that he has been engaged in mental work all year round and his physical strength is not good. After only ten minutes of work, he was very tired and sat down in front of the tombstone to rest.
Listening to the novel in the earphones, closing his eyes and concentrating, he fell asleep unconsciously.
