The Taoist walked and stopped, walking slowly.
The cat took small, cheerful steps, stopping now and then, often trotting for a while, sometimes running in front of the Taoist, sometimes falling behind.
If you are lagging behind, you will often crane your neck to look at him when he is far away. If you can't see him, you will quickly trot to follow him. If I walked in front of him, I would often stop and look back at him. Seeing that he never followed me, I had to stop and wait for him.
"Taoist priest~"
Cat waited for Taoist again. She raised her head high, her head and eyes moved with the waterfowl flying in the air, and she called Taoist on her mouth.
"Um?"
"Are we going to find that person named Dou?"
"Sanhua Empress is smart as ice and snow, I admire you." The Taoist was immersed in the world in this painting, but he answered patiently.
"But where is he?"
"That's a good question."
The Taoist also moved his gaze downward from the sky to the mountains ahead.
The mountains are majestic and the foothills are far away.
Just judging from the size that can be seen on the painting, it is at least dozens of miles from left to right. Looking at it now, my eyes are not limited to the inside of the painting, but can go outside the painting - just like when I first entered the painting, Looking back, I can see a lake that does not exist in the painting. Looking north and south, there are also mountains that are not in the painting. I wonder if I can get out and where I will go.
In any case, just looking at the area in the painting, the foot of the mountain is tens of miles long, with scattered villages and tens of thousands of homes. How can we know where Master Dou lives?
"Forget it if you can't find it."
The Taoist said to the cat.
"oh……"
The cat didn't seem to care too much. It shook its head, took small steps, and went to fight against the insects again.
Song You raised his hand and followed his steps, running his fingers through the patches of reeds.
It's finally come to an end.
Ahead is a vast field of fertile soil.
From the end of the reeds to the foot of the distant mountains, the fields and soil are like a checkerboard grid, with ridges and paths crisscrossing them, and occasionally people walking on them.
It seems that someone really...
The Taoist still did not quicken his pace, and walked forward along the path without haste or slowness.
It wasn't until he met an old man leading a cow back that he saluted:
"This old man."
When the old man heard the voice, he turned around and saw a Taoist priest wearing Taoist robes, but he was a little surprised: "Is he a Taoist priest? He's quite unfamiliar."
"When I first came here, it was natural."
Hearing this, the old man turned his head and looked at the mountain directly in front of him. Then he looked back and looked at the Taoist: "Is this the first time for the little Taoist to go down the mountain? But the little old man often goes up the mountain. Why haven't he seen the Taoist?"
Song You followed his gaze.
It sounds like there is also a Taoist temple on that mountain, and it seems that there is only one Taoist temple here.
"I came from outside to visit an old friend."
"Coming from outside!?"
The old man was suddenly shocked and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Exactly."
The Taoist answered truthfully.
The old man's sunken eyes stared straight at him, then at the cat beside him, and then asked: "How did you get in? And where did you get in?"
"Are there few outsiders here?"
"This is a place outside the world. How can outsiders get in?"
"It's a coincidence."
Song You was very surprised when he saw that he was older. He was afraid that he would be too excited, so he had to bow and said, "My surname is Song You. I practice in Yizhou. I am definitely not a bad person. When I came here, I was very surprised. I thought Ask my father-in-law about the situation here."
"oops!"
The old man was surprised.
It is a rare thing for an outsider to come here, but looking at the Taoist priest's calm expression and his tone of voice, he was not surprised. His conversation was appropriate, and he felt that he was extraordinary. He was probably an expert in cultivation.
The old man immediately became more respectful.
"Where are you going, Taoist Master?"
"I don't know yet."
"Then please invite the Taoist priest and the little old man to come. Let's talk as we walk, so that we can entertain the Taoist priest." The old man grabbed the cow rope and waved to him, indicating to follow him.
"Why bother my husband?"
"Why not? Come on, come on!"
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders."
The Taoist did not dare to refuse, so he had to salute again, and then followed the father-in-law and asked: "I am very surprised when I first came here. I want to ask my father-in-law, why is this place?"
"no name."
"Where is this mountain?"
"We just call it Cangshan."
"How many villages are there at the foot of the mountain?"
"There are dozens of them, big and small. I live in Xiaobei Village. Just walk straight ahead."
"My father-in-law said that this place is a place outside the world, but when did you come here? Or do you mean that you have been living here for generations?"
"I heard from the old man in the past that Dayan came here in his early years. At that time, there were only houses and no one lived here." The old man walked with a hunched back while holding the green cow. "It was said that he was trying to escape from something. There were wars and taxes, and then we settled here."
It sounds like they are unfamiliar with war and taxes.
"Have outsiders come here these years?"
"I heard that outsiders came several times." The old man said, "I remember two times. Once when I was still young, dozens of people came in from outside. Now they seem to live over there in Niang'erzhuang. Another time, it was When I was young, I also heard that there were people coming from outside. This time there were more than a hundred people, and they seemed to live in the far south."
"I see……"
The Taoist nodded.
It seems that the people here are not drawn out of thin air, but are brought in from outside by each generation of Dou family heirs for various reasons.
"These outsiders are all here fleeing, either to hide from the war or to escape from something else. But if you ask them how they got in, they can't answer. The people here are hospitable and there are many places, so we treat them well. Fan, settle down." The old man said to him, "From their mouths, you can hear a lot about things outside."
“It’s not as good as coming here.”
"Isn't that true? I heard that outside, the food you grow has to be handed over to others, and you have to fight with knives to kill people." The old man shook his head, paused, and then said, "But this It’s a nice place, but I heard it’s very different from outside.”
"How is it different?"
Song You quickly handed over his hand and said, "Please give me some advice."
"It's the same here all year round. There's no hot or cold weather. It's all daytime and no night. It's said that it gets dark every day outside, but is it really?"
"real."
"Can't we go out to farm when it's dark?"
"We usually go to bed when it gets dark."
"Everyone sleeps together?"
"yes."
The Taoist replied calmly, as if he was not surprised.
"real or fake?"
"It doesn't seem like this is it?"
"We sleep when we want to sleep, and get up when we think of it. In some places, we have to ring bells and drums. We sleep when the drums are playing, wake up when we ring the bells, and just close the curtains." The old man seemed to be very surprised by what Song You said, "But other people never heard of it. People from outside seem to say the same thing.”
"What about that kind of food?"
"Food is still planted and grows very fast, but it can only be planted in the soil in the field over there. It will not grow if it is planted in other places, let alone the reed field behind there."
"Why can't it be planted in the reed field?"
"There are monsters in the reeds over there. They only grow like that. They won't grow any longer and won't get any shorter. They won't turn green. They can't be cut. Of course, they can't grow anything."
"I see."
"It sounds amazing!" The old man chuckled, "Some people say that we are a garden of gods, and others say that we live in a painting. Hey, tell me, how can there be anything magical about it?"
"yes."
The Taoist smiled and nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Can I walk out from here?"
"You can't go out, it's ninety-nine and eighty-one miles from here to there." The old man pointed from the left to the right, and then from the back to the front, "The furthest point behind is the lake, and you can't go down into the lake. The furthest point ahead is only to the top of the mountain, but it cannot be climbed over. I heard it is eighteen miles long."
"Can we only live here?"
"That's not necessarily the case..."
"Why not necessarily?"
"I heard that sometimes people walked by. I don't know why. They just walked past and disappeared and never came back." The old man said and shook his head. "I don't know where they went."
“No wonder there’s a fence around the lake.”
"you do not say……"
The old man looked at the young Taoist priest as he spoke.
But he found that no matter what he said, the Taoist priest who claimed to be from the outside world was calm and calm, as if he was not surprised at all. As a person who had heard about the outside world before, I couldn't help but be surprised by the outside world he spoke of. Comparing the two sides, there was a huge difference.
The old man confirmed his previous guess.
So I can tell you everything I know, and I can tell you everything I know.
The Taoist almost knows something about this place.
There is only late autumn here, no four seasons, only daytime, no night. It is 18 miles long from east to west and 81 miles north to south. It is not small, but it is not vast either. The population is far from saturated.
There seems to be a barrier at the edge, which makes it impossible to walk through, but occasionally people can pass through it, and they don't know where they went.
While chatting and walking, we approached the village.
Looking around, you can see neat houses, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees and bamboos, and you can often hear cocks crowing and dogs barking.
Some people are farming in the fields, some are going out to pick vegetables with baskets on their shoulders, some are eating with bowls in their hands, and some have just woken up. Everyone is enjoying themselves, and there is rarely any sadness on their faces.
The old man was wearing farm clothes, so there was nothing visible about them. However, when we arrived in the village, we could see from the clothes of the young men and women that although they were generally similar to the outside world, there were also subtle differences.
Just like the decorative accessories that have become popular in the outside world in recent years, you can't see them here.
The Taoist walked and looked around, and asked the old man next to him if anyone else had come in recently. The old man shook his head and said he didn't know.
The Taoist originally wanted to find Master Dou, but the area was very vast and it was difficult to find him. The old man was very enthusiastic and invited him to his home.
The Taoist declined for a moment, but he couldn't refuse too much, so he agreed and followed him to his home.
The seven members of the old man's family were very enthusiastic when they heard that the Taoist had come from outside. They entertained him with wine and chickens, and even allowed him to stay at home. Everyone chatted with him and asked about the outside world. Every time they heard something different, they were surprised, as if it was unimaginable that there was a world like the outside world.
(End of chapter)
