Under the towering Qingtong tree, a fire looked particularly small, and amid the heavy miasma, the light of the fire could not spread far. The Taoist sat on the wool felt. He also gave the thin blanket to the middle-aged man and sat across from him.
The water in the pot had already boiled and was bubbling.
The Taoist filled a bowl and handed it to the middle-aged man.
"Be careful of the burn."
"Thank you."
"My surname is Song Mingyou. I am from Lingquan County, Yizhou. I don't know my surname is Gao."
"Oh, I'm sorry, my surname is Dong Mingzhi, my ancestral home is in Yuezhou, and I came here from Hanzhou this time."
Dong Zhi took the bowl and could feel the temperature coming from it. It was particularly comfortable at this time. The rising water vapor hit his face, making it wet and hot, which was also particularly reassuring.
But his eyes quietly glanced forward.
The young Taoist priest and the little girl, amidst this miasma that makes people sick, the Taoist man looks calm and the little girl is also fair and pure.
A bay red horse. Although it is thin and thin, it can be seen that it is a Beiyuan horse. It has neither reins nor saddle. There is a quilt bag next to it and it is full of belongings.
What’s even more amazing is——
There is a swallow standing on the back of the bay red horse. I don't say whether there should be swallows in this cold weather. I just say that it is standing on the horse's back in a neat manner, neither flying nor running, with a pair of dark eyes. Looking at the person, I also know that this is definitely not an ordinary swallow.
This man doesn't look like a demon.
But he doesn't look like a mortal either.
But I can't say for sure.
Demons and ghosts have always loved to lie and deceive people, whether for good intentions or ill intentions. Lies are often heard in stories.
"call……"
At this time, Dong Zhi didn't care about that and just blew a puff of hot air along the edge of the bowl, filling the air with water vapor.
After boiling, the water here seems to be not as hot as the boiled water in other places. It is extremely cold today. In just a short time, it is no longer so hot. I carefully brought my mouth close to the edge of the bowl but not close to it. Sora sucked in hard, purred, put the hot water into his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp. It was as if he had swallowed a mouthful of warmth and fairy air, which warmed his throat from his chest to his chest.
"Why did Shima come here?"
"To be honest..."
Dong Zhi paused while holding the bowl and spoke one by one: "The villain is originally a storyteller. This is a job passed down from his ancestors. He was originally a storyteller in Yuezhou. Later, he fled to Hanzhou during the war and still continued his old trade."
As he spoke, he shivered again from the cold.
"Since I am from Yuezhou, when I usually tell stories in teahouses, I will tell some fairy tales at the invitation of guests to cheer up the entertainment. Naturally, I can't avoid the green tung forest in the north of Yuezhou. But to make Mr. joke, I have been telling stories about Yuezhou for half my life. There is a magical bird in the north, and so does my father. It has been true for generations, but for generations, I have only heard about it from other people's mouths, but no one has seen it with my own eyes."
"Did you immediately think of coming here?"
"Absolutely." Dong Zhi replied, "Whenever we talk seriously, someone asks us if we have seen it with our own eyes, but we don't know how to answer. We are simply too old. I heard that the Yuezhou where demons and ghosts were raging in the past has been destroyed by the gods in the sky. Peace has been restored after the crackdown, so I came over to take a look while I can still move around."
"I see."
Song You inexplicably thought of Mr. Zhang from Yidu.
The old man's craftsmanship was also passed down from his family. Some of what he said he heard from others, some of which were passed down from his ancestors, and some of which he or his ancestors had seen with their own eyes.
It seems that the storyteller has to look for materials from all over the place.
“There is a craftsman’s heart in every step.”
"I just feel that I have been talking about it for most of my life. If I don't come to see it with my own eyes, I feel really uneasy."
"But the road here is long and difficult. How did you get there?"
"The villain is originally from Yuezhou. Although he has fled to Hanzhou for more than ten years, the road is not unfamiliar. When he fled, he also accumulated some skills to avoid starving to death on the road, so he brought some dry food and I asked for some talismans to avoid miasma from an expert I knew, and walked all the way from Hanzhou to Guangzhou." Dong Zhi took another sip of water, and continued to look at Song You quietly, "I know it's a long way and it's hard to find. , the villain set out in September, first went to Tianzhu Mountain, and then when he arrived here, he slowly counted the time to wait for the winter solstice."
"How to resupply?"
"As long as you recognize it, and as long as there are no major natural disasters, there is actually food everywhere. When the dry food is eaten up, the villain will eat the fruits of the Qingtong tree to satisfy his hunger, and he will be full."
"sharp."
Song You couldn't help but praise.
The fruiting period of the Qingtong tree here seems to be in autumn and winter. The fruit has not yet matured. It looks like a spoon with a few beans scattered on it. The beans can be eaten after being shelled. Song You has also picked them up in the past two days. If you try some, you won't know how he eats it.
This man also has great perseverance.
"Since I came here to look for the divine bird, then three nights ago, we could see the scene of the divine bird flying at night?" Song You asked.
Dong Zhi was stunned when he heard this.
His eyes were dazed for a moment, as if he was recalling the scene he saw that night, and he still couldn't help but be in a trance.
"Of course I saw it..."
Dong Zhi took a long time to answer, his tone full of emotion.
I think about how many generations of books they have talked about, how many generations of Yuezhou mythical birds. No matter who is telling it, every time they tell it, they will try their best to describe it as mysterious and mysterious, divine and divine, and incomparably beautiful. , so as to win the love of the audience. But I didn't expect that when I saw it with my own eyes, it would be more magical and beautiful than any legend or description.
There are thousands of legends in the world, and everyone talks about any magical things, but how many mortals have seen immortals?
How many mortals have seen the divine bird?
"The villain thought at that time that even if he froze to death here, it was worth it." Dong Zhi said, "The only regret is that I didn't go out and tell my descendants about it."
After speaking, he held the bowl and couldn't help but look at the Taoist. He hesitated several times and finally asked:
"I wonder, sir... is it true or false?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I have heard that Duke Xu of Angzhou was sleeping on the street in the cold winter. Suddenly someone woke him up and invited him to a meal. The table was filled with jade plates of delicacies and wine, and the banquet was filled with dignitaries and local dignitaries. After the meal, the other party They also invited him to enjoy songs and dances, invited him to take a hot bath, and finally sent him to the upper room. It was the most comfortable room, lit with high-quality smokeless charcoal, very warm, and the bed also had the softest bedding. But until he was so happy When I was about to fall asleep, I realized that I was still huddled on the street. It was just a fantasy before my death." Dong Zhi was worried, "The villain has told this story many times."
"interesting……"
Song You didn't ask, "How did it come out because it happened before his death?" Instead, he said, "It's a pity that there is no jade plate of delicacies and wine here, just rice cakes, yesterday's rabbit meat and a It's just snow water boiling in a pot, there are no dignitaries, songs, dances, hot baths or bedchambers, just a Taoist priest, a fire and a thin blanket."
"I don't dare to ask for too much. Thank you sir." Dong Zhi said and paused. "When I told this story before, I didn't think anything of it. But this time I was so cold that I didn't expect the heavy snowfall a few nights ago." I almost died under the tree, and then I realized how painful it was to freeze to death. At that time, I thought, it would be a good thing if I really had that illusion before I died. It would have been better if I didn't wake up. Even if it was the devil who wanted to eat me , the spell made me sleepy, and I am not afraid of pain, which will cause the flesh to become bitter, and I can die without pain, which is also a good thing, and I thank him for it."
Fear of pain causes the flesh to become bitter…
This is an interesting statement.
Song You heard some worries and hints in his tone, but he just smiled and said: "I'm afraid I won't know whether it's an illusion until I leave this place and return to Hanzhou."
"possible……"
At this time, the minced rice cake with shredded rabbit meat was already cooked in the pot. Song You still took the lead and filled a bowl for him and handed it to him.
I looked around, but didn't see the deer figure in the miasma fog.
So he asked again: "Do you still remember what you encountered before or during the coma?"
"Thank you..."
Dong Zhi still thanked him.
But what happened...
Dong Zhi couldn't help but fell into thinking.
When I thought about it, I really thought of something.
"The little man remembers that after he entered this forest, the trees were too big, and there was too much space between the trees. In addition, the miasma was permeating the air, and the clouds and fog obscured his eyes. He couldn't tell which was which, and he lost his direction for a while. Then. No matter how hard I walked, I couldn't seem to get out. The originally planned good day and the planned talisman to remove the miasma were all used up, but it snowed heavily again. I was cold and hungry, so I fell to the ground and passed out." Dong Zhi faced. Lu looked thoughtful, "Then I felt dazed and felt so hot that I seemed to start taking off my clothes. Then it seemed like a young man came to visit me and asked me what was wrong, but although I could hear him, I couldn't answer him. After a while, he put my clothes on, dragged me under the tree, curled up and hugged me to keep me warm."
"No wonder..."
Song You looked at his clothes.
"What's wrong?"
Dong Zhi obviously felt that his clothes were a bit disheveled, as if he had taken them off and then put them on again.
"Aren't you ever curious about how we found you? This place is two miles away from where you were unconscious. How did we find you?" Song You asked.
"this……"
Naturally, I was curious and puzzled.
But here, when meeting them, this is not the only thing that makes me curious and puzzled.
This is nothing in comparison.
"Sir, please enlighten me."
"When we arrived here, we just lit a fire and planned to rest here, but suddenly a deer came to us and took us to the place where you were unconscious. Now that I think about it, it must have seen the fire and smoke far away. Maybe he heard our voices and came to look for him." Song You smiled and said, "That's why I said you are very lucky."
"..."
Dong Zhi was suddenly stunned when he heard this.
Then the Taoist pointed to his clothes.
Dong Zhi lowered his head and looked——
Although the dark clothes were worn out and stained with dust, it was obvious that there were a lot of hairs on them.
Just like deer hair.
"Oh!"
Dong Zhi was immediately shocked.
He is a storyteller, and I have often heard stories like this, especially after arriving in the north.
Like what he himself said most often——
The hunters in the mountains of Zhaozhou make a living by hunting, but even the hunters who have spent their whole lives making a living in the mountains sometimes make mistakes. A sudden snowstorm may trap the old hunter in the mountains, freezing to death and starving to death. There are rumors that when a hunter was about to freeze to death, he felt someone hugging him to keep him alive. After the wind and snow subsided the next day, there was no trace of anyone around him, just a few animal hairs. From then on The old hunter also stopped going to the mountains to hunt and changed his livelihood.
I have been telling stories all my life, but I didn’t expect that I would actually be part of the story today.
…
Last day to update leave request~
(End of chapter)
