"Make a name for yourself?"
"My qualifications are mediocre, and I probably don't have what it takes to become famous."
"That's right," Kong Fang stroked his beard with satisfaction, "The valuable thing about the Great Dao is also the most difficult thing about it. It lies in its essence, 'emptiness'."
Kong Fang patted his belly: "Because the human skin is 'empty', it can accommodate the five internal organs and survive. Because of the 'emptiness', the heaven and earth can accommodate all things, and all things can come into being."
"When I look back on my life, I realize that I have accomplished very little."
“Where you do nothing is exactly where you do something,” Kong Fang said. “You go through hardships and dangers just to find an answer. You climb high mountains to know whether mandrills exist. You brave the infinity to know the key to past lives. On the Immortal Island, you trapped yourself in Sifengzhai in order to solve the strange disease in the Ma family medicine shop, without measuring your abilities at all. Ask yourself, what is the reason for all these stupid things?"
"No matter what, what is valuable is not the answer, but the process of asking and answering."
"This is exactly what inaction means." Kong Fang said, "Thinking about something is for the world to see, but doing nothing is about sublimating yourself."
Yun Kong suddenly realized it, and suddenly felt numb all over his body, and stood blankly among the falling forest leaves: "If only in the process..."
Process, the passage between cause and effect.
"You hesitate because what you want to go to is a completely unfamiliar world," Kong Fang said. "There is no familiar language, no familiar customs, and even the history is completely different."
"Senior is absolutely right."
"So, wouldn't it be fun to think about a whole new world that you could explore?"
Hearing what he said, Yunkong couldn't help but get excited and wanted to go to the port to find Liang Daoqing immediately.
"Do you remember the first story in "Zhuangzi"?"
"How dare I forget, junior?"
Yun Kong came to his senses and said, "It's a giant fish from Beiming, named Kun."
There is a fish in the North Ming Dynasty, and its name is Kun. Kun is so big that I don’t know how many thousands of miles it is.
It turned into a bird, and its name was Peng. The Peng's back was thousands of miles away.
It flies in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky.
It is a bird, and the sea will migrate to Nanming.
Nan Ming is also Tianchi.
"The giant fish turned into a giant bird and flew from the North to the South."
Kong Fang smiled and said, "Did you know? "Erya" says: 'Kun, fish roe.' Kun is not a giant fish, but a small fish."
"Junior understands."
Yun Kong took a deep breath, bowed his hands and said, "Thank you, senior, for your teaching!"
When he looked up, Kong Fang was missing from the bluestone.
He turned around and looked around, but Kong Fang was not there either.
Kong Fang left silently, and Yun Kong sat on the bluestone and waited for a while.
Kong Fang disappeared together with his ten copper coins and never appeared again.
※※※
A few days later, Yun Kong returned to Guangzhou and looked for Liang Daoqing's ship at the Pearl River Estuary.
Along the way, many worldly things passed by my ears.
"I heard that a new hero appeared and beat the Jin people to the point of begging for mercy. The Song Dynasty is saved!"
"Are you talking about Yue Fei?"
Yun Kong thought: "Then the young man can allow the barbarians to occupy the middle-land two hundred years later. However, what about two hundred years later?"
He found Liang Daoqing at a corner of the pier. When Liang Daoqing saw him, he immediately asked, "Have you decided to get on the boat?"
Yun Kong nodded.
"Are you willing to give up everything you have here?"
"I have nothing to give up anyway."
"Very good."
Liang Daoqing nodded and said, "Let me talk first, no one can be idle on the ship."
"Don't think Pindao is fifty years old, but he is very tough."
"Very good, very good," Liang Daoqing nodded sharply and said, "Our boat, which is going to Srivijaya, will first go south according to the southwest monsoon and pass through Champa, Chenla, Luohu, Lobos, and Gilan. Dan and other places, and then follow the northeast monsoon northward in winter, and then transfer to Kalimantan, Bo Ni, Mayi, Sanyu..."
He didn't recognize anyone Liang Daoqing said.
However, he still has a long journey to record.
He just hoped that the red leaves were in one of these places.
Because he has already remembered who Hongye was a long time ago.
The sea breeze became stronger and the wind slowly turned.
Liang Daoqing closed his mouth, raised his head and stared at the movement of the clouds, then turned to look at a man on the mast.
The man answered him loudly: "It's time."
"Very good," Liang Daoqing roared to the people on the boat, "The wind has turned! Hurry up and load the goods! Set off the day after tomorrow!"
Yunkong suddenly turned his head to look at the port and noticed that the muscles on the back of a porter were swollen and solid due to struggling to lift the goods. The sweat on the muscles was glowing with silver. Yunkong remembered the silvery light, but Why, just because I want to keep some kind of memory.
Maybe he had already begun to miss it before leaving.
As soon as the baby was born, the girl asked the mother who helped deliver the baby to carry the baby over.
Just now, when she was struggling to squeeze the baby out, she stood with her legs spread wide, and at the same time, she pulled hard on the thick rope hanging from the roof beam with both hands, pulling and pulling, and her palms were rubbed red and thick.
She took the crying child with her sore palms, and used her fingers to remove the blood and serous fluid that stuck to the child's neck and came from her body.
She searched in the folds of her neck and finally found what she least expected to see: a faint red line.
The red line was very faint, and she originally expected it to be blood trapped in the folds, but the red line circled around her neck, which completely confirmed her worries.
Seeing her daughter's dazed expression, her mother took the baby back and said, "Wait until I wash it off."
The baby was immersed in a basin of warm water, and the woman washed away the sticky amniotic fluid, meconium and blood on his body, and he suddenly turned into a bright and bright boy.
The girl lay down tiredly, the baby was placed on her chest, eyes closed looking for the nipple.
The girl's mother washed her lower body with warm water and then covered her with a thin cloth.
She stroked the baby's bare head and watched his small mouth sucking the nipple hastily. She made up her mind and said to her mother: "Mom, you know my decision."
Her mother was only in her thirties, but she already looked like an old woman. Her skin was as thick as leather, and her face was covered with the marks of time.
She nodded sadly and said, "Let's talk about it after the confinement is over."
The girl shook her head: "Maybe it will be too late. I have to leave when the wind blows from the southeast."
Her mother took the dirty warm water to the door and poured it under the stilt house, disturbing the sleeping chickens under the house and making a cooing sound.
The woman looked at the new crescent moon, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes: "Curse, this is the curse of our ancestors."
※※※
The moon was thin and the merchant ship was anchored on the warm sea not far from the coast, waiting for the light of tomorrow before docking.
Yun Kong saw scattered lights on the coast and asked the boat owner: "Why don't you dock?"
"There are reefs near this port. It would be bad if we hit them." The ship owner Liang Daoqing said, "You can see clearly at dawn, so there is no need to take risks."
Yun Kong nodded to express his understanding: "Then where is this place?"
"In Xinzhou of the Champa Kingdom, if I'm right, I'll see a small island at dawn."
Xinzhou in Champa State is today's Quy Nhon in Vietnam. Sailing all the way from Guangzhou, ships will not be far from the land.
"Go to bed early tonight and get up early tomorrow to be busy."
After the captain reminded him, he got back into the cabin, leaving only the sailor who was watching the wind at night to stand on a high place and pay attention to the movements around him.
Yun Kong sat cross-legged under the stars and moon and began his daily meditation practice.
He always chose to meditate at night, where there was less noise from sailors.
After closing his eyes, the feeling of the ship rocking in the waves became clearer. He quietly observed the rhythm of the rocking, and gradually felt that his body and mind were integrated with the ups and downs of the waves. The rocking disappeared, and his body suddenly felt as if it were on flat ground, and his body and mind were at ease.
Just when he felt comfortable, Yunkong suddenly felt a chill running down his spine, as if a few short thorns had been inserted into his head.
He looked up and saw a few lights on the shore in the distance, and something strange in the sky above.
There were several red things flying in the air, flying here and there, as if chasing each other and playing.
That's where the tingling feeling in my head comes from.
He felt heavy resentment.
Yunkong had to stop his meditation and stood up to look at the red shadow in the sky.
"Brother," Yunkong called to the sailor who was staying high up, "do you see anything in the sky over there? Honghong can fly."
The sailor Yi Yunkong glanced in the direction he was pointing, then turned back nonchalantly, pretending he hadn't seen it.
"Brother, do you know what that is?"
The sailor was annoyed by the question and responded casually: "It's a night owl! It's a night owl."
Yun Kong often slept in the mountains and forests at night, and he was quite familiar with the behavior of owls. He watched the red light flying for a while, but still did not dare to agree with the sailor's answer.
