The oil lamp was placed on the table, slightly illuminating the room. It was a simple house, but it had everything. A square table with a few low stools, a wardrobe and a bed, and a stuffed room on the opposite side. A bookshelf of books and a desk with pens, ink, paper and inkstones.
She looked at the old man, who was dressed in gray robes but not shabby. His white hair was tied up casually, his face was wrinkled, and his eyes were filled with vicissitudes of life.
He turned his head to look at Zhao Ning and said softly, "Is the little girl awake?"
Zhao Ning stood up from the bed and bowed politely but distantly, "My name is Zhao Ning. This grandpa... I wonder why I am here?"
The old man looked at her, and after about three breaths, he suddenly laughed.
Then he suppressed all his emotions and just said, "Grandpa doesn't know either. I picked you up from under the cliff."
"Under the cliff?" Zhao Ning wondered why she was under the cliff. Shouldn't she be sleeping in the Qingyun Gang Yaotong's small building?
She tried to feel the pain in her body that was not ignored by her, but she didn't notice it.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Ning looked at the old man and said, "Grandpa, can you take me to the bottom of the cliff?"
"Okay." He turned to look at the night outside the window, "But we have to wait until dawn."
Zhao Ning suddenly remembered that the moon was dim and the stars were sparse, and the night was dark. She felt rude for a moment and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"You're still in the ugly stage, let's sleep a little longer."
The old man spoke very slowly, turned around and walked away, pointing to the oil lamp on the table, "I left a lamp for you, little girl, don't be afraid of the dark."
Zhao Ning moved her fingertips, watched him walk out of the door, closed the door softly, and then whispered two words, "Thank you."
The old man outside the door paused for a moment and left silently.
Zhao Ning lay flat on the bed, hugging the quilt, not knowing what she was thinking. After a while, she turned to look at the oil lamp that had been moved to the stool beside the bed. The light flickered, but became dimmer.
She got up again, walked to the window, closed the slightly opened window, closed it, and carefully looked outside.
The three huts are folded together, and diagonally opposite is the old man's room. The door to his room is open and the lamp is lit, and you can faintly see his shadow leaning on the couch at the small table.
Turning my eyes to the courtyard, the big shady trees in the courtyard seemed to have entered autumn. The leaves were rolling and falling in the night wind, and the fallen leaves were entangled with weeds on the ground.
Looking outside the courtyard, nothing could be seen clearly.
Zhao Ning quietly closed the window and lay down on the bed again. She closed her eyes for a while and then opened them again.
I stayed awake for the rest of the night, thinking about many possibilities. Could it be that I fell off the cliff while collecting herbs? Could there be something wrong with the Qingyun Gang...
When the first glimmer of light appeared in the sky, Zhao Ning heard footsteps in the yard.
She hesitated for a moment, walked barefoot to the window, pushed open a gap, and watched the old man carrying a bundle of firewood into the kitchen at the end. She hesitated a little, thinking that she should do something, but she held back .
As I watched the smoke rising from the chimney, I gradually smelled the aroma of rice on my nose.
After a while, half of the sun climbed above the horizon. The old man walked out of the kitchen, dusted himself off, and inadvertently saw her peeking eyes when he looked up.
Zhao Ning felt panic in her heart for a moment, and retracted her head when she heard a voice outside shouting, "Little girl, come out to eat when you get up."
She sat on the bed for a while, then suddenly quickened her movements, put on her shoes, put the oil lamp back on the table, and hurriedly opened the door and went out.
The old man had already put the rice porridge and side dishes on the stone table under the tree. He put down the bowls and chopsticks and waved to her again.
Seeing that the old man was about to serve her porridge, Zhao Ning said, "I'll do it myself."
But the old man did not put it down. He filled a full bowl before handing it to her, "Little girl, you are growing tall. Eat more."
Zhao Ning held it with both hands, and across the wooden bowl, the temperature was just right.
The old man filled his own bowl and said, "I'm going to the mountains later, so I can eat enough."
"Okay." Zhao Ning responded, only picking up her rice porridge with chopsticks.
She didn't move her chopsticks until the old man smiled and pointed at the side dishes.
The old man asked, "Little girl, did you collect medicine in the mountains before?"
Zhao Ning paused and said "hmm".
"There are a lot of snakes, insects, rats, and ants in this mountain, aren't you afraid?"
Zhao Ning chewed it twice and swallowed it whole, "It's okay, I'm used to it."
The old man was silent for a moment, looked at Zhao Ning who seemed very hungry, and asked again, "Do you remember what you were doing before you fell into coma?"
Zhao Ning paused. She was holding the bowl. She was confused for a moment, lowered her eyes again, and then used chopsticks to put the rice grains on the edge of the bowl into the porridge water.
"I'm going to collect medicine, I'm a little worried."
She raised her eyes and glanced at the old man. Seeing that he seemed to be looking at her, Zhao Ning said shyly, "It seems that something happened."
"...Hmm." The old man responded, then lowered his head to drink his porridge.
He drank slowly and chewed slowly.
After everyone finished eating, Zhao Ning rushed to wash the dishes and chopsticks, and the old man let her do it.
As the sun rose, he said to Zhao Ning, "Let's go up the mountain."
Zhao Ning followed him and saw that he didn't bring anything with him. Although he was walking slowly, he was very steady.
The old man's home was not in the village. When Zhao Ning came out in the morning, she noticed that there was a large wasteland outside the courtyard, overgrown with weeds, and even further away was a forest. The courtyard was backed by a large mountain, which was lush and green.
Zhao Ning followed him to the back mountain, walking along the winding path inward.
He didn't bring his walking stick, so Zhao Ning thought he was very close, but he didn't want to follow him and walked three or four miles along the mountain road, which seemed like a small circle around the mountain.
Unconsciously, Zhao Ning slowed down and took two steps away.
Perhaps noticing something, the old man turned around, glanced at her, and said with a smile, "Little girl, are you tired from walking?"
He stretched out his hand, "Grandpa, give you a hand?"
Zhao Ning looked at him and then at his outstretched left hand. It was probably old, and the skin and flesh were dry and loose, making his slender fingers look a bit jagged.
"I'm not tired." Zhao Ning shook her head, took a few steps faster, and avoided his hand without leaving a trace, "Grandpa, haven't you arrived yet?"
"Almost." The old man turned around, put his hands behind his back, and walked up step by step.
Zhao Ning was silent for a moment and then asked, "Zhao Ning still doesn't know what grandpa is called."
"My surname is Qin." He said without looking back, and suddenly laughed strangely, "Just call me Grandpa Qin."
Grandpa Qin did not lie to her. After walking half a stick of incense, they came to the foot of a cliff.
The cliff is a bit steep, but there are several vines growing on the cliff and old trees extending out, so it doesn't look difficult to climb.
With sharp eyes, she saw a small crystal flower ten feet above the cliff. It seemed to be a rare herb recorded in the "Collection of Herbal Medicines".
Grandpa Qin reminded her at this time, "There is a broken medicine basket over there, is it yours?"
Zhao Ning looked at it and ran aside in small steps. The medicine basket had been crushed and broken into several pieces, and its original appearance could no longer be recognized.
But Zhao Ning recognized it clearly, stood up and shook his head, "It's not mine."
"Oh?" Grandpa Qin asked again, "Then do you have any impression of this place?"
Zhao Ning raised her eyes and looked at the small crystal flower again, "Yes... yes."
If you go deep into the mountains and want to pick that rare herb, it might be possible to accidentally step on the air, fall down, and be lucky enough to survive, hit your head, and then lose part of your memory.
But she subconsciously touched the back of her head and still didn't touch any lumps or wounds.
"Want to take a look around?"
Hearing Grandpa Qin's voice, Zhao Ning turned to look at him. Seeing his calm eyes, she struggled for a moment. Zhao Ning shook her head, "No."
Grandpa Qin turned around and said, "Then let's go down the mountain."
"good."
Come with effort and leave in a hurry.
Zhao Ning looked at his back, then turned to look at the place where she suspected she had fallen off the cliff, pursed her lips, lowered her head and followed the old man.
When leaving the mountain, Zhao Ning noticed a trail that seemed to lead outside the mountain. She lowered her eyes and turned back, following it without saying a word.
When we arrived at the small courtyard, the sun was already halfway down.
"There are medicine books and some story books in the room. If you are bored, just read them." The old man said to her, "Want to eat fish?"
Zhao Ning raised her eyes to look at him.
Seeing the old man, he smiled and said, "I can only eat fish. We only have fish at home. Sweet and sour or braised in soy sauce?"
"Anyone can." Zhao Ning said vaguely.
"Okay." He responded and turned to the kitchen.
Zhao Ning followed a few steps, "I'll help you."
The old man didn't stop her, he just sent her behind the stove to watch the fire.
Zhao Ning watched the old man fish out two big fish from the big tank at the back of the yard. The fish struggled hard when they came out of the water, but soon stopped moving. He slaughtered and cleaned the fish, his movements were very slow, but not excessive. rusty.
After a while of busy work in the kitchen, tonight’s dinner consisted of sweet and sour fish, braised fish, and the morning side dishes.
Zhao Ning was still stunned until she sat down at the stone table, holding a bowl.
Just listen to the old man saying, "Eat more."
Zhao Ning didn't say anything more and just said "ok".
She took one bite of fish and one bite of rice, and she didn't show much movement. Zhao Ning couldn't tell whether it tasted good or not. She had never eaten these two dishes cooked by others.
Dinner was much quieter than breakfast. After eating, the sun had completely set.
Zhao Ning washed the dishes and watched the old man cleaning up in the kitchen.
After finishing it, Zhao Ning went back to her room, closed the door, and sat at the table, looking at the unlit oil lamp.
When the light completely faded and Zhao Ning could no longer see the oil lamp in the dim room, she slowly raised her head, carefully walked to the door, listened, and there was no sound. She opened the window slightly, but saw the light on the other side. Still knowing, she bit her lip and hid behind the window, a little hesitant and a little anxious.
At this moment, she saw the light dimming in her peripheral vision. She was a little surprised, and when she looked again, she saw that the light on the opposite side had indeed been extinguished.
After waiting for another half an hour, Zhao Ning followed the direction she had paid attention to during the day and touched the window at the back of the room. She just opened the window and was about to go out, but hesitated for a moment.
She looked back, touched her body again, and pulled out an longevity knot from her sleeve pocket.
Zhao Ning didn't know when she had this item in her sleeve pocket. The jade buttons embellished on the longevity knot were warm and crystal clear, and seemed like a valuable item.
She searched around her body again, and after confirming that there was nothing else on her body, she turned around and put the longevity knot next to the oil lamp.
