This mountain village has no name.
Because the villagers here feel that there is no need to give a name.
However, not long after Shuguan arrived here, he gave the village a name: Taoyuan Village.
Of course, he didn't tell the old cripple about this.
After all, he was only three months old at the time. If a three-month-old child spoke, it would frighten many people.
In particular, he was covered in pustules at the time and looked very ugly. Shu Guan was afraid that other people in the village would regard him as a monster and drown him in the creek outside the village.
Really, the villagers in this village believe this.
On this day, Shu Guan was sitting on the edge of the grain drying field at the entrance of Taoyuan Village.
It was a spring afternoon, just a few days after the Waking of Insects, and the seedlings in the field had just been planted, so naturally there was no grain to dry.
However, the drying field is not empty. There are many brackens drying on the yellow mud ground. The dark green vegetable leaves have a leather-like luster after drying, as if a carpet has been laid on the yellow mud floor.
This kind of wild vegetables will grow wildly from the mountains and forests under the cliffs around the village after the rainy season. Every household in Taoyuan Village will pick some, dry them, pickle them, and store them in large and small jars.
This is an important dish on their dinner table for the next year.
In the past, Shuguan didn't like bracken at all, but in this life, he has been eating it for more than three years. At first, he had to eat it, and then he gradually got used to it, and then he gradually liked it, especially with the addition of chili. If the bacon is fried together, he can finish two bowls of rice by himself.
Bracken, pepper, bacon.
At the very beginning, it was because of these things that Shu Guan initially judged that this small mountain village should be in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, probably in the Hubei and Hunan areas.
However, this was just Shu Guan's initial judgment. As he lived in this small mountain village for several years, and after getting to know the village better, he was not sure where the village was.
In fact, what if we figure it out?
Meaningless.
Sitting on the edge of a sea of dark green bracken leaves, smelling the strong vegetable smell brought by the early spring breeze, Shu Guan sighed.
He was sitting on a long bench with his hands on both sides of his body, but his little feet couldn't reach the ground and could only dangle between the bench and the ground.
Shu Guan raised his head and looked at the sky, like a frog sitting in a well looking at the sky.
Because the sky he can see is really small.
Even in this place with the best view in the entire Taoyuan Village, what he saw were more towering cliffs reaching into the clouds.
Those cliffs are extremely steep, and you can still see some trees and vines at the bottom of the cliffs, but the higher you go up, the fewer the trees are. After passing the middle of the cliff, there are only smooth rocks as smooth as mirrors. Even the most flexible apes , and it is difficult to climb on those cliffs.
Taoyuan Village is surrounded by these high cliffs, like a deep well.
Taoyuan Village is at the bottom of the well, and the surrounding cliffs are the walls of the well.
It also looks a lot like a prison.
The only place in Taoyuan Village connected to the outside world is the creek where Shuguan floated down.
The stream flows out from the gap between the two cliffs. At the narrowest point, only a newborn baby can pass through. The stream there is deep and fast, making it impossible for people to stand on it. The rocks on the cliff are extremely hard. , with the primitive and crude iron tools in this mountain village, there is no way to make the gap in the cliff wider.
Therefore, people living in this small valley village have no way to get out.
At least it would be impossible for normal humans to climb over those cliffs and get out.
The people living in Taoyuan Village are ordinary people.
Regarding this, Shu Guan is very sure.
As for the situation outside the cliffs surrounding the village, Shu Guan had already seen it clearly when he fell from the sky.
Outside the mountains there are still mountains.
Mountains stretching for hundreds of miles.
Therefore, their village hidden in the mountains is basically impossible to be discovered by outsiders.
This is why Shuguan named this village Taoyuan Village.
"When the forest reaches the water source, you will find a mountain. There is a small mouth in the mountain, as if there is light. So I left my boat and entered through the mouth."
In fact, although Shu Guan didn't do well in his previous life, he was an out-and-out academic when he was studying. His grades in all subjects were always among the best, and he usually read very widely, and he was the kind of person who knew everything. A bit of a generalist.
Otherwise, he would not have known the unpopular knowledge that bracken only grows north of the Yangtze River Basin, and then relied on some plants around Taoyuan Village to deduce the approximate geographical scope of the valley.
As for the "Peach Blossom Spring" that he recited in high school, he still remembers most of the words.
The village where he is now is very similar to the record in "Peach Blossom Spring".
Even the scenery is similar.
Just like the hillside next to the stream outside the village, there is really a peach forest. Whenever spring comes, pink clouds look like floating above the clear stream.
Paradise, pastoral songs, poetry and distance.
For people living in modern metropolises, it is a constant turmoil deep in their hearts.
But let a person who is accustomed to living in a big city stay for a month in a remote country with no mobile phones, no WiFi, no games, no entertainment gossip, no Weibo, no Moments, and no parties.
Absolutely ninety percent of people can't do it.
Shu Guan couldn't do it either, but he had no choice.
Shu Guan, who is four years old this year, is sitting on a bench that is twice as long as his body. He looks up at the small patch of sky above, his eyes full of sadness and despair.
This sadness and despair seeped out from every pockmark on his face.
The abscesses on his body had been cured by the old lame man who adopted him, using some herbs dug by the old lame man from the mountains and forests, but they left some sequelae, that is, Shu Guan was covered with pimples all over his body. There were black pimples and pockmarks all over, including on the face.
What Shu Guan fears most now is washing his face every morning. Looking at his face in the clean water in the basin, he really can't help but vomit even in the overnight room.
However, there were no mirrors in this village, so Shu Guan didn't really see how hideously ugly he was, but he could feel this from the way other people looked at him.
Just like the children who were chasing and playing around the grain drying field at this time, the older ones were seven or eight years old and the younger ones were two or three years old. When they saw Shu Guan sitting on the bench, there was a look on everyone's face. They all showed expressions of disgust and a hint of fear.
Shu Guan smiled at them.
So among the group of children, the youngest girl was so frightened that she cried.
"We won't take you to play!"
A big boy who seemed to be the leader among the children waved his fist towards Shuguan.
"Let's stay away from him. No one should play with that little pockmark."
The big boy stared at Shu Guan fiercely and said this to the little friends behind him.
Shu Guan gave the tough-headed boy a look of disdain.
Who wants to play with you little brats? My uncle is telling you to get out of here.
This may be the only advantage of having a pockmarked face, that is, except for the old lame man, almost no one in the village will look at him in the eyes, and will not talk to this ugly little pockmarked man who should be considered an outsider.
This also saves Shu Guan the trouble of having to work hard to act like a young child in front of others.
The children in the village ran away in a hurry. Shu Guan looked down at his little feet, which could not even touch the ground, and smiled to himself.
Children's reactions are always the most real, so in this life, I should be as ugly as a ghost!
It is said that time travel is a life-changing opportunity, but if you travel to an isolated mountain village and can only live within a few dozen miles for the rest of your life, then this opportunity can only be said to be a joke of fate.
But for the person involved, Shu Guan, this joke was not funny at all.
I thought that I would basically have to live in this cage-like valley for the rest of my life, living a boring and ordinary life, plowing fields, marrying and having children... Speaking of which, the people in Taoyuan Village are... It's not a matter of soil and water. The women in this village are all very pretty.
...However, with the way he looks now, there is a high probability that no girl will be willing to marry him...
Therefore, not only will I have to live in this remote mountain village for the rest of my life, but I will also probably live alone for the rest of my life, just like an old cripple.
Are you considered the unluckiest time traveler?
Shuguan's mood became more melancholy and irritable, and then he couldn't help but move the index and middle fingers of his right hand.
He is addicted to cigarettes.
Before time travel, I could still smoke to relieve my boredom when I encountered troubles, but now even this wish can no longer be realized.
At this moment, Shu Guan suddenly remembered something, turned his head and glanced at something placed on the other end of the bench, and then glanced at a corner of the grain drying field.
In a whole sea of dark green covered with bracken, only the color in that corner looked different.
What's drying in that corner is not bracken, but all kinds of medicinal materials.
Some Shu Guan can be called by their names, while others have never even seen them.
For example, there is a kind of grass blade with colorful colors and a shape like a villain. Before Shu Guan traveled through time, he had never heard of this kind of plant on earth with his extensive knowledge reserve.
The abscesses on his body, according to what the old lame man had told him, were cured with the juice of this colorful grass leaf.
Among the pile of herbs, the old lame man was carrying his back and dragging his lame leg, carefully rummaging through and picking them up.
Shu Guan secretly glanced at the old lame man to confirm whether he would turn around soon.
So he lay down, holding the stool with one hand, and reached over with his other small arm, grabbing the cigarette rod on the other side of the bench.
This is a very beautiful and exquisitely crafted smoking rod. The shaft is made of bamboo. The emerald green bamboo body is dotted with brown spots, shaped like teardrops.
This is Xiangfei Bamboo.
There are many beautiful bamboos growing in the mountains and forests surrounding Taoyuan Village.
Shuguan knew this kind of bamboo, and he also knew that this kind of bamboo was most common in Hunan and Hubei. This was one of the clues he used to determine the location of Taoyuan Village.
The front end of the cigarette rod is a brass smoke cup, which is engraved with a dragon and phoenix pattern connected end to end.
The title is a bit vulgar, but the carving is breathtaking. Even if Shu Guan is just a layman in this regard, he can still see this.
On the dove-egg-sized smoke cup, the carvings of a dragon and a phoenix are not only extremely lifelike, but even every scale on the dragon's body or every feather on the phoenix's crown is clearly carved.
At the connection between the cigarette rod and the cigarette cup, there is a blue cigarette bag the size of a palm hanging.
The cigarette pouch is sewn with soil-dyed fabrics from Taoyuan Village. The coloring and fabric quality are quite crude, but the embroidery on both sides of the cigarette pouch is extremely exquisite. One side is embroidered with towering cliffs, and the other side is embroidered with the village. The creek outside.
Especially the creek, the embroidery gives people a vivid feeling like gurgling water and leaping fish.
This cigarette rod was made by the old cripple himself, including the dragon and phoenix on the cigarette cup, which he carved himself, and the pattern on the tobacco bag, which he embroidered.
At this time, Shu Guan took the cigarette rod, took out a handful of tobacco leaves from the cigarette bag, and stuffed it into the cigarette cup. Then he picked up the flint fire sickle next to the cigarette rod and put the cigarette holder also made of brass into his mouth. Then he bent his knees and pressed them against the middle of the cigarette pole. In this way, the four-year-old Shuguan stretched out his hands and could barely reach the cigarette cup at the other end.
Shu Guan struck several times with flint and fire sickle.
With his current strength, it would be difficult to light a fire with flint and fire sickle.
But today I was very lucky, and he actually lit the tobacco leaves.
Then Shu Guan took a deep breath.
A nostalgic smell of tobacco spread from his throat deep into his lungs.
Compared with the cigarettes I was used to smoking before, the taste of dry tobacco is thick with a hint of bitterness and spiciness. It is a bit choking, but it is dry.
Shu Guan's soul is a long-time smoker, but his current body is the first time he has come into contact with this kind of thing, and it is dry tobacco that is much stronger than cigarettes. His body cannot withstand such strong smoke. Stimulate.
A puff of dry smoke was sucked into his throat, and Shu Guan suddenly coughed violently.
He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and glanced at the old cripple again.
Fortunately, the old lame man's ears had never been very good and he didn't seem to hear the movement here. He still turned his back to Shu Guan and squatted among his pair of medicinal herbs that he had worked hard to collect from the mountains and forests.
After waiting for a few seconds, Shu Guan felt relieved and began to boldly hold the cigarette rod and smoke one after another.
After getting over the initial discomfort, his whole soul was flooded with pleasure from nicotine and some long-lost emotion.
Therefore, quitting smoking has never been a success, because you never know when you will relapse.
The joy of relapse comes from the joy and relaxation deep in your spirit.
The sun is shining brightly on a spring afternoon.
A four-year-old child with a pockmarked black face sat alone on a bench, holding a cigarette rod that was nearly half his height and skillfully blowing out smoke rings. All the sorrows and worries seemed to disappear temporarily. As those bluish-white smoke rings dissipated.
Then the ugly child's eyes gradually became deep and sharp.
Shu Guan began to think about the issue that he had been thinking about for four years.
That's why this Taoyuan Village exists!
This is the only question that Shu Guan can't understand in this seemingly ordinary small mountain village.
There seems to be nothing wrong with this village.
But the existence of such a village is itself the biggest problem.
