During the dog days of summer, it’s also cool in the middle of the night.
The window is open and the wind is coming in.
There is a pottery pot in the middle of the room, with a match rope made by the neighbor next door inside. It will not produce an open flame when lit with fire. It will only burn very slowly without sparking, and it will emit the aroma of herbs.
The Taoist lay on the mat, which should have been comfortable, but unfortunately he was covered with a bed of calico cats.
Ever since she came back from Beiqin Mountain, Sanhua Empress's mouse-catching business has flourished again. However, in order to keep catching mice while also taking into account study and rest, the Taoist agreed with her that the mice of each family should be divided into five parts as before.
After catching one day, each family will have two days of rest, and then ask for leave if something happens.
Today is my usual day off, but I can’t completely relax.
The first thing is to spend more time studying to maintain your gifted cat design.
At the same time, it is a hot summer day and the Yang Qi is extremely strong during the day.
Even if the moon is bright at night, the yin energy is strong.
Sanhua Empress, fellow practitioners of yin and yang spiritual power, has to work hard day and night to absorb the essence of the sun and moon.
Late at night, the practice ended. Although he was very tired and in low spirits, because he usually worked the night shift, the calico cat actually didn't fall asleep for a long time. He walked around the room, climbed up and down the bed, and kept changing places.
He didn't fall asleep until he climbed onto the Taoist's belly.
At this time, he curled up into a ball and slept soundly.
Match rope repels mosquitoes and soothes the mind, making even cats dream.
The content of the dream was quite simple.
It was early autumn of the year.
In the small town at the foot of the mountain, there was a small stone arch bridge, a gurgling river, and dark willow trees. She sat on the bridge and stared into the distance doubtfully. Wherever she looked, a young Taoist wearing an old Taoist robe that was not as old as now was standing respectfully.
The famous fisherman begged two small fishes from a bamboo basket, wore them with willow branches, and brought them back, saying they were her betrothal gift.
The calico cat stared at him.
At this moment, she felt herself being hugged by someone and suddenly flew off the ground.
Then put it on the ground again.
The ground is ice cold.
Just like a mat.
"?"
Mat?
The small bridge in the small town disappeared, the morning fog disappeared, the willow trees disappeared, and the fish disappeared. Everything seemed to have returned to darkness and disappeared, including himself and the Taoist priest.
I opened my eyes drowsily and rubbed them with my paws. I was curled up on the mat. In the dark, the Taoist got up from the bed and was walking downstairs.
"Well……"
The calico cat rubbed its eyes again.
It turns out I was dreaming.
She must have been sleeping on his belly, and when he wanted to get up, he picked her up and placed her next to him.
When I was thinking about it, the Taoist had already walked away.
"Well?"
The calico cat got up in a daze.
…
The Taoist walked downstairs in the dark.
The moonlight comes through the window, and it's not too dark.
As soon as he walked downstairs, the Taoist realized something was wrong.
Looking back——
A dazed calico cat also came down the stairs with him. His steps were sloppy and he looked very lethargic at first glance.
When the Taoist stopped, she stopped too.
The Taoist looked at her, and she looked up at the Taoist.
"Miss Sanhua, what are you doing?"
"Taoist priest, what are you doing?"
"I'll go to the hut."
"oh……"
"Why are you following me, Sanhua Empress?"
"hurry up……"
The Sanhua Cat couldn't open its eyes and spoke in a daze, but it persuaded him: "The Sanhua Empress is going back to sleep."
"..."
The Taoist looked really helpless.
After using the toilet, I walked back.
The cat seemed completely unaware of his helplessness. While feeling sleepy, the cat followed him back and talked to him.
"Taoist priest."
"Um……"
"Is today the beginning of autumn?"
"It's a hot day today."
"Then how long until the beginning of autumn?"
"I told Empress Sanhua before that there are still thirty days, and Empress Sanhua knows how long thirty days is." The Taoist's voice was very soft.
"oh……"
The calico cat stopped talking.
As a genius cat, he naturally knows how long thirty days is, but knowing means knowing, he still has to ask.
Lying on the bed, the bamboo mat felt cold, and the pillow filled with rice husks made a sound. It was not soft, but it still felt very comfortable.
The calico cat did not climb onto his belly again, but crawled next to him, stared at him and said:
"Taoist priest."
"Um……"
"Miss Sanhua seemed to have had a dream just now."
"What did you dream about?"
The calico cat just turned its head and stared at him, as if it was a little more awake than before. Its eyes were wide and round in the dark night, but it refused to speak.
The Taoist turned his head and cast a doubtful look at her.
In the middle of the night, through the scattered light of a ray of moonlight outside the window, only a small group of darkness could be seen, but she still didn't answer, just looked at him.
"Don't you want to talk about it, Sanhua Empress?"
"Want to talk!"
"Then let's talk."
"Don't tell me!"
"Then don't talk about it."
"Well……"
"Go to sleep."
"Well……"
"How about we go to the painting tomorrow?"
"In which painting?"
"Which other painting could it be in?"
"Go to the painting!"
"I've always wanted to go in and have a look."
"oh……"
"Go to sleep."
The Taoist turned over and closed his eyes.
The cat's eyes are open in the dark, round and shiny. It is a normal thing for a cat to endure the long night.
The next day, morning.
The Taoist cooked a bowl of porridge and two eggs.
Sanhua Niangniang is a good egg mate and likes to eat egg yolks. It is most suitable for people like Song You who like to eat egg whites but don't like to eat egg yolks. One person, one cat, one share, everyone is happy.
After finishing breakfast and putting away all the pots and dishes, the Taoist took the cat to the second floor and stood in front of the painting.
The painting in front of me is still not much different from before.
There are carpet-like heading reeds nearby, and a path in the middle leads to Cangshan Mountain in the distance, which is like a sky wall. There are villages and green smoke at the foot of the mountain. There are many patches of fertile fields where the villages and reed meadows meet, as regular as a chessboard.
The grid is the same, with different shades of blue and yellow, but there are some changes from the first sight.
In addition, what has changed even more is the wild geese in the sky and the green cattle on the ground.
The content on this painting seems to be updated once it is closed and reopened. In addition, it changes once every dusk when no one is looking at it. If someone is looking at it, there will be no change.
It is worth mentioning that there is a copybook hanging on top of the painting.
The handwriting on it is not good, but it is neat.
It is written: The thief lost his arm for a year
It seems that there have been several visits from Jianghu thieves in the past few days.
They didn't dare to gather people to make trouble in the city, so that when the imperial army came, no one could escape. They also didn't dare to come to the Taoist openly, so they often came when the Taoist went out or in the middle of the night. However, the Taoist cast several spells on the painting.
There were heavy restrictions and spells, and I also asked Empress Sanhua to write an inscription to remind the thieves who came to steal the painting.
If you don't listen to the advice and touch it without permission, not only will the painting not be taken away and the paper will not be damaged, but your arms will also lose control. Therefore, many people in the world will run away in a hurry after jumping out of the window and even fall to the ground without being able to stand firmly.
There are gradually fewer and fewer people coming back these days.
The Taoist stared at the painting in ecstasy. Even after so long, he was still amazed by the mysterious charm in it.
I don’t know what it’s like to go in.
"Let's go."
"Let's go~"
One sentence for the Taoist, one sentence for the cat.
The Taoist was not seen using a brush. He only stretched out his hand and touched the painting lightly. The mysterious connection and aura were strong. Several circles of ripples appeared on the painting. It seemed that it was no longer a painting but a door or a window.
"Miss Sanhua, please go first."
"Jump in?"
"Um."
"You first!"
"Okay, I'll go first."
"No! Empress Sanhua first!"
"..."
The Taoist looked down at the cat.
Probably knows what she is thinking.
"Then let's go together."
So Song You bent down and gently picked her up. Without saying anything, he just took a step forward and turned into a wisp of smoke and entered the painting.
The world changes before our eyes, and the seasons change.
In a daze, the Taoist holding the cat has arrived on the path in the painting. There are reeds on both sides. There are people as tall as each other with snow-white tassels. They are all bent in the same direction by the wind.
The wind also carried the smell of earth and reeds, and there was a hint of moisture.
The Taoist's first feeling is:
Cool!
It’s hot summer in Changjing, but it’s late autumn here. Suddenly coming here from the hot summer is like walking into an air-conditioned room on a hot day.
The wind was blowing pleasantly again.
The cat in the Taoist's arms had already opened its eyes wide and looked left and right.
The Taoist bent down and put her on the ground. He twisted some soil on the ground with his hands, held it in front of his eyes, rubbed it with his fingers, and looked at it carefully. After a while, he put the soil back into the wind, and then stretched out his hand to grab the bag beside her that was bent by the wind.
A reed leaf came over, and I still pinched it with two fingers, feeling its touch, the coldness of the leaves, the moisture inside, and the jagged edges.
The Taoist is thoughtful.
Immediately, he turned around to see what was behind the painting.
But it's not nothingness.
It's a fenced-in lake.
The lake is very vast. With the good weather, you can see the mountains on the other side of the lake, which are probably dozens of miles away. There are also many reeds growing in the lake near the shore, and the metasequoias growing in it are very popular in this season.
It is completely red, reflected in the water together with the sky, half blue and half red.
The water surface is constantly rippled, and occasionally fish and shrimp move in the water, creating a circle of ripples.
Many waterbirds fly in the air, swim on the water, dive into the water to hunt for food, and make calls from time to time.
"Ah~"
Where is this world in the painting?
It's clearly the real world.
The Taoist withdrew his gaze and looked up at the green mountains in the distance that looked like a sky wall.
The village at the foot of the mountain is vaguely visible.
Then he took steps and walked over there.
Seeing this, the calico cat quickly followed.
When looking outside the painting, the sky-wall-like rolling green hills were not too far away. Now that we were in it, we still didn’t feel far away. We could only rely on experience to know that it was because it was so big and the ground was so flat.
The Taoist was very patient and walked very slowly.
As you walk, pay attention to the world.
Whether it was the wind blowing, the road under his feet, the reeds or other weeds around him, the small animals that occasionally jumped in the grass, the birds in the sky, or even the changes in the world, he carefully observed and recorded the mysterious things in the world.
The aura and the seasonal differences between this place and the outside world are all part of his perception.