The first ray of morning light came from the horizon, passed through the mist in the mountains, started from the top of the mountain and gradually went down, covering the entire mountain top. As a result, the ginger flowers all over the mountains and fields were bathed in the morning light. At this moment, whether they were pink or white,
All appear exceptionally clear and clean.
Bathing in the morning light with the spring flowers, there is also a swallow.
A black and white swallow, if you look closely, it is actually not pure black, but blue-black, with a slight metallic luster under the sun. It flies freely between the sky and the earth, sometimes up and sometimes down, sometimes left and sometimes right. The morning mist in the mountains is high in the sky.
From this perspective, they turned into clusters. It was also from this perspective that the ginger flowers, half covered by the morning mist, were spectacular and hazy. Each tree turned into one, and then joined together to cover the top of the mountain.
This is a beauty that is difficult for mortal eyes to see.
"call……"
The swallow passed through a cloud of mountain fog again, and the picture in front of it quickly changed from hazy to clear. Then it folded its wings, suddenly descended, and plunged into the sea of pink flowers.
Crossing the branches and passing through the branches, it is so dexterous that it is like walking through the world of flowers, with pink flowers everywhere in the field of vision.
The flowers in the eyes of swallows are bigger than those in human eyes. Each flower is almost as big as itself, so it has a different kind of beauty. When passing by the flowers, you can clearly see its texture and lines, which have a faint sense of beauty.
The floral fragrance with a hint of ginger lingers on the tip of the nose all the time.
Occasionally bump into it and pass through it.
This is also a pleasure that ordinary people cannot experience.
Until a Taoist priest appeared in front of me.
The Taoist closed his eyes and sat cross-legged in the ginger flower forest, with a blanket under his body and a quilt bag next to him. A bay-red horse was gnawing on the grass under the tree. In the eyes of swallows, it looked like a giant. A calico cat was upright and upright.
Sitting next to the Taoist and licking his paws, he suddenly noticed something and raised his head to stare at it.
The mountain breeze dropped countless reds one night.
The flower is still falling.
Whether it's a Taoist priest, a blanket, or the quilt bag, all the petals of ginger flowers have fallen on it. Even the bay red horse that keeps moving has a few pieces of pink jade on it.
Calico cats are quite clean.
Maybe it's too small and the petals can't fall on it.
but……
Then she saw a petal swaying down and landing on her head.
The calico cat immediately paused, showing a puzzled expression, and then raised its head high and back, trying to see what was touching its head, but this action only made the petals on its head slide down. So when it raised its paws to touch itself
When I moved my head, I couldn't touch anything, so I became more confused and started to circle and do somersaults on the blanket, not even paying attention to the swallows.
The swallow folded its wings and shot at the Taoist like an arrow.
"Canopy..."
The swallow disappeared in an instant.
The Taoist opened his eyes.
I looked down and saw that there were petals on my shoulders and legs. In fact, these were quite few. When I woke up this morning, the blanket was already covered with petals.
He picked up a piece casually, put it in front of his eyes and took a closer look, comparing in his mind the difference with the swallow's eyes.
"Taoist priest."
"Um?"
"Did you touch me just now?"
"Just take it as such."
"Why are you touching me?"
"I didn't touch it."
"Who touched that?"
"..."
Song You stood up from the felt and shook off the petals: "It's almost time for us to leave."
"oh."
The calico cat consciously left the felt and stood on the grass covered with petals. He looked down and then up again. When the Taoist priest shook off the petals on the felt, he folded them and put them away, then put the quilt bag on the ground.
When the horse walked away on its back, she followed with small steps.
It was still one person, one horse and one cat, and it was still the path winding through the forest and grass. They were walking down the flower-filled mountains, bathing in the morning light, taking their time.
"Who touched that?"
Calico cats have a persevering spirit.
…
Another day trip.
At dusk.
The group followed the ancient road in the barren mountains and crossed the last mountain. This was already the boundary of Nanhua County.
Song You hadn't seen the farmland or villages yet, but he first heard the loud and clear singing of Ruoyouruowu. There were men and women singing in harmony. As he got closer, the singing became clearer.
“It’s spring again in March~~”
The Taoist stopped on the mountainside and looked into the distance.
I saw that there were still mountains and rivers ahead, shrouded in the dusk, but fields could be seen in the mountains. Occasionally, you could see a little golden color in some places, and the cauliflower here withered very late. And the singing echoed in the mountains,
The woman's loudness and the man's deepness came from nowhere.
All this shows that he has walked out of the hundreds of miles of ancient roads in the barren mountains and returned to the human world.
"It's March already."
Song You felt a little emotional and continued to move forward.
The horses and cats followed him.
The wind filled the mountains, making Song You's clothes tremble, but it was cool. The sky was covered with gray clouds. There was even a large area of darkness. The world in front of them seemed not to be prepared to welcome them.
After going down the mountain, it merges into the main road.
Pedestrians were also seen on the roadside, either carrying burdens or carrying baskets, riding in oxcarts or donkey carts, or walking on foot. They all knew that the mountain rain was coming, so they walked in a hurry.
"May I ask how to get to Nanhua County?"
"Follow this road."
"How far is it?"
"More than ten miles away."
"Thank you."
"It's going to rain..."
The voices of passers-by are getting farther and farther away.
Song You also continued to move forward.
Half an hour later, the rain had fallen.
The rain in late spring seemed to have a little bit of the momentum of summer. It came hard and fast, and it fell all over the face. In the blink of an eye, the road was wet, and muddy water flowers bloomed on the ground.
Song You put on his raincoat and bamboo hat, and he put the calico cat in the quilt bag.
The vision is hazy with mist and rain, and the road ahead is winding.
The sky was getting darker little by little.
It seems that I can't reach the city.
Song You originally wanted to find a pavilion to take shelter from the rain, but he didn't see the pavilion. Instead, he saw a small temple through the remaining skylight.
The temple is right on the roadside, on a small slope.
The slope is not high, only more than ten feet.
The temple is not big, with a few small rooms.
"Just right!"
Without thinking, Song You stepped up.
The horse was still following behind him.
Song You quickly walked up the hill, and when he looked up out of habit, he saw that there was no plaque hanging, and there were no couplets on either side.
But he still knocked the knocker.
"Tuk tuk tuk..."
The rain was so loud that no one would hear it, so he knocked twice more. After a while, the sound of rapid footsteps and the sound of splashing water came from inside.
"Squeak~"
The door was opened a crack.
Contrary to Song You's expectation, the person standing inside was a bhikshuni, that is, a nun.
She looks like she is in her thirties, and her skin is slightly yellow, maybe not thirty years old. She did not hold an umbrella. In just a few steps, the moon-white monk's robe was soaked by the raindrops. There was a canopy at the door to protect her from the rain.
She stood under the rain eaves and looked at Song You up and down, and then asked:
"Which one are you looking for?"
Song You was stunned for a moment, and then he looked helpless: "I didn't know this was a nunnery, so I took the liberty to visit and disturb you."
He bowed to express his apology, then turned and left.
Buddhist temples are indeed good at being "convenient to people", and it is easy to stay overnight. However, if it is a nunnery, it is obviously not suitable for men to stay. What's more, it is dark now, and it is raining heavily outside.
There are no pedestrians on the road below. Let alone staying overnight, even standing at this door and saying a few words will probably cause alarm.
Therefore, Song You left without asking any further questions.
But then I heard the nun behind me ask:
"Which one are you looking for?"
Song You just turned around and took a step. Hearing this, he had to turn back and politely replied: "I'm not looking for anyone. There is a mountain man in Lingquan County, Yizhou, Xia Nai. I was just traveling here and encountered a heavy rain. I didn't see anyone along the way."
I came across a pavilion that could take shelter from the rain, so when I saw a roadside temple, I boldly came to seek shelter, but I didn't expect it to be a nunnery. I disturbed the masters' spiritual practice. Please forgive me."
"You're not here...looking for someone?"
"no."
The nun stopped at the door and looked him up and down.
Suddenly, the quilt bag on the horse's back was shaking, but it was the calico cat that heard someone talking outside. Urged by curiosity, it struggled to get out a cat head. In the increasingly dim light, the nun could still see clearly.
This is a cat, its eyes are particularly bright, and it stares at itself unblinkingly as soon as it comes out of its head.
The rain continued unabated at this moment, and the raindrops hit her head and wet the hair on her head. Sometimes it also fell on her eyes, or flowed down the top of her head to her eyes, so she had to blink continuously.
But he refused to shrink back.
"what is that?"
"It's the cat that travels with me."
"Where are you from?"
"Coming from Yizhou, passing through Xuzhou, and then here, I planned to go to Nanhua County to rest, but unexpectedly it rained heavily."
"Are you a Taoist priest?"
"I have been cultivating in Taoist temples since I was a child."
"You want to come and take shelter from the rain?"
"I came here to escape the rain."
The nun obviously thought for a moment before getting out of the way.
"Then come in..."
"How is this possible?"
"As long as you're not a bad person."
"Of course I'm not a bad person." Song You smiled politely, "I'm just a man in the lower body. After all, it's inconvenient, so I won't bother you... But now that I have met the master, I would like to ask how long it will take to walk from here to the city.
?When will the city close again?”
"It's okay, it's raining heavily outside, don't get wet." Seeing that he was gentle and polite, the nun's voice softened a lot, "We still have ten miles to go to the city, and I'm afraid we can't get in now."
"Is there any other shelter from the rain around?"
"Come in, there happens to be another room left. It's raining so hard and no one else is here."
"..."
Song You was a little strange, but he didn't think too much about anything else. He just pondered for a moment and bowed respectfully: "Then I'll come in and burn a stick of incense. If the rain subsides, I'll leave immediately."
The nun hummed and said nothing more.
Song You then led the horse through the door.
The nun closed the courtyard door and then pointed to a shed in the corner: "The horses can be tied there. It won't stop raining tonight. You can stay here for one night and leave early tomorrow morning."
Song You was about to refuse again, but then he heard a man's voice faintly in the heavy rain.
It rained heavily in the courtyard.
In order to avoid getting caught in the rain, the nun had already picked up her trousers and ran quickly across the yard to the shed. Seeing this, Song You had no choice but to follow.
"Why doesn't your horse have a rope?"
"A horse is obedient and needs no reins."
"Then how to tie it?"
"No need to tie it up, it will stay here and will never wander around."
"real or fake?"
"Every sentence is true, don't dare to lie."
"..."
Song You took off the quilt from the horse's back, and the horse just stood obediently, motionless. The nun looked at them from the side, frowning, still worried that the horse would run around at night.
"My surname is Song, you, and my courtesy name is Menglai. I haven't asked the teacher to give me my father's name yet."
"Don't ask anymore."
"good."
The nun took him to a small room.
Song You originally only said that he would burn incense in the main hall to take shelter from the rain, but now he no longer insisted. He just thanked him respectfully and entered the house with his quilt bag.
This burst of rain was really heavy. The quilt bag itself has a certain waterproof ability and has been soaked by the rain. The contents inside were completely wet. Song You took them out and prepared to do some processing before going to the city tomorrow.
Find a place to wash and dry. But just as I was cleaning it, I heard a faint sound coming from the room next to me amidst the sound of rain.
Yes--
Many nunneries do not even allow men to enter to burn incense. How can any nunnery take the initiative to accommodate male guests? How can a small nunnery have a shed specifically for tying donkeys and horses?