Ji Yuan tried to sleep, but the more he wanted to sleep, the more he couldn't fall asleep. Time seemed so long, and Ji Yuan, who had always been optimistic, was tortured by loneliness and despair.
"Boom..."
A loud thunder suddenly sounded, startling Ji Yuan.
Listening to the thunder in this state gave Ji Yuan an unprecedented feeling, as if he was in the sky, feeling the dance of thunder.
This mysterious feeling penetrated into Ji Yuan's heart like lightning, sweeping away the fear, anxiety, depression and confusion in his heart, and calming his heart.
“Hua La La…”
Before long, the rain started to fall heavily.
Ji Yuan's eyelids trembled, and he heard the raindrops falling in his ears. He could clearly hear the raindrops hitting the ground, rocks, flowers and plants.
Time seemed to slow down at this moment.
“Pah…” “Pah…” “Pah…”…
Drops of rain hit the leaves, the ground, etc., transmitting the sound.
The shattering of raindrops created ripples in the darkness of Ji Yuan's heart. Each ripple outlined a source of sound information. Millions of ripples formed a picture scroll. Leaves, treetops, ground, rocks, houses, rubble, flowers and plants, and animals fleeing in the rain. The lines of all things appeared in his mind along with the sound of rain...
It has no color but is three-dimensional and vivid, as if Ji Yuan is touching everything on the earth with every drop of rain.
Listen to everything as the rain falls, and the picture opens from your heart!
This is an indescribable mysterious experience. Ji Yuan forgot all his annoyances, even forgot to breathe, and quietly experienced it. The closer things are, the clearer they are, and the farther away they are, the blurrier they become.
'It turns out that I am still in the mountains. It turns out that I am lying in an old, dilapidated house in the mountains. Is it a dilapidated temple? The heavy rain came very suddenly. Many small animals are fleeing in panic. It is so beautiful! '
Although he still couldn't move or open his eyes, there was a hint of smile on Ji Yuan's lips.
The irritability in his heart was relieved, and this unusual hearing made Ji Yuan wonder if he had gained some advantage from the chess game.
After a while, Ji Yuan's heart was excited. He finally heard the voice he was most expecting.
. . .
In the mountain rain, a group of people carrying large baskets with canopies on their backs are walking quickly. These large baskets are somewhat like the book boxes used by ancient scholars when they traveled to study or took exams, with a covering cloth on them, but they are obviously much larger in size.
Ji Yuan couldn't hear their entire appearance, he could only hear the range of the raindrops falling, so what he felt in his mind were people's limbs, baskets and covers, while their faces were blurry.
What made Ji Yuan a little confused was not just the big baskets. Some of these people were wearing raincoats-like raincoats, while others were not. In short, they did not look like any modern raincoats at all.
"Hurry up, hurry up, everyone, keep up, the mountain temple is right ahead!!!"
"Watch your step, the mountain roads are very slippery on rainy days!!"
"Follow up, let's go to the mountain temple to avoid the rain and make a fire, hurry up!!!"
…
People in the crowd kept reminding everyone to be careful, some kept urging everyone to speed up, and some would stop to see if the people behind them had caught up.
After turning around a few big trees and going around an upright rock, the leading man finally saw the mountain temple which was nearby.
"Everyone, hurry up, we've arrived at the Mountain God Temple, let's see if anyone has fallen behind!!"
“They’re all here!!”
"Hurry up and get into the temple, the mountain rain is too cold!!"
As the group talked, they quickened their pace and rushed into the mountain temple one after another.
"Wow!!! This rain is so crazy, I almost got soaked to death!"
The leading man was a man with a short beard, and like everyone else, water was dripping from his body. He first put down the heavy basket, and then took off his dripping raincoat.
I stretched my muscles and looked behind me, counting them one by one. There were a total of 12 people, not one missing.
"Everyone, put the goods over there. Liu Quan and Li Gui, take out our firewood. Let's make a fire and warm ourselves up!"
"okay!"
"It's a little drier over there, come on, put it over there!"
"My clothes need to be dried in the oven. I didn't have time to put on my raincoat."
A group of people were either moving baskets, or fetching firewood to make a fire, while others were simply sweeping a piece of dry ground with a whisk they were carrying.
They are a group of traveling merchants. Crossing mountains and rivers is a common occurrence for them. It is also common for them to encounter bad weather, so they always prepare dry firewood, charcoal and other things in baskets to deal with the current situation.
The leader of the team was named Zhang Shilin. His parents had hoped that he would study hard to pass the imperial examinations and join the ranks of scholars, thus bringing honor to the Zhang family. However, he was not born to be a scholar, and his family fell into poverty. In order to earn money, he worked hard as a peddler.
As a team leader, he has heavy responsibilities and needs to take into account the safety of the entire team. Naturally, there will be some preferential treatment. For example, now that everyone is busy, Zhang Shilin can rub his shoulders and relax. No one has any complaints about this. Everyone can see Zhang Shilin's role and he is a qualified and good team leader.
The mountain temple is not big, only a few meters long and wide, and the three walls are relatively solid. Except for the damage to the eaves at the outside entrance, there is no leakage inside. However, the two large doors have long collapsed and disappeared, allowing cold wind to blow in from time to time.
The inside of the mountain god temple was in an even more dilapidated state, with spider webs and animal feces everywhere. The incense burner and candlesticks on the table were overturned, and there was no trace of offerings. Even the clay statue of the mountain god was so broken that its head was missing.
"Alas, it's a good thing that this mountain temple is still there. If it collapses someday, we will have one less place to stay in Niukui Mountain!"
Ji Yuan listened to all the footsteps and conversations of these people.
I was in a mountain temple in the mountains. Niu Kui Mountain? Should it be Niu Tou Mountain or a dialect slip
It seems that these people might be hikers, carrying tools like convertibles, but at least they are definitely not kidnappers.
But the sound was obviously very close, and the temple was not big, so I might be in some corner of the temple, otherwise they would not have been able to fail to see me.
"Ah, Brother Shilin, there's someone over here!!"
Hearing the screams nearby, Ji Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He finally found me. The next step should be to call the police for help and then send himself to the hospital. His life should be saved.
Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Shilin quickly walked around the mountain god statue and saw a person lying behind it. Pedestrians also gathered in twos and threes.
The man behind the mountain god statue had his eyes closed and was motionless. He had dishevelled hair and tattered clothes. It was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
The young man who first discovered the beggar walked closer, squatted down, sniffed his breath and touched his forehead.
"Brother Shilin, this beggar is still breathing, but his forehead is so hot, what should I do?"
What should I do? Are you crazy? Call the police!!!
If he couldn't speak now, Ji Yuan really wanted to yell. He didn't notice that these people were calling him a beggar.
Zhang Shilin frowned and then sighed.
"It's a desolate place in the wilderness. It looks like this beggar won't last much longer. Let's give him some hot water and see if he can drink it. Oh, what a damned world this is!!"
"Why… "
"Let's go, let's make a fire..."
The peddlers shook their heads, sighed, and walked away.
Wait! Wait! What are you doing? Why are you leaving? Call the police!
No way? No way!!!
The reactions of these people were completely different from what Ji Yuan expected, which made him confused and panicked...