"The mountains... There are so many wolves in the mountains, and my brother walks with his heart on edge. After collecting firewood and selling the wine, I put the money by the door of my father's room..."
The clear mountain songs sometimes echo in the sea of clouds rising from the mountainside.
The mountains are winding and stretch for dozens of miles, like a reclining Buddha. The lush green forests are swaying. Birds flying across the sky land on an old pine tree on the peak in the setting sun, combing their feathers. They hear singing coming from afar and look down with blinking eyes.
On the winding mountain road, footsteps were faintly heard, and a moment later, a young man's figure passed through the rolling clouds.
"You jackal... I am collecting firewood to earn money for wine, and I am filial to my father to ask for money. Don't run out and kill me. I will buy you some meat in the next two days..."
The outline of the young man walking towards him became clear. There were two bundles of firewood tied on his back and a mountain rabbit hanging around his waist, struggling. The young man sang a folk song and looked around from time to time. When he saw the welcoming old pine tree over there, he walked over slowly, bowed respectfully to the old tree, and then continued on his way.
"The villagers say this old pine tree is spiritual, and people who go up the mountain must worship it... I don't know if it's true or not."
The young man was about fourteen or fifteen years old, with delicate features, but his cheeks had thin calluses from the wind. He was wearing coarse cloth clothes and pants that barely reached his calves. There were several patches on them. He was carrying two bundles of firewood, which were almost taller than him, and he walked down the mountain with some difficulty.
When he walked past a certain section, his route suddenly turned and he walked towards a nearby tree with red lines hanging on it. He walked all the way and there were many more trees with red lines hanging on them until he stopped near a mountain wall.
He took the struggling rabbit off his waist and stroked its fur: "You are so cute, just accompany the master for me. He will be full of wine and food, and maybe he will be happy and accept me as his apprentice."
As he spoke, he placed the mountain rabbit in his hand under a large blue rock in front of the cliff ahead, bowed respectfully to the stone, and then left, following the way he came, returning to the previous road. At a fork in the road, the obstructed view unfolded in front of him, and the scene of a village appeared before his eyes.
A stream flowing down from the mountain crosses the front of the village like a white belt. The muddy path under the boy's feet extends straight past, with fields and vegetable plots on both sides. At the end of the wooden bridge, the village is surrounded by fences to guard against jackals, tigers and leopards in the mountains.
"Liangsheng, you've been so diligent lately. Did your father promise to buy you a pen?"
“… You want to study.”
Far away, before entering the village, an old man sitting on a rock was smoking a pipe and greeting the young man who had just come out of the mountains. The old man's surname was also Lu. Most people in the village had this surname. They were related and according to seniority, the young man named Lu Liangsheng had to call the old man "Grandpa."
Speaking of buying a pen, Liangsheng had always been looking forward to it. Ever since he was old enough to understand, he had particularly loved writing and drawing. Nowadays, pens and ink were things for scholars. Even if a poor family bought one, they could not afford the ink, not to mention that they could not even read a few words. It would be more practical to go to the city and ask someone to write for them.
The boy's home was in the middle of the village. The fence was only as high as a person's waist. When he walked into the yard, the woman who was hanging some clothes turned her head and looked at the little girl who was feeding a hen. She called out, "Sister, go help your brother."
"Okay."
Under the eaves, the girl with pigtails clapped her hands, stood up, and ran over, grinning, "Brother, mom said you're saving money to marry a wife, right?"
The girl was about ten years old, her name was Lu Xiaoxian. People from the mountains were not that delicate. She helped put two bundles of firewood on the ground. There were two or three bloody scratches on the dark skin of her arms, but she didn't care at all.
"Hey, I'm saving money to buy a pen... I only need a few more."
Lu Liangsheng rubbed his sister's head, dragged the dry firewood on the ground to the shed in the corner of the house and piled it up. The girl who helped puffed out her cheeks, shook her two pigtails, and ran to the woman who was hanging clothes over there.
"Mom, my brother doesn't want to find a wife, and our family is going to be extinct."
"Girls, how can you talk like that?" Li Jinhua hit the clothes she had spread out with a stick. Her tone was stern, and her eyes were glaring at Lu Liangsheng over there: "If your father knew, he would break your legs. You're still thinking about buying a pen."
Liangsheng did not refute, but just looked at the woman and laughed. Not long after, Lu Laoshi, who had been working outside, came back carrying a hoe. He glared at his son when he saw him. He must have heard his wife's words from afar before he even entered the house.
He was a gentle man, not fierce. He went into the house and put away the hoe: "Liangsheng, we are suffering. If you want to buy a pen, you have to learn to read first."
"I know."
"You know nothing!" The woman on the other side raised her voice: "Save more money, prepare the betrothal gifts, find a matchmaker, and arrange your marriage. This is the most important thing!"
Seeing her brother being yelled at, Lu Xiaoxian covered her mouth and laughed secretly, then went over and patted her brother's arm, with a kind of gloating attitude as if saying, "Brother, you can't fulfill your wish."
Such scenes happen almost every day. Lu Liangsheng has almost gotten used to it. He has never given up on his pursuit. If he could read and have a pen, he would really like to study.
What's more, a few days ago, when I went up the mountain to collect firewood, I saw a ball of purple gas descending from the sky into the mountains from afar.
I heard from the father of Ergouzi's cousin next door that "there are masters in this world, and what they do is more important than the government." He is the only person in the village who has been to a big city like Hegu County.
Although he didn't know whether it was true or not, Lu Liangsheng followed the direction of the purple air and found the huge rock where he put the rabbit today. There were obvious signs that the rock had been moved. Maybe there really was an expert here.
"You should be able to read and write, right? If you can take me as your apprentice, I can learn to write and set up a stall in the city in the future, which will be considered a way to make a living."
With this in mind, Lu Liangsheng went up the mountain to collect firewood. Sometimes he would take the prey he caught and put it there. If there was nothing, he would save his own food. Without exception, the food put there as a gift for his master disappeared, and there were no traces of any wild animals around.
This further strengthened his idea of finding a cave inside and becoming a disciple.
After dinner, it was already dark, with the cold moonlight shining down. Lu Liangsheng broke off a branch and wrote and drew on the ground. His sister stood beside him, staring at the moon with her chin propped up, occasionally glancing at what her brother had written.
"Brother, what did you write?"
"I don't know either... According to the words on the broken door plaque of the abandoned temple outside the village, it reads "temple" or something else... I don't know either."
"But it looks very nice, just like the words on the door plaque."
"What's the point of looking good if I don't know you."
The word scratched on the ground was actually the word "God". Lu Liangsheng rubbed it with his foot a few times to smooth it out, and then drew a little tiger with bared fangs and claws in its original position. The word "king" on its forehead looked mighty, but its big eyes were silly, which made his sister beside him clap excitedly.
"Brother is so awesome, can you draw another one, another one, please..."
"Okay, I'll draw you another flying bird. Look at it!"
The brother and sister sat side by side under the eaves, writing and drawing on the ground in the moonlight. Li Jinhua was sitting on a stool at the door weaving a basket. Inside the house, Lu Laoshi, who had been working all day, was snoring, and the sounds of him and his sister playing and laughing blended into the warmth of the night.
As the night deepened, the occasional barking of dogs could be heard from the village. When the wind blew, the dark clouds floating in the sky gradually obscured half of the clear moon.
The shadows loomed, and the chirping of insects suddenly became silent.
Lu Liangsheng, who was alone in a room, was talking in his sleep on the bed. His body was tossing and turning when the moonlight covered it. Suddenly, he trembled and gradually lost consciousness. His forehead was covered with cold sweat and a dream appeared.
Like an illusion, he vaguely saw a skinny hand reaching out from the sky and grabbing him. In his ears, like an auditory hallucination, the voices of men, women, the elderly and children echoed one after another.
"land…
good…
born… "
In the darkness, Lu Liangsheng screamed "Ah--" and sat up suddenly, his face covered with sweat. He turned around and saw that the window was open and the eastern sky was pale.
His mother had gotten up early and was busy in the kitchen. The noise made him feel at ease.
"What happened... I remember the window was closed."
I got out of bed, put on the pair of shoes that showed my toes, pushed open the door and went out, checked inside and outside the windows, but found nothing.
"Maybe my mother opened it for me when she got up..."
Lu Liangsheng took a look at the smoke rising from the kitchen. Just as he was thinking, he turned his eyes away and swept across the ground. His body suddenly froze in place. On the ground, where he had drawn a picture for his sister yesterday, there were human footprints. To be precise, they were men's footprints, because women's footprints would not be so big.
Someone came...
… I was facing my room again… My window was still open…
… So, someone is watching me at night?
…That dream last night.
Thinking about it in series, Lu Liangsheng felt as if ants were crawling across his back and broke out in a cold sweat. He suppressed his uneasiness and stepped forward to identify the footprints again. Suddenly, he discovered that not far below the footprints, the soil had outlined a picture - a mountain rabbit was placed on the cliff wall with large rocks piled up.
"It's that huge rock..."
He whispered softly.