The cock crows loudly.
The golden morning light shines through the gaps in the clouds, and the edge of the light spreads from the earth, pushing away the blue sky and enveloping the distant foothills.
Smoke from cooking fires rises slowly in the sky, and the mountain village becomes lively with the bustling voices of people.
The spring ploughing season has passed, but even during the slack season one still has to go to the fields to look after them, drive away the birds, and pull out the dead ears of corn.
After breakfast, Liangsheng followed his father Lu Laoshi, carrying a hoe and going to the fields. The few acres of land owned by his family were a little far from the village, and there were people around who were familiar with each other in the village. After greeting each other, they went to their own fields.
"Dig the ditch deeper so you can put more water in."
Lu Laoshi instructed his son, and that morning, the father and son diverted water from the stream a few feet away, passed through other people's fields, and put it into their own fields. Whether the harvest of the year would be good or not depended on this stream.
After a busy morning, Lu Liangsheng's calves were covered in mud. He sat on the edge of the field and watched the muddy and turbid stream flow slowly.
Over there, he was leaning on his hoe and looking at his son's expression, thinking that he was still thinking about buying a pen. He sighed a little in his heart, but the son was too gentle and honest, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.
He walked over and sat down next to his son: "Liangsheng, do you really want to buy a pen?"
"think."
The boy raised his head and forced a smile on his young face: "Let's buy a donkey first. Money should not be spent carelessly. I know that."
"The family lived frugally. If we bought a donkey and made a donkey cart, Dad could help people pull goods and earn more money during the slack season."
Lu Laoshi looked at his sensible son and touched his head: "You are also old enough to get married, and our family still has a lot of money to spend."
While the father and son were talking, from afar, they heard shouts of "Dad!" and "Brother!", and a small figure with two pigtails swinging back and forth ran over.
Crossing the small gully, Lu Xiaoxian squatted down between the old and the young, carrying a basket and a chipped pottery pot, and took out two coarse millet steamed buns from the basket with her small hands.
"Dad, brother, it's time to eat."
He poured a bowl of cold water into the pottery pot and handed it to Lu Liangsheng: "Here, the steamed bun is very rough, don't choke."
"What about me?" Lu Laoshi spread his hands. The little girl next to him bulged her eyes and pointed at her brother: "Wait for your brother to drink first. Daddy is an adult and can stand the thirst."
The little daughter's innocent expression and words made Lu Laoshi laugh, and Liangsheng, who was beside him and had something on his mind, also chuckled.
What happened this morning was actually still weighing on his mind. The strange dream he had at night and the painting that suddenly appeared on the ground made him feel uneasy and confused.
After taking a break at noon, Lu Xiaoxian stood on the edge of the field and watched her brother and father busy for a while before the three of them went back together. At this time, there were still things to do at home, but Lu Liangsheng was more and more eager to solve the doubts in his heart. While finishing what his mother asked him to do, he washed his feet, put on the pair of torn shoes, and ran quickly up the mountain, following the familiar path and up the mountain trail.
The rustling sound is the sound of footsteps.
Pulling aside the drooping branches that blocked the road, Lu Liangsheng found a mountain wall that he had been to several times. There was a huge rock wall, climbing moss, and birds perched on the branches, pecking at the slowly crawling caterpillars on the leaves.
"Should I shout once or twice?" The young man stood opposite the boulder, his fingers clenched nervously.
The night wind blew through the woods, and the leaves rustled between the intertwined branches.
After hesitating for a long time, Lu Liangsheng took a deep breath, mustered up his courage, and shouted: "Master... Master... I am here!"
A slightly trembling sound echoed in the empty space. Suddenly, the chirping of birds and insects seemed to disappear in an instant. Except for the rustling sound of leaves, the surroundings were surprisingly quiet.
The young man's vision darkened, and when he looked up, he saw that the sky had become a little gloomy, and a floating cloud had obscured the sun that had been bright just a moment ago.
"The weather changes so quickly, is it going to rain?" Lu Liangsheng thought for a moment, took two steps back, and turned around: "Let's just go back first. If it rains heavily, we won't be able to get down the mountain..."
I turned around and took two steps, and suddenly I heard a voice from behind: "Little kid, wait a minute?"
The figure that had just turned around and left paused. Although he was more or less prepared, he was still startled. Lu Liangsheng turned his head and looked in front of the boulder. He saw an old man in a gray robe standing there.
There was a smile on his wrinkled face, his back was slightly hunched, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, like two sharp blades piercing one's eyes. He dared not look directly at them. There was a gourd tied around his waist, with a black pattern on it that made him unable to help but take another look.
"You've only been here for a while, young man, and you're leaving? I've been so kind to you for so many days, and I should return the favor. Do you have any wishes?"
Lu Liangsheng stood there in a daze. Hearing these words, he thought of what happened last night and bowed to the old man: "I... I want to become your disciple."
"Become my disciple?"
The old man came over, the gourd hanging from his waist swaying gently, and stared at the boy's face for a moment: "What's your name?"
"My name is Lu Liangsheng, and I live in the village at the foot of the mountain." Liangsheng didn't dare to raise his head. Thinking of listening to some stories told by the older generation in the village, he lowered his head even more: "Old sir, last night... I had a dream."
The old man looked at him, turned away, and walked to the side with his hands behind his back. Looking at the surrounding mountain walls, a smile appeared on his lips: "That was what I told you in your dream. You have been offering sacrifices every day for half a month, which shows that you are sincere. I asked you to come here just now. Since you want to take me as your master, what do you want to learn?"
"I... I want to learn to read."
Over there, the old man who had been looking up at the mountains was stunned for a moment, looking at the boy with an expression of disbelief and even a bit of absurdity: "Learn to read? You want to become my disciple just to learn to read?"
"Ah... Is there anything else the teacher wants to teach you?" Lu Liangsheng blinked in confusion.
"you… "
The old man didn't know what to say. He looked at the other person for a moment, then flicked his sleeves. A stone as big as a millstone next to him flew up with a bang and hit a tree not far away. There was a crisp crackling sound, and the branches trembled violently. The whole tree broke in half and fell down.
The flying fragments landed on the boy's feet and rolled.
Lu Liangsheng was so shocked that he stared at the scene blankly. He was unable to react for a long time. Then he raised his face tremblingly and looked at the old man.
Seemingly satisfied with the young man's expression, the old man turned up his sleeves and put them behind his back, "Are you willing to learn?"
After saying this, regardless of whether the young man agreed or not, as if by magic, two tattered books appeared in his hands and flew into Lu Liangsheng's arms. The latter hugged them quickly, looking at the books with the scent of books, he was stunned and at a loss.
"I am injured and cannot talk to you for long. Go back first. When you go to bed tonight, remember to light a stick of incense at the window, and I will teach you knowledge in your dream, including literacy."
The sky turned dark and a strong wind blew up.
The old man waved his sleeves and said, "It's going to rain. Go home quickly. Don't tell anyone about what happened today."
"Yes... my predecessor... Master."
A series of shocks shattered Lu Liangsheng's long-held cognition. Holding the two books, he bowed politely to the old man in front of him and walked down the mountain in a daze.
boom-
There was a loud thunder, rushing from the sky. In the blue-white lightning, an old man stood in the open space, his face flickering and his white beard gently stroked.
His lips were slightly parted and twitching.
"You have a good character... young man..."
A long tongue hung down to the chest, and when the lightning passed, the scarlet tongue quickly retracted into the mouth.
…
Boom…
Thunder rolled over the mountains.
The young man had just come down the mountain with two books when heavy rain started to pour down. He quickly hid the books under his clothes and returned home quickly in the rain that connected the sky and the earth.
Lu Liangsheng sat blankly on the edge of the bed. Outside, his mother was already cooking dinner in the kitchen, his sister was lighting the fire, and occasionally he could hear the noise of her and his father chatting and laughing. It felt real.
The previous experience seemed like a dream.
It was gradually getting dark, and he didn't come to his senses until his sister Xiaoxian lay at the door calling him to eat.
"Coming right up."
After sending his sister away, Lu Liangsheng found the two hidden books again. Only then did he believe that what happened before was not a dream. After putting them back in place, he changed his clothes and went to the kitchen.
The family sat around the stove. There were only two small dishes, both of which were grown in the yard, and millet as rice. In those days, the government did not collect heavy taxes, so they were thankful. If it was a year of disaster, this simple meal would be a luxury.
After dinner, Lu Liangsheng helped clean up the dishes and returned to the room.
Outside, the sound of rain fell, weaving a beaded curtain along the thatched eaves.
In the darkness, the boy lit a stick of incense, inserted it in the window, returned to the bedroom, rested his head on the wooden pillow, stared at the dark ceiling with wide eyes, the smell of burning incense penetrated his nose, and he could vaguely hear his parents talking in the kitchen.
"Liangsheng is a kid with something on his mind. He barely ate a bite of food."
"I just want to buy a pen. He's sensible. I told him about it in the field today."
"… What's the point of saying it? You are just like me. You agree with me, but I don't know what you are thinking. If a scholar comes out, your Lu family's graves will be filled with smoke."
It was almost dark outside, with only some unburned firewood on the stove. Looking at the silent Lu Laoshi, he broke off a dry branch and threw it into the fire.
"Our family can't afford to support a scholar."
Across from her, the woman who was washing the pot stopped, wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her wet hand, and looked at her husband: "Then buy an old donkey, and use the remaining money to buy a pen and a booklet for Liangsheng."
"That's a woman's opinion, and he can't read."
"I'll learn it as I write. It's settled. When I go to Fushui County with everyone in a few days, I'll bring Liangsheng with me."
In the flickering firelight, Lu Laoshi stood up and left, the rain under the eaves splashing on his trouser legs. He walked to the door of the side room, took a look at his son who was already asleep, sighed, turned back, sat at the door of the kitchen, took the remaining baskets that his wife had woven during the day, and continued to weave them, probably to make more in time for the market.
…
The wind blew raindrops in through the window lattice, and the slowly drifting incense swayed, blowing towards the sleeping figure.
Under the tightly closed eyelids, the eyes suddenly moved, and the thin white cheek seemed to have a dimple blown by the wind, which slowly moved.
"Lu Liangsheng..."
The old man's voice sounded, and the dream of that day came again.