Chapter 728: Longevity Flowers All Over the Mountain
Song Zhuo was from Tianhe City, Ximi State, about 3,000 miles away from the capital. The journey to the exam was the most difficult. On the way, he had to cross the river and the mountains, and there were countless difficulties and obstacles.
In order to seek fame, Song Zhuo started from Tianhe City and ended in the capital. Li Changxiao did the opposite. He started from the capital and ended in Tianhe City. On this day, he left the city gate and walked for several miles. But he turned back to the city, bought some geographical atlases, fruit wine, dried meat, and a few pairs of boots for long journeys... before leaving the city again.
After walking for more than ten miles, he heard the sound of gongs and drums, and bursts of mournful music came, which was gentle and long, making people intoxicated. Following the sound, he saw a long team of several miles, all wearing white clothes.
It was the funeral procession of the empress, and it had also left the capital. The royal family of Ximi State has always been buried outside the city. Li Changxiao does not make any comments on the customs of the place. He happened to meet them, so he followed the funeral procession.
He saw that the procession had been walking for a day, stopping and starting, and no one knew where they were going. But every time they stopped to rest, the cooks would light a fire, cook food. The dishes were plain, all vegetarian fruit pulp. Li Changxiao mixed in the crowd, tasted the saltiness, and then took out the mountain and sea miscellaneous notes and wrote down this little thing.
After walking for about three days, they came to a fork in the road. Li Changxiao was separated from the funeral procession. Listening to the mourning music gradually fading away, it was like a former princess, whose soul returned to the west and was no longer there. Even if it was a completely unrelated person, it was inevitable that he would feel a little sad and pity, and sighed that the glory and wealth in this world are just passing clouds.
Li Changxiao went back along the way Song Zhuo came. Soon he came to a big mountain. The mountain was full of dead trees, but the west side was rich in jade and the east side had strange beasts. When Li Changxiao read about this mountain, he was amazed and couldn't help but stay for a while.
The next day, he picked some jade and broke some dead wood, and then went on the road again. On the way, he couldn't help thinking that Song Zhuo was a weak scholar, and he was easily moved by the scene. He had been uneasy since he entered the capital, and he thought that he had seen or heard something that subverted his mind on the way here.
So he walked slower and looked at the things he saw and heard along the way. He walked like this for another three days. What swamps, mountains, and rivers, Li Changxiao encountered were all there, except that the road was a little difficult to walk on, there was nothing special.
Tianhe City is located on the northwest side, and Li Changxiao's walk to Tianhe City can barely be considered as a good way. The further north you go, the colder the climate.
Li Changxiao prepared enough dried meat. Meat is scarce in Ximi Country, and there are few livestock such as pigs, dogs, cattle and sheep. This dried meat is chewed in the mouth, and it is as soft and flexible as dry glue. Only by chewing slowly can you taste the meat flavor. It is said that the "tree pig" taken from the tree is a bird that makes a nest on the tree, but its body is like a pig. Therefore, it is called a tree pig. Although the taste is average, it is indeed a rare thing. For people who travel far away, it is really a great thing in the world to chew a piece of dried meat when they are hungry and tired. Li Changxiao was in Wang Qilang's inn, with food and accommodation included, and gradually saved some money. Although the bad habit of falling asleep anywhere has not changed for many years. But if someone wants to steal his money, he will feel a chill all over his body, and he will be scared and dare not.
Li Changxiao held the dried meat in his mouth and walked to an unknown place with high mountains and far waters. He took the map to compare and found that he had already passed half of the journey, and it was only five days away from Tianhe City. But he muttered in his heart, guessing that Song Zhuo's thoughts must be caused by the adventure on the road.
At this moment,
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, making his long hair flutter. He stood tall and straight, and was not handsome enough, but no one saw him. After the wind passed, Li Changxiao smelled a strong fragrance of flowers. He followed the direction of the wind and walked for more than four or five miles.
When he reached the top of a slope, he pushed aside the weeds that blocked his vision and looked out. He saw a village in front of him. The mountains were covered and the scenery was pleasant. Next to the village, there was a mountain that was neither high nor low. The mountain was covered with bright flowers, bright red like fire, covering the belly of the mountain. When the wind blew, the fragrance of flowers floated in.
It was beautiful in an instant.
At this time of year and in this climate, it is really difficult for wild flowers to bloom. If you want to see such a beautiful scenery elsewhere, you can only go to the flower gardens built by the powerful and wealthy families. Most of the wild flowers that grow naturally have reached the withering season.
Li Changxiao looked again with concentration. Isn’t that bright red flower the longevity flower? The longevity flower has a long flowering period. If no one disturbs it, its life span is almost the same as that of humans. Some flowers die young, and some people die young. People exist all year round, but flowers are always trampled and picked. Even if they can bloom all year round, it is difficult to exist all year round.
Li Changxiao looked around. It was evening. He saw the smoke rising from the kitchen and occasionally heard the sound of children playing. He knew that there were many residents in the village. He climbed the hillside and walked towards the village.
From a distance, the village seemed to be right in front of him, but when he walked along the road, it felt very far away. He didn't know if he could reach it before it got completely dark. While rushing on the road, he looked around and found that the mountain here was very special. In Feng Shui, it was called "funnel mountain", which means that all passers-by will unconsciously gather to a certain place due to various coincidences and encounters. And this mountain village is located in the center of the funnel mountain.
Song Zhuo was passing by to take the imperial examination. If he passed by nearby, there was a certain probability that he would pass by this village. Li Changxiao smiled slightly, feeling very interesting. As he was walking, he suddenly heard a noise of footsteps.
"You little servant! You are so careless!"
Then he saw four or five people walking in the side road of the dense forest behind. One of them was wearing brocade clothes, gold and silver, and jewels. He was obviously the young master of that family. The other four were all wearing coarse linen clothes. They were the servants of the young master's family.
The young master noticed Li Changxiao, kicked a servant, and scolded: "What are you doing standing there? Why don't you go and ask for directions!" The servant hurriedly said: "Okay...Okay, young master." Then he ran to Li Changxiao, timidly asked about the way.
This servant was really simple. Li Changxiao got the origins of the four people clear with a few tricks. It turned out that this group of people came from the Wang family in the nearby big city. The one wearing gold and silver was Wang Baobao, the young master of the Wang family. The four servants were born with lowly fates, so they didn't have proper names. Their surnames were "gou" and their names were "fu, Lu, Shou and Xi".
Today, the young master went out of the city to play and wanted to pick some exotic fruits. He went deep into the forest and gradually lost his way. About a quarter of an hour ago, a group of people caught a glimpse of the small village and rushed towards the village. Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps, the servant "goufu" slipped and threw Wang Baobao out of the sedan chair.
The sedan chair was broken, and Wang Baobao had to walk on the ground. On the way, because the ground was muddy and his boots were stained with mud, Wang Baobao became more and more angry, and then he cursed and beat him. As he walked, he happened to meet Li Changxiao, and this scene happened.
Li Changxiao pointed out the direction to the group and told them that if they didn't mind, they could follow him. He also wanted to stay overnight in the mountain village. Fu, Lu, Shou and Xi were all very happy. Wang Baobao nodded calmly. Among the people present, only the man in white was slightly pleasing to the eye. But he looked up and down and saw that Li Changxiao was wearing simple white clothes. He thought that he was not from a wealthy family, so he couldn't help but look down on him.