Spring River Flower Moon Night: Set of 2 Volumes

Chapter 42 The Dreamer (1)
The night was dim and the breeze was blowing. On this summer night, a young mother was sitting by the bed, holding a cattail fan to repel mosquitoes for her child to keep cool.

The child's eyes were closed tightly, his brows were slightly wrinkled, as if he had a nightmare.

"Zhong'er, are you uncomfortable?" The mother stared at the child with a nervous expression.

"There are two people here..." He muttered in a daze, lightly as if dreaming, "The one in white is a fox demon..."

"What are you talking about? Mother can't hear clearly." The mother put her ear close to the son's mouth, but at this moment, perhaps her hair brushed the little boy's cheek, he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Mom, am I dreaming again?" The boy was only five or six years old, his head covered in cold sweat, and he looked weakly at his mother.

"You're talking in your sleep again..." The mother took out some powder from the jar beside her, stirred it into the tea, and handed it to the child, "Zhong'er, drink this, and you will recover."

"Is it a disease to be able to see the future?" The boy looked at the swaying water in the teacup with big empty eyes, as if he had lost his soul.

"Everything that is different from others is a disease." The mother sighed, "You are too young to understand, so hurry up and drink the medicine."

The boy was silent for a long time, raised his head, and drank the tea with dirty dregs floating in it.

He has not forgotten that the dream is like this swaying glass of water, ethereal and fuzzy.In the distant and hazy picture, there is a beautiful young man in white clothes, with a windy skirt, an elegant posture, and a handsome smile, walking towards him.

一
"Fei Xiao, why did we come to this kind of place?" Wang Zijin complained while driving, the spring sun was shining brightly, making him sweat profusely.

In front of you is a narrow dirt road, reflecting the dazzling sunlight, winding like a snow-white snake to the depths of the distant mountains.

"Because a hundred years ago, I made a bet with someone." Fei Xiao was not sweating, looking at the green mountains, "I came here today just for this bet."

"Who is so overwhelmed that he would bet with you?" This person must be either stupid or crazy.

"He's a cultivator of immortals. Back then he was a young Taoist priest, and he didn't have enough skill. He wanted to catch me but he couldn't." Fei Xiao said, her thoughts seemed to return to a long time ago.

"Why did he want to arrest you? You must have provoked him first." Wang Zijin listened a bit, and already guessed the clue.

"This Taoist priest is so stingy. I just stole dozens of chickens from this village. I was practicing on the mountain at the time, and it was not convenient to go down the mountain to find food, so I took some chickens to eat every night. I didn't know that he was like marrying me. In order to take revenge for killing my father, I always follow my ass and shout to beat or kill."

"and then?"

"I've been on the mountain for a long time, and I know all about the traps and pits dug by those hunters." With a smile in her phoenix eyes, she slowly said, "So I easily tricked the stupid monk into the trap on a moonless night. , didn’t even waste half of the extra effort.”

"Fei Xiao, are you sure he made a bet with you?" Wang Zijin became colder as he heard it, "Isn't it for revenge?"

"How can he seek revenge from me?" Fei Xiao said triumphantly, "Although I have always been indifferent, I don't like to harm others. He suffered a little that night, so I fished him out of the pit again. And thanked me over and over again.”

"This man has a broad mind, he is indeed a cultivator of immortals." Wang Zijin couldn't help admiring the demeanor of this Taoist priest.

"He pointed to my nose and said: Smelly fox, you wait for me, this matter will never end here!" Fei Xiao squeezed her throat, learning it perfectly.

Wang Zijin was silent for a long time, not knowing how to answer.

But I heard Fei Xiao continue: "In order to repay his kindness, I stuffed half a roast chicken into his bag when he went down the mountain. As a result, when he went back that day, he was beaten up by the people in the village." , the villagers all said that he guarded himself and stole it, which is really wronged."

Wang Zijin didn't say another word, he just felt that the Taoist priest was extremely pitiful, unexpectedly meeting such an opponent as him.

"It's really pitiful." Fei Xiao sighed hypocritically, "I saw that he was beaten up black and blue, and I couldn't bear it, so I came out to stop the villagers, saying that he was my friend, how could he go in without asking?" Violence against people? It was fine if I didn’t say anything, but after I finished speaking, those people beat him even harder, and this time he was charged with another crime: colluding with monsters.”

Wang Zijin squinted at him, the whites of his eyes were more than the kernels of his eyes.

"Things in the world are really unclear and unclear. I clearly have good intentions. Why do I always do bad things?"

"You clearly understand better than anyone else!"

"After this incident, he was driven out of the mountain by the villagers. In this place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, I am the only one left to practice alone. It is really lonely." Fei Xiao continued to sigh.

It was only then that Wang Zijin realized that this guy was trying to squeeze the Taoist priests away in order to fight for territory, and the mountain was all his.

"When he left, he stood on the dirt road leading down the mountain and made this bet with me."

"Oh? What is he betting on?" Wang Zijin couldn't help being very curious when he saw that he had talked for so long before turning to the topic.

"He said: I must avenge this! Even if it takes 100 years, I will arrest you with my own hands! Otherwise, my surname will be written backwards!"

"Then what's his last name?"

"'Tian'." Feixiao gave Wang Zijin a helpless look, "Flip it upside down, turn it upside down, it's still the word 'Tian'."

"Feixiao, let's go back! Are you half dead tired just for such a rogue Taoist priest?" Wang Zijin wailed with his hands on his hips, "It's still too late to go down the mountain, you don't miss the sesame oil crispy chicken in the restaurant, I still miss seeing you last night Where is the beauty!"

"Since we've come here, we have to go and have a look. How can we give up halfway?" Fei Xiao ignored him and insisted on moving forward, and jumped out a long way in a few steps.

"Wait for me, can I go with you?" Wang Zijin stood alone on the empty dirt road, feeling guilty in his heart, and ran after him.

The two, one in front of the other, quickly climbed over the mountain and came to a small town.The town is surrounded by green water, the ridges of the fields are neat, and a few wisps of cooking smoke are rising slowly, creating a peaceful and quiet scene.

"Where are you going to find someone?" Wang Zijin pointed to the village in front of him and said, "This place has developed into a market town. In the past 100 years, the Taoist priest has long been reduced to bones."

"No, a cultivator pursues immortality, so he should have achieved something."

"There are a lot of people pursuing fairy arts, but they all lie underground without exception." Wang Zijin snorted immediately.

"You two, are you new here?" They were talking, when an old man leading a cow came up and asked them curiously.

"We want to find a family named Tian. Is there anyone named Tian in this town?" Fei Xiao asked politely.

"Of course, the surname Tian is famous here." The old man suddenly seemed to remember something, and said with a smile on his face, "As early as seven days ago, someone in our village said that the two of you were coming, and that person was very accurate. I told the appearance of the two of you, and also told the color of this young man's clothes."

"Oh?" Feixiao rolled her eyes, as if she had guessed the clue, "Could it be that the surname is Tian?"

"That's right, Mr. Tian has taken special care of you. If anyone encounters the two of you, you must take them home." The old man drove the bull away with a willow branch, and smiled at them, "Hurry up and follow me."

"Fei Xiao, you are miserable this time..." Wang Zijin whispered to him, "I haven't seen you in 100 years, your opponent has already cultivated into a prophet."

"Didn't you just say that he should be lying on the ground?" Fei Xiao shook her head disapprovingly, "Why are you saying that he is a prophet now?"

"There are exceptions to everything. Before seeing it with your own eyes, all guesses are worthless."

"Zijin, I've known you for so long, and I finally heard you say something wise."

The two followed the old man, and after walking for a quarter of an hour, they stopped in front of a brand-new house.

"Hurry up and tell your husband that the person he is waiting for has arrived." The old man raised the wicker in his hand, and woke up the servant who was dozing at the door.

The servant rubbed his eyes, took a look at them, and swished through the door like a frightened rabbit to report the news.

After a while, the door was opened, and a servant walked out, it was the one just now.But at this time, he had become respectful and respectful, and saluted the two of them: "Thank you for your hard work, sir, you have been waiting for a long time, please come in with me."

There is nothing to this, the key point is that as soon as the prince stepped into the gate, he immediately saw a strange scene.

Because the house is small, the simple living room can be seen at a glance from the front gate.

I saw a beautiful woman sitting on the main seat, holding a five or six-year-old boy in her arms, nodding and smiling in the direction of the two of them.

two

"This is Mr.?" Wang Zijin was stunned for a while, not knowing how to address this woman, so he said to Fei Hong, "I didn't expect it to be a woman."

Fei Xiao looked at the woman, frowned slightly, obviously also very confused, "It's just that I haven't seen her at all?"

"Is it because you have bad eyesight? The person who bet with you was actually a beautiful woman disguised as a man?"

"That's even more impossible. At that time, I had practiced for hundreds of years, and I couldn't read all the words, but I could still tell the difference between men and women!"

The two were still standing at the gate, whispering, when the servant leading the way walked up to the woman and bowed respectfully, "Sir, the guest is here."

"Understood, you go down first." It was a clear and clear child's voice that responded to him.

Wang Zijin was immediately dumbfounded, and saw the boy in the woman's arms waving his hands like an adult, flamboyant and quite a gentleman.

It turned out that the so-called prophet they said, Mr. Tian, ​​was actually a baby who didn't even lose his milky smell!
"Xiaosheng's surname is Hu, and his first name is Feixiao. I'm bothering the two of you as I pass by here." Feixiao was also taken aback for a moment, but soon she clasped her fists and saluted the two strange people with her usual expression.

"Big Brother, I know you. I dreamed about you a few days ago." The boy tilted his head to look at Wang Zijin with a smile on his face, "This is Brother Wang, right?"

"You, how do you know my last name?" Wang Zijin immediately turned from astonishment to fear.

"I just know the surname, I don't know the first name and the character, because I met the two of you in a dream." The boy smiled at Wang Zijin, and his immaturity revealed a maturity that did not match his age.

"This young master is the prophet?" Fei Xiao asked the woman.

"Yes, this child's full name is Tian Zhongren, you can just call him Zhong'er." The woman said with tears in her eyes, "This matter is a long story, and I have to ask the two of you to help, because Zhong'er said this This is the first time I saw a different experience in a dream."

When the two heard the lady and the boy mentioning the dream over and over again, they were even more puzzled, and couldn't help but glance at each other.

After driving for half a day, the sun was setting and the sky was getting late. A round of blood-red sun hung in the sky, like a dazzling death, obviously a bit mysterious.

After dinner that day, Wang Zijin and Fei Xiao were invited into Zhong'er's room.

As soon as it got dark, he lay weakly on the bed, his face was so pale that there was no blood in it, and beads of sweat kept streaming down his forehead.

"Little brother, what's wrong with you? Do you have a fever?" Wang Zijin walked over curiously, reaching out to touch his forehead.

"My lord, Zhong'er is like this every night. He has a strange disease. I asked the two of you for help. It's for this reason." The woman stopped Wang Zijin's hand and pulled out a quilt to cover the boy. .

"What are the symptoms of this disease? Could Madam please tell me?" Fei Xiao also walked over to see Zhong'er's face, and said cautiously, "After all, we are not doctors, how can we treat the disease easily?"

"The doctor can't cure his illness." His mother sighed, "Because it's the harbinger of his prophetic dream."

"Precognition of dreams?"

"That's right, how can I tell the doctor this? Tell him that this child will talk in his sleep for no reason at night? And his vague ramblings will become reality in the near future? The doctor will probably think that I am talking nonsense, or that we It must be practicing witchcraft."

"But, but this kind of strange disease, how can we cure it?"

"No, you can definitely do it." She was so excited that tears filled her eyes, she grabbed Feihong's hand and said, "Because of this young master, I have heard his appearance described countless times."

"Who knows my appearance?" Fei Xiao was also taken aback, and stretched out her hand to caress her face, "Could it be that this child also dreamed about it?"

"It's not Zhong'er, it's Zhong'er's great-grandfather!" the woman cried, "Grandfather can be regarded as a man of virtue, he can see many things in the future, since Zhong'er got this strange disease, he has been constantly Tell us about the young master's appearance and behavior, and say that only the young master can cure this disease."

"His great-grandfather, did he ever become a Taoist priest when he was young?"

"Later, he returned to vulgarity during the war, but he was still obsessed with the art of immortality and longevity. People in this village saw him a lot, and they all called him Tian Laodao."

"Then where is he now?" It seems that this person is probably the rogue Taoist priest who bet with Fei Hong, Wang Zijin couldn't help being shocked, he didn't expect that he was still alive.

"Grandfather has passed away, it was two years ago."

"Oh, I've already gone..." As soon as she uttered the words, she saw that Feixiao's eyes were lonely, and she looked at the bright moon outside the window and sighed, with a sympathetic expression.

When Wang Zijin saw him so sad, he immediately understood that although Fei Xiao didn't say anything, she still hoped that the little Taoist priest who fought with him in the past was still alive, so she rushed here eagerly.

Rather than betting on fighting spirit, it is better to say that I want to meet someone who once remembered my existence, but this small extravagant hope is still mercilessly swept away by the torrent of time, without leaving even a trace.

"My lord, I'll take you to see his great-grandfather's grave tomorrow." Zhong'er's mother saw him looking lonely, and said softly, "As long as you can cure Zhong'er's illness, I will do whatever you want!"

"I'll do my best. I don't know when this child's illness started?" Fei Xiao looked at the child on the bed intently, and became resolute and indifferent again.

"When he was four years old, he got a serious illness." She said, "For two days and two nights, he didn't even breathe his last breath, so Zhong'er's father found an old man and asked him to carry the child on his back." His body was thrown on the mountain."

Wang Zijin has also heard of this custom. Usually, children who are not old enough cannot set up graves. If they die, they will find a childless old man to carry them to the mountain and throw them away. At that time, they only need to give the old man a few cents. There are even lonely old people who make a living on this.

"But right after the old man went out, great-grandfather also went out, no matter how we tried to stop him..." Zhong'er's mother broke down in tears, and continued after crying for a while, "But in the middle of the night that night, grandfather didn't come back alone. Yes, there is another person behind him."

"Who is that man?" Under the flickering candlelight, listening to this kind of story was extremely terrifying, and Wang Zijin couldn't restrain his curiosity.

"It's Zhong'er! Just like when he was born, he came back with a smile behind his great-grandfather!" She was terrified, "We were also very scared at that time, because the child was obviously dying, how could he come back alive and kicking? "

"You got this strange disease after that?"

"Yes, I can't take any medicine. Later, my great-grandfather's health became worse and worse, and he passed away in the spring of the next year. Before he left, he left a lot of charms, saying that he would burn them into ashes and give them to Zhong'er to eat. I can temporarily control his illness until you come, my lord." She said as she took out a wooden box from under the bed, and gently opened the lid, "Look, the charm will be used up at the end of this month, and you happened to come here."

The two looked over together, and saw that there were only a few thin yellow papers left in the box, probably not even worth ten days.

"The rain...it's so cold..." A few people were talking, when they heard a child's naive dream in the dark, "Grandpa is on the mountain... so lonely..."

As he spoke, he shook his head in pain, his small face was pale, and his brows were frowned, as if he had a nightmare.

"What is he talking about?" Wang Zijin rushed over to listen, but Zhong'er shut up right now.

"It probably means that it will rain tomorrow and the weather will get colder." Zhong'er's mother covered him with the quilt and replied softly.

But what does the phrase "Grandpa is so lonely" mean?
Wang Zijin originally wanted to ask, but he felt that the words seemed to contain a very terrible meaning, so he couldn't ask no matter what.

(End of this chapter)