Globe Trekker

Chapter 4 Dormant
As the setting sun falls to the west, the mottled vegetation among the mountains is more eye-catching, and the fallen leaves everywhere show the bleakness of winter.

Taoist Bingzhen and his nephew Chengzong went down the mountain for five days to return to the Taoist temple. The spirited Taoist Bingzhen entered the scripture room with a small bag. He politely sent the two porters away, and watched the porters disappear at the bend in the middle of the mountain before returning to the view.

The rice porridge in the backyard kitchen has been cooked, and a few simple dishes made of stone fungus, bamboo shoots and bacon are heating up in a bamboo steamer.

Chengzong nodded in satisfaction, and after cleaning his hands, he took out a large bowl and two small butterflies, filled some of each, and sent them to the uncle on a tray.After entering the door and putting down the tray, Chengzong bid farewell to his uncle, walked to the backyard abbot, and found it was empty, thought for a while and walked through the yard to the side door, and within a few steps, he heard the familiar sound of the junior brother knocking on the bamboo clapper.

In front of the stone ridge near the backyard wall, there is a sheepfold made of pine, stone slabs and thatch. Xiao Chengyuan beat the bamboo clapper with one hand, and evenly sprinkled coarse salt into the trough with the other hand.Every day at this time, more than [-] sheep that have been wild on the mountain for a day rush back to the sheepfold with the sound of bamboo clappers.

"Brother is back!" Cheng Yuan cried happily, threw down the short wooden stick and walked out of the bamboo fence, clapped his little hands and ran towards Cheng Zong.

"I brought you a new cotton-padded jacket, and two pairs of shoes made for you by Grandma Liu in Huanggu Town." Chengzong stroked his junior brother's little head with a smile, and looked at the back mountain covered with golden rays: "These few days How is Layman Wu?"

Cheng Yuan briefly reported a few words, pointing to the towering ginkgo tree with a canopy-like shape more than [-] meters to the west: "The sun is good these two days, Angkor likes to stay there in the afternoon, he said that the scenery there is good."

Chengzong was very familiar with the mountains. He knew that under the century-old ginkgo tree, there was a flat ground ten feet square. It gushes out and pours down the cliff tens of feet in front of the ginkgo tree. You can often see a rainbow after the rain. When the weather is good, you can sit under the ginkgo tree and overlook the rolling mountains and the villages at the foot of the mountain. Gentle wind, listening to the sound of running water and bamboo waves, is indeed a good place to enjoy the scenery.

Chengzong nodded secretly, slightly surprised at Wu Ming's recovery speed: "Can he walk under the tree by himself?"

"Yes! I came back from herding the sheep the morning before yesterday, and Brother Ang was able to walk to the sheepfold by himself. He asked me if I could go there? I said yes, but be careful of snakes coming out. He said that snakes don't come out in winter, so don't be afraid." , passed by on crutches. In the past two days, he has learned how to boil medicine and change medicine, and he will not let me do anything. After breakfast, he drank the soup and medicine, and he went there after explaining, and stayed until the sun was about to go down. .” Cheng Yuan has nothing to hide from his senior brother.

"Did he talk to you a lot these days?" Cheng Zong asked in a low voice, looking at Wu Ming who was walking back slowly on crutches.

"I don't have much time during the day, but we talk more together at night. Brother Wu is really weird. He doesn't even know the year of Guangxu and the Republic of China. He is so stupid to count the Gregorian calendar with his fingers, haha! By the way, brother, Brother Wu also knows about big ships. He He said that going straight to the east is the sea, the sea is bigger than the earth, and there are big ships on the sea that can hold tens of thousands of tons of things. I asked how big the ships that can hold tons of tons are? He said that they could hold ten thousand big-gun oxen. Just laughed, said that I would see it later, and told me that most of the large ships now burn coal and are propelled by some steam engine on board. Brother, what is a steam engine?" The naive Cheng Yuan looked at his brother curiously.

"Steam engine? I don't know about this, okay! It's getting late, let's finish the work and eat, and we'll talk about the rest later." Chengzong was a little embarrassed.

Cheng Yuan responded, seeing the bloated sheep coming back from the mountain one after another, he picked up the short wooden stick and knocked on the bamboo clapper again, urging the sheep to enter the circle.

In the setting sun, Wu Ming walked slowly along the winding mountain road. Chengzong, who was watching quietly, suddenly had indescribable complex feelings in his heart. The words of the younger brother made Chengzong feel a little confused about Wu Ming, who he had learned in the past few days .

This time down the mountain, Chengzong inquired about many things. Wu Ming did not lie, except that he did not know why his name was not Wu Shanyazi but Wu Ming. The second young master, Chen Zhongkang, framed him and escorted him to the county jail for banditry. The reason was that Wu Shan’s mother sneaked into the Chen’s compound half a month ago on the day of the market, and was beaten and thrown out of the street by the Chen’s servants.

Wu Shanyazi's mother burst into tears under the scorn of hundreds of villagers, stumbled and left the town with disheveled hair, and was knocked down by the carriage driven by the housekeeper of the Chen family before going far. She broke her head and died on the spot. The village elders who came to the market together wrapped the corpse in a straw mat and hired a bullock cart to take it back to Wujia Village. The next day, several family members in the village helped to bury the body hastily.

On the night of the day when the deceased was buried, Wu Shanzi, who had been obedient and obedient since he was a child, even left Wujia Village alone with a hatchet. In the middle of the night, he quietly entered the town, climbed over the wall and sneaked into the Chen family compound. It was discovered that during the fight, Wu Shan Yazi slashed and wounded three strong servants who knew martial arts like crazy, and was finally outnumbered and subdued.

There was a lot of commotion that night, and several men from the neighbors came out to help. The eldest wife of the Chen family and the second young master Chen who had returned home for the festival were extremely angry, and immediately ordered the servants to beat Wu Shan to death. Strict orders were issued to stop the crowd, and after dawn, he ordered his servants to send Wu Shanzi directly to the county government for punishment.

As for why Wu Shanyazi was charged with gangsterism and changed to Wu Ming's name, no one knows the reason, and it seems that the uncle who knew the inside story didn't say anything.

There is a very strange thing, and Chengzong still doesn't know why, after meeting the mayor Chen alone, the uncle no longer went to Wujia Village to ask Wu Shan Yazi's life experience, but did it for the mayor Chen's family in the town After a religious ceremony, I treated the patients in the town for two days, and then went straight back to the mountain with the gifts from the believers.

During his stay in Huanggu Town for a few days, Chengzong met Mayor Chen, his two wives, and the eldest wife's tall and powerful younger brother Wang Steward, but he didn't see the second young master who came back from the Chen family. I heard that he has rushed back to Nanchang to take up his post.

Even so, Chengzong still learned a lot about the Chen family. He knew that the Chen family had a young master named Chen Bo'an, who went to Guangzhou to study at the Whampoa Military Academy six years ago, and died in battle during the Northern Expedition to Wuchang.

Chen Zhongkang, the second young master of the Chen family, came back from studying in Dongyang last year. He met noble people in Shanghai and was highly valued.

Chengzong found that there were many puzzles in the whole matter. According to the private discussions of the old people in the town: Wu Shanyazi's mother was named Wu Juan. Wu Shan Yazi, no one knew who was the wild man who made her conceive the child until she died.

Over the past 24 years, the mother of Wu Shan Yazi has been blindsided, but she still lives stubbornly with her son, raising her frail and sick son. In order to treat her son's illness and enter a private school in the village, she has successively sold the only five acres of paddy fields in the family , and borrowed a lot of debts from her own family. For many years, she got up early every day to farm black farms and raise pigs. She paid off the debts half a year ago. She has never heard of any relationship between her and the Chen family. No one knows this stubborn woman. Why did he suddenly go to the Chen family, why was he beaten out by the Chen family, but no matter what, the housekeeper of the Chen family did drive a carriage and killed Wu Shan Yazi's mother, but he didn't bear the slightest responsibility, so far there is no explanation.

Chengzong really wanted to find out about this matter, but the villagers didn't know why, so many rumors circulating secretly were not credible, and some people said that Wu Shan Yazi was half a fool since he was a child, and he had a tall body and a brute force , but his head is not working well. Regarding this, it seems that the uncle who knows the knowledge has been silent, and Chengzong is not easy to ask.

At this time, Chengzong saw Wu Ming bathing in the setting sun and gradually approaching. He was wearing an old long cotton robe and his injured left arm was hanging. He was tall and evenly walking.

What surprised Chengzong secretly was that Wu Ming, who was getting closer and closer with his cane, looked very different from ordinary countrymen, without any humble appearance of countrymen, with a calm expression on his thin face, straight nose and long eyebrows, and clear eyes , The whole person actually looked gentle and gentle, no matter how Chengzong looked at it, it was difficult to match the man in front of him with the desperado who entered the Chen family compound with a machete and hacked six people in a row.

"Just came back?" Wu Ming stopped two steps in front of Chengzong, sweat dripped from his broad forehead, and there was a faint smile on his tightly closed mouth.

Chengzong pointed to Wu Ming's injured arm and head: "How do you feel these two days?"

"I'm much better. The wound on my arm and head is a little itchy. I can move my five fingers. The wound on my head is fine." Wu Ming wanted to say thank you, but felt that a light thank you was meaningless, so he had to bury his gratitude in his heart .

Chengzong nodded and looked at the tall ginkgo tree under the stone wall in the distance: "Do you like that place?"

Wu Ming looked back and said, "The spring water there is clear and sweet, and the shade is wide and surrounded by green bamboos. Sitting under the old trees, you can have a panoramic view of thousands of mountains and valleys. I didn't pay attention to the mountains and rivers around me before. A lot of good stuff was overlooked."

Chengzong stared at Wu Ming in surprise, and seeing the sincere smile on Wu Ming's face, he couldn't help but also smiled: "The layman speaks elegantly and has a broad mind. He must have read a lot of books, right?"

Wu Ming was stunned for a while, and quickly smiled at Chengzong: "I can barely read, but I heard from Master Chengyuan that Master Chengzong could recite the "Tao Te Ching" at the age of five, and began to learn "Baicao" at the age of six. I started practicing martial arts at the age of seven, and compared with you, I am far behind."

"Chengyuan, this kid."

Chengzong was a little embarrassed, stepped forward to give him a little support, and walked back together with Wu Ming, and said with concern while walking: "Your injuries have not healed, especially in your hands, the bones have not grown well, so you can't walk around too much."

"It's work!"

Since then, the conversations between Chengzong and Wu Ming gradually increased.

Taoist Bingzhen never went to the backyard to visit Wu Ming again, but he never objected to Chengzong and Chengyuan brothers being together with Wu Ming, nor did he interfere with Chengzong giving Wu Mingxue all kinds of books and old newspapers he brought back from the mountain. Literacy, but rarely ordered Chengzong:

"The boy from the Wu family has a poor background. He has no relatives and friends since he was a child. I heard that after he begged the men in the village to learn martial arts and was beaten away, he hid in the back of his house and tossed around all day. He persisted foolishly for more than ten years. This kind of perseverance is rare. When you have time, you can teach him a set of body cultivation exercises, so that he can recover from his injuries as soon as possible, and also let him dispel his hostility."

As the saying goes: It takes a hundred days to hurt the muscles and shake the bones.In the blink of an eye, more than three months have passed, and Wu Ming's injuries have healed. He and Chengzong and Chengyuan spent the Xiayuan Festival, Winter Solstice, New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve together. When he came, he didn't talk much, but he always had a faint smile on his face.

What impresses Cheng Zong brothers is that Wu Ming has a strong desire for knowledge and amazing learning ability. He seems to always have endless questions, and he has learned a lot without knowing it, including calligraphy and the highest Taoist classics. The interpretation of the "Tao Te Ching", Taoist history, Taoist rituals, etc., also mastered the Taoist health-care methods, and asked about the history and current situation of Shangrao and the surrounding areas from time to time during the work.

What the Chengzong brothers didn't know was that Wu Ming, who was calm and gentle on the outside, was extremely anxious and hesitant in his heart. Every day for three months, Wu Ming spent his life filled with emotions and anxiety. While studying tirelessly every day, I also have to think hard about my future.

Under Chengzong's careful care and careful teaching, Wu Ming made rapid progress in all aspects, and he mastered the exercises and breathing essentials of self-cultivation. A few days ago, Chengzong pushed Wu Ming several times during his instruction, and found that he insisted on standing up every night. Wu Ming, who had been standing for more than an hour, became more and more stable, with roots under his feet, and the original crooked calligraphy became much more beautiful.

Although Chengzong was deeply surprised by Wu Ming's amazing comprehension and tenacity, Chengzong could see that Wu Ming, who was extremely intelligent, had indeed "didn't read many books" as he said. It took nearly two months to be regarded as an introduction, and it was only in the third month that he became a little divine, and barely entered the eyes of Master Bingzhen, the Taoist priest.

In this regard, Taoist Bingzhen, who heard Chengzong’s report every day, was also deeply surprised. People like Wu Ming who only started formal study and practice at the age of 24 have made such rapid progress, which is one of the few in the entire sect. For the sake of it, the experienced Taoist Bingzhen had an incredible feeling in his heart, even though he knew all about Wu Ming's life experience, he felt deep sympathy for this well-behaved, gentle and polite young man.

For some reason, after learning that Wu Ming's latest practice has entered the country, Taoist Bingzhen, who has weighed it for a long time, told Chengzong: "Except for calligraphy and general medical principles, don't teach other things. That's it, what happens in the future is all up to you." Look at his own creation."

Chengzong respectfully agreed, but he was very puzzled in his heart. In the past three months, the relationship between him and Wu Ming has changed subtly. Chengzong's charm has been fully recognized and accepted by Chengzong. Chengzong has more smiles on his face than ever before, and unconsciously, like his junior brother Chengyuan, he regards Wu Ming as his senior brother.

The days passed day by day like this, and when Wu Ming was seriously considering his future, another important Taoist festival, the Lantern Festival, was coming.

Just after the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, brothers Chengzong and Chengyuan began to get busy, cleaning Taoist temples and mountain gates, wiping ritual vessels, changing the inside and outside of the front hall and nave with flags and streamers, adding lamps, candlesticks and kneeling futons for easy access. On the day of Lantern Festival, believers come in a continuous stream to pay homage.

(End of this chapter)