Of Mountains and Rivers

The driving bus passed several county towns and small towns along the way, and the frantic passengers gradually disappeared.

When passing through the last small town, there were only two passengers left in the car, a young man wearing glasses and a bit of a student spirit, and a man who slept motionless in the last row after getting on the car.

It was convenient for the driver to get out of the car. When he came back, he raised his voice and said to the two people in the car in Mandarin with a strong accent: "Hey, those who want to get off can get off here. We are going into the mountains ahead, and we have to go to the station again." After driving for more than seven hours, you have no place to get off after passing the stop."

The young man was sitting at the door, holding a large dusty suitcase with both hands, looking a little embarrassed, as if he wanted to get out of the car, but he was a little hesitant, looking forward and backward, as if he was standing at the crossroads of his life.

After a while, he whispered to the driver: "Master, isn't it inconvenient for people who live in the mountains to come out?"

The driver said loudly: "We don't go to the countryside, we go to the county town. The county town is of course okay. There is a mountain over there. Have you heard of it? There are caves..."

The young man shook his head absently.

The driver grabbed the bird's nest head: "Oh, I can't remember what it's called, anyway, it's a tourist attraction, and there are many city people going there by car, and there are quite a lot of people."

The young man asked tremblingly, "Then, what about the village?"

Driver: "Oh, I don't know how many townships there are under a county seat, and how many villages there are under a township. It's the same as that sheep dung ball. It's everywhere. There is usually no car to go from the village to the county seat. Driving a donkey cart, or climbing a mountain, if you can't climb well, your foot will slip, crunch, and you will fall to your death!"

When the young man heard the ferocious onomatopoeia "Ga Beng", his expression turned pale.

The driver is worthy of running on the winding mountain road, and he has no taboos when he opens his mouth: "Don't talk about walking, just talk about going from us to the county town over there. If it rains a little, who would dare to go? If a rock falls from the mountain and hits it, crunch, let's go together Dead. Either there is some mud somewhere, the road is slippery and no one sweeps it, and the front of the car accidentally rushes off the cliff, bang, we died together again..."

The driver can be said to be eloquent, and in just a few words, he has died three times. The young man was finally broken by these words, picked up his big suitcase, got out of the car and ran away.

The driver said happily: "The little boy from this city can run faster than a bastard—hey, I said the young man in the back, you must be going to sit in the county town in the ditch, right? We can leave if we don't get out of the car." Already!"

The man in the last row was silent, as if he had fallen asleep.

He was wearing a dark windbreaker with a high collar that almost blocked his entire face. He couldn't see what he looked like. He was tall and tall, with one hand exposed and a platinum ring on his middle finger. His fingers are long and slender, but they are very pale. Whether it is describing his appearance or his clothes, he does not look like a mountain person.

Although the old driver is a slippery guy who runs long distances all the year round, in fact, when he encounters a single young man or a group of young men for a ride, and the journey is long without other passengers, he will always feel uncomfortable.

The driver started the car very hesitantly, still trying to talk to the person in the back seat: "Is the young man visiting relatives?"

no answer.

The driver turned his head in embarrassment, not daring to ask any more questions. He silently followed the established route and drove the car out.

During the hours-long drive on the winding mountain road, from dawn to dusk, the passengers in the last row neither got up nor asked to get off to go to the toilet.

There were a few sections of road in the middle that were in bad condition and extremely bumpy. The passenger was bounced up and hit his head on the car window with a "boom" sound, and was then tied back to the seat by the seat belt.He groaned, but the noise was so loud that the driver didn't hear him.

It wasn't until dusk that the long-distance bus finally arrived at its destination.

The old driver was as exhausted as the old bus. He pulled the car into the parking lot and stopped, and then he took the courage to go to the last row to call the strange passenger who was motionless.

The driver tentatively patted him on the shoulder: "Young man? The young man has arrived at the stop... This is too sleepy."

The man didn't respond at first, and after being pushed and shoved several times, the hand that was hanging on the side struggled convulsively.

"Wake up, we've arrived at the station." The old driver yelled in his ear, "Get out of the car, you're going to starve to death."

The passenger in the last row struggled to sit upright, unfastened his seat belt with difficulty, and moved a little. He looked around, his eyes suddenly a little confused, and his face looked like he was stunned from sleep.

After a while, the passenger took off the glasses on the bridge of his nose, lowered his head and wiped them with the corner of his clothes, and finally his eyes became clear. His hands supporting the back of the front seat showed his bony muscles and bones, as if he had exhausted his entire body. It was only with strength that he barely stood up, and at the same time suppressed his breathing as much as possible, so as not to make the breath appear too heavy.

"His hands and feet are numb from sleep." The old driver saw his appearance clearly, and felt that this man looked good, and he was very gentle, he didn't look like a bad guy, so he felt relieved and yelled while checking the luggage rack, "Hey, Where is your luggage? Is it below? Or was it left here and someone accidentally walked away?"

The passenger said in a hoarse voice, "I didn't bring... cough, luggage."

He almost broke his voice after saying two words, and he cleared his throat before continuing.

The old driver was surprised and said, "Why didn't you bring it? Why didn't you bring your luggage when you ran so far alone?"

The passenger was silent for a while, and said in a very weak voice: "To tell you the truth, I have practiced for 250 years, and I came here specially to overcome the tribulation. If I don't become a fairy, I will become a ghost, so I didn't bring any luggage."

driver:"……"

The driver should have known that the other party was joking, but after the passenger finished speaking, he turned his head and smiled at him. He saw the young man's face was pale, his cheeks were haggard, his glasses reflected light, and he looked like a ghost. He became so angry that the driver had goosebumps all over his body on the spot, and almost believed the other party's nonsense.

All the taboos he used to scare the young people during the day suddenly disappeared, and he asked cautiously: "Then how did you come to see us?"

The passenger passed the old driver sideways, and said in a low and ethereal tone: "The mountains and rivers are beautiful... um, it smells a little bit sweet."

The old driver keenly smelled a bloody smell from him, and this time his face really changed, and he even stammered: "Da, Da Xian, what, what smells good?"

When the passenger turned around, the driver was afraid that he would say something like "I haven't eaten such delicious human meat in 500 years", and the two were shocked at the time.

But the passenger just glanced at him, smiled slightly, lowered his head slightly, and retracted his chin into the collar of his windbreaker.

"Maybe the sweet-scented osmanthus is blooming." He said.

This passenger is exactly Chu Huan. Unfortunately, when he was hanging from the tree, he suffered from brain damage. He let go of his hand for some reason, and thus embarked on the first step for the protagonist in the martial arts novel to become a peerless master—the glorious fall from the cliff.

Chu Huan rolled down the cliff, covered in bruises all over his body, and rolled his ankle out of its socket.

Fortunately, like all the quasi-heroes in the world, he had hard skin and thick blood, and was able to withstand beatings, so he did not die.

Unfortunately, at the foot of the mountain, there is no one surnamed Gongyang who is waiting to pass on his life skills to him. Only a group of real rams were frightened, bleating and galloping away, and one of them showed no sympathy. trampled on his wounds with iron hooves.

Chu Huan didn't know how long he lay on the spot before he regained some strength. He hung on his ankle miserably and treated the wound hastily.

Chu Huan simply didn't know how to tell others about this in the future—did he fall off, or did he jump off by himself?

He compares and compares, and thinks which of these two statements is quite embarrassing, and feels that this is really the most colorful black history in his life. Chu Huan decided to take this secret into the coffin, so he was not in a hurry to contact Pharaoh and the others.

After regaining his ability to move, the first thing Chu Huan did was to raise his hand and slap himself——speaking doesn't count, what the hell.

Stimulated by the pain, his will to survive and his mental state finally wobbled back to normal levels.

He found a wooden plank to fix his legs, dragged his punctured shoulders, and refreshed himself with a cigarette. He followed the sheep dung eggs in twos and threes, walked several kilometers on the mountain road, and finally found someone. place.

Chu Huan made up a few nonsense stories about an accidental car overturn, and successfully won the trust and sympathy of the local farmers. He stayed with them for a night, washed his dirty face, took out a small bag of simple first aid kits with him, and treated the wounds one by one. , took a little rest, and then asked the locals about the transportation method, took a fellow villager's ox cart and walked ten miles and eight villages, and finally got on the bus to the nearest county town.

Chu Huan originally planned to get off the car at the first county town, find a random place to live after getting off the car, first settle himself down, and then the contact person will pick him up. He wants to pretend that he is still able to do things with ease even though he has gone through a fierce battle .

The moment he lost control on the cliff, Chu Huan finally had to admit that something might have happened to him.

During the three years of retirement, Chu Huan lived as if he was serving a prison sentence. He had almost no personal friends. The only contacts were Lao Wang, Chu Aiguo and the nurse. He didn't see any living things around him for ten and a half months, so he didn't speak for ten and a half months— —Maybe a cohabiting cat can barely be regarded as a companion.

But Chu Huan could tell that the cat was not close to him, and was even a little afraid of him.

Chu Huan didn't understand what was scary about him. Although he didn't have the habit of sitting with the cat to exchange life insights, he never abused it. He would feed it whatever the original owner gave it. It just came When he was in a strange environment, he was very uneasy. For a while, he always ran around in the house, breaking things frequently. Chu Huan just cleaned silently, and never scolded him—he thought this guy was an old cat. When you are old, you must always save some face for it.

It's a pity that it still doesn't work, anyway, he has never seen a pet that is more distinct than a roommate.

"My cat died, please take care of me before he died." Chu Huan suddenly had this idea in his heart on the bumpy bus.

He was like a man who was unresponsive, and days had passed before he remembered what had happened to the little body he had buried.

The blood loss made him feel cold all over, and in the inexplicable depression, Chu Huan fell asleep leaning against the back seat of the bus that was leaking everywhere.

During the turbulence, Chu Huan's wound opened. He didn't expect that he would sleep until the terminal station deep in the mountain after feeling drowsy. He didn't know how many stations he had sat on.

He got out of the car top-heavy, and the mountain wind in the early autumn night made him tremble. Looking around, he saw that the so-called "station" turned out to be a larger open space, and there was a stop sign beside it that could not be seen. , there are several other tourist bus-like cars parked at the station.

It is said that there is a small mountain and water scenic spot nearby. The development progress is not good, and the transportation is inconvenient. It is necessary to transfer cars in this county town. Therefore, the traffic in this small and remote county town in this poor county is not small, and it is very own. lively.

Chu Huan can also think about it, for him now, any county is the same, just pass through the stop.

He looked up and saw a building with the words "Guest House" near the station. The word "Zhaosi" is left, which seems to be a place for offering incense.

Chu Huan pursed his dry lips and walked towards the guest house. He felt that he urgently needed a large glass of light salt water.

Suddenly, he heard someone calling out to him.

At this time, Chu Huan's eyes were already starting to blur, and he turned his head when he heard the sound, and saw two tall men standing beside the stop sign.

The man who stopped him was about forty years old, holding a cardboard sign in his hand, his eyes were as big as a cow, his hair was braided like a weed, and hung on his chest. If you ignore his bearded and hairy face like Li Kui , This dress alone reminded Chu Huan of a lyric-"There is a girl in the village named Xiaofang, who is good-looking and kind, with beautiful big eyes and thick and long braids."

It's just that this person's expression is very tense, and his eyes are not very friendly, like a Xiaofang who has changed his career to rob.

But the other person was very young and stood a little further away. Since Chu Huan's vision was not very clear, he couldn't see the appearance of that person clearly. He only saw his long hair like a black flag, moving slightly with the wind, making people look at him. Feeling in a trance.

Both of them were on the edge of the platform, and they should be picking up people, but it was already late at this time, and the station was also less crowded. Only one train came in just now, and the only passenger on that train was Chu Huan himself.

"Brother Xiaofang" walked towards him first, this man is five big and three thick, with a big face like a basin, he is a wonderful recipe for a house.

I don’t know which mountain valley this person is from. The Mandarin is basically at the level of aliens. If you are a friend of the earth, even if you can’t understand the words, some body language is still used internationally, but the other party chattered a lot. Huan only understood the initial stare.

The meaning of that stare is roughly: "Grandma, let me wait for you for so long, why didn't you die on the way?"

The two stood staring at each other, unable to communicate.

Suddenly, "Brother Xiaofang" remembered something, handed the cardboard to Chu Huan, stared at him like a debt collector, and tapped the words on the card with his knuckles.

Chu Huan blinked his tired eyes vigorously, only to feel that he knew the words, but he didn't.

He knew that he was at the end of his strength and could not continue to entangle with this minority brother, so he squeezed out a somewhat ugly smile, pointed at the cardboard, and pointed at himself, shaking his head with his hands—you I got the wrong person.

"Xiaofang" was taken aback, seeing him ignoring her and walking forward, just about to raise her hand to pat him on the shoulder, but her eyes suddenly froze.

This minority brother did not know what kind of occupation he was engaged in, and his night vision was very good. In such a dark place, he could accurately distinguish the inconspicuous stain on Chu Huan's dark coat as a large bloodstain.He whispered something to his companion behind him.

At this moment, Chu Huan staggered suddenly, he couldn't hold on anymore, and fell headlong.

Something seemed to support him in the mist, and Chu Huan caught a glimpse of a long hair from the corner of his eye.

In the night, there is a distant and vague fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus.