There is no way my vest will fall off!

The Meng family's ancestral hall is located in a small villa about five kilometers away from the Changai Mountain Scenic Area. The place is called Dingzhuang.

Grandpa Meng has taken over the status of mountain guard from the previous generation since he was 35 years old. After careful calculation, he has been guarding the mountain for nearly 20 years. During these 20 years, he never left Chang'ai Mountain again.

Until the year when Grandpa Meng Ziqiu was 55 years old, Changai Mountain, which he had guarded for 20 years, turned into a national 3A scenic spot. identity.

In addition, the world was bad at that time, and many families could not afford to eat. In order to survive, Meng Ziqiu’s father, who had already separated, took the Meng family and left Changai Mountain to seek a living outside. This trip basically stayed outside. I also come back to see it occasionally during the Chinese New Year.

Meng Ziqiu was only eight years old when he left. Others don't know how long an eight-year-old child can remember about the past. Anyway, he doesn't have much memory.But the strange thing is that Meng Ziqiu was very impressed with the memorial tablets in the ancestral hall. I don’t know if he grew up watching them. Even though he can’t remember the environment clearly, he vaguely remembers most of the names inside.

When he came to Dingzhuang again many years later, Meng Ziqiu found the old house of the Meng family with the vague traces of his memory, which was better than he imagined.

Grandpa Meng Ziqiu had few brothers in his generation. He himself was the eldest brother, and there was a younger sister behind him. He was married to a single family named Song in Zhuangzi. Meng Ziqiu's aunt is taking care of the ancestral hall and old house.

It wasn't until his aunt went blind last year that her son took him to the town to take care of him, and then he left Dingzhuang. Although he asked the younger generation in the village to help him take care of it before leaving, outsiders are outsiders after all, so naturally they won't be so careless. focus on.

The key to the old house of the Meng family has always been in the hands of his aunt. Before coming to the village, Meng Ziqiu had already gone to the town to get the key. He planned to live in the village for a day or two.

Meng Ziqiu prepared some daily necessities in the car. Except for borrowing a bed from the old house, he prepared everything else by himself.

After simply tidying up the house, Meng Ziqiu picked up his bag and went straight to his family's ancestral hall with a bucket. He had to bypass a dirt road of more than 100 meters. The one with a loquat tree planted in front of him was his family's ancestral hall.As far as Meng Ziqiu knew, his father would come back every two years to offer incense sticks, and to repair and repair it, so the ancestral hall looked a little old on the surface, but it was not dilapidated.

Pushing open the dusty door, Meng Ziqiu held his nose and waved, and walked in with a bucket.

The first thing I saw was a well covered with moss. This well was much older than Meng Ziqiu.

Meng Ziqiu carried a bucket and washed and cleaned the inside and outside of the ancestral hall. It was summer again, and the wind was blowing and it was cool. After a while, the bluestone floor dried up, revealing traces of years.

But looking at it, Meng Ziqiu found something strange. The traces on the bluestone slabs seemed to have some kind of pattern.

Thinking of this, he quickly dug out his backpack, took out a pen and paper, and printed the traces on it, a total of sixteen sheets.

He cleared out the enshrined table, placed the sixteen sheets of paper on the table one by one, and then tried to put them together, following the traces along the edges, they really matched up.

It was a painting, with a triangular-shaped lake flowing between the mountains, and there was a very small part in the center, which was very inconspicuous when printed on paper and pen.

Meng Ziqiu had no choice but to take out his magnifying glass again, almost lying on the bluestone slab, there seemed to be something in the lake.

Zooming in, he saw a mountain with a small "M" in the middle of the lake, reflected on the lake.

This mountain... Could it be Wuqi Mountain?

Meng Ziqiu didn't come to a conclusion, but he felt that there was a reason why the painting was deliberately disrupted and appeared here, and there must be something recorded in the painting.

He took out his mobile phone, took a picture of the enlarged lake, and saved it.

Putting away the phone, Meng Ziqiu changed the bucket of clean water and went to the ancestral hall, where rows of memorial tablets stood in front of the case.

Meng Ziqiu took out three sticks of incense, lit them first, bowed, and then took out a clean towel to wipe.

It has been nearly an hour since Meng Ziqiu finished his work. He wiped carefully and with piety, so his speed was much slower.

Seeing that the rankings in front of the case were all upright, Meng Ziqiu threw the blackened towel into the bucket, and only then had extra time to look at the murals on the ancestral hall.

In the past, Meng Ziqiu was young and didn't understand the content of the murals, and he didn't like to look at these rough paintings. Until today, he didn't have the heart to look at these murals.

He first looked at the first picture on the right. What was different from what he had imagined was that the mural on it was neither a legend nor a heroic hero. It was just a picture of... What are you looking for?

He looked at the second picture, and he was still talking to someone, but the person he was talking to changed his appearance.

The next few pictures are like this.

It is not difficult to imagine that the man in the painting is the Meng family, but what are the others?Are the Meng family looking for something?

Are you looking for someone?Who are you looking for?

Meng Ziqiu saw a few words on the top of these paintings, and the words on each painting were different. They were written respectively——'Yanwen', 'Dangxi', 'Yizhou', and 'Shangdai'. A few places that sound like place names.

Meng Ziqiu took out his mobile phone and searched these names. The first three were fruitless, but the last one, 'Shangdai', popped up a few lines of information. It was indeed a place name, but it was a place name before the Dakang Dynasty, 'Shangdai'. Dai's name now is Cloud City.

Shangdai?Cloud City?

Meng Ziqiu was at a loss. After thinking about it, he had to take pictures of these paintings one by one with his mobile phone.

……

Meng Ziqiu stayed in Dingzhuang for a total of two days. Except for the paintings on the bluestone boards and these murals, he found nothing else.

On the third day, he packed up and went to Sansui Town to see his father and grandpa.

When Father Meng saw his son coming, his expression was indifferent, and his mood swings were not as good as that of Grandpa Meng who was sick.

"... Dabao, are you out of school?" Grandpa Meng trembled slightly. Although most of his gray hair had fallen out, he was still in good spirits.

Meng Ziqiu, who has graduated from university for several years, did not refute his grandfather, but just let out a hey, which was regarded as a promise.

"Dabao, eat...eat dumplings." Grandpa Meng took out a 'dumpling' from the pocket of his clothes 'trepidly'. It was a dumpling made from a plastic model, and it looked like his father's 'masterpiece'.

Meng Ziqiu smiled, leaned down, and his voice was slightly louder than before. His grandfather's ears are not very good, so he had to speak louder to hear, "Grandpa, Dabao has eaten, I will push you outside to bask in the sun, okay?"

Grandpa Meng didn't speak, but looked at him blankly.

Father Meng glanced at the two of them, but didn't respond, as if he had acquiesced, and made his own calculations. He was counting last month's bill.Father Meng opened a stationery and bookstore in Sansui Town, just across from the middle school. The business has been good in the first season, and the store has hired two hardworking helpers, but Father Meng still likes to use the abacus to do it again.

Right now, the students are not out of school, and the street looks a bit deserted, but the sunshine outside is very good, which is very suitable for activities.

Meng Ziqiu pushed his grandfather under a big tree. It was an old tree. The tree was so thick that it took two adults to hold it together. According to the people in the town, the tree lived for 100 years. Older than a lot of them, tough old guy.

"Grandpa, can you relax?" Meng Ziqiu rubbed the other's calf, which had shrunk a little due to sitting in a wheelchair for a long time.

Grandpa Meng still didn't speak, as if he could no longer feel the sound of the outside world after giving the dumplings, and just stared blankly ahead.

Meng Ziqiu got used to it too, pressed his heart for a while, and said something in a casual tone, "Grandpa, what do we Qisanzhi do?"

Qi Sanzhi, that's what he called Xu Qian when they met for the first time. Meng Ziqiu always felt that there must be something behind this title.

Grandpa Meng's eyes flickered suddenly when he heard the word "Qi Sanzhi". He saw Meng Ziqiu's face full of anticipation, and then heard his grandfather say——

"We Qi Sanzhi are guarding the spirit of the mountain."

"Shou... the mountain spirit?" Meng Ziqiu murmured, and the last two words came out of his mouth more clearly.

"Shan Ling, Shan Ling has come out..."

"What?" Meng Ziqiu moved closer.

"Shan Ling," Grandpa Meng looked into Meng Ziqiu's eyes. In the dim eyes, he seemed to be awake again at that moment. "Shan Ling has come out. We must guard him and not let him get hurt again..."

Meng Ziqiu stared blankly for two seconds. The word "Zai" made him feel unspeakable. He lowered his body again, looked at his grandfather, and said, "Who...is he?"

Grandpa Meng stopped responding to him, but moved the wheelchair by himself, as if he didn't hear his words, "It's time to take a nap."

Meng Ziqiu didn't stop him, but ran up in two or three steps, pushing his grandfather in the wheelchair back to the house.

……

The next morning, Meng Ziqiu drove away from Sansui.

When he left, Meng's father gave him [-] yuan in cash, as well as some food and drink, and asked Meng Ziqiu to take it with him when he left.

Meng Ziqiu looked at the bulging envelope, and he knew that the money was for Meng Liangchen's study. Thinking of this, Meng Ziqiu turned to his father who looked very calm in front of him. He realized again that his father had aged a lot these years , No, even white hair.

"Dad, I'm leaving."

Meng's father nodded silently, turned around and went back to the store without waiting for Meng Ziqiu to drive away first.

Meng Ziqiu lowered his head and smiled, he was as 'cold' as ever.