Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 33: The path is calm and the clouds are tireless. There are pines on Mount Huangshan and immortals on the mountain.

The wind and rain sometimes stop, just for a moment of beauty. Ink and wash are endless, and mountains and rivers are eternal. Guan Yin woke up from a dream, and just as he expected, he appeared in front of people with dark circles under his eyes.

San Heng rarely appeared in front of Guan Yin these days. Even if he was concerned, he was willing to face the latter directly. The two of them knew each other tacitly, and they all knew that it was because of the words they said the day before... Whether they should say it or not, San Heng finally said it for the sake of his wife.

At this point, it is not impossible to face Guan Yinsanheng openly, but it is more because one does not want to bring bad luck to the former.

"Sanheng, I know that what you said was for the good of the Madam. I never took it to heart." Taking advantage of the good weather to go out, it was rare that Sanheng didn't come up to show concern. Guan Yinjing'an felt a little uncomfortable. "Since you still call Jiao'an Madam, then you recognize me. The idea of wanting me to go back with you is also for the good of this family."

"My husband..." San Heng's eyes were wet. He was staring at Guan Yin's clothes and then moved to Guan Yin's face. Then he looked back and said, "Thank you, my husband."

San Heng understood Guan Yin's intentions, and Guan Yin understood who San Heng was thanking. So the two of them stopped arguing and continued what they were doing.

Crossing the low hedge, Guan Yin's eyes swept over the trumpet creeper that was still trying to climb on the side, turned his head and saw the bluestone road not far away, remembered the paths he had walked on before, and decided to take a walk around the village.

"Where's your husband?"

"Madam, it seems that my husband went out for a walk and didn't tell Sanheng where he was going."

"Okay." A pair of eyes fell on him along with Liu Jiaoan's words. Guan Yin knew that the former saw his back, but did not call him on purpose.

Liu Jiaoan did not ask what the two people talked about. She just told Sanheng to get enough rest and then went back to the house.

Guan Yin still remembers that when he was a child, he was curious about what stories were hidden in these high and low walls. After all, the stories of one's own family are different from those of other families.

Her mother told her that when Guan Yin grew up, he could go and see it by himself, or he could go outside these layers of walls to see it.

Finally, Guan Yin grew up. He had read many stories outside the wall. When he looked up again, he saw a loquat branch extending from the top of the wall. Guan Yin finally remembered his curiosity about the stories inside when he was a child.

"Loquat, I haven't seen one growing on a tree in a long time."

Families always send some products from their hometown to their children who are away from home. One reason is to bring the longing for their hometown, and the other is to let the hometown bless the children who are away from home so that they can have stories and joy worth sharing with the people around them.

At the beginning, there were only a few left in the whole box, and when they were delivered later, the fine hairs on the loquats looked like they had just been picked - the family knew better how to package the express delivery, and Guan Yin was away from home for longer and longer periods of time.

"Be careful."

A sudden reminder from someone nearby prevented Guan Yin from stepping into a mud pit. When he looked up in surprise, he saw a mountain not far away with a clear outline. It looked like there was not much distance to go.

After scanning the area, he finally saw a woman dressed as a Taoist priest. Guan Yin recalled the hand gestures he had learned and bowed stiffly: "Thank you."

"Where are we going?"

"Take a walk around here." Coming to his senses, Guan Yin remembered the saying "A horse will die if it runs too fast". He naively thought that the mountain was not far away. However, the clouds wandering back and forth indicated that the mountain was still far away. Even if he walked like this for a whole night, he might not be able to reach the foot of the mountain.

"Where are you going, Taoist Priest?"

"I came down from the mountain, originally intending to visit an old friend. But I haven't seen him for a long time... After thinking it over, I decided not to disturb him."

"Where are you staying tonight, Taoist priest? Do you want to..." Guan Yin knew that he shouldn't bring a stranger he met on the street to his home, so he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth. The Taoist priest who came down the mountain didn't have the aura of an immortal holding a whisk, and he wasn't even very tall, at least not as tall as Guan Yin now. But when he spoke with a smile, Guan Yin felt relieved: "Is this young man worried about something?"

Guan Yin lacks someone to talk to, and perhaps the Taoist priest who is coming down the mountain is the right one.

"Actually... I don't even know where to start."

Guan Yin actually didn't want to bring up the topic of history with anyone. Without her and Cheng Heng's experience, this meaningless argument would have seemed like "two children arguing about the sun" to others.

"It just rained, why did you want to go out?" The Taoist priest took the initiative to start, "You seem to be thin, so it's very easy for you to catch a cold."

"It's just that I can't do anything in the house. I feel bored, so I want to go out for a walk... I saw a loquat tree, but now I feel like I'm lost and I may not be able to find my way back."

"That's nothing to worry about."

It had just rained, so places without bluestone roads were muddy. Apart from the wide and open road, Guan Yin only needed to look for his shoe prints and he could go back the same way he came.

The Taoist priest who came down the mountain pointed to the half-dried shoe prints on the ground and said to Guan Yin: "Follow the way you came, and you will naturally walk back."

"There's nothing to do in the house, so I could read a book, write something, or even plant some flowers... It's easy to catch a cold if I go out in this kind of weather."

"It's because I can't write." Reading is useless, and writing... Guan Yin's thoughts have always been messy.

Perhaps everyone has had the experience of being a teacher when they were young. In addition, Cheng Heng himself studied acting, so playing a teacher might not be such a big challenge.

But Guan Yin was different. He had not seen much Hui opera in his hometown. In this era, tea-picking opera had not yet become a kind of opera with lyrics written by people. What's more, the original lyrics were written in the most difficult qupai style... For Guan Yin, it was a headache every night.

Cheng Heng had told Guan Yin that Hui opera was mainly Peking opera, but in fact it covered six major vocal styles. Guan Yin couldn't remember the long list of special terms at once, he only knew that it was not easy to write!

"If you can't write, write something else."

"There's nothing else I can do." Guan Yin's lips curled up slightly, revealing a self-deprecating smile, "Everyone says that scholars are good for nothing. Now it seems that this is indeed the case."

"When you can't think of a solution, worrying is useless, and it's futile for others to advise you." The Taoist priest chose to avoid Guan Yin's self-mockery, "You have to know what you really want."

"It's different to survive or to live well."

"Live."

"It's easy to survive. Just to survive, you don't have to worry about many things."

Guan Yin wanted to refute, but the Taoist priest continued, "Beggars on the street also survive, and officials also survive. As long as a person is still alive, he is still alive... So, what you want is not to survive."

"If you want to live a good life, you can't do nothing proactively."

Guan Yin seemed to understand what he said, and was about to ask more questions when he found that the Taoist priest had already walked quickly in front of him: "It's getting late, you should go home too."

(End of this chapter)