Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 64 Climbing the Qingsong Taoist Temple to See the White Clouds

The breeze does not disturb the clouds, and the wheel tracks leave traces on the bluestone. Guan Yin and Liu Jiao sit together, and the green mountains cannot hide the old stories about Cheng Mian.

"What are you thinking about?" Liu Jiaoan noticed Guan Yin's mood and turned to look at him. "Is it because of Cheng Mian?"

"Yes."

"Is it because you... also have someone like this?"

Guan Yin nodded.

Apparently, Guan Yin no longer wanted to continue talking, so the topic just started ended. On the way up the mountain, both of them were silent.

"Madam, where should we go?" San Heng felt the silent atmosphere between his wife and her husband, and thought that they had some conflict, so he subconsciously leaned towards Liu Jiaoan.

"I don't know either. You should ask your husband about this."

Guan Yin thought there was no need to correct the difference in status between the two of them in Sanheng's heart, so Liu Jiaoan acquiesced to Sanheng's words. However, once these words came out, it seemed more like a conflict had just occurred.

"lady……"

"Go to Songgu Thatched Cottage." Today, there are no Taoists or monks on Mount Huangshan. Guan Yin can remember two famous places that were converted from Taoist temples - one is the "Songgu Thatched Cottage" which became the current "Songgu Temple", and the other is the original "Chusha Nunnery" which was changed into the now famous "Ciguang Pavilion".

Since Liu Jiaoan's cousin was going to visit a friend, the probability of finding a Taoist friend was much greater than finding a monk. Therefore, Guan Yin planned to try his luck with these two first.

"Okay." After agreeing to Guan Yin's request, San Heng turned around to glance at his wife's expression. Not noticing anything unusual, he calmed down and urged the horse to move forward.

There is no such thing as 'mountains and rivers are so dense that you may wonder if there is no way out'. If you look carefully, you will find that no matter how big the mountains are, no two of them are similar.

Here are dead branches with new buds, there is a beautiful scene under the rain. When Guan Yin takes his friends on a tour, he suffers from the hardship of being a tour guide and cannot avoid the coming and going of people. In fact, he rarely has the opportunity to truly look into the mountains and forests like he does now.

"It's beautiful, what do you think, Jiaoan?" Immersing oneself in the beauty of nature seemed to help one put aside the worries of not knowing when one would be able to find a solution, so Guan Yin was willing to say a few more words.

To be honest, when she was taking students on a study tour, it was a rare time for her to stop and take a closer look - except that her mind had to be focused on a group of students, at least when she followed their gaze, the scenery was often the purest.

Unlike those photographers who carry cameras and long guns, the scenery they see is often from the same fixed angle. If you want to see the difference, you can only rely on the ever-changing mountain scenery.

Unlike those writers and painters, when a place is mixed into their works, even if they originally look at the scenery without tinted glasses, they will eventually "beautify", "vilify" and "refine" it over and over again, turning the natural scenery into their own appearance.

He is not like an ordinary tourist, who comes to check in famous classics with a purpose.

“Nature is beautiful.”

"Madam, husband, I'm afraid we have to walk up the road ahead by ourselves." Sanheng's words interrupted the thoughts between Guan Yin and Liu Jiaoan. The two then realized that the car Sanheng was driving had stopped, and there was a mountain road ahead that they had to walk up by themselves.

"Would you like to wait here or go up with us?" There were some things in the car, but no real gifts. It would be more convenient to park at the foot of the mountain with someone watching. Liu Jiaoan wanted Sanheng to wait for a while.

"I..." San Heng clearly saw the rejection in his wife's eyes. After a pause, he decided to respect his wife's unspoken choice. "I'd better stay here. It's not far after all. If my wife and husband need it, I can come in time."

Guan Yin did not notice the eye contact between the two. He just thought it was good for someone to look after these things. He nodded and took the not-so-valuable tea from the car: "Alright."

The road was indeed not far, and at the end was "Songgu Thatched Cottage".

"Sure enough, Songgu Thatched Cottage is still Songgu Thatched Cottage." If Liu Jiaoan didn't know Guan Yin's true identity, this sentence would sound like nonsense, or even like something Guan Yin would say when he was possessed by a demon for some reason.

"What has it become?"

The "change" in this sentence was tacitly understood by both of them. Liu Jiaoan realized that the decision he made was the right one: leaving Sanheng at the foot of the mountain could avoid a lot of trouble.

"Songgu Temple."

When these words were spoken, the two thoughtful girls almost simultaneously felt what it meant to be "things have changed and people have changed". Their steps slowed down as they thought about it and walked straight to the door. Liu Jiaoan added, as if to ease the atmosphere, "So that's how it is. It has become a place for monks to practice Buddhism."

"yes……"

"That figure looks like my cousin's aunt." Wang Lingguan, who was standing at the mountain gate, was holding a golden whip and someone was kneeling devoutly in front of him. Before Guan Yin could really recover from the shock of "things have changed and people have changed", Liu Jiaoan had already recognized the figure.

"Then let's hurry." They found the person in the first place. Guan Yin was very grateful that everything in reality was far less dramatic than in novels. When reading novels, he loved the feeling of satisfaction when he saw the protagonist easily solve a problem that was difficult for others. If it were himself, Guan Yin would rather everything be so plain and real.

In order not to disturb Liu Jiaoan's cousin, the two of them just stood quietly beside the people who were worshipping the gods. Guan Yin even had time to look outside the door.

Outside the door, there are hazy mountains. On a piece of artificially reclaimed flat land, plants favored by the Taoist priests here are planted. Now they are growing lushly, and even the flowers are proudly blooming their own light. The color does not look like "seclusion" at all, nor does it conflict with the green mountains.

"Higanbana."

"Ok?"

"I mean those flowers outside."

Liu Jiaoan's cousin worshipped carefully. Guan Yin didn't understand much, but he knew that the former didn't put his hands together. Taking advantage of this gap, Guan Yin chattered with Liu Jiaoan like a child gossiping in class: "Is this flower also a Taoist flower?"

"Lycoris?"

"There are many insects and snakes in the mountains, and this Lycoris radiata is just useful." Liu Jiaoan's cousin aunt had stood beside the two of them without knowing when. She followed Guan Yin's gaze and explained the two girls' problem, "It originally grew in the mountains, and the abbot here specially transplanted some here. Over time, it grew into this."

Guan Yin nodded blankly, and was led by his cousin aunt to a place where they could drink a few cups of tea.

"Come, sit down... You came to see me specifically, what's the matter?"

Before the two girls could respond, the cousin laughed and said, "Even if I can tell the future, I am not so good at predicting what you are thinking. It's just that you came all the way to find me, so I am a little curious."

The cousin's aunt's smile completely brightened the originally stagnant atmosphere. Liu Jiaoan only said one sentence, and the initiative of the topic was transferred to Guan Yin.

"Cousin, I want to ask you something." Since Liu Jiaoan called her "cousin", it would not be wrong for Guan Yin to call her "cousin" since he was speaking in his original identity.

"Just ask, why be so reserved?" The tea in front of him did not move. The cousin looked at Guan Yin's appearance and did not force him to relax. "You and I are not familiar with each other, but Jiaoan knows me." "Well..."

"I want to ask about the flood that happened that year. Does my cousin know anything about it?"

“Why do you ask about this flood?”

Since her cousin asked, Guan Yin certainly didn't intend to hide it. She pursed her lips and was about to speak, but the cousin seemed to have guessed something: "Forget it, why am I asking you this?"

"I know a little about the flood. It didn't cause any unrest when it happened, but the imperial court used it to punish many people later..."

Guan Yin didn't expect that Liu Jiaoan's cousin's aunt seemed to be indifferent to worldly affairs, but in fact, every word she said explained this era. This sentence "borrowing" was enough to explain a lot of things - it seems that the Liu family is very smart.

"Wherever there is profit, there will naturally be people who will do whatever it takes to achieve it."

"The world is bustling with people because of profit, and the world is bustling with people because of profit. You should also know this truth."

"Yeah." Guan Yin didn't mean to interrupt, just listened silently. On the other hand, Liu Jiaoan drank half a cup of tea, and the fatigue from the journey was relieved and mostly dissipated.

"The Liu family was also involved in the construction of the embankment. I remember Jiaoan's father also worked on it for a while."

"The Liu family?" Guan Yin had some thoughts in his mind for a moment, but he didn't catch them in time. "Then why didn't we mention the Liu family later?"

"I had been away from home for a long time by then, and I didn't have much contact with my relatives..."

Guan Yin knew that even if one became a Taoist monk, it did not mean "abandoning one's family." Judging from the care this cousin took towards Liu Jiaoan, she did not seem like a heartless person.

"Luckily Jiao'an has you, but I didn't have such a sister at that time." Soon, the cousin's aunt's words explained Guan Yin's problem, "Even though I know that they need money and connections to maintain their position, I don't have the mood to love."

"Cousin, do you know that we are..."

“It is difficult to change human nature.”

It is difficult to change one's nature, and it should be a word that has no good or bad distinction. However, as more and more people's "nature" hides all kinds of selfish evil, the word has naturally become stigmatized.

"Ah."

"During that flood, the levees did not just burst in one place. Many of the people who participated in the original construction survived... because the rain was not enough to cause the levees to burst."

Guan Yin didn't know how heavy the rain was. He only knew that in his time, when Huangshan was hit by floods, it was this torrential rain that made the sky dark...

"At that time, the abbot of this Thatched Cottage, the abbot of Zhusha Temple, and the Taoist priests of the Taoist temples on Mount Qiyun chose a special day to hold a ceremony to help the dead."

"We used to live in poverty. Most of the money given by pilgrims was used to repair the statues... It was not easy to use it to help the common people and refugees."

"Ah."

No matter how many questions you have, my cousin will not know them.

"My cousin is a lay person. If we investigate this matter further, we will definitely not disturb her peace." Guan Yin said, "Thank you for telling us so much today."

"How can you say that you disturbed my peace?"

"The case was closed in a sloppy manner. If you can really find out something, perhaps it will be more effective than our mere death-saving department in making the dead rest in peace and giving the living an explanation."

The cousin's aunt was very clear-headed. Guan Yin realized at this time that his understanding of the outsiders seemed to be a little wrong - they were not simply indifferent to worldly affairs, but they truly cared about the world and were concerned about the people even when they were far away from the world.

Just like Liu Jiaoan’s cousin, “saving the dead” is their form, and “peace and tranquility” is their pursuit, but what they “save the dead” are both the living and the dead, and “peace and tranquility” is not just a secluded peace in a corner, but an explanation in the true sense.

"Okay." Guan Yin picked up the teacup on the table and drank it all.

"Are you going to stay overnight?" It was getting late, and the cousin was worried that the two girls were traveling alone. "We haven't seen each other for a long time."

Because of their cousin's words, Guan Yin and Liu Jiaoan looked at each other, thought of Sanheng at the foot of the mountain, and their original intention to stay began to waver.

"But your...Xiao Sanheng came with you? Ask the Taoist boy in the temple to bring him up. It's getting late, and it may not be safe to travel."

"Okay." This time, Guan Yin and Liu Jiaoan had no intention of refusing and responded in unison.

It is difficult for the setting sun to shine into the valley, so what can be seen in the valley is the "bright moon" that can only be seen at "midnight" in the poem "Three Gorges".

When the moon was high in the sky, Guan Yin wanted to go out for a walk, but was stopped by her aunt: "It's cold and damp in the mountains at night, so you should take care of yourself."

"Okay." Although she was not his relative, Guan Yin felt a kind of "love" that was common to everyone from his cousin.

“This is the person who has entered the Tao…”

"Of course, people who enter the Tao have their own personalities, but people can live like a mirror. How you treat me is how I treat you."

Then the moon in the sky became a mirror, falling on the bright Lycoris radiata not far away. When Guan Yin knew its role in preventing snakes and insects, Lycoris radiata was no longer the "flower of death" as later generations had said.

So, when the sun had not yet risen over the eastern mountain, the entire valley was filled with white mist, making it hazy. To Guan Yin, it was as if he had arrived in a fairyland.

"Let's wait until the fog clears before going down the mountain. We can't see clearly and the road is slippery. We can't afford to lose a moment."

After a while, the clouds and fog cleared...

"The clouds and fog will always clear up." Guan Yin silently repeated this sentence in his heart, and he became more and more certain of the significance of his trip to the mountain.

"Go ahead. You will be busy investigating things in the future and we will meet less often. Jiao'an, you must take good care of yourselves."

The fog has dissipated, but the clouds have not yet cleared. The road ahead is not clear, but it is basically visible!