Notes on Longevity

Chapter 188 Stories told beneath the ancient tree: Countless human partings are hard to come by.

Zhou Yanliu's figure, rushing through the mountains and forests, was clearly visible in the moonlight. He didn't know why he suddenly thought of these things, but he remembered that his grandfather had told him that day, "Child, don't be afraid, the mountain god is very kind. He is not a demon."

He stood beneath the tree trunk of the Mountain God, his grandfather patting his shoulders. The fear in his eyes brought a wry smile to his grandfather's face: "The Mountain God, having cultivated the Great Dao, sought a fertile place to settle and protect this region. The people of this land offer sacrifices every year, hoping for the Mountain God's continued protection. Yet the Mountain God refuses to accept them year after year, still ensuring favorable weather and abundant harvests. And whenever someone falls ill, as long as it doesn't violate the natural order, he will surely lend a helping hand. Do you think such a Mountain God could be a demon?"

"No." Zhou Yanliu wiped away her tears, answering with a sob in her voice, "But He clearly said He was a demon!"

Grandpa sighed. This child is good in every way, except he's a bit stubborn, to the point that he doesn't know how to continue when faced with Zhou Yanliu's words.

"You all go back first. I'll stay with this child alone for a while." The mountain god's old and gentle voice sounded above Zhou Yanliu's head. He looked up and saw an aged tree face that had appeared above him at some point. He was frightened by the opening and closing tree face and hid behind his grandfather again.

The mountain god's words made the others stand up. They looked at the grandfather and grandson standing under the mountain god's tree and didn't know what to say, so they turned around and went down the mountain.

Zhou Yanliu, who was hiding behind his grandfather, saw that the villagers had all left. He wanted to run away, but his grandfather grabbed him and wouldn't let him go.

When the mountain god saw that Zhou Yanliu was about to leave, but his grandfather wouldn't let him go, he said, "You may stay or leave as you please. We'll meet again someday."

As soon as he finished speaking, the mountain god's tree face disappeared, and the mountaintop returned to calm, with only the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind.

Seeing this, Grandpa looked at Zhou Yanliu helplessly, shaking his head, not knowing what to do, but he could only take him down the mountain.

However, he was relieved to know that this year was still a bumper harvest.

"You child! Didn't I tell you not to run around? Why did you go up the mountain? Do you know that if you anger the mountain god, our whole village will suffer!"

When Zhou Yanliu returned to the village at the foot of the mountain, his grandfather grabbed him by the ear and made him kneel on the ground.

Faced with his grandfather's angry scolding and accusations, Zhou Yanliu lowered his head and remained silent, his reddened eyes making him look even more pitiful.

"Fortunately, the mountain god is magnanimous and did not hold it against me. Otherwise, even if he was angry but did not harm anyone, how would I be allowed to stay here?"

Zhou Yanliu didn't quite understand his grandfather's helplessness, and he murmured, "I don't know any of this."

Finally, Zhou Yanliu added, "Besides, Black Face can talk and turn into a human. You all clearly know he's a demon, so why did you keep it from me?"

Hearing Zhou Yanliu say these words, Grandpa gritted his teeth, wishing he could slap him again. "This is an adult matter. What are you doing getting involved, a child? Besides, the village chief said you're still young. He'll tell you these things when you're older."

"Never mind, never mind." At this point, Grandpa was too exhausted to say anything more to Zhou Yanliu, so he waved his hand at Zhou Yanliu: "You heard what I just said. It's up to you whether you stay or leave. See you in the future. I'll take you up the mountain alone another time to properly apologize to the mountain god."

Zhou Yanliu said "Oh".

Just after the New Year, Grandpa prepared fruit and took Zhou Yanliu up the mountain early that morning. At the summit, they paid their respects, and the mountain god's tree face reappeared, accompanied by a deep yet gentle laugh.

"Greetings, Mountain God," Grandpa said, kneeling and kowtowing.

Zhou Yanliu, seeing this, said the same thing: "Greetings, Mountain God."

Upon hearing this, the mountain god smiled and said to the grandfather, "Are you over sixty years old this year?"

Grandpa looked at the mountain god in confusion, wondering why He was asking this, but still answered truthfully, "Sixty-two years old."

The mountain god smiled and said, "I remember the first time I saw you was when your father brought that cat demon to me. Fifty or sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye."

"Yes, when I first saw Blackface transform from a cat into a human, and then when I met you, I was just like that child, filled with panic and fear. Now, I'm old too, and who knows, I might have to go someday."

Grandpa sighed, while Zhou Yanliu looked at the tree and the person and began to recount the past. From this, he also learned about the mountain god's past and his grandfather's youth.

He watched their back-and-forth exchange, and the fact that he had been kneeling for so long made him feel a little sleepy, and he fell asleep without realizing it.

When he woke up again, it was noon.

He opened his eyes, looked at the empty forest before him, and stood up in surprise. He didn't know when his grandfather had left, and felt a little resentful: "Grandpa left without even calling me."

He frowned and was about to head down the mountain when the mountain god's voice came from behind him: "Child, are you awake?"

The sudden sound behind him made him shiver. When he turned around, he realized that he had been leaning against the tree trunk the whole time.

Without his grandfather's company, he took a few steps back in fear. His original intention was to run away again, but he remembered what his grandfather had told him when they went up the mountain: "Remember, do not anger the mountain god."

So, he could only suppress his fear and kneel on the ground like his grandfather, saying, "Greetings, Mountain God."

A gentle laugh rang out above his head, echoing through the mountains and forests: "For hundreds of years, apart from your grandfather, I have never seen a child your age again."

"Why?" Zhou Yanliu asked curiously.

"For no reason. But you can try to guess." The mountain god teased him. Zhou Yanliu looked at His slightly mischievous tone, and his original fear disappeared instantly. Instead, he felt that His God was no different from himself.

So he stopped hiding anything, got up and went straight to its base, carefully and curiously examining the tree face that he couldn't reach.

The mountain god seemed to have seen through his thoughts, and he slowly moved his tree face down until it was level with him.

Zhou Yanliu felt a surge of fear as he looked at the large tree face that had come before him, and unconsciously took two steps back.

Upon seeing this, the mountain god suddenly laughed, "Truly, he was like Lord Ye who loved dragons but was terrified of them."

"What do you mean?" When he heard the mountain god's gentle laughter again, his fear vanished instantly. He couldn't explain why hearing His laughter calmed his mind and made him no longer afraid of anything, so he asked again, "Why is your laughter so pleasant?"

The mountain god laughed and said, "I have already told you."

Zhou Yanliu frowned and said, "But you didn't say anything!"

The mountain god patiently explained, "It's like Lord Ye's love of dragons."

Zhou Yanliu looked at Him without understanding, remaining silent as if he were thinking about something.

"Have you ever heard this story before?" The mountain god asked, striking out a riddle with a broad smile, staring at Zhou Yanliu's curious face. "No," Zhou Yanliu replied truthfully.

"Once upon a time, there was a man named Lord Ye who was very fond of the legendary dragon. It was said that the dragon could change its form at will, and could ride the clouds and mist, and command rain with magic. So, he embroidered dragon patterns on his clothes and accessories, and even carved dragons on his furniture and wine vessels. Then one day, after hearing what people were saying, the dragon rode the clouds and mist to Lord Ye's house. But when he actually saw the dragon's true form, he slunk away and never dared to return."

The mountain god spoke slowly, and Zhou Yanliu listened attentively. But when he heard the end, he looked at the mountain god with great confusion and asked, "Didn't this Lord Ye like dragons? Why did he run away when the dragon came?"

The mountain god chuckled: "Because what Lord Ye likes is not a real dragon, but things related to dragons. Just like how you were curious about my face just now. You were curious when you looked at it from afar, but you backed away when you got close."

Zhou Yanliu understood immediately upon hearing the mountain god's explanation. He scratched his head without any embarrassment, "I'm just curious why trees can talk and have faces that are almost like people's. Except, they're a bit bigger than ours."

Zhou Yanliu was gesturing with his face. The mountain god, seeing Zhou Yanliu's adorable appearance, smiled indulgently: "Then you should take a look at how much older I am than you."

Zhou Yanliu looked at the mountain god, which seemed to blot out the sky, and nodded in confirmation, "That's true. However, this story is quite interesting. Do you have any other stories like this? Could you tell me one?"

"Why?" This was the first time the mountain god had been puzzled. He looked at the small Zhou Yanliu and asked.

But Zhou Yanliu's face immediately fell, and even his ears seemed to want to collapse: "Because the teacher makes us memorize articles every day, and writing articles is so boring. And that teacher is so fierce, he often hits people with a ruler. I'm scared when I see him."

As the mountain god Dao Yisheng listened to Zhou Yanliu's complaints, a ripple stirred in his usually calm heart. He remembered feeling this way a thousand years ago.

Sensing the change in his heart, he looked at little Zhou Yanliu again, exhaled through his nose, and then said softly, "Yes. What do you want to hear?"

"I want to know why the mountain god is here?"

Zhou Yanliu's childlike demeanor seemed to remind him of his younger self, but instead of talking about himself, he asked, "Do you know the story of 'marking the boat to find the sword'?"

"Marking the boat to find the sword? What is that?"

"Once upon a time, a man's sword fell into the water."

After that noon, Zhou Yanliu often went to the mountains to listen to the mountain god tell stories. Of course, sometimes he would also tell stories about some interesting things that happened to him at school.

And so, the man and the tree exchanged stories and secrets, until one day, the mountain god told him a story he didn't quite understand: "Do you know what parting is?"

“Farewell? I know that.” Zhou Yanliu was now a fourteen-year-old boy. He looked at the mountain god and ate the naan bread in his hand.

"Then tell me," the mountain god's kind laughter rang out.

Zhou Yanliu didn't rush to speak. Instead, he smacked his lips and took a few more bites of the pancake. After finishing it, he wiped the crumbs off his hands before speaking: "In life, there are four major events: birth, separation, death, and parting. Birth and death are predetermined. Teachers often talk about this when they talk about the history of past dynasties."

He said that history is a huge chariot that slowly rolls over the corpses of countless people, and these people will not leave their names. All that remains is a stroke of ink on paper.

"As for separation, it is unavoidable during times of war; it is also unavoidable during times of peace."

As the saying goes, in life, we first experience separation, and then death. Separation is but a small embellishment in the hundred years of life.

The mountain god was quite surprised to hear Zhou Yanliu say this, so he asked, "How do you know all this?"

"That's what the teacher said." Zhou Yanliu blurted out with a frown, while also wondering to himself: Didn't he just say that?

The mountain god was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter. Zhou Yanliu looked at the mountain god in confusion and asked, "Grandpa Mountain God, what are you laughing at?"

The mountain god did not speak, and his laughter stopped abruptly. After a moment of silence, he sighed and said, "The pain of life and death is hard to express, and the pain of parting is hard to describe. But when you say these words, they seem to be spoken lightly and indifferently."

As He spoke, He looked at Zhou Yanliu under His tree trunk and fell silent again before saying, "That's true, you're still young and don't understand. What you know is just what others have told you."

"Is there any difference?" Zhou Yanliu asked, puzzled.

“It’s different. You’re missing something here,” the mountain god sighed.

Zhou Yanliu frowned and asked, "What's missing?"

"experience."

"experience?"

“Yes,” the mountain god said.

Let me tell you a story.

"Long ago, there was a farmer who married a woman. The two lived a loving and harmonious life, with the husband farming and the wife weaving. Soon after, his wife gave birth to a son. However, she died shortly after giving birth to their son due to a difficult childbirth."

"Dead?" Zhou Yanliu looked at the mountain god with some confusion. He remembered that the mountain god used to always tell him about the interesting and fun things he encountered when he walked in the human world. Why was he suddenly becoming sentimental today?

"Yes. The birth of the child brought death to his wife, and for him, it was a separation by death." The mountain god sighed and continued the story, "Later, he raised the child alone to adulthood, and finally watched him get married and have children."

"He was immersed in his son's fulfilling life, but he also lived in the pain of missing his wife. Later, he took out a garment from the chest in his room, a garment that his deceased wife had sewn for him stitch by stitch."

"Seeing the object reminds him of his deceased wife. He looked at the garment in his hand and wrote a poem in remembrance of his wife."

"Green is my garment, green with a yellow lining. My heart is filled with sorrow; when will it end?"

"Green is my robe, green is my garment, yellow is my skirt; my heart is filled with sorrow, when will it end?"

"Green are the silk threads, woven by the woman. I think of the ancients, so that I may be without blame."

"The fine linen and coarse linen are so cold in the wind. I think of the ancients, and they truly capture my heart."

Zhou Yanliu listened to the poem in silence, and then heard the mountain god continue: "Later, this man put on the clothes his deceased wife had made for him, went to the place where they had once been, and finally died on his way home."

(End of this chapter)