Early in the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Xiuling made Xiao Er's fist-sized rice balls, two per person, Xiao Er was also sleepy-eyed and was dragged up from the bed to get dressed, and then began to clean up the firecrackers, candles and paper money prepared two days ago with her parents.

The custom here is that on the first day of the new year, the family will go to the grave of the ancestors, also called "New Year's greetings", Wang Quanfu has no relatives, there is a sister, after getting married more than 20 years ago, he went to the province with her husband, and never came back, and there has been no news exchange over the years, so other people's families give the ancestors less seven or eight people, more than twenty or thirty people, their family is the simplest, and there is one more this year.

According to the convention, from far to near, the farthest ancestral tomb is Wang Quanfu's five generations of ancestors, the local title is called "Mrs.", can be regarded as the ancestor of Wang Quanfu's door, over the hill behind the house, all the way to the east, you have to cross two mountains in a row, and then through a large forest, over the mountains and mountains for 20 miles, this can reach the first stop.

According to Wang Quanfu, 20 years ago, the road here was not so difficult to walk, but the more people in this area later, no one took care of it all the year round, and the crazy growth of plants and trees became more and more unscrupulous.

Along the way, Xiao Er was drowsy, but he didn't cry at all, and he carried him to his destination all the time, but he hadn't woken up yet, and he missed these great scenery in vain. Put Xiao Er down, Wang Quanfu and his wife hung up firecrackers and lit candles for a while, Xiao Er also consciously separated the paper money one by one, Shen Zhong is not good to interfere, standing aside to observe the mountains and rivers here.

Located at the intersection of two large mountains, on the edge of the mountain, the terrain is relatively gentle, not far from a trickling stream, which flows deep into the vegetation at the foot of the other end of the mountain and plummets downward, and the sound of the waterfall hitting the waterhole can be faintly heard.

The mountains then extend to the east, and to the north and south are all undulating long mountain ranges, the vegetation is dense and covers the sky, the trees in the mountains are almost the thickness of an adult's palm, and there are not a few tall bucket thick and tall giant trees, and this mountain forest has been closed for at least twenty or thirty years.

Hang the firecrackers in a relatively sparse place of grass and trees, the three of them worship three times to the ancestral tomb, and say some words to ask for good fortune for the New Year, Wang Quanfu lit the firecrackers, the sound is particularly deafening in this mountain col, and the three of them also look solemn, as if they are afraid of disturbing the gods in the mountain.

"Uncle Wang, did you say before that logging is now prohibited in this mountain country?" Shen Zhong stood by the stream and looked at the mountains and forests a hundred meters away on the opposite side, and suddenly spoke.

"Hey, this mountain forest was returned to the country more than ten years ago, and we were not allowed to cut down trees a long time ago, and before that, every family had its own mountain forest... But there's no pity, the young people don't come back, it's useless to come, and if you pay it back, you will pay it back. Shen asked Wang Quanfu not to think much about it, and told the truth.

Shen nodded and then asked, "Has this mountain never been inhabited before?"

"We are all poor and remote there, who will live in these places!

He smiled solemnly and pulled the topic away, but his eyes drifted farther away, and there was a faint interest in his eyes.

On the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, less than seven o'clock, the sky has not yet dawned, Shen Zheng got up early in the morning, said hello to Wang Quanfu and said that he wanted to enjoy the scenery here, and after rejecting Wang Quanfu's proposal to be a guide, he walked out from the road in front of the house alone, occasionally stopped for three or five minutes in a place where he felt that the angle was good, and took out his mobile phone to take two photos.

After a while, I seemed to feel that this gentle avenue was not enough to move my body, and I looked around as I walked... Well, this mountain road is good, narrow and long, suitable for exercising, heavy expansion of the chest and lifting of the legs to warm up, a leap up.

Not far away, a villager pointed and discussed: "Now the old Wang family is blessed, the young man said that it was a distant relative of their family, I don't know if it was his sister's child, the day before yesterday I drove a car back, and bought a lot of things, the car was full!"

After going up the mountain, there was no one around, and Shen Zheng took his own shocking steps, and the first ancestral tomb he went to with Wang Quanfu's family yesterday was his destination.

Twenty miles of rugged mountain road, less than half an hour to arrive, when he stood silently at the spot of yesterday's eyes, his heart was calm.

At the foot is a broken tree the thickness of an adult's thigh, and the section incision is smooth and smooth, of course, a broken tree alone is not enough to be the reason for Shen's second visit.

Or in yesterday's position, not long after the arrival of Shenzhong, a person stood there for some time, quietly, this deep mountain and old forest, ordinary people are afraid that they don't think they will see ghosts in the daytime.

Shen Zheng turned around, there was no surprise in his eyes, but he said calmly like an old acquaintance: "Mr. brought me here, but do you have any advice?"

The heavenly court of that life is full, the eye sockets are deeply sunken, and the cheeks are slightly sunken, and it looks thin. About shoulder-length hair was coiled upwards into a ball, tied together with a straw rope and a thin wooden stick, two thick mustaches on the upper lip, a goatee on the chin, and a black gown, which looked no more than thirty or forty years old, and a bamboo basket on his shoulder.

He looked straight ahead, where Shen Zheng was.

Shen Zhong asked him, he didn't answer, Shen Chong didn't come close, the two were only a few dozen meters apart, and there was silence all around. After a while, the man did not move like a stake, and still did not open his mouth, shook his head solemnly and said helplessly: "Sir, didn't you come here to test my heart? If so, then I will take my leave." After saying that, he turned around and wanted to leave.

"Who are you?" the man finally spoke, and the accent didn't sound like a local. The sound is not loud, but it is full of breath and has a long rhyme.

He moved under his feet, and was about to take a step, but suddenly he threw himself forward, and then somersaulted backwards with his legs, and without waiting for his feet to stand firm, his toes hit the turf twice, and he floated forward five or six meters like a swallow, indescribably chic and elegant, and he did not move at all.

"Who threw this wooden stick on the ground?!" the man suddenly lost his manners, raised his head and roared angrily, completely forgetting that this was the stick branch that he had cut off when he had slashed the tree with his sword a few days ago. In the morning and evening of winter, there is already a lot of morning dew in the mountains, and this mud and grass is even more slippery, and he wears a pair of cloth shoes, thinking that he is not paying attention, which breaks the long-maintained demeanor.

When he came to a stop four or five meters away in front of Shen Chong, he opened his mouth again and asked, "Who are you?" In an instant, he regained his high popularity and became a faction of his own.

This is the first time in several years that someone has asked him this question so straightforwardly, of course Shen Zheng can't answer truthfully, and said with a smile: "The heirs of Heguo... If it really doesn't matter, sir, then I'm really going to leave. This time, after bowing to the man, he really turned around and left.

"Young people, what is the heart... Hey, young man, I haven't finished my words yet, don't go!" Seeing that Shen Chong didn't stop, the man hurriedly chased after him and stopped him, blowing his beard and glaring: "Young man, what is the end of your impetuousness!" The figure of about 1.75 meters is on the side of Shen Chong, and the appearance of frowning and counting people makes people laugh.

He continued, "Your answer is the same as if you didn't say it!"

Shen Chong suddenly felt that his head was big, this person came inexplicably and liked to mess around, but he couldn't afford to have the idea of doing it, so he had to say: "Can that gentleman tell me your name, what school and what school you are taught from?"

The man twisted his beard and replied, "It's not that I'm hiding it from you, but it's been too long, and my sect has long been forgotten." I have lived in this mountain for forty or fifty years, and I have rarely seen outsiders, and I saw you save a child more than a month ago, and I thought that this world can finally meet a person in the same way, I am really happy, but that time you appeared too suddenly, and I was not prepared, so I missed the opportunity to meet. ”