The jade-like green mountains are coiled in the vast wilderness, and when the sky is just dawning, the high-speed rail arrives at Jingxian Station.

There is no direct plane from Qingchuan to Jing County, so the two flew to Hefei last night first, and then took the high-speed train overnight.

Xia Keren didn't expect that Mr. Meng would follow her to suffer this crime.

From Mr. Meng's words and demeanor, it is clear that he not only does not like Chinese painting, but even resists and hates it, but he has taken great pains to restore the beautiful picture of Gongbi.

Xia Keren thought it was illogical, but she wasn't interested in his reasoning.

She just wanted to finish the business and redeem the old house that she had paid off.

The old house of the family was built brick by brick when my grandmother was alive, and my mother Li Tong was born and raised in this house, and she was also born and raised here, and this house carries the memories of three generations.

When I was a child, I sat on the bluestone case in the yard and learned to paint with my mother.

At that time, her grandmother was still alive, Xia Keren couldn't remember her grandmother's appearance, but she remembered that she had short silver hair, a shirt with blue cloth and white flowers on her upper body, and blue and black trousers on her lower body.

At that time, my grandmother was in her eighties, but her back was straighter than Qingzhu.

From afar, I saw Li Tong teaching Xia Keren to draw Portugal/grapes, and the clean rice paper fell with two strokes of indigo with ink, surrounded by a bright purple grape/grape, Xia Keren disliked that Portugal/grapes were not round, and twisted the pen to add it.

Before the tip of the pen fell, my grandmother began to shout: "This painting is the same as being a person, it is what it looks like, and you are not allowed to make it up, if you are not satisfied, start from the beginning on another page." ”

Xia Keren didn't understand the meaning of this at first, and by the time she did, her grandmother was already gone.

After her grandmother left, what happened at home was more uncomfortable than the other, she didn't want to think about it anymore, clenched her fists and pinched her palms, and then took out her mobile phone: "It only takes twenty minutes to take a taxi." ”

There is a handmade paper mill near Nantan Temple in Houshan Village, Dingjiaqiao Town, Jing County, Xia Keren checked the route on the high-speed rail in advance, and it is only 15 kilometers from the high-speed rail station to there.

The voice fell, and when he looked up, Mr. Meng had already walked to the side of the road, and a black Hummer was stopping in front of him.

"Get in the car. Mr. Meng tilted his head and took the lead in lifting his feet and sitting in the back row.

Xia Keren consciously opened the co-pilot's door, and as soon as he sat down, he put the navigation next to the driver's steering wheel.

After the driver glanced at the map, he asked tentatively: "Mr. Meng?"

Director Cai had already sent him a detailed address when he arranged for the driver to pick him up, which was different from the little girl next to him.

In the back row, Mr. Meng closed his eyes, leaned his head back and leaned on the seat: "Follow her." ”

The car couldn't go inside when it drove to the entrance of the village, Xia Keren took the mobile phone and followed the navigation all the way to find it, walking around the village along the loess path, and when Xia Keren's vest began to sweat slightly, she saw the dense green leaves in the courtyard gate not far away.

The blue waves are rolled over and over, and behind them are the eaves of the temple with yellow walls and gray tiles.

Nam Tan Temple appeared in front of me.

The handmade paper mill is three to five hundred meters behind the temple of Nam Tham.

The temple is not big, lush inside and out, the two of them bypassed a green bamboo forest behind the temple, and there was a wheat field within a few steps, and next to the wheat field was a small building with a large cement dam.

The pink tiles of the small building are attached to the wall, and the dam is sunned with bundles of yellow, yellow, green and green branches.

"This is the sandalwood branch. Xia Keren suddenly spoke.

This is still the second sentence that Xia Keren said in more than a dozen hours from Qingchuan to Jing County.

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man in his forties with dark skin, long black sleeves and a straw hat walked out of the house.

As soon as he saw the two people in the courtyard, the man opened his throat and shouted: "Buy paper?"

Xia Keren nodded.

"I have rules for buying paper here, do you know, little girl?" the man walked over and stretched out his hand to Mr. Meng. "My name is Cao Sangui, and I am the owner of this handmade paper factory. ”

Mr. Meng didn't reach out to shake it, but just nodded at him and said lightly: "Hello." ”

Cao Sangui didn't mind, he smiled, and wiped his hands on both sides of his pants: "My hands are not dirty, these are calluses that are pulled out of the bark every day, and I can't get rid of them." ”

Cao Sangui saw that Mr. Meng had an extraordinary bearing, but he thought that he thought he had dirty hands.

Looking at the two of them again, it seems that the big boss with a small assistant, maybe it is still a big business, Cao Sangui hurriedly said: "Little girl, it's okay to buy paper, the rice paper I have here is the best, but I have a rule." ”

"What rules?" asked Mr. Meng.

"If you want to buy my paper, you have to follow me through a paper-making process. "Cao Sangui arrived.

Seeing that Mr. Meng immediately frowned when he heard Cao Sangui's words, Xia Keren knew that he was already disdainful of Chinese painting, let alone a piece of paper for painting, so he said: "The paper-making process is complicated, dozens of processes, hundreds of procedures, it almost takes a year, slow or even two years, we are in a hurry, we can't wait so long." ”

Mr. Meng's brows furrowed even tighter.

Cao Sangui smiled: "Little girl, you want to live here with me for a year, but I don't have this place yet!"

"I also want more people to understand the ancient paper-making craft in Jing County, Anhui Province. Cao Sangui slowly arrived, "Now more and more machines are replacing manual work, although the machine is getting better and better, and even more delicate and regular than manual in many cases, but I still want to pass on this craft." ”

"Everyone who comes to buy paper, I ask them to follow me in one set, at least I know what the skills passed down from our ancestors are going on, right?" Cao Sangui sighed for a long time, and then arrived, "A set of paper can be as short as a year or as long as two years, but I am making paper every day in my workshop, and each process is running at the same time, and you will not follow a set for more than three days." ”

"Then aren't you afraid that others will learn your secret recipe for making paper?" Xia Keren said directly.

She learned to paint, so she naturally knows that whether it is paper, ink, or even ink, each family has its own secret recipe, which is the foundation of their generation.

Cao Sangui replied: "Don't worry, I will naturally not show you the key steps, but I don't have children, if anyone who comes to buy paper is very interested in this after following me a set of processes, and wants to learn from me, then I am also willing to teach it, and passing on this technology is the most important thing." ”

Xia Keren nodded: "Then let's look at the paper first." ”

"Yes, you can see as you like. Cao Sangui led the two into the house, "What do you call the two of you?"

"Xia Keren. Xia Keren spoke.

Seeing that Mr. Meng didn't react for a long time, he had to add another sentence: "His surname is Meng." ”

"Okay, you take your time. Cao Sangui stood at the door of the room, and the room was full of prepared rice paper.

Xia Keren went straight over, looked at them one by one, and quickly stood in front of a shelf, and said softly: "This is it." ”

"The girl is really good eyesight, this is a special clean skin, and the content of sandalwood is as high as more than 80%. Cao Sangui explained.

"That's it. Xia Keren looked at Cao Sangui, "When can I go to follow the process?"

"Are you going alone?" Cao Sangui spoke up, and when he saw Xia Keren nodding, he spoke again, "I'm just going to cut down branches, if you don't need to rest and don't get tired, you can set off immediately." ”

"Let's go. Xia Keren still had beads of sweat on the tip of his nose, but his expression was as calm as ever.

As soon as he took two steps, he heard Mr. Meng's light voice behind him: "I'll go too." ”

Xia Keren was stunned and felt a little strange, but whether he went or not had nothing to do with him, and he didn't look back, and followed Cao Sangui to the green sandalwood forest in the back mountain.

Mr. Meng was really not interested in the process of making rice paper, but he didn't know why, he became curious about the girl in front of him.

He felt that his words were few, but this Xia Keren had fewer words, and most of the time he was silent and didn't say a word.

He still remembered that when the high-speed train was about to arrive at the station, the sun was rising outside the window, Xia Keren was sitting by the window and was as quiet and cold as a stone statue, and the faint light of the morning sun shone on her delicate but almost expressionless face, and she began to glow.

I don't know why, at that moment, he felt that this young girl was a star in the universe, floating aimlessly and silently, not knowing when it would be lit up, but he knew that she would definitely light up.

It's like encountering Chinese painting, or something related to Chinese painting.

Her words began to increase, from the usual two words and three words to two sentences and three sentences, and even unfinished.

"The reason why our rice paper in Jing County is good is because the green sandalwood trees we have here grow well!" Cao Sangui grabbed the branches, left five or six feet long and tied them into a bundle with hemp rope, "The green sandalwood trees that grow in the karst mountains and hilly areas here are evenly organized and have uniform fibers. ”

"This bundle of branches is boiled in a pot of water for 20 hours, then soaked in the water of the mountainside stream for 20 hours, and then the sandalwood bark is peeled off, dried and then tied up. Cao Sangui said, his hands kept moving, "It's the first step, making fur." ”

"Do you want to try it?" Cao Sangui wiped his sweat and handed over the sickle in his hand.

The two people behind him stood upright, and neither of them reached out to pick it up.

Xia Keren probably knows the process of making rice paper, the green sandalwood bark part has to be boiled and bleached repeatedly, and the same is true for the straw part, and then the two are mixed in a certain proportion to make pulp, and then the pulp is poured into the pool to get paper.

After fishing twice, it is not finished, but also to dry the paper on the iron pillar fire wall with an average temperature of more than 50 degrees, and then carry out the final treatment, and then the rice paper can be taken out and sold.

They don't have time to do it themselves, they can only take a look.

Cao Sangui also understood, and took the two of them to watch a few steps in the afternoon, and it was close to evening, until his own stomach growled, and he remembered to ask Xia Keren: "Are you hungry?"

Seeing that Xia Keren didn't speak, Mr. Meng raised his hand and looked at his watch, it was already half past five: "Do you have anything to eat?"

"There are no restaurants near here, if you want to eat, you can only go to the Nantan Temple in front of the mountain, there is a fast meal in the temple, ten yuan a person, the taste is good. Cao Sangui pointed down with his hand, "However, you have to hurry up, the food will stop serving at six o'clock." ”

Xia Keren and the others were watching the green skin being made, boiling it with alkali, and the boiling heat made her dizzy, so she hurriedly came out to take a breath of cool air and walked down the mountain by herself.

On both sides of the mountain road are fine pebbles, the green skin boiled in alkaline water is densely dried on the pebbles, the sun and rain are shown, so that the fibers in the green skin are softened, and the organic matter in it is decomposed, so that the moth does not like to eat, which is the secret of rice paper to be preserved for many years.

Xia Keren didn't find that Mr. Meng was following her until she entered the temple gate.

The two remained silent as always, except for the rustling of leaves in the temple.

Nantan Temple is located in the middle of nowhere, there are almost no outsiders in the temple, the whole process of eating fasting is self-helping, throwing money in the clay pot, and then going to pick up the vegetables by themselves, just eat as much as they want, can not have leftovers, and clean up after eating.

In the middle of the dining hall, the long tables and chairs sit on one side, men and women are separated, and before the meal, the masters in the temple will put their hands together and recite a passage that Xia Keren did not understand.

When eating, no talk is allowed, and there is only the rustling of chewing on both sides, much like the sound of the wind blowing the leaves in the yard.

Xia Keren was sending food to her mouth, and at the same time felt that she liked the life in the temple so much, everything was done in an orderly manner and in order, so she didn't have to think about anything, she didn't have to do anything, just be silent, and move forward with time.

When Xia Keren finished eating and washing the dishes, Mr. Meng had already walked through the courtyard to the main hall, he stood in front of the futon for a long time, and the smoke and fire surrounded him, making him look like a god in the mortal dust.

I don't know if it's my own illusion, Xia Keren always felt that the fireworks floated to Mr. Meng, and then from Mr. Meng to him, his eyes were full of fog, smoky and hot.

Before he could come back to his senses, he heard a little master behind him running out in a panic: "Oh no, the canteen is on fire!"

The canteen is connected to the kitchen, and I don't know which master forgot to turn off the fire after the meal, and the temple is all wooden structures, and the fire burns down the beam of the kitchen to the canteen, and the dishwashing sink is on the left side of the canteen, and the fire blocks the way out.

Xia Keren glanced out the window, facing the eyes of Mr. Meng who heard the shout and looked back.

As soon as she tried to climb up to the pool and climb out of the wooden window, the window burst into flames.

The heat wave made Xia Keren retreat several steps, and in the firelight, people outside the window were running towards her.

The smoke in the room was breathless, Xia Keren clenched his palms tightly to stay awake, and there was a hot/hot red light in front of him.

……

Xia Keren woke up in the hospital, and the bright sun outside the window made her unable to open her eyes.

The nurse was taking the needle for her, and when she saw the person waking up, she said softly: "Thanks to the timely rescue, you are fine, but the respiratory tract is a little red and swollen, and the throat will be more sore in the past two days, try to eat some liquid food." ”

"Who saved me?" As soon as Xia Keren spoke, his throat really hurt hotly.

"There's a man living in the ward next door, I heard that he was crushed by the door beam when he carried you out, and it's not a big deal. ”

Xia Keren was stunned, how could there be any men in the temple, at that time, there were only two outsiders, himself and Mr. Meng.

Could it be that it was Mr. Meng who saved himself? Such a cold person, I really can't imagine what he looks like when he rushes into the smoke and fire.

But wearing a hospital gown, he walked next door and knocked on the door, and it was really him lying in the VIP ward.

Mr. Meng had a plaster cast on his left foot and sat on the bed with an iPad, next to Director Cai with a bitter face.

Xia Keren glanced at his phone, it was already the afternoon of the next day, no wonder even Director Cai came.

"That's their new women's handbag. Director Cai frowned, "The soft/soft calfskin is embroidered with a cloud-headed lotus petal pattern, and it was sold out as soon as it was launched. ”

"What's even more annoying is that, looking at the current form, they also plan to follow the Chinese style, which completely overlaps with us, and the market we can share will be smaller. After Director Cai finished speaking, he touched his forehead, and then he saw a person standing at the door, and he hurriedly squeezed a smile again, "Heh, Miss Xia, you are here." ”

Xia Keren glanced at Director Cai, took two steps forward, and looked at Mr. Meng again.

There was a burn mark on Mr. Meng's right cheek and the pinna, which was red, which made his whole person not so unapproachable.

"Mr. Meng, thank you. Xia Keren didn't have too much expression on her face, but she was also really grateful in her heart, after all, she felt that compared to Mr. Meng, her little life was really not worth it.

It's a grateful, and the willingness of someone like him to rush into the fire to save a worthless self is truly grateful.

"Just call me Meng Jin. Mr. Meng's eyes were still looking at the iPad.

Director Cai was taken aback by the approachable Mr. Meng, looked at Mr. Meng and then at Xia Keren, and finally had to cough dryly to relieve his anxiety.

"If you are thirsty, drink water. Meng Jin heard Director Cai's unnatural cough and spoke.

"Yes, yes, I'll drink water. Director Cai hurriedly got up and left.

When Director Cai came out of the ward and closed the door, Meng Jin raised his head, looked at Xia Keren standing in the light and shadow of Qing Lingling, and said, "You also heard it just now, the form is grim, I have to go back to MU." ”

Xia Keren blinked, and there were more question marks in his mind.

Do you have to discuss this kind of thing with her??

Meng Jin saw that Xia Keren didn't speak for a long time, and then spoke: "Boss Feng said that you specified that you must accompany Jing County to buy paper throughout the whole process, otherwise you will refuse to repair the painting." ”

Meng Jin stopped, and when he met someone who didn't talk much, he himself talked too much, and he wouldn't have explained so much in the past.

"There's no such thing. Xia Keren's face did not change, "I'll do it alone, Mr. Meng, if you have something, go first." ”

Out of the ward, take the door.

"Feng Jiayu. Xia Keren made a phone call, his face was expressionless, and he spoke in the most indifferent voice, "Is there something wrong with you?"