Seeing that he was about to walk to the place where there was a stone house, he happened to see an old lady in dark blue clothes digging bamboo shoots in a bamboo forest next to the stone house. Jiang Lu said to Zhang Ziming: "Ziming, let's go and ask this old man about the way down the mountain." ”

Zhang Ziming nodded slightly and said, "Okay, let's go ask this old man." She must have known the way down the mountain. ”

The two walked forward, but before they could reach the old man, the old man had already put the dug bamboo shoots in the basket and walked towards the two of them at the same time.

When the old man walked in front of them, the two looked at the old man, although his face was full of ravines, but he was full of energy and kind. Zhang Ziming looked at the old man's kind appearance, and suddenly lost his sense of distance, so he said kindly: "Grandma ask, do you live here?"

The old grandmother smiled and responded, "Well, I live here." ”

Jiang Lu interjected and said, "That old woman, do you know where to go down the mountain?" ”

The old man replied, "Yes." I'll take you down the mountain later. The old man looked at Jiang Lu kindly, then looked at Zhang Ziming with his eyes, and said, "You two are lost." ”

Jiang Lu replied, "Well, yes." Originally, we were going to the top of the mountain, but we didn't expect a fork in the road to suddenly appear, and we took the fork in the road, but we didn't expect to come here while walking. ”

After listening to the process of the two getting lost, the old man laughed out loud and said, "There are often people who take that fork in the road and come here. It's normal for you guys to come from there. Just now, a young couple came from the fork in the road and asked me for directions, but I didn't expect it to be so coincidental today. The two of them hadn't been gone long before you came. It's just that I didn't take them down the mountain when I was digging bamboo shoots just now, so I'll put the bamboo shoots at home and take you down the mountain. ”

After hearing this, the two of them were also overjoyed and moved, they didn't expect to meet such a kind old man in the mountains.

The old man was trying to let the two of them wait here, and then take them down the mountain after he put the bamboo shoots home, and was about to leave, when he suddenly saw Zhang Ziming holding two pieces of jade in his left hand, and said in surprise: "Did you pick up this jade in this river?"

Zhang Ziming turned his head, opened his palm, put the jade in front of the three of them, and said to the surprised old man: "Well, I found it in the river." ”

The old man muttered, "There is such a coincidence in this world. ”

Jiang Lu saw that the old man seemed to know something about this jade, and hurriedly asked, "Grandma, do you know anything about this jade?" ”

The old man was stunned when he looked at the two pieces of jade that fit so well, and came back to his senses for a while. He said to the two men: "I have lived here for almost a hundred years, and I have never encountered anything like this. In fact, the little couple I just mentioned also picked up two pieces of jade that are similar to yours, which can be said to be almost identical. But you know, I've lived here since I was a child, and I've never seen two pieces of jade fit together, and they are so square. But you know, this jade is only occasionally picked up in the river for decades, and most of it is round, and I have never seen the two pieces of jade that can fit together. It's a spectacle to see something like this today. At this point, the old man suddenly laughed happily, but the smile was so pure.

After listening to the old man's statement, the two of them looked at each other, and they were also surprised by the preciousness of this jade, and they didn't know what to say.

After a while, Jiang Lu, who had such a strange thing happening to her, began to doubt the authenticity of this matter, and asked questioningly, "Is this thing real?"

When the old man heard this questioning remark, he laughed instead of being angry, and said, "Those who pick up this jade are people who are destined. ”

Hearing the old man say this, Jiang Lu realized his faux pas, and hurriedly said in order to show his respect for the old man: "Old woman, where is your home?" Why don't you let me help you carry the bamboo basket to your home? ”

When the old man heard this, his heart also warmed, and he said, "No, no." ”

Jiang Lu looked at the old woman carrying such a big bamboo basket, and said with some sympathy: "Why don't you see your child helping you pick bamboo shoots." ”

The old man suddenly said with some sadness: "Since this place was developed, the people of the village have moved to the big city, including my children. Now I'm the only one left in the village. ”

When Jiang Lu heard this, she thought that the old woman would be alone here even at night, and she couldn't help but feel a chill on her back, and asked the old woman, "Then aren't you afraid to be here at night alone?"

The old man replied peacefully: "Man and this nature are one, so why be afraid." ”

The old man thought that the three of them had been talking for a long time here, and if they continued to talk, they would inevitably delay the time for the two of them to go down the mountain, so he immediately interrupted the idea of the two of them asking questions again, and said: "You will go west along this river until you reach the end of the river, where there is a temple, you must take these two pieces of jade to worship, and make a wish, you will get the blessing of the gods in the temple." It can also be regarded as a thank you for getting the jade for yourself. And where you go down the mountain. ”

Jiang Lu and Zhang Ziming turned around and looked west along the river they had just crossed, and finally saw a small temple in the distance after some serious searching. I was about to tell the old man the good news that I had found the temple, but when I turned around, the old man was gone. Jiang Lu and Zhang Ziming are so strange.

Seeing that the old man was gone, Jiang Lu said in her heart: "It's not been a while, the old woman has disappeared." But when I thought that the old man had lived here since he was a child, he must be familiar with this place, so he would go so fast. Thinking of this, Jiang Lu no longer has any doubts.