Nearly dusk, silkworm farmer Yu Gou'er carried a large basket full of mulberry leaves from the northern slope of Yushan Mountain on the border of the Patriotic Motherland, humming a song and slowly walking to the village at the foot of the mountain. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

When I was almost halfway up the mountain, I saw a man leading a horse standing on the mountain road from a distance. "Walking on mountain roads or riding horses? I don't know how this person came up so high, it's easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, it's almost dark, it seems that I can't find the way. Why don't I go and lead him around? Thinking of this, Yu Gou'er walked towards the man.

Walking less than ten zhang away, Yu Gou'er saw that this person was more than seven feet tall, wearing a sky-blue plain linen robe, but the linen he was wearing seemed to be much thinner than usual, and could flutter with the breeze, and the waist and arrow sleeves were all pure black leather.

The man stood there with broad shoulders and a thin waist, with a tiger's neck and ape arms, and his figure was straight, although he was looking into the distance, one hand was naturally clenched into a fist at his side, and the other hand was holding the knife at his waist.

Yu Gou'er thought to herself: "It seems that he is still a practitioner, more things are better than less things, I'll go around the point." ”

He turned his head and walked a few steps before he heard someone behind him speak: "Brother, stay." ”

Listening to this man's tone is quite gentle, but the voice is low and deep, and Yu Gou'er is amused in his heart, this man is as strong as a cow, and his voice is like a cow.

He looked back at the man's face, but he was startled. The man's hair glowed red in the setting sun, his face was thin and white, and his cheeks were covered with dense blue stubble, and he was not ugly, his eyes were slender, but his eye sockets were too deep, and his nose was too pointed, as if he was about to fly out of his face.

Yu Gou'er had never seen a person with such a face, he didn't know how to answer, his mind was spinning quickly, this person was definitely not a local, I heard that fifty miles away from this is the camp of the Qi army, could it be that this person is a member of the Qi army? At this time, he was even more frightened, and said in a trembling voice: "Military ...... The military master ......, the small, the small ......"

Seeing him like this, the man smiled faintly: "Brother Tai, don't be afraid. I'm just here to ask for directions, and I don't mean anything about it. ”

Yu Gou'er pointed to the direction of going down the mountain and said: "There is a stone platform in front, bypass, cross a river, there is a fruit forest, bypass, and then pass by the cave, follow the road, and go down the mountain......"

Living in the mountains for many years, he doesn't often give directions, he can only express according to his own experience, he didn't say east, west, north and south, but he said several sides, plus there was an accent, the man frowned and stood there and listened for a long time, but he was also confused.

In the end, I had to hug my fists and say: "Brother Tai, but you want to go down the mountain?" And I will walk with thee, what do thou think? ”

Yu Gou'er looked at him and nodded.

The man walked a few quick steps, trying to bring his horse back from the side of the road.

Only then did Yu Gou'er notice that the man's horse was not tied at all, but he stood upright, neither grazing nor wandering, and thought it was a fake if he didn't look carefully.

The man walked up to the horse and patted it on the head, and the horse relaxed, lowered his head, and followed the man with a click.

The two walked side by side, and the man turned his head and said to him: "Brother, look at the basket on your back is quite heavy, I have a horse here, put it on the horse." With that, he helped him untie the basket and put it on the horse. The burden of dozens of catties was removed at once, and Yu Gou'er couldn't help but straighten up and stretch his muscles.

The man fixed the basket on the horse's back, grabbed something from the blanket hanging on the horse's back and put it in the horse's mouth, and patted it on the neck.

Yu Gou'er smelled a fragrance next to him, and thought to himself: "No wonder this horse doesn't eat grass, it turns out that it eats this." ”

With less burden on his body, Yu Gou'er walked briskly, and talked to this man: "Did the military master go to this mountain to play?" ”

"Hmm."

"Alone?"

"Hmm."

"That's not right, this deep mountain and old forest, if we weren't born in the mountains and grew up in the mountains, it would be easy to get lost."

"Yes, I'm glad I met my brother."

Yu Gou'er saw that this person didn't talk much, and his demeanor was calm, and he could see that he was a real person, so he was relieved to open the conversation box thoroughly, from the four seasons specialties in the mountains, to the occasional jackal and leopard, and even the fact that he had beaten a tanuki when he was young.

It's no wonder that the dog talks a lot, but it's because there are too few people who can listen to him, and he finally met a stranger who is willing to listen, and he seized the opportunity to brag and pull the skin, and the rugged mountain road became easier to walk.

Here he spat and said that the man walked silently beside him, listening quietly.

When he said that he was tired, the man answered: "Brother Tai is not too young, why do you go up the mountain by yourself and don't call a young student to follow?" ”

Hearing this, Yu Gou'er sighed and said, "How can I have that blessing, I only gave birth to two daughters, and they were both married the year before last." There is only one old woman who cooks at home. ”

The man asked again: "I see that you have carried mulberry leaves from the mountain, and many mulberry trees have been planted under the mountain, why do you want to go far and near?" ”

This is talking about Yu Gou'er's sore spot: "Master Jun, don't you know, there was originally a Qinjiang River flowing through here, the water and soil on both sides of the river are fertile, and the mulberry trees grow well. A few years ago, the Zhou Yan Canal was repaired to divert water from the past. ”

"Since then, the Qinjiang River has to be cut off several times a year, and the mulberry trees under the mountain have suffered from drought, and they love to grow some small aphids, and the young silkworms refuse to eat, so I went to the mountains to pick them. However, the rainy season is coming, every year after the heavy rain, the water of Zhouyan Canal will overflow, the government in order to dredge the waterway, will release water to the Qinjiang River, then there will be more water here. ”

By this time, it was almost dark, and only the bright color of the setting sun was half bent and red. The two of them were walking to the top of the ridge, and Yu Gou'er saw that there was not much to go down the mountain, so he was not in a hurry to hurry, and he was a little hungry after walking for a long time, so he suggested that he rest here for a while.

The man nodded, and sat down on a large rock with him, facing the red sunset on the horizon.

Yu Gou'er took out a wine gourd and handed it to the man. The man took it, sniffed it, and was not polite, he took a big sip, and after drinking, his expression was a little surprised, and his eyebrows were raised.

Yu Gou'er, who was sitting next to him, saw him like this, and laughed: "Master Jun, do you think that the wine of the farmer is all sweet rice wine?" My wife is also from the north, and she brews it according to the method of her hometown, which is called burning knives. Did you drink it, as if your throat was on fire? ”

When the man heard this, he didn't speak, but took two more mouthfuls.

Yu Gou'er saw that he was drinking violently, knowing that the wine was strong, and he was afraid that he would not be able to bear it, so he took out a lotus leaf bag from his arms, opened it, and there were a few rice crackers in it, picked up one and handed it to him: "Eat this pressure." ”

The man took it and took a bite and said, "Is this made from last year's rice?" ”

Yu Gou'er said while eating: "How can there be rice from last year?" This is this year's. ”