On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Shangyuan Festival.

The sky was bright, dozens of young and healthy women from Tianjia Village under Taijin Mountain had arrived, these devout believers carried incense and candles, went to the statue of Sanqing to offer incense and bow, and then respectfully handed over the donated items to the Taoist priest Chengzong.

There is no need to arrange too much for the grandmaster brothers, the hard-working and simple villagers are busy with the road, taking care of all the chores such as making a fire to boil porridge, boiling water to make tea, cooking sacrifices and three animals, etc., the backyard is in a hurry, but it is busy and orderly and orderly, and there is obviously a tradition.

The sky is bright, believers and pilgrims are endless, piles of people gather under the big cypress tree outside the temple gate to rest, waiting for the auspicious time of the sacrifice to come, among them there are many landlords and rich gentry of ten miles and eight villages and highly respected people, Chengzong, Chengyuan brothers began to serve tea to welcome guests before and after busy.

Under the instruction of the head of the Bingzhen Dao, Chengzong did not ask Wu Ming for help, and Wu Ming, in view of his status as a fugitive, did not have the idea of joining in the fun, so he brought a firewood knife early to drive the sheep up the mountain, reviewed the knowledge of various plants and herbs seen along the way, and then began to chop firewood unhurriedly.

After recovering from the injury, chopping a load of firewood every day is Wu Ming's homework, Wu Ming, who has been born in a poor family for two lifetimes, is unwilling to eat white food, and it is difficult to repay people's life-saving grace Not to mention for the time being, Wu Ming, who is diligent by nature, cannot bear the parasitic life, not to mention that he can continue to enhance his physique in his work to adapt to the living environment as soon as possible. After all, he still has a long way to go in life, and it is impossible to be confined to this small world.

It was past noon, Wu Ming unloaded the second load of firewood in the firewood room next to the sheepfold, and the whole Taoist temple was full of cigarette smoke at the moment, presumably the solemn ritual had come to an end.

The grand ceremony did not appeal to Wu Ming, he knew that he had not yet integrated into this society, and many times he was still living in the world that had become a dream in his heart, and he was still sticking to his own view of the world and morality.

Now this strong skin has not left any memory for Wu Ming, so he looks down on everything that this skin has suffered, and he is not even willing to find out, so there is no unwillingness and grievance, let alone hatred.

Wu Ming slowly finished enjoying two sweet roasted sweet potatoes, wiped the sweat on his face with a cloth towel, picked up the firewood knife on the ground and walked to the ginkgo tree not far away.

He came to the big tree to rest for a while, washed his face, took a sip of the sweet mountain spring and drank it slowly, raised his head and let out a long breath, pulled up the hem of his robe, picked up the saw and hammer, and continued to build the cabin.

Perhaps driven by professional knowledge, perhaps because the construction can have a sense of accomplishment and existence, or maybe because he likes this beautiful place, Wu Ming decided to use his spare time to build a small wooden house in this place, which is condescending and has a wide field of vision, leaning on the big trees next to the mountain, surrounded by streams and green bamboos, and the mountains on both sides are full of lush rhododendrons, whether it is early morning or dusk, sunny or rainy, you can experience the moving charm of nature here.

Another important reason is that two months ago, Chengzong conveyed to Wu Ming the meaning of Bingzhen Daochang, so that Wu Ming would best cultivate on the mountain for a year, and after a year, no matter how Wu Ming decides, he will go with the flow.

Wu Ming was deeply puzzled by this, but he couldn't refuse, after a period of consideration, he finally reluctantly agreed, for this reason, he spent more than a month, prepared a lot of wood and thick bamboo, peeled off a piece of neat pine and cypress bark, and began to build a ** space of his own, although cutting and construction cost a lot of effort, but can use the professional knowledge in the brain to practice not many opportunities, but also to adjust the irritability and confusion of the mentality.

The main body of the hut has been completed, the log terrace in front of the door has been spliced together, Wu Ming pushed the bamboo and wood scraps and dry grass and trees to the open space in front of the hut, took matches to light the shavings, used a wooden stick to pick up the fire a few times, sat on the rocks by the stream to rest, quietly watched the spire shape of the wooden house and the solid bark roof just covered, and carefully estimated the materials and man-hours needed for the next step.

In the silence, Wu Ming vaguely heard footsteps, looked up and was stunned for a moment, then straightened out his robe and slowly stood up.

The two women came here for some reason, the woman in front of her was about twenty years old, fair-skinned, with a tall figure rarely seen in this era, shoulder-length hair, wearing a blue woolen coat, neat bangs under the eyebrows, a pair of beautiful eyes sparkling and smart, slightly open her lips to show white jade-like white teeth, after seeing a big man under the tree, her expression looked very surprised.

Next to the tall woman was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old round-faced girl, wearing a blue floral cotton jacket and dark blue trimmed pants, looking like a maid from a big family, the look of surprise on her face flashed, looking at Wu Ming, who was sorting out the robe, she was a little annoyed, and stepped forward and scolded loudly: "Where did the wild Taoist come from?" I didn't shy away from seeing my young lady coming, why don't you know the etiquette? ”

Wu Ming was stunned, thought for a while and asked, "I don't know which famous lady you are?" Why did you come to my place and question me? ”

"You ......" The little girl was speechless, and her little face turned red with anger.

"Little Jane, don't be reckless."

The tall woman whispered to the maid beside her, stepped forward half a step forward and bowed to Wu Ming, and looked apologetically at Wu Ming, who had messy long hair: "I'm sorry Taoist, my Xiaozhen is young and ignorant, and if you offend, please bear with me." ”

After the beautiful woman finished speaking, the apologetic smile on her face suddenly condensed, and her eyes as clear as autumn water showed a look of surprise.

The people apologized, and Wu Ming didn't want to say anything, so he coughed lightly and persuaded lightly: "Please go back, the mountain road is steep and bumpy, and it's not good if you get hurt." ”

The beautiful woman raised her hand and lightly swept the bangs that were blown by the mountain wind, and politely apologized to Wu Ming again: "I'm really sorry, we are here to incense, and when we saw the tall ancient trees and a few red leaves here, we came over, disturbing the tranquility of the Taoist, and I ask the Taoist to forgive me, let's go." ”

The two women turned around and walked a few steps, the little maid turned around and glared at Wu Ming fiercely, helped the beautiful woman to leave in a huff, and complained in a low voice that the young lady was too much to give face to the stinky Taoist.

Wu Ming picked up the wooden stick, gently stirred the burning grass and trees, stared at the smoke rising from the fire and fell into deep thought, and in a blink of an eye, he forgot about the two departing women, as if nothing had happened, but his state of mind was far less indifferent and calm than his appearance.

In the past, because he scrupulously abided by his conscience and professional ethics, he was unwilling to be in the same stream with the vested interests and deteriorators in the system, and he fought back under the exclusion and conspiracy of the firm belief, and boldly exposed the shady scenes of the key projects he supervised, thus attracting unscrupulous persecution from interest groups, so that he was imprisoned and persecuted for the crime of "embezzling huge sums of money", all of which forced him to reflect on the beliefs, ideals, and values he adhered to.

Now, the ghost sent him to reincarnate as a human being, but in the war-torn Republic of China troubled times, a head and a spread of blood made him deeply understand the helplessness and fragility of life, moreover, the invasion of the Japanese invaders has rumbled, there is hardly a pure land in the world, only their own Jiangxi is still in constant turmoil, the two major forces of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are still in the fierce armed conflict and the integration of the forces, Jiangxi

From the old newspapers and the news that Chengzong brought back from the mountain, Wu Ming also learned that two weeks ago, Chen Cheng's 18th Army had finished resting and replenishing, and had left Yingtan to go south to suppress the Zhumao Red Army; Xiong Shihui, chief of staff of the Nanchang Xing Battalion, has assumed the post of chairman of Jiangxi Province, the commissioner of the provincial government and a company of troops have been stationed in Shangrao, and the local garrison regiment in Shangrao has launched a vigorous campaign to suppress bandits.

For the current situation, Wu Ming has a sense of panic, he found that the poor historical knowledge in his head is not helpful to the current cognition, the vigorous and magnificent revolutionary era in front of him is everywhere danger and chaos for him, he knows that as long as he takes a wrong step, he may suffer a sudden and unwarranted disaster, any opportunistic tricks are full of uncertain factors, and he may let himself die, which is why he has not made a hasty decision so far, He needs more detailed and accurate verification and planning.

The familiar sound of bamboo bangs sounded, Wu Ming woke up from his contemplation, glanced at the sun hanging on the top of a distant mountain that was about to disappear, stood up and quickly packed up his tools, buried the remnants of the fire that was about to burn out, straightened his clothes and strode towards the Taoist temple.

Cheng Yuan, who closed the bamboo door of the sheepfold, saw Wu Ming, took a few steps to meet him and said mysteriously: "Brother Wu, do you know that among the pilgrims today, has anyone inquired about your name?" ”

Wu Ming was slightly surprised: "Few people know me, are they our Wujia villagers?" ”

"No, guess again." Chengyuan is childlike and has a naughty smile.

"I can't guess."

"It's a woman, very good-looking! Hey hey ......"

Wu Ming seemed to understand: "Is the person you are talking about the rich lady with shoulder-length short hair and a blue coat." ”

"Brother Wu is so smart." Cheng Yuan Ha smiled: "That good-looking sister is surnamed Wang, she quietly pulled me behind the pillar before going down the mountain, gave me two oceans, and then asked me: What is the name of the young Taoist who works under the big ginkgo tree in the east of the Taoist temple?" ”

"How do you answer?" Wu Ming frowned, worried that his identity would be discovered, which would bring unnecessary danger.

"Of course I ...... Don't say it, hee-hee! Master and Senior Brother have already explained to me that they can't say anything about Brother Wu to outsiders, so I just said that I don't know what to do, and then handed over the two oceans to Master as sesame oil money, big brother, don't worry, hehe! Seung Won had a playful mischievous smile on his little face.

Wu Ming shook his head and smiled, raised his legs and strode towards the side door. Cheng Yuan ran quickly to keep up, and asked Wu Ming curiously as he ran why he didn't continue to ask, and said that when he saw that the master and senior brother had talked to that beautiful sister, Senior Brother Chengzong must know which beautiful sister that he belonged to.

Wu Ming didn't continue to dwell on this matter, and after dinner, he helped the Sect Master brothers clean up the backyard, and it was already nightfall when everything was done. Wu Ming lit the oil lamp after taking a bath and began to practice calligraphy, and came to the courtyard an hour later to continue the practice of pile gong every day, as if today was the same as every day in the past, no different.

When he woke up the next morning, Wu Ming unexpectedly found that the front of his big pants was wet, which made him very embarrassed, and the beautiful face in the dream resurfaced in his mind and lingered, so he could only quietly get up and run to the pool in the courtyard, brave the cold and quickly take off his pants, and lift a large bucket of cold spring water to pour it on his head.

A cold wind blew, Wu Ming stirred up a few times, and yawned majestically, making the echo sound quite loud, and the big rooster under the courtyard wall was also frightened and crowed loudly, and the morning light came in the rooster's call.