A long, long time ago, a young traveler trekked through mountains and rivers to a land of birds and flowers, where spring is like spring all year round, the scenery is pleasant, and everyone lives and works in peace and contentment.

In the center of the island is a village of houses, where people sit in front of the door and weave clothes, or work hard in the fields or in the orchards.

Such a blessed natural environment and unprecedented natural disasters have led to a bumper harvest every year, and the conditions of food and clothing have also created the hospitality of the villagers, who have invited the traveler to stay in the village.

The traveler has been traveling for many years, he has felt the wind and waves in the sea, experienced the invasion of pirates, wandered in the ice and snow, passed through the barren desert, and also recorded these past journeys in his notebook, this time, he wants to live here, record this village, because he wants everyone to know that there are many places of suffering in this world, but there are also many places of yearning.

The low bay at the head of the village flows with clear water, gurgling down, the river twists and turns, and seems to be endless, but the clear stream in the river reflects the blue sky and white clouds, and the light is satisfying, and no longer has the mind to explore the end of the river.

There is a meadow outside the village, which turns into a sea of green every time the spring breeze blows, and the clumps of grass are like rolling waves, wave after wave, passing layer by layer into the distance.

The traveler lived in a separate empty house in the village for half a year, and the people here were enthusiastic and hardworking, but there were also very strange behaviors, such as sometimes running to the house suddenly while working, and closing the door at night, no matter what happened outside.

Every time the traveler couldn't figure it out, he would sit on the grass outside the village, thinking quietly, this time, he had a new doubt, the people in the village were not sick or sick, but when they reached the age of fifty, they would die suddenly, and in the past six months, he had experienced five funerals.

The traveler pondered all day and wondered what was going on, so he went to find the only elder in the village who had lived to be a hundred years old, and asked for his answer.

The elder said, "I accidentally reached the end of the river and drank a spring of water, and it was because of that spring that I was able to live so long."

The traveler asked, "In that case, why didn't the people of the village look for the spring, so that everyone could live a long life?"

The elder said, "For the first 50 years I had parents, a wife, children, and friends, but for the last 50 years, I lived alone, and this is the punishment for my greed for eating the spring water."

The traveler did not say it on the surface, but in his heart he felt that the old man's ideas were too ignorant, so he packed his bags and walked down the river alone, wanting to explore the so-called spring that would make people live a long life.

The river meanders, travelers walk along the river during the day, sleep on the ground at night, the next day, a layer of fog begins to rise around the river, a melodious sound lingers in the traveler's ears, a shell jumps out of the river, fanning its shell to express its meaning with a song: Young traveler ~ why did you come here ~ The traveler was surprised that a shell could speak, but he replied truthfully: I have come to find a spring that will make people live a long life.

The shell continues to express in the form of songs: Young traveler~ You better get out of here~ There is no immortal spring here~

The traveler sneered in his heart, didn't you just say it? If not, how could there be such a name as the Fountain of Youth?

So he ignored the shell's persuasion and moved on.

Finally, he walked out of the dense fog and came to the end of the river, which was a meadow covered with bright red blood, and he was shocked by the beautiful scenery here, which he had never seen in ten years of travel, and then looked ahead, at the end of the river was a stone statue that seemed to be formed naturally, and from time to time some fresh water spit out from the mouth of the stone statue, which flowed into a stone bowl that received water below, and exuded a fresh fragrance.

After drinking the water from the bowl, the traveler found that he had become much younger, and that his skin had become as tender as a baby's skin after years of traveling, and he knew that this was what he was looking for, so he put some of the remaining spring water into a jug and brought it back to the village.

This time, he visited the elder again and told them the truth about what he had experienced.

The elder shook his head again and again and sighed: "After drinking the spring of immortality, you will taste the loneliness of eternal life, and you will no longer feel the true life, just like a walking corpse living in the world, which is the punishment of greed.

When the traveler heard this, he was shocked, and then left the village, like a wind blowing, and never appeared again. - End of the book.

……

The middle-aged man closed the book in his hand and lovingly touched the head of the little boy next to him, "That's the end of today's story." ”

"Father." The little boy's eyes sparkled as he looked at the middle-aged man, "Will the traveler really live in loneliness forever and forever, as the elder said?" ”

"A traveler is a solo adventure, even if he lives in loneliness, for him, as long as he can explore the world, it is happy, and he will not care about loneliness."

"Then why is he so nervous?" The little boy asked in a milky voice.

"There are dozens of versions of the story of the Fountain of Youth, and the book in my hand is only the one that is closest to the truth, but the old man's original words are not like this, these are all tampered with by later scholars, and the truth has long been hidden in the dust of history...... My grandfather once told me the real ending of this story......"

"I want to listen, I want to listen!" The little boy pulled the middle-aged man and made a noise.

"Okay, okay." The middle-aged man mimicked that tone.

……

The elder said to the traveler: I didn't expect you to really look for the spring of immortality, in fact, my longevity is precisely because I did not drink the spring of immortality, this spring water will bring vitality to people, but it will make people suffer from a terrible addiction, every household in the village hides this spring water, eat it every day, but the price is that this spring water will take away their lifespan, they have been taking this spring water since they were ten years old, so they can only live to be fifty years old at most, the reason why I deliberately concealed it is because I don't want this kind of thing to be spread outside, but, When you take the first sip and turn on the source of **, this switch can no longer be turned off, and here will also be the end of your journey, so I choose to tell you everything now.

When the traveler heard this, he was shocked, and hurriedly packed his belongings and fled the village.

It was only a long time later that such a traveler could still be seen, wandering around the village.

……

When the middle-aged man finished speaking, the little boy was still a little puzzled and asked, "Father, can the immortal spring water make people live a long life?" ”

The middle-aged man did not stop his silence until he heard the words of the little boy: "I think that this ending, which has been handed down from my grandfather, should be the real end, the so-called spring of immortality is actually the juice of a kind of herb, which gives only a short period of vitality and youth, but most people in the world like to expose the magnificence to the sun, and leave the ruins and dross in the shadows......

Cauchy, you have to remember that sometimes the country that seems to be thriving on the surface is not necessarily the case, as the future monarch, you should learn to understand them from the bottom of the people, from those corners that cannot be seen, so that you will know what they need, they are the cornerstone of Santansdi, and if the cornerstone collapses, then we Santansidi will also perish. ”

……

"Your Majesty...... Your Majesty......"

The chief of the guard softly woke up Cauchy, who had been tired for many days, from his sleep, "Your Majesty, you will catch a cold, please go back to the palace and sleep......"

Cauchy slowly opened his eyes, and he saw the palace of Garo, raised his hand and rubbed his temples, and muttered in a low voice, "It seems that I have had a long dream......"

Thinking of the scene in the dream, he shook his head again, if it was Diderot who was scheming, wouldn't he really know the truth about the legend of the Fountain of Youth? However, he was still so frantically trying to find the spring of immortality, probably because of the persistence and fanaticism in his heart, but ...... Is the immortal spring water that my father said necessarily the truth?

The truth of history is always changing, and there is no absolute, just like the flowers of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, open or wither, no matter which posture is its original appearance......

Cauchy slowly stood up from his throne and said softly, "Let's go, come with me to meet my father, he is only old, but it is only his winter, how can I deny his contribution to this country because of his current withering......

Cauchy led his retinue towards the apse, where a red snail by the windowsill shook its tentacles, and then slowly shrank back into its shell, unmoving, as it had survived for eternity.