Chapter 95 See You Again
June 11th, 11:00 pm
At dusk, Shen Kuo, who had been leaving the dust behind, finally saw the shadow of a mountain in the distance. However, the mountain ahead looked quite high, and the information he had just overheard was limited, so he had no idea how to get around the mountain to find the bamboo forest. So he went into the dark mountain in the dark.
There was a path when we entered the mountain, but it soon became dark and we could no longer find the path under our feet.
Shen Kuo was alert and wanted to turn back to find the way, but he found that he couldn't even find a way back. However, taking advantage of the last ray of sunlight, the mountain was very beautiful.
The place found by Master Yan Qi is truly amazing. He probably wanted to emulate the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and find a bamboo forest to live in seclusion. But where is this bamboo forest?
This barren mountain is not high, but there is no village in front and no shop behind. There is no light at all around, and only the sounds of startled birds and various strange beasts in the darkness can be heard.
He wandered around for a while but couldn't find the path. He searched the starry sky but couldn't find the North Pole in the middle of the sky, probably blocked by the mountain. However, the guest star at the gate of the sky that couldn't be driven away was still there, so he could roughly determine the direction.
I spent the whole night in fear and anxiety, but I didn't find any bamboo forest or houses. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any wolves, tigers or leopards.
It was only when the sky was light that he found the road in the mountains again. He didn't know where it led to, so he led the donkey forward until the road disappeared again. Then he began to worry that there might be no people in the mountains. He was walking on an animal path, not a human path. How could a human path end?
Just as he was daydreaming, he heard an eagle screaming overhead. He looked up and saw a falcon with its wings spread flying over his head. He was not sure if he had seen this falcon before, but the way it flew over his head looked familiar. The eagle's feet were clearly wrapped with red ropes, so it was probably a eagle raised by people to hunt rabbits. A few months ago, when he was still on the canal boat, he had seen a similar eagle. At that time, Xiaoping was playing the zither. An eagle was hovering over his head. Xiaoping and Jin'er obviously knew about this eagle, because their expressions changed after seeing it. They muttered a few words and then put away the guqin and returned to the cabin. In fact, it is very likely that he had seen it once before. When Shen Kuo followed two Maitreya thieves to the Guliugang Villa, he also saw a young man in brocade clothes riding a horse, galloping past surrounded by a group of hunting dogs. At that time, there was a falcon like this on his shoulder. That scene was exactly in line with Li Bai's poem "Left holding Huang and right holding Cang".
He realized that he had a shortcut and could follow the eagle. Although he had stumbled all night, he was now in high spirits. He jumped on his donkey and chased after it. The eagle was not in a hurry to leave, circling for a while and then moving away for a while, so that Shen Kuo would not be thrown away.
He followed the falcon across the valley and finally saw a clear view. He saw a bamboo forest in front of him. The bamboo forest was thick with fog and a stream was flowing out. The scene was like a painting and made people feel peaceful. Looking from afar, there seemed to be smoke from cooking behind the bamboo forest. It seemed that there was indeed a family.
He no longer cared about the eagle that kept circling and refused to land. He got off the donkey and waded across the stream to walk forward. At the end of the bamboo forest, the thatched cottage was shrouded in smoke. Behind a fence, there were three or two thatched cottages. The thatched cottages were suspended in the mist, without any worldly air, just like a fairyland.
"Not only does he want to learn from the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, he also wants to learn from Zhuge Liang of Nanyang, who is good at choosing a place..." He couldn't help but admire Master Yan Qi, but he didn't want such a life anymore.
After walking a few more steps and turning around a rock, he suddenly saw seven or eight horses parked in front of the thatched cottage, some of which had bows and arrows hanging on their saddles. The tranquil scene was suddenly destroyed by these weapons and war horses. He quickly hid the donkey behind the rock, then touched its head, signaling it not to bark. The donkey ignored him and lowered its head to eat grass.
Shen Kuo walked forward cautiously and hid behind the fence. Just as he was about to look out, he heard some noise inside. He looked inside through the bamboo slits in the fence and saw a group of people surrounding a young man in plain clothes walking out. He did not see Xiao Ping among them.
He looked from afar, but could not confirm that the young man was Yan Qi. He could only recognize the leader as the middle-aged man who had spoken to the two officers from Jingdong Road yesterday. He seemed to be someone close to Wen Yanbo.
Several people got on the horses. They heard an eagle's cry, and the circling falcon finally came down and landed on the shoulder of the young man. The young man turned around and looked at the thatched cottage, as if he was still reluctant to leave, and then he sobbed. Someone immediately handed him a handkerchief and he wiped his tears.
"I'm sorry for her." The young man glanced at her, and Shen Kuo, who was hiding on the side, suddenly had a bad feeling. The group was about to leave, and Xiao Ping was not among them. Now he said such things.
"Now that things have come to this, go back quickly. Your husband is still waiting for you. The state is in a difficult situation right now, so you can't indulge in love affairs."
The middle-aged man beside him said this, urged his horse to his side, and without saying anything more, he grabbed the reins of the young man's horse and ran forward with the horse. Young Master Yan Qi no longer hesitated or looked back, and ran forward. The other knights also ran wildly, and soon they disappeared.
Shen Kuo stood up from behind the fence, anxious to go in to find Xiao Ping and confirm her safety. However, there were still two horses parked, clearly two people had not left. He heard black smoke coming out of the thatched cottage, and then two big men came out of the black smoke, one holding a torch and the other holding a knife, which was still bleeding. Shen Kuo quickly squatted down and was not seen by them.
"Brother, they went to the county to have a drink, leaving us to do these dirty things. I thought we could still plunder some money, but there is nothing valuable in this house. We only found some clothes of the woman, which don't look worth much."
"What do you know? The young master eloped and left his father, and took little money with him. This morning I advised you not to stay and deal with the aftermath, but you refused to listen and wanted to take advantage of the burning of the house to search for some silver. But you see, there is not much money."
"Haha, that woman is really pretty. Isn't it a pity?"
"You are imagining things. Do you know that the woman has magical powers and is a fox fairy? Look at how thin the young master has become in the past few months. I think that woman is a bad omen, so this is the end of it."
"It's just pitiful that you are so sad."
"He is also from your company. We don't deserve to pity him for only suffering for two days. In fact, I also heard that the young master left traces on purpose to find this place. Young Master Yan was tired of the countryside and wanted to go back, but he left a farewell letter to Ling Ran. He was afraid that it would be embarrassing, so he asked my husband to find him."
"If that's the case, wasn't your crying just a pretense?"
"Rich people are more shy, unlike people like us who are straightforward, crude and dishonorable."
"We are not decent, nor do we swear to each other, but we have never abandoned my wife."
"You dare to abandon your wife, aren't you afraid that the eight brothers from your father-in-law's family will come and break your legs?"
The two of them walked to the door with smiles on their faces, mounted their horses quickly, and galloped away.
Shen Kuo then stood up. As he walked around the fence towards the burning thatched hut, he felt dizzy. He didn't dare to think about what kind of scene he would see. Would he see Xiao Ping lying in a pool of blood? Seeing drops of blood on the ground, it was the blood that had just flowed from the steel knife in the hands of one of the men. The hut was already burning fiercely, and he ignored the fire and rushed in with his head in his arms. However, after rushing in, he did not see the body. He rushed from beginning to end again, and only saw a few simple furnishings and a bed inside, but no dead person. He braved the choking smoke, rummaged through the drawers, and looked under the bed and in the stove, but did not see the dead person.
I didn't come out until the fire was too big, thinking to myself, maybe I was just overthinking. When I got to the backyard, I saw a newly piled up dirt. In front of the dirt pile stood a sign with the words "Xianqi Xiaoping" written on it. There was also a shovel inserted diagonally next to the dirt pile.
Seeing these four words, Shen Kuo sat down as if struck by a bolt from the blue. After a long while, he stood up, walked slowly over, squatted down and touched the wooden sign. He didn't know how long it had been, but when it started to rain, he stood up again, and the thatched house behind him had already burned to ashes.
He brushed off the dirt on his body and left the hut, feeling mixed emotions. When he found the old donkey, it was already full of food. He rode on the donkey and left it alone, letting it wander around.
The donkey did not take the same path as before, but went straight through the hut that had turned to ashes and walked from the back. Behind the yard, there was a chicken coop, and a few chickens were still wandering around there, unaware that no one was taking care of them anymore.
Shen Kuo thought about how Xiao Ping usually feeds chickens here. The donkey walked forward and saw a small river flowing across. He thought Xiao Ping usually washed clothes by the river.
Just as he was sighing, the donkey under his crotch stopped moving. It raised its head and pricked up its ears.
"Why don't you leave?"
The donkey snorted and shook its head, signaling him to be quiet.
He didn't say anything, but saw that the donkey's ears were erect and it was turning its head around as if looking for something.
Faintly, he also heard the sound of a zither. In the breeze and drizzle, the sound of the zither was a little vague, but the old donkey followed the sound and walked towards it.
Shen Kuo had good ears, and gradually he figured out that the music played was the Guangling San that Xiao Ping had played. His mind suddenly changed, and he still led the old donkey deeper into the bamboo forest. Looking up, there seemed to be a pavilion on the hill in front, and the sound of the piano should come from there.
The old donkey reached the bottom of the mountain and could not go up. Shen Kuo got off the donkey and walked up a rugged mountain road. After walking a few steps, he found a black horse parked behind a rock. There was a bundle hanging on the saddle.
At this moment, the sound of the piano was very clear, and Xiao Ping was the only one who could play the piano in such a way. He walked up quickly and finally reached the pavilion after climbing up the hillside. He saw a thin figure sitting at a stone table with his back to him, playing the piano. Although the person was dressed in men's clothes, the slender fingers exposed from his sleeves were clearly Xiao Ping's. Shen Kuo stood a few feet away and stopped moving forward. He wanted to wait until the song was over.
However, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped because the string broke.
A few drops of blood fell to the ground, and the pianist quickly put the injured finger in his mouth.
"Today is the day I feel hopeless. I didn't expect that when I was completely desperate, there would still be a soulmate around me. Has God abandoned me or has he pitied me?" It was clearly Xiaoping's voice.
Xiaoping slowly stood up and turned around. When she saw Shen Kuo, a flash of surprise crossed her face, and then tears fell.
"Sir, why did you come here?" She wiped away her tears with her sleeves and forced a smile.
"I came to save you. I was afraid that Mr. Wen would kill you."
Shen Kuo said while standing in the rain.
"Kill me? Since we are destined to do this, please come into the pavilion and have a chat."
Shen Kuo went on to find that there was only a stone table and two stone benches in this dilapidated pavilion. He sat down in front of Xiao Ping, with the broken zither in the middle. He then looked under the table and saw a bundle.
"Why did the string of the zither suddenly break today? I usually play it for him and it never breaks. Does it mean he has found his true soulmate?" Xiao Ping said with her head down, her voice filled with sadness.
