Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

In the early spring, although there are colorful flowers and trees, the cold spring is not over, and the ice and snow still exist.It's fine during the day, but it's not so comfortable at night.Qingping's hand holding the pen was cold and stiff, she leaned close to the charcoal basin and stretched out her five fingers to warm her hand with the residual heat.

Although the attic is leaking everywhere, it can be regarded as a shelter.There is a beam above her head, the room is short and small, there is only one bed and one table in the room, and the quilt on the bed is even more dilapidated.Seeing that the candle on the table was already half-burned, Qingping blew it out quickly, and almost stepped on the charcoal basin when she turned to go to bed. She lay on the bed with an old quilt in her arms, and felt the strong air leakage in the room, so she wrapped the quilt tightly around her body. .

Fortunately, the account book has been copied, and there are still some candles left, which can be used for tomorrow.Qingping turned over and squeezed the corner of the quilt tightly.Thinking of the predicament when I first came to Le'an City to make a living, it is much better now.

After all, Le'an is the city of Hezhou, so if you want to make a living here, you must spend a lot of money.After Qingping entered the city, he first went to the bulletin board to look around, and found that the wanted notice was still on it, and the old paper had been replaced with a new one. It seemed that the wanted notice was still there.Because many refugees came from Yunzhou, officers and soldiers began to search foreigners and check their identity documents.The state government issued an official document requiring foreigners entering the city to register their identities at the government office, otherwise they would be dealt with as bandits and bandits, and they would be put in prison until their identities were checked before they could be released.As soon as this order came out, she could only hide around, not daring to look for things that required identity certificates. Finally, after a few days of searching, she became a clerk in this pharmacy.

The monthly money the shopkeeper gave was pitifully small, but at least it included food and lodging, and Qingping also had a place to live, so he didn't have to wander around.The shopkeeper showed her good handwriting, plus she could read and reconcile accounts, so she hid her in the attic.If there are no officers and soldiers patrolling the store on weekdays, she will be let out to help out and distribute the medicinal materials in the back.

After going back and forth, it can be regarded as being familiar with each other.Qingping only said that he fled from Yunzhou and went to Hezhou to seek refuge with relatives and friends.I lost a letter on the way here, and I don't remember where it is, so I had to work here temporarily to earn some travel expenses so I can go find someone.Seeing her eloquence, the shopkeeper knew that this was a trouble for a wealthy person, so he wisely stopped asking more questions.

Qingping lived here for a month. Le'an belongs to Lingbei. Although it is cold at night, the weather is gradually getting warmer.The next day, she got up and finished her work, and asked the shopkeeper for leave.The shopkeeper knew that this was her routine, and she had to go out every seven days to find her relatives. She only told her to be careful, and if she encountered patrolling officers and soldiers on the road, she must avoid it first.

Qingping complied, carried the wooden box on her back, and walked through the streets and alleys familiarly. Officers and soldiers did not use these alleys. She stepped on the bluestone boards and walked past the corner of the backyard.The willows in early spring have sprouted, and there are gauze-like green everywhere. In the warm spring sun, they are bright and beautiful beside the flowing water.

She came out from the corner of the street, mixed into the flow of people on the street very naturally, and walked northwestward.

At first she wanted to send Wu Ying's bones back home, but after looking around the Wu mansion a few times, she felt that it was very inappropriate.She went to look for the place where Wu Ying used to live, but there was only an old servant in the house left. It turned out that Wu Ying's biological father had remarried long ago and had already settled in his house. Back to my hometown again.

After hearing this, Qingping felt uncomfortable. It turned out that Wu Ying had never told her about so many things that happened.Her biological father remarried, and she went away by herself, never returning to her hometown.Qingping recalled that she had come all the way to Xirong to find her, and when she first saw her, she shouted with all her might, her heart was dull, and she vaguely understood something.

But all she could do was walk around the wall a few times to show her the former residence, that's all.

Hezhou was influenced by Minzhou and Chenzhou, and there are many temples and temples in the territory.The earlier ones can even be traced back several generations ago. What Qingping is going to today is the Fahe Temple in the northwest of Le'an.

Fahe Temple is an ancient temple in Le'an City. The arched hall with flying eaves is hidden among beautiful trees and flowers. Its environment is quiet, and it is surrounded by mountains and lakes.

Qing Ping had just entered the temple, and a Taoist came to greet him and asked, "Is the almsgiver here to offer incense and pay homage?"

Qing Ping said: "It's not for offering incense, but I just heard that your temple has a longevity tablet enshrining the deceased, so I wanted to set it up for the deceased."

The Taoist looked her up and down, and said: "Benefactor, please follow me."

She led Qingping into a room full of books, and a woman in white clothes sat in front of the table. Seeing her, she asked, "The benefactor wants to set up a spiritual seat for the deceased in our temple? Please sit down and wait for Xiaodao to make a book for you." .”

The female Taoist asked: "Is the benefactor set up for concubine examination?"

Qing Ping said: "No, but as a close friend."

The female Taoist nodded, took a note, and said: "Did you die in the prime of life?"

Qingping closed his eyes, and said: "The wooden box on my back that died when she fled from Yunzhou was her bones."

Nudao also knew about the breach of Juning Pass, so she couldn't bear it, she got up and saluted, and after she read a few words, she was lured to create a spiritual seat.The Taoist took the tablet of longevity and asked, "What is the name of the first friend?"

Qing Ping raised his head, incense candles were lit all the year round in the main hall, and the burning of incense continued to burn the prayer flags hanging above.Standing in front of the lamp stand, she only felt that her eyes were a bit blurred. Among the dancing flames, the statues of gods were standing with flowers, and the lights and shadows danced around, but the light and darkness were so clearly separated, as if they were constantly reminding her of the unreachable distance between life and death.

She barely suppressed her sadness, and lowered her head with red eyes.

After seeing such things, the Taoist said, "Why don't the benefactor write it himself?"

Qingping took the gold pen, but it was too late to put it down on the black wooden sign. She once wrote "no number", but it was not as important as these two characters.As soon as the name is given, the living and the dead are completely separated. The so-called Yong Jue is nothing more than that.

She picked up the pen a few times, but finally couldn't bear to write, and gave the wooden sign to the Taoist, saying: "You don't need to lose your name."

The Taoist was not surprised, he took 20 taels of silver from her, took a porcelain bowl, poured clean water into it, and placed the tablet next to the shrine, where there were many longevity tablets, Qingping untied the wooden box in his hand and put it behind the tablet in the mezzanine.She paused with her fingertips in mid-air, and finally closed the cabinet door.

The Taoist said: "Donor, please be slow. This card has no name and no surname. If you want to pay homage to it in the future, it will be hard to find. How about leaving some tokens in this porcelain bowl like others?"

Qingping followed where she was pointing, and there was a porcelain bowl in front of the Longevity Tablet on the shelf, and there were some odds and ends in the bowl. After thinking about it, she took out the topaz jade pendant from the front of her clothes. It was obtained from Wu Yue back then, and she wore it for many years, the knot was worn extremely smooth, and it slid along the side of the porcelain bowl into the clear water with a clang sound, causing several circles of ripples.

She bent her fingers slightly and touched the cold porcelain bowl, then she turned around as if she had been awakened, and saw that the knot was hanging outside, and she only said to the Taoist: "That's it."

The Taoist led her out, there were many people coming and going in the hall, when Qingping left, he passed a man, the man was wearing a veiled hat, surrounded by several servants, he looked like a young master traveling.Qingping turned sideways to avoid, and the man under the white gauze gave her a slight nod of his head to thank her.

She just smiled, stepped out of the gate, stood under an ancient tree and looked up, the shadow of the tree was whirling, and a little golden light was scattered. At this time, she had nothing in her arms, her hands were spread out, and she couldn't catch the breeze. Wisps, light dots and grains.But she knew that there was something much lighter but heavier in her hand.

The man who just passed by Qingping in Fahe Temple came to the apse under the guidance of the Taoist boy. He twisted three sticks of incense and knelt in front of the longevity tablet to pay homage.The old servant beside him went to help him, suppressed the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said in a low voice: "Young Master will definitely know what you want."

The young man got up and bowed to the longevity tablet again.After a while, Dao Tong brought some freshly folded peach blossoms in a porcelain vase. The man went over to pick them up, and placed the porcelain vase beside one of the longevity tablets with his own hands. Withdrew his hand and said to the servant beside him: "Call the sedan chair bearer to come. Now that I have offered incense to my father, it is time to go back, lest my elder sister worry."

The old servant hurriedly complied, and went to order his servants to call the sedan chair bearer. The man lowered his head and scanned the place cards around him, seeing that some new ones had been added, he felt inexplicably sad.

Suddenly he saw a nameless tablet, which was obviously newly painted black, but there was no word on it.He was a little curious, so he looked at the porcelain bowl in front of the cardboard, and saw a knot protruding from the side of the bowl. He recognized the style of the knot, but let out a "huh".

There is no other reason, the style of this knot is really familiar.He thought for a moment, and while the servants around him lowered their heads, they leaned closer and pulled out the knot to see. The topaz was immersed in the water, and when it was pulled up, it still had a warm glow. He suddenly remembered where he had seen this jade pendant before. up.

It was before his elder sister's birthday that he got a piece of topaz. He was learning how to tie a knot with the old man in the house, so he took this jade pendant and weaved a knot to hang it up in private. He wanted to surprise his elder sister. , but Ajie just took it in embarrassment, and she has never seen her wearing it since then.

Naturally, he also asked the reason, and the elder sister only said that she lost it by accident. He later found out that the way of knotting was wrong. It must be unique, and he will never admit his mistake.What's more, how could a jade pendant, an object that never leaves the body, appear in front of a nameless longevity tablet?

Suspicious in his heart, he put the jade pendant back carefully, thinking that he would ask sister when he returned home.In order to avoid personal belongings being lost, falling into the hands of unruly people, and setting off unprovoked disputes.

Wu House.

"Have you seen that jade pendant?"

"Didn't sister say that she lost it earlier?"

Wu Yue paused with the pen in his hand, closed the book in front of him, and said casually: "...It's lost, it's not a valuable item."

But obviously the younger brother Wu Yuan didn't believe her, so he turned away the servants in the study, walked slowly to the desk, and asked in a low voice: "Sister, although this thing is small, if someone picks it up, then—"

Wu Yue suddenly interrupted him, and said, "Where did you see it?"

Wu Yuan didn't understand. Seeing that sister was indifferent, he had no choice but to say: "I went to offer incense to my father today, and I saw it in front of an unnamed longevity tablet. At first, I thought it was my eyesight that made a mistake, but the knot came out. With my own hands, I can never make mistakes."

Wu Yue put down the pen in his hand, lowered his eyelids, wondering what he was thinking.After a while, she slowly said to her brother in front of her, "Okay, I'll go and have a look tomorrow."

Strange to say, it was clear that the sky was clear yesterday, but today it began to rain somehow.A thin and dense rain curtain enveloped the city, like a thousand strands of melancholy, taking advantage of the chill of early spring, quietly sneaking into the hearts of the people.

Wu Yue was walking on the wet stone road with an oiled paper umbrella in her hand. She got up early in the morning and left the mansion, walking towards Fahe Temple alone.The road was smoky and rainy, and pedestrians passed by in a hurry. The drizzle wet her sleeves and pressed them tightly to her arms. After a long time, she felt a little bit biting.

She walked slowly all the way and finally arrived at Fahe Temple.The temple is surrounded by rain, as if it is far away from the floating world. The branches and leaves of the ancient trees in the temple are fresh and tender, and they are more green and bright after being washed by the rain.Wu Yue stood under one of the old trees, looked at the entrance of the temple gate, and squeezed the handle of the umbrella tightly.

On rainy days, few people offer incense. The Taoist guarding the gate saw her and came out to lead the way and asked, "Is the benefactor here to offer incense?"

Wu Yue was silent, and said after a while: "I'm here to pay respects to my old friend, please ask the mage to lead the way."

The Taoist got her reward, took some sesame oil, and led her to the apse.The hall has been decorated for ten years. Wu Yue would come here every year to pay homage to his father, but every time he would do so alone in the clean room of the temple. She swept her eyes, but she didn't see the unnamed plaque that her younger brother said .

The Taoist asked: "Can the benefactor remember this person's name? Otherwise, there are so many place cards here, and it will be difficult to find them in a while."

Wu Yue said: "I'll just look for it myself, I don't need to bother the mage. It's just that I brought some old things from her life, and I want to burn them before the spirit. I just ask the mage to bring a brazier."

The Taoist turned around to get the brazier, Wu Yue walked along the many longevity tablets, the flames lit up, as if extraditing the dead back, it was indescribably desolate and blurred.She walked for a while, carefully looked at every place, and finally found the unnamed tablet beside the shrine. She leaned over to look, and there was a piece of topaz in the porcelain bowl under the tablet. Through the calm water light, The texture can be seen clearly.

She gently removed the place card, opened the cabinet behind, barely touched the wooden box in the cabinet with her hand, and then shrank back suddenly.She lowered her head, slowly closed the cabinet door, and put the place card away.A drop of water fell into the porcelain bowl, the waves swayed, and several more drops fell, slowly sliding down the side of the porcelain bowl.

Wu Yue snorted, raised her head, the corners of her eyes were still wet, and two water stains were clearly visible, she took off the jade pendant around her waist, put her trembling hands into the clear water, and said in a hoarse voice, "Ah Ying."

There was silence in the hall, Wu Yue closed his eyes, leaned on the side of the table, feeling so sad that he couldn't hold it back.Suddenly a long bell rang and her heart trembled, as if something had collapsed. The god in the temple was holding a lotus flower, hidden in the darkness, overlooking the joy and sorrow of all beings.She pressed the corners of her eyes with her sleeves, and whispered as if feeling something in her heart: "Ah Ying?"

Candles flicker in the temple, but no one responds,

The Taoist took the brazier, but he didn't see anyone, so he hurriedly chased out from the door, only to see a person abandoning his umbrella in the rain, and he had already gone far.

Qingping didn't sleep well that night. She returned to the endless grassland in her dream. During the long escape, a knock on the door suddenly woke her up. She hugged the quilt and sat up dazedly.

The door opened, and there was a woman in blue standing outside, Qing Ping's pupils shrank slightly, it turned out to be Wu Yue.

"Long time no see." Wu Yue arched his hands, his face haggard, "Master Li, please forgive me for disturbing you late at night."