pilgrimage

In early January, Ye Jing came to Lhasa.

Under the blue sky, the majestic Potala Palace is silent, and the five-color wind horse flag flutters in the wind of the plateau, fluttering and swaying between the earth and the sky, as if connecting the sky and the earth; not far away, the snow peaks are undulating , Immersed in the golden light of the sky, and in the sound of Tibetan scriptures recited by the red-robed lama, everything is so holy that people want to cry.

Parents are very relieved to let him travel alone during the holidays.In their minds, this son is humble and calm. He has been to countless places before this, and Tibet is like a small transit station in his life journey.

Then, Ye Jing went all the way north, and in the twilight that began to settle, he reached the edge of the Nyainqentanglha Mountains.

The air on the plateau is cool, and the hot air exhaled is filled with a hazy white in front of my eyes.Ye Jing stood in front of the red and white Tibetan house, wearing a hood, with his hands in his pockets, looking at the snow-colored mountains at the end of the plain, silent.The hands in his pockets began to tighten slowly, and he felt that he had adapted to the air of the plateau, but his mind was still as restless as when he had altitude sickness.

He decided to go into the mountains.

At his age, boys are always full of curiosity and enthusiasm for unknown adventures. Even though he is calm on the surface, he seems to be called by the wild in front of the uncanny natural scenery, and his heart cannot be calm.Even if what he is going to is just a mountain with a small slope on the edge of the mountain range.

He has climbed rocks after school, and his motor nerves are very good. He has already prepared all kinds of climbing expedition equipment, route formulation, and suggestions from travel friends...the plan is as thorough as his exam. Time-solution proof problem.

But the journey is always unknown.

When he made this decision, he made his biggest mistake.

———————————— Time dividing line

Ye Jing had a dream.

He was not trapped in a hopeless darkness, and he was not left wandering back and forth in his dreams alone. He saw many people, both he knew and did not know.Faces were blurred in front of his eyes, and figures swayed in front of him. The constantly switching scenes reminded him of the carousel scene played before people died.

He was a little dazed, he didn't know if he was dead.He vaguely remembered that he went to the Nyainqentanglha Mountains at the northern end of Lhasa, and then he went to a mountain alone, and then, during that unknown journey, he lost his way.

The faces of the people in the dream fluttered in front of Ye Jing's eyes, none of the faces could be seen clearly, only the eyes were faintly visible, either narrow and long or cloudy, shooting straight and strange light.He suddenly remembered that the moment he stepped on the air and fell into the snow pit, in the deep darkness below, he saw two pairs of eyes.

One pair is as sharp as a beast, and the other pair is as deep as a black abyss.

Ye Jing let out a scream from her throat, and woke up suddenly from her dream.

The blurred orange-yellow light slowly overflowed into his eyes, he was gasping for breath, his constricted pupils looked straight ahead.His vision has not yet fully recovered, and he only feels that he is not in the snow pit that he fell into earlier, but in a semi-enclosed place, and he also heard the slight cracking sound of the firewood burning, and the faint sound of the plateau wind outside.

He rubbed his temples with some headaches, turned his head, and then, he saw two pairs of eyes, the same two pairs of eyes as in the dream.

Ye Jing was startled, and instinctively wanted to move his body, but he was too strong for a moment, his feet stiffened suddenly, and the throbbing pain made him gasp.

"Hey, I said you young man is really anxious to move just after waking up. Look, you have cramps?" A thick man's voice sounded slowly, and then he massaged his cramped feet with both hands, feeling the pain This gradually eased down.

Ye Jing's body relaxed slightly, and he squinted his eyes, trying hard to see the scene in front of him clearly.His eyes gradually adapted to the light in front of him, and he found himself in a very shallow stone cave. A middle-aged man in a dark Tibetan robe and a felt hat was squatting in front of him. His skin was dark and his facial features were strong. There was a hearty smile on his face, and a pair of energetic eyes revealed a kind of shrewdness.

"I see you are a mainland tourist, right? Dare to go into the mountains alone, you are quite courageous." The man's Chinese has a strong accent. He looked at Ye Jing who was a little dazed, sat down in front of him, and then sighed Continued as if, "My grandma and I fell into a snow pit and were about to climb up when we heard some movement on it. At that time, I was happy, 'Okay, someone is here to help us climb up', when I saw your kid fall down Well, let’s just sit on my ass and drag you up, it took a lot of my strength.”

Ye Jing was in a daze when he heard it, and after thinking about it carefully, he realized that before he fell, someone fell into the snow pit first, and then the person in front of him crawled out of the snow pit with him in a coma come up.

He thought of the eyes he saw when he fell, and couldn't help but understand. He secretly glanced at the middle-aged man, and saw that the eyes of the middle-aged man were indeed sharp like a beast, which made people feel a little uncomfortable, but the honest and hearty smile on the other side was very pleasant. Almost dispelled his worries.He turned his neck, trying to see the other pair of eyes, but as soon as he turned his head, his whole body froze.

He has never seen any old man with such a pair of eyes, even his grandmother with a strange temper, her eyes often reveal a kind of serenity and peace in her later years.

The old woman curled up in the corner was wearing a typical Tibetan costume, her silver hair was coiled into a complicated Tibetan bun, she never said a word, silently curled up in the dark, like a ghost.Sensing Ye Jing's sight, she raised her head, half of her wrinkled face was illuminated by the flames, half of her face was still immersed in darkness, a pair of old man's cloudy eyes looked at Ye Jing coldly, revealing a strange feeling secluded.

"Ah, I said it patronizingly, and I haven't introduced myself yet." The man's voice drew Ye Jing's attention back, and he turned around in a panic. The man touched his head and smiled at him, "My name is Ge Sang, you can barely be regarded as a Tibetan hunter, and the one over there is my grandma Ramu."

"...My name is Ye Jing. As you can imagine, I was a tourist, and then... I got lost." Ye Jing frowned, as if she was a little annoyed that she would make such a low-level mistake, named " While adding firewood to the bonfire, the Tibetan man from Gesang said, "You young people always think that these things are fun and easy to do. Our mountain looks like nothing, and many people get lost every year. If they didn't meet us , you may freeze to death in that pit.”

Ye Jing sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling a little headache, then he said as if giving up: "Then...Uncle Gesang, can you send me back down the mountain?"

Hearing this, the man stopped stirring the firewood, looked back at the old man, and then smiled helplessly: "I'm afraid I can't... My mother is going on a pilgrimage."

pilgrimage?

When Ye Jing heard this word for the first time, the scene of "on the vast plateau, devout people stepping forward in the cold wind, marching towards the holy place in their hearts" immediately appeared in Ye Jing's mind.He looked at the old man, feeling a little unbelievable, and Gesang continued: "Pilgrimage is my grandmother's pursuit in this life, but as you can see, my grandmother is already old, and there is a high possibility of encountering accidents along the way." .Although this is somewhat against the rules, I still hope that I can stay with my grandma on this journey and take care of her in terms of board and lodging. I hope that the Buddha will forgive my behavior because of the filial piety of a son."

Ye Jing felt a little strange, this was the first time he had heard of such a pilgrimage, and at this time Gesang turned over a branch on the fire a few times, and Ye Jing realized that there was an animal roasting on the fire. Small, looks a bit like a dog.Gesang tore off a piece of meat and handed it to him, saying: "I don't know what kind of cubs were hunted in the woods earlier, so I caught them as a food reserve. Don't dislike them in the city, eat enough." Let’s go on the road with us. The place my grandmother is going to is Namtso, which is a little far away from Lhasa. I don’t know how long it will take to walk. If you want to go back, just go with us. A hunter’s cabin, my brothers should be there this season, and then I’ll let them take you down the mountain and back to the city.”

Ye Jing replied with some hesitation, suddenly felt that something was wrong, but couldn't say it out.He took the piece of burnt meat, hesitantly took a bite, a smell of mutton immediately filled his mouth, he immediately spat it out, wrinkled his face.

Gesang also frowned, smiled wryly and said, "I didn't expect it to be so bad", and the old man who was huddled in the corner refused to eat that kind of meat before, and now it seems that it is a wise choice.

Ye Jing covered her mouth and turned to look in her backpack, and found a few packs of compressed biscuits. Gesang also gave up this kind of food, took out dry food and ghee from the bag, and the three of them managed to finish their dinner.

It was late at night, and the surroundings gradually became quiet, only the slight crackling of firewood and Gesang's snoring remained.Ye Jing pulled the collar to the highest point, put on the hood, wrapped herself up tightly, and lay on the ground with her clothes on, but couldn't fall asleep.

He opened the phone cover, and the shining light hit his face.Finding that there was still no signal, he turned over and felt a little irritable in his heart, but more, it was an indescribable emotion, like the excitement of embarking on a new journey tomorrow, or other emotions.

He forced himself to close his eyes, but he didn't notice that a pair of eyes slowly opened behind him.