Fifteen Old Man in the Mountains

In the early years of the Republic of China, there was a young man in Jixian County, Hebei Province. His surname was Han and his given name was Shaoqiu. He was the son of a poor official. When he was young, he attended a private school and was proficient in literature and history.

Alone and helpless, with no skills and no ability to do business, he makes a living by collecting herbs.

Han Shaoqiu was handsome and tall, with broad arms and waist. He was bold by nature and was not afraid to go into deep mountains and dangerous shoals. In order to escape the predicament, he wanted to go to Guandong alone and go to the Changbai Mountain in the northeast to pick ginseng to try his luck.

In the spring of this year, he pawned and sold his property, prepared enough money, and carried herb-picking tools. He rode northward on horseback, ate and slept in the open air, weathered the wind and rain, and traveled more than two thousand miles for nearly half a month. He arrived in Tonghua County, Jilin, and stayed at an inn in Changbai Mountain.

.In the evening, he explored the route into the mountain where the clerk in the store was collecting ginseng. The clerk told him that if he wanted to collect ginseng, he had to go deeper into the mountains. There were many wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains, and his life was in danger. Shao Qiu had made up his mind, and now that he was here,

If you break into it, how can you shrink back in fear of death?

The next morning, Shao Qiu left his horse in the store and set out. He wore a green scarf on his head, tights, leather boots, a sword on his waist, and a blanket bag on his back, which contained dry food, rice bags, kettles and wine.

Bottle, holding a short shovel, entered Changbai Mountain alone.

How easy is it to go into the mountains to collect ginseng for discussion? Shaoqiu searched deep in the mountains for a day but found nothing. By the afternoon of the next day, he still found nothing. He was so tired and hungry that he looked for a shelter from the wind, took out a bottle of dry food and water, ate and drank enough to move forward.

When he stood up and looked around, he saw overlapping mountains and vast wilderness. Looking for a ginseng tree was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He had no choice but to give up and wanted to make arrangements after returning to the store.

The climate in the mountains is constantly changing. The sky was originally clear, but suddenly clouds appeared, and heavy rain suddenly hit. The rain stopped and the sky did not clear up. The mountain road was muddy, and Shaoqiu got lost. He struggled to move forward. The sky gradually darkened, the wind suddenly rose, and suddenly there was a loud roar.

It jumped out from the grass, with its forehead hanging white, teeth and claws bared, roaring and screaming, and rushed towards Shaoqiu. Shaoqiu was horrified and hurriedly dodged backwards. The tiger jumped into the air, turned around and tried to pounce again. Shaoqiu panicked.

, he lamented: My life is over! I will leave my bones in the barren mountain, but I cannot wait for death. He threw the short shovel at the tiger with all his strength, and the tiger jumped sideways to avoid the flying shovel. He took advantage of the situation and drew his knife, preparing to fight.

The tiger was under the light of the sword and was not in a hurry to attack. He pressed forward step by step. Shaoqiu held the knife in both hands and retreated step by step. He accidentally tripped on a protruding rock and fell down. The tiger took advantage of the situation and pounced on it.

At this critical moment, at the tiger's mouth, he suddenly heard a roar: "Hold!" A stone egg flew from mid-air and hit the tiger's forehead. The tiger roared, turned over, fell to the ground, rolled, got up, and ran away in pain.

Shaoqiu stood up and saw a man swooping down like a vulture and landing in front of him. He took a closer look and was horrified to see that this man had white beard, hair and eyebrows. His upper body was naked, his lower body was wearing an animal skin skirt, and his waist was tightly tied with a belt. He was barefoot and holding hands.

The sword. Shao Qiu thought to himself: Is this old man human? Is he a god? Why is he dressed like this? No matter what he is, he saved my life, so I should express my gratitude. Shao Qiu wanted to abandon the sword, so he knelt down and thanked the old man.

Unexpectedly, the old man pointed his sword at Shao Qiu and yelled: "Here!" He swung his sword towards Shao Qiu. Shao Qiu was horrified and hurriedly raised his sword to meet them. The two fought, and the old man's sword flew up and down as fast as

Lightning, the sword spit out silver light, flicked up and down, and the movement was magical. Shao Qiu was no match for him. Within three or two moves, he knocked Shao Qiu's knife away, kicked Shao Qiu over with his flying kick, and stabbed him with the sword.

Throat, Shao Qiu could not dodge, so he closed his eyes and waited for death. He sighed and said, "I don't want to meet a strong man just after I have just emerged from the tiger's mouth. My life will be cut off!"

Unexpectedly, the tip of the old man's sword was half an inch away from Shao Qiu's throat and suddenly stopped, "Who?" The old man asked with only one word. Shao Qiu opened his eyes, understood the old man's intention, and hurriedly replied: "This junior is a person who goes into the mountains to collect herbs.

I have lost my way here, please forgive me, old man!" The old man looked at Shao Qiu and took back his sword. Shao Qiu stood up, knelt down and said in thanks, "Thank you, old man, for saving my life, and thank you for not killing me." The old man waved his hand and said.

"Come!" Then he turned around and walked away. The old man Shao Qiuming was no longer hostile and asked him to follow. He put away his knife and picked up the shovel. In an instant, the old man had walked several feet and he quickly caught up with him. Although the old man was barefoot, he walked like flying.

, Shao Qiu secretly praised: This man has profound martial arts skills and must be a martial arts master who lives in seclusion in the mountains and forests.

After a short while, the two walked to a cave dwelling. At this time, night fell and the crescent moon hung high. The cave dwelling had no windows, only a stone door, and a ray of light came out from the crack of the door. The old man pushed the door, and Shao Qiu followed him into the cave. The cave was spacious and the walls were inserted.

The pine torches make the cave as bright as day. There are stone tables and benches in the cave. Stone basins and bowls are placed on the stone table. A wooden bed is placed on the side of the stone table. The bed is tied with thick sticks and covered with animal skins.

When the guests and hosts sat down, Shao Qiu cupped his hands and said, "May I ask the old man what your surname is and how much you are worth?" The old man said nothing and wrote on the stone table with charcoal: "I am a general under the command of General Yuan Chonghuan of the Ming Dynasty. My surname is Geng and my name is Desheng. I live in Shandong.

The people from Laizhou are now three hundred years old." When Shao Qiu saw this article, he was shocked and gasped, "Oh my god! People from the Ming Dynasty! Three hundred years old! No one dares to believe it. Shao Qiu has only heard of people who are one hundred years old in the world."

Who knows, there is a 300-year-old man in the world!

The old man had recently lost his language ability and was tongue-tied in conversation, but he could understand Shao Qiu's words. Shao Qiu was surprised and asked, "Why did Senior Geng live in seclusion like this? And can he live such a long life?" The old man wrote and narrated the story:

The old man was a military officer in the late Ming Dynasty. He was ordered to guard the border outside the pass and guard the western city of Liaoning under the command of General Yuan Chonghuan. He defeated the Qing army several times. Later, General Yuan was trapped by a traitor. He was so angry that he took the opportunity of leaving the city to deliver a message and fled here.

In the mountains, he was isolated from the rest of the world and lived alone in seclusion. He first made a living by hunting, and then gave up eating meat and vegetables. He lived by drinking mountain springs, eating wild fruits and ginseng, and practiced martial arts every day in the quiet mountains, spending two days here.

More than one hundred and seventy spring and autumn years!

When Shaoqiu heard this, he was stunned and surprised. The old man said that he took out a small leather bag from under the bed, opened it, took out a letter, and said: "This is the letter I sent..." Shaoqiu took it and saw that the envelope was already there.

It was moldy, but the letter was unopened, which was puzzling. Out of curiosity, Shao Qiu wanted to open it and read it. Seeing this, the old man hurriedly took the letter back and said: "There is an order from the army to open the letter privately and behead...

"The crime." Shao Qiu secretly laughed, you have been on the run for more than two hundred and seventy years, what military order do you follow? What a pedantic and ridiculous person!

After writing the scriptures, Shao Qiu realized that the old man did not know that the Ming Dynasty had died, that the Manchu Qing Dynasty had been in power for more than 260 years, and that he did not know that the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Manchu Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China.

Shao Qiu looked at the old man and saw that although his beard, hair and eyebrows were all white, his complexion was rosy, without wrinkles or brown spots, his eyes were bright, his bones were sharp, his muscles were strong, and his air was majestic. Although he had white hair and a boyish face, his eyebrows were like frost, but his teeth were like braided shells.

! He is really an immortal! He drinks mountain springs and eats wild fruits and ginseng every day. Who knows that this food has such magical power! Shaoqiu thought about this and asked: "Where is there any ginseng in this mountain? Please give me some advice, senior.

I have been searching in the mountains for two days, but I have found nothing. I am really ashamed." The old man knew it well and said: "Don't be anxious, come with me tomorrow... pick it up, and sleep first tonight..." After that, he got up and went to bed. Shaoqiu opened the blanket and

Two animal skins were spread on the floor, and he lay down in his clothes, covered with a blanket. His body was tired and he fell asleep for a while.

The next morning, the old man woke up Shao Qiu and wanted to lead him to pick ginseng. Shao Qiu was ready and followed the old man out of the cave. Along the way, the old man just walked on the road without saying a word.

He chased after him and was already out of breath. After a short while, he came to a valley with a gurgling stream. The stream was clear and transparent. The water emerged from the spring and flowed down layer by layer. The old man pointed to both sides of the stream, "Go... to collect it." Shao Qiuwang

Then, when he saw the ginseng leaves growing all over the ravines and beside the streams, he almost jumped out of surprise.

Shaoqiu wielded the shovel without stopping, even though he was sweating profusely, he never tired of it. The old man gathered a handful of ginseng and the stream was clean. He sat by the stream and ate it like a radish. Shaoqiu didn't eat breakfast and felt hungry.

, so he followed the example of the old man and ate a ginseng tree. He suddenly felt refreshed and energetic.

The sun was turning to the west, and Shao Qiu had picked a full bag of ginseng, which was more than a hundred kilograms. The old man urged him to return, but Shao Qiu was so happy that he forgot to go back. He didn't know where it was. Shao Qiu returned with a bag of ginseng on his back. He didn't feel tired and felt refreshed.

.

When he returned to the cave, it was already dusk, and Shao Qiu felt hungry. He opened the rice bag, took out the cooked fried rice, and said, "Senior Geng, please eat." He poured the fried rice into a stone bowl, raised it respectfully, and handed it over. The old man saw the bowl.

The fried rice was medium-crisp and fragrant, and his mouth watered. He took the bowl and ate it, and praised it: "It smells delicious!" He has not eaten any grains in the world for more than 270 years, how can he not praise it? The old man ate the fried rice and drank from the mountain spring with relish. After eating,

Bowl, stood up, "Sorry for the disrespect, please eat again..." He filled the rice bag with a bowl, and before Shaoqiu could finish the bowl, the old man had already eaten the second bowl, so he ate the third and fourth bowls.

…

The rice bag contained five kilograms of fried rice. The old man ate more than four kilograms of fried rice. After eating all the fried rice, he saw half a bottle of wine in the bag. He picked it up and drank from the bottle mouth to mouth. He drank it all in one go. He kept boasting: "Good...wine! Good...

...Drink!" Shao Qiu was secretly shocked when he saw the old man eating so much. After being surprised, an ominous omen appeared in his heart.

The old man was drunk and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, the old man woke up and complained about abdominal pain. He had eaten too much and the abdominal pain was unbearable. Shaoqiu helped him rub his abdomen, and his screams of pain became louder. Shaoqiu panicked and was at a loss what to do.

The old man screamed violently, his mouth was weak, and he died! He had not touched the fireworks of the world or eaten any grains in the world for more than 270 years. He ate too much dry-fried rice, drank a lot of water and wine, and the dry-fried rice died when exposed to water and wine.

It swells and ferments, bursting the intestines and stomach, how can one not die in bed?

At sunrise, Shaoqiu dug a pit outside the cave with tears in his eyes, wrapped the old man's body with animal skins, and buried him in a grass field with his head facing Shandong. He set up a stone tablet in front of the tomb and engraved it with large characters: Tomb of General Geng Desheng of the Ming Dynasty. Small characters continued on the left: Years old

Three hundred years old.

Shao Qiu packed up the old man's relics and saw the rusty armor and saddle stored in the cave. He also saw a bag of dried ginseng placed under the bed. When he lifted the ginseng leather bag, he saw a small leather bag containing letters. Out of curiosity, Shao Qiu opened the small leather bag.

I took out the letter and wanted to read the contents of the letter and solve the mystery. I opened the envelope and saw that the letter paper was yellowed and deteriorated and the handwriting was blurred. I wrote:

□□□Taijian:

One hundred thousand Qing troops are advancing towards western Liaoning. Please rush for reinforcements. Geng Desheng is ordered to deliver a message to the camp. Geng is Yuan Chonghuan's confidant. He must be eliminated to avoid future troubles.

kowtow

□□□

After Shao Qiu finished reading, he gasped and lamented that the old man's death was unknown. Fortunately, he was angry and fled into the mountains with this letter. Otherwise, he would have been killed by his political opponents! He escaped this disaster and lived for more than 270 years.

! Woohoo! No wonder the Ming Dynasty fell to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. There were internal intrigues and fights for power. The great enemy was in front of them. Instead of having enemies to hate, they fought internally to kill each other. How could it not survive? Even though Emperor Chongzhen tried his best to govern and manage the country, it was in vain.

also!

Shaoqiu packed the letter into his luggage, threw the shovel into the cave, slung the old man's sword on his waist, carried two bags of dry and wet ginseng, and walked out of the cave. He stood in front of the old man's grave, took off his turban, and had tears in his eyes.

, mourned silently, and said to himself: "General Geng, I am ashamed of you. I came to end your seclusion. If I had not come here, maybe you would have lived longer and I would have destroyed you. Please forgive me for my sin! I sincerely say

Thank you for your help, I will never forget it! When my career is completed, I will come back here to rebuild your tomb and bury it properly. How sad! General Geng, we will never see each other again in life and death. If your soul has a spirit, it can judge my heart. Woohoo

It hurts!"

Shaoqiu wiped his tears, packed his luggage, carried two bags of ginseng, identified the direction, and found a way back. When he arrived at the inn, he did not dare to say anything about it. After hard work, Shaoqiu returned to Jixian, sold the ginseng, made a fortune, and opened a pharmacy in the city.

In order to commemorate the old man who had an unexpected encounter in the mountains, it was named "Deshengtang Pharmacy".

A few years later, Shao Qiu led several men to return to Changbai Mountain to look for the old man's tomb. When they went to the entrance of the cave, they dug up the old man's tomb, but found it was empty. The old man's body had disappeared! He then looked for a mountain stream rich in ginseng and searched in the mountains.

After several days, there was no trace, so I had no choice but to return home with regret.

Shaoqiu told everyone about this strange encounter in the mountains, but no one believed it. Is it any wonder? Without personal experience, who can believe it? Who can believe that there is an old man who lives to be 300 years old? Even though Shaoqiu showed the old man's legacy letter and sword

To prove his words, people are still confused.

Shao Qiu died, and his descendants treasured the letters and swords. Unexpectedly, during the ten years of turmoil, the Han family was ransacked by the Red Guards because of their high status, and the letters and swords were burned. This is without evidence. However, the Han family later said that
Chapter completed!