To the northeast of the county town, on the official road leading to the state capital, a big bull-like guy pulled a cart slowly forward.
Four hooves as big as bowls stepped on the ancient bluestone road, making a slightly dull sound, but it also seemed to add a sense of color to the monotonous journey.
Many children from business backgrounds grew up listening to the sound of bang bang bang, and in the sound of bang bang bang, they became young, middle-aged, old, and finally left this world.
A fat little girl of seven or eight years old climbed onto the back of the camel beast from the cart, and skillfully hung a basket on the camel beast's head.
The basket contained hay so that the camel could munch on it as he went.
This was actually not a meal but a snack for it. However, before eating the snack, it raised its head and licked the little girl's hand affectionately with its big tongue. The little girl gave a ticklish laugh and then patted the camel beast with her hand.
The big head climbed back into the cart behind.
Sitting on the left rear side of the cart was a young man of about twenty years old.
The little girl kept crawling until she was near the young man, well, not too close, and then she didn't say anything, she just looked at him with her eyes wide open, and there seemed to be a smile in her eyes.
The smile is full of innocence.
And her smile seemed to be expecting the young man to say something.
The young man did not disappoint her when he spoke, and he said with a smile, "Dani, great job! Dani, what do you want to do when you grow up?"
Dani tilted her head, as if she was confused by his question and didn't know how to answer it.
"Sir, please sit carefully and don't fall or hit me!" The man in his forties who was sitting in front of the cart looking at the camel beast turned around, greeted him with concern, and then said with explanation:
"My baby accidentally fell down two years ago, and his head is a bit unclear. Please forgive me, sir!"
"Oh, that's it. Haven't you seen a pharmacist?"
"Why didn't I look at it? I spent a lot of money, and the wound was healed, but..." The big man pointed to his head, then his eyes were a little red and he couldn't speak.
The little girl was still looking at the young man in confusion.
The young man extended his hand and waved.
The little girl immediately smiled and crawled to the young man's side quickly, but she made no further moves.
The young man stretched out his hand to caress the little girl's head, and then asked casually: "Old Mu, your sign has three circles hanging outside the word "Wu". This sign looks familiar to me. Do you know someone named "Wu"?
A lot of people?"
Hearing this, the man driving the cart was a little surprised, and even the woman who had been arranging the goods on the other side of the cart with her head lowered stopped.
"Young Master... I dare to ask, how old is the Mu Dayou you mentioned?" After hesitating for a while, the man said this.
"Well, let me calculate, if he is still alive now, he should be more than 150 years old." The young man said.
Hearing these words, the man driving the carriage was even more surprised. This time he was stunned for a while before he spoke, and there was obvious hesitation in his words, "Sir, my great-grandfather is called Mu Dayou, which is in line with what you said.
age, but he has been dead for many years."
"Oh, that should be right." After a pause, the young man said this, but there was no follow-up.
The man driving the truck kept talking, but he didn't know what to say or what to ask, while the woman continued to pack the goods.
The slightly strange atmosphere lasted throughout the afternoon, until late in the evening, when the camel beast pulled the cart down the official road, and the family prepared dinner and took a short rest.
The moonlight is good today. After taking a rest, we can continue our journey at night, but the speed will be slower.
But at this time, the young man got off the cart, and then said to the man driving the cart: "Old Mu, I just took your car here. You are busy, and we will leave here."
Hearing this, the man was even more hesitant, "Sir, there is no town in front of us and no road in the back. How are you going to travel alone? It's getting dark right now. Why don't you..."
"No!" Before he could finish speaking, the young man interrupted him. While waving his hand to say goodbye, he chuckled and said: "I forgot to tell you, I have taken Mu Dayou's car before.
, he was the same age as you now at that time, and if I remember correctly, he had a big birthmark on his right hand."
After saying this, the young man turned around and left, quickly disappearing from the family's sight.
The driver and his wife looked at each other, both stunned.
"His father, he is talking about our ancestor, right?" After mumbling for a while, the woman said.
"Yes, in the portrait of my great-grandfather, there is indeed a birthmark on the back of his hand." The man has not come to his senses until now.
But at this moment, a voice suddenly came from the ears of the two of them, "Daddy, Mom, I'm so hungry!"
The two of them instantly turned their heads, lowered their heads, and looked at the little girl beside them, "Xiaoyu, can you speak!?" The man simply screamed, and the woman was stunned for a moment, and her eyes immediately turned red.
"Tell daddy, are you really able to speak?" The next moment, the man put his two rough hands on the little girl's shoulders and shook her.
Fortunately, he still paid attention to his strength, but he was still a little out of control.
"Daddy, I can always talk!" The little girl raised her head and said, then reached out to wipe the big man's tears, "Daddy, why are you crying?"
Yes, the little girl has always been able to talk, but after the fall, she could only say "Hey, ah, wait."
Can't even say two words.
And most of the time, she never speaks.
His eyes were a little dull too.
Where is it like now?
"Come on, come on, come on, come on! We have met a saint!" After being stunned for a moment, the man suddenly said hurriedly, even his words were a bit unclear.
Then he took the mother-in-law's hand and the little girl's hand, and the three of them knelt on the ground.
The young man is Xu Yishan.
Xu Yishan is not a saint, he is not even a heavenly person, but for this family of three, there seems to be no difference between him and a saint.
More than a hundred years ago, when he came to Annan County to take up his post, he took a camel cart on a whim and walked slowly all the way. It took him more than half a month from Nanzhou to arrive at the county town. The owner of the camel cart was named Mu.
There are many.
Time passes slowly, and a hundred years pass by without realizing it.
From the descendants of Mu Dayou, Xu Yishan felt the passage of time.
The official road is still the same official road, and it seems to be no different from what it was a hundred years ago. It's just a little bit older. Maybe there is a town beside the official road that I passed by at noon that didn't exist more than a hundred years ago.
But apart from these, it seems that nothing has changed.
In fact, he himself has changed.
When he came here, he looked to be in his forties, about the same age as Mu Da.
Today, Mu Dayou's descendant is also in his forties, but he looks much younger than he did then.
Xu Yishan was not in a hurry. Along the official road, he walked and stopped like an ordinary person.
On the official road, there were camels and carts coming and going from time to time, and he would also take a ride on it from time to time.
Listening to the old man telling some anecdotes about Nanzhou and the county, listening to the big man talking about some stories about his business trip, occasionally some young girls expressed their affection for him, and there were also some little boys and girls crawling to play with him.
He cast a curious look.
In this way, either walking or riding on different camels, Xu Yishan spent seven days this time from the county town to the state capital.
Tall city walls, ancient city walls.
The city walls are all made of huge bluestones. The height is actually not very high, only more than ten meters, but the width is more than forty meters. Directly above the two sides of the city wall facing the official road, there are wine flags waving and stack flags flying.
.
In the distance, the image of a majestic and majestic city is reflected in the vision of all comers.
Standing under the city gate, looking at the bottom of the city wall that had been covered with countless layers of thick moss for an unknown number of years, Xu Yishan smiled and sighed: "I'm back."