Although it was a weekday, Monday, the scenic area was not deserted at all because it was summer vacation. It was full of student couples and families of three who came here to travel. There were several long queues at the ticket entrance. Fortunately, the weather was good and the clouds blocked most of the sun, so people didn't have to wait in the scorching sun, which was barely a little consolation.
The scenic spot comes with a map. After scanning the ticket and entering, Qin Shen unfolded the map he got from the staff and discussed the tour route with Xu Man.
Xu Man has always had difficulty telling east, west, south and north on this kind of map. She only mentioned a few major tourist attractions based on her memory of the online guide, and let Qin Shen decide on the specific route. In the end, they decided to take the "Tianyin Line" to the east first, and then make plans after reaching the first marriage temple, whether to continue going there or take another route.
Jiumiao Mountain is called a mountain, but in fact it is only about 300 meters above sea level, and the slope is relatively gentle. It can be regarded as a little brother among the hills, and there is no need to trek hard. It was because Xu Man saw this in the guide that she boldly wore a skirt and came here. She and Qin Shen walked and stopped along the way, taking pictures while looking at the scenery, and had a great time.
The first marriage temple was halfway up the mountain. It took them about 40 minutes to walk there and they found it was packed with people. Most of them were couples like them. They leaned against the isolation fence and gathered in front of the Yue Lao statue, throwing coins into it and making wishes.
I don't know who started this trend. There was clearly no item to hold money in the box, and the coins were scattered all over the floor. Many were thrown out of the fence and picked up by children lying on the ground.
"How about it," Qin Shen looked at Xu Man with a smile, standing outside the crowd watching the wish-making, "Do you want to give it a try?"
Xu Man was a little tempted, but after searching her bag, she couldn't find a single coin. When she asked Qin Shen, she found only a few banknotes and no change, so she had no choice but to give up.
"Let's go to the top of the mountain. There seems to be a marriage tree on the top of the mountain, where we can write wish notes," she said.
Seeing that she looked a little disappointed, Qin Shen suggested, "I just saw a place to change money outside. I'll go and change the money."
"Forget it, let's not do that." Xu Man quickly held him back. If she had been a little romantic just now, now she was just helpless about the merchants' desperate efforts to make money. "They are deliberately making us waste money. It's better to go to the top of the mountain and tie a marriage belt than to make a wish here. At least it looks more real than this."
"Okay." Qin Shen naturally followed her instructions. After hearing what she said, he gave up the idea of ​​exchanging money. "Should we walk around here for a while, or go up the mountain?"
"Let's go to the back and have a look. There seems to be a yard behind..."
The two of them walked and strolled along the way, and arrived at the top of the mountain at around noon. Sure enough, there was a huge marriage tree standing in front of the largest marriage temple. The trunk was so thick that several adults might not be able to hug it together. It seemed that it was indeed many years old.
There was also a tour guide explaining the legend of its origin: "This is a monoecious ginkgo tree. Of course, it is more commonly known as the marriage tree. Emperor Wu of Jin, Huo Jing'an, planted this tree for his queen himself. It has been more than 1,600 years old..."
The lush ginkgo branches are hung with red purse-shaped sachets, which sway in the wind like a magnificent red sea that rises and falls, as if to bring people into an ancient and distant thousand-year dream to witness the endless love.
Xu Man was almost immediately fascinated by the scene. She pulled Qin Shen to the sales point of the marriage belt and chose a marriage belt with a sachet and a love knot on it and bought it.
"Captain, let's write one too."
"Okay." Qin Shen agreed with a smile, "What do you want to write?"
She thought for a moment and said, "Just write our two names."
Those words about being together forever and growing old together are of course nice to hear, but as long as you have that thought in your mind, it makes no difference whether you write it down or not. The most meaningful things are the two people's names.
She borrowed a marker pen from the stall owner, carefully wrote the words "Qin Shen" on the red ribbon, and asked Qin Shen to write his own name. Then she took it and stood in line behind the people waiting to hang the marriage ribbon. The line was very long, winding around the tree several times. She and Qin Shen waited in line for half an hour before it was their turn.
However, she was unable to hang the ribbon herself. In order to protect this thousand-year-old ginkgo tree, the tree was surrounded by fences. Even the task of hanging the marriage ribbon was done by the staff.
Xu Man was a little frustrated at first, but she could understand this approach. In addition, the staff thoughtfully left a place for each couple to take photos with the tree, so she quickly recovered her mood, happily took a photo with Qin Shen, gave her seat to the next couple and left.
It was already one o'clock in the afternoon. They had climbed the mountain for a whole morning and had been worrying about the marriage issue for dozens of minutes. The two of them didn't eat much, let alone lunch, even the snacks along the way. Qin Shen unfolded the map and took a look. He didn't find any restaurants on the top of the mountain, but there were many places to eat along another "geographical road". He made an agreement with her to buy some sweets and snacks to fill their stomachs, visit the marriage temple on the top of the mountain, and then follow the "geographical road" to the third marriage temple on another mountain, find a restaurant or noodle shop to eat, and finally walk all the way to the foot of the mountain. Calculating the time, they could just spend an afternoon to see the remaining attractions.
Xu Man had no objection to this. There were a wide variety of snacks on the top of the mountain, including fried, boiled, and stir-fried food, and even instant noodles. As long as she was willing to eat, she would not be afraid of going hungry. However, if possible, she would prefer to have a full meal. After all, these things were too greasy, and she was afraid that eating too much would be bad for her skin.
After spending another hour visiting the largest marriage temple, the two walked down the mountain. The sky was already very overcast at this time, and it was made even darker by the shade of the trees in the mountains. Qin Shen looked up and frowned.
"It looks like it's going to rain today... Come," he stretched out his hand to Xu Man, "hold my hand, let's walk faster and get to the last temple."
"It's okay." Xu Man patted her bag and smiled playfully. "I checked the weather forecast yesterday and brought an umbrella with me. It's in my bag."
"I can tell you've never walked on a mountain road before." Qin Shen smiled. "The mountain road will become very slippery when it rains. It will be difficult to walk even with an umbrella, not to mention there are so many people crowding here. It's better to walk faster."
Xu Man thought what he said made sense, so she nodded, quickened her pace and walked down the mountain with him. However, she still missed the chance. The heavy rain came without any warning. There was no sound, and it just poured down from above, causing people around to exclaim in surprise.
She hurriedly took out a folding umbrella from her bag, opened it and held it between her and Qin Shen. The crowd around them also began to stir. Some were busy looking for umbrellas and holding them like them, while others were rushing down the mountain quickly. They bumped into her body several times, causing her to stagger and almost get hit. Seeing this, Qin Shen took the umbrella handle with one hand, put his arm around her shoulders with the other, and led her down.
"The rain really comes as soon as it's supposed to. Follow me closely and don't get lost."
In fact, he didn't need to say this at all. Xu Man was held very tightly by him, and she would not be able to escape unless he let go. Although he was a little overbearing, he gave her a sense of security and made her feel reliable.
Xu Man was half-hugged and half-carried by him as she was carried down. As the rain continued to get heavier, the mountain road gradually became muddy. The rain was blown sideways by the wind. When she finally arrived at the third temple, one of her shoulders was wet by the rain.
Qin Shen wasn't in much better condition either, his face and body were all wet with rain. His face was easy to deal with, she took out a tissue to wipe him dry, but his clothes were a bit difficult to deal with. People wear less in summer, and one wouldn't think of bringing a change of clothes for a one-day trip. How could he have expected to encounter such a thing.
It would be fine if it was raining, but it was really frustrating that I got soaked like this even though I brought an umbrella.
Qin Shen smiled and comforted her: "It's okay, my clothes are thin and will dry in a while. But your clothes... turn around and let me take a look."
Xu Man was stunned for a moment, not understanding what he meant, but she still did as he said and turned around to show him her back.
She was wearing a black and white striped dress today. At this moment, the right half of her shoulder was wet by the rain. The clothes absorbed the moisture and stuck to her body, outlining the line of her back shoulder and the shape of her shoulder straps. Qin Shen frowned and wiped her shoulders with a tissue. He then combed her hair to cover her shoulders, then said "Okay" and asked her to turn around.
At this time, Xu Man also understood what he meant. She smiled slightly embarrassedly, then lowered her head to tidy up the hair hanging by her ears. Fortunately, she was wearing a sun hat today, so her hair was not wet much. Only a little water was dripping from the ends of her hair, which dried up after she twisted it.
"It's raining so hard that an umbrella is useless."
"All the rain in the mountains is like this." Qin Shen lifted up the wet hair on his forehead, "Just a little further ahead is the food court. How about going there for lunch?"
"In the temple?" she asked.
"No, you have to walk a little way out of the temple, but it's not far, just a few hundred meters."
"Let's wait a little longer." Xu Man frowned and looked at the heavy rain curtain outside. "It's raining too hard now. It's not convenient to walk."
"Why don't we just skip lunch?" Qin Shen suggested, taking out his phone to check the time. "It's already past two o'clock, and we'll be back in two hours. Why don't we just eat something first and have dinner after we get back?"
"That's fine." Xu Man nodded. She wasn't hungry at the moment. The snacks she had on the top of the mountain were enough to last her until she got back. It didn't matter if she didn't have lunch.
After confirming it, the two of them started walking around the temple. Compared to the first two marriage temples, this third temple was not very interesting. It focused on tea culture and had several teahouses and dim sum specialty shops. Qin Shen bought some shredded radish cakes and sat in a teahouse with Xu Man, drinking tea while waiting for the rain to subside.
The other tourists were obviously thinking the same thing. The teahouse was full of people, chatting about everything and the mountains. With the addition of the Pingtan music played by the owner, the atmosphere was quite lively and had a bit of ancient charm.
Gradually, the topic changed.
"Hey, have you heard? It seems like someone fell down in the mountains. I heard that he was injured or slipped. Someone who just came back from outside saw it..."
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