"Nature is the mandate of Heaven, following nature is the Way, and cultivating the Way is teaching. The Way cannot be separated from us for even a moment; if it can be separated, it is not the Way."

“So the gentleman is cautious about what he does not see, and fearful of what he does not hear. Nothing is more hidden than what is hidden, and nothing is more obvious than what is subtle. Therefore, the gentleman is cautious when he is alone.”

On the edge of Zhongzhou, surrounded by mountains and rivers, you can faintly hear the sound of reading. Following the sound of reading, a few dozen steps forward, there is a bamboo building hidden in the bamboo forest and winding corridors. Looking inside, you can see dozens of young men reciting the classics of ancient sages, shaking their heads and nodding their heads, very focused.

A man in his forties, dressed in Confucian clothes, sat at the top, listening to the tender voices of the children. After reciting several times, he carefully broke down the scriptures and told them in detail.

It was not until noon that the sound of a zither rang out from the backyard of the bamboo garden. The scholar in green shirt stopped talking and ended today's talk with a smile, leaving some homework.

The children scattered.

Some of them have started playing, while others are talking about their holiday plans.

There were many young men dressed in silk and satin and from well-off families, but the gentleman with his hair tied up with a wooden hairpin turned his head to look at one side of the bamboo forest, and sure enough, he saw a green bamboo as thick as his wrist swaying slightly. He smiled, then stood up and left.

There was no one by the window, but there was a fat rabbit hanging on the green bamboo six feet above the ground. The gentleman reached out and pinched it. The rabbit was fat and heavy in the hand. Now that winter is approaching, most rabbits are fat in order to survive the winter. It tastes great when cooked in hot oil and served with winter bamboo shoots.

The sound of the piano gradually stopped, footsteps approached, and I heard my wife's voice from behind:

"Is it that kid again?"

"Call... Qi Wuhuo?"

Mr. Qingshan hummed and raised his head. He could vaguely see a young man walking from the small bamboo house on the mountainside to the small town at the foot of the mountain. He was wearing ordinary shorts and light brown clothes. His back looked ordinary, but his body was very straight.

There was a faint sound of wind and snow, and the young man was walking farther and farther away in the north wind and snow on the mountains.

The woman, who was born as a lady from a rich family and became a little harsh and fierce due to her experiences, pursed her lips slightly and said with a rare show of weakness: "Why do you have to do this? Obviously, you, my husband, have allowed him to sit in on the class, but he refused to accept your kindness. He lives an ordinary life, but he still wants to bring these things."

The voice paused, and then there was some regret: "Could it be that he still holds a grudge against me for not treating him very well back then?"

The man in green shirt laughed and said comfortingly: "He is not like that."

"I did ask him why he didn't want to come in. I thought he was just too embarrassed to come in. I'm proud of my knowledge and I've been a county magistrate. I've handled hundreds of cases. I should be able to convince a little kid, but in the end I failed to do so. Instead, I was intimidated by him."

The voice paused slightly.

His wife looked at him suspiciously: "What did the child say?"

The man in green stroked his beard and said:

"He said that in all things, the problem is not the lack of things but the inequality of things, and we should pursue fairness."

"I accepted tuition fees from many children's families before I allowed them to attend the school. Some of the children's families were not very wealthy and their families gritted their teeth to let them go to school. If I let them in out of pity, those students' families would have some complaints."

"But it also harms my reputation."

"He said he learned to read and write from me, but he wanted to benefit him at my expense. This is unacceptable."

"And these things are his tuition for me."

His wife could not help but be surprised: "What is worrying is not the scarcity of wealth, but the inequality of wealth... How could such words be said by a child from a small town?"

The man in green shirt said: "That's true, but he is also very stubborn."

"I asked the townspeople, and they said he was not a local."

"They were refugees from Jinzhou who were hit by a disaster five years ago. Life was tough and many people did everything to survive. It's rare to see someone so upright and honest, yet a studious person."

He hesitated for a moment, then held his wife's hand with one hand, and said gently, "Madam, I plan to let the students compete after the new year. If he is really talented, I will accept him as my disciple and recommend him for the imperial examination in the future. There is no need to let such a talent live in the mountains. What do you think?"

The woman rolled her eyes at her husband and said, "Recommending talented people is the duty of a scholar like you. If he is really talented, you would be remiss if you didn't recommend him. I am also willing to contact my relatives to find a good match for him."

The scholar in blue was overjoyed and embraced his wife in his arms. Let’s not talk about it for now.

The young man came out of the school, silently reciting what he had learned today, and silently reviewed the writing and meaning of these words. Unknowingly, he had walked into the mountains. This gust of wind and snow was not strong. It seemed that there was snow on other mountains, and it had slowly stopped here with the wind.

When he was young, his hometown suffered a great disaster. There was no harvest, and plagues and demons were rampant. His parents gave him the only remaining food, and he barely survived. He fled here among the refugees, and fortunately he was taken in by this place and found a place to stay.

Without the care of his parents and elders, he would have become a scoundrel and a pauper, but since he was young, he had dreamed of strange things every day. In his dreams, there were iron birds flying into the sky, people coming and going, tall buildings densely spread in the city, and there were also many square characters.

I forget many things in my dreams, but I also remember many things.

Especially those block texts.

Learning should never stop.

A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute, for he has a heavy responsibility and a long way to go.

It was as if some voice was reciting these words. He always felt that these words in his dream were extremely important to him, so he believed in the truth expressed in these words without a doubt.

It was cold today, and he was afraid that the mountain would be blocked by heavy snow later. He needed to collect more firewood to survive the cold winter. Qi Wuhuo climbed the mountain step by step with a backpack on his back. Occasionally he could pick up fallen pine cones. He was lucky enough to have picked up a full basket an hour and a half earlier than usual. He thought he could survive this heavy snow and the situation would slowly improve.

But I don’t know when, but at this moment, night fog suddenly rose in the mountains.

Qi Wuhuo's body was mortal and he couldn't notice anything, but his soul was different from that of ordinary people, so he could sense something strange. He frowned slightly, holding a long and neat branch, and slowly walked down the mountain. If he was an ordinary mortal, he would have gone down the mountain without noticing, but his soul was several times stronger, and he accidentally went to another place.

Looking back, there is no way forward.

After walking no more than a hundred steps, I suddenly heard a desolate voice, singing and beating the rhythm. The voice was old and clear, like the sound of metal clanging, but with the quality of jade, so it was not harsh to the ears.

There are many strange things in Zhongzhou. In winter, there are insects that are as bright as candlelight.

It rises and falls quickly and is now close.

Qi Wuhuo paused for a moment, and unknowingly walked into a deep valley. He was unaware that insects and birds were following him all around. In the night fog, a tiger lowered its eyes, and all the beasts and spirits were there. He could only hear the sound of the poem being chanted more and more clearly, beating the rhythm with his hands, and singing loudly.

"Not a speck of worldly dust, the whole room is full of people who are learning to be immortals"

"The clothes are always tinged with smoke and haze, and the walking stick and shoes follow the body of clouds and water."

"The iron flute blows the moon across the sea, and the sleeves embrace the spring of the cave."

"Now, guests from all over the world gather together to see who is Dongbin."

"Alas?"

"Guests are coming!"

"Young guest, please come forward and have a chat."