The fifth day of May is the Double Fifth Festival.
Chen Que and Danxin are now staying in a remote mountain temple in the north of Gusu. Normally, prostitutes are not allowed to enter Buddhist temples. Fortunately, this girl is smart. She followed Shen Que that day and just said that she was her husband's slave.
The abbot was also a friendly person. He believed the story made up by Danxin and thought that he was really a scholar in trouble. Therefore, Shen only needed to pay a certain amount of incense money every month, and then he could live peacefully in this temple.
The south is different from the north. The weather has already become hot and humid at the beginning of summer. Now it is the Dragon Boat Festival and it is even hotter. Mosquitoes are rampant at night, and Shen is often disturbed by the mosquitoes in the mountain temple and cannot sleep.
But there are rules in this temple that prohibit killing. These annoying mosquitoes are also considered living creatures. If you are unlucky enough to encounter them, you have to open the window to ask them to go out, or chant sutras to persuade them to bite other people.
Even though Shen Que was so honest and soft-hearted, he still found it hard to understand when he first heard this. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. He ate vegetarian food every day, so it was not good for him to attack these mosquitoes.
But one night, he felt itchy in his sleep, and he accidentally slapped a mosquito to death with his hand. If this happened to someone else, they would definitely cover it up quietly and pretend nothing had happened.
But Chen just took it to heart. Feeling somewhat guilty, he covered the body of the mosquito with a handkerchief. At dawn, he went to find an old monk and explained his sin to him with gestures.
The old monk didn't understand what he was gesturing at all, but he was also a fool. When he saw the bloody mosquito corpse in the handkerchief, he shouted: "What a sin!"
Then he recited a mantra for rebirth to the dead mosquito with great care, and helped the little creature to be liberated.
Danxin looked at the two people from afar, one silly and the other foolish, and couldn't help but laugh.
Shen Que happened to look up at her at that time. This was the first time he saw Danxin smile, but the arc soon fell, and when she came in front of him, the woman put on a cold face again.
"The dormitory in the courtyard sent two rice dumplings," Danxin took one and gave it to him, "and also gave me a pair of longevity threads."
The rice dumplings in this temple are also vegetarian, either filled with candied dates or peanuts, but Chen actually likes white rice dumplings the most. Pour a spoonful of thick sugarcane juice or crushed sugar on them, and the fragrance will penetrate into one's heart.
He took the longevity thread and tied it around his wrist, then suddenly remembered that when he was in Beijing, every Dragon Boat Festival, he would braid a few colorful silks and share them with his senior brothers. His master thought these things were childish and would never tie them around his arms, so Chen would hang them on the hilt of his sword for him, mixing them with the sword tassel.
Although it had never been given out, Shen Que prepared one for His Highness every year. He looked down on such little things, and Shen Que was afraid of being ridiculed by him, so he had to secretly hang it on the small window of his bedroom for him.
Thinking of this, Shen couldn't help feeling a little melancholy again.
There's nothing bad about the South. Southerners are warm and simple, fruits and vegetables are free, and the food is exquisite. Apart from the more mosquitoes and ants, and the cockroaches the size of baby mice which are really scary, there isn't much to hate about them.
But Chen always thought of Kyoto, which was thousands of miles away. Here, his heart could never settle down.
Seeing him in a daze, Danxin suddenly said, "My dear, the medicine has been boiled in the courtyard."
This was to urge him to go back and take medicine. The medicine was bitter and sour to begin with, and as the weather got warmer, Chen was even more reluctant to drink it. But no matter how reluctant he was, he had never avoided it for the sake of the child in his belly.
Upon hearing this, he bowed and said goodbye to the old abbot, and then returned to the room with Danxin.
This child was lucky. As soon as his fever subsided that day, his stomach pain also stopped. But now, in order to protect the fetus, he had to boil medicine every day. The medicine was very expensive, and the silver that Shen Xiangzhi left for him was about to run out.
.
Living in a temple is more economical than staying in a hotel. Although the food and lodging are provided, all meals are vegetarian. But Shen is not a picky eater. As long as he can fill his stomach, all the food is good. There is nothing he can't eat.
But he was also afraid of eating up all the money. He had previously helped people carry goods at the ferry for half a month, and was so tired that he made very little money. Moreover, there were many northerners in this port. If one of them had seen the arrest warrant, it would be a big trouble for him.
Besides, he is now four months old, and his belly is gradually bulging. Although he is wearing loose clothes now, it can be barely covered up, but one day it will be discovered.
He couldn't stay in this temple forever.
After pinching his nose and drinking the medicine, Danxin took his medicine bowl as usual and said, "I heard that the weaving workshop by the water is hiring temporary workers. I will go down the mountain to ask. If the salary is right, I will work there in the future."
She did not sound like she was negotiating with Shen Que. In name, she was Shen Que's servant, but in reality, they were not in a master-servant relationship. She naturally did not need Shen Que's consent to do anything she wanted.
Shen nodded.
He also had his own plans. He would first take out some money to buy some salt, oil, rice and flour, and then purchase some rice grains and vegetable seeds. The south had plenty of water and warm weather, so the crops planted in the fields were easy to grow.
However, Shen planned to hide in the mountains. He was an expert archer, so he could become a hunter in the mountains and pick up some skins to sell. This way he could avoid being hunted and earn some money to pay for medicine.
After thinking of a way out, Chen Que used his lips and hands to gesture to Danxin. Danxin was even more dull than him. If there was nothing to do on weekdays, she would not speak to him. Even though they had known each other for nearly three months, she might not be able to understand a word he said.
After explaining for a long time, Danxin finally understood what he meant by guessing.
Life in the mountains would probably not be easy, but Chen had already made up his mind. If Danxin didn't want to go with him, he would give her some silver, leave her in the temple, and go find a way to make a living.
"I'll go with you," Danxin said without hesitation, "I still owe you two taels of silver."
She was always thinking about the two taels of silver that Chen Que had given her on the boat, but unfortunately Chen Que was unable to explain. He gestured to her many times, just wanting to tell her that he spent the silver for no reason and that she didn't need to repay the favor, but unfortunately he couldn't explain it clearly.
"Let's not talk about anything else. My husband will give birth in June. How are you going to survive alone?" Danxin said expressionlessly. "When it's August or September and your clothes can't cover you anymore, will you still go down the mountain alone to buy medicine?"
She was right. When the pregnancy was advanced, even if Shen Que could walk back and forth on the mountain road, how could a man not arouse suspicion when walking around the city with a big belly?
Shen thought about it and realized that without Danxin, it would be a lot more troublesome. He was currently short of money and had no extra money to buy another slave, so he did not refuse it anymore.
Life in the mountains was indeed hard. The two searched for a whole day before they finally found an abandoned house in the mountains. They slept there hastily that day, and then went to look for boards to reinforce the house. They tidied up, dismantled and repaired the house, and were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they lay down for several days in a row.
The house was so rotten even to the beams that it was almost as easy to repair as to build another house. After many days of hard work, the place finally looked habitable.
But after hard work, life became better and better.
At first, the two of them took the hunted animals to sell together, but later Chen's belly grew bigger and bigger, and he could no longer cover it, so he could not go down the mountain anymore.
So Danxin took over from him, and the two of them kept all the wild animals that could be raised in captivity. If one was accidentally killed, Chen Que would have to use it to cook a meal. After that, Danxin only had to go down the mountain once every five days, which was somewhat less hard.
Most of the money earned from selling these wild birds and beasts was spent on buying medicine, some was used to buy salt, oil, rice and flour, and the remaining little was given to Danxin by Chen.
Shen saw how difficult it was for a weak woman like her to go up and down the mountain.
Danxin didn't hesitate to be polite with him, and she never refused to take the money she was owed.
Double Ninth Festival in September.
In just over a month, the baby would be born, and Chen was both excited and afraid. Right now, he always had back and leg pains, so he could no longer go hunting in the mountains. He could only go to nearby spots and hunt some pheasants and rabbits.
Fortunately, he raised a lot of chickens and ducks in the backyard. In early January, he opened up a few more plots of land. At the beginning, he had no experience, and the seedlings he raised were sickly. Later, he asked Danxin to ask several farmers living at the foot of the mountain for him. With experience, the vegetables grew better and better.
This day.
Chen went to the field to water the vegetables with a bulging belly. After watering the fields, Danxin still didn't come back.
She was always punctual. No matter whether she had sold all the wild animals she had brought down the mountain or not, she would come back before sunset.
Shen was a little uneasy. He stood in the yard for a while, but still felt uneasy, so he went to the room to get the hunting arrows and groped his way down the mountain road.
Not long after walking, I could faintly hear the laughter of several men: "Why are you pretending? I can tell at a glance that you are a whore. All those girls from Yangzhou act like you!"
"Tell me, did you escape from the flower boat and elope with your lover to this mountain? Why do I always see you going down the mountain to sell goods? Where is your husband? Is he sick or dead?"
As they spoke, those scoundrels began to laugh to themselves.
"A prostitute should just stay on the boat. Why should she become a good woman? Even if she does, she will still bring bad luck to her husband!"
"Today I will help your short-lived husband to get rid of his evil spirits and share some of the retribution for his misfortune. He should kneel down and thank me profusely."
These people spoke half Mandarin and half Wu dialect, which made Shen confused, but he could tell that they were definitely not good words.
Shen approached quietly. The woods in the south were dense. Even in autumn, the trees were still lush and green, with no signs of withering at all. His figure was almost completely hidden, so he didn't have to worry about being seen by them.
He calmly raised his bow and arrow, as if he was hunting a group of wild animals. He deliberately let the first arrow miss, and it passed by the hair of the man closest to his heart.
"who?!"
This group of young rascals suddenly panicked and looked in the direction where the arrow came from, but they didn't see anyone.
"God damn it," one man shouted, "who's hiding there!"
Shen only hoped that this arrow could intimidate them. Now that he was pregnant, it was difficult for him to show up.
As he expected, these hooligans did panic, but then a brave one deliberately shouted: "What are you afraid of? If he was still a man, he would have come out by now. He hid in the dark and shot arrows. I'm afraid he would either break his legs or become a cripple."
When others heard this, they also thought it made sense. Which man with all the necessary skills would let a woman go out in public to sell things?
"Don't worry, he won't dare to do anything to us."
After saying that, he desperately tried to pull Danxin's clothes. When Danxin struggled to get up, he slapped her hard in the face and made her fall to the ground.
Shen was furious, and raised an arrow to shoot at his knee. The man cried out in pain and fell down. Then another arrow shot past his head, taking away a piece of his scalp with black hair attached.
When these people saw that he was serious, they immediately scattered and ran away crawling.
There were also two daring ones who wanted to grab Danxin's purse even at this time. As soon as their fingers touched it, they were pierced through the palm by an arrow shot by Shen Que. They climbed up and fled down the mountain screaming, but were hit by another arrow on the right buttock on the way.
After everyone had run away, Shen Que hurried down and gestured to Dan Xin anxiously.
Danxin had already tidied her clothes by now. If it weren't for the slap mark on her cheek, she would look as if nothing had happened.
"It's okay, I'm used to it." She still had that cold look on her face. "This mountain road is muddy and difficult to walk on. You shouldn't walk so fast."
She said this, but Shen didn't think so.
She was doing it for herself. As a girl, she wanted to go down the mountain alone and sell wild animals in public. These lechers must have seen that there was no man around her and thought she was someone who could be bullied, so they followed her.
"Don't go there again." On the way back, Shen gestured decisively.
"I'm not going," Danxin could now understand some simple sign language, "how can you buy medicine with your money?"
Shen Que: "Now that the fetus is stable, it's better not to eat."
He thought Danxin didn't know that he couldn't sleep well every night because of his body tormenting him. When he was sick, the pain was so severe that he could hardly stand. Often when the pain was over, he would go to the mountains to hunt with his belly bulging.
The doctor said that this medicine should not be discontinued from pregnancy to birth.
After living together for half a year, Danxin gradually understood his character. This man was as stubborn as a donkey and would not listen to anything. If he said he was not allowed to go, he would definitely not go hunting again in the future.
Since he didn't hunt anything, there was no need for him to go down the mountain again.
Danxin didn't say anything else, but went back to the house on the mountain, and handed him some soft material and a box of sewing tools.
Shen was stunned for a moment, then looked up and met her eyes.
But she said, "I see you mend your clothes very well. When the baby is born, he should have a little dress to wear. I can't afford clothes in the clothing store, so giving you these pieces of fabric can barely be considered a gift for meeting you."
It's not that Chen hadn't thought about this, but he had to take medicine every day and was penniless, so he really didn't have any extra money to buy these things. A few days ago, he was thinking about taking apart some of his old clothes and making them into a few small pieces, but today Danxin quietly bought the materials.
She looks cold, but her attentiveness is reflected in her every move.
Shen was very touched. He never forgot the kindness he had shown to others, but if others showed him a bit of kindness, he would repay them with his whole heart.
He stood up and rummaged through his suitcase, and took out a wooden hairpin from the bottom. This was a piece of wood he had found while hunting in the wild, and he had been secretly polishing it in his spare time, wanting to prepare a gift for Danxin.
Danxin would occasionally talk to him, and once she casually revealed that she was born in September, when the weather was getting colder.
She just said it casually, but she didn't know that Shen Que would secretly keep it in mind. She originally wanted to give it to her at the end of the month, but now that she gave him something, Shen Que felt that he should return the gift.
Danxin glanced at the wooden hairpin. It was a simple design, but the whole thing was polished to a very round shape. It looked like a lot of thought had gone into its creation.
When she raised her eyes again, she met the mute's dark eyes. No man had ever looked at her with that kind of eyes. There was a clear distinction between black and white, without desire, greed, anger, or ignorance. It was clean and clear.
She had met many men, but only this mute treated her as a human being.
Seeing her in a daze, the mute raised his hand and gestured hastily: "This is a gift, a birthday gift."
"You saved me twice," Danxin suddenly felt a little at a loss, her heart ached, but she forgot to keep a cold face, "I should repay you."
But the mute gestured slowly: "I saved you because I wanted to, and I gave you a gift because I wanted to, not for any other reason."
Danxin understood, and she held the wooden hairpin in her hand and rubbed it gently, saying lightly: "You are a fool."
"Silly mute."
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