"Well, Hong'er will leave after telling the Queen Mother." He ran to the Queen Mother's bed, bent his head, and whispered in her ear, "Queen Mother, Hong'er went hunting and will be back soon." Then, in

She kissed her on the cheek and ran away.

It was a path paved with bluestones that continued to the mountain. The child first held Luojia's hand and walked side by side, so intimately. From time to time, he would raise his head as if asking him something. He also smiled and answered,

It was obvious that he was laughing loudly, and the laughter spread far and wide.

When they reached the narrow place, Hong'er let go of his hand and skipped ahead.

Everything is both real and illusory.

It wasn't until the laughter had completely gone away that she slowly walked to the door. The door was also made of logs, very thick, made of redwood from the mountains, and had a latch on it.

She opened the door and went out, only to see clearly the layout of the entire house. It was a small Taoist temple, with about five levels of entry and exit. She was in the deepest part of the Taoist temple and the highest place on the ground. Outside was

The long corridor is about more than a foot wide. Below it is a huge flower room and flower stands. Even if it rains lightly, they cannot be soaked through.

There are also long benches in the aisle where you can sit leisurely. The surroundings are clean and spotless.

Under the eaves of the wide slope corridor on the side, she saw the faint guards, all of whom she had brought with her to hunt. They were all guarding outside, and she could only see their backs, judging from their clothing.

A gust of wind came, the sun was shining brightly, and the weather was a bit cool and refreshing like late autumn. However, the chill was very deep.

She shrank slightly and closed the door.

Looking carefully at the interior, the room was very large. There was a door open on the left side. She walked over and pushed it, and it opened. Inside was a slightly smaller bedroom. There were several knickknacks on the table, quilts and mattresses.

They are all new and very clean. Especially on the wooden board inside the bed, there are some colorful things. If you look closely, you can see that they are all kinds of small grasshoppers and small animals made of green bamboo branches and red leaves.

. Hong'er slept here last night.

She walked back slowly, and then she heard a gurgling sound at the edge of the corner. It turned out to be a sand bowl set up on a small fireplace. On the small shelf temporarily placed here, there were four dishes under the thick insulated basket.

The gently boiling broth in the jar exudes a rich aroma.

There are clean dishes and chopsticks nearby, obviously placed so that people in the room can eat and drink at any time.

Looking next to it, there is a very clean large wooden basin, leaning against the corner of a clean stone house measuring one foot square. A clean slate is opened and water flows down. It is obviously a natural bathroom or something. The shelf next to it

On top, there are clean handkerchiefs and toiletries.

Fang Fei had been lying there for two days, almost moldy all over, and her mouth was dry and bitter. When she saw the artemisia annua water and toothbrush next to her, she quickly washed up. Later, she couldn't help but walked to the door and inserted it carefully.

After unlatching the door, I returned to the bathroom.

The big wooden barrel was very thick, covered with a thick layer of bear crusts, and the lid was also very thick. When she opened it, she reached in and tried it. The water inside was still a little hot.

Her body slowly went in and was immersed in the warm water, but she did not dare to touch her head with any water, even some bruises on her legs and abrasions on her arms. However, she couldn't care less and still soaked in it.

Only the head is exposed.

But he didn't soak for too long. After a while, he got up and dried his body and hair.

Next to it were clean clothes, with a thin fawn leather mattress embedded in it. It was rough and suitable for both men and women. She picked it up and put it on. After trying it on, she found it fit quite well.

Next to it is a green rhombus mirror, with a red face and a thin face in the mirror's edge.

She looked at the face in the mirror, slightly stunned. Is this her own? Such a pale face, absent-minded eyes, and the whole person revealed an old and haggard look - old!

I am already old!

The fair complexion and girlish charm of the past have passed away in my previous life.

In the mirror, there is just a young woman who has been ravaged by time for a long time - not even a young woman, but a woman who is gradually getting older.

Men stand up at thirty! But women, after the age of thirty, fade away as fast as flowers wither. There is no chance of retaining them at all.

So many years of hard work.

I watched Hong'er grow from a baby learning to talk to a young boy who is almost 6 years old now.

How can I not grow old?

According to the rules of the palace in the past, women over the age of thirty were rarely favored. They were basically just placed as decorations.

Behind them, there are young girls who are really twenty-eight years old and in their cardamom years...

When a man is sixty years old, he can still embrace a fifteen-year-old girl without restraint;

But what about women?

She bit her lip slightly, lost in thought.

It wasn't until my lips started to hurt that I saw the woman in the mirror. Even her lips were pale. They no longer had the rosy beauty of the past.

The best youth of my life passed like this.

She was suddenly extremely frightened, the kind of panic that had long been forgotten - suddenly resurrected, caught off guard, and almost defeated her.

No, how could I do this?

How can it be?

She hurriedly picked up the wooden comb next to her and combed her hair carefully. Fortunately, her hair was still black and shiny. After her hair was combed and tied up, she saw a small wooden box next to it.

She opened it curiously and saw a little rouge and gouache inside. It was very old and had been there for several years. However, they were all new and had never been opened.

Regardless of whether it could be used or not, she took some rouge and gouache and applied it on her face and lips. It was a very light layer. When she saw the woman in the mirror, her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she was in a trance, like that 20-year-old girl.

, it was the first time I knew what "dressing up" was, the first time I applied lipstick, and the first time I heard someone say: "Only when you dress up beautifully can you keep a man's heart."

If dressing up beautifully can really keep a man's heart, there will be no such thing as a heart-breaking person in this world.

She stayed for a while, and then gently wiped off the lipstick on her mouth. However, she didn't finish wiping off, and there was still a faint trace of red. It looked like a drop of blood accidentally touched by an extremely pale person.

.

She was cruel, raised her hand, and wiped her lipstick clean.

After feeling clean and awake, I felt very hungry. I had been living on those strange medicines for two whole days. At this time, I smelled the rich aroma of the broth in the jar, and hurriedly sat down at the table and opened my mouth.

He opened the lid and poured a bowl of soup before looking at the four small plates next to it.

Three of the dishes were dried shredded venison, shredded bear meat, and a stack of smoked wild boar ham. There was only a deeper bowl next to it, which contained something warm and white. She picked it up, and there was a familiar smell.

The aroma is sweet, and when you take a sip, it actually looks a bit like a bird's nest, but it's not a bird's nest.

She drank the bowl of food in one go, and then started to deal with the broth of bear bones and several plates of shredded meat. The bear meat tasted the best, the shredded venison was also good, and the wild boar sliced ​​ham was a bit rough, but...

Chewyer than domestic pork.

Unknowingly, by the time she found out, she had already eaten all these things.

She was so full that there was a tea cup next to her. It was a fine ceramic tea set, and there was autumn tea from Bei Wudang. She broke off a large piece and put it in the teapot, put it on the stove and boiled it. Suddenly, the whole room was filled with the aroma of tea.

After drinking two large cups of strong tea, I felt a lot digested.

Then the door of the separate fireplace on this wall was closed, and the entire inside became a very independent large bedroom.

She sat down comfortably on a big chair covered with tiger skin, with many scriptures placed next to her. She picked up a scripture at random and flipped through it, including Taoist and Buddhist scriptures, but she could not read a single word.

My mind has been wandering, I don't know what I am thinking, let alone where I am.

I don't want to think about it, I have subconsciously made up my mind to live one day at a time.

It was as if he had already died.

The moment you fall, the moment the tiger pounces, who is so sure that you will not die?

Since you've already died once, why are you so afraid?

The sun shines in through the open wooden window, and you can see a circle of colorful light dancing and leaping through the finely carved wooden lattice, accompanied by the slightly fishy fragrance of the fallen leaves that are already dark red and dark yellow.

.

She felt sleepy, but not sleepy, so she stood up and walked to the window. After standing for a long time, her legs were almost numb, and then she heard the laughter outside.

It came from the clean bluestone mountain road.

She saw Hong'er first. Hong'er was riding on a man's neck, hugging his neck, giggling and laughing. He also had a small dagger and a small bow and arrow tied to his waist. But he - she couldn't see him, carrying him like that.

Holding the child, his head was slightly lowered and he could only see the side.

Behind him, two followers were carrying a dark object, perhaps a panther or something. There was another follower carrying several very brightly colored pheasants.

She watched for a while, until the figure disappeared under the big tree in front and entered the Taoist temple on the first floor. Then she took off her outer robe and lay back on the bed.

Outside, a child's voice could be heard, clear and carefree: "Queen Mother, Queen Mother... are you awake? You see, we beat a lot of things..."

She quietly opened her eyes and watched the door being pushed open, and the child ran in, jumping up and down, with a bright red face. At this time, the sun had just set, and they were back so early?

She quickly closed her eyes, and the child had already run to her bed. She heard that the child was alone, so she quietly squeezed its hand.

The child understood and just spoke, "Your Majesty, today I finally saw live tigers. There were so many of them. There was a particularly big tiger that was white and almost as long as a horse. There were also many golden tigers."

The tiger, its fur is really brighter than gold... Ha, the immortal and I were hiding in a big tree and watched a tiger walking by. It was very big and fat, much bigger than other tigers.

He was fat and walked very slowly. The gods said that he ate too much and was full, so he began to store up his energy in the autumn so that he could survive the winter. Oh, it was so scary. It walked slowly, and a little rabbit ran past it.

It didn't bite them either. We were going to shoot the tiger, but when we saw it looking up at us, its eyes were so big, so bright, and green, it was scary, so we didn't kill it..."

The child babbled for a long time, and then he thought of asking: "Queen Mother, what's wrong with your eyes?"

The Queen Mother's eyes were covered with a white veil.
To be continued...