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墨書 Inktalez
Not long after the spring rice harvest is the summer solstice. In the days leading up to the summer solstice, everyone is especially busy, but Guo Jia found himself with some free time as a result. Also with free time was Jia Xu, who was responsible for looking after Guo Jia.
The area where Beiyong academy is located is rich in Long Qing, and there is a widely circulated saying: "The relationship with the locals depends on whether Long Qing can be received during the plum rain season."
The academy received many baskets, and Chen Gong cheerfully greeted everyone with a smile as he distributed them. As the summer solstice approached, the weather became increasingly hot, but Guo Jia slept by the window, with sunlight streaming in through the crack, casting half of Guo Jia's clothes in a pool of light.
Jia Xu pinched a Long Qing and put it in his mouth. It was sour with a hint of sweetness, and it left behind a lingering summer heat, creating a rather wonderful sensation. So Jia Xu also fed one to the half-closed, dozing Guo Jia, but unexpectedly, Guo Jia chewed a few times, suddenly sat up, his beautiful face twisted into a grimace, looking like he wanted to vomit but couldn't, and he grimaced as he swallowed the Long Qing, spitting out a small purple core.
Jia Xu looked at Guo Jia's twisted face, then lowered his head to look at the plate of Long Qing, saying, "It can't be that bad... and don't make it look like I'm bullying you!"
At this time, Xun Yu floated in from outside, directing people to put down ice while saying, "Fengxiao can't stand anything sour, so don't waste it."
Guo Jia made a face at Xun Yu, and indeed did not touch the bamboo basket containing Long Qing, just watching Jia Xu eat with a smirk on his face. After finishing his instructions, Xun Yu prepared to leave, but then seemed to remember something and took a few steps back towards the two people by the window, saying, "The summer solstice festival has already begun at the foot of the mountain. You can go take a look. And don't miss the Yulan Festival in the next two days." Upon hearing Xun Yu allowing them to go down the mountain, Guo Jia immediately pulled Jia Xu to leave, lightly calling out as they walked, "Got it, got it," without knowing whether he had really taken Xun Yu's words to heart.
Guo Jia and Jia Xu walked side by side through the dense forest along the long mountain path. From the path, they could see a bustling market not far away, where many people were crowded in front of The Queen Mother Temple to pay their respects to the gods. In the center of the market, an altar was set up, and the Sacrificial dance was scheduled to begin at quarter past noon. Guo Jia pulled Jia Xu through the crowd and turned into a noodle shop, skillfully choosing a place to sit.
In the noodle shop, there were a few groups of people. The shop owner peeked out and immediately smiled, saying, "It's Fengxiao coming. What would this young gentleman like to eat?"
Guo Jia also smiled and glanced at Jia Xu, saying, "Eat the same as me!"
There weren't many people in the shop, and the noodles came quickly. After a short while, two steaming bowls of noodles were brought to the table, with a few pieces of chopped green onions as decoration and a small pile of beef on top. The owner went back to the kitchen to prepare the pancake filling. Guo Jia took a sip of the noodles and said, "Actually, I think his wife's pancake filling is delicious."
The owner, with sharp ears, shouted from behind the wall, "It's Ah Xiang who made it for you, so rest assured!"
Guo Jia laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Even Ah Xiang cooks it better than you!"
Jia Xu also picked up a mouthful of noodles and his eyes immediately lit up, it smelled so good.
Guo Jia scooped half a spoonful of vinegar from the jar into the bowl, then poured another half spoonful for Jia Xu, saying, "Their vinegar is also fragrant. It's homemade fruit vinegar, sweet with a hint of sourness. It's much more refreshing than the bitter vinegar from other households. You should try it."
Jia Xu took another sip and indeed, just as Guo Jia had said, the sweet and sour fruit vinegar balanced out the rich flavor of the bone broth, paired with the stuffed buns and the tangy radish, it was very delicious.
After finishing their meal, they bid farewell to the shop owner. Walking in the shade of the street shops, Guo Jia raised his fan to shield himself from the sunlight, trying to find a good spot to watch the Sacrificial dance, but they found that all the good spots had already been taken.
Sacrificial dance is more magnificent and solemn than ordinary song and dance, but it has a unique feeling. The intricate witch mask is revealed, and the slender witch with long braids immediately turns around, skillfully Ventriloquist sitting behind the screen simulating the clear chirping and bird calls. Unknown musical instruments are playing, and the Silver jewelry on the witch's body emits a crisp sound as she dances, with no one speaking at this moment, only the dance spinning in the altar in the center.
The priestess's abdomen is pulsating, as if insects are making noise, and it seems as if the gods have descended upon her body. The scent of incense and the smoke envelops and billows around her, the candle smoke rises, and a deep, resonant voice pulsates, as if it is the voice of the gods. The priestess's lean back is adorned with symbols of the shaman, and with every movement of her muscles, she conveys to the people: seeking blessings, avoiding disasters, bringing favorable weather, and ensuring a bountiful and peaceful harvest.
To burn through the evil spirits with flames.
There are activities called "Xia" near the slaughterhouse. Guo Jia originally wanted to take Jia Xu to join in the fun, but they unexpectedly encountered an old cow about to be eaten.
Jia Xu took a step and paused, plucking a blade of grass and stuffing it into the cow's mouth. The soft cow tongue rolled over the grass, and it took a long time for it to swallow.
Guo Jia remembered reading in a book that a cow's eyes are the kindest of all animals. He had never seen it before, but now that he had, he found the book to be true.
Jia Xu seemed distracted as he walked. Guo Jia quickly took a few steps, reached out, and held Jia Xu's hand, saying, "Just now, the old cow told me that it thought it would be a cow again in the next life, but then a bodhisattva gave it a magical grass. After eating it, it will be reborn as a human in the next life. It asked the bodhisattva not to be sad."
Jia Xu looked at Guo Jia and when he saw Guo Jia looking a bit nervous, he suddenly laughed and buried his head in Guo Jia's shoulder.
Guo Jia patted Jia Xu's back and thought, "The children on the grassland have such tender hearts, like the softness of a tree."
Guo Jia was in poor health, and every time the Orchid Bathing Festival came around, he would always have a bunch of scented sachets and colorful cords hanging from his body. He would only accept the ones woven by Xun Yu, and they had to be in the most fashionable colors of the time. So, every year before the Orchid Bathing Festival, Xun Yu would learn the most beautiful colors with his wife and daughters. This year, Jia Xu joined them, so Xun Yu naturally didn't want to treat anyone unfairly.
Xun Yu came a little late, carrying two sachets and a colorful rope to find Guo Jia, but only found Jia Xu at the door playing with calamus and mugwort. When Xun Yu asked, Jia Xu thought for a moment and replied, "He left early in the morning, leaving a note saying he went to buy something at the foot of the mountain. Do you need me to find Fengxiao and bring him back?" Xun Yu shook his head and said it was unnecessary. During the Yulan Festival, he always liked to be alone for a while. If he didn't return by noon, they would go look for him. Xun Yu then told Jia Xu about some things to do in the afternoon and left.
Guo Jia came back before noon, rushing in from outside like a gust of summer wind, and quickly grabbed Jia Xu's hand to put on a string of small bells. Then the noon bell rang, and Guo Jia let out a sigh of relief, saying he was lucky to have made it in time. Jia Xu looked down and saw that what he was wearing on his wrist was the same as what Senior Xun Yu had sent - a bracelet woven from five colored strings.
Jia Xu fiddled with the long hanging tassels and asked, "What is this?"
Guo Jia replied evenly, "It's a five-colored rope, blue, white, red, green, and yellow, representing the blue sky, auspicious clouds, flames, rivers, and the earth. After the Dragon Boat Festival, when the first rain falls, you throw it into the rain, and the Dragon King will take away diseases and bad luck."
Jia Xu looked at the obviously rougher workmanship compared to the one sent by Senior Xun Yu, as if he had thought of something, and asked, "Did you make this?"
Guo Jia did not answer, but instead asked, "Xun Yu, where is my colorful rope for this year? Why hasn't it been delivered to me yet!"
Jia Xu didn't give Guo Jia a chance to escape. He reached out and grabbed Guo Jia's wrist, causing him to stagger. Guo Jia turned his head and looked at Jia Xu as he put the colorful rope on his hand and said seriously, "You need to be safe and healthy too."
Feeling a bit awkward, Guo Jia turned his head and blinked at the glaring sun outside the window. He then grabbed Jia Xu's wrist and ran outside. As he stepped over the threshold, Guo Jia shouted, "Let's go, I'll take you to Senior Xun's place to eat and drink for free!"
As soon as I entered the courtyard, I could smell the strong aroma of alcohol and brown sugar. Several familiar senior students looked like they had already had a few drinks, with several wine cups stacked together while they squatted by a small stove, waiting for the zongzi to cook. Guo Jia pulled Jia Xu and complained, "Look at these senior students, eating alone!" Senior Chen casually looked up, then lowered his head to focus on the zongzi, saying, "It's your fault for not seeing anyone all morning."
Guo Jia approached and asked, "What's so interesting about Zongzi?" A senior student replied, "The Senior Xun wrapped them in colorful wrappers." Guo Jia responded with a slow "Oh," then swiftly grabbed a long chopstick from the side and stirred the pot with lightning speed.
The angry shouts of "Guo Jia" resounded one after another, as Guo Jia swirled his clothes and swiftly climbed up a tree. He looked down at the frustrated senior students and made a face at them. Jia Xu stood by, neither helping nor advising, and in the end, they had to ask Xun Yu to come back and take charge. Xun Yu stood under the tree with a helpless expression and asked, "What's gotten into you again?" Guo Jia pointed to the drinking table and shouted, "They're drinking without me, and you're not doing anything about it!"
Xun Yu glanced at the wine table and laughed, "Alright, alright, why make such a big deal out of it and climb up a tree? Come down, and call a few more people to drink with you."
With Xun Yu backing him up, others really couldn't do anything to Guo Jia, so they had to force him to drink, making him down three cups after three cups.
When a senior asked Wenhe if he wanted a drink, Guo Jia extended his fan to cover the wine cup and said, "Wenhe can handle a thousand cups without getting drunk, he can't be outdrunk!"
Guo Jia said that, and several people became more eager to see if Jia Xu could outdrink Guo Jia. Jia Xu did not refuse, and directly took a wine bowl and drank three bowls in a row. After observing for a while, everyone found that as Guo Jia had said, his complexion remained unchanged, and even his eyes became brighter.
Without the chance to see Wenhe get drunk, everyone wanted to get Guo Jia drunk to avenge Zongzi. However, whether it was Feihua, Touhu, or even Liubo, Guo Jia won more and lost less. Many seniors finished their drinks and put down their cups, saying they couldn't continue.
But in the end, Guo Jia also became a little dizzy. Leaning against a pavilion pillar, he stared blankly. When Jia Xu came over to push him and said it was time to go back to rest, Guo Jia looked at him for a long time before responding softly, "It's Wenhe..."
Guo Jia's fingertips were stained with a little realgar wine, and he lightly wrote on Jia Xu's forehead, saying as he wrote, "One drives away evil, two wards off demons, three wishes for Wenhe to be free from illness and disaster."
However, Guo Jia made an extra stroke, adding a little to the character "Wan" to make it "Wang". Guo Jia slowly smiled and said, "Wenhe is like jade, an uncarved piece of beautiful jade."
Jia Xu reached out and touched his forehead, where there was still some damp wine and the warmth from Guo Jia's fingertips. The place where the wine had been wiped felt tingly and numb.
Everyone became more sober and started peeling and eating Zongzi by the veranda. Some seniors even made a bet that they would find a lucky token in their Zongzi. However, when Jia Xu took a bite, he found something hard and spat out a copper coin. Holding up the coin, he asked, "Is this it?" Upon seeing the coin in Jia Xu's hand, there were sighs of disappointment all around. One senior shouted, "It's still Wenhe who's lucky. You guys are all useless!"
Guo Jia took the copper coin from Jia Xu and tossed it up, then caught it in his hand and looked at it for a while, saying, "Oh, Qian Gua represents heaven, and the trapped dragon finding water brings good luck. Wenhe has been very smooth recently."
Jia Xu pinched the Zongzi and took another bite, casually responding with an "Mm-hmm," without asking Guo Jia how he could tell the hexagram, as if the distant and elusive future was not as important as the delicious preserved vegetable and meat rice dumplings in his hand.
Xun Yu was very pleased with Jia Xu's eating three Zongzi, and as they left, he used a calamus to tap Guo Jia's head and said, "Learn from Wenhe and don't make me worry all the time."
Guo Jia waved his handkerchief to signal surrender, and as he left, he looked back to see Xun Yu and Jia Xu standing under a tree at the entrance of the courtyard, talking. A few withered yellow leaves fell and landed on Jia Xu's shoulder, but Xun Yu gently brushed them away with his hand. Jia Xu smiled lightly, his eyes curved, and it was unclear what he had said.
Guo Jia thought, why doesn't he smile at me like that?
It was a rainy summer, and it wasn't until after evening studies that they realized it had started raining at some point. Some people walked with umbrellas, while others ran through the rain, their voices filled with laughter and chatter.
Jia Xu stood at the corridor, watching as the people around him dwindled, but the rain showed no sign of letting up. His hand, holding a book, felt slightly cold, and with a resigned sigh, he prepared to walk into the rain. But in the instant he took a step, he heard a crisp sound of "Wenhe."
Looking up, Jia Xu saw Guo Jia coming through the rain with a fancy and colorful umbrella. The rainwater splashed on his layered and fluttering clothes, like beautiful and flamboyant evening primroses swaying in the rain. Despite this, Jia Xu felt inexplicably irritated.
Not wanting to engage, Jia Xu continued walking into the rain, but Guo Jia quickly took a few steps and caught up. As Jia Xu walked faster, Guo Jia found himself unable to catch up with the umbrella, so he had no choice but to grab Jia Xu's wrist.
Jia Xu staggered and almost dropped the book in his hand. He angrily turned to glare at Guo Jia, his bright eyes burning with intensity. He stared at Guo Jia and said slowly, "Let go."
Instead of letting go, Guo Jia touched Jia Xu's cold wrist and softly said through the drizzling rain curtain, "It's raining. I know you didn't bring an umbrella today, so I rushed back to pick you up. Miss Linn was worried about you and caught up with me halfway to give me this umbrella to pass to you. You also know I like these peach blossom and willow green colors. Why are you angry?"
Jia Xu deflated, lowered his eyelashes, and remained silent. The rain hit the oiled paper umbrella, making a crisp sound, and the steam rose, making everyone feel dizzy.
I don't know how long it took, but Jia Xu finally said "no" slowly, took the umbrella from Guo Jia, and walked back to their residence together. Guo Jia turned to look at Jia Xu, and at some point, Jia Xu had grown taller than him, with increasingly handsome features. His initially beautiful face now had sharp contours, and it seemed that he couldn't keep up with Wenhe anymore. Later, Guo Jia often came in the rain holding this fancy umbrella, saying that this way Wenhe could see him at a glance.
Indeed, no matter morning or evening, whenever Guo Jia comes with an umbrella, he can always be seen from a distance. Sometimes he arrives early but doesn't want to go in, so he stands by the puddle not far away and plays with the water. One day after school at noon, Jia Xu saw Guo Jia squatting by the edge of the grass, not knowing what he was doing. His long robe dragged on the ground, stained irregularly by rainwater.
Jia Xu walked through the rain to Guo Jia and asked, "What are you doing?"
Guo Jia held up a clump of grass, which turned out to be a twisted ring made of three dog tail grasses, with the top spike woven into a small rabbit.
The umbrella was tucked at the neck, and the slanting rain splashed fine rain dust. Guo Jia took Jia Xu's hand and put on him this furry little rabbit.
But it's not always predictable when the rain will come. Beiyong academy is located between the mountains and is also adjacent to several scattered lakes. In the height of summer, lotus flowers and leaves are continuous, but it is also rainy. It is often sunny one moment and then thunderclouds roll in, and large raindrops come pouring down the next moment.
Everyone is running towards the academy, only Guo Jia is folding two large lotus leaves to use as an oil-paper umbrella, walking on the field ridge with lotus seeds freshly picked in his arms. Guo Jia prefers to walk on rugged roads, with Jia Xu reluctantly following, reaching out to grab Guo Jia's hand when he slips. Guo Jia reaches back and grabs Jia Xu's hand, pointing to the distant mountains and saying, "Wenhe, the lotus leaves are so lush."
Jia Xu held Guo Jia's fingertips and said with a turn, "This is the real lotus leaf, so beautiful."
Guo Jia burst into laughter, grabbed Jia Xu's hand, and ran along the field ridge. The soft lotus leaves couldn't stop the oncoming summer rain, but they didn't care as they ran, with Guo Jia pulling Jia Xu towards the academy.
Jia Xu turned to look at Guo Jia, whose smiling profile never faded. The intertwined gold and jade pendant swayed with their movements. The wind and rain seemed to disappear, leaving only Guo Jia's clear laughter and Xun Yu, the senior, rushing over with an umbrella, shouting at Guo Jia.
Guo Jia raised Jia Xu's hand without any care and shouted, "Senior! We should act according to the will of heaven!" Immediately, the senior pressed him down, scolding him while forcing him to drink three bowls of strong ginger tea. When he got angry, he used a lotus seedpod to knock Guo Jia's head, causing Guo Jia to hide behind Jia Xu as he sipped the ginger tea. Jia Xu, stumbling, even blocked Xun Yu's path. Xun Yu rolled up his sleeves and pointed at Guo Jia with the lotus seedpod, saying, "Don't hide behind Wenhe."
Guo Jia stuck out half of his head and made a grimace, saying, "I have Wenhe and you don't!"
The skin held by Guo Jia's clothes felt hot, and Jia Xu thought, "This bowl of ginger soup is too strong."
Outside the window, a butterfly fluttered through the wind and rain, and the wings of the butterfly resonated with ten thousand summers.
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