The young man walked along the tiny starlight, out of the town and straight to the stream. Although it was night, Wang Gu'an ran no slower than in the daytime. Wang Gu'an deliberately avoided the deepest bridge, where the water level was much higher than other places. Wang Gu'an chose a section of the stream where the water was just above his knees. He took off the large bamboo basket behind him, bent down to pick up a small bamboo basket hidden inside, tied it tightly around his waist, took off his straw sandals, rolled up his trouser legs, and then went into the water to feel for stones.
The wound on his left hand from the broken porcelain was still painful, so he couldn't soak it in water. The boy could only use his right hand to pick up stones in the stream. In fact, the stones on the dry riverbed were the easiest to pick up, but as Ji Chenru said, the color would fade greatly. Now Wang Gu'an roughly knew the mystery from the black-clothed girl, and it was not difficult to understand. He felt that these stones were actually like the soil from the mountains and hills he followed Old Man He to chew and taste in the early years. The soil seemed ordinary, but in some places, even if there was a mountain, it tasted completely different in the mouth.
Old Man He said that this is called "a tree moving dead people moving alive, soil moving into a nest becomes a Buddha". A handful of mud in the hand will soon change its taste as long as it leaves the original land.
The stream has no name. The stones in the stream are as big as fists and as small as thumbs, and they are colorful. However, the townspeople have been used to seeing them lying quietly in the clear stream for generations, so naturally no one thinks they are rare. Anyone who moves these stones home will definitely be regarded as a fool. If you have nothing better to do, you have the energy to do more farm work. If you are not a fool, what else can you do?
Bending over and wading in the water, Wang Gu'an kept moving and turning over the big stones at the bottom of the stream. He has picked up seven or eight stones and put them into the bamboo basket. They are large and small, and of different colors. The skin color of the stones is like the golden oranges hanging high on the branches in autumn, and there are also white and delicate skin like babies, and there are also dark and shiny black, and there are bright red peach flowers, and the most common color is shrimp back green, and so on.
These stones, commonly known as snake gallstones in the countryside, are mostly small and slippery and heavy in the hand. If you hold them high in the sun during the day or illuminate them with candlelight at night, the texture of the stone is clearly visible, as faint as silk, like the winding of a tiny snake or fish. If you look at it from a distance, the skin color is like glittering fish scales and snake scales.
After about an hour, Wang Gu'an's fish basket was almost full. He returned to the stream where he placed the basket and straw sandals. He first went to the shore to pull up a few handfuls of reeds, wild celery and dogtail grass, and put them at the bottom of the basket. Then he put the stones into the basket one by one, carried the straw sandals, tied the fish basket, and carried the basket on his back, and went ashore. When he reached the bank of the stream where he turned back before, he put down the straw sandals and basket again, went down the stream and continued to move the stones.
After picking up half a basket, Wang Gu'an straightened up and looked up at the starry sky, hoping to see a meteor streak across the night sky, but he obviously didn't have such good luck tonight. After Wang Gu'an came back to his senses, he continued to rely on the faint starlight and extraordinary eyesight to do what a money-grubber should do.
Every time he successfully picked up a stone, Wang Gu'an felt a sense of joy. For a young man, every stone is like a hope.
Unconsciously, Wang Gu'an has accumulated more than half a basket of stones, a total of about 80 or so, the largest of which is bigger than his fist, and the color is very eye-catching, like a ball of chicken blood, and the color is bright and positive, not giving people a feeling of discomfort, such a big stone has almost no flaws or cracks. At this time, Wang Gu'an walked on the shore, heading towards the next section of the stream, playing with a medium-sized snake gallstone in his hand. The light green color is much lighter than the plum green in the town's porcelain. The stone is round and smooth, very cute, and Wang Gu'an fell in love with it at first sight.
Wang Gu'an walked towards the huge bluestone cliff on the shore. Children in the town often bathed in this stream in the hot summer. The stream below the cliff was particularly deep. The deepest pit was as tall as two Wang Gu'ans. It was the place where the water depth of this stream was second only to the deep pool under the corridor bridge. Boys who were good at swimming liked to compete here to see who could stay under the water pit for the longest time.
The reason why Wang Gu'an chose this deep pit was that when he and Ji Chenru bathed here before, they found that there were a lot of snake gallstones at the bottom of the pit. Ji Chenru once deliberately floated up with a snake gallstone under his armpit to show off his outstanding swimming ability. Wang Gu'an remembered that the stone was at least as big as Gu Can's head. The stone was slightly white and transparent, and there were actually bright red dots inside, just like frozen peach petals.
Ji Chenru thought this move was meaningful, so he asked Wang Gu'an to help him carry such a big stone back home. But when they got to the town, the tall and unsteady boy felt bored and asked Wang Gu'an to deal with the stone by himself. When Wang Gu'an just walked into Niping Lane, he found Shi Hui next door following him inexplicably, not saying a word, staring at the stone in his arms, with the same look as Wang Gu'an saw the meat buns sold in Xinghua Lane every time. Wang Gu'an couldn't bear her greed, so he gave the stone to her. But she couldn't move it at first and almost broke her foot. Wang Gu'an had to move it to Ye Dan's yard. As for the final whereabouts of the stone, Wang Gu'an didn't know.
The stone is as white as water, with peach blossoms floating in it.
Just like the peach blossoms after the rain in Taoye Lane, the color is lush and green.
Even though Wang Gu'an had no idea about the mystery of this stone before today, he still felt that the big stone was really beautiful.
Wang Gu'an sighed and suddenly stopped.
Thirty steps away, on the green stone cliff by the stream, sat a girl in green clothes, with bulging cheeks, but she was still stuffing food into her mouth.
The first impression in Wang Gu'an's mind was that the girl must have starved to death and reincarnated, so she was so pitiful in the middle of the night.
Wang Gu'an thought about it and stopped approaching, fearing that he would disturb the girl's mood for supper. But he didn't turn around and leave. After all, he had made up his mind to try his luck in the puddle tonight. He would touch one or two stones and get ashore each time. If he did it many times, he would always succeed. Besides, the snake gallstones in this puddle were larger and more colorful than those in other places in the stream.
Wang Gu'an's swimming ability was not as good as Ji Chenru's, but it was not bad.
Wang Gu'an didn't expect that the strange girl would finish one thing and pick up another from the side. She never stopped to rest, and her cheeks were always swollen. Wang Gu'an was carrying most of the heavy basket of stones on his back. Thinking that it would be a physical job to touch the stones in the water, he turned sideways and took off the basket and put it on the ground.
Wang Gu'an underestimated the hearing of the girl in green. As a result, the girl suddenly pricked up her ears and her eyes swept over him instantly.
Wang Gu'an couldn't say to the girl, "Just eat slowly, girl," so he had to smile awkwardly.
The girl's expression was a little dull, and she burped twice in succession. Then she seemed to be choked, and she quickly straightened her chest and stretched out her hand to pat her chest hard.
Wang Gu'an realized that she was not very old. From her neck down, the scenery over there was really spectacular, and it was not inferior to many women who had given birth to children.
The clothes on her chest were very tight.
Wang Gu'an quickly retracted his gaze, but he didn't have any evil thoughts.
The girl in green then remembered that she had brought a water bottle. She turned her back to Wang Gu'an, raised her head and took a big gulp of water, and then her breathing became smooth.
The boy holding the straw sandals actually had only one simple thought at the time. The fabric of the girl's clothes must not be cheap, otherwise she couldn't bear such a strong force.
The girl in green continued to eat. This time she was much more reserved, at least her cheeks were not so exaggerated. She lowered her head and nibbled in small bites, and from time to time she glanced at the strange town boy. Her narrow eyes like peach blossoms, with slightly upturned eyes, made the girl look like a young fox.
She seemed to be asking the boy with her eyes, what's wrong with you, keep on going.
Wang Gu'an was helpless, so he had to point his finger at the stream outside the green stone cliff and shouted: "I'm not passing by here, I'm going to the stream on your side."
She looked at the thin boy and didn't say anything.
Wang Gu'an quickly picked up a stone from the basket and continued to explain: "I'm going to pick up these stones in the stream."
The girl suddenly remembered something important, and put her finger to her mouth, signaling Wang Gu'an not to speak, and then she moved her position, obviously letting Wang Gu'an go over, and she would not hinder him from picking up stones in the water.
Wang Gu'an had no choice but to carry the basket and walk over. Fortunately, the green stone cliff was very large and could accommodate more than ten people, and the girl had taken the initiative to sit on the edge, unlike before when her legs were straight and she sat cross-legged in a proper manner. On her knees was an open package filled with all kinds of pastries and snacks, like a small mountain. So far, the girl had only eaten a small hill.
Wang Gu'an put down his straw sandals, basket and bamboo basket. He originally wanted to go into the water shirtless in the middle of the night, but now he can forget about it. There was a strange girl sitting next to him. Not to mention whether she would scream, if her elders saw or heard it, Wang Gu'an estimated that his legs would be broken. It was not unfair.
Wang Gu'an came to the edge of the cliff and dived into the bottom of the puddle.
He soon touched a stone the size of his palm, but it was not a snake gallstone. He had to wipe his face and continue diving. After three times, he finally touched a blue-black snake gallstone. Wang Gu'an climbed up the cliff with his whole body wet, put it in the basket, and then continued to dive into the water.
From beginning to end, the girl had her back to this side and was busy eating.
In less than half an hour, Wang Gu'an had already touched seven or eight stones. Except for the first one, which was dark in color, the rest were large and bright.
The last time he dived into the water, he did not bring a stone ashore, but caught a live fish the length of his palm. The fish is commonly known as slate fish in the town. When it sees people, it likes to hide under rocks. Its meat is very delicious. It is usually only slightly longer than a finger, and it is rare to find a slate fish as big as the one in Wang Gu'an's hand. Wang Gu'an had actually caught a few fish before by sneaking through the cracks in the rocks at the bottom of the pit, but he let them go because of the stone. This time, he suddenly had an idea and thought that if he could catch a dozen fish tonight, it would be great to stew a pot of fish soup for Miss Ning tomorrow.
After Wang Gu'an got ashore, he threw the fish into the bamboo basket.
When he caught the fish for the second time, Wang Gu'an suddenly found that the girl was squatting next to the fish basket. Looking at the fish basket with only one fish lying in it, she looked radiant, just like Shi Hui saw the stone in the alley.
Wang Gu'an threw the second stone fish into the bamboo basket.
The girl slowly raised her head.
The barefoot boy had turned around and walked quickly, and went down to the stream again.
After hearing the boy's splash, the girl quickly grabbed a fish from the bamboo basket with one hand, looked down at the fish that were still jumping, and nodded with a serious expression: "Awesome!"
The girl in green knew that there were many strange scenes in this town. The iron lock hanging on the well named Xinghua Lane was unknown how long. The covered bridge not far away was actually a stone arch bridge that spanned the stream for three thousand years. There was a rusty iron sword at the bottom of the bridge, and the tip of the sword pointed to a bottomless green pool. The crab archway with twelve legs, the dilapidated clay statues in the grass outside the ancestral hall, and a porcelain mountain in the north, which was piled with porcelain that was personally judged as defective by the supervisors of all dynasties, all of which were smashed and broken, etc.
She even knew most of the reasons.
She followed her father to travel around the country when she was very young, so she was worthy of having seen the world.
But when Wang Gu'an caught the stone fish for the third time and went ashore, the girl, whose hands were empty, still squatted beside the fish basket, but her hands were still secretly wiping the corners of her clothes. She looked up at the barefoot boy approaching, just like the eyes of ordinary people looking at gods.
Wang Gu'an felt uncomfortable with her strange look and asked tentatively, "Do you want these fish?"
The girl nodded subconsciously.
Wang Gu'an smiled and said, "Then I'll give you all three. I'll catch more later."
The girl blinked and smiled happily. She was charming and seductive.