The river undulating water made the pleasure boat sway lightly. The sound of silk and bamboo in the pleasure boat was spreading on the river surface, as if it was dancing with the woman by the river.

The woman raised a piece of her sleeve, covered her face lightly, raised her peach eyes, looked at Gu Nan, spoke, and sang a small lyrics in a low voice.

"The country is not here, the general will return, but will the general return. My hometown is not here, but will the general return?"

In a word, the sleeves spread out, and the sound of the wind moved. The spring breeze moved the hem of the clothes, wrinkled the river water, and wrinkled people's hearts.

The woman by the river danced gracefully among the flying catkins like smoke. The little lyrics spread farther and farther with the music, as if they had passed through the distant years.

"The mountains and rivers are thousands of miles away, and it is hard to return to the road. I ask you when you will return. There are millions of soldiers and wars, and the peace will come."

The chanting sounds are far away, and the back is facing the distant mountains outside the city. The woman's plain clothes are untainted and her eyes are drooping.

"I still remember the old sounds that have not been gone for a long time, I still remember the old friends under the tree still rely on each other. I still remember going to the battlefield, leaving a white dress..."

Except for the music, all the sounds of the riverside stopped, leaving only the short lying lyrics.

Gu Nan also looked at the woman in a daze until the dance gradually ended and the music gradually faded. The woman's dance stopped and she sang the last sentence to Gu Nan.

"The old friend is not here, the general will return or not. It is peaceful, will the general return or not?"

She seemed to be asking Gu Nan, and she seemed to be trying to persuade Gu Nan that the country was no longer there, the homeland was no longer there, and the old friend was no longer there, and she might be the time to let go.

But Gu Nan looked at her for a long time and asked.

"Where do you want to go?"

The woman was stunned, but found that she couldn't answer.

After thinking for a long time, she remembered the small house in Gu Nan's forest and said.

"Otherwise, I'll build you a house."

In her impression, people regard houses as their homes, and they can naturally return home with homes.

Gu Nan was amused by her and said with a brow raised.

"That would be better, you marry me again. This way, you will be a family, and you will not let you down on calling me Gu Lang."

(In addition to being a young man, Lang is also a woman’s name for husband or lover.)

The woman was stunned for a moment, and there seemed to be a little blush on her face, but this might be just because she was tired of dancing.

She turned her head slightly, and said in a calm voice.

"If you want to, you can."

Gu Nan looked at the woman and shook her head with a smile. She really didn't know anything.

"I'm kidding you, you really believe it."

"So." The blush on the woman's face that could hardly be seen dissipated, and she asked again: "Do you want the house?"

Sighing, Gu Nan covered his hat on his face and lay down.

"What do I want the house to do?"

She seemed to have fallen asleep by the river. The woman stood for a while and sat down next to her without waking her up again.

In the pleasure boat, the middle-aged man looked at the riverside in a daze and said to the person beside him who was also in a daze.

"Go and invite the woman who danced by the river just now, I want to see her."

But when the middle-aged man sent him to the river, he could no longer find the woman. He only saw a man in blue lying under the willow tree, dozing.

A hat was covered with his face, and a peach blossom was placed beside him.

However, there are no peach blossom trees on both sides of the strait, and I don’t know where the peach blossoms came from.

After finishing the painting, the scholar on the street painting stall finished painting. He put away his pen, looked at the scene on the scroll, and let out a long sigh. This painting is the best one he has painted in all his paintings now, and probably the best one he has painted in his life.

In the painting, the willows are swaying, and it should be the best time for spring. A woman by the river sang and danced, probably a long time ago.

But the man in blue clothes facing the woman might be too ordinary and ignored by him.

The next year, the middle-aged man came to Yangzhou again. This time he came as the Emperor of Sui and people said he was looking for a woman.

Unfortunately, he still couldn't find it. He only found a painting of the woman, and bought it for a lot of money and took it back. According to legend, a few years later, the painting disappeared in his bedroom, and no one has seen it again.

······

Gu Nan has gradually lost track of these times, about ten years or decades.

The mountains and forests are quiet.

"Dang chang."

On a mountain road among the forest, a crisp sound sounded.

A young monk came over and looked a little thin, the brown robes he draped over his body and the monk's robe he wore inside seemed a little wide, holding a Zen stick in his hand.

The crisp sound came from the Zen Staff in his hand, and the rings hanging on the Zen Staff jingled as he walked.

In Buddhism, the Zen stick is used as a tool to alert you to sleep when sitting in meditation, so such a sound is really easy to disturb people's dreams.

When the monk was walking along the mountain road, he saw a person next to the road.

She was lying on a stone on the side of the road, wearing an ordinary cloth robes and a hat, and a black "stroller" hanging from one side on her waist.

Gu Nan passed by here. He thought that the mountains and forests were quiet, so he took a nap here. Who knew that he was awakened by the sudden sound not long after he fell asleep.

Helplessly, he took off the hat on his head, supported himself, and sat up.

It seems that every time she sleeps on the roadside, she will be woken up by someone.

When the monk saw Gu Nan awake, he raised one palm, stood in front of him and bowed, and said slowly.

"The little monk passed by here and accidentally disturbed the donor. Please forgive me."

Gu Nan held the hat and looked at the person in front of him.

At the same time, the monk also looked at her. When he saw her appearance clearly, the monk was slightly stunned, but soon came back to his senses, bowed again with a calm expression, and said.

"I don't know if it's the female donor, but the little monk is rude again."

"It's nothing." Gu Nan waved his hand, jumped off the stone, patted his clothes, and since she woke up, she was ready to leave.

Seeing that she was about to leave, the monk continued to walk towards his original path.

It’s impossible to say a few words when we meet by chance.

But before he could walk out a few steps, Gu Nan's voice came from behind him: "Well, monk, do you have any food on you?"

The monk stopped and turned around in confusion: "Yes, yes, is there anything, is the donor?"

"I haven't had dinner in three days, can I give me some?"

The mountain road was silent for a while, and after a while, the monk nodded: "So."

As he said that, he took off the luggage he was carrying behind him, placed it on the ground, and opened it, with three steamed buns inside.

This steamed bun looks a bit old, with a gray complexion that is as hard as a stone.

He broke one of the steamed buns in half, then handed them to Gu Nan with two and a half steamed buns.

"I haven't left much along the way, there's only this. Please keep it."

When Gu Nan saw this monk giving her three steamed buns two and a half, she rarely saw such a person.

"Monk, what's your name?"
Chapter completed!