Chapter 4: The Folding Fan of Joy

  After staying at Songhu Dian for a while, I had a bowl of braised noodles.

  To be honest, the flavor of this braised noodle dish is not that great, which is probably why not many people eat it. Although saying so may seem a bit like I'm stretching my arm to pat myself on the back, but the truth is indeed so.

  Eating braised noodles is better with braised flavor.

  Nan state's braised flavor is also famous, including braised large intestine, pig lung, goose meat, braised egg, and braised tofu. These dishes are marinated in various spices to bring out the flavors. When you take a bite, not only do you taste the original flavor of the ingredients, but also a hint of natural spice flavor that instantly stimulates your appetite and opens up your stomach.

  Unfortunately, there was nothing in Song Hu's store, only some intestines that had been marinated and then marinated again, obviously already turned black, and a few pieces of rotten tofu.

  Song Wen shook his head repeatedly, this is not a good business, at least it should be marinated with some bamboo shoots. The surrounding mountains are all planted with bamboo, and dried bamboo shoots are the cheapest. Marinated dried bamboo shoots also taste good, I don't know if this guy really wants to open a store, but he doesn't even do a good job, it seems that I need to teach him a few tricks another day.

  Song Wen is a typical case of eating in his mouth and blaming in his heart. Song Hu has such a brother, which is also unlucky enough.

  After eating noodles, it was already late, and Song Wen patted his butt and left.

  As soon as he returned home, he saw his mother cooking in the kitchen, his elder sister-in-law Lin Qinglan was knitting a sweater with yarn on a chair, and his four-year-old nephew was playing with a small iron car beside her, calling out happily.

  Song Wen's home is in the back row of Xin Village, which was built later. Because he didn't think about opening a store, when the village arranged the house site at that time, he chose a relatively quiet place in the back. Song Wen and his brother Song Wu each had a set, which had been renovated, but he had always been outside, and the house was empty, with nothing inside, so when he came back, he would stay at his brother's place.

  "Mom, where's Dad?" Song Wen asked when he saw his dad wasn't there.

  "He went up the mountain and will be fighting bamboo shoots tomorrow, so he'll be staying over there tonight." Chen Xiuhui replied, poking her head out of the kitchen.

  "Oh, then I'll go help tomorrow too."

  "It's okay, you get up, your dad has already finished digging."

  "Uh..." Song Wen scratched his head a bit awkwardly.

  Recently, I've been really lazy, sleeping in till after 9 every day, it's totally decadent.

  There are several hills of bamboo at home, and now is the season for bamboo shoots to emerge.

  Digging bamboo shoots should be done early, go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots when it's still a little dark, you can clearly see that there is a patch of wet water marks on the ground in the bamboo forest, which means that this place has bamboo shoots that are about to break through the soil. After sunrise, the ground is exposed to sunlight, and the water evaporates, making it difficult to find bamboo shoots, relying on experience. The bamboo forest is far from home, so his father would stay on the mountain every time he dug bamboo shoots, saving the time spent walking back and forth.

  After dinner, Song Wen played with his little nephew for a while before going back to bed.

  This little nephew, when he came back, didn't even acknowledge him, and had even forgotten who he was, until he pulled out a big pile of small toys he had brought back from outside. Only then did the little guy excitedly run over to affectionately call him "Uncle, Uncle". Now whenever he plays with his friends, he takes out the toys Song Wen bought for him and loudly says "This is what my uncle bought for me", acting all proud as if anyone didn't have an uncle.

  Back in the room, Song Wen took out the fan and copper mirror he had found in his grandfather's room. Seeing how dirty and dusty they were, he went to find a clean rag to wipe them down.

  It's strange to say that although the copper mirror surface is rusty and stained, once wiped away, the rust actually slowly peels off from the mirror.

  After wiping it clean, the rust disappeared and there was no damage to the copper mirror. Song Wen felt strange and couldn't help but pick up the copper mirror for a closer look. Suddenly, he felt a familiar aura emanating from the mirror, a blood connection that was both eerie and inexplicable.

  He took the copper mirror and looked at it carefully from left to right, front and back, but couldn't see anything unusual, so he gave up. He then took some candle wax, wiped the copper mirror clean, found a soft cloth and slowly polished the copper mirror, taking care of it.

  In a little while, the copper mirror became bright and shining, looking like new.

  Song Wen looked at it for a moment, very satisfied, and put the copper mirror aside, continuing to pick up the fan and wipe it.

  The fan had been covered in dust for a long time, with a thick layer of gray dust on its surface, looking very dirty. But who would have thought that with just a light wipe with a cloth, the dust was wiped away, revealing a snowy white fan surface. He gently touched it with his hand, and the fan surface felt exceptionally soft, not like paper, but rather like silk. His eyes widened in amazement, feeling unbelievable.

  He hastily picked up the fan and wiped it clean, and in a moment, the fan was spotless, revealing its pristine white surface. With a light touch, it felt as soft and delicate as a young girl's skin, smooth to the touch, truly beyond words.

  Looking at the two characters "Rú Yì" on the fan again, they seem to have been written just now, still with a hint of moisture, and even the seal marks are the same.

  There is another landscape painting on the other side, which looks even more vivid and does not look like an old object at all.

  The mountains in the painting are undulating, with thousands of peaks stacked in a lush green color, surrounded by clouds and mist.

  In the distance between mountains, a waterfall falls straight down from the mountain and drops into the pool, splashing countless water droplets.

  The waterfall rushes down and overflows from the pool, turning into a small stream that flows slowly outward.

  The brook winds its way through the mountains, flowing past shallow pools filled with green grass, bays filled with mountain rocks, slopes covered with blooming flowers, and riverbanks lined with dense forests.

  Song Wen looked at the landscape painting on the fan and thought to himself, "If I could spend my life in such a picturesque place, it would be worth it." As he thought about it, he couldn't help but reach out to touch the surface of the fan.

  Suddenly, everything in front of him became blurry, and when he came to, Song Wen found himself in a strange place.

  The fan in hand is no longer there, and what comes into view is a vast expanse of empty land. In one corner of the empty land are several half-body-high rugged rocks, from which a small spring constantly emerges and flows into a circular pool in front of the rocks. The pool is about five or six meters in diameter, next to it is a piece of fertile land about three mu. Outside the empty land, misty fog fills the air, making it impossible to see anything clearly, nor can one tell if there are other places beyond the fog.

  Looking at the scene in front of him, Song Wen was very puzzled. Was he dreaming? He slapped his hand hard, it hurt, so it wasn't a dream. What's going on then?

  He couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought, so he curiously strolled around the empty lot.

  Arriving at the edge of the empty land, he tried to walk into the fog, but unexpectedly the fog was like a sponge. When you walked in, it felt soft, but no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get in. It was really strange. He tried again around and found that there was no way to enter the fog, so he had to give up and continue to explore this unfamiliar place.

  As he approached the edge of the pool, he found that there was a layer of mist floating on the surface of the water, as if it were smoking. He curiously walked over and scooped up some pool water with his hands, finding that the pool water was warm. The mist above should be the warm pool water evaporating, just like the spring pond, which is also covered with a layer of mist in the morning.

  It's really strange, and I don't know where this is either. The scenery around seems a bit familiar, as if I've seen it somewhere before.

  After some thought, Song Wen suddenly realized that this wasn't the landscape painting on the fan. The small stream flowing by the shore, wasn't there a scene like this? How did he end up inside the painting? What's going on? But even if he was inside the landscape painting, it shouldn't just be this empty space in front of him! The mountains and rivers in the painting stretched far and wide, with streams, mountains, waterfalls, how could there only be this small patch of land.

  Where is this place? I want to get out! I want to get out! Song Wen shouted in his heart.

  In a flash of thought, he was back in the room again, still holding that fan.

  How strange! How can this be?

  Song Wenhua's mind was puzzled, and he looked at the landscape painting on his fan in his hand. One of the scenes on it was indeed the same as the place he had just been to.

  "What's going on? Can I really go inside a fan?" As he thought about it, Song Wen shouted in his heart: "I want to go in."

  In an instant, he was back on the empty ground again.

  Could it be that he could really go back and forth between the painting and reality? Song Wen felt it was too unbelievable, too strange, too beyond ordinary.

  For a moment, I was stunned and didn't know what to do.

  After a while, he came back to his senses and felt that everything in front of him was still too unreal, making it hard to believe. He didn't dare to believe that all this was real, so he tried shouting in his heart again: "I want to get out."

  In an instant, people were back in the room again.

  Never thought he could really go back and forth between the painting on the fan and reality, Song Wenhua was overjoyed.

  But what's the use of it, and I don't know if I can put things inside. If I can, then in the future when I go out, I won't need to carry a backpack on my back? Thinking like this, he picked up a book and thought that he wanted to enter, and instantly, the person and the book appeared in the middle of the fan.

  He really could, and he picked up a chair with an air of "I don't believe it" and tried it out, finding that it worked too. This time he was overjoyed, laughing so hard his mouth split wide open.

  After his excitement had passed, he came back inside the fan and looked carefully again.

  Inside there is nothing, only a pool of water about five or six meters in size and a piece of land about one-third of an acre, as well as several strange rocks.

  The water in the pool was clear and warm. Song Wen glanced at the pool with a faint mist of water vapor rising from it, feeling his body itch slightly.

  Recently, the weather suddenly turned cold, he didn't even feel like taking a bath, although there was a water heater at home, but just didn't want to wash.

  At this time, seeing the warm water pool and the cozy environment here, he suddenly wanted to take a bath. Anyway, there was no one around to peek, so he quickly took off his clothes and jumped into the pool.

  The water in the pool is warm, neither cold nor hot, just right. Song Wen suddenly fell in love with it and thought that if he could come here to soak every day in the future, it would be a happy life like an immortal.