Chapter 2 Strangers in a Strange Land Are All Transient

  Leaning on a dog-beating stick, to be exact, a wooden stick came to the door, the sun was slanting and hanging in the sky, seemingly lower than when I just woke up, it seems that now is the afternoon time.

  At the entrance of the Taoist temple, there is a small open space below the three-level stone steps. The ground is covered with weeds and has a worn-out path in the middle. In the left corner of the open space stands a small tree, about the size that can be hugged by one person. The tree is lush and green. A few butterflies are flying up and down among the weeds, looking serene under the sunlight of the late afternoon.

  At the end of spring and beginning of summer, Wang Kuang confirmed that it was now this season, but he didn't know which month.

  There was a small puddle of water on the edge of the stairs, apparently left over from the rain two days ago. Wang saw his own reflection in the water: a pale and thin face that looked about ten years old. Not handsome, just not ugly either. His eyebrows were slightly similar to those of his previous life, thicker than before. Apart from this, there was no other distinctive feature.

  Only around ten years old! Such a weak and small body, at this age, what future is there?

  Thinking of this, his body felt a bit weak, and he sat down on the stone steps with the help of a wooden stick. The stones had been warmed by the sun and were slightly hot to sit on, but Wang Kuang couldn't care about that anymore.

  "Two children," he said: "Come help me recall memories and see if I can remember things from before."

  "Dogzi Ge, have you really forgotten?" Erzi sat down beside Wang Kuang on the stone steps, looking up at him with a worried expression.

  Ergou's body looks like he's only six or seven years old. I really don't know how Ergou's thin and small body managed to hold on during the few days that Dogzi Ge was unconscious.

  "I don't remember clearly, just some vague impressions. You tell me first, where are we? How did we get here?"

  "Does Dogzi remember taking me to the river to catch fish in the past?"

  "Oh, fishing? I have some impression." Wang had also often been taken to the river by his older cousin to fish when he was young. Anyway, it's just a few tricks, so admitting this shouldn't be a problem, right? So he responded vaguely.

  "That day, we were fishing in the river and returned to the village, but the village was gone......" Erzi's voice grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared. Wang Kuang turned his head in surprise and saw that Erzi's originally innocent face was filled with a terrified expression. His bright eyes were now full of fear, staring blankly ahead, and under the afternoon sun, Erzi's small body was trembling slightly.

  What a terrible fear! Wang Kuang had an extremely ominous premonition in his heart. He sighed, hugged Erzi's body, and slowly stroked his messy hair with one hand: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Dogzi Ge is here."

  In the intermittent sobs of Erzi, Wang Kuang roughly understood the origin of this body:

  Gouz and Erzi were both from Wang Village. Since there were only two children in the village for those two years, and they were neighbors, they often played together, went fishing together, and picked wild fruit on the mountain together. A few months ago, a group of soldiers came to kill all the old and young people in the village, but the two of them happened to be hiding behind a small temple at the entrance of the village after returning from fishing, narrowly escaping disaster. It was said that because the strong men in the village had rebelled against the general, he ordered the entire village to be exterminated. Then the village was burned to ashes.

  After the soldiers left, the two of them searched for the villagers' bodies in the fire heap. They were all burned beyond recognition. Afraid that the soldiers would come again, they hastily covered their relatives with some earth and stones and escaped. Then, begging along the way, they drifted to Jian'an City. The two relied on each other for survival and settled down in this broken Taoist temple.

  Because the dog is older and understands many things, it has been in a state of sorrow for several months. On the other hand, the second child is younger and doesn't fully understand what's going on, although it's also suffering, it can somehow hold on. Over the past few months, the dog's body has become weaker and weaker, coupled with hunger, it finally fainted and fell unconscious three days ago.

  As for the dynasty year and location, nothing can be asked from the young second son. A child of just a few years old, how would he know what dynasty it is now, being able to know that the current county town is called Jian'an is already quite good. This was still learned during the process of begging from passersby.

  Jian'an, where is it? Wang Kuang thought hard, but unfortunately his poor historical knowledge was not compatible, and he had to give up reluctantly. It seemed that he still had to go out on the street to ask clearly.

  "Two sons." Suddenly, Wang Kuang was stunned: What I just said is Minbei dialect! The two sons and the one who spoke to him also spoke in Minbei dialect.

  Suddenly a burst of wild joy: Heaven, you finally didn't play favorites, at least I've returned to my old home, even if it is the old home from a thousand years ago!

  It's that simple, one always knows more about the history of their own hometown. Jian'an, which later became Jian'ou. My old home is in Pucheng Shibi, not far from Jian'ou. Wait a minute, it seems like Shibi was under the jurisdiction of Jian'an in ancient times. In that case, without a doubt, I must have traveled back to the Tang Dynasty or afterwards.

  Other details can only be clarified by asking around on the street. Wang Kuang thought, looking at the butterflies still fluttering in the air above the empty land, and felt a little envious: after all, they were carefree.

  Withdraw your gaze and see that the grass on the edge of the stairs is a bit familiar, rub your eyes: Plantain! The stomach starts to rumble.

  "Second son, come quickly and pull out the grass in front of the cart, we'll cook it and eat." Wang Kuang didn't have the energy to think about that anymore, he hurriedly called out to Erzi.

  "Dogzi Ge, is this called che qian cao? Can it be eaten?" Erzi hesitated a bit.

  "It's edible and delicious, hurry up, aren't you hungry?" Wang Kuang urged repeatedly. Seeing Erzi hesitating, he said: "Your dog brother is older than you, has seen more things than you, hurry up, trust me."

  "Hmm, so we won't go hungry tonight, there's a lot of this grass around here." Erzi was overjoyed.

  The two brothers were diligently picking the leaves of Plantago asiatica. Wang Kuang had already decided that since he was here, he would make himself at home, and didn't care about things like crossing over or being a stranger in a strange land - all just nonsense. Hmm... it seemed this place wasn't considered a strange land either.

  The two brothers washed a large pile of plantain leaves in the water tank in front of the Taoist temple, boiled a pot of water, and prepared to put the plantain leaves in after the water opened.

  "It's a pity there's no oil, salt and other seasonings, otherwise the taste should be good." Wang Kuang said with some regret. In his previous life, wild vegetables were already selling for more than pork, and rich people were all flocking to the countryside just to get a taste of authentic wild vegetables.

  "Brother Dog, here!" Hearing Wang Kuang's muttering to himself, Erzi carefully pulled out something wrapped in leaves from his bosom and unfolded it. It turned out to be the small piece of mutton fat from before: "I didn't bear to eat it just now. I wanted to save it for Brother Dog to eat at night."

  Wang Kuang's nose suddenly felt a bit sour, and his eyes moistened involuntarily: "Stupid kid..."

  The two children lowered their heads in embarrassment, but then suddenly remembered something and quickly ran to the back of the statue, rummaged around and took out a package wrapped in dry leaves, and presented it to Wang Kuang: "Look, we have salt too."

  Wrapped in the leaves were some white frost-like particles, but they were definitely not salt. Wang recognized this thing, when he was a child in his hometown, he often ate it. There is a kind of tree called "salt and pepper" in local dialect, which will form a layer of white frost-like salty small particles on its leaves in winter. In the past, when salt was scarce at home, they used it as salt.

  "Alright, we have salt and oil, now let's see Dogzi make something delicious for you." Wang Kuang used the broken ceramic bowl to scoop out a bowl of water from the ceramic jar that had already been opened. After blowing it cool with his mouth, he quickly threw in some plantain leaves, rolled them around a few times, then scooped them out and soaked them in the cooled bowl, draining off the excess water. Using the pair of tree branches as chopsticks, he pushed the leaves to one side, added salt and a small piece of mutton fat, mashed it up, and then mixed the leaves well.

  "It's edible now, Erzi, you try some." Wang Kuang handed the bowl to Erzi.

  "It's really delicious. Dogzi, this is much better than those who directly throw the leaves into the pot to cook and eat together with the soup, not bitter, a bit crispy." After taking a small sip, Erzi couldn't wait to take a big mouthful, then handed the bowl back to Wang Kuang, saying vaguely.

  "Ah, that's your brother's cooking, it must be delicious." Seeing Erzi eating happily, Wang Kuang also felt a bit happy.

  "From now on, we won't go hungry again," said the elder brother, "this thing called car front grass is everywhere." After eating, Erzi's eyes were full of little stars, looking forward to a day without hunger.

  "It's not just the grass in front of the car, many wild grasses can be eaten, but they mustn't be eaten raw, or it will hurt your stomach. Later, Dogzi Ge will slowly teach you."

  It was night, and for the first time in months, the two brothers did not spend it in hunger, although the grass before the car was not enough to satisfy their hunger.