Searching for Treasures in the Clouds

Chapter 410 Tree Mother

Yunji Xing used his connections to meet the museum curator of the museum where the Jinxiu Ruihua Cloth Shop kept the cloth. Through the curator, they learned the origin of the cloth. It was donated by a family surnamed Sun.

Donors leave their contact information at the museum, through which they contact the family that appears and get a chance to meet them.

Today, they are going to visit the family surnamed Sun.

The Sun family lived in a self-built bungalow in the countryside. Yu Ru and the others had already arrived at their doorstep. The bungalow had a small courtyard, which was locked and quiet; it seemed the people inside had gone out.

The group stood listlessly at the door. Yanzi and Ahong were carrying fruit and milk, and their arms were sore from holding them for so long. They couldn't help but shrug and move their shoulders and necks within a very limited range. Yunji Xing noticed their actions out of the corner of his eye and said, "If you're tired of carrying them, just put them on the ground. The ground is paved with cement, so it won't get dirty."

The two breathed a sigh of relief and happily put down the fruit basket and milk they were carrying.

After waiting a while, a figure finally appeared in the courtyard. An old man with faltering steps walked towards the door. He was really old, like an old vine, hunched over, and much shorter than a normal person.

"How long have you been here?" The old man smiled warmly at them, greeted them in a thick Chongqing dialect, and opened the door for them. "You're here, why did you bring so much stuff?"

"Hello, Grandpa, I just arrived." Yun Jixing stepped forward and shook the old man's hand.

Fortunately, the local dialect and Mandarin are somewhat interchangeable, so they could barely understand what the old man was saying. The group carried the gifts and followed the old man into the inner room.

After entering the house, the old man poured everyone a glass of water, then sat down and chatted with them. Like most elderly people, he first inquired about Yunjixing's basic information, such as: age, marital status, whether he had children, and his birth order in the family...

After the questioning was completed, he began to talk about his family situation.

Yun Jixing patiently answered all his questions and listened attentively to his situation. About half an hour later, the old man remembered the purpose of their trip.

"Oh, right, young men, you want to know where that cloth came from, right?"

Yun Jixing nodded. "Yes, Grandpa. May I ask how you obtained that piece of cloth?"

"That... I used to work in someone's house, and the boss gave it to me..." The old man's gaze fell on the ground beside him, lost in memories.

……

After leaving the old man's house, Yu Ru and the others learned about the origin of the cloth and some things about Jinxiu Ruihua Cloth Shop.

It turns out that the old man used to work as a shop assistant at Jinxiu Ruihua Cloth Shop, and that bolt of cloth was a holiday gift from the boss. Jinxiu Ruihua Cloth Shop was once very famous in the mountain town, so anything that happened there would always be talked about by word of mouth. Since Jinxiu Ruihua Cloth Shop had existed for several decades, the old man didn't remember much about it.

But there was one thing he remembered very clearly, and it concerned the young lady of the cloth shop. Back then, due to war and widespread suffering, people lacked food, which led to bandits robbing and killing everywhere. Once, the young lady of the cloth shop went out for a stroll, and because of her beauty, she was kidnapped by a bandit leader and never heard from again.

The eldest daughter's surname was Si, and the bandit leader's surname was "Yuan," and he was known as "Scarface Wolf" back in the day. This man was extremely vicious and was the most powerful bandit in the mountain town, so when his daughter was kidnapped, the Si family was helpless.

The old man spoke with an accent, his speech was not very clear, and he couldn't write. Yu Ru and the others didn't know which character "yuan" he was referring to. Because Yun Jixing had to return to the old house to worship his tree mother in the middle of each year, they didn't have time to figure out which character it was before they had to return to the old house.

They stayed in the mountain town for five days, returning just in time for the worship ceremony. The timing of the worship of the Tree Mother had to be strictly adhered to; being even an hour early or late was unacceptable. Back at the old house, Yun Jixing led Yu Ru straight to the old house's pasture.

In the pasture where cattle and horses graze, there stands a six-hundred-year-old tree. This is the godmother chosen by the shaman for Yunjixing, to bear the pain of broken bones and tendons in his place. It used to be a magnificent canopy, its leaves clustered together like a green cloud atop its branches. Beneath it, moss covered the gnarled roots with a velvety layer, and standing beneath it, one could feel a moist, refreshing scent. From top to bottom, everything breathed in its own natural rhythm.

Now, the tree is completely withered. Not a single leaf remains on its branches, and the trunk resembles cracked skin, with bark hanging precariously. Furthermore, all the smaller branches that branched off from the main trunk have broken off, but they have all been picked up and neatly piled at the base of the tree.

Yu Ru's gaze darted back and forth between Yun Jixing and the large tree in front of her, and she made a very strange discovery. The broken branches of the tree resembled Yun Jixing's severed tendons; the peeling bark of the tree was like Yun Jixing's damaged skin; the fallen leaves resembled the hair Yun Jixing had shaved off; and the twisted side branches of the tree seemed to be Yun Jixing's deformed limbs...

Each of the changes to the tree corresponds perfectly to the injuries on Yunjixing's body.

Such amazing things really do exist in the world! Shanren is truly powerful and resourceful to be able to find such a master.

Speaking of this tree, the Yun family has a magical story about it. Over a hundred years ago, when the Yun family was building their current ancestral home, the head of the family consulted a geomancer to assess the location and feng shui. The geomancer predicted that the Yun family would face annihilation a hundred years from now, and the solution lay in finding a century-old tree and enclosing it on their land. A hundred years later, this tree would await someone who would use it, and that person would be the one to avert the Yun family's annihilation.

After hearing this story, Yu Ru became a firm believer in cultivating immortality. It was simply too amazing! Something calculated a hundred years ago matched events that occurred a hundred years later—wasn't that something only immortals could do?

“Aru, this is my tree mother,” Yunjixing introduced to Yuru.

Yu Ru nodded. "You should hurry up and become the godmother, don't be late."

"Ah."

Yun Jixing lit three incense sticks in his hand and then knelt down in front of the tree. As he knelt, the smoke from the three incense sticks did not dissipate but rose straight up until it reached the treetops, like three spiritual paths.

"Now I offer three sticks of incense from my heart to Heaven."

The tree that bears pain and suffering bows its head in reverence.

The mother tree absorbed my illnesses, its branches became my bones, and its leaves became my flesh.

All that I bear is entrusted to you;

May Mother's body be as supple as before, and may the green shade flourish once more.

May the mother tree remain evergreen, living and breathing together with the deep.

After reciting the prayer, Yun Jixing placed the three incense sticks he was holding into the incense burner placed on the ground in front of him. Then, he clasped his hands together and pressed them against his forehead, beginning to kowtow. On the third kowtow, his forehead pressed against a tree root and remained motionless.

Five minutes later, he straightened up.

Seeing his serious expression, Yu Ru instinctively felt that the worship ceremony was not yet over, so she did not make a sound to disturb him.

Yun Jixing stood up, took out a silver needle from his pocket, pricked his index finger, pressed it with his other hand, and drew out a drop of blood. He smeared the blood on the trunk of the tree, muttering, "That which bore my calamity is my mother; that which endured my pain receives my devotion. Today I offer a drop of my blood to continue this covenant."

Yun Jixing gently placed his hand on the tree and remained silent for a moment before turning to Yu Ru and saying, "Aru, give me the zither."

"Oh." Yu Ru stepped forward and handed the guqin she was holding to him.

Yun Jixing took the zither, sat down on the ground, and placed the zither on his lap. He then said to the tree, "Mother suffered excruciating pain for Yuan, and Yuan has nothing tangible to repay even a fraction of this. I can only play a soothing melody to calm Mother's anger and soothe her spirit. Please listen to it and accept it."

Seeing that he was about to play the instruments, Yu Ru sat down on the ground as well. She knew Yun Jixing was multi-talented, playing the guqin, guzheng, cello, and pipa, and all at a high performance level, but she hadn't heard him play much. In other words, they rarely did anything so refined. When they got together, it was either eating and drinking or crying and crying.

Besides eating, all they do is cry, and then they gossip about others...