In 1150 BC, the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit was about to be buried. A jade craftsman named Pu Gen knelt beside the pit and watched the carnelian beads he had polished being thrown into the fire.
Three years ago, he licked a piece of red ore - the astringent taste of the northern mountains came to his tongue. The King of Shu said: Find the root of this stone. He led twenty people northward, passing through the miasma of the Qinling Mountains, the dead silence under the hanging coffin, and the territory of the black bear. On the road, some people jumped off the cliff, some were picked up by wolves, and some died in the glacier.
After crossing the Yinshan Mountains, there was an expelled young man named Gen on the grassland who said he would take me away. The priestess Si Jiang from Hanzhong insisted on following him, saying that she dreamed of a visitor from the south carrying a red light on his back. The blind man Gusou drew a map with his ears and told them that the road was not under their feet, but in the mouths of the people on the road.
Three years later, seven people came back. Sijiang stayed in the grassland to teach people how to farm, and became the leader of the tribe. He knelt in the ruins to rebuild his Qiang tribe. The ore Pugen brought back was ground into 360 beads, and 359 beads were buried in the sacrificial pit. He clutched the last soybean-sized one to death.
Three thousand years later, scientists stared at the microscope: that bead came from Yanshan. Outside the window, a boy looked at it through the glass. He didn't know that the craftsman was called Pugen, and he didn't know how to travel three thousand miles. But the beads were as red as blood, like the sun, and like a place far, far away.
Reader comments
The craftsman who licked the stone licked it all the way to Yanshan and died.
Pu Gen has always believed in a dead truth: wherever the stone comes from, he must go there. Twenty people followed him, and as he walked, only seven remained. He picked up the bones of those who died in the miasma, those who died under bear paws, and those who died in the glacier, wrapped them in cloth, and carried them back on his back.
This is not a story about princes and generals, but a bunch of little people who risked their lives on a three-thousand-mile journey for a red stone. Gen said, "Take me away," and Si Jiang said, "I want to see if it's true." Hu didn't complain from the beginning to the end. They don't understand the righteousness of the family and the country, but they know that what they promised must be done.
He was reluctant to bury the last bead and held on to it until death. Three thousand years later, it was dug out of the soil, and it was still red.
I wasn't tired from reading this book, but I was bored. When those people walk on the road, they say and do things as if they are really in front of you. They also miss home, their wives and children, but they still have to move forward. Mao asked his master: "Why do you have to walk so far?" Pu Gen didn't answer. In fact, he answered - he held on to that bead all his life.
Three thousand miles of mountains and rivers, one red stone, and a group of people. Three thousand years of dust has covered it, and there are still things that make people feel distressed.
The craftsman who licked the stone licked it all the way to Yanshan and died. Pu Gen has always believed in a dead truth: wherever the stone comes from, he must go there. Twenty people followed him, and as he walked, only seven remained. He picked up the bones of those who died in the miasma, those who died under bear paws, and those who died in the glacier, wrapped them in cloth, and carried them back on his back. This is not a story about princes and generals, but a bunch of little people who risked their lives on a three-thousand-mile journey for a red stone. Gen said, "Take me away," and Si Jiang said, "I want to see if it's true." Hu didn't complain from the beginning to the end. They don't understand the righteousness of the family and the country, but they know that what they promised must be done. He was reluctant to bury the last bead and held on to it until death. Three thousand years later, it was dug out of the soil, and it was still red. I wasn't tired from reading this book, but I was bored. When those people walk on the road, they say and do things as if they are really in front of you. They also miss home, their wives and children, but they still have to move forward. Mao asked his master: "Why do you have to walk so far?" Pu Gen didn't answer. In fact, he answered - he held on to that bead all his life. Three thousand miles of mountains and rivers, one red stone, and a group of people. Three thousand years of dust has covered it, and there are still things that make people feel distressed.