Old Deeds of Mountains and Rivers

Mountains and rivers have names, and human beings have contracts. People in the world think that mountains are just mountains, water is just water, and roads are just roads. Villages are renamed, old bridges are demolished, old temples are moved, and ancestral graves are buried together. This is just a change of years, and the world is moving forward. But some names are not chosen casually. A bridge has sent away the dead and welcomed brides; a well has nourished generations of people, and has also hidden past events that no one dares to tell; a monument has engraved not only merits and deeds, but also accounts that the living are unwilling to admit and the dead cannot forget. People live among mountains and rivers. After a long time, they form a silent contract with mountains and rivers. The name of the village, place, well, bridge, temple, and tomb are all the place of origin; genealogy, inscriptions, old pictures, incense, old roads, and boundary stones are all evidence. If names are erased, roads are cut off, monuments are flattened, temples have no incense, and graves have no home, those forgotten people and things will not really disappear. They just sink into the depths of mountains and rivers, waiting for someone to recognize them again. There is an almost lost profession in the world called Xingqi. Those who follow the contract do not seek to ascend, nor strive for immortality, but only walk in the world. Recognize the name, find the route, determine the boundary, inquire about the water, install the monument, invite the community, interpret the deed, change the deed, and establish the deed. They filled in the names of the unknown, found paths for the homeless, resettled old temples, bridges, wells and graves, and broke off the bad contracts with their own hands that should not have been left in the world. Mountains and rivers can be changed. A new city can be established. Old roads can be replaced by new ones. The traces of a person's life cannot be deleted casually. Because once the old bonds between mountains and rivers are severed, the living will have nowhere to come from, and the dead will have no way back.