The world they inhabited was vast and empty, seemingly offering only three possible directions.
Gray, silver, and blood red—like three multiple-choice questions about colors.
The gray world housed a group of men making a living through clandestine schemes; the silver world was dazzling, but only a single tree could be vaguely seen; the blood red world was horrific and terrifying, enough to deter anyone from venturing there.
The two girls mentally ruled out the blood red option.
"These three directions might not be a simple multiple-choice question," Gu Qingqing said.
"Could we possibly enter two worlds at once?" Wu You asked, puzzled.
"Perhaps the option we rejected this time will reappear next time," Gu Qingqing offered her analysis.
A next time?
Wu You composed himself, glancing silently at his phone. "An hour and a half has passed; we need to hurry."
"Let's do a rough analysis," Gu Qingqing said, staring at the gray and silver skies. "Based on your description, the people in the gray world are doing things they 'don't want to be discovered.' Our sudden intrusion is probably unacceptable to them. In the silver world, we can only vaguely see a tree; at least we don't see any other danger."
"I'm also more inclined towards that world," Wu You said, glancing in that direction. The silver world remained dazzling, the enormous tree shadows even possessing a certain magnificence.
Unable to find further clues, the two walked towards the silver world.
Wu You's large leather pouch barely revealed the hourglass filled with gold sand.
"This leather pouch can obviously hold more than just one hourglass," Gu Qingqing said. "If the quicksand world we just experienced is the first world, then we have successfully obtained what was in that world—the golden hourglass. The second world presents us with a choice between three options, and we probably need to obtain something from the second world to put in the leather pouch to be considered successful. I believe that each world cannot exist independently; they must be connected."
"You mean, the second item might be related to the golden hourglass?"
Gu Qingqing nodded: "It should be related, but the golden hourglass has many characteristics, making it difficult to determine which aspect of the golden hourglass the second item is related to—is it the sand, the gold, the time represented by the hourglass, or even the hourglass's unique shape?"
"What's even more perplexing is that we haven't grasped the characteristics of these three worlds we can glimpse. Currently, we only know that the rectangular blocks that were the last thing we saw in the gray world are crucial, but we don't know what they are; the tree in the silver world is just a giant shadow; and as for the blood-red world..."
Gu Qingqing said, noticing that Wu You, who was traveling with her, stopped and turned to look in the direction of the blood-red world with a slightly stiff posture.
Gu Qingqing wanted to go over and grab her hand, but was afraid of startling her, so she could only stand silently and wait.
Wu You looked for a while before turning her gaze back: "This world has also frozen, turning into some red stone mountains. That's the distant view; if you look closely, the red on the mountains is all the blood of those ghosts from before." "
It still sounds terrifying. "
Gu Qingqing was also puzzled. The two girls walked side by side, continuing towards the silver world without prior arrangement.
After walking for a while, Gu Qingqing also felt the silver light. It was white and bright, but not dazzling. In fact, the luster gave people a strange sense of joy.
"It's strange. We can't see that tree anymore. I just saw a big tree shadow in the distance." Wu You spun around. The two of them were now surrounded by shimmering silver spots.
"Did you hear anything? Tinkling." Gu Qingqing asked.
"Yes, I heard it. It's like wind chimes." Wu You felt that the tinkling sound was coming from above, and there seemed to be some strange flowing water sounds around her. "It sounds like there's a small fountain around here."
"I think it sounds more like water or wine being poured into a cup from a pot." At this point, Gu Qingqing stopped and cautiously pulled Wu You back. "We should have fully entered this world, but we can't see the surrounding scenery yet." Hearing this
, Wu You stood there, not daring to make a move, and instinctively protected the leather pouch on his chest.
Looking closely, they saw translucent silver spots of light surrounding them, gradually shrinking and receding.
The nearby scenery gradually became clearer, and they finally saw clearly that there really was a "fountain"—the sudden appearance of the fountain startled them both.
It was a lion, life-sized, its entire body a brilliant silver, from which flowed a milky white liquid into a silver pool below.
It was a lifelike lion sculpted from silver.
After confirming that the lion was indeed a sculpture, Wu You mustered his courage and approached, even examining the milky liquid in the lion's mouth with a scrutinizing gaze: "What is this white stuff? It smells a lot like Mongolian mare's milk wine." Gu Qingqing, however, stood still
, lost in thought.
"Why is mare's milk wine flowing from the lion's mouth? What kind of place is this?" Although Wu You couldn't understand it, subconsciously she felt that this silver lion was just a speck of dust in this luxurious world.
Gu Qingqing touched her hair, untied a hair tie, squatted down, and tied it to the silver lion's left foreleg.
"Qingqing, what are you doing?"
"I think I've seen a record about this silver lion. To test my judgment, we can continue forward. If my guess is correct, there should be other silver lions here," Gu Qingqing said.
"Go forward? There's silver light everywhere here. Where is 'forward'?"
"Walk in circles. Let's walk in a big circle. " Gu Qingqing walked forward in the direction the lion's head was pointing.
Sure enough, after walking a few dozen steps, they saw another silver lion, this time without a ribbon around its paw.
Snow-white milk still flowed from its mouth; the drink Wu You had called "mare's milk wine" now emitted an enticing aroma.
They continued on, encountering a third and a fourth silver lion. When they met the fifth, they noticed a bean-colored ribbon wrapped around its left foreleg—the same ribbon Gu Qingqing had tied there earlier.
This silver lion was the same one they had seen when they first arrived in this world.
They circled back to where they started.
"That means there are four silver lions in this area," Gu Qingqing concluded. Wu You gazed at the world gradually becoming clearer around him, realizing that the four silver lions acted as guardians, protecting the treasure in the center.
The entire world's silvery hue seemed to emanate from this treasure. Although Wu You couldn't yet see its full form, this feeling of being like a blind man touching an elephant only amplified his astonishment and awe.
"What exactly are those four silver lions spitting out?" Wu You asked again.
Gu Qingqing stood beside the treasure, straining to look upwards, but her vision was limited by the silvery light, preventing her from seeing the whole picture.
Gu Qingqing said, "You were right before; what these silver lions are spitting out is probably mare's milk."
"Why would a lion vomit mare's milk? That's so weird."
"It's not just mare's milk. If we go towards the center, we should also see four golden eagle snakes. Four different drinks will flow from their mouths: mare's milk, rice wine, and honey..."
Wu You: "...Is this an invitation for us to drink here...?"
Gu Qingqing: "Remember the tree shadow you saw in the silver sky earlier?"
"Yes, but it disappeared as we walked."
"We're under that tree now."
Hearing this, Wu You was startled and mustered his courage to walk towards the center, reaching out his hand to the bright silver area in the very center: "Oh my god, it's real! I touched the bark! The texture and feel are so realistic! But it's not quite the same as a real tree."
"Because this is a giant tree made of pure silver."
Wu You looked down and saw a large silver basin not far from him, with a thin stream flowing into it.
Wu You sniffed it: "Qingqing, you're right, this is honey!"
Whether it was because the two recognized the silver tree, or because the surrounding silver mist would eventually dissipate, the world was gradually becoming clearer.
The silver tree was now fully revealed: its trunk, requiring more than a dozen people to encircle, branched into a thick, gleaming main trunk and shimmering branches, especially the silver-carved leaves and fruits, which looked like a dream.
"Did you hear music?" Gu Qingqing asked.
"Yes, it was that tinkling sound from before. Now the sound is getting closer, somewhat like the music from an old music box."
"Did you hear the trumpet inside?"
"What's the trumpet sound…" Wu You said, tilting her head back and straining to look up. She immediately saw something on the tree and couldn't help but scream.
"What's wrong?" Gu Qingqing's eyesight wasn't as good as Wu You's, and she couldn't see it clearly yet.
Wu You took a few steps back, her voice trembling slightly: "There's someone in the tree! A silver person! I don't know if they're alive or dead..."
Gu Qingqing paused, then thought for a moment before saying, "Take another look, does that person have wings?"
Wu You squinted and looked again: "Yes... they do have wings, and it seems like they're holding something in their hands..."
Gu Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief: "Don't be afraid, that's a silver angel playing a trumpet! It's also an ornament on this silver tree."
Only then did Wu You dare to look up without restraint: "So it really is, it's a naked child with wings playing a trumpet."
Gu Qingqing: That's not a trumpet, it's a horn.
"This silver tree is so luxurious! Who built it? Where is this place? What book mentions it?" Wu You was completely intrigued by this unprecedentedly luxurious scene. "Although I'm not good at history, such a luxurious and extravagant tree must be quite famous in history!"
Whenever Gu Qingqing shared knowledge with her friends, her attitude was very devout and serious: "This is Mongolia, or more precisely, the court of the Mongol Khan. The tree was built by a goldsmith from Paris. I read about these things in a book called 'Travels to the East.'
"This book was written by a missionary named Rubruck. In 1253, Rubruck was sent to Mongolia by Pope Innocent IV and King Louis IX of France. He arrived at the Mongol court and was received by the Mongol Khan Möngke. Rubruck wrote down what he saw and heard in Mongolia in his travelogue, and this silver tree is the one he mentioned in the book."
Wu You listened intently to every word Gu Qingqing said. Although this historical knowledge was completely unfamiliar to him, the situation at hand didn't allow for any distraction. Wu You quickly digested the information and asked, "So, did Rubruck succeed in his missionary work?" Judging
from today's situation, it was clearly not.
"The Khan Möngke's polite yet sharp response to Rubruck truly showed me an ancient Eastern wisdom." Gu Qingqing carefully recalled the passage she had highlighted before—
"The Khan Möngke said: Since God made our ten fingers all different lengths, He must also allow us to have different ways of doing things. God gave you the Bible. Have you ever read in the Bible that a believer should point out the mistakes of others?"
Wu You was somewhat stunned.
"I don't remember so clearly, but it was roughly that kind of response. I initially developed a strong interest in that period of history after reading 'The Journey to the East,' and subsequently went on to read 'A History of Chinese Christians,' 'The Discoverer,' and many works by Mr. Li Jingze."
"Actually, long before Rubruck, an envoy of the Pope had visited the Mongol court. This envoy was addressed to the Great Khan Güyük, who directly replied to Pope Innocent IV with a letter containing these words: 'You Western peoples, you consider yourselves the only Christians. You despise other nations, how can you know to whom God should show mercy?'"
Wu You was completely stunned, and after a long while, he said, "This Mongol Khan said such things in his letter, yet the missionary Rubruck still went to the Mongol court again many years later?"
"Yes, such persistence is admirable, and therefore he was treated with the same courtesy by the Mongol court. I remember Mr. Li Jingze once described him as 'radiating astonishing stubbornness and astonishing courage,'" Gu Qingqing said.
"I suddenly remembered a painting that Ke Xun and the others talked about before, called 'Faith.' Could our world also be related to faith?"
Author's note:
Without a computer, I occasionally use voice input on my phone
.
As a result, Ke Xun was often misheard as "science," Yue Cen was misheard as "Yuecheng" a couple of days ago, and today Gu Qingqing was even misheard as "Good evening."...