I am not Ximen Qing.

He had no idea what was going on. He was just having a good time, much to Fengjie's exasperation. About an hour later, the two of them went back to playing in the vegetable garden, just like before. The most wonderful thing about childhood is the ability to forget such things. When his parents came home that evening, he seemed to have forgotten everything; it was just a domestic game between husband and wife. He slept exceptionally well that night, not dreaming of the wonderful things Fengjie was doing in the storeroom, but of Fengjie picking a basket of cucumbers for him and quietly approaching him. From then on, he was even more enthusiastic when he saw Fengjie, but Fengjie was disappointed; she had forgotten that she was his wife.

Old Liang and his wife probably sensed that something was wrong with their daughter, but they didn't say anything. They never offered her and Fengjie another opportunity to be alone together, blaming it on their child doing things inappropriate for adolescence. However, he thought his secret was foolproof, but walls have ears, and he and Fengjie were overly fixated on their mutual physical curiosity.

In despair, Sister Feng sighed, hugging her body with both hands, panting heavily. She was far too precocious, but he thought it was just a game of make-believe, and casually touched Sister Feng's tender buttocks a few more times.

Actually, he was still a child, and she was still a girl. In the end, Sister Feng still gave him a kiss. She thought Sister Feng was clever and knew how to play games; now she understood why boys liked playing with girls—there were so many tricks. For some reason, he just liked Sister Feng. Life grows, and after reaching maturity, every woman must expel life from her womb, while men must inject the seed of life into a woman's womb. The seed grows within them before finally being born. Women also cry out in pain when a new life is born. There is pain after pleasure from lust, but people must do this to expel physical pain and desire from their bodies; even humans and animals do this.

The next day at school, Brother Jindi was in the same class as Sister Feng. He was afraid to mention such provocative and shameful things to Sister Feng, because she had several older brothers and Old Liang looked fierce; he dared not make fun of her in front of her. But Brother Jindi stopped him, asking what mischief he had done in the storeroom. The boy didn't understand what Brother Jindi meant, simply naively saying he was playing husband and wife games with Sister Feng. Brother Jindi had encountered such an innocent child, spouting lewd and vulgar language, as if only gods could understand the child's world. The child, in turn, didn't understand the technical jargon Brother Jindi used about the birth of life. Brother Jindi, facing a child who couldn't understand human speech, wanted to find something, but the child understood nothing, knew nothing, and simply insisted that he and Sister Feng were playing house. Besides, what's wrong with taking off your clothes in front of a girl? Kid, that Public Security Officer Fan's eldest son is a natural nudist; he just doesn't like wearing clothes. From a young age, his body would itch whenever he put on clothes, and Fan Meimei had to chase after her younger brother all day to help him get dressed. His older sister was at her wits' end with him.

We were born naked because we knew good and evil, neither ashamed nor guilty, running naked through the streets in this world surrounded by forests and rivers. Perhaps the most innocent were the little boys. They were used to being naked, and their family quarters weren't far from the river. There was even an oil depot at the river's edge at the foot of the mountain. The little boys would run towards the river like the wind, much to the envy of the other group of little ones. The little ones all loved running naked through the streets. Brother Jindi had no way of getting any details about his wonderful relationship with Sister Feng from him; he only ever talked about dirty things related to Sister Feng whenever he saw him.

Now I finally understand that having less education isn't entirely wrong. A child's innocent and pure childhood, especially before the age of eight in the mountains, is perfectly fine. People may no longer believe in myths, but China is a land of myths, isn't it? The legends in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, from Lu Xun's Hundred Herbs Hall to the Three Flavors Study—actually, magic and mythology are described most extensively in the Records of the Grand Historian, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Zuo Zhuan, and the Zizhi Tongjian. In terms of culture, the ancients were more cultured, weren't they? If you read the Qing History, the Yuan History, or the Ming History—which of those ancestors wasn't born from mythology?

Zhu Yuanzhang, Genghis Khan, and Nurhaci all brought glory to their ancestors, much like Li Shimin. They sought descendants of the Eternal Heaven, the Heavenly Maiden, or even the True Martial Emperor descended to earth. Since the Manchu Jurchens entered the city, they became even more clan-based than the clans of Jiangnan. Consider the Jurchens in Zhu Di's Forbidden City, truly understanding the transition from shamanism to the Thirteen Classics of Confucianism—a literary achievement of the late Han Dynasty. If the Imperial Academy was established in the Yuan Dynasty, it wasn't flourished in the Ming Dynasty, but rather it was completely elevated to a divine status in the Qing Dynasty.

The Dahe Forest Farm was actually a place where hidden talents resided, but alas, the great forest was destroyed by civilization. What is civilization? Civilization is the consumption of far too many resources by humankind. The wonders of the forest far surpass those of humankind. While memories before the age of three are often blank, memories of the forest before the age of eight are at least equally blank. Therefore, going to Africa, North America, or the Amazon reveals the simplicity and honesty of primitive tribes. This simplicity is not ignorance, backwardness, or something to be derogatory or ironic; rather, it is nature's instinctive protection of humankind. This is why many modern people don't believe in the existence of magic and mythology. Therefore, Jia Baoyu's spring dream was a fantasy of love in a world of love, a bathing in the river of love within that fantasy.

There are graceful, beautiful fairies and goddesses, playing the tunes of *Dream of the Red Chamber* and singing love songs. The goddesses of Wushan, Chu Xiang and Song Yu, live a carefree and joyful life, reveling in the fairy realms of Qionglin and Penglai. There is no lust, only love; what is love, what is affection? At least the Feng Jie that Zhang Sheng encountered was different from the Feng Jie that Jia Rui encountered. One was lustful, the other was affectionate; one could also be called elegant and refined, a refined spirit. Even spring dreams are different from spring dreams.

Lin Jingtai's second son, Xinchun, unlike his elder brother Jindi who would sneak into people's homes for a mere glimpse of springtime, tells the story of Nuwa creating humans, a creation story told from mythology. The uneducated Xinchun, to make his story more believable, forces his younger brother to listen to his version of Nuwa and Fuxi creating humans. Xinchun mentions "snake," a newly learned word, and puts humans and snakes together. Think about it: Nuwa is not only associated with snakes, but also with mending the sky and the decadence of King Zhou of Shang. If King Zhou hadn't been captivated by Nuwa's beauty and succumbed to lust, wouldn't Nuwa have angrily sent Su Daji to ravage King Zhou's harem? And the internal strife of the Shang Dynasty is also related to mythology, isn't it? The Shang Dynasty can be considered the last mythological dynasty.

After the fall of the Shang Dynasty, a great flood occurred in the Zhou Dynasty and the world, and the gods and humans almost collided and disappeared, didn't they? The same is true of Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Ulysses, as well as the era of chaos between gods and humans in ancient Egypt, which is also the history of the destruction of Babylon.

Xin Chun continued explaining his theories, and he found that Zhang Sheng and Xin Jun were already captivated by them. "Do you know where humans come from?"

"In the stone, there is the story of Nuwa from The Dream of the Red Chamber."

"Nonsense, that's just adult nonsense. You two shouldn't blow up balloons anymore."

"What's wrong?"

"Those are discarded condoms."

Of course, Zhang Sheng still didn't believe that people came out of the stomach. A person that big couldn't possibly crawl out of a stomach, could they? Although Teacher Han from Dahe Forest Farm had a very large belly—it was the work of an electrician, the work of an electrician inside. After marriage, a man could make a woman's belly bigger. Zhang Sheng insisted on the theory that people were born from cracks in rocks.

"Oh, what are condoms for?"

"A wonderful product that won't make you pregnant even if you have an affair, and won't have serious consequences. This thing is amazing."

Xin Chun looked at Zhang Sheng with smug satisfaction, hardly believing that this fool actually believed that the boy and the beautiful Sister Feng were telling stories about big shots in the streets and forest farms.

"Brother, you have to prove it."

"Forget it, you idiots. You and Xinchun are both like clay figures that crawled out of a rock. I'm speechless."

"Brother, don't listen to Brother Jindi's nonsense. What kind of bad things are happening in the warehouse? That's impossible."

"Yes, how could a person crawl out of someone's stomach?"

Pingjie's beauty is different from Fengjie's. He still secretly admires Pingjie; her beauty possesses the elegance of a well-bred lady, the sophisticated charm of someone from a big city. Things are a bit chaotic now. Zhang Sheng now enjoys exploring the mountain peaks, because these summits are the last remaining haven for food in the Dahe Forest Farm. The adults have almost lost interest in this haven; the surrounding mountains have been almost entirely cleared, planted with corn, soybeans, and beans—both long and wide varieties. Uncle Li Jingshan and his two daughters, Pingjie and Fengjie, all love wide beans. Li Jingshan also enjoys fresh, seasonal potatoes stewed with wide beans. His mother never treats him poorly; whenever he arrives, pork stew with wide beans is a must-have home-style dish, along with rooster and goose, as well as tofu, white-scaled fish, and rare delicacies like toads. Zhang Sheng began his adventure, secretly hoping to find the beautiful Ping Jie. Ping Jie had come to the Dahe Forest Farm again to prepare for their next visit, ensuring they always returned satisfied. This way, they would always come back to the mountains to pick wild fruits, and only they would truly deserve the delicious taste of those fruits! Boys, indeed, are often sentimental. Boys! There is love in the mountains; otherwise, how could a celestial maiden have given birth to the Manchu warriors? Humans are strange indeed; in the mountains, they are warriors and sentimental forest gods. Perhaps there is a forest god on the distant mountain peak! Regarding the tower, there are water towers built by the Japanese, fortifications built by the Japanese, and railways built by the Japanese, but deep in the mountains, atop the peak, stands the tallest forest iron tower.

After Nurhaci's descendants left Manchuria and entered Beijing, Dorgon was far more enlightened than Li Zicheng. The Regent addressed all princes and ministers, saying: "The Great Spring blesses us with this auspicious occasion of the Central Plains' sacrifice. You should all fulfill your duties, remain loyal and upright, and you will naturally receive your due rewards. Those who do not keep this in mind, who seek only immediate gain, who are greedy and indulge in wealth and misfortune, who are ignorant of the law or secretly accept bribes, who betray the law for personal gain—on the day of reckoning, even if they have rendered meritorious service, they will not be recorded. Such actions are solely for short-term benefit and do not consider the long-term future of their descendants."

This forest surely possesses the grandeur of Mount Tai and the Qi-Lu Mountains. There must be a forest god within it. It's said the forest god has a group of great fairies who enjoy eating ginseng fruit, jujubes, schisandra berries, wild grapes, mountain pears, thorn berries, and drinking nectar from the depths of the mountain peaks, where the forest's branches and vines intertwine. The forest god resides at the final celestial mountain within the forest. The Jurchen people are too selfish! Why don't they build a magnificent palace like a celestial palace in the Changbai Mountains, a place people have always dreamed of? Zhang Sheng doesn't know why Olympus, the sacred site of Zeus and his gods, is located there, but at the highest peak deep within the forest, covered by the vast forest, stands a towering iron tower!

The steel tower, it seems, is even grander than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. What is Notre Dame Cathedral compared to that? Dad said this tower can see farther than the beacon towers of the Great Wall. Zhang Sheng asked his dad why. Dad said, "Because there's a big telescope on top!" Telescopes are such amazing things, so he pestered his second uncle to buy him one. Now, Zhang Sheng, like his second uncle, is completely infatuated with Tang Wan and Tang Li. Men are all the same; it can't be said that Zhang Hongqi, this technical genius, has fallen madly into the snare of beautiful women.

It's true that men's explorations are all for women; what drives history forward is the tragedy resulting from men's mad battles to win the hearts of beauties. Even Don Quixote became a great knight for the sake of a phantom country girl. Even Tang Sanzang had to encounter tempting female demons, spirits, foxes, ghosts, monsters, and fairies from time to time to understand that Buddhist scriptures represent the ultimate and most exquisite path to lust! Thinking about it, the Buddha was the most loving person in the world. He had too many questions: Qu Yuan's Heavenly Questions, Zhang Sheng's Three Questions—why are there two consorts, Ehuang and the Yang Guifei, in Xiangchu? Why can't there be a legend like the Four Beauties in these mountains? Actually, Xue Baochai is the goddess of these distant mountains. A woman named Cai, a celestial maiden, a beauty with a round face—aren't these just the young girls in their prime in the forest farms of the great river? Let's dream of a forest in the sacred mountain in our hearts. I've even thought of a name: "Song of the Forest," "Dream of the Forest"—any mythological story set in the great forest, presented in the style of ancient Greek drama, with its song and verse.

All things in the forest came back to life, imbued with spirit, and Zhang Sheng became a divine attendant. On the mountain stood a most beautiful azalea. Zhang Sheng knew this beautiful azalea from the deep forest, and so, because of love, the azalea was banished to the mortal realm, becoming the goddess of flowers. Zhang Sheng was appointed by Zeus as the god of the forest. Deep within this sacred mountain forest, the god of the forest and the goddess of flowers enacted a grand dream of the forest—more magical than *Dream of the Red Chamber*, more wondrous than a forest daydream, more sensual and human than Freud's dream. The root of dreams lies in the spiritual transformation of love and lust. Regarding dreams, there are interpretations of various dreams in Zhou Gong's Dream Interpretation and the *Zuo Zhuan* of the Spring and Autumn Annals; it seems dreams are a shared human code in both East and West. I've experienced dreams of fireflies, owls, snails, the snowy forest of holly, the cucumber trellis in the production team, and the blooming azalea. Dezi dreamed of swimming naked in the river in front of her sister. All the boys were eager to strip naked in front of Dezi and dance naked in front of her. It was just an ancient love dream. This did not frighten Dezi's sister. She knew what they wanted to see, but she didn't care at all. She stuck out her butt and let them see her butt one by one. This was a primitive love dream that the boys played with Dezi and her sister, dancing in the river.

He would see himself as Venus, the goddess of love. Nakedness wasn't ugly; in front of the boys, a girl's nakedness was pure and sacred. Beauty instantly became ugly because his memories of being eight years old were gone. Zhang Sheng imagined dreaming of something like Dezi's goddess in the Iron Tower. He thought of Sister Ping, Sister Feng, and Tang Wan and Tang Li—all beautiful beings in his eyes, like fairies of the forest gods. Lately, Zhang Sheng had a strange dream, a dream of beautiful women in the distant mountains. He started thinking of Nuwa and King Zhou of Shang. He wasn't a precious jade or a monkey born from a rock, nor was he some kind of mountain spirit or stone spirit. Then the dream vanished. Were there beautiful women, demons, goddesses, and ghosts in the mountains? Would she lure him to the Iron Tower in the distant mountains, then become a ghost like a painted skin, devouring him, like another Zhang Sheng in Liaozhai whose heart and soul were ripped out, like Sister Feng in the mirror ripping out Jia Rui's body? Fortunately, his memories from before he was eight years old saved him.