Perhaps He Had Met an Immortal (+2)
Outside Anqing County, Fu Family Farmstead.
A bamboo cottage stood close beside the fields. Its sliding window had been propped open as wide as it would go with a wooden rod, letting in all the fine spring breeze and sunlight.
Beyond the window lay hundreds upon thousands of mountains, layered together like a painting.
Inside, a scholar lounged lazily. The desk held brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, nothing missing, along with a heap of rough paper. Some sheets were pinned beneath a paperweight, while others lay casually spread across the tabletop, each covered in tiny writing. The spring breeze carried the scent of ink through the whole room, intoxicating to breathe in.
The bamboo basket beside him held no shortage of crumpled paper balls.
The scholar picked up the latest few pages and examined them closely before his eyes, revising them now and then, pondering now and then.
There were rumors in Nianping County that praying mantises ate people's shadows. The locals went around mantises whenever they saw them, especially on bright sunny days. It was said that the newly appointed county magistrate had not believed it. One day, while out on an inspection, he sat down to rest in a field and truly had his shadow eaten by a mantis. By the time he noticed, half of it had already been devoured. Now, whenever the magistrate went out, no matter how blazing the sun, he had only half a shadow left.
The scholar had made a special trip to visit him. It was no rumor.
There was another county along the Liu River. There, people did not enter the river to learn to swim. Instead, in summer, they caught a certain kind of dragonfly and had it bite a child's navel. Once