A long time ago, there was a small village at the foot of Baoshi Mountain beside the West Lake. In the village lived a young couple, the man was called Liu Chun and the woman was called Hui Niang. The man farmed and the woman wove, they were diligent and frugal, and lived a sweet life. The villagers in the villages around them all praised them as a good couple.
One morning, a patch of morning glow appeared in the east, and the bright red sun rose. Liu Chun carried his hoe and went to work in the fields; Hui Niang also sorted out the silk and sat on the loom to weave brocade. At this time, a sudden gust of wind blew, dark clouds rolled in the sky, and the sun that had just risen shrank back again.
From then on, the sun stopped rising. Without the sun, it was dark and cold. Leaves were no longer green, flowers were no longer red, and crops no longer grew. All the demons and ghosts took advantage of the darkness to come to the human world to commit crimes. How could people live like this? Everyone was worried.
Where did the sun go? Only the 180-year-old old man knew. He said that there was a demon king under the East Sea, and the demon king led many little monsters. These monsters were most afraid of the sun, and the sun must have been taken away by the demon king.
Liu Chun felt sad when he saw that everyone was living in darkness. He walked in the dark every day, from village to village, and went door to door to ask about the well-being of the people. He went to this family, and they said, "Liu Chun, without the sun, we are going to freeze to death!" He went to that family, and they said, "Liu Chun, without the sun, everyone is going to starve to death!" Liu Chun felt sad as if a knife was cutting his heart when he heard these words. He returned home and said to Hui Niang, "Hui Niang, without the sun, people are going to freeze to death and starve to death. I plan to go and find the sun!" Hui Niang listened, thought for a while, and said, "Go if you want to. I won't keep you. Don't worry about the family. As long as you can find the sun, everyone will have a good life!"
Hui Niang cut off a lock of her long hair from her head, made a pair of straw sandals with it and sewed a thick cotton jacket for Liu Chun to wear. She sent her husband to the door and suddenly saw a golden light flash in the sky. A golden phoenix flew from afar and landed on Liu Chun's shoulder. Liu Chun stroked the golden phoenix and said, "Golden phoenix, golden phoenix, come with me to find the sun!" The golden phoenix rolled its eyes and nodded. Liu Chun held Hui Niang and said, "Hui Niang, I won't come back until I find the sun. Even if I die on the road, I will become a bright star to guide the next generation of people who seek the sun!"
Liu Chun left with the golden phoenix. Hui Niang climbed to the top of Baoshi Mountain in the dark every day to look for the future. She looked and looked for so many days, but the world was still dark and there was no sunlight. One night, Hui Niang suddenly saw a bright star flying up and hanging in the sky. After a while, the golden phoenix flew back and stopped at her feet with its head down. Hui Niang knew that Liu Chun had died on the road. She felt so sad that she fainted on the ground.
When Hui Niang woke up, the baby she was carrying had already been born. The baby grew quickly. When the wind blew, it could talk. When the wind blew again, it could run. When the wind blew again, it grew into a 18-foot-tall burly man! Hui Niang was so happy to see this that she named the child "Bao Shu".
Hui Niang took Bao Shu home. When she looked at her son, she thought of her husband and burst into tears. Bao Shu saw her and asked, "Mom, why are you crying?" Hui Niang couldn't help but feel sad, so she told him about her father who died on the road while looking for the sun. After hearing this, Bao Shu said, "Mom, let me go and find the sun." Hui Niang looked at her son and was reluctant to leave. But she thought that there was no sun in the world, and people were suffering, and they had to fight for a day to get ahead. Thinking of this, she nodded and agreed.
Hui Niang cut off a lock of her long hair from her head, mixed it with linen to make a pair of straw sandals, and sewed a thick cotton jacket for Bao Shu to wear. When Bao She walked to the door, the bright golden phoenix flew over again and landed on his shoulder. Hui Niang pointed to the bright star in the sky and said to Bao Shu, "Son, that star turned into one after your father died. As long as you walk in the direction it points to, you won't go wrong." Bao Shu nodded, and Hui Niang pointed to the golden phoenix and said to Bao Shu, "This golden phoenix once accompanied your father to find the sun. You should go with it!" Bao Shu nodded and said, "Mom, after I leave, no matter how long it has been, you must not be sad! If you cry, my heart will tremble, and I will no longer have the strength to find the sun!"
When people from the nearby villages heard that Baoshu was going to look for the sun, they all came to see him off. Some brought him clothes, some brought him dry food, and they accompanied Baoshu for a long, long way.
Bao Shu set out with the golden phoenix. Along the way, he ignored the darkness and cold and walked towards the star in the east. He walked and walked, turning one bend after another, climbing one mountain after another, climbing up eighteen steep cliffs, and crossing nineteen cliffs. The thorns tore his cotton-padded jacket into strips, and the thorns scratched his body with many bloody wounds. The cotton-padded jacket became more and more torn, and the weather became colder and colder. Why was the corner ghost not afraid of the road ? One day, Bao Shu walked into a village. The villagers saw a distant visitor and surrounded him and asked, "Child, where are you going?" Bao Shu said, "I'm going to find the sun!" Everyone was very happy to hear that someone was going to find the sun again. They repeatedly warned and told him to be careful along the way. Seeing that Bao Shu's cotton-padded jacket was very tattered and could not keep out the cold, people cut off a piece of their own clothes and sewed it into a "hundred-family coat" for him. Bao Shu put on this "hundred-family coat" and felt warm from the bottom of his heart and was no longer afraid of the cold. He said goodbye to his fellow villagers and continued on his way.
Bao Shu kept walking forward, walking and walking, he swam across river after river, waded through beach after beach. One day, he came to a big river. This big river was endless, even an eagle could not fly across it, the water in the river was swirling and fast, and even rocks as big as a house would be washed away! The brave Bao Shu jumped into the river, gritted his teeth, held his breath, and swam hard to the other side. The small waves hit him without thinking, and the whirlpools rolled him around, but Bao Shu still swam hard. He swam and swam, and was about to swim to the other side, when suddenly a cold wind blew. The river water was all frozen, Bao Shu was frozen in the river, and the golden phoenix was also frozen to death on the ice.
Bao Shu was wearing a "patchwork coat" so no matter how cold it was, he couldn't be frozen to death. Slowly, the heat from his body melted the ice around him. He first held the golden phoenix tightly in his arms, then clenched his fists and smashed the ice hard. With a "crash", the ice in the river broke into pieces. The water at the bottom of the river rolled the ice and rushed towards Bao Shu. Bao Shu quickly jumped onto a piece of ice, then jumped from one piece of ice to another, and finally jumped onto the river bank. The golden phoenix in Bao Shu's arms got the heat from his body and came back to life.
Bao Shu crossed the glacier and entered a village. The villagers surrounded Bao Shu. They were very happy to hear that he was going to look for the sun. They also respected him even more when they heard that he had gone through many difficulties on the way. An old man with a white beard said, "My child, since we have lost the sun, our lives have become more and more difficult. We really have nothing to give you. Let each of us give you a handful of soil! This is the soil that our ancestors have watered with sweat from generation to generation. It will be useful for you to take it with you." The old man brought a cloth bag, and each villager grabbed a handful of soil and put it in their pockets. When the bag was full, they gave it to Bao Shu.
Bao Shu carried the bag of soil on his back and continued to walk towards the east in search of a bright star. He walked and walked, crossing ninety-nine mountains, swimming across ninety-nine rivers, and came to a fork in the road. Bao Shu didn't know which road to take, and was worried. An old woman came by the roadside and asked Bao Shu: "Child, where are you going?" Bao Shu said: "I'm going to find the sun!" The old woman said: "The road to find the sun is still very long! I advise you to go home as soon as possible!" Bao Shu said: "No matter how far the road is, no matter how difficult the road is, I must find the sun. I will never go home if I can't find the sun!" The old woman listened to his words, pointed to the road on the right, and said: "If you follow this road, you can find the sun. There is a village not far ahead. You can go in and rest before you go." When Bao Shu was talking to the old woman, the golden phoenix desperately pounced on the old woman, hitting her head with its wings, scratching her face with its claws, and pecking her eyes with its mouth. Bao Shu thought that the golden phoenix was because he saw a stranger , so he drove the golden phoenix away, thanked the old woman, and walked to the right road.
When Bao Shu was on the road, Xin Fenghuang flew in front of him again and stopped him from leaving. Bao Shu drove it away again and strode forward. The road became flatter and flatter, without sandstorms, thorns, steep walls, or cliffs. Bao Shu felt something was strange. He walked for a while and came into a village. The houses in this village were all very tall, the men were fat, and the women were slim. When the villagers heard that he was looking for the sun, they were so happy that they jumped and laughed around him, gave him thumbs up, praised him as a hero, and called him a good man. For a while, the eastern family brought wine, the western family brought dishes, and the men and women pulled to invite Bao Shu to eat and drink. Bao Shu was puzzled: along the way, the villages he passed were all shabby, and the villagers he saw were all cold and hungry. Why do the people here live so well? He was holding the wine bowl in a trance when a golden phoenix flew over his head and dropped a straw sandal into his wine bowl with a "crack". The sandal fell into the wine bowl and immediately caught fire. Bao Shu took a closer look and found that the sandal was the same as the one he wore on his feet, made of hair and hemp. He immediately recognized that it was the sandal his father wore when he went to look for the sun. Bao Shu understood immediately, and he threw the wine bowl to the ground with force and roared. Suddenly, the village disappeared, and the people in the village disappeared too. Only many demons with blinking eyes could be seen, and they disappeared without a trace!
After Bao Shu scared the demon away, he turned back, walked to the fork in the road, and headed towards the left.
The demons did not kill Bao Shu, so they turned into many mountains to block his way. Bao Shu ignored them and climbed over them. The demons also turned into countless rivers, and Bao Shu swam across them. The demons wanted to freeze Bao Shu to death in the glaciers, but failed; they also wanted to trick him into the Mihun Village to kill him, but they also failed. They were so scared that they blew a gust of wind and swarmed down the Baoshi Mountain to harass Hui Niang, saying that Bao Shu fell to his death on the cliff; or that Bao Shu drowned in the river. They tried every possible way to make Hui Niang sad and cry, so that Bao Shu would not have the strength to look for the sun again. But Hui Niang would not listen. She gritted her teeth tightly and did not let herself shed a single tear.
After Baoshu left, Hui Niang had been looking forward to her son finding the sun and coming back soon. Every day, she and her fellow villagers went to the top of the mountain to look east, and each time she would move a large stone to stand on so that she could stand higher and see farther. She looked forward and looked forward, and didn't know how many months or years had passed. The large stones under Hui Niang's feet had been stacked into a high stone platform, but the sky was still pitch black.
Bao Shu kept walking forward. He could not remember how many mountains he had climbed over, and how many rivers he had crossed. One day, he climbed over a mountain half a day high, and heard a sound of "splash, splash!" in the distance. It turned out that he had arrived at the East China Sea. Bao Shu approached the seashore and saw a vast ocean, boundless. In such a large ocean, who knew where the sun was? And how could he cross it? Bao Shu stood by the seashore thinking and thinking, and suddenly remembered the bag of soil that the villagers gave him on the road. So he untied the cloth bag and scattered the soil on the sea. A gust of wind blew, and many large and small islands immediately appeared on the sea. Bao Shu was very happy, jumped into the sea, swam past one island after another, and swam to the middle of the sea. Swimming and swimming, searching and searching, he swam to a very far place, to the deepest bottom of the sea, and saw a big cave – the sun was hidden in this big cave by the devil.
Bao Shu swam to the entrance of the cave and saw the devil leading the big and small demons, waiting for him there. Bao Shu fought with the devil: sometimes he rushed out of the sea from the bottom of the sea, sometimes he rushed to the bottom of the sea from the surface of the sea, making the sea water turbulent. The devil gradually couldn't hold on any longer, and accidentally got one of his eyes pecked out by the golden phoenix. He covered his face and cried in pain. The golden phoenix took the opportunity to fly up and pecked out his other eye. The devil lost his eye, so he bumped around and hit his head on a rock and died. When the devil died, the little demons escaped cleanly.
Without even taking a breath, Bao Shu pushed open the big rock blocking the cave entrance and found the sun. He used up his last bit of strength to hold the sun and swim towards the sea. After swimming for a long time, the sun finally emerged halfway above the sea. Unexpectedly, Bao Shu's strength was exhausted and he could not lift the sun above the sea. At this time, the golden phoenix flew over, held the sun on its back, spread its wings and flew up with all its strength, lifting the entire sun out of the sea. As soon as the sun left the sea, it immediately rose into the sky.
That day, Hui Niang and her fellow villagers were watching from the stone platform on the top of Baoshi Mountain. The demons that had escaped came to bother her again. Suddenly, thousands of golden rays shot out from the eastern sky, and a colorful cloud appeared. The sun rose! Then, a long phoenix cry came from overhead. The golden phoenix that had reported the news had flown back first. The golden phoenix landed on the top of the mountain and danced gracefully.
"Oh, the sun is back!" Hui Niang and her fellow villagers cheered with joy, and the sound of their cheers shook the earth. The demons surrounding Hui Niang were so frightened by the sunlight and the cheers that they turned into stone.
From then on, the sun rose from the east and set in the west every day, and people lived a bright and happy life again.
Until now, every day before the sun rises, there is a bright star shining in the east. That is Liu Chun, and people call it "Morning Star". When the sun rises, it always shines with golden light and colorful clouds, because the golden phoenix spreads its wings to hold up the sun.
In order to commemorate Bao Shu's achievement in finding the sun, people built an exquisite pagoda on the top of Baoshi Mountain and a hexagonal pavilion where the golden phoenix danced. These are now the "Bao Shu Pagoda" and "Laifeng Pavilion". The stone platform where Hui Niang and the villagers looked forward to the sun was called "Chuyang Terrace" because it was the first place to see the rising sun.