Great Sui Guoshi

"Passing by, I thought Xiongtai was going to take an examination for fame." Liu Qide cast his eyes on a book that was pressed on the joking scholar's knee.

"What books are you reading, brother? Could you let us know?"

Lu Liang moved vividly, picked up the book on his lap and showed it to everyone, and said with a smile:

""Zhi De" is a very ordinary book. Speaking of it, this person must understand etiquette and know etiquette. Don't take too much advantage of the villain."

He was speaking peacefully, but he heard the man open his mouth slightly, his face was a little red, and Min Yuerou pursed his lips and smiled lightly, and quickly calmed down again.

'Well, Mr. Lu's mouth is not easy to provoke. '

Of course, Lu Liangsheng didn't like to talk to others, so he took a blank picture scroll from the bookshelf, swiped a pen and dropped green ink at random, and murmured softly.

"Actually, I don't like reading. What I'm better at is painting. You see, barren mountains and lonely forests, majestic and heavy rain, encountering scholars... Have you ever seen ghosts?"

The light and fluttering tone meant something, except for Min Yuerou, the remaining four men and two women were stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked at the dripping rain curtain outside the thatched shed, the forest wild swaying wildly in the strong wind outside, occasionally, it seemed to hear a few The sound of howling wolves was quite penetrating.

The six of them couldn't help shivering. Turning their heads, the flames flickered, reflecting the scholar with a smile on the corner of his mouth. In their sight, they always felt gloomy.

On the paper, the waving pen and ink stopped. When Lu Liangsheng raised his face, the wind howled, and the bonfire was extinguished. The six people yelled "Ah!", and immediately huddled together and squeezed towards the door.

"Give me back my head... come!"

Everyone, including Min Yuerou, heard tinkling in their ears as if they heard a copper bell ringing outside. Liu Qide instinctively turned sideways, poked his head out of the thatched shed and took a look outside. Seemingly, tremblingly raised his arm, pointing to the muddy road in the rain.

"Then...then that...there is..."

In the stuttering voice, the eyes of the remaining five people widened. A charcoal red war horse walked slowly, carrying a general in green robe and gold armor, holding a green dragon and a moon in his hand, but his shoulders were empty. The head was drenched in heavy rain and slowly came towards them.

"Head...head..."

The next moment, the horse's hooves stopped, the copper bell stopped, and the headless general turned sideways on the horse's back. His voice suddenly rose, like the sound of a bell.

"Wait, give me back—"

"what!!"

Four men and two women screamed in fright, jumped out of the hut, and rushed to the horses and carriages. The coachman sitting inside to hide from the rain didn't know why, so he watched the two women ignore their virtuous appearance in the past, and crawled into it like hell. inside, urging him to drive away.

Even the four powerful princes in the middle of the capital got on their horses and ran, four horses and one cart. After running wildly through the dirt road for a while, a woman in the cart suddenly found that there was one person missing. She opened the curtain and rode outside. The four shouted.

"Sister Yuerou is gone!"

Outside, the four of them stopped their horses and turned their heads to look in the direction of escape, feeling rather anxious in their hearts.

"Min Yuerou is the daughter of the servant of the official department, why don't we leave it like this?"

"But there is a headless ghost over there, and a ghost scholar, what should I do?"

"Why don't we go back and have a look together?" "Yes, if something happens to Min Yuerou, Min Shilang may report it to His Majesty, and the adults at home may beat us to death."

After hesitating and discussing for a while, the four of them asked the coachman to drive away with the other two women first, and then drove back to the other side. In the heavy rain, the thatched shed was still there, but the headless ghost was not there.

"Yuerou!"

The four of them shouted from a distance, but seeing no response, they braved their nerves and approached carefully, only to see that the donkey, the old man, and the scholar in the hut had long since disappeared, leaving only a pile of extinguished bonfires still smoking.

With sharp eyes, Cheng Wen walked over quickly, and took out half of the burnt picture scroll from the campfire, only to see that the remaining half of the portrait on it was the headless ghost he had seen before.

"That scholar is not a ghost, I'm afraid he is a man of high morals. Brother Qide, you have caused trouble, so it is impossible to say that Yue Rou was taken away by that man."

The other two young masters wiped the rainwater off their faces, stomped off the accumulated water on the ground, and looked at Liu Qide complainingly.

"It's all your fault, I told you not to talk nonsense, it's all right now, if you offend the expert, and implicate us, we will be punished together, how should we report to Min Shilang now?!"

"me....."

Liu Qide was also a little at a loss, after all, it would be unacceptable for someone else to encounter such a thing, so he looked around the thatched shed, shrank his neck, and said in thought.

"Can I be blamed for this? I don't know that he is an expert. If I knew, the devil said those things, and you don't hold back. You still say good brothers on weekdays."

Cheng Wen gave him a hard look.

"Stop talking, go back and tell Min Shilang the truth."

The four of them went back and got on their horses to leave. On the other side of the forest parallel to them, the rain in the dense forest was dripping on the branches and leaves, and only a few drops occasionally fell on the thick fallen leaves.

In the sound of rustling footsteps, the ghost scholar mentioned by several people is leading the old donkey at the moment, leading Wang Banxia and Min Yuerou, who is intertwining fingers beside him, as if walking in the woods.

The woman crossed her fingers behind her back, walked and kicked the fallen leaves under her feet, remembered the magic spell just now, came to the forest in the blink of an eye, felt surprised, couldn't help turning around, facing the scholar pulling the donkey, walking backwards explain.

"Mr. Lu, what you cast just now was a spell? What's your name?"

"A small spell in the midst of the changing world."

Lu Liangsheng explained, but he was curious, why she came here like this, the distance from Chang'an here is not as simple as an outing.

The woman walking backwards didn't hide anything, a smile appeared from the corner of her mouth.

"There was a war in the north, my father was very busy, and I was bored in the mansion by myself. I took the opportunity to sneak out. In fact, I was going on an outing. But they heard people say that there is a Lanruo Temple in Shangyong, and the Buddhas and goddesses in it... The murals are very weird, after looking at them for a long time, they seem to be able to suck the soul into them, so curiosity followed them."

Lan Ruo Temple?

When Lu Liangsheng heard the reason, he laughed. The murals of Buddha and Goddess around the inner courtyard wall were all made by him. It should be that mana remained on them during the robbery.

It is impossible to suck the human soul into it, but some people have read it and exaggerated it.

The two talked for a while, and after walking for a while, the rain gradually subsided. When they walked out of the forest, Lu Liangsheng looked at the sky, and the cloudy clouds were about to disperse. Looking at the woman beside him, he said:

"It's just right, I'm going to pass by Chang'an, so I'll take you back. There's nothing to go there, the ghosts are gone, and there are a lot of wolves."

"Oh."

Min Yuerou lowered her head, fiddled with her cuffs, then raised her head suddenly, and asked a question.

"Young master Lu, can you get married if you are a cultivator?"

Wang Ban, who was walking behind, stumbled and fell to the ground when he was tripped by a stone. He quickly got up, patted the fallen leaves, waved his hands and retreated: "Master, what are you talking about..."

He quickly covered his ears and hid behind a tree.

Chapter 325

The rain gradually subsided, water droplets slid over the leaf tips, fell on the weeds, and then was trampled under his feet, Lu Liangsheng slowly walked down the hillside, turned his face to look at the woman following him, his expression was a little stunned .

Cultivators can naturally get married, it's just a matter of personal choice, but if you ask it from a girl, it will be very meaningful.

Lu Liangsheng was in a bit of a dilemma, but he didn't dare to make casual expressions on his face, for fear that the other party would make a mistake, no matter whether the mistake was good or bad, it was not what he wanted to see.

"Miss Min, cultivators can get married, but the road is long and the life expectancy is much higher than that of ordinary people. It is impossible to grow old together. In the end, there will always be a person with silver hair and gray head, who will take the first step.

Those who stay behind will only feel pain in their hearts, so many practitioners either live alone in the mountains and practice in seclusion, or they find people who practice the same way to be Taoist couples, and they stay together to find immortal fate. Even so, few of them last long. Facing the same man or woman, there will be time to get tired after all. "

The two sentences are euphemistic, and the length of life is regarded as the threshold for the marriage of a cultivator. Lu Liangsheng believes that Min Yuerou can hear it. The old donkey who followed behind blinked and stared. Taoist Toad lit the cigarette stick and nodded as it should.

Thinking of that woman back then, I also felt that if she was still alive, she would inevitably end up buried in the ground...

Min Yuerou lowered her head and blinked her eyelashes, looking at the ramp passing by at her feet, she didn't know what to think, after listening to the scholar's words, she suddenly raised her hand, opened her sleeves and stretched out her white wrist.

"Master Lu, do you think I can cultivate?"

"To see whether a person can practice Taoism is not like a doctor who reads and asks."

Lu Liangsheng pressed the back of the raised hand back across the void, seeing the stubbornness in the woman's eyes, sighed, his fingers lit up with Dharma light, touched her brow lightly, and then shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't."

Min Yuerou put down her cuffs, stopped talking, followed the scholar silently and continued walking. The figure of three people and one donkey took two feet at a step, went down to the foot of the mountain, and turned to the official road. The road was much smoother, and the footsteps gradually accelerated.

Soon, the sun broke through the clouds and shone from the west, and the pedestrians on the road, the distant fields, and the stretching city walls were bathed in this redness.

As the sun sets, three people and a donkey walk slowly into Chang'an City on the busy road. The wet streets are mixed with stagnant water and silt. On the long street, Min Yuerou fell behind the old donkey, stared at the tail of the donkey which was swinging back and forth, pursed her lips and walked very slowly.

In the past this bustling long street, the hustle and bustle gradually stopped near the mansions where Baiguan lived. The quaint gray stone floor tiles are paved forward, and inside the tall courtyard walls with white background and black tiles, pines and cypresses hang out from the walls. Outside, in the red light of the setting sun, the cicadas lying on the branches made annoying neighing.

Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and stopped in front of the quaint lacquered red gate, looked at the gate with the word "Min" on it, and nodded back to the woman who followed slowly.

"Miss Min, here we are."

"Oh."

Yuerou, who seemed sulking, walked up the stone steps, knocked on the courtyard door with the brass button, the old porter who opened the door glanced, and with a cry, he quickly opened the courtyard door completely, turned around and shouted inside.

"Quickly report to Madam, Miss is back!"

Then, he crossed the threshold and came out, bowing and bending down: "Miss, where have you gone? People are looking for you everywhere in the house. Seeing that the master is coming back from the court, if you know that you have run out, look for you." No, but I'm going to get angry."

The woman quickly helped him up.

"Uncle Chen, don't you think I'm back? I'll go out to relax. I'll explain to my mother later that you won't be punished."

Min Yuerou comforted the old man, turned her head to look at Lu Liangsheng who was leading the old donkey away, caught up two steps, and stood under the eaves to stop him.

"Mr. Lu, don't you want to come in and sit down? I...my father is coming back soon. He hasn't seen you for a long time, and he often talks about you."

"No, I still have work to do."

Going to the border to take care of his apprentice, naturally he would not tell the other party, Lu Liangsheng held the rein and cupped his hands, said a few more words to the other party, and then left, before going far, a carriage drove up from the front , before reaching the gate of the mansion, the curtain of the car has been lifted, someone poked his face out, saw the scholar leading the donkey, and hurriedly shouted:

"Good life!"

Lu Liangsheng turned his face away, it was Min Changwen, he was much older than before, he hurriedly told the driver to stop, and when he got off, he came towards the scholar with a pleasant surprise in his words.

"When did Liangsheng come to Chang'an?"

"Just here."

Lu Liangsheng hastily bowed his hand to return the gift. He met the old man in Fushui County, and since his mentor Shu Hua left, he even regarded himself as a nephew.

"Father!" Min Yuerou trotted here, and shouted with a smile, but she glanced at the scholar who returned the salute, and raised the corners of her eyebrows, as if to say 'I can't run away'.

Over there, Min Changwen scolded his daughter softly: "You don't even invite Liangsheng in, how did dad teach you how to treat guests?" Then, he invited Lu Liangsheng to come into the mansion to talk.

"Master, this junior has important matters to attend to. There is an apprentice in the city...I..."

"Since he is a disciple of a good student, how can a master see an apprentice? Follow me home and let him come to see you!"

The elders invited, and the words came to such a point, Lu Liangsheng couldn't refuse, so he had to follow Min Changwen back to the mansion, passing by another small courtyard, and saw that in the small courtyard, there were standing camphor trees, complete with stone tables and benches. There are also a few houses, which are quite familiar.

Seeing the scholar looking at the other courtyard, the old man smiled and stroked his long beard under his chin and said with a smile:

"The old man is remodeled after the small courtyard where Duke Shuhua lived when he was still alive. Let's go in and have a look?"

Stepping through the crescent gate and entering the courtyard, the ancient camphor tree swayed its branches and leaves, and the sunlight fell on the stone table through the gap. Lu Liangsheng seemed to see the figure of his mentor standing under the tree holding a scroll in his hand.

"Remember your mentor?"

Min Changwen asked the servant to bring tea, sat down and handed it to the scholar. Lu Liangsheng nodded with a smile, looked away from Gu Zhang, and sat down opposite.

"Indeed, but people have passed away for many years, so I don't think so."

Looking at the scholar talking happily with his father, Qianying, who was standing pretty at the Crescent Gate, felt happy, and told the servant not to summon him, not to go in to disturb her, and went to see his mother briskly.

The old tree in the small courtyard was caressing gently, and the old man who took a sip of tea put down the teacup, saw his daughter leave from the corner of his eye, and smiled at the scholar opposite: "Since Liang Sheng said these words, it seems that Duke Shu Hua has reincarnated as a human being again. "

Min Changwen knew that Lu Liangsheng not only practiced Taoism, but also knew from his daughter that he had some contacts with the City God of the Underworld when he was in Tianzhi, so he would definitely inquire about the whereabouts of his mentor.

Thinking of his close friends for many years, the old man squeezed the teacup tightly, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his words.

"Now, where is Duke Shuhua's reincarnation, and in whose family is he cast?"

On the opposite side, Lu Liangsheng just smiled and didn't answer directly.

"The servant is not a cultivator. You can't talk about the reincarnation of the underworld. Let's talk about other things. The younger generation passed by Chang'an and is going to go north. I heard that the Turkic people crossed the Great Wall and went south. If they enter Chang'an, they will bear the brunt of it." I'm afraid it's Gaoling County, Mr. Minister, you should take precautions."

It sounded inexplicable, but Min Changwen stroked his beard and smiled. From the scholar's words, he already knew where his old friend was.

Chapter 326 Please fight

The cicadas sang one after another in the red light of the setting sun, and the swaying branches and leaves of the old tree shook lightly on the two of them.

After Min Changwen knew the whereabouts of his old friend, he stopped entangled in this matter. He put down the teacup and sighed.

"Liangsheng talked about the war in the north, and the old man also felt the same way. I think that when Chen Jing was in the south, his family and country were shattered. It was not Chen Jing's fault. Now that the Hu people are going south, they are worried that the tragedy of that day will repeat itself. The old man has been in the government office these days. Busy, seeing what His Majesty is doing today, I feel more or less at ease, the whole Sui Dynasty is united, and the emperor ordered his ministers to move, which is really something that Nan Chen couldn't see, hehe..."

The old man chuckled suddenly, watched the scholar opposite him take the teapot and pour it for himself, nodded and continued:

"...Your Majesty's troops are divided into eight groups to attack, from Youyan to the northwest, there are more victories than defeats, and there are 40 barbarians, but there is no need for Liangsheng to go there, and he can simply live in my house. Waiting for the triumphant return of the three armies of the Sui Dynasty!"

Lu Liangsheng didn't know much about military affairs, at most he had only read a little in books such as Unofficial History and Romance.