Great Sui Guoshi

"Hurry up and go home and get the book back!!"

After speaking, he took out two talismans from his sleeve, stuck them between his legs, swished up the smoke and dust, ran towards the direction of Qixia Mountain, and disappeared in the sunshine in the blink of an eye.

.......

On the nearby mountain, three pairs of eyes were looking at the distant smoke and dust. Lu Liangsheng retracted his gaze, pulled the rein, and smiled at the woman beside him.

"Let's go."

"That was Xiaoyun just now? Young Master recognized it at a glance?"

"I recognized it in Taoism, it's too familiar."

Lu Liangsheng looked back again, shook his head with a grin, walked with Hong Lian on this gentle slope, within half a breath, his figure was blurred, and when he appeared, he was already on another mountain.

Chapter 8 and Ten of Qixia Mountain

"Twenty years later, I still think it happened a few days ago. Xiaoyun was still a child of a few years old, and he was so childish in my arms that he couldn't even speak clearly."

Turning around the foothills of two not-so-high mountains, walking along the small road opened by the villagers near the ridge, from a distance, you can vaguely see the outline of a city standing outside the thin mountain fog, and there are traders and travelers passing by from time to time at the foot of the mountain.

Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and walked slowly down the muddy steps made by the concave and concave. The yellow mud on both sides is full of vegetables grown by the mountain people. There are farmers working in the field nearby. A man and a woman are leading the old donkey. When he came out of the mountain, he leaned on a hoe and took a few glances. He thought that the young man in the city was taking his girlfriend out of the city for an outing, so he reminded him which path to take down the mountain was closer.

There are also many simple and comfortable people in the mountains.

Here, Lu Liangsheng bowed his hands and thanked the other party, let go of the old donkey and followed behind, pulling Hong Lian forward together.

"...Hegu County is right in front of you. Think about it, Mr. Zhou has been gone for many years. I don't know if that house is still there, or it was sold to other people in the city. Zhou Rong married far away. Now Mr. Zhou's two sons I am also an official in the north, and I seldom come back, since I pass by here, Hong Lian will accompany me to offer incense to his old man."

After descending the mountain, he walked along the road outside the nearby village to the official road. As he walked, Lu Liangsheng looked at the approaching city and talked about the past. It is estimated that the test of Juren will be postponed until three years later, so many things will change. I will not go to Beijing so early, I will not see Purdue Cihang, I will not save Chen Jing...etc. .

Approaching the city, the city gate is like a busy city, noisy and lively.

The city wall is tall and stretches from left to right. There are no traces of swords and arrows from the turmoil on the wall. It should be repaired later, and the rough lines left by the mottled wind and rain over the years.

After entering the city, passing through the noisy crowd, followed the familiar path, and came to the quiet and simple courtyard wall, where the gate of the mansion stood tall, and the door plaque with the word "Zhou Mansion" was still hung, and the two sides were hung high. But the lantern in the house was covered with dust, and a lot of leaves had accumulated in front of the lacquered red gate. Lu Liangsheng walked up the stone steps covered with weeds, and lightly knocked on the copper ring on the mansion gate.

There was no movement inside for a while.

"My lord, is there no one living there?" Hong Lian wanted to lean out and sneak in to have a look, but Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand to stop him. At this moment, there was a sound of a wooden bolt being pulled behind the door.

With a soft 'squeak' sound, the lacquered red door slightly opened a gap, revealing half of an old man's face, looking suspiciously at the handsome scholar outside and the pretty woman standing beside him.

"Two, what's the matter?"

The old man is probably the old servant left in the mansion to guard the empty courtyard. After all, it is a pity that such a large house is resold or abandoned. It is a pity to leave someone to take care of it. In the future, Zhou Lao's two sons will resign and go back to the ancestral home. .

Lu Liangsheng thought about it, and raised his hand politely: "Old man, I'm coming from Chang'an, and I want to put a stick of incense on Elder Zhou's spiritual seat, I wonder if it is possible?"

The scholar's words were gentle and polite, and he brought a woman by his side. He was not a villain after all. Hearing that Chang'an had come, the old servant hesitated for a moment, and opened the door anyway. Move out, or sell it off, even if someone wants to steal something, nothing will happen.

"Since you two are interested, come in."

The old servant opened half of the door and invited a man and a woman to come in. He wanted to lead the way, but the man came in as he knew each other. He walked around to find the backyard, pushed open the hall door, and walked in.

"Girl, have you been here before?" The servant looked at the back of the shrine, and turned his head to look at the woman beside him suspiciously.

Nie Honglian put her hands behind her back, stood on tiptoe and shook her body with her hands behind her back, looked at the young master lighting the incense in the hall, smiled dimpledly, and said playfully, "Guess, old man."

As he spoke, he stepped briskly into the threshold, and on the wall of the hall, the pasted handwriting suddenly lit up, but Hong Lian, who had been incensed for so many years, was no longer afraid, and respectfully invited a stick of incense to the spiritual seat .

On the altar table, Zhou Zhen's spirit seat is old and blurred, and the paint surface in many places has peeled off to reveal the color of the wood. If you don't look carefully, it's hard to recognize the writing on it.

Lu Liangsheng stood for a long time, until the old servant outside the door came to urge him, and then he left the hall, and thanked him again.

"My lord, you don't have to thank me. It's a kindness for someone to offer incense to the master."

The old servant smiled, went to close the hall door, looked into the incense, suddenly stopped, rubbed his eyes, and hurried forward, and saw Zhou Zhen's spirit seat in the shrine on the altar table was completely new, the black lacquer surface was completely new Stained with dust, the writing on it seems to have been re-engraved, and even the gold powder on the words seems to have been repainted.

'What's going on with this...? '

Surprised, he turned his head and wanted to ask the couple, but the figure who was standing at the door just now had disappeared, and the door was not closed anymore, and he walked back to the gate yard along the road. Alright, I quickly opened the door and went out, and the donkey tied outside also disappeared.

'Ouch... I'm afraid I'm going to hell! '

The servant let out a cry of surprise, ran back and closed the door, reinserted the wooden peg, ran back to the porter's room, and plunged into the bed.

The sun tilted from the clouds and gradually became overcast.

The man and woman who had disappeared from the mansion before were now leading the old donkey on the road to the southwest outside the city, and the towns along the way were still in their original locations, and there had been many changes in the past 20 years, making Lu Liangsheng unable to tell what happened. It's kind of awkward, just like the same old two years ago, the surrounding world turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Gradually, the villages and towns fell behind, walking into the stretch of green mountains, the cliffs on both sides of the official road, and the melodious birdsong constantly came from the old forest at the foot of the mountain.

Soon, I passed the curving river beside the road, the mountain temple standing on the cliff, and turned the corner in front of me. There are old pines like forests, incense burning in the temple with red walls, and a large green field mixed with mountains in the distance. The young crops rippled in the breeze, and the busy villagers wiped off the sweat on their faces, stretched their necks to let the wind blow into the back of their necks, and sat comfortably on the ridge of the field.

In the distant village, there was a lot of noise, and amidst the occasional loud cock crowing, smoke rose slowly from the houses.

"It's home, son."

Hong Lian squeezed the sleeves of the scholar's robe excitedly, and even Taoist Toad came out from the bookshelf, standing on the donkey's head, looking at the scenery in the sun, feeling relaxed and happy.

.......

When dusk falls to the top of the mountain, the village close to the foot of the mountain seems to be covered with a rosy robe.

The tidy road goes along the row upon row of houses. In the fenced courtyard wall full of sunflower buds, the birds are chirping and making noise. After a bang on the second floor, a bearded Taoist came out. , with blue eyes and dull eyes, leaned over to the fence, and after a while, a graceful woman walked out behind her, holding a fork and coiling her hair, listening to the noisy birds all over the tree, feeling a little puzzled.

"Old Sun, what happened to the birds today?"

"With so many magpies, there must be a happy event coming." The Taoist said casually, and then, he heard the woman behind him speak suddenly, rushed aside, and pointed to the outside of the courtyard.

"Look, isn't that Xiaoyun? How did he come back?"

On the attic, looking farther away, I can vaguely see a young man in Taoist robes, running past the sunba in the village with a yellow cloth pocket on his shoulders, saying hello to the eight old men sitting on the chairs over there, and rushing home in a hurry Come here.

"This kid, didn't you go out? Why are you back again?"

The Taoist with bruised eyes rubbed his long beard on his chin, showing doubts, and seemed a little happy in his tone.

Chapter 8, Goodbye, Lu Lang

The setting sun on the mountain top shone at the entrance of the village. A young man with a yellow cloth bag and a Taoist robe ran into the village in a hurry, facing the eight old people sitting side by side on the side of the sunba, they all clasped their hands and called out one by one: "Grandpa Uncle, Grandpa Second Uncle, Grandpa Third.........Grandpa Seven, Grandpa Eight."

The village is related to him, and he is from his grandfather's generation. I heard that he followed his uncle to travel all over the world, hunting down demons everywhere. He is invulnerable to weapons, fire and water, and was awarded armor by Emperor Wen. Now they are still showing off in the most prominent position in the house.

On the eight big chairs over there, the old man with a gray beard, his muscles still bulging, opened his eyes, the bottom of his eyes glistened, and he waved his hands majesticly.

"It's Xiaoyun, go back quickly."

Seeing the young man leave, the old man named Lu Pan smiled and turned his face back, and said to the other seven brothers: "I've only been away for a long time, and I'm homesick. That kid from my family has learned my skills, so drive him out to make a living." After a while, hey, good guy, I won’t leave after bringing my wife back within half a year, I’m really pissed off!”

The other seven people leaned on their chairs and nodded in agreement, basking in the sun.

"Not every child is like our Liangsheng. It's just that it's been a long time since I went out this time, and I can't remember how long I haven't been back. Does any of you remember?"

"Who remembers clearly, when you open your eyes, it will be dawn, and after a while of sunshine, it will soon be setting again. A day goes by so fast."

......

The eight old men's rambling words faded away behind the young man, walking through the laneway behind the neighboring house, his pace quickened and he shouted loudly.

"Father! Mother! Grandma, grandpa!"

After entering the yard, he ran straight to the cypress tree in the yard, poured a cup of tea into his mouth, and on the attic side, Sun Yingxian rubbed his face and Lu Xiaoxian came down one after the other, looking at his son, the old couple looked at each other , and asked: "Xiaoyun, you've only been working for a few days, and you're back? Didn't you mean you're going to wander the rivers and lakes? At least you have to bring a woman back!"

"Go away!" Lu Xiaoxian slapped her husband on the shoulder, "Everyone says that Xiaoyun is with her uncle, why don't she worry about finding a woman?" Saying this, the woman pushed away the old grandson and sat across the stone table. Press down the teacup in his son's hand, "Tell me, why did you come back suddenly? Did you run out of money? It's okay, mother still has some here."

"no!"

Over there, the young man pushed his mother's hand away, glanced at his father, and coughed twice, "I just... just feel homesick, come back and have a look, and leave tomorrow."

Seeing his son's glance, Sun Yingxian smiled understandingly, and hurried over to smooth things over, helping his wife up.

"It's always like this when I go out for the first time. I told him, you go to cook, and then go and ask your parents to come back for dinner. Don't lead the donkey and wandered to other mountains. You almost got lost last time."

"It's weird, it's up to you father and son."

Lu Xiaoxian looked at the two father and son who seemed to be guessing charades, snorted, turned around and went to the kitchen, the remaining two waited for a while, when the woman at the door of the kitchen didn't poke her head out suddenly, Sun Xiaoyun quickly took out the He took out the book and handed it to his father from under the stone table.

The latter took the book and smashed it comfortably in the palm of his hand, quickly rolled it up and stuffed it into his sleeve, poured tea like a normal person, and asked in a calm voice about his son's going out for the past few days.

"Do you have a habit when you go outside? Have you met any brothers who walked out from Qixia Mountain?"

Sun Xiaoyun shook his head, he had already been to Hegu County, and he never came any farther, and he wanted to exchange the book when he came back, but when he talked about meeting a monster on the way, he gestured excitedly for a while.

"Father, you don't know, that mouse spirit is really clever enough. He can't beat me alone, but he even lured me to lay an ambush, and more than ten big mice came in one breath."

Sun Yingxian was still clear about his son's ability, and took a sip of tea with a flat expression, "And then? Did you run away?"

"Escape? My father is the number one in Chang'an, how can he escape?! Good guy, I won by fighting them with spells..."

With a slap, he slapped him on the head. Sun Yingxian put down the cup and withdrew his hand: "I don't know what you are capable of. A dozen rat spirits can chew all your bones clean. Tell me, how did you escape?"

Sun Xiaoyun sneered, and picked his fingers in embarrassment.

"Father still knows that he actually got the help of an expert, a man who looks like a scholar." Speaking of the excitement, he raised his face, and vividly talked about what happened in the forest, "...that man is so rude Raise your hand, and a sword will soar into the sky and fall into the ground. Ouch, the whole ground is shaking, and those mouse spirits who have burrowed in the mud can't be there for a while. With a few swipes, the blood seems to be worthless. Gollum come out of the ground."

On the opposite side, the teacup was hovering, Sun Yingxian was stunned, raised his eyes to look at the son who was still talking on the opposite side, and interrupted: "Scholar? There is a bald old donkey beside him. Is there a donkey on the donkey?" a bookshelf?"

"Dad, did you see that too?"

When Sun Xiaoyun replied in doubt, there was a sudden 'bang' sound of porcelain bowls breaking in the kitchen, and the young man hurriedly got up and ran to the kitchen, "Mother, what happened?"

In the small kitchen, the woman stood blankly at the stove, she didn't seem to hear the debris falling at her feet, or what her son asked.

"Father, my mother is... father?"

Sun Xiaoyun stood at the door and turned back to the yard. Sun Yingxian, who was sitting on the stone bench, got up in a hurry, and ran out of the yard with her sleeves around her arms, ignoring her son, and even the greetings from the villagers. On it, rushed out of the west entrance of the village in one breath, crossed the wooden bridge, and went up to Qixia Mountain in the west.

The sea of ​​clouds and cliffs, the collapsed thatched hut, and an old pine tree and graves standing there in the distance, and the fallen leaves all over the ground, everything is the same as it was in 20 years.

'Could it be that it wasn't Lu Liangsheng that Xiaoyun met? '

Standing in front of the cliff, the Taoist finally felt a little reconciled, facing the surging sea of ​​clouds outside the cliff, he yelled with all his strength: "Lu Liangsheng!!!"

"Scholar Lu!"

The voice was loud and clear, reverberating in the mountains for a long time, except for the soft rustling of the forest, there was no response. Sun Yingxian's beard trembled in the wind, and he closed his eyes, thinking that he was too sensitive, and was about to turn around and go down the mountain. An unexpected voice suddenly sounded on the mountain road he was descending from.

"Old Sun, with such a loud voice, do you want to scare the national teacher out?"

The mountain wind blows through the forest, and on the winding mountain road, a young man with the appearance of a scholar walks up with his hands behind his back, smiling. Amidst the tinkling of copper bells, an old donkey flicks its bald tail like a grin. Beside it, there is The woman in a plain white dress also smiled at him and greeted him.

"Daozhang Sun."

Also, the toad standing on the donkey's head stretched out its frog webs, "Did you dry the frog for the old man? Bring it together!"

Sun Yingxian stood there, looking at the same group of people as before, with a smile on his face, but his nose was sour, and tears fell down the skirt of his clothes.

Chapter 8 Twelve

The rustling branches and leaves made a soft sound, and in the sunlight that came, Lu Liangsheng looked at the red-eyed Taoist over there. He was so happy to see his old friend again, but he looked at his long beard with white spots on his chin. , pursing his lips, trying to make himself laugh, just like before, he lightly thumped the Taoist's chest.

"You look better when you get old."

"You have become younger, and you don't have the spirit of the immortals before." Although cultivators live longer than ordinary people, old age will still show up after all. Sun Yingxian tilted his head and raised his sleeves to wipe the tears on his cheeks, and smiled slightly : "I'm coming back this time, so I'm not leaving? Or are you going to ascend to become a god? Be careful in the sky, the gods who offended you 20 years ago will make trouble for you. At that time, I will not be around, and no one will help you."

The two teased each other, remained silent for a moment, and then both laughed. Hong Lian, who was by the side, followed the two men and smiled, pursing their red lips, and walked to the thatched cottage to clean up the weeds and fallen leaves in the yard.

Lu Liangsheng glanced at the slender figure, snapped his finger, and the collapsed thatched hut was reborn with delicate branches and leaves, vines twisted together, propped up from the ground, and returned to its original appearance.

"You didn't leave when you asked just now? I'm afraid you won't stay long when you come back this time..." Withdrawing his mana, the scholar watched the tender green leaves swaying in the wind, turned and walked to the cliff over there, cleaning up In the tomb of my mentor, I personally pulled out a weed from the crevice of the stone, held it in my hand, and said softly: "I'll come back and have a look, I'm homesick, and I will come back later, I don't know what it looks like."

"Leaving so soon?" The Taoist followed behind, frowning, "I won't stay for a while, so I can spend good time with Xiaoxian, and your parents?"

"I want to see you." Lu Liangsheng pulled out the second root, his hands trembled slightly, and then he still pulled up the grass and threw it away, "...But, I still can't stop."

The smile on Sun Yingxian's face gradually faded, and the two hands hanging by his sides were clenched into fists. Suddenly, he took a step towards the back in front of the tombstone, his voice suddenly raised, and he roared.

"Lu Liangsheng! What's the difference between you and those gods who don't have feelings?! What's more, you haven't become a fairy yet, but you are your parents, your own sister, and they are all your close relatives. No!!"

Lu Liangsheng looked at his teacher's tombstone, fell silent, turned around and patted Sun Yingxian on the shoulder, who opened his hand backhandedly, and took two steps back, his gray beard trembling slightly in the wind.

"Do you know how hard they have been waiting for you for the past 20 years? Your mother is hot-tempered, but you are the one who loves you the most. She is almost blind from crying when she sees you coming back. Your father sneaks out every day. Keeping the donkey, I just hope that the village will be the first to see you back! You told me to go! You are worthy of being a son of man, worthy of what that scholar said when he walked out of Qixia Mountain?!"

After the Taoist finished speaking, Hong Lian and Toad in the thatched cottage looked over in silence. Hong Lian couldn't stand it anymore, dropped the broom, and ran two steps: "Daozhang Sun, the young master can't do anything, the way of heaven forced him to go, young master go!" You can no longer meddle in human affairs!"