[Journey to the West] So I am Monk Tang

Afterwards, I seriously criticized Zhu Bajie. Think about it, Brother Hou has worn that tiger skin skirt for many years, and I didn’t pay attention to it on weekdays. This time I was reminded to take a look, and the hair in some places was wiped off. Under these conditions, Brother Hou is still hard-working and simple, and he has not replaced it. Now that he finally fell in love with a new suit, why did he poke it to pieces?

Zhu Bajie was heartbroken and made a deep self-criticism.

However, Brother Hou didn't appreciate it, or rather, I think he seemed even angrier after Zhu Bajie and I finished speaking.

"What's the matter, Wukong?" I just felt so guilty for the negligence I just discovered, but now that I see Brother Hou like this, I want to make up for him even more firmly.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I was taken aback, "It seems Wukong really likes leopard print skirts."

I was so sad that I ignored it.

Thinking of this, I looked at Zhu Bajie, "How bad is that leopard skin? Is there really no good place to make a skirt?"

Zhu Bajie scratched his head, "The leopard spirit has been burned by a fire a long time ago, and it's too late for something good."

I don’t know how this story got out. That night, the second son we rescued from the goblin’s cave gave us a leopard skin.

"I hunted this when I followed people up the mountain to hunt. The skins are all tanned. Please take it from the holy monk. Don't dislike it." After finishing speaking, he dropped the leopard skin and ran away without waiting for my reply.

I:"……"

I plucked the smooth fur with my hands, not to mention, it feels really good, the whole body is apricot yellow, with black spots in the shape of plum blossoms on it.

It looks similar to the leopard spirit that was beaten to death, Brother Hou should like it.

I met Bai Jingjing and asked her to sew a skirt.

"I sew?" Bai Jingjing pointed at herself with her fair and slender fingers, with an expression of disbelief.

"Among our masters and apprentices, aren't you the only one who knows how to sew?" Even if Bai Jingjing raised a question, I think there is nothing wrong with this arrangement. "And it's handy, the hydrangea we made earlier is so memorable to the lion.

"But, but I..." Bai Jingjing finally lowered her head, "Understood, Master."

Seeing Bai Jingjing like this, I hesitated, "If you don't want to, then forget it."

I thought about it, it’s just a skirt, and it’s not difficult to make. The tiger skin skirt worn by Brother Hou was sewn by himself, and he has worn it for so many years. where to go.

Unexpectedly, I was about to give up here, but Bai Jingjing regained her spirits and tore away the leopard skin that I had casually put on my lap before, "Don't worry, Master, it's just a skirt. I can definitely make a long skirt or a short skirt. The skirt is narrow, let the elder brother change it every day."

There are so many kinds of men's skirts?

I really haven't done any research on this aspect, and I can't compare to Bai Jingjing's authority. I just think that my life is too rough, and I leave everything to Bai Jingjing.

But it turns out that it's not that I'm too rough, but that I'm too sweet to actually believe that Bai Jingjing will honestly sew a skirt for Brother Hou.

When I saw Brother Hou, Brother Hou was still wearing his tiger skin skirt, looking refreshed, he was that hearty monkey again.On the other hand, Bai Jingjing stayed in the room all day and never came out. When she was called out, we were all stunned.

Bai Jingjing's whole body was covered by the leopard skin, only one face was exposed, and on that originally fair face, three ink marks were smeared on one left and one right respectively, and other places were also black spots little by little.

Like a female leopard spirit.

I looked at Brother Hou, and his proud expression was completely undisguised; then I looked at Bai Jingjing, who approached me with tears in her eyes, and Brother Hou bared her teeth, and she turned and ran away.

"Wukong, what's going on?" I had a vague guess, but I wasn't so sure.

Brother Hou bared his teeth and grinned, "She's not honest with her bones, I'll teach her a lesson."

After the Spring Festival, it won't be long before the warmth of spring and the flowers bloom. We stayed in this mountain village long enough, and it was time to hit the road again.

It's just that the people in the village were very kind and forced us to stay for a few more days, and held a banquet as a farewell feast.

"Going forward, it should be Fengxian County." I recalled the map given to me by the King of France. "It is a very rich place. It is Tianzhu Foreign County, and it is getting closer and closer to Lingshan."

"Although it looks close, there is actually still a distance." Monkey Brother said, and then he took out a few pieces of candy from nowhere, and threw them at a child who was hiding in a corner and looked at us timidly, "Kid , eat candy, sweet mouth."

This was the last farewell banquet, and it was organized by Deng Yuanwai's family who has the closest relationship with us here, and most of the people in the village came.This child looks familiar, but I don't know which family it is from.

The child took the candy, and showed a shy smile to Brother Hou with two missing front teeth. He just smiled, and then quickly closed his mouth. I don’t know if he remembered that he was losing his teeth. He put the candy into the mouth, and walked a little closer to us, the voice was a bit vague, "My mother is from Fengxian County, it's broken there."

"Bad?" This adjective is not very good, I don't want to listen to hearsay, but the map given to us by the king of France is decades ago, and if the child's words are true, then his mother at least knows where there are near year status.

"My mother said she was sold by her parents just for a bite to eat, and she came here later." The child squatted on the ground, "It's not good there."

I looked at each other with several Wu, and finally decided to visit the child's mother.

Although the child's mother was a little surprised when she heard our reason for coming, she still told us everything she knew, "I heard that when I was just born, the place was indeed rich, with vast land and rich military and people, but Not long after, there was a severe drought year after year, there was no water at the bottom of the well, and the springs dried up. The rich and well-to-do families were better off, like my parents' family, although they were small and well-off, although they could last a year or two, but the years were getting better and better. It's getting worse, there is no rain at all, and the food in the house is eaten up. First, I sold clothes and goods, and then my father fell ill. The doctor said it was a starvation disease, but there was no food at home. In the end, my mother took it. I exchanged three liters of rice, I left Fengxian County and moved here, I don’t know what happened to them afterwards.”

I was speechless for a moment. Even if there are many unavoidable difficulties in this kind of thing, it still sounds unpleasant.

"Holy monk, do not disturb, I am lucky to be like this." The child's mother said, "Although I suffered a little at first, my mother-in-law paid for me to be my husband's wife, and after having children, Life is getting better and better. Now that I think about it, everything is fate. I was born in Fengxian County, but at least I live in the city. Compared with those who live outside the city, I am lucky."

"Is it more chaotic outside the city?" I asked.

"There is a county guard in the city to send troops to manage it, so there is no big trouble, but I heard that there are many people who rob and eat people outside the city where there are no officials." The child's mother replied.

Because we knew such news before leaving, when we were on the road, our hearts were still a little heavy.

"Severe years of severe drought..." I rode on the horse, "Wukong, tell me, is this a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?"

Brother Hou walked ahead and shook his head, "It's hard to say, it's hard to say."

After leaving the village, we walked for another day and saw a main road. Going west along the main road, the scenery along the way was gradually deserted.

It stands to reason that it is spring now, when everything is blooming, but the further west you go, the more sparse the vegetation on the roadside, and there are even a few dry and half-fallen trees, the bark is gone.The further you walk, the stronger the dry breath becomes.

It's a bit worse than the deserts I've been to before, but not much better.

When the land was dry to the point that there were many cracks on the ground like cracked glass lines, I jumped off the horse, squatted on the ground, picked up a piece of dry soil with my hands, and crushed it hard, it turned into powder and fell on the ground. on the ground.

Really no moisture at all.

Zhu Bajie is more professional than me. He just glanced at it, then shook his head and said, "This land is ruined." There is no moisture.

"How many years has it been drought?" Zhu Bajie jumped out of the pit, "There is absolutely no way to grow crops in this land, and without crops, people can't keep it. Master, you said that Fengxian County in front of you is already an empty city Right? If the people inside haven’t starved to death, they probably left their homes and went out to seek a chance of survival.”

This guess may be somewhat negative, but it is the most likely.

We walked forward for several days, and when the cracks in the ground under our feet were getting bigger and bigger, we saw a city.

A tall and vigorous city that can still see its former style but is now in its dying years.

The road became more and more difficult, so I got off my horse and walked forward step by step. When I came to the city gate, there was a notice posted on the city wall. Although the paper was yellow and cracked, the words were very clear. A placard asking the mage to pray for rain and save the people.

Looking left and right, there is silence here, not only the city gate is wide open and no one is guarding it, but through the city gate and looking at the streets and merchants on both sides, there is no one in sight.

"Isn't this already a dead city?" Brother Monkey jumped into the air, "Master, please rest, Lao Sun will go around the city to see how the situation is, and see if anyone is still there."

I nodded, but felt a little pessimistic about the result.

The reason why there are oases in the desert is because there is water, so it is the miracle of life.But here...

I took off the water bladder carried by the white horse, unscrewed it and took another sip of water, maybe because it is too dry here, the frequency of my drinking water has increased these days.Thanks to Zhu Bajie's jade bottle that can hold water from rivers and lakes, he doesn't feel more irritable due to lack of water.

The cool water passed through the esophagus, driving away some dryness, and even made my head sober.

This kind of severe drought for years is rare, because of the existence of gods and Buddhas, praying for rain is not entirely based on luck, but gods will really respond to such requests.I never thought it was so difficult, what the three monsters in Che Chi country can do, doesn't Fengxian County burn incense and pray?

The matter of rain falls under the control of the Dragon King, and the Dragon King belongs to... the Heavenly Court?

Could it be the fault of Heaven again this time?