Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

On the third day of the competition, Mu Liuyun got off the field again and defeated his opponent without any suspense.

That night, he told his senior brother and went to Wuling City with Zhang Chi.

Daoist Qinghe wanted Qingliu Qingyue and others to accompany him, but Mu Liuyun refused.He knows very well that when he is only accompanied by Zhang Chi, he can temporarily let go of his status in the sect and play like an ordinary young man. Wherever you are, you can only be the Grand Master Uncle of the Shangqing Palace.

Daoist Qinghe didn't insist. If possible, it would be better for Mu Liuyun to maintain the image of an elder, but as a senior brother, he also somewhat hopes that this young senior brother can occasionally relax like a real young man.

This year's Ghost Festival coincides with the Wulin General Assembly. The entire Wuling City is bustling like never before. The nearby temples and Taoist temples are overcrowded. Countless good men and women come to burn paper and burn incense to pray for their deceased relatives.

Relatively speaking, there is not such a solemn atmosphere in the city. Many people don't care what kind of festival it is, but just come out to have fun while taking advantage of the excitement.

There are people coming and going on the street, and some places are crowded with each other. Zhang Chi knew that Mu Liuyun didn't like to join in the fun, so he deliberately avoided the busiest street, chose a small road next to the river, and walked all the way to tell Mu Liuyun with joy Some of the anecdotes he knew made Mu Liuyun laugh from time to time.

After shopping around for a short time, Zhang Chi saw a hawker selling candied haws, and immediately exclaimed like a big child: "This candied haws is so big, I've never seen such a big one before, Liuyun, do you want to try it?"

"...Is this for food?" Mu Liuyun looked at the bunch of red balls in surprise.

Zhang Chi was also surprised: "No, haven't you ever eaten candied haws?"

Mu Liuyun shook his head: "I have never eaten it, there is no such thing in the Shangqing Palace."

"...You really don't eat the fireworks of the world. How boring a childhood without candied haws would be. No, I have to buy you a taste of anything." Zhang Chi bought two bunches without any explanation, and stuffed a bunch for Mu. flow cloud.

Mu Liuyun, whose hospitality was hard to bear, had no choice but to take it, and took a bite like Zhang Chi did. Zhang Chi asked with piercing eyes, "How is it?"

"...It's sweet and sour, and I can't say how delicious it is." Mu Liuyun said persuasively.

"Indeed." Zhang Chi chewed half a candied haws, and said with some emotion, "I was greedy for this when I was a child, but I didn't have the money to buy it. Now I can eat as many skewers as I want, but I can't eat the old ones anymore. It tastes like this—some things are like this, the more you ask for it, the more you want it, and when you really get it at your fingertips, you don’t feel any better.”

"Yes..." Mu Liuyun replied if he had realized something.

Zhang Chi grinned grinningly: "Anyway, just treat it as something new. I think you must still have a lot of delicious food that you haven't tasted. If there is a chance in the future, I will definitely take you to eat all over the world and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the world. , do you think it's okay?"

"...Okay." Compared to Zhang Chi's arrogance and dryness, Mu Liuyun just smiled, and didn't really take this word as a promise to his heart.

***

From just now, Mu Liuyun has noticed that there are river lanterns of various colors floating in twos and threes on the river surface. A stubby candle was lit, revealing a soft light in the night.

At first, Mu Liuyun thought it was just made by someone to play with, but the further upstream, the denser the river lanterns were, almost stretching the entire river surface, and many people were throwing the river lanterns in their hands. After putting it in the water, Mu Liuyun finally realized that this should be a folk custom.

Zhang Chi saw that Mu Liuyun seemed to be quite interested in He Deng, so he took the initiative to explain to him: "Today is the Ghost Festival of the Ghost Festival. According to legend, the gate of ghosts will open, and ghosts from the underworld will wander the world to fulfill their unfulfilled wishes. If people in the world want to say something to their deceased relatives, just write what you want to say on the river lantern and put it in the river, and it will be received by the people in the underworld. Liuyun, let’s go release the river lantern too! "

"Okay." Mu Liuyun didn't have any clear purpose when he came out this trip, seeing that Zhang Chi was in high spirits, he naturally wouldn't disturb his fun.

So they went against the flow of people and walked towards the place where river lanterns were sold. During the period, several people jostled and jostled towards each other. Zhang Chi grabbed Mu Liuyun's hand very naturally, and pulled him aside. pulled.

Mu Liuyun was stunned for a moment, then calmly broke away from Zhang Chi's hand.

"Ah... sorry, I'm used to being casual with my friends." Zhang Chi smiled apologetically.

"It's okay." Mu Liuyun also smiled and didn't care.

Zhang Chi pretended to be calm on the surface, but he was quite depressed in his heart. Mu Liuyun still resented his touch until now, so how could they establish a further relationship?These days, he has tried everything possible to get Mu Liuyun used to his contact, but now it seems that it has no effect at all.

But Zhang Chi was Zhang Chi after all, and his frustration was quickly forgotten by him. The two came to the stall selling river lanterns. Zhang Chi asked for pens and ink, and began to write and draw on the river lanterns made by the shop.

"Liuyun, do you want to release the river lantern?" Zhang Chi looked up at Mu Liuyun who was just watching silently, and told the other party to just wait like this, he was afraid that Mu Liuyun would get bored.

Mu Liuyun shook his head: "I don't know who to write to."

"You can write to deceased ancestors, most people write to ancestors who were parents."

Mu Liuyun just said indifferently: "I don't have parents. I was adopted by my master when I was less than one year old. Even my surname is my master's."

Zhang Chi had never seen Mu Liuyun mention his family, and he thought that he was probably gone, but he didn't expect that Mu Liuyun didn't even know who his biological parents were. No father and no mother...it must be not easy."

"I have master to take care of me, so I don't think it's hard." Seeing Zhang Chi's look more depressed than his own without parents, Mu Liuyun smiled and comforted him, "You just write what you want, don't worry about it." I."

Zhang Chi nodded, and began to focus on communicating with the deceased. He quickly finished writing a river lamp and lowered it to the river, wrote another one, and then one after another, and wrote more than a dozen.

Mu Liuyun was a little confused: "Do you have so many relatives who want to send messages?"

"No, the lights I put down just now are all for my brothers in the Northwest Army." Zhang Chi smiled, and the flickering candlelight shone on his face, making his smile look unusually soft , "These heartless people never know how to send me a letter or a dream, let me know if they are doing well down here."

Mu Liuyun went over to take a look, and found that Zhang Chi was not writing most of the time, but was drawing something similar to stick figures, using extremely simple strokes to represent people, horses, the sun and the moon and so on.

Mu Liuyun said, "If you can't write any characters, I can teach you."

Zhang Chi shook his head: "No, to tell you the truth, my brothers know fewer characters than me, and they can't understand even if I write."

Mu Liuyun watched Zhang Chi put down many river lanterns before he stood up and paid the money. He apologized to Mu Liuyun with some embarrassment: "It's boring to keep you waiting for so long."

Mu Liuyun shook his head and said it didn't matter, but Zhang Chi insisted on treating him to supper as compensation, but Mu Liuyun couldn't help it, so he had to let him go.

After walking a long way, Mu Liuyun thought for a while and asked, "So many people who died in battle, don't you remember them all the time?"