The doors and windows of the house were closed, and the sunlight shone into the house through the paper windows.
The silhouettes of fallen leaves floated on the window paper, making a delicate and lingering sound.
Mu Xue sat by the window, slowly turning the pages of the book, her memories following those yellowed pages, returning to the past.
She seemed to see a little boy next door who she was not very familiar with. After her death, he scratched his head and held a pen in his hand, recording his impression of her bit by bit on paper with unfamiliar words.
The book only says: When I was a child, the neighbor Ms. Mu was a strange woman to the children on Shimiao Street.
Although she is very beautiful, she is a "scary" character with a bit of mystery.
I often saw her walking past my bun shop with bags of strange ingredients. She always seemed to be concentrating on thinking about something while walking, and occasionally she would mutter to herself.
She never pays attention to the people around her and doesn't care what happens around her.
It was as if she was a person living in her own world. Everything around her was out of tune with her, and all life had nothing to do with her.
At that time, I didn’t know that many of the very convenient magical instruments in our lives were made by this great instrument-refining master.
Including the magic tool in my house that can quickly bake buns into golden brown, and our boys’ favorite “car” that can be stepped on and run very fast.
All I know is that this strange woman is always followed by several mechanical puppets of different sizes. Those crooked, unfinished little things are actually very dangerous.
Every child on this street has been taught by their parents not to touch these seemingly harmless little things without the owner's consent.
I have seen with my own eyes the little tin man named "Qianji" on Mr. Mu's shoulder. One moment he was stupidly grunting and tilting his head, and the next moment he decomposed and reorganized into a terrifying steel behemoth.
That day, I was standing in the steamed bun shop, and through the white smoke from the steamer, I saw her carrying back a dying little boy from the market street.
The boy was so thin and miserable that he fainted in her arms, with blood dripping from his thin feet all the way.
I even thought that the neighbor next door was no longer satisfied with tormenting the tin puppet and was ready to extend her horrific claws to living children.
Fortunately, the next morning, I saw the neighbor's gate was pushed open.
The pale-faced child pushed the door open with a cane and came out to sweep the snow. Although he still looked terrible, he was still alive and had not been made into a messy puppet. This made the young me feel relieved.
From then on, this skinny little guy - who later became the famous Cen Qianshan, took root in the neighbor's yard.
In the first few days after he arrived, he was in a very bad condition. I saw him hiding in the alley outside the courtyard wall to vomit several times. After vomiting, he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall to gasp for breath. His weak appearance made me feel that this miserable and unlucky guy might die at any moment.
Mr. Mu finally realized that the boy he kept in the yard was about to die, and took him to Uncle Nian's clinic.
When they came back, I was helping my mother light the stove outside the store, and I saw young Cen Qianshan with an ice pack on his forehead, wrapped in a thick blanket by Mu Dajia, who was holding him in his arms as he walked towards us in the wind and snow.
At that time, I looked up quietly and saw the boy curled up in the blanket, his eyes lingering on the face of Mu Dajia who was holding him, without moving for a moment.
It looked so pitiful and soft, just like a stray cat that was about to freeze to death in the winter, being fished out of a snow pit and held in someone's hands.
It didn't take long for me to realize that I was wrong. It was not a sick cat at all, but a wild wolf, a vicious mountain tiger.
At first, we could corner him in the alley and beat him up, but before long, no one on the street could stand up to him.
After I was beaten up by Cen Qianshan again, my mother took me into the yard of the Mu family.
That was the first time I witnessed the power of a puppeteer. The slender woman in red protected her little apprentice behind her, but with a simple raise of her hand, countless mechanical puppets rose from the courtyard wall.
The overwhelming cold murderous intent scared me so much that I almost ran away. Even my mother, who was usually not afraid of anyone, was visibly frightened.
At that time, I saw clearly that Cen Qianshan, who was protected by a red robe, had such bright eyes. He looked at his master with such a burning gaze, so proud and proud, and never paid any attention to anyone else.
I thought at the time, this kid couldn’t possibly like his mentor.
As time passed, Cen Qianshan changed from a dirty little slave to the happiest child in Shimiao Street.
He always has toys in his hands that make boys jealous, and his pockets are always filled with plenty of pocket money and candy.
When his master led him along the street, he only had to act coquettishly and, amid the envious gazes of all the other children on the street, he would get things that parents would never easily give to their children.
The little figure chasing after the red-dressed figure was so happy. He quickly grew up in such happy days, first taller than the red shoulders, then as tall as the red shoulders, and finally taller than his master.
The boy's eyes looking at his master became more and more passionate day by day. His youthful affection was so burning and obvious.
On the entire street, perhaps only Mr. Mu himself, who was so obsessed with magic, did not notice the love his apprentice had for her.
When Mu Xue saw this, she looked up blankly.
At that time, the mountains were young, and the bamboos and pines were green, surpassing the spring. His burning gaze lingered by my side day and night, did I really not notice it at all
She looked down at the pages again, and saw the author's sentiments on the old paper:
Everyone said that Cen Qianshan was lucky to meet Mr. Mu and was saved from danger, which allowed him to be reborn and change his fate.
But no one knew that it was because of having such a caring little apprentice that Mr. Mu became more cheerful day by day. He no longer locked himself up in the cold mechanical world, and gradually became more down-to-earth and human.
At that time, a tide of beasts attacked, and I nearly died under the sharp teeth of the beasts. When I was in danger, a huge mechanical puppet fell from the sky, grabbed the limbs of the beast, and crushed the powerful beast into pieces in a moment.
Mu Dajia, dressed in red, appeared in front of me. He thought for a moment before saying, "Aren't you the Niu Dazhuang who often fights with my Xiaoshan?"
My name is Niu Dashuai, you must have remembered it wrongly, Mr. Mu.
Mrs. Mu summoned her famous flying magic weapon, the UFO, unfolded it and enlarged it, and without any grudges, she carried me, who was seriously injured.
The swallow-tailed UFO, at an extremely fast speed, passed through the overwhelming beast tide and brought me out of danger before all the monsters could react. Along the way, it also rescued countless people who were in desperate situations.
The neighbor who seemed a little scary on weekdays was now sitting in front of the magic weapon, and his presence was so reassuring.
Unfortunately, although there is love in the world, the laws of nature are ruthless.
Such a woman is not tolerated by the way of heaven.
On the day when Master Mu's golden elixir was perfected and he was overcoming the tribulation, I happened to be on a distant hilltop. At that time, thunder in the sky was like golden drums, lightning was like dragons, and divine power was rolling in the clouds. It was impossible to escape the nine-fold heavenly tribulation.
I hid far away on the top of the mountain and looked over there, only to see a graceful woman standing under the thundercloud, looking up at the sky, in a bright red outfit, unafraid.
Densely packed purple divine thunders rolled in the gaps between the clouds, and ferocious lightning flashed two, three, ten, a hundred, endlessly, vowing to wipe out the red figure from the world.
Such divine power made me, who was far away on the top of the mountain, have my hair stand on end and my liver and gall bladder tremble. I dared not move at all.
I could only watch with tears in my eyes as the lonely figure, after fighting with all his might, exhausted his spiritual power and used up all his magic weapons, was defeated by the might of heaven. He was crushed to ashes alive by the purple lightning.
The mighty thunderclouds dispersed, and a few rays of sunlight shone through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating the dust that had turned the ground to ashes.
A black figure then came running from a distance.
With tears in my eyes, I watched the once fierce and cold-hearted Cen Qianshan stumble and fall several times along the way, and crawl to the ashes, and use his trembling hands to gather the ashes.
Even neighbors like me could not help shedding tears for the passing of Mrs. Mu.
But I didn't see him shed a single tear at that time.
The young man who loved his master deeply, hurriedly and stubbornly gathered all the ashes into a bag, and then hurriedly began to look for the puppet fragments scattered on the ground.
I really couldn't bear to see him like this, so I used all sorts of persuasion, coaxing and deceiving, and finally dragged the distraught Cen Qianshan back to his home.
He was almost too slow to open the door of their house.
On the table in the room, there was a storage bag placed upright, with a half-page of cut letter underneath, on which were only a few simple words from Mr. Mu:
If you don't come back, all these will be given to me. Please take care of yourself.
Cen Qianshan's arms were shaking, and he turned the storage bag upside down with a crash. All the martial arts secrets, magic weapons and spiritual stones spilled all over the floor.
Although I am an outsider, I can't help but feel sad when I see this situation, let alone the Love Mountain
Several days passed, and the neighbor's room was still dark and silent.
My mother sighed, put a few hot buns and a pot of soup in a basket, stuffed it into my arms, and urged me to go and take a look.
I entered the darkened house. The situation inside was still the same as when I left that day. Spiritual stones and treasures were scattered all over the floor. Cen Qianshan sat on the doorstep with his eyes blank, holding the bag of ashes in his hand. His eyes were dark and his lips were white. He didn't cry or make a fuss.
I think he doesn't want to live anymore.
I racked my brains and said a lot to him, but he just sat there in a daze and didn't listen to a word I said.
Until I remembered that there is a secret technique of summoning souls in this world, which told him that if he could obtain it, he could gather the souls of the dead, help them train to become an intermediate body, practice the way of ghosts, and continue their past relationships.
After hearing this, Cen Qianshan's eyes gradually lit up and he was willing to start eating the buns I brought.
He had been hungry for a long time and ate too quickly, so he ran out to vomit. Then he walked back slowly and continued to force food into his mouth.
Alas, I am really sad to see him like this. I would rather he be as cruel and vicious as before, beating me up for no reason, and pretending to be innocent in front of Mr. Mu, than the horrible look he has now.
What people fear most is losing hope. As long as they still have hope in their hearts and are willing to work hard, I believe that one day, God will have mercy on them and allow them to reunite as master and disciple and continue their previous relationship.
When Mu Xue turned to this point, a large drip mark suddenly appeared on the yellowed page, and large wet dots appeared on the paper, one after another.
She touched her face curiously and found that her cheeks were wet.
Outside the paper window, there were so many leaves falling that I didn't know how many of them there were. The figure reading the book in front of the window finally sighed, closed the book, and left.
In the front hall, Su Xingting put down the book in his hand, raised his head and asked, "Are you sure you have thought it through?"
The young disciple in front of him nodded and knelt down, "I am incompetent and unwilling to let go of my obsession. I am afraid that I will keep him in my heart forever. Please teach me, Master."
Su Xingting looked at her for a long time, then reached out and touched her head, "Okay."
…
"To enter the Dao through love? Brother, are you mistaken?"
On Biyou Peak, Ding Huirou turned and looked at Su Xingting in disbelief.
Su Xingting waved his hand and said, "Junior sister, keep your voice down. There is no need to publicize this matter. Because this child likes the art of chemical refining and often follows you, I specifically told you."
Ding Huirou asked: "But this road is not easy to take. Can't we change it?"
Su Xingting sighed slightly: "She is a transparent and innocent child. Whether it is because of family affection, friendship, or other emotions. She already has feelings in her heart and is unwilling to erase them. If you force it to change, it will easily breed inner demons."
"So what do you want to do, brother?"
"I told her not to practice the Dragon and Tiger Art yet, and not to teach her the method of gathering and hiding and the technique of sitting and lying while breathing. Even though it will be slower, she is very intelligent, and it would be a good thing for her to spend more time consolidating her foundation. When she grows up and the opportunity comes in the future, her practice will naturally be smoother."
Ding Huirou blinked her eyes. "This is really unexpected. I saw that this child is usually devoted to cultivation, not interested in external things, and not concerned with worldly affairs. I thought she would follow the path of ruthlessness. I didn't expect her to do the exact opposite."
"Don't be fooled by her cold and aloof appearance. She is actually a loyal and righteous child." Su Xingting laughed. He turned the egg-born world in his hand and watched the money settle between the worlds. "I always feel that she has her own opportunities. It is God's will. There is no need to worry too much."