"Hey, who are you? Why are you just sitting down and eating? These noodles are not yours."
Sun Yiqiu came to his senses and couldn't help but scold.
The man chewed the noodles in his mouth, raised his left hand slightly, signaling Sun Yiqiu not to speak for the time being, then took out eight cents from his pocket and placed them on the table, still savoring the noodles.
Sun Yiqiu scratched his head and held back the rest of his words. He turned around to look at his father, who nodded. Sun Yiqiu then put the money away and said something with a little embarrassment.
"Sir, please enjoy your meal."
Ji Yuan ignored Sun Yiqiu and just ate his noodles. He faintly heard someone sighing softly at the table next to him.
"If I had known, I would have bought the noodles from that girl."
"Yeah, I haven't eaten it anyway."
Ji Yuan smiled and shook his head, and suddenly he heard someone mutter in a very subtle voice, "It's better after eating it." Ji Yuan almost spit in the face, and he couldn't help but look sideways at the person who spoke, a Confucian scholar with a slightly dark complexion and regular features.
But at this time, a cold wind blew over.
Although the scholars here were not very well-versed in literature and Taoism, no one could hear what Hu Yun and She Ji said, nor were they overly sensitive to the energy, but they could still clearly feel the approach of ghosts and gods.
Some Confucian scholars noticed something, and some vaguely saw the actions of the Yinchai. Among them was the slightly flirtatious Confucian scholar, who even spoke out to remind his deskmate.
"Shut up, the wandering spirit is passing through."
The sounds of chatting and laughing in the stall suddenly became much quieter. Two night patrolmen and several ghost messengers arrived at the noodle stall and carefully searched the surroundings.
"Just now, the energy here was stirring, and there was clearly a trace of demonic energy hidden, but now it has disappeared."
"Maybe there's some powerful monster hiding in the temple fair."
As the two wandering gods talked, they walked into the stall and glanced at several tables of Confucian scholars. Those who couldn't notice them were still chatting and laughing, while those who could notice them were obviously a little restrained. On the contrary, the Confucian scholar that Ji Yuan had noticed was very calm, but he didn't take the initiative to greet the ghost messenger.
Then the two wandering gods set their sights on Ji Yuan, who was eating noodles at a table alone.
"This is the former residence of the Sage of Literature. If any evildoer dares to act rashly, he will surely suffer a bad end."
"Don't look at me, I'm just a mortal."
The wandering god left with the ghost messenger. Ji Yuan didn't even look at them from beginning to end. He just kept eating noodles. When he had almost finished eating, he looked up and shouted in the direction of the Sun family.
"Store owner, do you have mutton offal? It would be even better if you have beef offal."
It was Sun's father who answered this time, wiping his hands with a towel and smiling apologetically.
"I'm sorry, sir, it's sold out."
"If you have any, just sell it. I used to be a regular customer of this stall, and everyone who knew me called me sir."
Father Sun looked at the guest who was speaking carefully and asked with a frown.
"Excuse me, who is the guest?"
"My last name is Ji."
Ji Yuan sucked the chopsticks and then placed them horizontally on the bowl of noodles.
"Oh, it's Mr. Ji. It seems you know something about our stall. It's really inconvenient. If you want to eat it, I'll save it for you tomorrow..."
Father Sun explained kindly.
"It's really inconvenient to force it."
Ji Yuan did not insist. He just stood up, took a few steps, and suddenly turned around to look at the cabinet cart.
"Shopkeeper, I would like to ask, who are you going to leave this copy for?"
"Uh, this..."
Sun Yiqiu's mind was quick and he answered immediately.
"This may be a moral from our ancestors, similar to having surpluses every year."
This explanation made sense, and Sun's father nodded slightly. Ji Yuan didn't ask any more questions.
Who says that immortals must be free and easy? Who says that immortals must be indifferent? Then why would they enter the world and wander around? At least Ji Yuan felt a little lost at this moment, but that was all.
“It tastes pretty good, but I feel like something is missing!”
Ji Yuan walked away slowly, but the scholar in the stall stood up.
"Shopkeeper, it's not good if someone comes to eat for free, but it doesn't seem right to charge twice the price for one serving of noodles, right?"
This was obviously referring to what had just happened. The scholar's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and could be heard inside and outside the stall.
"What the guest said is that if that guest comes back, I will make her another bowl of noodles as long as the stall is open."
The scholar looked outside the noodle stall for a long time, and after a long time he nodded to Sun's father and sat down. His companions were still nervous about the encounter with the evil spirit just now.
"Hey, brother, why did the ghost come here just now?" "It can't be because of those two girls, right?"
"I think it's more like I'm here for Mr. Ji."
After sitting down, the Confucian scholar kept looking in the direction where Ji Yuan left, muttering something like "it should be impossible".
"Brother, brother? What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, nothing, let's eat noodles, and then we'll go to the Confucian Temple when the midnight hour comes."
Diners were coming and going at the stalls, and there was a constant stream of people walking around the temple fair. Ji Yuan walked where the lights were dim, looking at the occasional fireworks rising into the sky thoughtfully.
"I have been waiting for so many years, but I can't recognize the person I am waiting for. It's ridiculous and lamentable."
A calm voice came from the side. Ji Yuan turned around and saw Lu Shanjun standing not far away, bowing respectfully.
"Disciple Lu Shanjun, hello, Master!"
Until this moment, Lu Shanjun could no longer remain calm. His voice was filled with a hint of uncontrollable excitement, and his eyes were slightly red when he raised his head.
"Master, is it really you? I have missed you so much over the years!"
When talking about Ji Yuan, Hu Yun and others were usually relatively calm. They would ask about him when they met acquaintances, and they would also ask about him when they came to Ju'an Pavilion. They maintained this normal attitude and did not believe that Ji Yuan would really die of old age or disappear from the world.
But until he saw Ji Yuan at this moment, even Lu Shanjun, who was always sharp and strong, couldn't hold back.
"I couldn't resist the sleepiness and took a nap in the mountains. I just woke up not long ago. Have you been doing well these years?"
"My disciple is concentrating on cultivation and everything is fine. Please give me some guidance, Master!"
"I can't give you any advice. Let's go home."
Ji Yuan spoke quite calmly at this moment, but he was deeply moved in his heart. He just had a dreamless sleep, but for those who cared about him, it meant hundreds of years of waiting.
Outside the door of Ju'an Pavilion, Lu Shanjun stood respectfully by the side. Ji Yuan glanced at the plaque and touched the door, then pushed it gently, and the door slowly opened.
Zao Niang, who was sitting in the yard reading a book, had some feelings. She looked up at the door and was stunned for a moment. She didn't know what to say and she didn't even realize that two lines of tears flowed from her eyes.
"gentlemen?"
"Zao Niang, the master is back!" "Zao Niang!"
"Where's Hu Yun?" "I want to eat ink!"
"Hahahaha, we're back too!"
"We have been guarding the master!"
The next moment, the noisy voices of the small characters came over, chattering and very lively. The sword intent note flew out from Ji Yuan's arms, and small characters that were shining with spiritual light also flew out.
Ji Yuan didn't say anything extra. He walked into the yard, brushed off the snow on his body, sat at the table under the tree as before, and said something with a smile.
"Mother Zao, make me a pot of jujube honey tea."
"Um!"
Lu Shanjun also walked into the yard and whispered a few words. Ji Yuan clapped his hands to show his agreement.
"If I don't tell you, I'm afraid some old friends will get angry later."
After a while, many chattering little characters rose into the air in the noise, and rays of light flew out of the Ju'an Pavilion, crossing the night sky like meteors and flying into the distance.
Inside the courtyard of the small pavilion, flower buds swelled up at the tops of the jujube trees, and then slowly bloomed. In just a moment, the tree was full of yellow flowers. The fragrance of the flowers flowed out of the Ju'an Pavilion and drifted to the entire Ning'an County.
In Ning'an County, wherever the fragrance of flowers passes, green leaves break through the snow, tender branches sprout, and flowers bloom. Everyone stops to look and is amazed!