Yin's mother first walked into the yard to check on her husband and found that his cheeks were red and he was sleeping soundly on his stomach. Then she looked around the yard and saw no one there.
"Qing'er, didn't you say that a somewhat scary old man got your father drunk, and he left?"
Yin Qing also looked around, then ran to the gate of the courtyard to look, but didn't see anyone.
"Maybe he left..."
Yin's mother touched her husband's face and found it a little hot, but she couldn't smell much alcohol.
"Qing'er, come and help me. Let's take your father back home to sleep. How much alcohol did he drink?"
"It's not much. I saw Daddy passed out after drinking one glass."
Yin Qing ran back from the courtyard gate and was about to help his father up with his mother when he suddenly remembered the old man's words and hurriedly stopped his mother.
"No, no, the old man said that Daddy should sleep here tonight. Let's not move Daddy and let him sleep!"
As Yin Qing spoke, he had already covered his father with the blanket. He carefully tucked the hanging part of the blanket into his father's chest and tied a knot.
Mother Yin looked at her strangely.
"How can this be possible? Your father might catch a cold if he sleeps here. He is going to take the exam soon. Don't let illness delay his trip!"
"Mother! That old man..."
At this point, Yin Qing looked around guiltily, then walked over to his mother and whispered in her ear:
"That old man is Mr. Ji's good friend. Maybe... he is not an ordinary person. It is better to listen to him!"
When Yin's mother heard this, she stopped what she was doing.
Ji Yuan was a strange man. Two or three years ago, this topic was an exaggerated topic of gossip among other villagers and neighbors in Ning'an County after dinner, but it was a positive statement for the Yin family.
Today, three years later, not many people in Ning'an County still mention Mr. Ji. Probably only Old Man Sun from Sun's Noodle Stall would mention him when he occasionally sees Yin Zhaoxian.
But the Yin family would never forget Ji Yuan, so after hearing what her son said, Yin's mother thought about it and gave up the plan of taking her husband home to sleep.
"So, let your father sleep here for one night?"
"Well, don't worry, mother. I will get up more often at night to check on daddy!"
When Yin's mother heard what her son said, she reached out and tapped him on the head, then put her hands on her hips.
"What do you mean by waking up several times at night? Your father is drunk, so it's inevitable that he will feel uncomfortable at night. You bring tea and watch over your father in the first half of the night, and I will take your place in the second half of the night. Do you understand?"
Yin Qing rubbed his forehead and replied weakly, "I know."
I always have a feeling that my mother loves my father more now.
In the second half of the night, Yin Qing's feeling became even stronger. He slept for a while and heard the night watchman knocking the third watch gong for quite some time, but his mother still didn't come.
Although it was not autumn yet and the weather was not that cold, it was still uncomfortable to sleep lying on one's stomach in the courtyard. Yin Qing had no choice but to pour a cup of tea and drink a few sips while waiting for his mother to come. As a result, when the gong sounded at the fourth watch, his mother came late with an apologetic look on her face...
Dawn of the second day.
“Oh~~~Oh oh oh oh~~~~~~”
When the first rooster crowed in Tianniufang, Yin Zhaoxian opened his eyes naturally.
He felt a blanket covering his body. He turned his head and found that his wife was also covered with a blanket and lying beside him. He looked around in confusion and found that he was still in the courtyard of Ju'an Pavilion. There was a teapot and teacups on the stone table.
"Strange... Why am I sleeping here?"
Then after thinking about it carefully, Yin Zhaoxian remembered what happened yesterday. There was an extraordinary old gentleman who claimed to be Mr. Ji's friend. He not only swallowed half of the fruit from the jujube tree in one gulp, but also invited him to drink a glass of wine. Then he had no memory of what happened in between.
Yin Zhaoxian looked up above his head and saw that the jujube tree was indeed missing half of its fruits. It seemed that he was not dreaming.
'Did I drink one glass and pass out?'
Just as he was thinking this, Yin Zhaoxian suddenly discovered something wrong with the jujube tree.
"Huh? Why is a small part of this date red?"
I saw that some dates on the branches had turned red, which was very eye-catching among the green trees. But I just looked at them and didn't think much about it for the time being.
Yin Zhaoxian rubbed his forehead and didn't feel any hangover headache. Then he looked at his wife, who had probably been here with him for the whole night. He felt touched and warm in his heart.
I wanted to wake her up, but even though the roosters were crowing, it was still daybreak, so I couldn't bear to disturb my wife.
Taking off the blanket and placing it on the stone table, Yin Zhaoxian stood up and stretched his legs and feet. After sitting for a whole night, he did not feel any soreness at all. Instead, he felt refreshed!
'We'll set off tomorrow!'
. . .
Another autumn wind is coming, and the rice fields are already golden, and deep in the mountains and clouds are the fruits hanging on the branches and the maple leaves are red.
In the territory of Juntianfu in Yizhou, on a low peak deep in Junyuan Mountain, there is a cave more than two meters deep. Inside the cave, a ragged and skinny man sits there motionless, his eyes staring at the chessboard in front of him.
“Pah~”
A white porcelain chess piece fell and turned into broken pieces at the fingertips. The figure's body shook and he finally woke up.
"Buzz...Buzz..."
The Qingteng Sword leaning against the outside of the cave kept ringing with excitement, and the entire sword body and scabbard were shaking "click, click, click..." non-stop.
"Huh..."
Ji Yuan opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His dry throat could only make hoarse exhalations.
In the blurred vision, I can see the fallen leaves and branches beside me, the feces of mountain animals, the sound of autumn wind blowing through the forest, the sound of mountain springs flowing, and the aroma of ripe or green fruits...
The moment he woke up, Ji Yuan tried his best to empty his brain and control himself not to think about anything unnecessary. There was only one thing he had to do, and that was to eat and drink water!
"Huh...Huh..."
Ji Yuan stood up from the cave shakily, holding on to the wall, and staggered out of the cave, while the Qingteng Sword floated up with a sound of sharpness and followed closely behind him.
Following the scent of the fruit, I came to a wild persimmon tree. I looked up and saw everything blurry. I stretched out my hand to grab it but couldn't reach it. Instead, my body shook and I almost fell.
"Smash~~~"
The sword rang out a long sound, and the Qingteng Sword was unsheathed for the first time in three years. The whole mountain seemed to be illuminated by a layer of light, and a streak of light flashed by. The fruits on the wild persimmon trees fell from the branches like rain.
Ji Yuan knelt on the ground and picked up the fruits on the ground with trembling hands. The wild persimmon was not much bigger than a date, and its yellow with a hint of red was extremely tempting.
However, Ji Yuan didn't care about anything else. He picked the fruits one by one and put them into his mouth without washing or wiping them, and even without spitting out the seeds. He chewed them roughly and swallowed them into his stomach. He ate faster and faster, and his hands and mouth were full of juice.
After more than a quarter of an hour, all the fallen fruits were eaten, but Ji Yuan did not stop and continued to search frantically in the mountains. He ate all the edible fruits. Finally, he came to a mountain stream and fell down beside the stream with a "plop".
Ji Yuan buried his head in the stream.
"Gurgle...Gurgle...Gurgle...Gurgle..."
I drank until my stomach swelled and shrank, swelled and shrank again. I didn’t know how much spring water I drank in one breath. I swallowed all the small fish, shrimps, crabs, loaches, etc. in the stream...
"Hua La La..."
Ji Yuan, with disheveled hair, raised his head and lay on the rocks, gasping for breath, his body wet.
"Whirring whirring… "
After lying down for another half an hour, Ji Yuan, who had recovered a little, sat up.
He raised his hand to look at his palms and fingers, which were originally as thin as bones, but now they look better. He didn't know how many wild fruits he had eaten and how much water he had drunk in the past half day. He only knew that all his previous actions were merely the instinct to protect himself.
The time Yanqi spent this time was far beyond Ji Yuan's expectations. Although he was not sure about the exact time, it was definitely not a short time. However, his consciousness was deeply shaken at that time, and he was no longer in a completely sober and rational state.
Just like when he started playing chess in a muddle-headed obsession, Ji Yuan imitated that feeling the moment he woke up, and with his strong willpower, he cleared all other thoughts and only retained the instinct to find food.
Because Ji Yuan was very clear about his original level of Taoism. It would be okay for him to not eat or drink for a few months, but if it lasted longer, his life would be in danger.
In his previous life, when he just walked out of the chessboard, he met a search and rescue team and was told that he would die if the time was revealed. This made Ji Yuan think more than once of the "Yuanyang Method" mentioned by Old Man Xu from Shanghegou Village in Suiyuan County.
When you just wake up, you may be in a similar state to "Bi Gan having his heart dug out".
Ji Yuan didn't dare to take the risk. He didn't dare to guess how much time had passed, and he didn't dare to run into others and be exposed, at least not before his body was replenished.
Otherwise, it is very likely that the "Yuanyang Method" will be broken, and the damned person will be "woken up" by one blow, resulting in the death of one's life!
But now, it's okay.
Ji Yuan slowed down his breathing and laughed at himself. At first it was just a slight sneer, but then the smile got bigger and bigger, and finally it was like a crazy laugh.
“Tsk… humph… hehe, hehe… hehe hahahaha… hahahahahahahahahahaha~~~~~~~”
Rumble, rumble, rumble… The laughter shook the whole area, and the birds and animals in the forest fled in panic…
ps: I found that many book lovers don’t know this, so I would like to inform you again that this book will be on the shelves on October 1st. I hope that the big book lovers will support it then!