Grandpa Lu's residence is located in the east of the village, and it is a very elegant looking courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by white walls, and the courtyard is verdant with cypresses. A two-story wooden building is like a shadow among the green trees and red flowers.
The corridor in the courtyard leads directly to the wooden building, and in the center of the small building hangs four big characters written in seal script, "Scholarly Mendi". There is a marble desk in the hall on the first floor of the small building, which is filled with poems and paintings of famous people, and there are several excellent-looking precious inkstones. The old man sat on the bamboo chair, caressingly touching the calligraphy and paintings, and the stickers in front of the desk. Standing in front of the case was a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man was about forty years old. He had a solid build, his complexion was dark and reddish, and he was dressed in coarse linen clothes. This middle-aged man is Lu Yu's father - Lu Wenhua. Not long ago, the old housekeeper came to him and said that his father needed to see him, so he rushed over without even changing his clothes.
"Father, I don't know what to order my son to come here? Did that kid Lu Yu piss you off again? Let's see how my son will deal with him when he goes back." Lu Wenhua first greeted his father respectfully, and then immediately feigned anger and reprimanded Lu Yu.
The old man originally looked down at the calligraphy and painting carefully, but after hearing what his son said, he put down the calligraphy and painting, looked at his son with complicated eyes, and said angrily: "Who can annoy me more than you? Miss my Lu family's scholarly family, why don't you?" Will give birth to you, an unfilial son who blacksmiths."
When Lu Wenhua heard this, he quickly lowered his head and remained silent. Lu Wenhua is an honest person, never argues with others, and obeys the old man's words. Only in choosing the future path had a disagreement with the old man. He liked blacksmithing since he was a child, so he resolutely chose to be a blacksmith when he grew up. The old man was very annoyed by this, and would call him almost every two or three days. As a result, after playing for more than ten years, it is still the same. The old man had no choice but to follow him to open a blacksmith shop at the entrance of the village.
"It's like this every time I scold you, keep your head down without speaking." The old man saw that his son had nothing to do if he didn't speak. I had to change the subject and said, "This kid Lu Yu is reading books about ghosts and ghosts again today. He is just as stubborn as you. There is no way he can change it."
Seeing that his father was no longer entangled in the topic just now, Lu Wenhua quickly followed his father's topic and said, "Father, I'll go back and fix him. Burn the book."
"This trick again? Does it work?" the old man asked.
"This..." Lu Wenhua hesitated and couldn't speak. He knew in his heart that it would be useless even if he beat him a hundred times, but he didn't dare to tell his father directly.
"Stop doing this, this is definitely useless." The old man directly denied this method. Then he said: "He has the same personality as you, and he will not die until he hits the south wall, so let's let him hit the south wall."
"Ah---" Lu Wenhua looked at his father in surprise.
"When I was a county magistrate in the early years, I did hear that there are immortals in this world." The old man stood up, ignoring his son who opened his mouth wide.
Continued: "I also knew this by accident. Thirty years ago, I just went to Fengxian County to be the county magistrate. One day, I received a report from the yamen that more than a thousand people had gathered at the foot of Qixia Mountain. .I thought it was a crowd gathering to make trouble, so I ordered three classes of yamen servants quickly. I went to Qixia Mountain to find out what happened. We drove a day’s journey to Qixia Mountain. When I got there, I was dumbfounded. Because among the thousand people, There were about 300 children, the youngest was only four or five years old, and the oldest was only sixteen or seventeen. I sent the yamen servants to inquire, only to learn that most of them were villagers near Qixia Mountain, and a small number were The foreigners who come here from all over the world have only one purpose. They hope that their children can worship under the sect of immortals.
I thought it was ridiculous at the time, how could there be immortals in this world? However, these villagers spoke convincingly, saying that every thirty years at noon on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, immortals would come to Qixia Mountain to accept disciples. accepted as disciples. And the outsider said something even more mysterious, saying that their ancestors were accepted as disciples by immortals, and later their ancestors became immortals, leaving ancestral instructions, and bringing the children of the clan to try their luck every thirty years to see if they can do it Another fairy. Naturally, I still didn't believe it, so I decided to stay overnight and wait until tomorrow noon to see what happened. At noon the next day, a sound of "hu-hu" suddenly sounded in the sky, and three men in white clothes appeared from the east sky. The two young men next to him stepped on a sword on each foot and flew away with the sword. The middle-aged old man, with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, was dressed in Taoist robes and had no sword under his feet. He came directly in the void. The three of them were suspended above the crowd, and suddenly more than a thousand people knelt down and worshiped, shouting: "Welcome the immortal!" The three of them landed slowly, and one of them drew his sword, and immediately the surrounding trees exploded, forming a circular shape. space. Then the old man began to use the fairy method to distinguish children with or without fairy fate. "When the old man said this, he suddenly stopped talking. Instead, he looked at his son, wanting to hear his thoughts.
"Father, what do you mean..." It took Lu Wenhua a long time to come back to his senses, he straightened out his thoughts, and said, "Father, do you want Yu'er to worship an immortal as a teacher?" The old man nodded, but still did not speak.
"Father, once you enter the Immortal Gate, does it mean that you will never be able to see Yu'er again?" Lu Wenhua asked cautiously with red eyes.
"I think it should be." The old man sighed, and then said, "Oh! This is something we can't help. Yu'er yearned for the way of the gods since childhood, and we can't stop it. If Yu'er doesn't have a fairy fate, I miss him You will also give up. If you study with peace of mind, you will be the number one scholar in the future. If there is a fairy fate, it will be a great opportunity for Yu'er."
"Father, I know all this. It's just that I can't bear it."
The old man looked at his son's red eyes, shook his head and said, "I'm not willing to do so. But, you have to understand, if it's an eagle, it should soar in the blue sky, not hide in the chicken coop and crow." Lu Wenhua understood his father The meaning in the words is that parents don't want their children to live a better life. As long as the children can be better, it is nothing to be sad. Lu Wenhua thought of this, looked at his father, and nodded heavily.
The old man nodded in satisfaction and frowned again.
"Father, what's the matter?" Lu Wenhua hurriedly asked after seeing his father's strange expression.
"Do you know how many of the more than 300 children had fairy fate?" the old man said meaningfully. Lu Wenhua didn't interrupt, he knew his father would continue talking.
The old man stretched out two fingers, and said worriedly: "There are only two. And there are immortals born in our ancestors."
The two looked at each other speechlessly, and then the father and son discussed some specific matters about going to Qixia Mountain. After a long while, the old man felt a little tired, so he waved his hand to signal his son to step down. Lu Wenhua bowed to his father, then slowly retreated to the door, and gently closed the door.
The old man was lying on the Taishi chair, and the Taishi chair made a "squeak---squeak" sound because it was too "old". The old man murmured in a low voice: "Yu'er, is this idea good or bad for you, Grandpa?"
Lu Yu crossed his legs and lay leisurely on the bed. Through the window, he looked at the sunset in the sky, sometimes like a galloping horse, and sometimes like red flowers blooming. Lu Yu asked himself in his heart: "Is it true that there are gods living above the clouds? What is the world outside the clouds? How big is this world? It would be great if I could see the world outside the clouds for myself." .”
"Yu'er, what are you thinking?" Lu Wenhua's words interrupted Lu Yu's thinking.
As soon as Lu Yu heard that it was his father, he muttered in his heart: "It seems that the storm is still coming." But his face remained calm, he got off the bed calmly, stared at his father's face, trying to see something wrong from his father's face. The omens come. Father's face looked the same as usual, it seems that there should be no physical pain.
"Yu'er, your grandfather will take you on a long trip tomorrow, so prepare yourself well." Lu Wenhua said calmly.
"Ah---where are you going?" Lu Yu suddenly became excited. Since he was a child, he has never been out of the house a few times, and the farthest he has gone is to buy a copy of "Sou Shen Ji" secretly in the town. If my father wants to go far away, he will definitely not go to the town, but to a place farther away.
"Qixia Mountain." Father answered briefly.
"Where is that place? How far is it from our village?"
"Qixia Mountain is a mountain, about a hundred miles away from our village."
"Why are we going there?"
"Because your grandfather wants to take you to meet an immortal to see if you have a destiny to enter the immortal way."
When Lu Yu heard this, his heart beat wildly. It turns out that there are real immortals in this world, and I can also become an immortal and travel around the whole world.
The more Lu Yu thought about it, the more excited he became, and quickly pinched himself a few times to see if he was dreaming.
Lu Wenhua looked at his son with a happy face, coughed lightly, and said: "Don't be too happy too early, whether you have a fairy fate or not is something to talk about. We have to agree in advance, if you don't have a fairy fate , study hard for me when I come back. If you don’t pass the Jinshi exam, you will never be allowed to read books about ghosts.”
Without even thinking about it, Lu Yu blurted out: "Don't worry, I will definitely become a fairy."
Lu Wenhua couldn't do anything about his son, so he turned around and walked away. When he reached the door, he said: "I'll finish dinner later, come to my room." After speaking, he walked out of the room.
Looking at his father's thick back, Lu Yu's excitement dissipated immediately, and he felt like crying. Although Lu Yu was only twelve years old, under the influence of his grandfather, he loved reading books. He read almost all of his grandfather's books. He learned a lot from the books and gradually matured. to look at things. Lu Yu clearly realized that once he entered the immortal way, he would be separated from his family, perhaps for a few years, maybe ten years, or even forever. This is also the thing that Lu Yu is most afraid of facing, but his heart to the Tao is also very firm. He had no choice but to comfort himself, maybe if he became a fairy, he could turn his family or everyone in the village into a fairy.
During dinner, Lu Yu saw that his mother's eyes were red and swollen. He guessed that he should know that he might also want to practice Taoism, and he was swollen from crying. His father still looked expressionless, but Lu Yu knew in his heart that his father must also be extremely reluctant. What my mother cooked tonight was Lu Yu's favorite dishes, and my mother kept adding vegetables to Lu Yu, and she didn't stop until the dishes couldn't fit. Lu Yu also worked very hard, and ate three times his usual meal in one go. Because only in this way, mother will be happier.
After dinner, Lu Yu came to his parents' room. His mother was packing up the luggage for tomorrow's long trip, and his father was copying at the desk. He didn't know what he was writing.
"Yu'er, come here." The father heard footsteps, raised his head, and saw his son coming in.
"Oh." Lu Yu responded and came to his father's side. I saw my father closing the thick books together. Then he wrapped the book in cloth and put him in Lu Yu's hands. Lu Yu looked at his father with puzzled eyes.
"Father has no skills, he can only forge iron in his life. This notebook records some of my blacksmithing experience and some of my thoughts. Although it may not be of any use to you, this is the only gift that father can give you." Father Said calmly.
There were tears in Lu Yu's eyes, but he never cried out, holding the book tightly in his arms.
"Old man, what are you doing, you insist on making Yu'er cry." The mother cast a reproachful look at her father, waved at Lu Yu, and said, "Come, come to mother and see the new clothes that mother made for you. " Lu Yu obediently walked to his mother, who gestured the clothes on Lu Yu's body, and kept muttering: "Listen to your grandfather on the road, don't run around, and pay attention to safety outside..." Lu Yu was muttering to his mother. In the sound, I fell into dreamland.
In the early morning of the next day, a carriage drove out of the village and galloped quickly towards the distance.