Bordering the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the mountains gradually became rugged. The spring rain lasted for two days, and from a distance the mountains were covered with green.
In the lead-blue rain, a drunken scholar lay on the back of a donkey, reading a book with great interest, with a wine gourd hanging in one hand. Occasionally, he waved his sleeves, and the falling raindrops deflected to all sides.
The old donkey swung the bell around its neck and walked slowly, occasionally lowering its head to roll up the green grass that was sticking out. Above its head, a toad tied with a rope grabbed its ears. It looked at the gourd shaking in the scholar's hand and muttered, "I just asked you to keep it, but you used it to hold wine."
He rolled his eyes, estimated the time, and said:
"Liangsheng, it's time to eat!"
The scholar at the back yawned and staggered down, but his steps were surprisingly steady and he did not fall. He took the reins and walked to a dilapidated hut in front. The rain dripped on the thatch and dripped into the house from the gap at the other end due to the inclined angle.
In the gloomy room, broken clay pots were scattered all over the floor, and there was only a wooden bed that had not been repaired and was lying on the ground.
Last year, a severe drought forced countless people to leave their homes. Some died on the road, and some went far away to make a living. Along the way, many places have regained some vitality, but houses like this one without their owners can still be seen everywhere.
Throwing away the reins and leaving the old donkey under the eaves, Lu Liangsheng, holding the gourd hanging, stumbled to the door, exhaled, and said something.
"I'm passing by here and want to rest for a while. I hope you can help me."
He said again, "Sorry for bothering you," and then hobbled inside. He waved his sleeves, and the cold wind from outside blew in, sweeping the dust and dead grass on the ground to the corners. He then sat down on the ground without any concern.
After leaving the capital, he had not changed his clothes and still reeked strongly of alcohol, like a sloppy scholar.
The Toad Taoist took the hard dry food, put it into his mouth, ground it twice, and spat it on the ground. How could he eat such a thing!
He put the dry food aside, carried the small scroll on his back, sat down, and looked at the raindrops falling with his chin propped up.
"Alas, Master suddenly misses that little Taoist priest."
"Please make do with this for now, Master. Heliangzhou has just experienced a severe drought, so there is nothing delicious to eat."
Lu Liangsheng took a bite of the biscuit and turned a page of "Shan Hai Tu Zhi" with his fingertips. This kind of strange novel fascinated him on the road. Ever since he knew that the human ganoderma recorded in the book was real, he sometimes wondered whether he would have the chance to encounter other ferocious beasts or spiritual beasts recorded in the book in the future.
With drunken eyes he looked at the dripping rain outside the door, untied the black-striped gourd from his waist, uncorked it with his mouth, took a sip of wine, lay down comfortably, and reached out to grab another piece of cake on the ground.
"You took my gourd to fill it with wine, and now you want to steal my food?"
The toad rushed over, picked up the pancake on the ground, held it in his arms and turned in one direction.
hehe.
This scene caused Hong Lian to laugh softly inside the scroll. At this moment, the room was dark and it was drizzling outside, so it was okay to come out.
Nie Honglian floated out of the painting, squatted beside the scholar, leaned over to smell it, and fanned her nose repeatedly with her delicate little hands.
"Sir, don't drink anymore. You stink."
"Wouldn't it be better if strangers were not allowed in?"
Lu Liangsheng closed the book, sat up against the wall, and slammed the book against his palm.
"I suddenly remembered that I didn't leave a message for Old Sun."
On the other side, the Toad Taoist sat cross-legged on the ground. He turned around and looked at his disciple. His cheeks bulged and contracted, his eyes narrowed, and he bit the biscuit in his mouth hard.
"If you have time to care about this, why don't you think about what to eat tonight? You've been walking so slowly all the way, you think you're going to starve me to death."
Hong Lian supported her chin, floated in the air, and nodded.
"Yes, sir, we are walking so slowly, who are we waiting for? Taoist Sun?"
Lu Liangsheng quickly turned the pages of the book with his fingertips. He listened to the sound of raindrops falling outside the house gradually turning into a rustling sound. He shook the wine gourd and poured it into his mouth.
"It's just to meet an old friend. If he is still here after coming to Heliangzhou, he should be able to sense it."
At this point, the female ghost in the house suddenly turned her head to look outside the door. The Toad Taoist then stopped chewing, and lay on the ground with a bulging biscuit in his mouth.
“It doesn’t look like he’s a monk.”
Outside there was the neighing of horses and the sound of cart shafts, and after a moment someone was shouting.
"Hurry up, tie up the horses and go inside to get out of the rain."
“Here I come.”
"Hey, why is there a donkey here?"
"He should be passing by to take shelter from the rain like us."
The sound of rustling footsteps came closer and closer. Five men, one woman, and a child about seven or eight years old came in hurriedly, all wet. They saw a scholar sitting on the ground, looking drunk.
The middle-aged man in the lead patted the rain stains on his robe and slightly bowed to Lu Liangsheng as a casual greeting.
"I am not the owner of this place. I am just here to take shelter from the rain. Please do as you please."
Lu Liangsheng leaned against the wall, his sleeves spread out, and he casually clasped his fists and looked over there at the people and the child.
It was such a familiar scene. The last time I met Chen Jing was the same as before. I couldn't help but look at the child one more time.
The child was also looking over here, his eyes were one brown and one blue, quite strange. Looking at the scholar smiling at him, the child subconsciously gently pulled his father beside him and whispered:
"Dad, let's go quickly. That scholar and the big toad are a bit strange."
The middle-aged man looked at the drunk Lu Liangsheng, then turned his gaze back to the child's face with a stern look.
"Tuo'er, don't be rude."
"oh."
The child was a little unconvinced. He stole a glance at the scholar over there and returned to his mother. Four men who looked like guards sat down around him and chatted in low voices.
"I thought it would be easier to walk after the drought, but it rained heavily right after I came out."
"Fortunately, the lady's family's home is not far from here. I don't know if there was any disaster."
“…Say less.”
Judging from their accent, they should have come here from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to visit their relatives.
Lu Liangsheng's drunken eyes were half closed as he glanced at them, not wanting to pay any more attention. He looked at the gourd in his hand and sneered. If he couldn't be a minister in the court, he might as well be a wine immortal.
He took a sip of the cold wine, and as if he heard something, he looked at the broken window frame and said with a smile:
"I don't know who is coming from afar, but there are old people in the broken house."
The people who were taking shelter from the rain over there were attracted by the scholar's sudden words and looked over there. At this moment, a Buddhist chant was heard from far away outside, as loud as a bell.
"Buddha... have mercy!"
Lu Liangsheng laughed. When he heard the loud and stumbling Buddhist words, he knew who had come. However, the people who were taking shelter from the rain over there were startled. They turned around and their faces and expressions suddenly changed.
Outside the door, a fat monk wearing Buddhist beads walked in with his chest bare in the rain. He was holding a large yellow cloth bag in his hand. He lowered his head, turned sideways, and tucked in his belly before he could barely come in.
Fa Jing raised his seal and bowed to those people.
"I am Fajing, a poor monk. Nice to meet you, donors."
His eyes were the same as Lu Liangsheng's. He glanced at the child beside the woman for a second longer, then came to the opposite side of the scholar and sat down cross-legged with a flushed face.
"Friend Lu, don't come, I'm fine."
Those people then realized that the monk with a face full of flesh and broad shoulders was here to see the sloppy scholar. One of them was as big as a mountain, with his head almost touching the roof when he sat cross-legged, and the other one had a well-proportioned body, a handsome face, and reeked of alcohol.
It looked a bit strange for the two of them to sit opposite each other like this.
The middle-aged man remembered what his son had just said and lowered his voice to the four guards and his wife.
"It's not easy to stay here for long, let's get on the road quickly."
A few people quickly packed up and took the child with the double-colored eyes out. After a burst of horse neighing and cart shaft sounds, they gradually walked away in the rain.
Lu Liangsheng handed over the gourd and raised it without even looking at the group of people leaving.
"Master, did you see that child just now?"
"Born with spiritual roots."
The fat monk's cultivation was much higher than Lu Liangsheng's. When he came in, he saw the difference at a glance, but he didn't dwell on it.
He shook his head and refused the wine gourd, and asked:
"Friend Lu, why are you here in Heliangzhou?"
"I have nothing to do, so I'll just take a walk and see some old friends along the way." Lu Liangsheng took a sip of wine, took out a bag of dry food from his sleeve, which was all biscuits he bought on the way, gave one to the monk, and said with a smile:
"After that, I want to go to Northern Zhou. As the saying goes: reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. But why is the master still in Heliangzhou?"
This monk was free and easy. Fajing smelled the biscuit, as if he had not eaten it for a long time. He took big bites of it and put it in his mouth to chew, even wiping away the biscuit crumbs on the corners of his mouth.
"He Liangzhou, there are still many homeless people. I have been running around to collect them and return them to the government for resettlement. If there are any who are willing to practice cultivation, I will take them back to the Wanfo Temple."
Lu Liangsheng was slightly stunned. He knew what the monk was going to do before, but he didn't expect that he was still doing it for so long.
He stood up, spread out his wide sleeves, and bowed to Fa Jing.
"Master, you are a great man, much better than some people."
The monk stood up on his knees, waved his hands, and stammered:
"I... I don't deserve it. I am just following the example of fellow Daoist Lu and sacrificing myself for the good. That's all."
His head hit the beam with a thud, and the tilted roof collapsed with a bang. Thatch and bricks scattered all over the ground. The old donkey outside was drenched by the rain, and it swung the reins and made a nodding sound.
The two men stood in the roofless house, looked at each other, and suddenly laughed.
Hahaha-
-Ha ha ha ha!
The resounding laughter spread, instantly shaking the falling rain away. In the rain in the distance, a few people who were leaving in a hurry shuddered all over when they heard the two loud laughs, and hurried their horses.
"Go, go!"
"drive!"
…
After the laughter, the rain began to fall vertically again.
"It seems that I can't talk with the master for a long time today."
The scholar waved his robe and cast a water-repellent spell on the old donkey over there, tied the black-patterned gourd around his waist, and suddenly remembered something.
"Master, when you go back, you might as well do me a favor."
"good!"
"Master, you promised without asking what it is?"
The fat monk touched his belly and smiled, then picked up the big yellow cloth bag and put it on his shoulder.
"Your business is by no means evil."
Lu Liangsheng also laughed, lifted the bookshelf and put it on the donkey's back, picked up the master on the ground and put him into the compartment, then turned to face Fajing.
"It's not a big deal. After you leave Heliang Prefecture, if you have the chance to meet Sun Yingxian, tell him that I went to Northern Zhou."
After saying this, he bowed, thanked him, and slowly walked towards the rain, leading the old donkey.
"Master, goodbye!"
Fa Jing bowed to the departing scholar.
"Friend Lu, please slow down."
Ding ding…
The sound of bells could still be heard faintly through the rain.