Woof woof…
Occasionally, the barking of dogs could be heard somewhere in the city late at night. The people sleeping in their houses were suddenly awakened by the sound of the eaves. They opened the windows and looked outside.
"Who is throwing rocks in the middle of the night?!"
The black shadow flashed to the end, ran along the courtyard wall, jumped, and stepped on a tree with one foot. The branches and leaves bent and bounced, making a slight sound.
Lu Liangsheng came in through the open window on the second floor of the inn, shook his robe and blew a few leaves out of the window.
"Master, are those people gone?"
"I'm leaving."
Under the bed, Toad Taoist yawned and staggered out. He kicked up his legs and jumped to the edge of the bed. He climbed up slowly and lay down against the side of the wooden pillow.
"Have you repaid the favor of Ba Wen?"
"Of course I paid it back."
Lu Liangsheng waved his hand and threw Yuelong onto the bookshelf. With a slight "clang" sound, it was firmly inserted into the gap. He walked to the basin rack, washed his hands, and wiped them twice with a towel.
"It's just an evil ghost, not as powerful as Hong Lian, who uses painted skin to pretend to be a beautiful woman to seduce lustful men and absorb their yang energy."
As they were talking, Nie Honglian also floated in, waving something in her hand.
"How did you get this thing back?"
Lu Liangsheng stared at what she was holding in her hand. It was the skin of the Painted Skin Ghost. The scholar frowned. Given Hong Lian's personality, she would definitely not take it back if it was useless.
"show me."
He whispered something and asked the Taoist Toad to come and take a look. The Toad on the couch waved his hands, opened his eyelids, and closed them again.
"It's nothing special. It's just a little thing."
Over there, Hong Lian reluctantly opened the painted skin in the air and spread it silently on the table.
Lu Liangsheng raised the oil lamp and shone it over there, brushing it lightly with his fingertips. It was as soft and delicate as human skin, even the pores were clearly visible, and there were hands and feet as well.
Only the face...
Lu Liangsheng took a towel, dipped it in water and rubbed it hard. After a moment, it became shiny and had no features. The whole skin looked extremely weird.
"This is not real human skin. No matter how much you peel it, the outline of a human face will not turn out like this."
Hong Lian didn't care and picked it up as if it were a treasure.
"Sir, please paint my image on it."
"What are you drawing for no reason? You are..."
Having said that, Lu Liangsheng paused for a moment, and suddenly thought that the ghost must be roaming around, and it should not only come out at night. If it passes by a big city, it will definitely be caught by the city god, so it will also move around during the day. In this way, this skin is very likely to allow ghosts to move around during the day.
…No wonder Hong Lian likes it so much.
Lu Liangsheng looked at the woman covering the painted skin, smiled and found the brush. Hong Lian quickly put down the skin and obediently floated to the bookshelf to bring inkstone and paper.
"I will help you grind the ink."
The bright moon disappeared behind the clouds, and the sound of a night watchman's drum sounded through the streets, attracting the barking of a few dogs.
There was a light on the window frame. Hong Lian gently moved the wick, and the candlelight became brighter.
The brush in Lu Liangsheng's hand bloomed slightly, and he drew out the beautiful eyebrows, the eyes below the tips were full of joy, and the two cheeks were well-proportioned. The tip of the brush moved out and drew the slightly curved corners of the lips.
The light was warm yellow, swaying slightly occasionally.
Hong Xiu gently stroked over. Hong Lian looked at the scholar's concentrated profile illuminated by the lamp, and then looked at the face gradually taking shape on the table as the pen tip moved.
She lowered her head in joy, not knowing what she was thinking about, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on the corners of her mouth, revealing a pair of beautiful dimples.
"Almost done, Hong Lian, what do you think?"
Just as the female ghost lowered her head and smiled, the scholar who was painting her face put down his brush and turned his head. Nie Honglian raised her eyes and looked carefully. The face on the painted skin looked exactly like her.
"Thank you, sir."
"Then you should keep it well and try it when you get a chance."
Lu Liangsheng put down the brush. He was exhausted. He hadn't slept in a bed for a long time. He took off his outer shirt, pulled the quilt over him, and fell asleep on the wooden pillow.
The lamp on the table flickered, red lips came close and blew a breath, and the flame went out.
In the darkness, there was a rustling sound, and the moonlight shone through the window lattice through the clouds. The slender body lightly touched the ground, and walked gently yet heavily through the cold silver frost. A red dress covered her body, and she sat on the edge of the bed, blinking her eyelashes, looking at the sleeping face on the couch.
I couldn't help but reach out and touch the back of the scholar's hand.
"This feels so good, as if I'm still alive... Thank you, sir."
On the bed, the sleeping figure moved, and vaguely seemed to make a "hmm" sound.
…
Oh oh... Oh oh...
The rooster in the backyard of the inn stretched out its neck and crowed at the top of its voice towards the gradually brightening east outside the cage, causing the old donkey in the cattle pen to stick its head out agitatedly.
The window upstairs opened and Lu Liangsheng stretched lazily.
"Master, it's time to get going!"
Soon, the back door leading to the inn opened, and the shop assistants helped to pick out the bookshelves and put them in the cattle pen.
"It's troublesome."
Lu Liangsheng bowed to the waiter and took out the last eight cents and handed them to him as a tip. The waiter worked diligently, leading the old donkey out while putting the bookshelf back up.
"If you come to Shunyuan again, please remember to come to our store."
"Sure! Sure!"
After bidding farewell to his servants, Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey out of the backyard, preparing to pass through Tai'en Prefecture and head to Ningzhou today, which would bring him closer to the Qishan that his master had mentioned.
When I walked out of the alley next to the inn, I saw a carriage coming from the end of the street. I thought it was passing by, but I heard the coachman shout "Whoa" and stop the horses.
The carriage slowly stopped and four figures came out of the carriage. Seeing Lu Liangsheng leading the donkey away, they hurried over.
"Mr. Lu, wait a minute."
It was the four scholars from last night. As soon as they came down, they ran to Lu Liangsheng and bowed to him together.
"Wang Feng, Ma Liu, Zhang Ti, and Zhao Tang thank Master Lu for saving their lives."
"No need to thank me. If we are lucky enough to meet again in the future, just buy me a drink."
Lu Liangsheng had indeed saved these four people. If he had not stopped the two fox demons at the mountain temple, these four scholars would have probably been sucked into the yang energy and died.
The old donkey grunted and squeezed through.
When the four scholars saw Lu Liangsheng was about to leave, they hurriedly caught up with him, holding up their robes and saying, "Mr. Lu, there is another person who wants to thank you in person, but he is ill in bed and cannot get up..."
At this point, the short scholar named Zhao Tang bowed and said:
"Mr. Lu, Brother Chongwen is really a good person, please help him."
Lu Liangsheng laughed.
"The brother Chongwen you are talking about was just sucked of some of his Yang energy. He will be well soon... Alas, I'm afraid you will rush to seek medical treatment. Come on, I'll go take a look."
"Then Mr. Lu, please get in the car."
"That's not necessary. My donkey can keep up."
Lu Liangsheng patted the old donkey's neck, sat on it horizontally, and waved to the four of them: "Lead the way."
The cart turned around on the road. Wang Feng lifted the curtain and looked at the old donkey following steadily behind him, then he felt relieved.
The morning light is warm.
The carriage and the old donkey passed through the street and crossed a stone bridge. This corner of the city seemed quiet. There was a small woods not far away. When Lu Liangsheng came over, the wind was blowing over the woods, and the sound of rustling branches and leaves could be heard.
"It's hard to see clearly at night, but the feng shui and scenery look pretty good right now."
In front, the carriage had already stopped at the gate of the courtyard. Seeing Lu Liangsheng coming from afar, he urged the coachman to move the carriage away.
"Take good care of Mr. Lu's donkey!"
"Mr. Lu, please come in!"
This attitude is too earnest... Lu Liangsheng handed the reins to the driver and followed the four scholars into the yard. There were bonsai and small trees on both sides and the road in the middle was paved with square rock bricks. The whole yard was certainly not as luxurious as Minister Min's residence, nor as simple and mature as Zhou Zhen's residence, but it also had its own leisure and elegance.
The saying that you can judge a person by his handwriting is not accurate, but you can tell something by looking at the people in the room.
For example, if the house is clean and bright, the people who live here must be clean and particular about their work. It goes without saying that the house is luxurious and magnificent.
The four of them came to the main room of the back house. Inside the room, a well-mannered woman was sitting by the bed, holding a silk handkerchief and trying to soothe her tears. A maid was beside her trying to persuade her. When she heard footsteps coming from outside, she whispered:
"Ma'am, someone is coming."
When the woman stood up, the four scholars had already entered the room.
"Sister-in-law, the people are here!" "The one behind is Mr. Lu."
When he entered the house, Lu Liangsheng already knew something about the situation in Wang Chongwen's home, and he politely bowed to the woman.
"Qixia Mountain, Lu Liangsheng."
Mrs. Wang bowed, looked at her unconscious husband, turned back and bowed again.
"Please, Master Lu, save my husband..."
As he bowed, Lu Liangsheng swept his wide sleeves over and lifted the woman up. Before she could react, the scholar opposite her had already sat down beside the bed.
On the side, the maid who was waiting quietly watched this scene with her mouth open for a long time.
"It's okay. Your husband has only lost some of his yang energy. He will recover in a month or two. But you must avoid sexual intercourse."
Lu Liangsheng withdrew his hand from the quilt and turned back to instruct Mrs. Wang.
"Originally I didn't need to come, but I was afraid that you would try all kinds of treatments and end up getting sick, which would be troublesome."
As he stood up, he saw that there was also a bookshelf in the bedroom. He couldn't help but take a few more glances, while still talking.
“… You don’t need to take a big tonic on weekdays, just make some soup to nourish yourself.”
The voice paused, and a book on the bookshelf drew Lu Liangsheng's attention - "Illustrated Records of Mountains and Seas".
"Does your husband like to read these books too?"
He took it down, smiled and casually turned a page, and then the smile gradually faded.
The above content is different from his book.
"Illustrated Records of Mountains and Seas, there is more than one?"