The evening breeze blew across the river bank, and the reeds swayed slightly in the fading red sunset.
The sound of water splashed up, and the small boat pushed away the ripples and sailed across the river, gently crossing the ferry bridge. Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey ashore, turned around and bowed to the boatman to say goodbye.
"Take care, my two guests!"
The old boatman didn't say anything extra. He put away his fishing rod and walked to the shore. He looked around and muttered to himself as he always did: "It's not good to always drink the village chief's wine. I should give him some gifts in return... Well, let's catch some fish for him."
Muttering back to the boat, Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist walked on the river bank. They could see Wangjiazhuang not far away. The villagers were finishing up their day's farm work and washing their hands and feet in the stream beside the fields. They were walking home together in the dusk, carrying their hoes.
"Sometimes I think this kind of life is pretty good, working from sunrise to sunset."
Hearing the scholar's sigh, the Taoist shook his head while holding a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth, and spat the grass not far away.
"That's because you have experienced a lot. If it were them, they would be envious of you and me."
Lu Liangsheng smiled, retracted his gaze, patted the donkey's head that was biting the reed, told it to follow closely, put his hands behind his back, and continued walking forward side by side with the Taoist.
“… maybe.”
The evening breeze was blowing gently, and the chirping of birds passed overhead.
The Taoist was quick and swift. He picked up a few stones and shot down the birds that were flying by. He wiped his hands on his Taoist robe and ran over. He raised it towards the scholar and laughed.
"Dinner is taken care of."
A few miles after passing Wangjiazhuang, the two of them lit a bonfire by the roadside and cooked a pot of meat porridge. Toad Taoist came out of the small compartment holding a small bowl of ice cheese, glanced into the pot, threw the small bowl in front of him, and sat down cross-legged beside the pot. Seeing his disciple who didn't say a word, he could probably guess what he was thinking.
"When you arrive in the capital of the Chen Dynasty, do you want to avenge your mentor?"
This sentence attracted the Taoist priest who was plucked hair and cut open stomach to put into the pot to look over.
Lu Liangsheng stretched out a dry branch and picked it in the fire, watching a few sparks rising. He was silent for a while. In the firelight, he thought for a while and threw the dry branch into the fire.
There was no fluctuation in the tone of voice, as if he was talking about a simple matter.
"No hurry. First, find the remains of our mentor and bury them in Qixia Mountain according to his wishes. Then we can talk about the Southern Chen Emperor."
The Toad Taoist was licking a cherry, smacked his lips, threw the cherry into a small bowl, hugged his webbed feet, looked dignified and serious, and nodded.
"Well, there is a centipede monster in the palace that cultivates with dragon energy. Although Liangsheng has entered the Golden Core Realm, to deal with him, he must first have a magic weapon or ability to restrain his life-demanding Sanskrit sound."
He stood up, put his flippers behind his back, took two unsteady steps, and looked up at the starry sky.
"If I were a master at my peak, I wouldn't be afraid of a little demon..."
Seeing that no one responded to his words, he turned around hurriedly. The Taoist and Lu Liangsheng picked up their bowls and started to eat the food. Even Hong Lian was absorbing the essence of the food. His toad eyes glared suddenly, and he rushed over, took the bowl that belonged to him and raised it above his head.
"Liangsheng, quickly serve a bowl for the teacher!"
There was a clattering sound as the chopsticks hit the bottom. The Toad Taoist took a big bite of the rice and bird meat, chewed it a few times and swallowed it. Then he leaned back comfortably, revealing his bulging white belly.
Hiccup.
He sighed: "Comfortable..."
After resting for a while, they packed up the dishes and pots and set off again with the donkey. It was dark outside and from afar they could see the lights of the city at the end of the official road, over the city walls.
Ding ding ding…
The sound of bells floated in the night wind. The soldiers guarding the city yawned and suddenly felt a chill on the back of their necks. They shuddered together and felt vaguely dizzy, as if a blurry figure came in from the closed city gate. However, there were only a few colleagues around and the sound of patrolling footsteps on the city wall, and there was nothing else unusual.
"That's weird, are we all dazzled?"
"It can't be a ghost... Bah, children should not be restrained in their words, children should not be restrained in their words."
"You already have two sons, and you still speak without restraint!"
The wind blew through the street, blowing up a few fallen leaves on the ground. The sound of jingling bells rang out along the long street. On the empty street, there was also the sound of night watchmen's clappers.
"It's dry, be careful of fire..."
In the mist, the night watchman suddenly stopped talking and looked towards the middle of the street, where the outlines of two people and a donkey gradually emerged. He was so scared that he quickly ran into the alley next to him, thinking it was a ghost. He covered his mouth and held his breath, not daring to make any sound. He watched helplessly as the other party flashed two or three meters away, and in two breaths, disappeared at the end.
Lu Liangsheng was unaware that he had frightened a night watchman. He walked through several street corners and came to the Avenue of Official Residences. Both sides of this avenue were where official residences of the capital were concentrated. Big red lanterns were hung under the eaves. Outside the gate of a mansion with the word "Min" written on it, two people and a donkey stopped.
"I'm going to see Minister Min. You and Lao Lu wait for me outside."
Lu Liangsheng said in a low voice, pressing down his bamboo hat. Then he stepped onto the stone steps, walked to the red painted door, and knocked on the copper ring on the door. After a moment, the doorman's footsteps were heard from inside. He opened a crack and asked, "Who is it?"
Through the gap in the door, the cloudy eyes saw a figure wearing a bamboo hat outside the door raising his head slightly, and a familiar face was reflected in the light of the lantern.
"Lu...Mr. Lu?!"
Lu Liangsheng nodded: "I want to see Minister Min."
"Mr. Lu, come in first."
The doorman quickly opened the door and invited the scholar outside to come in. Then he looked around and found that there was no one else except the Taoist and the donkey. Then he closed the door gently.
"Mr. Lu, why are you back at this time? You must not be out on the road. There are soldiers everywhere who want to catch you."
"I know."
"That's good to know, that's good to know." The concierge did not forget what the other party came for, and pointed to the direction of the side yard, and whispered: "The master is in the small yard where Uncle Hua lived. Just go there, young master, and don't let others see you. There are many people in the mansion, and there are many eyes. Oh, there is another person here, and his surname seems to be Zuo."
After saying that, he slowly went back to the gatehouse.
…
There was a wine jug tilted on the stone table in the courtyard, with wine stains dripping onto the ground. The old sycamore tree was rustling in the wind.
In a row of houses on one side, two figures were cut in the window frames.
"Zuo Qianwei came to my house tonight just to discuss this?"
"Of course not. Lord Shuhua is no longer around, and I'm afraid that if the Minister continues to speak so bluntly, he will anger His Majesty and be demoted again."
"Hmph, even if that's the case, I, the Minister, will not hold this position!!"
The light in the room was warm yellow. Suddenly, with a bang, the wine glass broke and bounced off the wall. Min Changwen stood up with his eyes wide open, walking back and forth in the room, waving his wide sleeves and clenching his fists.
"I have known Lord Shuhua for many years, but now we are separated by the Yin and Yang. If Your Majesty doesn't feel relieved, you can just kill me and be done with it. If not, I will whisper in his ear every day!!"
On the other side of the round table, the man with a thin knife on his waist was Zuo Zhengyang, who put down the wine glass in his hand.
"Then the Minister is seeking death."
"As close friends, we can share hardships and naturally die together. If I can wake up Your Majesty before I die, I will have done my duty to Lord Shuhua."
Min Changwen punched the wall with a bang. After saying this, he gritted his teeth and pursed his lips. He also knew that expectations would be difficult to achieve after all.
Just as he was about to continue speaking, Zuo Zhengyang, who was sitting over there, saw the oil lamp on the table flickering. His face suddenly tightened and he stood up from the stool to look outside.
"Master Shangshu, please don't speak. There are people outside!"
As soon as the words fell.
A familiar voice came from outside the door.
"Minister Min, a man from the mountains, Lu Liangsheng wants to see you."
Lu Liangsheng...
Min Changwen was startled for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. He turned around and opened the door. He saw a figure in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat standing under the sycamore tree, bowing.
Inside, Zuo Zhengyang also chased out and subconsciously reached for the hilt of the knife. The scholar on the opposite side of his field of vision felt a little conflicted. He was a person committing a serious crime, and I was a new guard in the palace, and I had the duty to arrest him, but if I didn't arrest him, it would be a dereliction of duty.
… How to do this
On the other side, Min Changwen, who went over to hold up the scholar's hands, didn't think too much about it. He looked at Lu Liangsheng carefully for a while and sighed with relief.
"Seeing that Liangsheng is safe, I feel relieved. Come!"
He reached out and grasped Lu Liangsheng's wrist, then pulled him quickly into the house. There was a shrine on the middle wall, and in the shrine was the spirit tablet of Wang Shuhua.
"Liangsheng, burn some incense for your mentor." Min Changwen handed over three incense sticks.
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng took it and scratched the heads of three incense sticks with his fingertips, sparks lit up, and as the incense burned, the scholar took off his bamboo hat, covered his left hand with his right hand, pressed the incense sticks with his index and middle fingers, and pressed his thumbs against the end of the incense sticks. He looked at the spirit tablet with his teacher's name written on it, bowed respectfully, and put the incense stick into the incense burner.
Then, he looked at the tablet in silence for a while before speaking.
"Minister Min, I want to ask you, where is my mentor buried?"
"this… "
Min Changwen was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that Lu Liangsheng would ask this when he came back, but he didn't hide it.
"It's at Qiaotougang, north of the city... All those who were executed by law would be buried there."
Lu Liangsheng stared at the spirit tablet and spoke word by word.
"Mass grave?!"
At the door, Zuo Zhengyang roughly guessed what the other party was going to do, and reached out to grab the shoulder of the figure in front of him.
"Liangsheng, you must not act recklessly. His Majesty has ordered that you are not allowed to move Uncle Hua's grave privately!"
The lights in the house suddenly dimmed and almost went out. In the blink of an eye, Zuo Zhengyang, who had rushed over, stumbled backwards as if hit by something and leaned against the wall.
In the light, Lu Liangsheng's expression flickered. Min Changwen on the side hesitated for a moment and lowered his voice.
"I'll take you there."