The green leaves on the whole mountain swayed and spread in the wind. In the sunlight rising to the clouds, the old donkey ate the grass on the ground while shaking its bell. There was a bookshelf behind its hip and a small open door. The Toad Taoist was lying at the door with his eyes rolled back and breathing heavily.
On the road ahead, Lu Liangsheng and Nie Honglian walked through the grass, occasionally looking back at the old donkey and the master. The scholar told her what he had seen and heard during the journey as they walked.
"I went to visit Mr. Zhou first. He is old... His daughter got married two years ago and had some minor health problems. She was almost bedridden."
"I know him. I once stayed at his house during the Autumn Examination. I didn't expect that such a long time has passed."
When Nie Honglian thought of the past of the Zhou Mansion, a smile suddenly appeared on the corner of her mouth, and she raised her hand to cover it.
"Remember, Mr. Zhou's daughter is called Zhou Rong..."
"Yeah, I was also scared by you in my dream."
'Hehe, that was my temper back then.'
After eliminating the evil spirit, Nie Honglian was no longer as vengeful and vicious as she was when she was a Rakshasa ghost, but she was much braver than before. She swayed the hand at her side, quietly raised her slender white fingers, touched the palm of Lu Liangsheng's hand under the sleeve beside her, and then gently held it.
There was no extra expression on his face. Just like before, he was looking at the road leading to Lujia Village, with endless things to say.
"After the young master left, the temple suddenly had a lot more incense. I could feel the devout pilgrims worshipping, praying and complaining. I wanted to help them, so the incense and magic power in my body automatically attached to them. I helped them solve their problems and fed back a lot of magic power. I think the clay sculpture of mine on the altar and the bones inside will grow flesh and blood in a few years."
"... The young master's mother and younger sister would sometimes come over to burn incense for me, and I would quietly take them to the back of the temple and show them where no one else could see..."
The moist mountain wind blew as Nie Honglian's soft voice told the big and small things that happened in Qixia Mountain, even how much prey Lu Pan and his eight companions had hunted in the mountain, and how many times Mingyue boy had secretly run to Xiaoquan Mountain to see his mother.
As she was walking along a tree-lined path and reaching out to pick a wild flower, the smile on her face suddenly froze. She put the flower back in her hand, rolled up her long sleeves and walked to Lu Liangsheng's side, telling him something.
"I was so happy before that I almost forgot something."
Lu Liangsheng turned around and glanced at Lao Lu again. The master who was lying at the door of the bookshelf turned over, hung his head lazily, and basked in the sun.
He withdrew his gaze and looked at the woman.
"What did you forget?"
"My previous painted skin was possessed by an evil spirit, and she ate the red fox... I didn't have time to inform Mingyue, so she escaped from the spirit gathering formation and ran away from Qixia Mountain."
"Escaped?" Lu Liangsheng repeated, frowning slightly, "Didn't it touch the magic circle I set up?"
"No."
In answer to this question, Nie Honglian hesitated for a moment, and finally expressed her feelings when she came into contact with the other person.
"I feel that she... has the aura of the young master. She must have often listened to the young master's lectures and magic, and she has realized the truth. Her Taoism has improved a lot, and she is no longer like an ordinary little ghost or demon."
On one side, Lu Liangsheng held the woman's hand and continued to walk forward. Seeing her hesitant and worried expression, he shook his clenched hands.
"It's her ability to listen to my lectures and gain enlightenment, but it doesn't matter if it's like this. She might even thank me."
Seeing that Hong Lian still had a worried look on her face, he shook his head and smiled, saying, "She is one of your souls and has her own consciousness. So, you have a younger sister, right? Our Hong Lian is not alone anymore."
“It wasn’t before!”
Nie Honglian held the man's hand tightly, raised her chin, blinked her beautiful eyes, and smiled, "Because... there are the young master, Master Toad, and my aunt!"
Nie Honglian smiled with sweet dimples, and felt relieved when she heard Lu Liangsheng comfort her and even said he didn't care about Huapi's leaving.
The two walked briskly, holding hands, towards Lujia Village. At the entrance of the village, Li Jinhua, Lu Laoshi and Lu Xiaoxian were already waiting there. The Taoist squatted beside the crowd, chewing a large white flour cake. When he came back, he went straight back to the village to inform everyone.
When the villagers heard that Lu Liangsheng had returned from outside, Lu Pan and eight other people who were exercising in the dam threw away their stone locks and millstones, picked up their short coats and put them on their shoulders, and rushed to the village entrance. Over there, Lu Taigong, who was drowsy on a big chair, heard the noise, opened his eyes dazedly, and his toothless mouth moved.
"What's wrong? Are all the kids out of school?"
"No, it's Liangsheng who's back!"
A village woman who was drying clothes nearby with a wooden basin in her hand chatted and wanted to join in the fun.
"Hey, Liangsheng is back." Mr. Lu stood up with the help of a pear wood stick, took two shaky steps, and tilted his head: "Hey, who is Liangsheng?"
Then he slowly turned around and sat back down.
The villagers who were passing by and working in the fields stopped and heard the familiar sound of copper bells from far and near. Soon, standing on the other side of the village road, by the river, a man and a woman, followed by an old donkey, slowly walked towards this side.
“Yes, brother!”
Lu Xiaoxian pointed at the figure over there and said something to her mother. She stood on tiptoe excitedly, waved her hands, put them to her mouth in a trumpet shape, and shouted loudly.
"elder brother-"
"If a girl doesn't have a decent career, she won't be afraid of not getting married!"
Li Jinhua pushed her down and hit her. The Taoist who was squatting not far away turned his head and laughed suddenly, his moustache was so squeezed that it split.
"Well... I don't mind."
"Shut up!" The woman glared at him, and heard Lu Pan shouting from behind, "Liangsheng!" Then she turned her gaze to the outside of the village. Her son and the girl Honglian walked over side by side, and she quickly snatched the willow branch from her husband who didn't say a word.
"Except for going to bed, I've never seen you take the initiative once! I have to do it myself."
She cursed and complained to her husband, but when she looked at her son, a smile broke out on her face and she used a willow branch to sweep the dust off his body.
"Liangsheng, the food is ready at home, go back quickly."
He turned around and yelled at the villagers gathered at the entrance of the village: "What are you looking at? There is no share for you. Go home and eat your own food!"
At the entrance of the village, Lu Pan and his gang shouted loudly for a few times, then dispersed and made way.
"Everyone, please don't dislike my mother." Lu Liangsheng bowed to everyone in a joking tone.
The villagers around here also knew Li Jinhua's character before, and they burst into laughter.
“I know!”
"Go home quickly, or the food will get cold."
"It doesn't matter if it gets cold. Come to my house when the time comes. I'll just have two pounds of meat hanging on the beam."
Someone interrupted and said, "You still have meat at home? Then I'll go to your house to eat later."
"You are beautiful!"
Amid the noise and chatter at the entrance of the village, Lu Liangsheng smiled and held his parents' hands, with Xiaoxian and Honglian beside them. When he saw the sleepy grandfather, he used some magic power to nourish him, then said goodbye to all the villagers and returned to the small courtyard.
The morning glory on the fence and the courtyard wall was withering, leaving only green leaves swaying in the wind. The old donkey took down the bookshelf, put up his front and back hooves, ran excitedly to the donkey shed, and rolled over in the spread straw, scaring the other strong donkey with thin teeth to hide in the corner and tremble.
Lu Liangsheng opened the door of the room he had not lived in for a long time, put down the bookshelf, opened the window, and looked at the cypress trees in the yard that were lush and leafy, casting golden shadows.
In the sunshine, the Taoist priest happily came out of the small hut holding a pair of brand new cloth shoes. He jumped onto a tree branch, put the shoes in his arms, closed his eyes, and laughed as if he had thought of something good.
Hong Lian turned her skirt around, changing into simple blue and white clothes. She followed Li Jinhua into the kitchen, rolled up her sleeves and started washing rice.
Standing at the window, Lu Liangsheng looked at the scene in the yard and took a deep breath.
There is always a comforting feeling of coming home.
He turned around, walked to the bookshelf, took out the books and scrolls one by one, put them on the desk, filled it with paper, ink, pen and inkstone, and the room was filled with the fragrance of books again.
Under the bookshelf, the small door of the compartment creaked open.
The Taoist Toad climbed out tiredly, and saw the old white hen clucking at the door as it walked over. The moment it suddenly poked its head in, the Toad turned back to the compartment and closed the small door with a bang.
I don’t want to come out for the time being.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting at the desk, took a look and waved his hand to drive away the hen at the door. Then he tidied the table. Occasionally he thought of the escape of Painted Skin mentioned by Hong Lian, frowned slightly, and looked out the window.
Golden sunlight was pouring in through the window lattice, shining on his face.
'Where will it go?'
The sky was blue and white clouds were like cotton wool. In the distant Xiliang Prefecture bordering Chang'an, dark clouds were piling up and thunder was rumbling. It was difficult to see a single house among the desolate wilderness.
Wow-
Flocks of crows roosted in the woods, crowing hoarsely, or jumping on a hollow skull of bones under a tree.
boom!
Suddenly, a loud thunder rolled across the sky. The crows screamed, spread their wings, and ran around in the woods in fright.
In the gloomy forest, the bluish-white electric light illuminated the outline of a woman in the woods. She stepped lightly on the dead branches and leaves on the ground and walked towards the skeleton under the tree.
"It must be very pitiful to have no one to bury you in the wild mountains and wilderness. Why not leave your body with me?"