The old trees in the yard swayed slightly in the night wind. In the kitchen not far away, a warm yellow light shone through the gap in the door.
"... You don't know this time when I went out, but I recognized the four scholars trapped in Lanruo Temple at a glance... They were the four idiots from Nanxiang, not far from Fushui County!"
"Also, the monster in Lanruo Temple is very familiar with Mr. Lu. As soon as they met..."
From the corner of her eye, she saw the woman in red clothes picking up food for Li Jinhua, and her words suddenly changed: "… Let him go."
The oil lamp was standing on the stove. In the small kitchen, Sun Yingxian was sitting at a round table, gesturing with chopsticks in her hand, and proudly telling Lu Laoshi and his wife about the various things she had encountered on the way north. In addition, Lu Xiaoxian, who was sitting beside them with her eyes wide open while holding the chopsticks in her mouth, was stunned by what she heard.
“… Later, when we went north, Lao Lu sent his three disciples to travel on their own. On the way, we encountered a small green snake. Hey, it was very spiritual and probably would soon become a Taoist. It followed us to Niutou Market. These were nothing. When we got there, we also encountered a corpse. A dead person got up in the middle of the night and chased an innkeeper all over the street. Fortunately, I met you. Guess what happened next?”
Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi opened and closed their mouths slightly when they heard this, and they even forgot about eating. The Taoist took advantage of them not being able to come to their senses and quickly picked up a piece of fat meat and put it into his mouth, causing Lu Xiaoxian next to him to poke it hard with chopsticks.
"Then, don't just focus on eating. Tell me what happened next."
The gossip about the neighbors' private affairs is enough to keep people entertained for a while, not to mention the stories about gods and ghosts, which will make people fascinated as soon as they hear about them.
The Taoist priest felt comfortable when he saw Xiao Xian's increasingly pretty appearance, especially when the chopsticks poked her body. He squinted his eyes and sighed with enjoyment.
"good… "
Before he could even utter the word "cool", the tip of chopsticks hit him on the head from across the seat, and Li Jinhua gave him a sidelong glance.
"speak!"
"Oh." The Taoist priest shrank his neck in fear at her gaze, sat up straight and started talking again.
Seeing him being humiliated, Lu Liangsheng chuckled, picked up some dishes for his parents, and then picked up some dishes for Hong Lian beside him. The latter's spirit was condensed by the incense, but she was not yet a physical body, so she still could not eat the whole table of food. She just took a light breath and enjoyed the essence of the food.
After taking a sip, Hong Lian pulled the scholar.
"Sir, is what Taoist Sun said true?"
"Well, that little green snake also saved the master who fell into the water." Lu Liangsheng took a mouthful of rice and talked about what he had seen and heard along the way. On the table next to his sleeves, Toad Taoist was sitting there with his legs apart, holding the red rooster bowl and stunned for a moment.
… She is a bitch, she picked up food for her but not for me? She also spread my shortcomings everywhere.
Could it be possible that I could swim here
evil…
Over there, Lu Liangsheng picked up a piece of braised pork and put it into the bowl of Toad Taoist, saying softly, "Master, eat slowly."
Well…
The Toad Taoist looked at the fragrant piece of meat in the bowl, then glanced at his disciple who turned around to talk to the little ghost girl, then rolled the meat into his mouth with his tongue and chewed it slowly.
"As expected, the disciple still loves the master. It smells so good!"
The light was warm yellow, illuminating the figures beside the table. The Taoist was talking boastfully, causing Lu Laoshi, Li Jinhua and Lu Xiaoxian to laugh. While they were not paying attention, the Toad Taoist quickly rolled up the dishes and put them into the bowl, with his webbed feet hanging outside the bowl and kicking around, while his upper body was buried in the bowl, eating happily with big mouthfuls.
After the meal, the Taoist priest, who was full of food and wine, was still sitting there, talking to Xiao Xian. Hong Lian helped the woman to clean up the dishes. Lu Laoshi, who had nothing to do, sat by the stove, weaving hemp shoes in the light from the remaining fire.
Pushing open the kitchen door, Lu Liangsheng walked under the eaves with Toad and returned to the house. He touched the wick with his fingertips, and the dim light illuminated everything.
Now the three disciples have gone out to travel and will not come back to live here, so there is no need to rush back to the thatched cottage in the mountains. Just stay at home for a while first.
He put the master on the desk, made a bed, took a few books and placed them next to the bedside pillow to read. Hong Lian came in, moved the oil lamp on the desk, covered the small flame, sat next to the scholar, and illuminated the figure of the person reading at the bedside.
Turning the pages of the book with the scent of ink, Lu Liangsheng read the contents in the book and chatted with the woman beside him. As the night deepened, Hong Lian was going back to the temple to view the clay sculptures, so he sent her to the courtyard and watched her disappear as she left.
'After eliminating the evil spirits, more and more...'
As they were whispering, they saw the bright moon, which had grown taller, sneaking along the fence into the courtyard. When the child saw the gentleman standing in the yard, he froze in place, maintaining the posture of sneaking in, and spoke stutteringly.
"Sir... when did you come back?"
"You went to your mother's place?"
"hey-hey."
"Go back to your room."
Lu Liangsheng waved at him. Although he was still a child, he was smarter and more mature than other children. Seeing his mother was a filial piety, he naturally didn't say anything to him.
Turning back to the room, Toad Taoist had already curled up in the bookshelf compartment, pulled the quilt over him, and patted the corners of the bed.
"Liangsheng, blow out the lights!"
Soon, the window lattice through which the light came dimmed. It was late at night and the sound of a fox cry could be heard occasionally from the foothills outside the village. The fox on the bookshelf turned into smoke and fell to the ground in the shape of a human. It poked its head out of the window to look at the moonlight, then quietly climbed onto the bed, lay down next to the scholar, and fell asleep together.
She's used to it.
…
Oh oh oh... Oh oh oh—
A rooster stood on the fence and crowed with his head raised. The eastern clouds were as pale as a fish belly. The morning light broke through the clouds, spread across the foothills and fields, pushing away the darkness and enveloping the distant mountain village.
Smoke from cooking curled up, and morning dew accumulated on the tips of leaves was about to fall off. A door in the courtyard opened, and Lu Liangsheng walked out, stood under the eaves and stretched lazily. In the adjacent room, Lu Xiaoxian pushed the door open and walked out. Mingyue and the Taoist on the second floor yawned together, and the latter jumped down. The three of them went to the water tank to wash up.
'Gubobo~~'
Facing the sun, the three of them held clear water in their mouths and spit it out in unison.
Uh huh huh!!
The yard gradually became lively in the early morning. The old donkey held the reins and pulled another strong donkey out of the straw shed, dragged it behind him, and strolled out of the village.
Li Jinhua walked into the kitchen and cooked breakfast. Her husband, with dark circles under his eyes, sat down at the doorway listlessly, holding the hemp shoes he had not finished weaving last night, staring blankly at the morning sun.
The Toad Taoist jumped onto the window frame, rubbed his eyes, smacked his lips, watched the three people who were washing up leave, and then he twisted his plump waist with a "hey hey hey" sound.
Afterwards, the woman who had cooked the meal picked him up and threw him into the vegetable garden. She clapped her hands, pinched her husband's ears, dragged him to the kitchen, and turned around to yell at her son, daughter, and Taoist priest in the yard.
"Have a meal!"
The three people in the yard laughed out loud. Lu Liangsheng picked up his master, whose cheeks were puffed up, from the vegetable garden, put him on his shoulder, and walked into the kitchen together.
"Master, don't be angry. Let's eat."
In the golden morning light, a bird landed on the edge of a water tank and preened its feathers according to its reflection in the water. It tilted its smart head towards the courtyard gate. A woman in a red dress came in smiling, chirped twice, flapped its wings happily, flew over, landed in the woman's hand, and then flew to the cypress tree in the courtyard.
In the wind, the old tree swayed gently, and the green leaves gradually turned yellow and fell down.
It is already late autumn.