"… I was born in a place called Qixia Mountain in the south. It has beautiful mountains and rivers. When I get up early, I can see the rolling sea of clouds. In the evening, I can see the setting sun draped over the mountains, like a red dress. There are two villages at the foot of the mountain. They often quarrel and fight over a small river. Once, the case was brought to court. At that time, the south was still the Chen Dynasty, but it is gone now…"
The setting sun shone, casting its red light on the gaps between the trees full of fruits, and mottled reflections on the back of the crawling old donkey. It twitched its ears, glanced at the owner who was speaking, then buried its head in its mouth and took a fruit, biting it until it broke into pieces.
A cool breeze blew, and the grass leaves rustled. The Toad Taoist, who was leaning against the donkey, yawned listlessly, raised his webbed feet out of boredom and placed them behind his head, squinting his eyes to look at the monkey, whose only head was exposed. He slowly woke up and dozed off amid the buzzing of summer cicadas all over the mountain, with bubbles expanding and shrinking along his nostrils.
Lu Liangsheng was wearing a white robe and holding a pair of scissors. He slowly cleaned the messy hair on the monkey's head and talked in detail about the current situation of the world, like a scroll being presented in front of the monkey.
"… The world is changing, but the rivers remain the same. Today, the nine provinces of the world are unified, and the emperor is Yang Jian, a very capable emperor. The people of the world live in peace. On the roads, there are carriages and horses everywhere. Children sit in the fields and play, and adults are busy in the fields, watching the young crops grow taller day by day…"
"…The largest city is called Chang'an, which is not too far to the northwest. If you know some magic, you can get there in half a day…"
The monkey head with the side profile laughed out loud: "It doesn't even take me half a day to do a somersault. I can get there in the blink of an eye, let alone half a day."
"Only you can do it!"
Lu Liangsheng tapped him lightly with the scissors and continued:
"Chang'an was a prosperous city, with dignitaries everywhere. The streets were filled with silks, rouge and powder, and endless food. People came and went, shoulder to shoulder. Sometimes you would run into a bride's procession, and you couldn't miss it..."
The gentle tone simply outlined the prosperity of the city called Chang'an. The monkey blinked his eyes and looked at the rolling hills in the distance. The scholar's voice gradually formed a picture in his mind.
It was as if my sight had passed through numerous mountains and I saw the largest city described in the voice, full of tranquility and prosperity. In this sunset, farmers who had been sleeping at dusk returned home carrying their hoes, and their wives and children had prepared meals and were waiting for them to return. In the distance, at the huge city gate, merchants who had come with full loads watched the goods being unloaded from their carts, flipped through their accounts, and wiped the sweat from their cheeks. The soldiers on the city wall inspected a section, greeted their colleagues who were changing shifts, walked down the stairs carrying their weapons, and looked at the houses that were lined up in the city, with smoke rising from the chimneys.
Amid the harsh voice of a woman who was collecting clothes hung out to dry, the door opened and her embarrassed husband came out in a hurry, carrying jars. On the street where the hustle and bustle was gradually quieting down, a hawker who was closing his stall sat on a bench, counting his gains for the day, listening to the clanking of copper coins, and contentedly continued to push his stall cart away.
…
After watching the mountain for a long time, Monkey closed his eyes and waited until the conversation around him stopped. Then he asked:
“Is there really such a prosperous place in the world?”
"That's where I came from."
Lu Liangsheng lowered his hand and put the scissors back on the bookshelf. The monkey's head, which was originally messy and fluffy, became much neater and cleaner. The moss and mud between the ears and nose were also removed one by one. Only then could he see that the monkey's cheeks were skinny, its forehead was dented, and its fangs were protruding, making its two yellow eyes look fierce and evil.
Even though Lu Liangsheng had seen several monsters, none of them were as ferocious as him.
Over there, the monkey rubbed his head on the ground, as if he could feel the freshness and cleanliness on his face, and smiled: "Good heart! Good heart! If I, Old Sun, can escape from this place one day, I will ask you to take me to see what the prosperity of the mortal world is like, and whether it is as you said."
"I don't know when you will be able to escape from this predicament."
Thinking of the prosperous Chen Dynasty, which disappeared in just a few months, Lu Liangsheng sighed, and then chuckled.
"Didn't I just say that rivers remain unchanged, but the world is ever-changing. Even dynasties will eventually come to an end. When the prosperity is shattered, the common people will begin to suffer again. This cycle will repeat itself without interruption."
"Hehe, I haven't seen it yet, how can I let him die?!" The monkey head moved and blew away a few stray hairs from his mouth. "If there is to be chaos, wait until I, Old Sun, have seen the prosperity of the world before letting him cause chaos. You help me guard it and wait for me to come out!"
Lu Liangsheng spread his hands and said, "What I said doesn't count." He stood up, waved the bookshelf and called the old donkey over. The crawling long body stretched out its limbs, leaned against the dozing toad, and fell straight back with a light bang.
The Toad Taoist hurriedly sat up and looked around. He saw his disciple put the bookshelf on the donkey's back. He climbed up, brushed off the dust, and glanced at the monkey head over there. His back was straight, with webbed feet behind his back, and his voice was righteous and majestic.
"Ready to leave? Come, let me go up."
"yes."
The master was showing off his status in front of the monkey. Lu Liangsheng didn't care about this action. He picked up the toad and put it into the small door of the compartment. He turned around and bowed to the monkey head over there.
"Then I'll take my leave. I'll tell you when I get back."
"return!"
The monkey got anxious and shouted to the old man leading the donkey, "Let's talk for a while longer. Do you want to know the relationship between me and the old woman?"
Lu Liangsheng turned his head and thought about it.
"Yes, she mentioned it before, sworn brothers and sisters."
"Then do you know how a deity and a monster trapped under a mountain became siblings? And how come I, Sun, was trapped here and not somewhere else?"
The monkey tilted his head and saw Lu Liangsheng's doubts. He laughed loudly, and his yellow eyes seemed to want to eat people: "Because this place is where Nuwa repaired the sky! I am a piece of the stone that repaired the sky. The old woman lived in Mount Li, and Mount Li was the place where Nuwa ruled. Think about it carefully, how deep is my relationship with her?"
Lu Liangsheng stood there in a daze. The twists and turns in this matter were quite complicated.
On the donkey's back, the Toad Taoist impatiently patted the donkey's ears and said, "Liangsheng, hurry up and leave."
Before he could finish, the monkey said:
“… The stones that were used to mend the sky formed a mountain, and this is the Jishi Mountain Range. Dayu also controlled floods here in the past. I, Old Sun, failed to mend the sky with the stone, and left it here. I absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and after a long time of cultivation, I became able to grow or shrink. I happened to meet Dayu controlling floods, and he took a fancy to me and wanted to refine it into a weapon to measure water…
Hehe, in the end the spirit stone was unwilling, and fought all the way eastward. Finally, the stone turned into Wuzhiqi, the god of the Huaiwo water, and continued to fight with him. Unfortunately, it was defeated and was pressed under Turtle Mountain. The rest of the stone spirits were beaten into a stick. Lao Sun was a piece of the spirit stone that had fallen off. He was born after experiencing the vicissitudes of life in Huaguo Mountain and absorbing the essence of the heaven, earth, sun and moon.
It's funny that the stick is used as a tool for exploring the sea and inserted into the sea eye. Others cannot touch or use it, except me, Old Sun. They don't know that the stick has the same origin as me, haha..."
At this point, the monkey gritted his teeth, making a creaking sound, and his yellow eyes were bloodshot.
"Trapping me here means knowing that I came from here. The luck of this place will be suppressed, and I can't use my rage. No matter how powerful my magic is, it will be useless!!!"
However, the scholar on the other side seemed not to have heard what came next. He recalled that the 'Wuzhiqi' mentioned just now was the giant monkey that was pressed under the mountain when he was setting up the magic array and drawing the array center in Qixia Mountain.
As soon as the monkey-headed man stopped talking, he raised his face.
"Wuzhiqi is also related to you?"
"That's my second brother Sun."
Well, both brothers are the same, they were pressed under the mountain.
Lu Liangsheng was not actually very interested in the monkey's past life. Even a great immortal like the Old Mother of Mount Li couldn't come. If he was kind enough to rescue the monkey, given the monkey's temperament, he would probably turn the world upside down. If he released him privately, Qixia Mountain would probably be implicated.
This kind of cause and effect cannot be touched, if it is touched it will cause big trouble.
Lu Liangsheng thought about it and decided that it would be best to complete the request and then stop doing unnecessary things. After listening to the monkey's nagging for a while, he said goodbye and left.
"Wait!" the monkey shouted again.
The Toad Taoist hurriedly urged: "Liangsheng, let's go. What's interesting to hear? I want to hear what I have learned from my teacher in the past."
The monkey raised its face and blew the pile of messy hair in front of it to Lu Liangsheng's feet in one breath.
"Take it. I, Old Sun, don't owe you any favors. These hairs have come out here and still have some magical power. If you are in danger, just throw one on the ground and say my name!"
His fangs opened and closed, and every word came out from his lips.
"Remember, I am the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun-Wu-Kong!"
As the sun set, people's shadows dragged diagonally on the ground. Lu Liangsheng looked at the monkey head under the cliff. He opened his sleeves, put the pile of monkey hair into his sleeve pocket, held up his wide sleeves, bowed again, collected his mood, led the old donkey over, asked the master standing on the donkey's head to hold it firmly, and then walked down the mountain.
Hehehe~~~
-Ha ha!
On the foothills behind, there was a monkey's desolate laughter, which startled the birds in the surrounding woods and made them circle.
When Lu Liangsheng reached the foot of the mountain, he waved his sleeves to eliminate his magic power and returned to his original scholar appearance. He looked back at the Five Finger Mountain and sighed. Listening to the laughter, there was a sense of desolation of a hero at the end of his road.
At the side, the Toad Taoist jumped up and waved his flippers in front of his apprentice.
"Let's go. You're just pretending to be pitiful. I've tried it before... There's nothing to see. Let's go."
Lu Liangsheng lowered his eyes, looked at his master's anxious expression, smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, there's nothing to see. Sit tight, Master. We'll be back soon."
Soon, they returned to the previous ridge and called up Zhu Ganglie who was soundly sleeping, and Liu Gun who was chatting over there, and returned to Jishi Town before it got completely dark.
The next morning, Liu Gun brought hot porridge and knocked on the door. No one was in the room. On the square table, there was only a yellow silk pendant with a piece of paper on it.
There is only a simple line of words on it: Put it on your child, and he will be protected from all evil and grow up safely.
"Mr. Lu..."
Liu Gun put down the porridge, held the amulet, walked out of the courtyard gate, and bowed to the east.
After a long while, he shook his head and returned to the house dejectedly. He hung the amulet given by the master on his son's chest. Looking at his chubby face with drooling and smiling innocently, the melancholy he had just felt disappeared in an instant.