Looking at the old donkey running around in front of him, jumping with the reins in its mouth, Lu Liangsheng smiled. He pulled the reins to stop the excited donkey and stroked its mane.
"You came here alone?"
The old donkey nodded, stretched out its mouth, put the reins in Lu Liangsheng's palm, breathed heavily, jumped twice on the spot, turned its back, tilted its neck and neighed twice, probably signaling its owner to come up.
"hehe… "
He stroked its mane again and called Min Yuerou, who was sitting under a tree, to come over. The latter naturally recognized the old donkey, but had never seen one so human-like.
"Can it understand human language?"
"Not only human language, but also monster language, I can understand it."
With a smile, Lu Liangsheng packed up his bag, jumped on the donkey, and urged the woman: "Let's go, take it, we should be able to get back to Qixia Mountain quickly."
"oh."
Min Yuerou came over and saw that the donkey's back was quite narrow compared to a horse. She jumped on it and sat close to the scholar, her face turning red unnaturally.
Son, ah ang hum~~
The old donkey stamped its hooves as if to remind her to sit tight. When the woman sat down, it kicked its hooves hard on the ground and rushed back to the woods from where it came, returning along the same route. However, it was not running very fast at the moment, as the trees in the forest were dense and it could easily throw the two people off its back.
After passing through this dense forest, when coming out, the old donkey spread its hooves and ran happily with a grunt. Its speed had obviously increased a lot, and the rolling foothills and fields bathed in the moonlight were passing behind it.
"Ahh... Slow down, slow down, it's too fast. I can't handle it."
Min Yuerou, who was hugging the scholar's waist from behind, rested her head on Lu Liangsheng's back, closed her eyes and screamed, and the words that came out of her mouth floated in the wind on both sides and flew to the back.
The woman thought that the old donkey was very human-like, but she didn't expect it to be so fast. She had the opportunity to ride a war horse once, and it was no match for the old donkey in front of her. She felt like she was floating in the wind.
Screaming and yelling all the way, the old donkey rushed through Hegu County at lightning speed. It was only a hundred or two hundred miles away from Fushui County. The sky in the east was turning pale, and people were gradually coming and going on the official road ahead.
Despite feeling sleepy, Lu Liangsheng patted the donkey's head to ask it to slow down. The old donkey snorted in displeasure, but gradually slowed down, wagging its bald tail, leisurely biting the weeds on the roadside, chewing them, and went around the city wall and headed further south.
Soon, the noisy Fushui County fell behind, and the old donkey quickened his pace, rushed into the mountains and forests, and took the nearest road. The morning sun rose among the clouds. Lu Liangsheng stood on the top of the mountain, looking at the endless Qixia Mountain and the fertile fields on one side of the winding mountain road.
Looking back, Min Yuerou had disheveled hair and her limbs hung on both sides of the donkey's back, sounding half asleep. The scholar walked down the Daqingyan Rock, took the reins, and pulled the old donkey down a steep slope, trying his best to make the donkey walk more balanced, but after all, she couldn't fall asleep. Min Yuerou sat up dazedly, rubbed the red marks on her face, yawned, and then she realized that the surrounding mountains had changed.
"Are we going to Mount Qixia?"
"Almost there, only a dozen miles to go."
At this time, without waiting for the woman to speak, Lu Liangsheng stopped, and the old donkey following him shook its ears and snorted twice in a certain direction.
The wind blew through the woods, making a rustling sound. Min Yuerou was awakened by the wind and quickly rubbed her eyes. Then she heard a sound coming from afar.
"Young Master!"
A figure floated over the woods, and landed on the ground with a graceful figure. When she saw the scholar leading the donkey, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and she threw herself into Lu Liangsheng's arms.
It was Nie Honglian, who had searched here inch by inch for several days, who, seeing the scholar coming back, rubbed her hands all over his body, sobbed softly and asked him if he was hurt.
Lu Liangsheng moved his shoulders, held Hong Lian in his arms, and patted her back gently.
"I wasn't hurt. The master was actually quite reasonable. I talked to him about some principles and he let me go back."
Hong Lian raised her face with sobs.
"real?"
"Really." Lu Liangsheng took a step back, turned in front of Hong Lian, and jumped twice on the spot, "Look, are you okay? Okay, go back and tell the others that I'm fine, and I'll be home soon."
Hong Lian was also sensible. She was not the only one who came out to look for the scholar. There were also Sun Yingxian, Mu Qiyu, Zhu Ganglie, Lu Pan and others. If they went back first, everyone would feel relieved.
The woman said, "Sir, please walk slowly. I'll go back first." Then she glanced at Min Yuerou who was sitting on the donkey's back. They both knew each other. After nodding at each other, she turned around, flicked her sleeves, flew off the ground, and floated away along the treetops in the forest, disappearing in the sunlight.
"Yuerou, let's go too."
"Um."
Watching the woman named Hong Lian drifting away, Min Yuerou pursed her lips and hid the joy she had felt along the way in her heart. She got off the donkey and followed the scholar with mixed feelings.
On the way to Lujia Village, the muddy road between the farmlands in the distance was full of villagers. Some of them had even been waiting on the mountain road outside. Seeing two people and a donkey slowly approaching from a distance, Lu Pan recognized who they were at a glance. He grinned and turned around and shouted at the villagers on the muddy road:
"Liangsheng is back, everything is fine!"
Suddenly, a burst of shouts rang out on the muddy road, and people swarmed towards the mountain path. The Taoist was sandwiched in the crowd, standing on tiptoe, stretching his neck to look outside, and pushing hard a few times.
"Let me pass, let me pass and take a look!"
In the end, Zhu Ganglie turned into a black man, and relying on his strong arms and waist, he squeezed the two people aside and brought him to the front. The people around were already asking where the old monk Lu Liangsheng was, whether he was injured, etc.
"Luckily that old bald donkey ran fast, otherwise, he would have been hit with a hoe."
"That's right. If you dare to kidnap someone in Qixia Mountain, you must be thinking your life is too long." "You can't say that. It's enough for Liangsheng to come back."
"Hey, it's because we are good people that we didn't get killed. Haven't we seen the storytellers in the teahouse say that there are some evil monks who do this kind of thing?"
As Lu Liangsheng heard them talking more and more outrageously, he smiled and bowed to interrupt them.
"That master just recognized the wrong person. Don't think too much about it. Let's put this matter aside for now. Liangsheng thanks all the uncles and aunts for their concern. I'm sorry for all your trouble these days."
As he said this, he bowed and saluted them.
It is normal for younger generations to pay respects to their elders, no matter where you are. Moreover, during the days when Lu Liangsheng was abducted, the villagers, young and old, helped a lot. They stopped working in the fields and searched all over the mountains and plains. They deserve this respect.
The people in front hurriedly helped the scholar up, and someone said:
"Don't bow, it's not a big deal. If someone else in the village was missing, we would still look for them."
There were also voices echoing: "Yes, Liangsheng, you should go home quickly and see your mother. She hasn't smiled in the past few days and she is very worried."
"Well, I'll go back first."
Everyone made way for them. Lu Liangsheng bowed, turned around, and said no more. He took the Taoist who had just squeezed in, Zhu Ganglie, the old donkey, and Min Yuerou and walked towards the village. Seeing the old man there with a cane, he went over to comfort him.
"Grandpa, I'm fine. Go home and rest. Don't walk around."
The old man is a little hard of hearing.
"Ah? What's all right?"
"I didn't... Liangsheng is back, stop hanging around outside, go home and rest!"
"What's back?"
The old man listened twice before he heard it clearly. When he knew everything was alright, he grinned with joy and walked away unsteadily with the help of his cane.
After bidding farewell to his fellow villagers, Lu Liangsheng returned to the small courtyard with a fence. His mother was already standing at the gate. When she saw her son coming back, his clothes were dirty and covered with mud, and she went up to hug him with red eyes.
As the mother and son embraced each other, Lu Laoshi said nothing. He walked to the firewood pile, picked up a bundle of firewood and went to the kitchen. He sat at the stove, lit a fire, washed rice and cooked.
In the small courtyard, voices of people became lively again.
…
The sky was full of sunlight, and in Fulin Prefecture, the sun was at its brightest. An old monk, sitting alone by the roadside, opened his eyes from his meditation.
He turned his gaze to some of the passing merchants and travelers. At the end of the road in the distance, three women walked past a group of pedestrians, playing with their long sleeves, pursing their lips, and looking at him.