The afternoon sun broke through the clouds and shone across the courtyard. The bare cypress trees swayed gently in the breeze. Amid the noise of several people sitting at a stone table and stone benches drinking and playing finger-guessing games, the door creaked slightly.
Lu Liangsheng opened the door and walked out, walked over the tilted incense burner with ashes all over the floor, went to the water tank and poured a handful of water on his face and rubbed it. In the yard, Li Jinhua, Lu Laoshi and Lu Xiaoxian also came out, supported Taigong and sent him back.
The Toad Taoist pushed open the door, saw Li Jinhua and the others going out, ran out, climbed onto the stone table, climbed up the edge of the table and kicked hard twice before climbing up, snatched a glass of wine, and pulled the Taoist to play finger-guessing games.
Amid the noise of drinking, Lu Liangsheng picked up a chair and dragged it to the water tank to sit down, quietly looking at the mess in the yard. It should have been a lively wedding, but it turned out like this. However, he still felt that it was more comfortable to be free and easy as before. He could walk when he wanted to and sleep when he wanted to. In the past few days, the "urging" from all sides made him feel a little tired.
Now, I learned from Zhu Erniang that the Painted Skin Demon had joined the Wuse Manor and was more likely to target me. It was not a good time to get married.
I also don't want to implicate others, especially a mortal woman like Min Yuerou.
Thinking of Min Yuerou, the scholar suddenly reacted. He looked at the sky. The sunlight was slightly slanting down. He couldn't help but frown. Didn't Hong Lian come back from looking for her? Why hasn't she come yet
Outside the fence, a sound came from the long and narrow corridor. Lu Liangsheng was about to stand up when the old donkey with a red silk tied around its neck hopped and jogged in, shaking the copper bell under its neck, and went into the donkey shed.
call…
Lu Liangsheng laughed and sat back down. He was a little nervous.
"Young Master!"
Just after sitting down for a while, Hong Lian's voice sounded outside the courtyard. The gate of the courtyard was lowered, and she changed out of her wedding dress. Just like in the temple, she walked over in a white dress fluttering in the wind, but there was no trace of Min Yuerou beside her.
What's going on
Lu Liangsheng stood up to greet her, and found that Hong Lian was holding two pages of paper with handwriting all over them. When he took them, Hong Lian whispered, "I didn't see her when I went there. There were only these two letters on the altar."
The sounds of drinking and playing finger-guessing games in the courtyard stopped. The Taoist, Zhu Ganglie, Toad Taoist, and Lu Pan from another table all looked over here.
Lu Liangsheng unfolded the paper, walked back to the chair and sat down. There were densely packed small and beautiful handwriting on it.
"Personally from Mr. Lu:
When the young master sees this letter, Yue Rou has already left, so there is no need to worry. There are thousands of miles ahead of you, so just take it as a journey through the scenery and explore the world. If I leave in person, my uncle and aunt will not let me go, and the young master will not let me go alone. If you say something, Yue Rou will probably not be able to leave.
… Young Master is a cultivator, Yue Rou is just an ordinary person. If you insist on it, you won’t get a good result. I haven’t seen you smile since the day before the wedding. You only smile when Hong Lian is around.”
The sunlight shone through the branches and fell on the letter paper. Lu Liangsheng calmed down and continued reading.
"… That day in the temple, listening to Hong Lian talking about your experiences together, the hardships you had shared together, building a temple for her, and cultivating a human body for her, Yue Rou was not jealous, but only envious. She envied your past, but I will not be depressed. I am not a delicate person who hides and cries when I am sad!"
The paper turned with a slight rustling sound.
There isn’t much further down the page.
"I like you very much, and I think you are a good person. I have thought a lot these past two days. I once asked you if I could practice Taoism. It was not a joke at that time... In my impression, Lu Liangsheng is gentle and righteous. I can't help you with what you are facing, and I want to try my best not to be a burden to you, so I won't make things difficult for you. Just think of it as me running away from the marriage. Tell my uncle and aunt that I am going back to Chang'an.
When you get to Chang'an, don't avoid me, remember that!"
At the end of the signature, there was a smiley face drawn, as if to cheer Lu Liangsheng up.
Hehe... this Min Yuerou.
Lu Liangsheng folded the letter and suddenly felt relieved. A smile appeared on his face. Although he didn't know what the woman's mood was when she wrote this letter, at least one thing was clear: Min Yuerou had become more mature and no longer blind from the state of a sentimental girl.
Lu Pan and others who were drinking over there looked at each other when they saw the scholar laughing. The Taoist priest on the stone table moved his mouth towards the Toad Taoist priest.
"What's going on? Everyone is gone, and you're still laughing?"
"If you want to know, why don't you go and see it yourself?"
Outside the courtyard, Li Jinhua and his wife, who had just sent Grandpa Lu back, also came back. Seeing their son's expression, they hurriedly pulled Hong Lian over and asked what happened. After knowing the whole story, the woman ran to her son in a hurry.
"Liangsheng, if we don't want to get married, then we won't get married. Please don't laugh or scare your mother, okay?"
"Mom, I'm fine. This is the letter Yuerou left. Take it and read it."
Lu Liangsheng handed the letter to his mother, walked a few steps, turned back and said, "I just suddenly felt relieved and realized something. We won't get married, but we should still have dinner with the villagers. We can't let the wine and meat go to waste. Call me when it's time to eat."
When the woman was reading the letter, the Taoist, Zhu Ganglie, Lu Pan and the other eight people dropped their drinks and rushed around to look. The Toad Taoist jumped down from the stone table, ran to Li Jinhua's feet and jumped twice in place, but could not hook her at all.
"Can one gain enlightenment from just one letter? I don't believe it." The Taoist withdrew his gaze from the paper.
Hong Lian walked into the room with some worry, only to see Lu Liangsheng sitting at the desk writing and drawing as if nothing had happened, just like he read and wrote on weekdays. When she asked him a few questions, her expression and demeanor did not seem any different.
The next morning, Sun Yingxian was still practicing boxing in the yard when he heard the door open. He turned around and saw Lu Liangsheng in a green coarse cloth robe with his hair casually tied behind his head. Upon seeing this scene, the Taoist kicked the stone table directly and jumped on the spot holding his foot in pain. When he saw the scholar going to the water tank to wash, he shouted in shock.
"Hey, hey... Mr. Lu, what are you doing?"
"Gululu~~hote!"
Lu Liangsheng spit out the water in his mouth, wrung out the towel and wiped his face, then said with a smile: "Of course I should look like this at home. I'm not going out, so why would I wear that scholar's robe?"
As he said this, he walked to the kitchen, washed rice and cooked. After lighting the fire, he took the hoe behind the door and went to the vegetable garden to loosen the soil.
Through the slightly opened door, the Toad Taoist stretched lazily, twisted his round waist while standing at the door, and suddenly saw Li Jinhua and his wife, Lu Xiaoxian, the Taoist, and Zhu Ganglie squatting behind the capital, their heads overlapping and peeking at something.
Toad, who was still half asleep, walked over to the crowd, rubbed his eyes and yawned. He followed their line of sight and saw Lu Liangsheng swinging a hoe in the vegetable garden.
"Hey, has Liangsheng changed his personality?"
Soon, Lu Liangsheng wiped the sweat from his forehead, scooped water from the water tank, watered the vegetable garden himself, cleaned up everything, and called everyone to eat together.
The warm sun rises above the clouds, reflecting the bleakness of autumn.
He led the excited old donkey, took his master on his shoulders, and strolled along the ridges of the fields and the river, checking the magic array on the way. A figure flashed in the sunlight in the distance. Seeing Hong Lian flying from the mountainside, he smiled, took the woman's hand, and walked side by side by the river, looking at the flowing water, which was sparkling.
The old donkey followed behind with its head raised, shaking off the toad that was clinging to its ears. Sometimes the donkey would chop some firewood and put it behind the old donkey, singing folk songs and walking down the mountain leisurely.
In the setting red clouds, smoke rose from the mountain village. Back in the yard, voices gradually appeared. A Taoist with a mustache was holding a yellowed book and shouting that he was being chased and beaten by Lu Xiaoxian, and ran to the back of the house.
When Lu Laoshi wanted to go out and take a look, the woman knocked on the stove with a shovel and scolded him, so he had to sit back and light the fire.
Zhu Ganglie bit the paintbrush in the corner of his mouth, and fell asleep while lying on the table blowing bubbles. On the unfolded drawing paper was a painting of a "beauty" with bared teeth, wide mouth and thick lips...
The sun sets.
The chirping of insects could be heard in the corner, and the night became pleasant. Hong Lian lit an oil lamp and placed it in front of the window. The gently swaying flame illuminated the image of a scholar in coarse blue cloth through the window frame.
The breeze squeezed in through the window, caressing the pages of the book. Lu Liangsheng looked at the woman sitting quietly next to him, picked up the book with a smile, smelled the fragrance and the scent of ink, and read softly the lines of handwriting. His clear voice spread to the quiet night in the courtyard.
…
The cold moonlight shines over the mountains and stretches northward. In the desolate hills and ridges, foxes cry sadly at night.
Gu~~
Unknown night birds were singing in the dim woods. Amid the rustling sounds, a figure stumbled out and fell beside a nearby tree.
"Huff... uh... Lu... Lu Liangsheng..."
The disheveled hair gave off a burnt smell, and half of the charred face was covered with only a thin layer of skin, revealing white bones. Hua Hongyi touched the face with trembling fingers, gritted his teeth and squeezed out the man's name, then took out a purple silk bag from his sleeve and poured out a fist-sized fruit.
In the cold moonlight, there is the shape of a baby.
The next second, it went into her mouth.