"Master Lu, this is crispy white fermented bean curd. It has been marinated for a long time at home. It tastes delicious after frying it!"
The woman took a plate of neatly arranged tofu cubes from the wooden plate. The surface was golden and covered with red sauce. She smelled it first and then happily put it over to the Taoist priest. This attracted Sun Yingxian, who was quite knowledgeable about food. He couldn't help but stretch his neck to smell it and gave the woman a thumbs up.
"fragrant!"
"Delicious, right? Haha, there are more. They are all old... They are all my specialties." Sui An's aunt smiled and picked up a few other dishes and put them on the table.
"This fish is called the Red Mouth Cockroach, and it comes from Huizhou. I bought a few of them and kept one in the backyard, but I couldn't bear to sell it. Today, Master Lu is coming, so I must let him taste it first. If my cooking is not good, please bear with me."
"No, it's really expensive for you."
Lu Liangsheng felt a little embarrassed by the woman's hospitality. He stretched out his hand to take the plate of fish and put it down. The rising aroma made him swallow his saliva, even though he was not particular about food.
I don't know what was used to remove the fishy smell from the fish. After steaming, the fish juice retained its original flavor and was left in the dish as a side soup. A piece of yellow and sticky stuff came out of the broken fish belly. It looked like fish roe. Lu Liangsheng picked up a piece with chopsticks and realized it was made from egg yolks.
Make the whole fish look somewhat beautiful.
"Master Lu, and that Taoist priest, stop just staring and eat quickly. The fish smell will come back after it gets cold." The woman called out and brought over the rest of the dishes one by one.
"This little dumpling is baked with beaten eggs."
After hearing the woman's introduction, Lu Liangsheng felt hungry. He just picked up the chopsticks. The Taoist priest beside him kept his bowl in his hand and quickly dropped and picked up the food with his chopsticks. He piled the food on the rice and shoved it into his mouth. His cheeks were swollen. When he saw the scholar looking at him, he pointed at the table with his chopsticks and said vaguely with food in his mouth:
"Oh... s- ...
The scholar glanced at the woman who had served the food and had not left, smiled and nodded, then politely picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and put it in his mouth to chew. The meat was extremely tender and melted easily with the tongue. It was indeed a rare skill and the taste was good.
“Good cooking.”
Lu Liangsheng couldn't help but praise him. He was from the south and liked eating fish. He thought Sui'an's aunt knew this and made it specially. No wonder she could teach Li Sui'an to have that kind of character.
"Master Lu thinks it's good too, right? I'm doing it as usual."
The woman did not leave either. She sat opposite Lao Sun with her tray, watching the two of them eating happily with a smile on her face.
“… Sui An came back two years ago and showed me some martial arts that he learned from Master Lu… No, it should be called magic. My goodness, a sword flew in the sky by itself. I was so scared that I didn’t dare to come out of the animal shed, for fear that it would fall and stab someone… But that little beast ate and drank for free at home for a few days and then ran away, without even noticing to send a message home.”
The woman specially prepared this table of dishes, probably to ask about Sui'an's recent situation. Lu Liangsheng did not point it out, after all, it would be embarrassing to say too much.
Then he put down his chopsticks and laughed: "Sui'an lived with me in Chang'an a few days ago, and made a few friends who shared the same beliefs. Half a month ago, he went to the Miao area in the southwest. His aunt can rest assured that Sui'an is good at wielding a sword. As long as he doesn't fight with people who are more skilled than him, he won't suffer any loss. In addition, he is so clever that it will be difficult for him to suffer any loss."
The woman agreed with this, loosened the corner of her clothes, and smiled with relief.
"Master Lu is right. It will be very difficult for that little beast to suffer. With Master Lu's words, I, as his aunt, feel a lot more relieved."
Since the woman cared, Lu Liangsheng told her about Li Sui'an's experiences in the past two years while eating. Naturally, he mentioned the fight with Shelong, how he sent a message over a thousand miles to ask Lu Liangsheng for advice, and how he later drifted on the endless ocean. He also killed a fish that was almost the size of a mountain, but it was too big to bring back, otherwise the inn would not be able to accommodate it.
When it came to the funny part, the woman covered her mouth and laughed, "This little bastard is just like his parents, he likes to cause trouble everywhere. Fortunately, Master Lu is here, otherwise, I don't know how much trouble he would have suffered."
This was the first time Lu Liangsheng had heard of Sui'an's parents. He had asked Li Sui'an about them when he was in Qixia Mountain, but the latter didn't know much. He asked his aunt, but the woman refused to tell him.
Now, having said this, she saw Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist priest over there looking at her. The woman sighed and also talked about the past.
"Sui'an lost his parents when he was young. His parents were just a pair of gangsters who would fight and kill at any time. They also said that they were the famous black and white heroes in the martial arts world, but what happened? Both of them died outside, and they asked me to collect their bodies, leaving me with a baby boy. I will never have the chance to get married in my life."
The woman said something fierce, but everyone could see that it was just words. Raising a child and never marrying again, how much responsibility does that require...
Lu Liangsheng suddenly put down his chopsticks and reached out to grab the woman's wrist, frightening Sun Yingxian so much that her chopsticks almost fell under the table. "Hey, hey, Old Lu, you can't be so..."
"Shut up!"
Really afraid that Old Sun would blurt out something, Lu Liangsheng glared at him, touched the woman's pulse with his fingertips, checked her body with his magic power, found some weak points, and nourished the woman for a while before withdrawing his hand.
"His aunt, you are still in good health, and you will have plenty of time to reunite with An in the future. I will also talk to him later and come back to accompany you often."
"Okay, okay."
The woman nodded repeatedly with joy, and raised her sleeve to wipe the corners of her eyes full of wrinkles. "Sui An really has a good master. If his parents knew about this, I don't know how happy they would be. By the way..."
At this point, the woman suddenly stood up, ran to a room near the stairs, rummaged through the drawers, and pulled out a long strip of cloth from the secret compartment under the bed. She blew away the dust on it, uncovered the cloth, and revealed a pair of black and white swords.
"Master Lu, this is for Sui'an's parents. When you come back, give it to him."
The woman came out of the room holding swords and handed the pair of swords to Lu Liangsheng. The scabbards were one white and one black, and there was half a pair of mandarin ducks tied to the front of the hilts. When put together, they formed a complete jade pendant. It can be seen that Sui An's parents must have been very loving when they were alive.
There was a soft humming sound.
Lu Liangsheng gently pulled out the black sword. The sword was already rusty and had no remaining magic power. It seemed that Li Sui'an's parents were just ordinary outlaws.
He touched the sword with his fingertips, and with a burst of magic power, the mottled rust on the sword fell to the ground, and the sword surface became cold again, reflecting the horrified expression of the woman next to him. She raised her finger and pointed at the sword that was shining again, and spoke stutteringly.
"Master Lu... what is this... this sword... how..."
On the other side, Old Sun, who was holding a bowl, said "Hi" and put down his bowl and chopsticks: "Little tricks, come on, let me show you. I will bless them and I guarantee they will be able to slay demons and monsters..."
With a clang, Lu Liangsheng sheathed his sword and walked over to press the Taoist's shoulder.
"Let's eat. I'll go hang the sword on the bookshelf."
Sun Yingxian picked up the bowl again, looked at the scholar's back as he walked out, and curled his lips: "You've already pretended, why can't you let me pretend... It's a rare opportunity."
He muttered softly, glanced at the woman, and simply sat over there with his chopsticks in hand, pulling the other person to sit down with him.
"Aunt, come here, I will tell you some very practical techniques to exorcise demons and evil spirits. Do you have a black dog at home? If not, I suggest you raise one so that it will be convenient for you to draw blood..."
When Lu Liangsheng came back from outside, he saw the Taoist waving his hands and dancing, chatting nonsense with the woman, and taking out a few talismans painted with cinnabar from a yellow cloth bag and stuffing them into the woman's hands.
"Here you go, keep it at home. If you encounter any evil things, stick one up to keep the world peaceful. It would be even better if you wrap it up and hang it on the head of the bed as a pendant. You will have good dreams every day and can dream whatever you want."
After a lot of talking, the woman, in a daze, held the talismans and sent Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist priest to the door as they said goodbye. When she returned to the inn, she tilted her head and was still mumbling vaguely.
"Raise a black dog to get its blood" "Hang a peach tree" "Don't plant locust trees or willow trees in front of your door"
'When something goes wrong, just stick a talisman on it...'
…
The sky in the distance gradually tilted towards the west. Among the withered and yellow forests, old crows flew over the branches with a caw. On the mountain path where the shade of the trees was swaying, Lu Liangsheng looked back at the mountain village in the distance beyond the mountainside.
"What are you talking about? You've confused others."
"Is that a lie? I am a Taoist who does good deeds and accumulates virtue. That is a talisman with magical power. Do you think I just drew it casually?"
The Taoist picked up a piece of wild grass, wiped off the leaves, held the root to his lips, put his hands behind his head, and walked leisurely.
"You, Mr. Lu, don't understand. Women like them like this kind of direct and practical things the most. It is more effective than your medical treatment. Who knows, they may still remember you..."
Gu~~~
At this moment, the Taoist's stomach suddenly made a sound. He looked down at his stomach and frowned, "Hey, why do I feel hungry? I ate three big bowls of rice."
Sun Yingxian touched her shriveled belly, raised her face in confusion, her eyes suddenly narrowed, and her lips opened as she was about to speak, and she yelled hysterically.
"Ahh~ Lu~ Liang~ Sheng!! You used illusion to trick me?!"
Across his field of vision, Lu Liangsheng was standing in front of the bookshelf. He opened the small door and took out two dishes from his sleeve, one of which contained half a fish...
The Taoist's scream startled a flock of birds in the withered yellow forest, which flew into the sky in black, and rushed up with fists raised.
Ding-ling-dang~~
The sound of copper bells spread under the drooping yellow branches. An old donkey was chewing hay and walking slowly with its tail swishing. In the gently swaying bookshelf, the Toad Taoist held a small and exquisite red rooster porcelain bowl against his chest, feeling the warmth of the floating rice grains. He glanced at the dishes placed on both sides of him and wiped the fish whiskers from the corner of his mouth.
Looking at the scholars and Taoists outside who were chasing and hiding with magic, as well as the scenery of the mountains passing by one by one, he couldn't help but take a deep breath and let out a long sigh of satisfaction.
“This is what it means to live in this world.”
Soon, Qiyou also came out from the bookshelf and joined in. After leaving the foothills, the sunlight fell on everyone again, as well as the Taoist's bruised face. They went all the way south, over the mountains, across the rivers, and it was very lively.