"Anashi? I don't know him."
Staring at the Turkic man kneeling in front of him, Gongsun Liao asked him to raise his face and looked at him for a few times. The people who had worshipped him at the beginning had died countless times, so he closed his eyes.
"I will go back to check when I have time, so don't make trouble for no reason. Leave now."
He waved his hand as if the other party was an eyesore and told him to get out. Anashi did not dare to say much. He had felt the aura emanating from the other party countless times at the altar. When he heard him being told to get out, he got up as if he had been pardoned, bowed to Yang Guang, and then bowed to Lu Liangsheng. Without saying a word to the Turkic envoy over there, he turned around and left amid the envoy's repeated shouts of "Priest! High Priest!"
Almost no one paid any attention to the Turkic envoy's shout. Lu Liangsheng raised his hand towards the demon king Gongsun Liao who turned around and said, "Thank you, demon king, for your help."
"What do you mean by help or not? Just ask me to come out next time and let me know in advance."
Gongsun Liao waved his hand and turned to look at the humans standing on the imperial steps. He probably didn't like being looked at like that. As his burly figure moved, he gradually turned into green smoke and flew away the "Boundless Mountains and Seas" in the scholar's hand.
Listening to the words of the Demon King, Lu Liangsheng thought of the previous two times and guessed something in his mind. Demons are very evil. Although there are mountains and waters in the vast mountains and seas, it will still be boring after a long time.
Lu Liangsheng had given him the freedom to travel with the book at will, so why didn't he leave and return to the northwest? It was probably because of his master.
He put away "Boundless Mountains and Seas" and put it back on the bookshelf, then walked up the steps to pay his respects to the emperor. In the past two years, Yang Guang had grown a beard, and he was quite spirited when he raised his hand to return the greeting.
"It's good to be back, sir. I feel relieved at last."
The king and his ministers joked for a while, and Lu Liangsheng looked at the old man holding a magic sword in one hand. He stepped forward, raised his hand politely, and called out, "Duke Yue."
The ministers were still excitedly talking about the fight that had just happened, and the old man standing next to the dragon throne also had a smile on his face.
His status became more and more prominent in the past two years, but the mortal world and the spiritual world are separate. He had known the young man in front of him for a long time and they had always been friends on an equal footing. He put down the sword in his hand, then stepped forward and raised his sleeves.
"Friend Lu, how have you been these past two years? With your return, the burden on my shoulders has been lightened, haha."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the old man with an ominous expression, and just smiled and changed the subject, "Duke Yue, you are joking, but now is not the time to reminisce about the past."
The old man understood the general meaning of the words, so he nodded, picked up the magic sword again and stepped aside. Yang Guang saw it and curled his lips. As expected, with the return of the national teacher, there was a check and balance, and the Duke of Yue restrained himself a little.
Seeing the emperor's expression, Lu Liangsheng pulled him back to his senses and said softly, "Your Majesty, the envoys from the four countries are still waiting. Now that the matter here is settled for the time being, I will go back to Wanshou Temple first."
"Okay, the Imperial Master will go back to the temple to settle down first. I will handle government affairs and then invite the Imperial Master to the banquet."
The duel had been settled, and Yang Guang brought his civil and military officials back to the Daxing Hall. He summoned the envoys from the four countries, spoke some words of encouragement, and discussed some issues of people's livelihood and trade among the four countries before dispersing them to hold a banquet at noon to entertain them.
…
"Rouge and powder... a favorite of Hu Ji from the Western Regions, made with the secret recipe of the Wang family!"
“… Dyed cloth, the finest colored silk, you can touch it even if you don’t want to buy it.”
Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey out of the south gate of the imperial city. The East Market was bustling with people coming and going. The small door of the bookshelf was slightly opened, revealing half of the toad's face. He sniffed, leaned against the purple gold gourd, and let out a sigh of relief.
"… The world is still prosperous and comfortable, little devil girl, I am not exaggerating, just by smelling it, I can tell which dish is delicious and which one has less seasoning."
On the other side of the bookshelf, Hong Lian's voice was heard from among the scrolls.
"Master Toad, you've been in Chang'an for so long, is this all you know?"
"You... you little ghost girl, can you talk?" The Toad Taoist showed his white belly, lying on the small bed, looking at the street scene passing by through the crack of the door, and snorted: "I can do it, but you have never seen it or even heard of it. I just like it the most. If you don't believe me, you can ask Liangsheng."
Hong Lian also hummed in her words, but did not ask. The toad, who had been waiting for a long time, knocked on the wall with its webbed feet.
"Why don't you ask?!"
"Don't ask. I won't embarrass you, sir."
Lu Liangsheng listened with a smile as his master and Hong Lian were talking in Dharma on the bookshelf. He stretched out his hand and patted the old donkey on his back. The old donkey was about to raise its head to lick the candied haws next to it, but was hit on the head. The donkey immediately became much more obedient and followed its master across the long street to Quchifang.
The hundreds of soldiers guarding the place stood up straight and said in unison: "Greetings to the Imperial Master!"
The lake in the distance was also rippling, as if greeting the scholar whom he had not seen for two years. Lu Liangsheng smiled and bowed, then walked to the mountain gate and returned to Wanshou Temple along the straight stone steps.
He pushed open the door, put down the bookshelf, and flicked his sleeves. The dust particles accumulated on the furniture, porcelain vases, and screens were swept into the air by the breeze and flew outside.
"Sir, let me help you!"
Hong Lian floated out of the painting and blew a breath towards the window frame. The four windows opened one by one. When she went to fold the bedding, Qi You also floated out from the bookshelf and turned into a human form. He looked at Hong Lian who was holding the book, stared at her, and took the inkstone to the desk.
"I want to help too, please make way!"
The Toad Taoist walked out of the small door of the bookshelf, looked at the two women huddled together, staring at each other, curled his lips, and turned back to look at the gourd and the wardrobe.
"What's there to argue about just putting a few books on display? You don't even bother to help me."
"Master, let me do it."
Lu Liangsheng smiled and squatted down, took the small wardrobe and purple gold gourd from his master and placed them on the edge of the bed, then went between the two girls, snatched the books, and stacked them neatly on the desk. The two of them were still standing there staring at each other, and it seemed as if blue-white arcs flashed in the air between them.
We met just after we came back
When we were in Qixia Mountain, everything was fine... Seeing the two of them in such a stalemate, Lu Liangsheng felt a little scared. It was better not to get involved. He just walked around, picked up the copper basin, unscrewed the water bag, and poured in a little water. After a while, the water level rose to about half the basin.
When the two women snorted at each other, folded their arms and turned in one direction, Lu Liangsheng had finished washing up and walked behind the screen. While changing out of his Qilin cloak, he said through the screen:
"Master, we may have to go to the palace again later. Will you go?"
Taoist Toad sorted out the new clothes he brought from Lujia Village one by one, compared them on himself, threw them aside, and picked up another one.
"I will not go. You can just bring some back. I am not picky about the food in the palace."
"Okay then."
Lu Liangsheng changed into his usual clothes, tied a silk scarf around his neck, turned around and walked out from behind the screen. He saw two heads overlapping each other and looking inside. When they saw the scholar coming out, Hong Lian and Qi You quickly dispersed. One of them floated to the corner with her long sleeves dragging, humming a little tune without even looking over here, while the other one poked at the short figure who was lying on the small wardrobe with her butt sticking up like a small branch that appeared from nowhere.
This caused the Toad Taoist to wave his webbed hands and open the twigs. He was so angry that his veins bulged and his eyes glowed red.
Lu Liangsheng looked at them, not knowing what to say. It was still early, so he casually picked up a book on the table, lay down on the bed and read it in the sunlight shining through the window to calm his mind.
As the hours passed, the sun outside the window gradually slanted and passed by the other side of the building. Outside the mountain gate, several palace guards rode horses and escorted a carriage to the Hibiscus Pond, and bowed to the soldiers on duty at the mountain gate.
"Please inform the Imperial Master that His Majesty is hosting a banquet in the palace and asked us to come and greet him."
At this time, Lu Liangsheng, who was flipping through a book in the attic, turned his head to look in the direction of the mountain gate outside the window, closed the book and put it on the table.
"Hong Lian, Qi You, I'm going to the palace for a while, you guys..."
Hong Lian, who was dancing with her long sleeves flying, quickly stopped dancing, floated in front of the scholar, and bowed.
"Just go, sir, and come back early..."
"Old demon, I want to go!"
Qiyou dropped the twig, jumped over, raised his hand and shouted excitedly. Honglian, who was about to say the next two words "... come back", changed the subject.
"Sir, I want to go too!"
Well…
Lu Liangsheng reached out and pressed Qi You's hand, and continued with the unfinished words: "You guys, wait in the room for me to come back!"
Then he opened the door and walked out. When the old donkey came up to him, he pushed him back with one hand. He met the soldier who came to deliver the message, then went straight down the mountain gate and walked into the parked carriage.
"drive!"
The guard driving the carriage cracked his whip, and drove the three horses in front, which were staring at the lake with some anxiety, slowly away from this side.
In the Wanshou Temple that gradually faded from sight, on the attic, Hong Lian and Qi You glared at each other and ran outside. In the empty house, the Toad Taoist opened his clothes, stood on the window frame, and looked at the scenery outside and the city wall in the distance bathed in the dusk with his flippers on his back.
A wisp of green smoke floated to the ground from the bookshelf behind him. Gongsun Liao walked over with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, and reached out to wipe away the flowery clothes spread out on the edge of the bed.
"Don't touch it!" Toad Taoist turned his face to the side and spoke in a majestic voice.
Gongsun Liao withdrew his hand in disappointment and simply sat down on a nearby round stool, put his hands on his knees, and looked at the short figure standing on the window frame.
"I finally understand why you don't want to leave. If it were me, I wouldn't want to leave either."
"Didn't I say this before?"
The evening breeze brings the sound from the window lattice, floating in the fading red of the sunset.