The autumn wind blew gently, shaking the bare branches and scaring away the crow.
When the phrase "We failed to capture a city, and many soldiers of the Sui army died" was heard from a roadside teahouse not far away, there was an uproar.
Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting at one of the tables, frowned slightly, shook his head slightly at the Taoist who wanted to speak, and took a sip from the tea bowl. The attire of a scholar and a Taoist priest was not uncommon in the eyes of people who traveled far and wide, and the conversation while drinking tea and taking a break continued noisily.
The vendor who started the conversation put down his tea bowl and waved it with his big hand.
"Oh, you don't believe it, and neither do I, but that Western Region Hu merchant really said so. The route he often took was through Tuyuhun. Now there is a war over there, and the road is blocked. He turned back to Chang'an halfway and sold all the goods in his hands to me at a discount, and then took them to other states to sell."
It was not known whether this was true or not, but from the tone it did not sound like a lie, and immediately the vendors and bandits who were passing by frowned, and some of them were so angry that they slammed the table.
"I heard that the first few rounds were great, how come it turned out like this later? It was such a waste of time!"
The merchants and travelers who traveled to and fro in this teahouse were not well-educated, but they were knowledgeable. They pulled the wanderer who was banging the table and said, "Brother, don't be so angry. Victory and defeat are common. It's impossible to win battles all the time. Tuyuhun has been operating in the northwest for hundreds of years. How can it be easily defeated? Calm down. I'll have a drink with you."
"This is tea, what's so good about it! I won't drink it. It makes me angry just by listening to it."
The Jianghu guest paid for the tea, slapped it on the table, grabbed his weapon and strode away angrily. Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting at the table at the door, watched the man go out, mount his horse and ride away, frowning and not relaxing his brows. He gently shook the teapot and ripples appeared.
"Yang Guang personally leading the army will boost the morale of the soldiers at the front, and there will be no shortage of food, fodder and weapons. Even if the veterans left by the late Emperor Yang Jian are not used, the elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty will not be unable to capture even a city?"
After resting for a while and finishing the rice cake in his hand and paying the meal, he left the teahouse with the Taoist priest. When passing by Mount Li, he raised his sleeves and bowed towards the mountain, and asked the golden hair lying quietly in his sleeve pocket with a voice containing magical powers.
"Great Sage, do you want to go meet your sister?"
After a while, there was a faint response from the monkey, just two simple words: "No."
Lu Liangsheng patted his sleeves to get rid of this bad temper. He waited for the Taoist to catch up, and hurried into the city before the sun set.
It was not yet dark, but lanterns had been hung up in the shops along the street. The vendors at the stalls shouted loudly, inviting passers-by to come and taste their food. A man who had some free time held his daughter on his shoulders and reached out to hook the red lanterns, making the child laugh. Passing by the stalls, smelling the aroma, he found a seat and sat down, asking the vendor to bring a bowl to his daughter first. He licked his lips beside her and watched her eat.
These scenes were no different from the past. Perhaps the news of the unfavorable war on the front line had not spread, or the vendor was just bragging and lying. Lu Liangsheng took out a few copper coins and put them on the vendor's stove. He gestured to the other party, served a bowl to the big man who was watching his daughter, and then turned to another place.
After strolling for a while and viewing the dazzling array of calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, and silks on the street, I finally returned to Furong Pond in comfort.
Soon, two men and a donkey carrying the bookshelf arrived at the mountain gate. The soldiers on duty hurriedly came forward and saluted them with their fists.
"Reporting to the Imperial Master, Yuwen Taishi came to Wanshou Temple yesterday, but when he saw that the Imperial Master had not returned yet, he left."
The Taoist followed and moved closer, stroking the tip of his beard and rolling his eyes, "Your disciple came here, maybe just to tell you about the war in the northwest."
Lu Liangsheng nodded. He probably had the same guess in his mind. He walked up the straight stone steps. He heard bursts of childish voices of "Hu! Ha!" In the last rays of sunset light, little figures with bare chests squatted in horse stance, imitating the movements of Lu Qing in front of them. Their little faces were red and covered with sweat, and they waved their arms and punched out one by one.
"Quite hardworking." The Taoist nudged the scholar with his arm across his chest. Lu Liangsheng smiled, untied the old donkey's reins, picked up the bookshelf, and let it go to the woods to play by itself.
“Old demon!!”
After putting down the bookshelf, Lu Liangsheng hadn't said anything yet, when a fragrant breeze blew into his nose, and the woman in a black dress threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around the scholar, not caring about the Taoist priest beside her, and pressed her high bun against his warm chest, rubbing against it intimately.
"Stop it! Put your foot down!"
A gust of cold wind suddenly blew in the square, and a group of children who were boxing over there hugged their arms and trembled. Hong Lian floated out from the bookshelf and forcibly pulled Qi You, who was hanging on the scholar, back to the ground. Their eyes met, and the air between them crackled a few times, forming electric arcs.
"Don't make trouble!"
Lu Liangsheng reached out and hit the old donkey, and the electric arcs between the two women dissipated. They ran into the woods with their tongues wagging and panting.
The scholar sniffed his nose and said, "What a nice smell! Qiyou, did you go to the street to buy rouge and powder?"
Over there, Qi You wrinkled his nose at Hong Lian and snorted, then raised his gauze-covered arm and handed it to the scholar, "Old demon, smell it, isn't it fragrant? I picked it myself, and I smelled it for a long time before choosing this."
The Taoist came closer, and Qi You quickly hid his hand to prevent him from smelling it. Old Sun raised his eyebrows and rubbed the mustache on his lips, "It's definitely not something you chose."
Seeing Lu Liangsheng's puzzled look, Qi You twisted her toes on the ground with her hands behind her back, pouted her lips, and spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "It's... it's... that big black pig... He said he knows this best."
Everyone stood in front of the attic and laughed for a while. At the main hall door, Zhu Ganglie came out wearing an apron and holding a long spoon. He knocked on the door plaque a few times and shouted at the top of his voice: "Dinner is ready!"
In the square, a group of children who had stopped to rest ran over cheering.
Here, the bookshelf on the ground shook, the small door was kicked open, and the Toad Taoist, wearing a bow tied with a bandage on his head, held a small red rooster bowl in his webbed hands, rushed out excitedly with his tongue wagging, and ran to the hall door. Then, a crackling sound of children's footsteps swept over...
Hong Lian, Qi You, a ghost and a demon glared at each other and walked to the hall door together. They pushed and shoved each other, neither of them giving way to the other, and banged the door frame down. The children standing by the door were so scared that they screamed and ran to find Lu Pan.
In the hall, Zhu Er Niang's four legs were crawling quickly. The upper one scooped up the food with two hands, and the other two pairs of long legs hooked the edge of the bowl and handed it to the trembling child beside her. She scooped some more when the black pig at the door wasn't paying attention.
Zhu Ganglie lowered his head and looked at the Taoist priest who was not even as tall as his belly. He glanced around with his expressionless round face, quietly took out a yellowed book from his arms and stuffed it into the Taoist priest's hand. The latter nodded solemnly, and their two fists, one big and one small, touched each other in tacit understanding.
Lu Liangsheng picked up his master who was lying on the ground with his tongue hanging out, and looked at the excitement in the attic.
"Although it's not as good as home, it's still quite comfortable, right, Master?"
The Toad Taoist, paralyzed in his disciple's palm, drooped his eyelids, looked at the figures coming and going in the room, then closed his eyes weakly again.
That woman's...quack.