Ooooo~~Ooooooo~~
The western clouds were dyed with a gorgeous sunset glow. On the vast sea, flocks of seagulls were flying around the mast, overlooking the large ship sailing slowly to the east below.
The rising and falling roar lingered in the ears. In the cabin, the four scholars lying on the wooden couch woke up in a daze. Holding their aching heads, Wang Feng opened his eyes, looked up at the low dome, sat up suddenly, and looked around.
"Ma Liu, Zhang Ti, Zhao Tang, hurry up and get up, something happened!"
There were several wooden beds on both sides. The other three scholars woke up in a daze. When they heard their brother's voice, they slowly came back to consciousness and yawned.
"Brother, is dinner ready?"
"Take a closer look. Where is this place?" Wang Feng moved his mouth, motioning them to look carefully at the surrounding furnishings. The three people over there rubbed their eyes, and found something wrong. They woke up with a start and looked at each other in bewilderment.
"It looks like a cabin..." "Isn't it blown onto the ship by that strong wind?"
"Hey hey... Did you feel that the boat seems to be moving?"
The four of them turned over, put on their shoes, pushed each other back and forth, and rushed out of the cabin in a hurry. The gorgeous sunset glowed into their eyes. In front of them and even around them, there was the undulating sea surface. In the sky, flocks of white birds stood on the mast and screamed.
"This... This is such a sin!!"
The slightly plump Zhang Ti cried and stamped his feet in anger: "I finally got another job, and I've only been working for less than half a day, how come I'm already at sea?"
"Why are men crying? How can the four of us read the books of sages in vain? We cry at the slightest hardship. How disgraceful!"
"Look over there."
At this time, Ma Liu nudged his crying third brother with his elbow and raised his chin, indicating to look in a direction. The four of them looked and saw a scholar in a green robe holding a fishing rod, flipping through pages of a book, sitting on a small stool fishing, with several fresh and plump sea fish at his feet.
Seeing the scholar's profile, the four people here subconsciously shut their mouths, and even stopped crying and shouting like brakes. They all took a few steps back, retreated back to the cabin, gathered together, and talked in whispers.
"Did you see that person?" "Yes, it seems to be... Lu Liangsheng."
"What Lu Liangsheng? You should call him Imperial Master!"
"Brother, do you think it was the Imperial Master who saved us?"
"Should be...right? How about we go out and pay a visit to the Imperial Master? We are all in the same boat, so it must be fate."
"Yes, yes. Whether we can go back or not depends on the Imperial Master."
"... Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, I am a little scared..."
"What are you afraid of? Let's go! Together!"
After whispering to each other for a while, the four of them pushed each other and prepared to leave the cabin, when they heard Lu Liangsheng's voice coming from outside.
"Come out, everyone."
Outside, Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting on the side of the boat, closed his book, pulled the fishing rod, and a big white fish fell into his hand. He took out the hook, pinched his head, and then without moving, threw it on the pile of fish at his feet. He tilted his head to look at the cabin door, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Come out and cut it up. We'll have fish tonight."
Sea vessels are much larger than ordinary river vessels. Due to the heavy weight of the hull and the calm sea conditions, it is relatively stable for people to walk on it. It is not bumpy enough to make people seasick and nauseous.
The four of them came out with smiling faces, and saw the scholar walk to a tiny recliner over there, holding a large toad in clothes in his hand, and whispering:
"We were once scholars with honors, why do you want us to do kitchen work?"
A companion came close and whispered, "…Famous achievements were a matter for the Chen Dynasty."
"… "
"Forget it, forget it, let's not talk about it. If we don't do this, are we going to let the Imperial Master do it?"
The four of them looked at each other, and none of them said anything. They went over to pick up the dozen or so fish in their robes, returned to the cabin, found a knife, squatted on the ground, and began to cut up the fish one by one.
The sunset glow fell below the sea level, leaving only the last ray of light. Lu Liangsheng picked up a recliner and carried his master back to the cabin. Looking at the four people who were concentrating on cutting the fish over there, he took out a pen and ink, and walked to the deck again. He dipped the ink in the writing of the imperial edict on the surrounding railings, and fixed it with magic to prevent it from being soaked and dispersed by the sea water.
As night fell, Lu Liangsheng withdrew his water-controlling power and made the boat hover in place, then walked back to the cabin. At this time, the four scholars huddled together in a corner, watching the Toad Taoist stirring the pot with a wooden spoon while standing in front of a small stove with a few pieces of wood on the other side.
"You four, take eight fish, skewer them and roast them by the stove!"
The Toad Taoist recognized the four people. The four scholars over there also knew Toad. They had seen him when they were in Changyang Mountain in the northwest. But at that time they didn't know that the Toad Taoist was also a demon and could talk. Now when they saw the other party speak, they were also scared. They picked up the fish tremblingly, skewered them with chopsticks, held them in their hands, and moved over carefully.
She licked the flames from the stove, lighting up the toads over there, and took out a white apron from somewhere and tied it around her waist. She chopped up the remaining fish, picked them up and threw them into the pot, leaned over with her webbed feet to smell the pot, stretched out her webbed feet to take out a few pieces of ginger and green onion from the pocket of her apron, and then took out a block of salt, crushed it and threw it in, stirred it a few times, and said to the scholar who came in:
"Liangsheng, fish can't be cooked for too long, come and have a taste."
"Master's craftsmanship is really good."
"Of course. I have cooked everything in my life."
Lu Liangsheng went over and sat down, took the small bowl handed to him by his master, and took a sip. It not only retained the freshness of the fish, but also had no fishy smell. He then smiled at the four people over there and said, "You guys should try it too. Since we are on the same boat, don't be restrained."
"Oh, great." "Thank you, Imperial Master!"
"Thanks to that guy over there..."
Hmm? The Toad Taoist's face darkened. Among the four people, the scholar who thanked him quickly spat and said, "It's Immortal Toad! Thank you, Immortal Toad."
"Yeah." Toad's expression relaxed and he turned his head away.
An oil lamp was hung in the cabin. In the dim light, the four people picked up their bowls and chopsticks, clearly separated from the master and apprentice over there, and ate and drank carefully.
Amid the clattering sound of chopsticks hitting the bottom of the bowl, Zhao Tang, the shortest man, asked in a low voice, "National Master... can I ask a question?"
"Um?"
Taoist Toad turned his gaze towards them while holding the small bowl with the red rooster in his arms. There was a coldness in his eyes, which frightened Zhao Tang so much that he shrank his neck and retreated to the inner circle of the four people. Over there, Lu Liangsheng smiled, probably knowing what they were going to ask.
I also spoke frankly to clear up the confusion of these four people, so that they would not feel uncomfortable and start to act strangely.
"I have some things to do. As for when I will be back, I may have to stay at sea for a few more days."
"oh."
The four of them hurriedly lowered their heads, picking up fish and rice and digging into them in big mouthfuls. When the Imperial Master finished eating, they scrambled to wash the dishes and pots. There was no one else around anyway, and the saying "a gentleman stays away from the kitchen" had long been thrown aside. If they established a good relationship with the Imperial Master now, they might be able to return to Chang'an in the future, become high-ranking officials, and enter the court. That would be the pinnacle of life.
It was already late. After finishing his meal, Lu Liangsheng fixed the bow of the ship in the east position and returned to the cabin. However, the beds had already been made for four people.
"You..." Lu Liangsheng didn't know what to say, so he could only remind him: "Don't sleep too deeply when you go to bed."
The four of them nodded and then left the cabin. The scholar lit an oil lamp, put down the slightly shaking small table, leaned against the head of the bed, and flipped through the book. The words he just said were not meant to scare the four of them. After all, once they left Kyushu and floated to the sea, there was no telling when the gods in the sky would send down their Dharma images to stop them.
Moreover, ordinary spells would have no effect in dealing with it. This was demonstrated today when the Qianyang Palm hit the image of the Dragon King at the dock.
"Master, you should go to bed early too."
In the light of the lamp, Lu Liangsheng looked at the Toad Taoist who was sitting on the table with his webbed feet. The latter bulged his eyes and shook his head.
"I won't sleep for now, Master... I'm just feeling seasick... I want to vomit..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly jumped off the table, spread his flippers and ran out.
…
The sea was as dark as ink. Amid the surging waves, a fish slid across the water, followed by one, two, four... ten... a hundred fish, rushing towards the lighted sea from all directions.
On the deck, Taoist Toad was holding onto the railing and vomiting. In the cabin, Lu Liangsheng, who was reading a book by light, suddenly frowned. He faintly heard the sound of water that was different from the waves and squinted his eyes.
"Huh, he really came."
On the other side of the cabin, four scholars lay on their wooden beds, tossing and turning in their blankets, unable to fall asleep.
"Brother, what do you think the Imperial Master meant by his last words? There won't be any monsters, will there?"
"Humph, monster? We are scholars, why should we be afraid?"
"Don't talk. Listen, it seems like someone is talking... and it's a woman."
Someone sat up and listened for a while, then took the wooden pillow and threw it at Ma Liu who had just spoken: "What kind of woman's words are these? I'm afraid you've gone crazy thinking about women!"
Boom!
At this moment, a strange sound suddenly came from the wall of the ship behind the four people, like someone's hand slapping on it.