"National Master, what's wrong?"
The tall palm trees beside the road were swaying their leaves in the wind. The four people guarding the old donkey could not hear the ethereal voice just now. They just saw the national teacher suddenly walk to the other side of the road, and they could not help but follow him and called out.
"Wait here, I'll be back soon."
Lu Liangsheng raised his hand to tell the four people to stop talking and walk around freely. He lifted his master onto his shoulders and walked towards the weeds on the side of the road. The Toad Taoist fastened his clothes, turned his head solemnly, and pointed his webbed fingers forward.
"Liangsheng, it's in there."
The scholar pushed aside the grass leaves that were caressed by the wind, and saw a small temple as high as a man's thigh. It was mottled and cracked, and covered with vines and moss. A few broken pottery jars were tilted here and there and filled with mud and dust. Amid the rustling footsteps, a few insects crawled out of the jars in panic and quickly hid in the grass.
"Issus?"
Looking at a small statue of a person whose outline was unclear, Lu Liangsheng called out the name he had just heard in the local language. There was no response for a long time. The Toad Taoist leaned against Liangsheng's ear, opened one eye, glanced at him, and snorted.
"There's no power left here."
Lu Liangsheng squatted down, took the small statue from inside, blew it, and the accumulated dust filled the air. He felt that there was indeed no magical power on it, and doubts began to arise. Could it be that it was really like his master said, that it had no magical power
It is true that he was curious about this god, but returning to Sui State was the most important thing. He patted the statue, picked it up in his hand, stood up and walked out of the bushes, and put it on the bookshelf. Perhaps when the other party accumulated some divine power, he would be able to talk to him again through the statue.
Over there, four scholars watched as Lu Liangsheng brought back a pitch-black stone sculpture and put it on the bookshelf.
"Master, is this thing evil or not?"
"This statue is a deity from this area... Since it's a deity, it shouldn't be evil, and it's also a goddess." Lu Liangsheng closed the small door of the upper compartment of the bookshelf and said jokingly with a smile.
When the four heard about the goddess, they thought of something bad, and they all shuddered, waving their wide sleeves and walked forward, muttering in a low voice: "The goddess is picked up casually... I think she is not a serious goddess, she is not as good as a female fairy."
Lu Liangsheng could hear the four people's mutterings. He took the reins handed to him by the old donkey with a smile and kept up. The four of them didn't know the reason, so it was reasonable for them to say this. As for why this goddess named Isis was so weak, it was unknown. However, most of the temples they saw along the way were in ruins, with clay jars covered with dust. It seemed that no one worshipped there anymore, and they died out due to the loss of incense.
However, Lu Liangsheng was not quite clear as to why this situation had occurred.
They caught up with the four people who were walking silently in front of them and used the technique of shrinking the earth into an inch again. Gradually, the road under their feet became wider and smoother. More and more merchants, Egyptians driving sheep and mule carts passed by. When they saw the five people and one donkey here, they could not help but look over with curiosity. The brave child, dressed in dirty clothes, ran up to them and looked at them curiously.
The sun was shining brightly, illuminating the not-so-high city wall in front. The mud bricks on it were bumpy, and insects flew around from time to time. There were no soldiers guarding the city gate, and there was not even a city gate. Pedestrians and merchants were allowed to come and go. Many people stopped to look at the five people in strange and gorgeous clothes. Among them, four scholars carrying bags looked around.
"What kind of a city is this Labusa?" "I thought it was a big city, but it's not even as big as River Valley County."
"Wrong, not even half as good."
Entering the city, just as the four scholars had described, the streets were covered with dust, with footprints of people and animals everywhere, and occasionally the sound of harp could be heard as the group walked along the first long street into the city.
The roadside was messy, with pottery jars piled up against the low walls. There were also vendors like those in the Central Plains, selling woolen blankets. People armed with swords walked through the street with their heads wrapped, only their eyes showing a ferocious look. They fiddled with the blade with their thumbs as they looked at Lu Liangsheng and the others.
Passing by a place that looked like an inn, they smelled the aroma of barbecue. Toad Taoist sniffed hard through the small door. His webbed head trembled and straightened, and he uttered a Dharma sound that only his disciples could hear.
"Liangsheng, you see we have arrived in this city. There is nothing interesting to see in the barbarian land. If you want to ask for directions, there is no need to rush. Should we eat first and find a place to stay?"
Looking at the mud-brick bungalow where guests came in and out from time to time, Lu Liangsheng also smelled the aroma of wine and meat. He had not had a good sleep in more than a month. He reached out and touched his sleeve pocket subconsciously. There was a rustling sound and his face froze.
Toad, who hadn't received a reply for a long while, pushed open the small door anxiously, climbed onto the bookshelf, and while untying the rope, he asked, "Liangsheng, what are you still hesitating about..."
Suddenly remembering a few years ago, when he and his apprentice took the wrong road to a county town, he had this look on his face. Toad's face darkened: "Did he forget to bring money again?"
"That's not the case."
Lu Liangsheng shook his head, took out a few copper coins and waved them in front of his master and the four people over there, "These are copper coins from the Great Sui Dynasty... They are not allowed to be used here. Master, here are some cakes, you can fill your stomach first, I will think of a way."
Seeing half a rice cake, Toad Taoist snorted, turned his face away, and crawled back to the bookshelf.
"I will not eat first this time. I will wait for you with an empty stomach, so that I won't be full of bread and you will prepare a table of dishes. I will not be fooled."
"Well, Master, just wait."
In exchange for some usable money, it's not like he would have to exchange that thing with someone else, right? Lu Liangsheng looked at the bookshelf. All the things were in it, and the books were definitely not an option. Then, his eyes fell on the scrolls inserted in the shelf, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
He led the old donkey to a nearby corner, took out the paintings that he had rarely used before, unfolded them and hung them on a nearby tree. The few of them were already eye-catching, and now seeing the ink paintings that were different from the style of this country, they could no longer resist their curiosity and gathered around.
The painting was just an impressionistic depiction of the rising sun over the sea, a type of painting that was extremely rare here, and immediately someone came up to ask Lu Liangsheng if he wanted to sell it.
"Dear sir, your paintings are the most exquisite I have ever seen in my life. Could you please sell them to me?"
"Then how much are you willing to pay?" Lu Liangsheng smiled and bowed to him.
The man opposite, who was covering his face, carefully examined the painting hanging on the tree. On the one hand, he was a little surprised to hear the scholar's words, and on the other hand, he was not sure whether the painting was valuable, so he only asked out of curiosity.
After a moment, he stretched out five fingers and shook them, and five silver coins with human portraits printed on them fell out of his purse.
"This is five solids. It can buy a lot of things."
Lu Liangsheng was not familiar with the prices here, but it would not hurt to familiarize himself with it first. He reached out to take the five silver coins from the man, unrolled the painting and handed it to the other party, called the four scholars over there, asked about where he could stay, and went straight over.
The hotel here is not much different from the inns in the Central Plains. It has all the necessary waiters and shopkeepers, but the titles are very different. After some talking and gestures, I asked for two rooms to stay in.
"Well, I take back what I said about the Zhongyuan Inn."
As soon as he entered the room, he saw the blanket on the floor. There was not even a basin stand for washing, let alone a screen for changing clothes. He asked where to wash. The young man in the shop took Lu Liangsheng to a large bathhouse. Not only was the water turbid, but there were also several naked men bathing in it...
Lu Liangsheng left the bathhouse speechlessly and returned to the room, just when a young man carrying food came over and placed a basket of bread of various sizes and a few cans of wine on the floor.
After everyone left, Toad Taoist came out from the bookshelf, looked at the food on the ground, twitched his mouth, turned back to the bookshelf, picked up half a rice cake angrily and bit it, his cheeks puffed up and down, and he bit the cake in his mouth hard.
"I've been hungry for so long, I might as well eat some bread!"
"Master, maybe this exotic steamed bun is quite good. Would you like to try one?"
“No!”
Lu Liangsheng felt a little helpless, he didn't know the dishes, so he ordered some at random, but he didn't expect that they were all like this.
Soon, the door creaked open again, and the young man in the shop walked in again, holding a basket with two roasted lamb legs on it, with a small knife for cutting meat stuck in it. He gently put them on the ground, bowed to Lu Liangsheng, indicating that it was time to eat, and then left.
"this… "
The Toad Taoist looked at the steaming leg of lamb, then lowered his head to look at the remaining crumbs on his flipper. His shoulder twitched and he burped.
Then... he angrily threw the biscuit crumbs on the ground and chopped them hard with his flippers.
"I'm so pissed off that you can't just finish it together, quack!"