Going north along the coast, passing Jiyu Mountain, Jiangdu, Langya, and entering Penglai County, Lu Liangsheng did not plan to enter Penglai County this time. He glanced at the outline of the city from afar and turned to the sea in the east. The mermaid seemed to know that it was time to go home. It excitedly swung its tail on the donkey's back and chattered all the way in words that Hong Lian and Toad Taoist could not understand.
“Chichi…Chichichi…”
When they reached the coast, the mermaid sitting on the donkey's back could no longer sit still, so it flipped down, crawled on the ground, and rubbed its way towards the sand. When it was almost in shallow water, it bounced its fish body, jumped up and dived into the sea, popped its head out, and swam around excitedly. From time to time, people on the shore waved their hands covered with film.
The sea breeze blew with a faint fishy smell. The Toad Taoist climbed onto the donkey's back and walked to the old donkey's head, hugging his flippers. Lu Liangsheng on the side left a trail of footprints and went over there. The pushed sea water separated into two sides along his steps without getting them wet at all.
"You should go. You should be able to find your home and relatives over there."
Lu Liangsheng squatted down, touched the little mermaid who stretched out her head, and pointed to the direction farther out to the sea: "Just go over there. Thank you for your company these days."
"Alas, I am about to leave. I am actually a little reluctant to let you go." The Toad Taoist sighed slightly. After living in the human world for more than ten years, he had long lost his original ferocity. Now he seemed like a sentimental old man.
Hong Lian on the side hummed several times and nodded in agreement, then raised her hand to wave goodbye to the mermaid. The mermaid swam a few feet away, turned back reluctantly, and looked at Lu Liangsheng who was standing not far away, and the woman who was waving. The Toad Taoist made a wave, turned around and swam back, jumped out of the water and threw himself into Lu Liangsheng's arms.
"Ji..."
He rubbed his head against the warm chest twice, then loosened his arms, fell back into the sea, and swam away quickly. Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, smiled, turned around, took the reins, called Hong Lian who was still waving, and the master to leave, walked up the gentle slope, and looked back. In the distance, on the sea, the mermaid was sitting on a reef, and seemed to be holding something in her hand, waving at them.
Lu Liangsheng reached out and wiped his waist. The jade he was wearing disappeared. On the red rope, there was a light green fish scale instead, hanging there together with the scabbard of the Xuanyuan sword next to it, swaying slightly.
"hehe… "
Lu Liangsheng chuckled twice, then took the fish scales and spread them on his palm. They were light green and cold, and felt like jade. "Although I don't know your name, I have exchanged jade pendants with you, so I will give you another name, Haiyu. If we are destined to meet again in the future, we will meet again. Farewell!"
He said this with a smile, then held the fish scale tightly and bowed to the mermaid on the distant reef. The other party seemed to have heard Lu Liangsheng's words, and responded with a long "Chi!" from afar, turned around and jumped into the sea, rolling up waves and disappeared.
"Master, Hong Lian, let's go too."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the calm sea, retracted his gaze, asked the Toad Taoist to sit down, and Hong Lian went back to the bookshelf, pulling the old donkey with the jingling sound of the bell, and headed west.
Walking along the official road, there were more and more merchants and travelers coming and going in Qingzhou. When they saw an old man in a grey robe and white hair and beard pulling an old donkey, they couldn't help but take a curious look at him. Some kind-hearted people came over to inquire and asked Lu Liangsheng if he had encountered any trouble and why he was alone, but Lu Liangsheng evaded them and just said that he came out to relax.
At this time of year, mid-April, the fields outside the city were all green. Turning from the official road and taking a small path, Hong Lian was singing an opera in a scroll in the swaying bookshelf. Toad, who was sitting by the small door, hummed a few passages with his pipe, blew out a puff of smoke, and thought about his business.
He stopped humming and asked, "By the way, what's for dinner?"
Lu Liangsheng was no longer surprised by his master's words. With his current state of mind, everything he saw was a painting. In fact, any picture he could think of in his mind could become a painting by itself. Along the way, Toad didn't even need to cook rice. He just ate it directly from the paintings. It not only tasted good, but also filled his stomach, which was no different from his usual meals.
"Whatever Master wants to eat, as long as I can remember it."
Under a tree in the woods, an old donkey was put aside to eat grass. Lu Liangsheng took out a blank scroll. As his mind flashed with the delicacies he had eaten, images of roasted lamb legs, salt-roasted fat goose, pickled egg porridge appeared on it... He brought out the scrolls one by one from the square table inside and placed them in front of Toad Taoist. The colors of the dishes appeared and bursts of fragrance wafted in the air.
Lu Liangsheng took a bite and stopped eating. He shook his head, took the book and flipped through it. It was not drawn by himself, so it had no soul.
The Toad Taoist next to him was not so particular. He grew a little bigger, picked up the fat goose, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it. His cheeks bulged and contracted, and he leaned his head over to glance at the atlas in his disciple's hand.
"Aren't we going back to Chang'an directly?"
"Going west from Qingzhou, you will directly reach Xindu and Zhaojun. It's a good opportunity to go there to see how the Qihe Canal is being repaired, and go to Taiyuan on the way. Yuanfeng should still be serving under Li Yuan."
After talking for a while, he saw that the master had almost finished eating, so he collected the scroll and put it on the bookshelf. He called out to the old donkey, and continued on his way. He followed the rope to climb up the toad at the small door, then lay down on the small bed, rubbing his belly, and dangling one leg comfortably.
"Since it's over, why delay? With your current level of cultivation, you can use the Shrinking the Earth into an Inch, but things are different now. In my time, it would only take a blink of an eye. You should know how powerful I was back then. The elites from several major sects came out to surround me. It was a sea of people, and the magic weapons blocked out the sun..."
Hong Lian's chuckle could be heard from the easel. "Master Toad is bragging again. In fact, he is being condemned by everyone."
"You little ghost girl, can you speak?!"
"But I wasn't wrong."
…
Listening to the two people arguing, Lu Liangsheng cleaned his ears, too lazy to pay attention. He walked out of the forest path. As far as the eye could see, there was lush green and flat ground, with occasional rolling hills with smoke rising from cooking fires. In the fields, farmers were carrying kettles and hoes and walking up the ridges with familiar villagers to go home.
On the way, Lu Liangsheng stopped a farmer who was returning home and asked about the directions to Xindu and Taiyuan. He found out that the distance was only a hundred miles. He rode his old donkey over the mountains and came to the Qi River. The river in front of his eyes was several feet wider than before. Hundreds of men in short jackets or with bare chests were shouting slogans, swinging their hoes continuously, smashing down pieces of soil and stones for the porters to load away.
Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey and walked along the river bank for a while. Then he sat on a large bluestone, looking at the construction work in full swing that stretched for miles, feeling emotional.
"Your Majesty, you are truly courageous."
The sun was setting in the west, and the workers gradually stopped their work, wiped their rough hands, and ran to the supervisors in groups of three or five to collect today's wages. Lu Liangsheng roughly calculated that there were tens of thousands of people working in just one section of the Qihe Canal, and the daily wages were probably an astronomical figure. He was vaguely worried whether the court could afford it.
"Old man, you have been here for a long time, but are you waiting for someone?"
The supervisor who had just paid the last batch of wages came over with his soldiers. He had noticed the old man in gray sitting here for a long time and thought he was just here to watch the canal repair, but he hadn't left yet as it was getting dark, so he came over to ask.
"It's getting late, old man, you'd better go back quickly. It's hard to walk in the dark. If you accidentally fall into the river, you will die."
Lu Liangsheng nodded and did not make things difficult for the supervisor. He cupped his hands in thanks. Just looking at this section of the Qihe Canal, he already had a general idea of the construction plan and there was nothing much to see.
"Thank you for your reminder, sir. I will leave now."
He led the old donkey over, and while the night was falling and he gradually disappeared from the sight of the people behind him, he took the old donkey across the wide Qi River and to the other side, heading straight to Taiyuan County.
There was nothing else to do on the way, and Lu Liangsheng hurried on his way through the thick city walls. He walked into the city. Lanterns were hung high on the streets, illuminating the streets. It was a bustling night. Lu Liangsheng looked at the various toys sold on the stalls on both sides, took a mask, put it on his face, and waved it towards the bookshelf behind him, which attracted a burst of pleasant laughter from women inside.
"Sir, there is no need to cover it up like this. I think you are still very handsome even though you are old."
As they were talking, there was a commotion on the street. The passers-by were in confusion. A few men in green robes looked around in panic, squeezed through the crowd and ran to the front.
"I wonder where the young master has gone again."
“… Stop talking, and find it quickly.”
The sound quickly disappeared at the end of the street along with the few people.