"Taiyuan tofu pudding~~with onions and salt. If you haven't eaten at night, come and try it. It will fill your stomach. If you have eaten, take it as a midnight snack!"
“The fried meat…is golden in color, soft on the outside and tender on the inside!”
"Aged vinegar, aged vinegar from an old store in Taiyuan~~"
As the night deepened, the long street became noisy and bustling. Pedestrians and ordinary people were shouting in an endless stream. The guys soliciting customers shouted at the top of their lungs. The sizzling sound of the meat being fried in the pot at the street stalls could be heard. Lu Liangsheng passed by here. In the distance, shouts and curses were heard from the brothel. After a burst of banging and smashing sounds, someone was thrown into the street. Under the pointing and gesturing of people, he grabbed the wine and meat on the ground and stuffed them into his mouth, then limped away regardless of the pain in his body.
"It seems that there are people who eat and dine for free everywhere."
Lu Liangsheng watched the man walk away, smiled and pulled the old donkey to continue moving forward. Along the way, he asked about the location of the Qu family's house. Qu Yuanfeng is now a general in the Yingyang Mansion of Taiyuan Wei Mansion. The people in the city don't know his name, but the Yingyang Mansion should know it. Following the location he found out, he came to the north of the city. The streets here are sparsely populated, and there are mostly high-walled courtyards on both sides of the long street. The houses are basically the same. It should be where the civil and military officials of the Wei Mansion live. The surnames are written on the plaques above the gates, so it should be easy to find according to the name.
However, Lu Liangsheng directly searched the area within several miles following Qu Yuanfeng's breath, but he did not sense his disciple.
"Isn't it in the city?"
After walking past several houses, he saw a house with the words "Qu Mansion" written on it. He went forward and knocked on the door. It creaked softly, and a gatekeeper carefully opened the door and looked at Lu Liangsheng outside warily. He was wearing gray clothes, had silver hair and beard, and had an old and peaceful face. He couldn't help but have some good impression of him, and then he glanced at the old donkey outside, swinging its tail at the foot of the stone steps.
Then he asked, "Brother, who are you looking for?"
Lu Liangsheng knew his current appearance and smiled, "Looking for your General Qu, if he is here, please inform him that an old friend has come to Qixia Mountain."
"Looking for my master?" The doorman looked at the old man outside for a few more times and shook his head: "Brother, my master hasn't come back tonight. At this hour, he must be staying in the army and won't come back. You should wait until tomorrow to try your luck."
The gatekeeper was cautious, and since the owner was not at home, he didn't dare let anyone in. After saying a few more words, he closed the door. Lu Liangsheng frowned and walked back to the stone steps. He turned around and looked at the closed gate and smiled. He didn't expect that there would be times when he would be turned away.
"Liangsheng, since Yuanfeng is not here, let's go find an inn to stay for a night." Inside the bookshelf, Toad Taoist yawned and spoke.
"It's not possible to stay in the inn."
Lu Liangsheng patted his sleeve pockets casually. There was not a penny in them. The last money he had was used up when he was still in Nanzhong a few years ago. There was not a penny left at home. His parents and sister took all the money to Chang'an when they left. Along the way, most of the meals were taken from paintings, so naturally he had no use for money.
"In the old city of Taiyuan, there is always room for people to live."
Since he had no money, Lu Liangsheng didn't worry too much. He pulled the old donkey and strolled along the streets, just to enjoy the night view of Li Yuan's rule.
"Sir, don't you know Li Yuan? Why don't you stay at his place for a night?" Hong Lian floated out of the scroll, stepped on the ground with her embroidered shoes, and followed briskly.
Lu Liangsheng thought about it and decided to forget it. After all, although they had some interactions, it was not to the point where he needed to stay overnight. Besides, it was getting late, so he decided not to disturb others.
However, he spoke in a joking tone, teasing the woman next to him.
"Who else would recognize me in this state except my own disciples? I might be chased away as soon as I knock on the door."
"Who dares?! I'll take care of him!" Hong Lian glared with a frown, and raised her fist at the right moment to show her ferocity, but she couldn't hold it back anymore and smiled with pursed lips.
The streets were quiet, with the sound of silver bells' laughter echoing in the air. I didn't know where I was in the city. There were few pedestrians, and there were mostly dilapidated houses around. Occasionally, there was a light on in a house, and in the light, I could vaguely see dark temples in the distance.
"You said we were going to make a bed in the wild tonight, but now I'm sleepy and here comes the pillow." Lu Liangsheng pulled the old donkey over and saw clearly that it was a land temple with broken tiles and dilapidated eaves. A stone tablet was stuck crookedly on the ground. The cracks in the stone steps of the temple door were overgrown with weeds. The window frames were torn and the spider webs hanging on them swayed slightly in the wind.
Fortunately, the temple gate was still intact. Lu Liangsheng pushed the door open and went in. A clay statue of the land god stood on the altar, and underneath was a small tripod of the priest with some paper ashes inside. It seemed that this place was not abandoned.
"Taiyuan is an important city in the north, and the city is also prosperous. How come a land temple is so dilapidated?"
Lu Liangsheng picked up the cushion, dusted it off, threw it aside and sat down. After a while, the clay sculpture on the altar flashed with divine light, and a short figure walked out with a cane. Seeing the old man with white hair and beard sitting there, he felt the dynasty's decree and an indescribable aura from the other person, his face changed and he immediately clasped his hands.
"I am just a small piece of land, but I am honored to meet the national master."
"No need to be polite, God of Land." Lu Liangsheng didn't expect that his casual remark would attract the God of Land to come out. He stood up and bowed to him. "Just now, my master was just sighing casually. There is no need to bother to come out and meet him."
The hunched over God of Land let out a breath and nodded with an apologetic smile.
"So that's how it is. I thought the Imperial Master had summoned me for something."
Having said that, the land god explained Lu Liangsheng's sigh just now, "This is an old temple. The officials in the city built a new one somewhere else and moved my shrine there."
It turned out that there was a new temple and they no longer lived here. Lu Liangsheng had nothing to ask. After all, summoning the land god was an unintentional act. After saying a few more words, he sent the land god away. He found a candle from the bookshelf, lit it, and put it on the altar. He let the old donkey crawl and roll around in the temple again, took the bookshelf and put it aside, and started flipping through the books by the firelight.
The street outside the temple became quiet, and the gray clouds revealed a crescent moon. The cold moonlight shone on the dilapidated street outside. There were the sounds of footsteps running in the wind, as if they had seen the light here and were running towards the land temple.
Hearing the noise, Lu Liangsheng looked up, and the temple door was pushed open with a creaky sound. A skinny child came in, turned around and slammed the door, then jumped onto the temple pillar like a monkey, grabbed the hanging red cloth, and without caring about the dust on it, he started to stretch it out. As soon as he loosened his hands, he jumped directly onto the altar and stood firmly.
The candlelight flickered, and Lu Liangsheng could see clearly the child standing on the table not far away. The child had a thin face and a frail body, but he was wearing a brocade satin robe. However, the hem of the robe had a tear on his shoes, and even the socks inside were torn, revealing a few toes sticking out.
The sickly-looking child seemed to notice that the old man holding the book was looking at him, so he squatted down and raised his chin.
"Old man, what are you looking at?"
"I'm looking after a kid who didn't come home overnight."
Lu Liangsheng looked at him with great interest. Although he looked very thin, he had extraordinary vitality, which was rare to see. "Why did you come to this dilapidated temple so late at night?"
"Why are you here?" The child didn't seem to be afraid of strangers. He sat on the table and kicked his legs: "This is my place, of course I can come whenever I want..."
While speaking, Lu Liangsheng suddenly turned his head to look at the open temple door and vaguely heard shouting and footsteps spreading.
"This way, the young master must be here again."
“Hurry up!”
"When you talk later, try not to speak too loudly."
Lu Liangsheng retracted his gaze and said with a smile: "Looking for you?"
The child sitting at the altar also heard it, snorted, jumped off the table and ran to close the temple door, then turned around and picked up the half-body of the Goddess of Land that was leaning against the wall. The statue was a solid carving, and even if it was not cut, it would weigh hundreds of pounds. The child was forced to hold it and put it in front of the temple door.
"What a great strength." This was the first time Lu Liangsheng had seen someone so young with such strength. He couldn't help but praise him, "How did you do it?"
The child over there raised his chin proudly and brushed the dust off his hands.
"I was born with supernatural powers."
At this time, the people outside had already run over here, and someone shouted, "Young Master, we see you."
"Come back with us."
"Master, and the lady will get angry if you wait too long."
"Ouch, the door is blocked!"
"Hurry up, climb in through the window."
There were shadows of people outside the window, and several of them were running along the window frame, as if they were trying to climb in. The child was a little annoyed and clenched his fists.
"I finally managed to sneak out to play for a while, but everyone just wanted me to go back!"
Suddenly, he turned his head to look at the white-bearded old man on the altar, laughed, kicked his feet, jumped over, and squatted next to Lu Liangsheng.
"Old man, when they come in later, can you just say you haven't seen me?"
After saying that, he jumped onto the altar, climbed towards the statue of the land god, and leaped onto the canopy hanging above. The next second, several people climbed in through the windows on both sides of the temple, looked around, and uttered a light exclamation.
“… That’s strange. Why is there only one candle? Where are the people?”
"Look everywhere."
"I've looked for it, but it's not there."
"Could it be that the young master is also playing the game of cunning rabbits with three burrows?" "Maybe he deliberately led us here, but actually ran away secretly from the back."
"Who lights the candles here?"
"It must be the young master who led us here. Only the young master could have done that with such a heavy statue blocking the door."
“… Then quickly chase after him from behind!”
The few people who came in checked all around, even looked at the canopy, but didn't see any human figure. They hurriedly left the land temple and went around to the back to chase after him.
Bang!
The figure of a child jumped down from the canopy above, exhaled, and looked at the old man in front of him curiously, "Old man, they clearly saw me just now, how come they didn't see anything? They didn't see you sitting here for no reason either."
"I was born with the ability to cast spells."
Lu Liangsheng repeated what the kid had just said, but when the other party heard the word "magic", his eyes lit up, and he squatted on the ground anxiously, stretched out his hand to grab his sleeve and shook it hard.
"Old... Old sir, can you teach me some magic? My name is Li Xuanba! I'm very good at fighting!"
“No!”
Lu Liangsheng smiled and gently moved his arm, pulling the wide sleeves out of his hand without leaving a trace, then picked up the book and continued reading. The anxious child stood up, scratching his head and walking around.