“Get out of the way!”
"No, explain to me what's going on with that door!"
The lights illuminated the study. Two figures were pulling and swaying on the wall. Their bodies bumped into the bookshelf and the bamboo slips fell to the ground. The man broke free and ran away. The woman grabbed the teacup and threw it over the heads of the two stunned brothers. The old steward outside poked his head inside and took a look. The teacup flew and hit the door with a bang, breaking water stains and porcelain pieces all over the floor. He was so scared that he quickly hid back against the wall and waved to the guards and servants who were coming over.
In the rooms a few doors away, Zhang Chuchen heard the noise and brushed past the unconscious man on the bed. He looked at the bearded man beside him. The latter nodded, opened the door and went out to see what was going on.
The old steward sat against the wall with his neck shrunk, ignoring him. The bearded guest walked to the center of the door, where Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng were holding Li Yuan and Dou respectively. Li Xuanba was kneeling in front of the desk with his earlobes pulled, and the look he gave him was full of disdain.
"You evil son, what's wrong with the name your father gave you? Why do you insist on changing it? Are you trying to piss me off to death?"
Li Yuan was about to knock the table with the hilt of the sword, but he couldn't bear to do so, so he changed his hand and slapped it with a loud bang. Li Jiancheng, who was holding him, kept stroking his chest to help him breathe smoothly.
"Father, maybe my third brother is just a little bit excited. You know his temper. Once the excitement wears off, he will be fine in a few days."
"I'm not acting on impulse!"
Li Xuanba, who was kneeling over there, raised his head and yelled, and Li Yuan was so angry that he took out his sword and was about to hit him, huh?! On the other side, Dou glared at him, and there was someone else at the door, so she finally put down her sword, leaned on the corner of the table and sat on the chair, softening her tone.
"Tell me, why did you change your name?!"
"My master asked me to change it." Li Xuanba raised his chin, put down the hand holding his earlobe, and pointed outside: "While you were having dinner, I went to worship a master. He said that my name contains both Xuan and Ba, which are too rigid and easy to break, so he changed the word Xuan to Yuan."
Li Yuan knew about what had happened before, and his first reaction was to refer to the imperial teacher Lu Liangsheng.
"Xuan Ba, your master is a handsome scholar, and he has an old donkey by his side?"
"Donkeys do."
Li Xuanba frowned slightly and looked at the dome. After thinking carefully, he shook his head and said, "It's not a scholar, but an old man... Bah, it's an old gentleman with a beard this long!"
He gestured with his chin to give an approximate distance.
"Also... his eyebrows and hair are all white, and his face is full of wrinkles. He looks like he is in his seventies or eighties, not a young scholar."
Not a scholar
After hearing his son's description, which was completely different from the appearance of the imperial teacher in his mind, Li Yuan looked at the tiger-head sword in his hand in a daze. Did I make a mistake
... But according to what the third brother repeated before, it was obviously the national teacher who gave the sword to me. Could it be that he changed his appearance and came to Taiyuan specially to accept my son as his disciple
In the study, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were confused. Dou saw that her husband had a solemn expression and did not say anything. After all, they were husband and wife. She glared at her son who was kneeling over there and scolded him softly.
"Xuan Ba, your name was given by your father. How can you listen to others and change it at will? Even if you want to change it, you have to..."
“Good change!”
The woman hadn't said a word yet when she heard the voice. She turned her head in astonishment. Behind the desk over there, Li Yuan's face was flushed and he slapped the desk repeatedly. The three sons in the inner room and the bearded guest outside were all stunned. His expression changed too quickly.
"Xuan... Yuanba, I think your master has made great changes!"
"My husband, you..." Dou hesitated. Li Yuan stood up and walked out of the desk, grinning. He went over to help his son up and brushed the dust off his robe.
The words became gentle.
"Just don't change your surname. Tell your master. If he's still not satisfied, change the other characters as well."
At this time, as people were talking in the room, a figure ran over from the corridor and whispered something to the old steward who was huddled at the foot of the wall. The latter quickly squeezed beside the bearded man and reported inside.
"Sir, there is an old man with white hair and beard outside the door."
Li Xuanba, who was still confused by his father's words, first reacted to Lu Liangsheng and shouted excitedly: "It must be my master!" He broke free from Li Yuan's hand, turned around and ran out. Li Yuan, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng and others looked at each other, followed him out quickly, and came to the front gate of the mansion, where they heard a few donkey brays in the distance.
Under the eaves outside the door, hanging lanterns swayed. In the daylight, an old man in a gray robe stood there holding the reins. His snow-white beard showed an immortal air. Li Yuan, who caught up with him, looked at his face carefully and vaguely saw a familiar look. He immediately stepped forward, shook out his sleeves, and clasped his hands in a bow.
"Li Yuan from Taiyuan, meeting the Imperial Master!"
The people behind him were all surprised, and then they reacted and bowed in greeting. Li Xuanba stepped over his father, stepped over the threshold, jumped to the stone steps outside, stood next to Lu Liangsheng, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Master!"
He turned around with a smile and nodded towards Li Yuan and his two brothers.
"Well, I didn't lie, this is my master!"
Just as he finished speaking, he was patted on the head. Turning back, he saw Lu Liangsheng with a serious look in his eyes, shaking his white beard and saying, "You should be polite in front of your parents and brothers!"
"oh."
Li Xuanba was still a little unconvinced, after all, this was always his personality, but he didn't dare to say much in front of his master. At the side, Lu Liangsheng touched his head, cast his eyes on the figures bowing and kneeling at the gate of the mansion, held up his robe and raised his hand, asking them to stand up.
"No need to be so polite. Come here to retrieve the magic weapon."
As he spoke, he spread out his raised hand. In the mansion behind everyone, people exclaimed, "Ouch!" "What's going on?" "Something flew up." A ray of light rose from the mansion, flew over the mansion gate, and landed in Lu Liangsheng's palm. It was the golden hammer that had injured Li Jing before.
In the sight of Li Yuan and the others, the golden melon turned into a purple-gold gourd with black lines in the blink of an eye, and then was put into Lu Liangsheng's sleeve and put away. "Uncle De, I have retrieved the magic weapon, and I will leave..."
"Just leaving like that? My brother is still lying on the couch!" Behind the crowd, the bearded man stood up, thinking of Li Jing who was unconscious on the bed, and shouted angrily. Lu Liangsheng, who was about to leave, turned around and smiled, "My gourd can't hurt him, he will be fine, he will wake up naturally at night."
Seeing that Lu Liangsheng was about to leave, Li Yuan hurriedly walked out of the eaves. He had not met the Imperial Master for a long time. When they met suddenly today, he couldn't help but think of the past. "Imperial Master, please slow down."
"Mr. Lu."
The bell rang softly, and the old donkey turned its head to look at the figure that was catching up with it, exhaled heavily, and walked slowly to the other side to make way. Li Yuan followed behind Lu Liangsheng, "You come this time... why not stay a few more days."
Lu Liangsheng tilted his head to look at him, then looked at Li Xuanba who was moving behind him and looking in other directions, and said with a smile: "I can't stay here anymore. I just came here to see Qu Yuanfeng, one of my disciples. I didn't expect to meet Li Jing on the way. He was possessed by a demon, and my master couldn't take action directly, so he asked Xuanba to hit him on the head with this gourd."
"So that's how it is."
Li Yuan, who was walking on the side, finally understood the cause and effect. Whether the demon was possessed or not was not important. He asked in a low voice, "Does the Imperial Master's decision to take my son as his disciple still count?"
Lu Liangsheng thought about it and nodded: "Forget it, I will just treat it as my master's last disciple."
"Alas, the Imperial Master looks so young, how can you accept a closed disciple so early?" Li Yuan quietly put his hand behind his back, hooked his finger at his son who was following behind him, and continued to speak in a low voice to the side: "Imperial Master, you see, it's okay to accept one. I have two older ones at home, and the youngest one is also three or four years old. It doesn't matter..."
Lu Liangsheng was stunned for a moment, and quickly raised his hand to block his mouth, "I have something important to do and I have to hurry back to Chang'an. I will come to Taiyuan when I have time. Goodbye!"
He bowed to the other party, called the old donkey and walked quickly to the busy street. Li Yuan chased after him and shouted a few times, then turned back and hurriedly called Li Xuanba.
"Hurry up and catch up with him, and go to Chang'an with your master."
"ah?"
Li Xuanba had never been far away, not even from Taiyuan, so he was naturally happy when he heard this. He turned around and rushed home, but Li Yuan grabbed him by the collar and pointed him to the street, "What are you holding? Hurry up and go."
He kicked his son on the butt, sent him out to the street, and shouted at him while standing on tiptoe.
"Don't come back!"
Li Yuan clapped his hands and walked back to the mansion. His steps became brisk. He looked at everyone, including his wife who had an angry look on her face. He felt quite happy and strode into the yard with his hands behind his back.
Looking at the scenery at home that I was already tired of seeing, I felt it was quite pleasant.
"Finally, I don't have to worry anymore."