Xining is located on the old and prosperous capital, which has gone through the most prosperous times from Zhou Dynasty to Sui and Tang Dynasty. It is not only ancient and heavy, but also has fine clothes and galloping horses for three thousand years. The emperors and generals of thirteen dynasties are buried in the loess in this ancient capital.
The sky gradually darkened. Lu Liangsheng stood on the hill leading his old donkey and looked at the city with high-rise buildings and several old city walls. It was full of the contradictory atmosphere of modern and ancient buildings.
After nightfall, the streets are bustling with people. Passengers waiting for the bus stand several meters outside the platform, waiting for the bus to come rushing over, and scrambling to get on the door, shouting.
As the New Year approaches, the streets and alleys of this city, once known as an ancient capital, are filled with lanterns. The roadside trees are also covered with small neon lights that flicker in the night, like a galaxy spreading out across the city.
Lu Liangsheng walked on the bustling streets. The city before him no longer had any trace of the Chang'an of the past. The only Big Wild Goose Pagoda was not the ancient building he was familiar with.
"There really is nothing left."
Looking at the orderly and noisy city, Lu Liangsheng walked through several streets invisibly, following the direction in his memory. The brightly lit city faded away behind him, and the vast snow covered the broken walls and weathered rocks among the desolate weeds, as well as the palaces rebuilt by later generations. In a sense, the memories that the scholar once had were completely erased in the long river of time.
"Good fellow, if I were to make this out of paper, I'm afraid my hands would be crippled."
The Taoist priest walked forward, looking at the newly rebuilt majestic palace with his sleeves folded behind his back, shrugged his shoulders and turned away: "I can only build a circle of city walls and a few streets, I can't do anything else."
"Well, I'll draw the rest, but not here. It's too conspicuous. If we're not careful, people nearby might walk in and think we've traveled through time." Lu Liangsheng said the words he had learned here, and returned to the city with the Taoist to find a remote street.
After walking through several busy streets, I finally found an alley near the edge of the city. Behind it was a piece of land that had not yet been built. From the lighted buildings nearby, I could hear voices, children crying, adults talking and laughing, or the sound of television was quite loud, which attracted the neighbors' attention.
Amidst the noise, on the wasteland where the light shone through the window lattice, Lu Liangsheng waved his sleeves to sweep away a patch of snow, lit a stove with burning flames, and a stone table and stone bench appeared out of thin air. The scholar who came over took the four treasures of the study from the bookshelf and spread them on the table, lifted up his sleeves to take the pen and ink and painted a blank scroll.
The Toad Taoist jumped out of the small door and walked to the table with his flippers on his back. He stood on tiptoe and took a look at the painting: "How long will it take to finish this?"
Then, with a curl of its webbed head to one side, the scarlet figure jumped onto another stone bench, and Rouge curled up on it, letting the toad sit on its fluffy tail, making soft sounds as it kissed her for a long time.
"Master Toad, can you also help Mr. Lu think about it? Wouldn't it be faster to draw this way? It's a pity that I have never been to Chang'an at that time, otherwise I could tell you what I missed."
Taoist Toad squinted his eyes slightly and looked at the fox head lying beside him.
"I have seen too many palaces and pavilions, and I may not be able to help you. What if the painting is the Xianyang Palace?"
"Master, I may not necessarily paint the Great Sui Imperial City."
The rustling sound of the brush moved across the paper, sketching. The scholar holding the brush had a smile on his face and channeled his magical power into it. The rough lines were smeared and refined, forming a straight street with lanterns hung high on both sides of the street. Pedestrians chatted and laughed together, and stood in front of stalls and shops to choose New Year's goods. The street extended and in the distance, there were dragon and lion dance teams.
The tip of the pen quickly outlines the eaves and roofs, the blue bricks and tiles, the open window frames, and the woman in new clothes looking at herself in the bronze mirror. Her husband behind her holds a jade hairpin in his hand and gently puts it in his wife's bun.
“… I just want to join in the fun, borrow the atmosphere of the old Chang’an site, and experience the feeling of celebrating the New Year again.”
Lu Liangsheng moved the scroll and turned to another blank spot, continuing to paint in detail. With his other hand, he lightly touched a previously painted spot and waved his sleeve to clear the empty space.
The next moment.
Blue brick streets stretched out on the wild grass and snowy ground. Wooden pillars on both sides of the street rose from the ground, supporting the eaves and quickly revealing the roof, walls, doors and windows. Gradually, human voices appeared on the quiet street. Hawkers hawked their wares, shaking rattles to attract passers-by. In the restaurant with red flags flying, waiters shouted out today's meals. In front of the street, giggling children chased each other with animal-shaped lanterns, causing the women who were traveling together in front to scream out in surprise.
Yanzhi, who was curled up on the stone bench, raised her fox face and blinked at the familiar scene. The Toad Taoist lying on the tail sat up. This kind of magic was already commonplace, but such a familiar scene and familiar breath made him smack his lips. He jumped to the ground and looked at the noisy and lively ancient street in front of him. He couldn't help but urge Lao Sun opposite.
"Little Taoist priest, hurry up, where's yours? Otherwise I'll get angry!"
"Why are you in such a hurry? It takes no time to paste paper!"
Old Sun glanced at the familiar street over there which he had not seen for many years, and quickly turned back. His hands sped up, and a paper wall took shape in his hands. He chanted a spell, and flames ignited, burning the long wall to ashes. In the blink of an eye, the empty area seemed to extend infinitely into the darkness, and a city wall that was sometimes winding and sometimes straight could be vaguely seen all around. The majestic city tower stood tall with the two big words "Chang'an" written on it.
The Taoist licked his lips, feeling quite excited, he picked up the remaining paper and made some little figures, then took out a brush, dotted it with cinnabar, wrote the word "soldier", and immediately turned into a puff of smoke, flew to the city gate, stood on both sides with swords and guns in hand, not looking away.
"Oh, right, let's also write down the civil and military figures of the Sui Dynasty. Even if they are fake, they will look good when displayed there!"
Once reminded, the toad who was looking at the market over there suddenly turned his toad face and walked back and forth, stroking his flat chin.
"Liangsheng and the young Taoist priest have both made great efforts. How can I just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor? I might as well invite some of the Terracotta Warriors in the Imperial Mausoleum to perform a Qin Dance and sing some Qin Opera!"
After making up his mind, he jumped onto the stone bench and whistled at the old donkey not far away. When Lu Liangsheng raised his head, the Toad Taoist was sitting on the old donkey's head, holding a pair of donkey ears and running to the alley over there.
"Master, where are you going?"
"Master is going out for a while, and will be back soon!"
The voice came from far away. Old Sun, who had stabbed a few little men here, looked at the alley over there and stroked the tip of his beard. "It's not good to leave this hole. If someone comes in, they will think they have seen a ghost. I'll go and seal it up."
"Wait a minute, Lu Jun hasn't come yet."
Lu Liangsheng hurriedly called the Taoist priest and took out his cell phone. A call came in. On the other end, a slightly plump young man was talking excitedly.
"Hey, cousin, I'm in town. Where are you? Send me your location."
"Well, then come here according to the address."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Liangsheng looked around, waved his robe to hook the ground, pulled out a wisp of earth energy and put it into his mobile phone, which turned into an address message and sent it over.
"We should be able to find it if we follow the guidance of the earth's energy."
As they were talking, the dark night sky drifted away, and the streets outside were brightly lit. On the festive street, two figures, one big and one small, were coming out of a hotel, dragging suitcases. They looked around, seeing the festive red all around. The little girl next to them, who was dragging a small suitcase, pulled down her furry round hat, pouted and muttered.
"I came here to celebrate the New Year, but I don't even have a place to stay."
Liu Qingyue flipped through her phone, which showed that all the better hotels and guesthouses were almost fully booked. She called customer service and found out that for some reason many out-of-town guests had come here to celebrate the New Year and had booked rooms half a month in advance.
"Stop complaining. You're so smart, why don't you look for it?"
The woman asked several houses and became very annoyed. It was already dark and she still hadn't found a place to stay. It was really funny to talk about it.
The little girl walking beside her rolled her eyes, holding the luggage bar with one hand and hugging a cartoon pillow with the other. Just as she was about to speak, she was suddenly bumped from behind. Fortunately, it was not serious. A slightly fat young man was looking down at his mobile phone. When he saw that he had bumped into someone, he apologized quickly, then hurried on his way, looked around, and turned to the street corner in front.
The little girl rubbed her shoulders, and suddenly her eyes lit up. She quickly patted the elder sister beside her and pointed to the back figure at the corner of the street: "Follow him. He looks dusty and has a backpack on his back. He must be from outside. It seems that he knows where the hotel is."
"How can you be so smart?"
Thinking of this, Liu Qingyue pinched her sister's face excitedly, and the two hurried to catch up. After turning the corner, they saw the man in the crowd raising his head and looking around, crossing the sidewalk, and suddenly going to a not-so-narrow alley on the opposite side.
The two sisters smiled at each other, clapped their hands together, crossed the long street, and walked into the alley.
The hustle and bustle of the street outside gradually faded from their ears, and the entrance of the long alley became quiet. The further the sisters walked in, the more they felt something was wrong.
“Will there be a hotel here?”
"That person just now clearly came in. He might as well go back. It's pitch black and getting more and more scary the further he walks."
The alley became longer and darker, and the man who had just come in had long since disappeared. Based on her professional habits, Liu Qingyue also felt that something was wrong here, but she held her sister's hand tightly and took careful steps. In front of her vision, there was a festive light, and she thought she had passed through the alley and came to another street.
This made her feel a little relieved.