Chapter 291: I Don’t Know I’m Just a Guest in My Dream
Lu family.
In front of Lu Siyuan's bed.
The ghost baby held Li Daoxuan's hand, and the figures of the two gradually faded, as if they had become phantoms, about to disappear from this world.
The next moment, the man and the ghost seemed to turn into green smoke and floated into Lu Siyuan's mind.
There was a hint of surprise in Li Daoxuan's eyes. What a magical ability to enter dreams.
After a moment, his eyes blurred and a pastoral scene with flowing wine and winding water appeared before his eyes. He had already entered Lu Siyuan's dream.
Peach blossoms were falling like rain, and under the tree were two people, a man and a woman.
The man was dressed in a Confucian robe, holding a book of poetry in his hands, reading quietly.
The woman was gentle, virtuous, dignified and generous. She was sewing a tiger-head hat with a smile on her lips.
It was Lu Siyuan and Li.
Li Daoxuan lowered his head and saw that the ghost baby had changed its appearance. The dark blue skin had completely disappeared, and it had become white and plump, with a well-behaved and cute face. Anyone who saw it would exclaim in admiration, what a charming boy.
The ghost baby opened its arms and ran towards its parents with an innocent smile on its face. Its movements were very skillful and it looked like this was not its first time.
Lu Siyuan and Li were very happy to see him.
Li held him in her arms and put a tiger-head hat on him.
The ghost baby acted coquettishly in his mother's arms for a while, then introduced Li Daoxuan to them, saying that he was his new good friend.
A child said that he had made a new friend who was a Taoist priest. If this scene happened in reality, any parent would have grumbled a few words, but in this dream, Mrs. Li accepted it easily. She greeted Li Daoxuan warmly and served him tea and water.
After a while, the ghost baby pulled its mother into the distant forest, wanting to pick wild flowers.
After the two left, Li Daoxuan looked at Lu Siyuan, whose face was full of happiness, and suddenly said, "Brother Lu, why bother pretending anymore? You actually know that this is just a dream."
The smile on Lu Siyuan's face slowly disappeared.
"Who are you? Why are you staying at my house? What's your purpose?"
Lu Siyuan's eyes were full of vigilance. He still remembered that Li Daoxuan was the young man in brocade clothes who stayed in his house.
Li Daoxuan smiled slightly and said, "Brother Lu, I have been thinking about a question."
After a pause, he stared into Lu Siyuan's eyes and said word by word, "How could it be such a coincidence that the place where you buried your wife is exactly where evil spirits gather?"
Lu Siyuan's pupils narrowed slightly.
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
Li Daoxuan sighed softly and said, "Brother Lu, I have asked Muramasa about this. The heads of your Lu family for generations usually do not live past the age of 30 and die of illness."
"A few years ago, you were struck by an evil spirit, which led to this disaster. I guess it wasn't necessarily an evil spirit, but you wanted to practice evil magic, but your skills were not good enough, so you were hit by a ghost instead."
Lu Siyuan was shocked and remained silent.
"Brother Lu, Zhang Tiande is dead."
Lu Siyuan suddenly raised his head, with a gleam of light in his eyes.
Li Daoxuan pointed at the ghost baby who was still happily playing in the distance and said, "Your son killed it with his own hands. His soul has been scattered and he doesn't even have a chance to reincarnate."
Lu Siyuan's pupils were moist and he looked excited. After a long time, he finally calmed down.
"He was able to escape from the control of the evildoers and avenge his blood feud, I think it was all thanks to you, Lord Lu Siyuan, thank you!"
He stood up and bowed deeply to Li Daoxuan.
Afterwards, he told the whole story.
Since the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty, the Lu family has passed down poetry and literature, and almost every generation has produced a juren. They are a well-known and wealthy family in Shanghe Village.
But in fact, the reason why the Lu family was able to pass the imperial examinations repeatedly was not because of their real talent or knowledge, but because of an evil technique that controlled the souls of the dead, which was only passed down to the head of the family in each generation.
This evil technique is similar to the Five Ghosts Moving Technique, which is a Taoist technique for manipulating the souls of the dead. The people of the Lu family relied on this technique to cheat in the examination room for personal gain and were always successful. However, during the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin, with the help of Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, established the Sitianjian and the Bad People, and hung mirrors and set up formations above the examination room, causing many cheating Taoist techniques to fail.
In this way, the Lu family gradually declined.
By the time of Lu Siyuan's generation, the family's wealth was exhausted. In order to study, they even sold their land. The next step was to sell the ancestral home.
In order to earn money to continue taking the imperial examinations, Lu Siyuan had no choice but to practice that evil technique, not to cheat in the exam, but to earn money.
But who would have thought that he was not very skilled in using evil magic for the first time, and not only failed, but was also possessed by evil spirits and fell seriously ill, which led to the arrival of Zhang Tiande.
Later, his wife jumped into a well and died. Lu Siyuan was heartbroken, and the government was reluctant to catch the murderer. In desperation, he followed the records in the sorcery and carefully selected a place where evil spirits gathered. He hoped that the dead fetus in his wife's belly would turn into a ghost and help him take revenge.
The plan went smoothly, but what he didn't expect was that Zhang Jiuxiao of Longhu Mountain subdued the ghost baby with one move. From then on, not only could he not take revenge, but he also had to watch his son being driven around, humiliated, and tortured.
He was just an unknown person who knew a little bit of evil magic. Although he was heartbroken about this, he could do nothing about it. So he had to live in a daze and depressed every day, like a living dead.
Only in this dream can I find peace of mind.
After hearing his story, Li Daoxuan sighed softly and said, "Your Lu family has been controlling the souls of the dead for generations, and you have been corrupt and partial to others. Now your family is broken up, and your son has been enslaved. The cause and effect of the world is really unpredictable."
After a pause, he continued, "Brother Lu, all the heads of your Lu family have died young because of their damaged Yin virtue. Your generation no longer practices evil arts and could have lived a long life. However, your son has appeared in your dreams many times and has damaged your Yang energy. If you don't stop him, I'm afraid you won't live long."
Lu Siyuan had no magical powers, and because of the evil spirit he had encountered, his yang energy was so weak that it was even weaker than that of an ordinary person. In addition, he had been with the ghost baby for many years, so even if the ghost baby had no intention of hurting him, it had slowly depleted his yang energy.
"Brother Lu, your son turned into a ghost because of you. Although he was manipulated by someone, he killed many people. His good deeds are not good. I'm afraid he won't be at peace in the future, whether he practices or reincarnates."
Lu Siyuan closed his eyes and said, "Master, you are right. I am responsible for all this. Please kill me. I am willing to atone for his sins."
At this moment, he was unusually calm, as if he had been waiting for many years.
However, Li Daoxuan did not kill him. Instead, he patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "If you really want to atone for his sins, then study hard, take the imperial examination and become an official. In the future, do more good things for the country and the people. This is naturally better than dying in vain."
Lu Siyuan opened his eyes, only to find that Li Daoxuan had disappeared.
"After tonight, your son will leave with me. Go and say goodbye to them."
Li Daoxuan's voice floated in his ears.
This seemed very cruel to Lu Siyuan, because he could have such a realistic dream only thanks to the magical power of the ghost baby. Once the ghost baby left, even if he dreamed in the future, he would be confused and out of control.
But Li Daoxuan knew that if this continued, Lu Siyuan might not survive beyond this year. This was also the reason why Lu Siyuan looked so listless and emaciated when they first met him.
Lu Siyuan put down the book in his hand and walked towards his wife.
Li held her son in her arms, looked at him with a smile, and said, "What's wrong? Did we disturb you from studying?"
Lu Siyuan looked at his wife's face, his eyes slightly moist.
He shook his head and said, "How can studying be more important than accompanying you?"
Li was delighted and pretended to be teasing, "That won't do. You promised me when we were little that you would make me the number one scholar's wife in the future. How can a man go back on his word?"
Lu Siyuan stared at her in a daze. After a while, he picked a peach blossom and put it in her temple.
"Madam, you are teaching me that I know I was wrong."
His voice was extremely gentle, as if he was afraid of awakening this last beautiful dream.
The ghost baby blinked and suddenly felt a little redundant.
After a moment.
A family of three sat under a peach tree, watching the setting sun sink into the sea and the morning glow fill the sky.
"Husband, you are a little different today."
"What's the difference?"
"You're so nice to me all of a sudden, maybe you've taken a fancy to some girl and want to take her as a concubine?"
“…”
"Well, my husband, you are silent!"
"You have wronged me."
Lu Siyuan smiled bitterly.
"My dear, if you win the first place in the imperial examination, will you fall in love with a lady from a wealthy family like in the play, and think that I am too old and ugly to be worthy of you?"
"I swear to God, I will never do that. I will only marry Li Yun in this life and stay with her until the end of my life!"
"Humph, I don't think you would dare!"
After a moment.
"Husband..."
"Um?"
"Nothing, just calling you."
The ghost baby made an angry sound, like a jealous little tiger.
Li smiled and hugged him, saying, "Okay, okay, of course mother will not forget you."
Lu Siyuan watched the scene quietly with a smile on his lips. The setting sun shone on the three of them, as beautiful as a painting.