"Chase, chase, chase! Don't let her get away!"
"Where else can you run to, little beauty?"
" Stop ! Just admit it today!"
…
A few obscene words from the lecher in the distance made Lu Jiayi very unhappy. She touched her dizzy head and stood up from the ground with difficulty.
Lu Jiayi shook her head vigorously and opened her eyes.
She wanted to see what kind of abomination Lu Yu had sent her to—Wow! Lu Jiayi was startled.
She was in a meadow with a clear river in front of her. She had just come out of the time-space vortex, and Lu Yu helped her change her clothes and then threw her on the grass. Well, these are not the main points. The main point is... a group of people are rushing towards her!
Running towards Lu Jiayi was a girl of the same age. She was petite and delicate. Although she was wearing ordinary coarse cloth clothes, it could not hide her natural beauty. Now, she was running towards Lu Jiayi, her face flushed, her lips slightly open, and she was breathing hard. Behind her, three little hooligans with wretched faces followed closely.
Lu Jiayi looked into the distance and saw a small village quietly standing in the shadow of the green hills. It seemed that the girl went to the village to buy something and was accidentally targeted by the little hooligans.
As they got closer, the little rascal's dirty talk became louder and louder. Lu Jiayi did some warm-up exercises, and then she picked a few stones that suited her from the pile of stones by the river.
"Girl, watch out!" Lu Jiayi shouted.
The girl saw Lu Jiayi and was a little surprised by her action. She quickly covered her head and dodged. Whoosh! Lu Jiayi threw a stone.
"Ouch!" One of the little punks stopped and wailed, touching his bleeding forehead.
"Bang!" While the others were stunned, Lu Jiayi hit another person. The remaining little thug was furious, pointing at Lu Jiayi and pretending to rush over. Lu Jiayi raised her hand and showed the stone in her hand. The man immediately took a few steps back in fear.
"Bah!" The three little punks spat unwillingly and turned around cursing.
Lu Jiayi threw away the stone in her hand, patted the dust off her hands, and couldn't help but sigh: "It turns out that I am also a female man."
"Miss..." The young girl came over and thanked Lu Jiayi gratefully, "Thank you for saving me just now."
"It's okay!" Lu Jiayi waved her hand. She was in a good mood today because she had become a hero who saved a beauty!
"Girl, are you from nearby?" the girl asked tentatively.
Lu Jiayi shook her head and said, "This is my first time here! It's all because..." She rolled her eyes and finally remembered the mission this time. She quickly changed her words, "There's a war going on outside! There's no one at home, so I've been fleeing here alone. I didn't expect that the bad guys didn't catch up with me, but caught up with you!"
Lu Jiayi was smiling and didn't look like a refugee at all.
"You are... from the north?" The girl looked at her curiously, with a look of complete belief.
"Yes!" Lu Jiayi pretended to be surprised. "What's your name? Are you from here? Oh, and will the war in the north reach your place?"
The girl smiled lightly, stroked her hair with one hand, and said softly: "My name is Chai Qianping, and I have lived in the nearby mountains since I was a child. The one fighting is the Great Zhou in the north, and this is in the territory of Wuyue, so we won't be affected in the short term."
Lu Jiayi also laughed, while looking at the girl in front of her calmly.
Chai Qianping was the keyword Lu Yu gave her.
The young girl blushed shyly when she saw Lu Jiayi staring at her. In order to ease the embarrassment, she quickly asked, "Girl, do you have a place to stay?"
Lu Jiayi came back to her senses and shook her head.
Chai Qianping smiled and extended an invitation to her: "My home is on a nearby mountain. If you don't mind, please stay at my home for a few days!"
Lu Jiayi's expression immediately changed, and she burst into tears of gratitude.
"No, how could I dislike it!"
Chai Qianping's home was indeed on the mountain.
After climbing the mountain road for half a day, Lu Jiayi looked at the thatched houses on the hillside out of breath and thought: "Who would build a house on a mountain?"
Green mountains and clear waters, living in harmony with nature, the environment is excellent, comparable to the mountain where Lu Jiayi first saw the fire green tea tree. However, a girl in her prime actually spent her youth in such a deep mountain. Isn't it too pitiful?
"I have lived here since I was very young." Chai Qianping pointed to the thatched house in front and said with a smile, "I was brought up by my master. He is not in good health, otherwise he would not have let me go down the mountain alone."
Lu Jiayi looked around and began to admire against her will: "Your master was able to find such a beautiful place, he must be an amazing master!"
"Yes!" Chai Qianping said happily, "He is the descendant of Mr. Zhuge Liang!"
Lu Jiayi opened her mouth wide, never expecting that her casual remark would actually come true!
"Zhu, the descendant of Zhuge Liang?" Lu Jiayi almost swallowed her tongue, "Then, then, then... does he know Qimen Dunjia, Yijing Bagua?"
Chai Qianping nodded.
"It's amazing!" Lu Jiayi exclaimed, "Take me to visit him!"
"Senior Sister, you're back." Suddenly, a generous voice came.
Lu Jiayi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall young man coming out of the thatched hut. He had a strong figure, but was covered by a gentle smile, which made him look particularly kind and lovely.
The man walked up to Chai Qianping and Lu Jiayi and asked worriedly, "Did anything happen on the way?"
"Uh..." Lu Jiayi just opened her mouth, but was bumped by Chai Qianping's elbow and subconsciously closed her mouth.
Chai Qianping smiled widely at the man and said in a very happy tone: "I just went down the mountain to buy supplies. What could go wrong? Look, I bought everything back." As she spoke, she showed the basket that she had been carrying on her arm.
The man took a look and smiled. Then he turned his gaze to Lu Jiayi and asked, "Senior Sister, who is this..."
"Her name is Lu Jiayi. She came from the north and hasn't found a place to stay yet, so I asked her to stay at my house for a while." Chai Qianping explained, then turned to Lu Jiayi and said, "Miss Lu, this is my junior fellow apprentice Zhao Yuanlang. If you need any help, just look for him!"
"Hello, Mr. Zhao." Lu Jiayi greeted him quickly.
"You're welcome! Since you were brought here by my senior sister, you are a guest." Zhao Yuanlang took the things from Chai Qianping's hand and said, "I'll go clean up the vacant room. I'm sorry to inconvenience Miss Lu for the time being."
As he said this, he easily picked up the basket and walked back to the thatched hut.
"Wow! What a warm-hearted guy!" Lu Jiayi couldn't help but applaud.
"What do you mean?" Chai Qianping asked.
"I said, your junior brother is a very gentle person!" Lu Jiayi said with a smile, "By the way, why didn't you let me tell him that you were being chased by bad guys?"
"I..." Chai Qianping lowered her head, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "I'm afraid that he and Master will worry."
"It's normal for your family to worry when a girl like you encounter danger. Why don't you take your own safety seriously?" Lu Jiayi asked.
Chai Qianping shook her head, looking a little depressed.
"Master is seriously ill, and Yuanlang cannot go down the mountain for some reasons, so the monthly purchasing tasks are placed on me. You can see that Yuanlang is older than me, but he calls me senior sister. He joined the sect later and his mind is not focused. I always feel that he will leave here sooner or later. However, before that, I must not let him and Master worry... I want to walk down the mountain more often, and in the future... I will always know where to find him." Chai Qianping's voice became lower and lower, and at the end, it was almost as thin as a mosquito's voice.
"Oh..." Lu Jiayi nodded, and immediately understood. It turned out that the little sister fell in love with the eldest brother, which was really a wonderful thing.
But Zhao Yuanlang can't go down the mountain? No way! He is a man, older than Chai Qianping, and should take the responsibility of taking care of his master and sister. Why is he forbidden to go down the mountain? Lu Jiayi couldn't help but wonder, could he have some hidden illness? No, from what he saw just now, Zhao Yuanlang was obviously a very healthy person.
You can't get a disease that will kill you if you go down the mountain, right?
Lu Jiayi's imagination began to wander into anime stories.
Chai Qianping didn't think of explaining this matter. She just heard Lu Jiayi's deliberately prolonged ending tone, feeling a little shy. She couldn't help stamping her feet, turned around and held Lu Jiayi's hand.
"I'll take you to see the Master!"
Zhuge Xian was a very old man.
Lu Jiayi looked at the patient lying on the bed from a distance, not daring to breathe. Chai Qianping introduced Lu Jiayi to Zhuge Xian, but the old man didn't even look at her, but just waved his hand to show that he understood.
Chai Qianping said a few words to him, and the old man muttered a few words, then asked, "Where's Yuen Long?"
"I'm cleaning the room." Chai Qianping replied.
The old man seemed relieved and fell into a deep sleep.
Chai Qianping waited for Zhuge Xian to fall asleep, and then quietly left the old man's room with Lu Jiayi. At this time, Zhao Yuanlang cleaned up Lu Jiayi's room.
The three of them met outside Zhuge Xian's room. Chai Qianping said, "Miss Lu, I'll go and rest with you."
Lu Jiayi nodded.
There was nothing on the mountain except for a few thatched huts. Lu Jiayi's room was also a thatched hut, and it had not been used for a long time.
Chai Qianping said embarrassedly: "I am sorry for wronging Miss Lu."
Lu Jiayi quickly waved her hands and said, "It's good enough to have a place that can shelter from the wind and rain." Although she said this, she already missed her mobile phone, tablet and TV in her heart!
The last few times she traveled through time and space, she often walked sideways in the capital, or at least played in the lively towns. To be honest, it was the first time for Lu Jiayi to spend the night in the mountains.
Chai Qianping noticed that she was a little uncomfortable, so she comforted her for a few words and then asked, "Do you want to eat anything? I'll buy it tomorrow!"
Lu Jiayi shook her head and asked, "Miss Chai, would you like some tea?"
Chai Qianping's eyes lit up and she nodded repeatedly: "So Miss Lu also likes to drink tea! There is a kind of particularly fragrant tea on this mountain. I will go pick it for you tomorrow!"
After hearing this, Lu Jiayi finally felt happy. However, she immediately made a request: "I want to go with you!"
Knowing that there is special tea grown on the mountain, the thatched hut becomes warm and cozy.
Chai Qianping agreed.
The two went to bed early, and the next day, Lu Jiayi got up as soon as she opened her eyes, looking forward to seeing Xiangcha. Zhao Yuanlang gave Chai Qianping a few instructions and then sent them out.
The tea tree was not far from the thatched cottage, and under Chai Qianping's guidance, they soon arrived. There were not only tea trees here, but also peach, plum, apricot, pomegranate and other fruit trees. From a distance, Lu Jiayi smelled a fragrance. She walked to the tea tree and saw that the leaves were slender , covered with fine hairs, and the white hairs were hidden in the green.
"This can't be..." Lu Jiayi was a little surprised, but couldn't help but smell it carefully, and a sweet fragrance filled her nose.
"It is true." She smiled and nodded.
"What's wrong ?" Chai Qianping asked.
"Miss Chai, what is the name of this tea?"
Chai Qianping frowned and said, "It doesn't have a proper name, and this kind of tea is only available near Taihu Lake. I heard that a long time ago, a nun went to the mountains for a spring outing and picked a few leaves. After brewing tea, she smelled the strange fragrance and said, 'It smells so good that it's scary.' Therefore, people here call it 'Scary Fragrance'."
Lu Jiayi nodded repeatedly while listening, and finally said, "That's right!"
"What's right?" Chai Qianping was confused.
Lu Jiayi smiled and said, "It smells so good!"
The tea of ​​"Xia Sha Ren Xiang" is also called Dongting Tea. In Lu Jiayi's time, this tea had a history of more than 1,000 years. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi tasted this tea and praised it highly, but thought the name "Xia Sha Ren Xiang" was not elegant, so he gave it a name that people in later generations are familiar with.
Biluochun.
According to the information, this tea "curls like a snail, with white hairs exposed, silver-green emerald green, emerald green soup, and a refreshing fragrance" and is one of the top ten famous teas in China.
When Lu Jiayi saw the ancient Biluochun tea tree with her own eyes, she was extremely excited.
Lu Jiayi happily followed Chai Qianping back after picking the tea leaves with a pilgrimage-like mood. However, unexpectedly, as soon as they returned to the thatched cottage, they heard a loud sound of teacups breaking.
"No! I said no, and it means no!" The old man's painful shouts and coughs were heard from the hut.
"Master!" Chai Qianping ran into the room quickly, only to see Zhuge Xian sitting on the bed, with Zhao Yuanlang standing in front of him. There was a puddle of water on the ground, with tiny porcelain pieces scattered everywhere.
As soon as Lu Jiayi entered the room, she saw this scene and knew that something must have happened, so she stood aside obediently.
Chai Qianping ran to Zhuge Xian's bed and helped him smooth his back, while asking, "What's wrong? Why did you quarrel with your junior brother?"
Zhuge Xian pointed his finger at Zhao Yuanlang in front of the window and said incoherently: "Ask him... if he has forgotten? When I promised to accept you as my disciple, I asked you to swear that you would never leave here! It has only been a short time... and you... now you come to tell me that you want to join the army! You traitor!"
After that, Zhuge Xian started to cough violently, and Chai Qianping patted him on the back. Seeing this, Lu Jiayi quickly brought a cup of tea from somewhere else.
Zhuge Xian's finger trembled, but it pointed at Zhao Yuanlang's heart.
Zhao Yuanlang listened to Zhuge Xian's scolding silently. When he recovered, he spoke slowly: "Master, you know very well that I can't waste my life in the mountains. To be honest, I went down the mountain quietly today and met an old monk. He told me that my future lies in the north . There is a war in the north. Instead of spending my old age in the mountains, I would rather be a soldier who dies on the battlefield!"
"You!" Zhuge Xian's eyes widened, followed by a violent gasp.
Chai Qianping's heart was in suspense, and she hurriedly patted his back. However, Zhuge Xian just stared at Zhao Yuanlang motionlessly, and suddenly his body tilted and he fainted.
"Master!" Chai Qianping exclaimed. After realizing that Zhuge Xian had just fainted, she turned her head to look at Zhao Yuanlang and couldn't help complaining, "Yuanlang, you know that Master is not in good health, don't make him angry!"
Zhao Yuanlang looked at the two busy people, sighed, and walked out.
Lu Jiayi helped Chai Qianping serve Zhuge Xian for a while, and then swept the floor.
When she was free, she saw Chai Qianping standing by the door, so she followed her gaze.
Zhao Yuanlang stood outside the door, with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.
He is at an age full of vigor and vitality, how could he be willing to be trapped in the mountains for the rest of his life?
Lu Jiayi felt more and more that the oath Zhuge Xian asked him to swear made no sense at all.
She turned around to look at Chai Qianping, only to see the girl staring blankly at the back of the man outside the door, two lines of tears quietly flowing down her cheeks.
——Perhaps, Chai Qianping had already determined that he would choose to leave sooner or later.
After a long period of ideological struggle, Lu Jiayi finally turned to Zhao Yuanlang.
He still stood outside Zhuge Xian's door as he did during the day, as if he was accepting a punishment, but also a silent resistance.
The night sky was dotted with stars, a cold wind blew, and everything in the mountains was silent.
"Mr. Zhao." Lu Jiayi walked to Zhao Yuanlang.
"How is she?" Zhao Yuanlang asked without turning his head.
"If you're worried about her, why don't you go and see for yourself?"
Zhao Yuanlang was silent for a while, then said calmly: "I will leave here eventually."
"Although I have only known you for a short time, I also know Miss Chai's feelings. She... likes you very much." Lu Jiayi hesitated for a while, but still said, "Can you stay in the mountain for her?"
"Senior sister likes me..." Zhao Yuanlang seemed a little surprised, but soon he realized it and nodded silently, "She should like me. At the beginning, I went through a lot of trouble to find Mr. Zhuge's descendants, hoping to become his disciple, but he rejected me harshly. If it weren't for Senior sister pleading for me, I would never have been able to become Mr. Zhuge's disciple."
He sighed, looked up at the night sky with melancholy, and said to himself: "But I still don't understand why Master strictly forbids me to go down the mountain? Now is a time of chaos. If it is for the safety of me and my senior sister, I can completely understand. But why can my senior sister go down the mountain, but I can't even leave the thatched cottage? Master, Master, you treat me like this, which is equivalent to strangling my entire life. If I can only stay in this mountain for the rest of my life, what is the use of all the things ?"
This matter is really hard to explain, and Lu Jiayi doesn't know how to answer.
She sighed and guessed, "Perhaps Mr. Zhuge is just worried that something bad will happen to you? I heard that he is good at astrology and calculations. If he predicted that something bad would happen to you, then it wouldn't be too much to ask you to make such a vow, right?"
Zhao Yuanlang finally turned around. He bathed in the starlight, looked at Lu Jiayi quietly, and said, "Misfortune is the root of blessing. What's more, the disaster has not happened yet. I think we can't just run away anyway."
Lu Jiayi could understand him. No matter who you are, in the best years of youth, you will not be willing to be imprisoned in a quiet and deserted place. This has nothing to do with passion, but only with life. Either you are free or you die.
"But... now that you know how Miss Chai feels about you, are you willing to leave her?" Lu Jiayi asked.
Zhao Yuanlang moved his lips and was about to speak, but his eyes suddenly turned and looked behind Lu Jiayi.
Lu Jiayi turned around, and the thin Chai Qianping quietly came behind her .
"It's cold outside, why are you still standing here? Come into the house." Although she was talking to two people, Chai Qianping's eyes were always on Zhao Yuanlang, and she frowned slightly.
"How is Master?" Zhao Yuanlang asked.
Chai Qianping's brows furrowed even deeper, her face turned pale, and she said worriedly, "He has been in a coma since this afternoon. I don't know when he will wake up."
"Sister, you know me, I won't..."
Zhao Yuanlang looked at her, was silent for a while, and then spoke slowly.
"Stop talking, wait until Master wakes up." Chai Qianping seemed reluctant to talk about this topic, and turned to leave. At this moment, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by someone.
She was forced to turn around and saw Zhao Yuanlang's gentle eyes. Zhao Yuanlang stared into her eyes and said word by word: "Wait for me, I will definitely come back to find you."
Chai Qianping was shocked, but not surprised.
He finally said it. She knew he would leave. She knew it when she saw him for the first time. This young man traveled thousands of miles to find the descendants of Mr. Zhuge and swore a poisonous oath to become Zhuge's disciple. But Chai Qianping knew that his oath was not sincere. He was an eagle, his eyes belonged to the sky and the stars, even if he occasionally landed on the earth, he would not regard it as his eternal home.
Chai Qianping looked at him, her eyes slightly moist, and a crystal teardrop slid down from the corner of her eye.
"Then go and say goodbye to Master."
Zhuge Xian was seriously ill and old, so he was unconscious for two days. Chai Qianping and Zhao Yuanlang stayed by his bedside for two days, taking care of him carefully.
On the morning of the third day, Zhuge Xian finally woke up. He opened his blurry eyes and vaguely saw a circle of people surrounding the bed.
"Cough cough!" The old man coughed violently, and his old and shriveled fingers tightly grasped Chai Qianping's arm.
"Master!" Chai Qianping helped Zhuge Xian sit up and served him a bowl of medicine.
"Ahem!" Zhuge Xian started coughing again, almost vomiting the medicine he had just taken. Chai Qianping picked up a handkerchief and wanted to help him wipe it clean, but Zhuge Xian waved his hand. He leaned on the bed, looked at the people in the room, and said weakly: "Yuan Lang, have you... finally decided to betray your oath?"
If Zhuge Xian could see clearly, he would find that Zhao Yuanlang had already knelt in front of his window. This kind-hearted young man was like a silent statue, quietly waiting for Zhuge Xian's decision.
After hearing Zhuge Xian's words, Zhao Yuanlang slowly raised his head. He looked at the old man on the bed and said softly, "Master, I'm sorry! A man born in troubled times should carry a three-foot sword and accomplish great deeds. The original oath was a lie I made in order to learn your skills. I will leave eventually, please forgive me."
After saying this, Zhao Yuanlang lowered his head deeply.
"You...you traitor...cough cough!" Zhuge Xian stretched out his old finger and pointed fiercely at Zhao Yuanlang who was kneeling on the ground, but soon started coughing again.
He pushed away the water that Chai Qianping handed over, opened his eyes wide, and tried to see Zhao Yuanlang clearly, then asked angrily: "Do you really have to leave here?"
"Yes." Zhao Yuanlang answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.
Zhuge stared at him without speaking immediately, his chest began to rise and fall violently. After a long while, he pushed Chai Qianping away, pointed outside the house, and said sternly: "You! Go pour us a cup of tea to thank the teacher! From today on, there will be no Zhao Yuanlang in my Zhuge sect anymore!"
Chai Qianping slowly stood up and looked at Zhuge Xian, her eyes filled with fear.
Zhuge Xian looked at him, his eyes sharp and resolute, and said in a deep voice: "You know what to do."
Chai Qianping shuddered all over, looked at Zhao Yuanlang who was kneeling in front of the window, and finally turned and left.
A moment later, Chai Qianping came in with two cups of fragrant Biluochun tea. She walked slowly, taking every step carefully, as if she was holding a fragile and priceless treasure.
One cup of tea was given to Zhao Yuanlang, and the other was brought to Zhuge Xian by Chai Qianping. She didn't know if it was Lu Jiayi's illusion, but she always felt that Chai Qianping's hands were shaking slightly.
"Master." Chai Qianping knelt down in front of the bed. She looked at Zhuge Xian and shook her head.
Zhuge didn't look at her first, but picked up the teacup directly.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Yuanlang drank the tea in one gulp and then kowtowed three times respectfully.
"Thank you for your teachings, Master. I will never forget them."
Zhuge Xian watched him finish all this and asked again: "Do you really have to go down the mountain?"
This time, Zhao Yuanlang did not answer, but closed his eyes. His heart was as hard as a rock, and it was impossible for him to change his mind.
"Okay!" Zhuge Xian shouted, then he looked at Chai Qianping who was also kneeling on the ground, shook his head with disappointment, and said in an old voice, "Fool."
Then he drank the tea in one gulp.
"Master!" Chai Qianping's tears suddenly burst out.
Zhuge first threw the empty teacup to the ground, and as if he had fulfilled his lifelong wish, he lay back on the bed dejectedly.
Chai Qianping cried beside him, as if rejecting everything that happened today.
"Puff!" Zhuge Xian suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Chai Qianping's face changed drastically, and she leaned down to check. Lu Jiayi had been standing in the corner, and finally couldn't help but step forward.
"Master!" Zhao Yuanlang also ran to Zhuge Xian's bedside.
Fresh red blood foam kept oozing out of the corners of Zhuge Xian's mouth. He suddenly held Chai Qianping's hand tightly, his two sharp eyes fixed on her face, as if he wanted to see her clearly at the last moment.
"Fool..." An extremely hoarse voice came out of the old man's throat.
Chai Qianping looked into his eyes. She knew that was the look of a dying man, and waves of panic surged in her heart.
However, Zhuge Xian just stared at her fiercely until his hands fell down weakly.
“Master——”
A miserable and desperate cry came from the thatched cottage.