The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 12 Lost
It was another refreshing morning on the streets of Jizhou City. Because it had rained a little last night, there was a faint smell of new mud in the air.
In a pile of firewood, the old Taoist monk Changmei felt a little emotional. How come he couldn't even make money when Diudiuer was not with him?
In the past, when that little guy was around, there was no shortage of business, and even in a chaotic place like the Seven Counties, one could still make money. But now in this prosperous city, there are so many well-dressed and respectable people, why is there no one telling fortunes?
He was soaking wet and had nowhere to hide, so he could only carry it. It was not because there was no eaves to shelter him from the rain, but he did not dare to be seen by others at night. He looked so disheveled that if he was seen by the night patrol, he would be caught directly.
Put him in jail, wait for a suitable day, and then be dragged out and beheaded for someone else's crime. The only reward he would get would be a last meal.
This kind of thing is not uncommon in the Great Chu.
Coming out from the firewood pile, the old Taoist shook his clothes, and subconsciously stretched out his hands and gestured a few times towards the air in front of him, as if he was tidying up his clothes.
Then he smiled, very proudly.
"It's good, it's good. Diudiuer won't be like me anymore."
He pulled out his fortune-telling banner from the pile of firewood. It was already tattered and in tatters. At this moment he suddenly realized that it was because he looked so shabby that no one asked him to tell fortunes.
Who in this city would really want to take care of a Taoist priest who is in such a miserable state and is about to starve to death for ten years?
Even if they want to tell fortunes, they go to Taoist temples. There are Taoist priests who look respectable there. They can ask how much a stick of incense costs, how much a talisman costs, and how much a question about future costs.
The old Taoist thought, is it possible that he should leave Jizhou and go back to the seven counties to wander around? Let's see if he can make money today. If he can't, he should leave. He has to stay alive.
The people of the seven counties still believed in him. At least they had something to eat. They had not eaten for two days and two nights, but he still kept the last bottom line. He did not ask for food, steal, beg, or pick up vegetable leaves. This was a respect for Taoism.
After tidying up his wet clothes, the old Taoist still looked at the air in front of him, with a smile on his face, and called out to himself: "Diudiuer..."
He was still smiling, but suddenly he burst into tears, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. The old man covered his face and cried, his shoulders shaking with tears.
"Master misses you."
The old Taoist walked out with dragging steps, and turned back after walking for a while, as if expecting to see Xiao Li Diudiu running towards him and shouting, "I miss you" at that moment.
Four Pages Academy.
Li Diudiu sat there feeling a little worried. He was not worried about what to eat, but because the cafeteria suddenly became crowded. Yesterday when he was having lunch, there were only a few people here, including Xiahou Zhuo, but this morning there were dozens of people here, so much so that even Aunt Wu in the cafeteria was surprised.
"That's him. He is who he is. The little guy might have eaten it. It was really satisfying."
A young student immediately became excited when he saw Li Diudiu. He pointed at Li Diudiu and said, "This guy ate eighty dumplings yesterday morning!"
Li Diudiu shook his head and whispered to himself: "Seventy-nine."
At this time, Xiahou Zhuo came over, looked at Li Diudiu and said, "Today is the same as usual. I still want to watch you eat dumplings. Four servings, eighty coins."
Li Diudiu said: “One hundred.”
Xiahou Zhuo frowned slightly, with a hint of disgust between his brows.
"Why?"
Xiahou Zhuo asked.
Li Diudiu replied: "I just asked Aunt Wu, the prices of vegetables and meat have gone up."
Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Diudiu as if he were a monster and thought to himself, what does the increase in vegetable and meat prices have to do with you? You eat free meals in the cafeteria, so even if the prices go up, they are still free.
But I don't know why, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
"Well, then, one hundred taels of silver."
Xiahou Zhuo stepped back and made a gesture of invitation. Li Diudiu asked Aunt Wu for four servings of dumplings, and then asked Xiahou Zhuo: "Do many people usually ask you to do things for them?"
Xiahou Zhuo replied lazily, "There is nothing in this academy that requires help from others."
Li Diudiu was silent for a moment and shook his head: "Yes."
Xiahou Zhuo asked: "For example?"
Li Diudiu said: "For example, if I want to leave the academy, I need to wait a few more days, but I can't wait any longer. I want to ask you, how can I get leave?"
Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Diudiu as if he were a monster. He said seriously, "If you want to leave the academy, just tell the teacher. Don't you even know this?"
Li Diudiu said: "I know, but I am different from you."
"What's the difference?"
"I am a poor man."
Li Diudiu raised his head and looked into Xiahou Zhuo's eyes: "If you make a mistake, you will be kicked out of the academy. If I ask for leave, I will probably be humiliated. It would be good if I can get leave even if I am humiliated, but I know that I can't get leave even if I am humiliated."
Xiahou Zhuo asked, "What are you going out to do?"
"Looking for my master."
Li Diudiu took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "I dreamt about him last night. He was not doing well."
Xiahou Zhuo nodded and said, "I can help you. I will ask you to go out and help me. I have a good relationship with Mr. Yan Qingzhi, and he will agree, but... two taels of silver."
Li Diudiu took out all the silver from his arms, including the broken silver and the hundred coins from yesterday. He didn't have a purse so he stuffed them all into his arms, took them out and pushed them to Xiahou Zhuo.
"Give you all."
Xiahou Zhuo took back the two taels of silver and pushed the rest back: "I don't want any more."
He looked at Li Diudiu, and after a moment of silence, he said, "I took two taels of silver from you to tell you that asking for help has a price."
Li Diudiu lowered his head and said, "I know. I knew it before I entered the academy."
Aunt Wu brought over four servings of dumplings. Li Diudiu picked up his chopsticks and started eating. While eating, he said, "Aunt Wu, please help me cook four more servings... No, five."
He put a hundred coins on the table: "This is for the dumplings. I won't eat them but will give them to others, so I have to buy them. I asked you this morning and you said that the prices of vegetables and meat have gone up. These five servings of dumplings will cost about a hundred and twenty-five coins. I owe you twenty-five coins."
Aunt Wu was stunned. After hesitating for a long time, she said, "Sir, it is unreasonable to take this money from you. There is no such rule in the academy."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "I accepted his because what he said makes sense."
Aunt Wu seemed to respect Xiahou Zhuo very much and was also afraid of him. She nodded quickly and put away the hundred coins with great hesitation. They seemed very hot and her hands trembled slightly as she held them.
Li Diudiu stopped talking and ate with big mouthfuls. Soon he finished four servings of dumplings. Those who were watching him eat were all shocked. Most of them had not seen such a scene yesterday. Who would have thought that such a skinny little guy could eat so much.
Xiahou Zhuo waited until he finished eating and then said, "I can take you out now."
Li Diudiu hummed, turned around and looked at Aunt Wu: "I will make up the 25 coins as soon as possible."
Xiahou Zhuo took out his money bag, counted out a hundred coins and handed them to Li Diudiu: "I specially asked someone to exchange them for copper coins. You don't have to owe me. This is the money I paid for watching you eat today. You must keep your word, otherwise you are not a man."
Li Diudiu was stunned and remembered this sentence in his heart.
He counted out twenty-five coins and handed them to Aunt Wu, then bowed to Xiahou Zhuo and said, "Thank you very much."
Xiahou Zhuo turned and walked out: "No need to thank me, I took your money."
As he walked, he said, "You have all seen it. Give him 100 coins each. I won't repeat it a second time."
The onlookers hurriedly took out their money, as if they were extremely afraid of Xiahou Zhuo. However, these young masters didn't have so many copper coins on them. Everyone had silver on them. Xiahou Zhuo looked at the embarrassed faces of those people, took out about one and a half taels of silver from his purse and handed it to Li Diudiu.
"They each cost 100 coins. There are about 70 or 80 people here. Is it okay to charge them 5 taels?"
Li Diudiu nodded: "Okay."
Xiahou Zhuo gave him the silver and said, "From tomorrow on, no one is allowed to spend money to watch you eat. I can't say for sure that no one will dare to give you money."
Li Diudiu didn't ask why, he just said, "Okay."
Xiahou Zhuo said to those people, "Each of you owes me one tael of silver. Send it to me tomorrow."
"Yes Yes Yes……"
"No problem, no problem..."
A group of people nodded quickly and made way for him.
Xiahou Zhuo took Li Diudiu out. He seemed to be very famous in this academy. Most people they met on the road nodded and greeted him. Occasionally, there were some who didn't greet him and he just pretended not to see them.
When they arrived at the entrance of the academy, Xiahou Zhuo said to the gatekeepers, "His name is Li Chi. I asked him to go out and do something for me. Please write him a note."
One of the gatekeepers responded quickly and wrote a note to Li Diudiu: "You can come back anytime you want. Young Master Xiahou asked you to do something, so you must do it well."
It was as if Li Diudiu had become Xiahou Zhuo's follower, and because of his status as a follower, even the gatekeepers looked at him with admiration, and some even looked at him as if this kid had climbed up the social ladder.
Li Diudiu didn't care about that. He ran out with five servings of dumplings and five taels of silver. He just wanted to see his master as soon as possible.
Half an hour later, in the Shulin Building of the academy.
Xiahou Zhuo put his feet on the table carelessly , not behaving like a student at all, but the book collection teacher in Shulin Building didn't even bother to do anything.
Yan Qingzhi sat opposite Xiahou Zhuo. He squinted his eyes and looked at Xiahou Zhuo. After a while, he asked, "Why?"
Xiahou Zhuo shrugged and said, "You know I do whatever I want. I like that little brat, so I just pick up a little wild cat and give him something to eat."
Yan Qingzhi was silent for a long time and then said in a serious tone: "You will destroy him."
Xiahou Zhuo still looked indifferent: "I know what you mean, sir. You are afraid that such a special person will become a little follower, bullying others by taking advantage of the power of the tiger..."
He pulled his legs off the table, leaned forward, looked at Yan Qingzhi and said seriously: "Sir, are you tired of pretending to be a bad guy? You are not me. I am a real bad guy... The old man deliberately let you torture the child. I heard that the little girl couldn't stand it and threw a clod of dirt at your face."
Yan Qingzhi said: "It's none of your business."
"I'll take care of it later."
Xiahou Zhuo stood up and walked out, saying as he walked: "He is my little brother now, I will protect him from now on."
After walking a few steps, he stopped and looked back at Yan Qingzhi: "On the way to send him out of the academy, I heard him talk about his master. I was so soft-hearted."
Yan Qingzhi waved his hand: "Get lost."
Xiahou Zhuo smiled and said, "Let's go, sir."
After he left the Shulin Building, he whistled as he walked, wanting to stroll back to his residence. He didn't want to go home, because he had a private courtyard in the academy, which was not like the row of houses where Li Diudiu lived. Although Li Diudiu's house was also a single room, it was far inferior to the private courtyard where he lived.
When Xiahou Zhuo was halfway there, he stopped and saw Li Diudiu, who was sitting on the side of the road, crying and twitching.
He walked over and sat down next to Li Diudiu, looking at the bag that Li Diudiu was still holding tightly, which contained five servings of dumplings.
"did not find?"
"Um."
"Wuwei Temple is a place with high standards. How could they possibly take someone like your master in? If you go there, you will be driven away."
Xiahou Zhuo pulled out a piece of hairy grass and put it in his mouth, still looking indifferent.
Li Diudiu glanced at him and asked, "Have you guessed it a long time ago?"
"Um."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "Sitting in the Taoist hall and wearing fancy clothes to greet and see off guests, the Taoists in Wuwei Temple are no longer Taoists. Your master can barely be considered..."
Li Diudiu sobbed and said, "I lost my master."
Xiahou Zhuo stood up and patted Li Diudiu on the shoulder: "Go again in ten days, you will see him, if... your friendship is true."
