The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 2 Greed for Money
"Master, are you hungry?"
The little Taoist boy Li Diudiuer asked his master, Taoist Changmei. Taoist Changmei looked down at his belly and shook his head: "Not hungry."
Li Diudiu took out half a cake from his arms like a magic trick: "Well, I'll eat it myself."
The old Taoist was startled: "Where did you get the cake?"
Li Diudiu curled his lips and said, "You are the only one who can hide?"
He broke the cake in half, compared them carefully, and confirmed that they were about the same size. Then he handed a piece to the old Taoist: "I've told you to be fair. Why can't you learn like me? You're so old. What if I starve you to death on the way? What shall I do?"
The old Taoist took the cake, looked at it and sighed: "Aren't you hungry? This is what I gave you yesterday."
"I'm hungry, but I'm on a diet."
Li Diudiuer shrugged his shoulders and said, "Losing weight requires a lot of perseverance. Most people in this world fail to lose weight because they lack perseverance. I'm different. I don't have that condition to succeed."
The old Taoist looked at Li Diudiuer's thin appearance and said, "You? Why are you losing weight?"
"Losing weight looks good."
"Why is it good-looking?"
"What if some young lady from a rich family insists on marrying me?"
"Well……"
The old Taoist walked forward while chewing half a cake, smiling bitterly and shaking his head: "Following me, you have suffered a lot. You haven't even had a decent meal."
Li Diudiuer was curious: "Don't you feel guilty about it?"
"Why do you feel guilty?"
"Master, your bag is full of money, why don't you treat me to a good meal? Let's go forward, if we come across a restaurant, you can treat me to a good meal."
"Spend money?"
The old Taoist snorted , "No way."
Li Diudiuer sighed like an adult: "Is money so important?"
"Of course it's important."
The old Taoist patted his backpack and said, "You are still young. You don't understand. You don't know what money can buy. In your opinion, money can only buy delicious food and beautiful clothes. You are not old enough to understand the real use of money. Money can buy life."
"Buy your life?"
Little Li Diudiuer is indeed not old enough to understand these things. His master said that money can buy life, and all he can think of is buying other people's lives. There are so many people in this world who are crazy about money. As long as they have enough money, they can buy their lives and let them do anything, such as killing people and setting fires...
So in Xiao Li Diudiuer's view, money is not a good thing, and all the good things can only buy delicious food and new clothes.
"Yes, to buy my life."
As the old Taoist walked away, he said, “If you buy your life, you will be a different person.”
Little Li Diudiuer asked: "Master, whose life do you want to buy?"
The old Taoist was stunned for a moment, then realized that his young disciple must have misunderstood what he said, so he smiled and said, "You won't understand even if I tell you."
"I'm asking you because I don't understand. You are my master, and a master is someone who teaches and answers questions, so you have to teach me."
"Buy your life."
The old Taoist tapped little Li Diudiuer on the head.
Xiao Li Diudiuer rubbed his head and said, "Buy my life? That's not easy. Roast chicken, roast duck, roast goose, stewed meat, fire-baked meat and stewed tofu, these are all my life..."
The old Taoist saw that he was drooling while talking, so he laughed: "What a success!"
He asked Xiao Li Diudiu: "Disciple, do you have any ideals?"
"ideal?"
Xiao Li Diudiuer answered seriously: "I just said it."
The old Taoist chuckled: "Sure enough, you are useless."
He raised his head and looked at the sky: "Buying a life... It's actually not that difficult. As long as I have enough silver, it will be enough soon."
Little Li Diudiuer didn't understand. He thought that his master didn't really want his life. He was just curious about where he was going. Over the years, his master had been traveling back and forth within the seven counties of Youzhou and seldom went to Youzhou.
The master said that we should not go to Youzhou too often. It is a prosperous place and the rich people in the city live a life of luxury. It is not good for Li Diudiuer to see it too much. The people in the seven counties live almost the same life. It would be useful for him to see how the people live in the future.
But yesterday the master said that they would not continue to wander around the seven counties of Youzhou, and would take him to a very big city. He thought it was Youzhou, but he remembered that the master said Youzhou was in the north, and they were heading southwest.
"Master, where are we going?"
"Jizhou."
"Jizhou?"
Little Li Diudiuer had only heard of the name Jizhou, and the impression and concept of a big city in his mind was probably that of Youzhou, so he asked, "Same as Youzhou?"
"It's much bigger than Youzhou."
"Why go to Jizhou?"
"Jizhou has your life."
"Master, you picked me up in Jizhou?"
"no."
"Then why do you say that Jizhou has my life..."
"Silly boy."
As the old Taoist walked away, he said, "I have never hidden anything from you. You are not my child. I picked you up."
Xiao Li Diudiuer laughed and said, "I believe I picked you up... Bah, I was picked up by you. How could a woman like you be attracted to me? Which woman would be interested in you?"
The old Taoist tapped him on the head again, as if he remembered something, with a smile on his face.
"Ten years ago, I was scamming people in Fangcheng County... Bah, when I was preaching in Fangcheng County, there was a plague and too many people died. Your parents died of the plague. People probably thought you would also be infected by the plague, so they threw you and your family's bodies outside the city. There was a mass grave outside the city, and people didn't know how to deal with people who died of the plague."
"I thought, someone has to do it, so I hired a cart, loaded it with lime, took a hoe and left the city. But you turned out to be so tough, crying loudly among the dead bodies. I buried the body and covered it with lime, then took you away. At that time, I thought that I would probably be infected with the plague anyway, and so would you. We would have a companion if we died together, old and young."
He looked at Xiao Li Diudiuer with a doting look in his eyes: "But both of us are very lucky."
The old Taoist was inexplicably proud. "I was the one who gave you this name. I only knew that your family name was Li, so I named you Li Diudiuer. A lighter name means a longer life. When I get to Jizhou and finish my important work, I will have to change your name. I have decided on Li Chi, which means powerful and influential."
"Pooh."
Little Li Diudiuer laughed and said, "I'm so hungry that I can't even fart. Even farts can't make a difference in my stomach. How can I make a difference in the world?"
"I just said that, why do you take it seriously? But in Jizhou, a proper name is very important."
The old Taoist shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just live well."
He subconsciously touched the backpack on his back . The wallet was bulging inside. He had been saving money for several years, and it was almost enough. As long as he saved enough money, he could buy a different destiny for this brat. But of course he would not explain anything to this brat. Why should he let him understand so much? He just wanted to love him.
An old man and a young man walked along the official road. They had been walking for more than an hour and had not met anyone. Bandits were rampant in these seven counties. The common people either fled, died, or became bandits. When they were not bandits, they hated the bandits for killing, burning, and committing all kinds of atrocities. But after they became bandits, they still committed murder, burning, and committing all kinds of atrocities.
People are so damn complicated and fickle.
"Master?"
"Um?"
"I'm hungry again."
"Drink water."
"Well……"
Little Li Diudiuer took a sip of water and looked up ahead. It was afternoon and the sun was too bright, so the world seemed to become distorted. He vaguely saw something coming out of the distorted space in front of him and was startled.
Before he could react, he was pulled aside by his master. Immediately afterwards, a sound like muffled thunder was heard coming from the ground. The old Taoist put his hand on Xiao Li Diudiuer's head and made him lower his head. Then the old Taoist put his hands together and lowered his head. A team of armored cavalrymen whizzed past on the official road, and the sound of the wind brought by the horses was like a dragon's roar.
When the cavalry passed by, they laughed when they saw how pale, skinny and slovenly they looked, and the dust raised by the horses' hooves made them look even more miserable.
“This world is not right.”
A warhorse stopped in front of two people. On the horse was a young man who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was wearing exquisite and beautiful leaf armor. When he reined in the warhorse, the sound of the armor on his body seemed like the sound of nature.
The young man frowned and looked at them, as if he felt a little distressed.
"Taoists practice in peace and quiet in prosperous times, and come out to help the people in troubled times. How can these two Taoists help the people when they are almost starving to death?"
He stretched out his hand: "Give me the dry food!"
The personal soldier beside him took off the package and handed it to him. He leaned over and threw the package at Xiao Li Diudiuer's feet: "Take it and eat it. When you are full, go back to your Taoist temple to practice meditation. You can't save people even if you walk in the world. It's not people who are sick, but the world. You Taoists can't cure this disease. You might as well recite a few Taoist scriptures in the Taoist temple and pray for the Great Chu."
The old Taoist bowed his head and said, "Pray for the great Chu and the benefactor. May I ask your name? I will get a long-burning lamp for you when I return."
"No."
The young man laughed and said, "I don't know how long I can live, so I don't need an eternal lamp. For soldiers, life and death are unpredictable on the battlefield... But you can ask for an eternal lamp for my team. My name is Luo Jing, and I am a lieutenant under the command of Youzhou General Luo Geng. When you go back, light an eternal lamp for my Youzhou Yanyun Iron Cavalry and pray for my Iron Cavalry to defeat the bandits!"
The old Taoist nodded: "I'll remember that. Thank you for your kindness."
The young man laughed: "In this world, there are not many people who can remember Enshi."
The old Taoist hesitated for a moment: "Excuse me..."
"What?"
"Can I tell you your fortune?"
"I never believe in ghosts and gods, why do I need fortune-telling? Why...why do you want to tell fortunes for me?"
Luo Jing asked curiously.
The old Taoist felt a little embarrassed but said as if it was a matter of course: "After all, it's not good to ask for money directly."
Luo Jing was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud: "So you are a greedy guy, I thought you were a Taoist with high moral character. You want money? I never bring money when I go out, you can ask someone else for it."
He spurred his horse: "Gee!"
The blood-red warhorse neighed and galloped out at full speed. Hundreds of cavalrymen also accelerated, the sound of their hooves was like thunder and their momentum was like a rainbow.
Seeing him leave, the old Taoist sighed: "You are so stingy that you are reluctant to give me some money even though your family is so well-off."
"who is he?"
Xiao Li Diudiuer asked, and then added: "How impressive!"
"Didn't he just mention Youzhou General Luo Geng? That's his father. He is the young general Luo Jing who is known as the invincible general in the North. It's better to meet him in person than to hear about him... His face is not good."
Little Li Diudiuer asked: "What's wrong?"
"When anger is strong, there will be bloody disasters."
The old Taoist sighed and picked up the bag of dry food: "Aren't you hungry? Eat!"
He looked in the direction where the cavalry disappeared, and after a moment of silence, he asked Xiao Li Chi: "Do you envy him?"
Xiao Li Diudiuer nodded: "I'm envious."
The old Taoist hummed: "Let's go and eat while we envy."
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