Volume 1: The magnificent Qixia Mountain, the young sparrows faded their spots, the phoenixes jumped on the branches and cried Chapter 015: Love the flowers, deep and secluded, who will never return after hearing the song
The moon is bright in the sky.
The night wind blew across the long street, and the mist on the ground surged. At midnight, there were not many pedestrians on the street. The night vendors packed up their stalls and left in a hurry. The air was filled with mist, and a lantern with a burning light could be vaguely seen moving towards this side.
Boom boom boom…
"Be careful with fire and candles, close doors and windows to prevent thieves, Mr. Wang next door..."
Dongdong——
In the thin mist, the figure of the night watchman walked slowly from the end of the street, the lantern inserted at the back of his neck swayed gently, and occasionally the barking of dogs could be heard in the distance. He stopped, raised the lantern, and looked towards the street edge not far ahead.
The firelight in the paper cage shook suddenly, revealing the bodies of eight or nine people lying there side by side. Everyone was trembling on the spot with fear. Then, among the lying people, a shorter figure raised his face, looked at him, and then continued to lower his head.
There was the slight rustling of writing and snoring.
The night watchman immediately breathed a sigh of relief and looked back as he walked.
"Oh my god... It's so scary. You're still on the street in the middle of the night. Be careful that the evil ghosts in Fulefang will take you away."
The cursing words disappeared into the fog as the night watchman sounded the alarm.
Dong dong... The ethereal sound of clappers could be heard faintly in the distance. Lu Liangsheng straightened up, rubbed his dry eyes, picked up the petition paper spread on the ground, and blew away the ink that had not yet dried.
With the help of moonlight and excellent eyesight, I was able to imitate the model essay and write a clear account of the conflict between my village and the northern village. Fortunately, I had read "Nan Shui Shi Yi , which, in addition to magic, mostly contained short stories about the origins of magic.
By imitating the above description, he can also explain the whole story clearly. This is Lu Liangsheng's greatest effort.
After folding the petition and putting it in his arms, he remembered the Toad Taoist in the package. Amid the snoring of Lu Pan and others, Lu Liangsheng gently opened the bag.
"Master..." he called softly, and glanced at the eight men sleeping over there.
After a while, there was no response from the toad, so he probably thought it had fallen asleep, so he closed the bag, let out a light "eh", and reached into the package to grab something out.
Lu Liangsheng went to the street side and, in the moonlight, opened his palm. There was a sharp, hard object more than an inch long, dark blue in color. When he stroked it with his fingertips, he could feel fine and dense particles on it. The other end was wider and had an obvious fracture.
"When did I have this thing..."
"It was on the little monster's head last night. The mountain god cut it off. If I were still alive and well, I would never allow such a monster to do whatever it wants...quack."
When Lu Liangsheng heard the familiar voice, he turned around and saw the Toad Taoist standing there with his flippers on his back. He slowly walked out of the package and looked at the foreign object in the boy's hand.
He turned his head again and looked at the cold moon in the sky.
"The things on this little demon are useless, but you can use them."
"How do I use this monster?"
The toad raised its flipper and pointed at the brush that Lu Liangsheng had placed on the ground: "If you use it as a pen holder, it can be used for some purposes."
The young man sitting on the street looked at the horn cut off from the centipede's antennae in his hand, thinking deeply.
"Master, this is the wonderful fate you mentioned that day, right?"
"You see everything but don't tell me...quack!" The toad put on his flippers again and shook his head, cursing in his heart: If I had known about this wonderful fate, I would not have called that little centipede monster and made himself look so embarrassed.
Then, Taoist Zixing shook his toad face.
"That's all I have to say."
Then he changed the subject: "When you enter the foundation-building stage, I will teach you how to refine weapons..."
"... the raindrops fall on the eaves, the air is chilly... the wind is chilly... I look at my father from afar and cry my heart out... all the kindness we owe him is gone from now on..."
The voice gradually became quieter. Lu Liangsheng, who was waiting for him to continue, was about to speak when he frowned and looked towards the end of the long street. "It seemed like someone was singing opera just now..."
The air was thick with fog, and in the night wind, faint opera tunes could be heard, mixed with the sounds of cymbals, gongs and drums, echoing in the empty streets. At this time, the lights that were originally on in the houses were quickly turned off.
"... Baochai put on a jade bead in her hair... put on a colorful dress, opened her voice, and tried to win the hearts of all the distinguished guests... Who would have known... Who would have known... ah ah..."
The singing of "Ah" was so mournful and long that Lu Liangsheng got goose bumps all over his body.
"Master... this woman is singing so sadly in the middle of the night. Could it be that she has some unspeakable pain in her heart?"
Beside him, the Taoist Toad just hummed, seemingly not interested in the origin of the opera. When he was about to repeat what he had said before, the faint opera voice suddenly changed.
"... Who would have thought that Chen Lang was sending a scholar... half a foot of red water chestnuts to bury my body, maggots under the mud sucked my blood, who knows the inscription on the mud..."
The tone was cold and a chilly wind blew over.
Lu Liangsheng stood up, and the chill disappeared again. However, the eight strong men sleeping over there subconsciously hugged their arms and rubbed them a few times in their dreams, probably because they felt cold.
Taoist Zixing looked at them and then looked in a certain direction.
"Hmph... I have been in this world for many years and have seen all kinds of monsters and demons. How can such a demon be worthy of confronting me..."
At this point, Lu Pan's voice rang out: "Liangsheng, why aren't you asleep yet?"
The toad with webbed feet on its back hadn't finished speaking when Lu Liangsheng suddenly pushed him down, with his limbs spread out on the ground.
The boy turned around and smiled, "Just sleeping, I just finished writing."
"Then you should rest quickly. If you feel cold, just squeeze in the middle." Lu Pan hugged the short coat covering his body, folded his arms, turned over, and went back to sleep.
Lu Liangsheng let go of his hand, and the toad jumped up, its eyes wide open in anger.
"Press it again for me to try..."
There was another noise under the wall over there, and someone sat up. Lu Liangsheng quickly reached out and pressed it down. The toad's voice just stopped at the last word "try", and he was stuck to the ground.
Taoist Zixing's face was pressed against the ground, and it was deformed by the pressure.
"Evil disciple..."
Lu Qing got up and walked to the street in a daze. He untied his trousers and heard the sound of splashing water. He shivered twice and shook his body before lying back down.
The long street fell silent, and the deep and eerie opera singing voices disappeared. In the distance, the sounds of dogs barking and night watchmen beating could be heard.
The young man raised his palm, and the toad underneath did not move. Lu Liangsheng touched it with his hand, and it was opened by the lying Taoist Zixing.
"do not bother me!"
He got up and strode towards the package with anger.
"I never finish what I'm saying. I'm interrupted by one thing or another, and you, my evil disciple, pinned me to the ground and rubbed me. I'm not going to play with you any more!"
He stepped into the package and covered the bag: "Don't disturb me, the master is sleeping."
Lu Liangsheng didn't know how he had offended his master, but he didn't bother him. He sat down next to the package, leaning against the wall, thinking about some things, including the opera he had just heard. As he was thinking, he fell asleep.
At dawn the next day, the group of nine were awakened by patrol officers and scolded. Facing the people from the government office, Lu Pan and others could not act arrogantly. After nodding repeatedly, they took Lu Liangsheng away and went to the nearby streets to find a well to wash up. However, the well was surrounded by people.
They were whispering to each other, their expressions evasive.
"Did you hear it last night?"
"I heard it. It was creepy... My husband told me about it before, but I didn't believe it. It really was that sound. It was so scary."
"...I slept with my head covered all night, not daring to stretch out even a little bit."
…
"What are they talking about? What was that noise last night?" Lu Pan and others who were standing not far away waiting to get water looked at each other, all with confused expressions.
Just then, a figure ran in from the alley and waved at the crowd.
"I just heard that there's been another death in Mr. Chen's family, and all the people from the government office have gone there."
The people who were originally talking suddenly became excited. They even stopped fetching water and gathered together to discuss the matter.
Here, the nine people had important matters to attend to, which were none of their business, so they just listened, drew some well water, simply washed themselves twice, rinsed their mouths, and then walked to the yamen.
After arriving, Lu Pan took the petition from the young man's arms. He couldn't understand it, but the handwriting was densely packed and looked very beautiful. Besides, Liangsheng was his nephew and they were from the same village, so he could naturally trust him.
The petition was handed to the gatekeeper, who took it, glanced at it, and nodded: "The handwriting is good, but once you submit the petition, it will take a while for you to go to court..."
Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard behind the officer. The two gatekeepers quickly retreated to the sides, puffed out their chests and stood straight.
A figure in a dark blue close-fitting robe and a cloak walked out of the yamen. He was wearing brown leather armor, a slender black shark skin knife at his waist, and black cloth boots with white patterns. He walked down the stone steps step by step, without even looking at Lu Liangsheng and others standing next to him. He mounted the horse brought by the police and jumped up directly. Behind his back, there were two majestic long-handled broken-blade knives. The blades reflected the morning light, cold and white.
The man pulled the reins and rode to the street with more than a dozen detectives.
"You saw it just now, right? That's the left captain of this county. He will soon be promoted to the thief commander in the county town. He has to go out in person now... Something big happened in the family of Mr. Chen, so other things have to be put aside for now and dealt with later."
The officer stood back in his original position, waved his hand and started to drive people away.
