Volume 1: The magnificent Qixia Mountain, the young sparrows faded their spots, the phoenixes jumped on the branches and cried Chapter 026: A little rice brings gratitude, a big rice brings hatred
The morning light broke through the gaps in the clouds and spread across the mountain village. In the farmyard and vegetable garden, sunflowers turned towards the sun, dewdrops dripped from the tips of the leaves, and the crawling toad opened its mouth and yawned, and cool drops of water fell into its mouth, which was then swallowed into its stomach.
The white hen was paddling the ground. Lu Xiaoxian walked into the shed holding a pile of hay. Soon, Li Jinhua's voice was heard yelling from the kitchen. Lu Laoshi sat down at the door in an orderly manner and started weaving a basket.
The door of a nearby room opened, and Lu Liangsheng walked out of the room and filled a bucket with clean water to wash up. Although it was better outside, he still felt more comfortable at home. During this period of time, he had experienced many things, and his knowledge and cognition were much better than before. Especially the incident of the female ghost Hong Lian made him understand the wickedness of the world and human nature.
If I were to experience it again, I would still choose to help the other person.
After breakfast, Lu Liangsheng returned to the house, took the book "Qinghuai Bugeng" with him, and took some pen, ink and paper. He walked to the vegetable garden as usual, took his master with him, put him on his shoulders, and went out to the river.
After having some ideas, Lu Liangsheng found some things to do for the time being. If the villagers were in need, he would help them more. "Nanshui Shiyi" contains magic spells to harm and punish people, while another book "Qinghuai Bugeng" records things related to talismans, among which there are dozens of things related to helping people.
As for the improvement of his own cultivation, he is currently still at the small realm of practicing Qi and opening the elixir, mainly because Toad Taoist asked him not to continue practicing.
Otherwise, by now, you should be able to practice Qi, right?
As he walked through the village, villagers who had gotten up early to do farm work greeted him one after another. Since returning from Fushui County, Lu Pan and his eight companions had told the stories of their experiences with evil spirits and centipede monsters, which caused quite a stir.
"You don't know, that centipede is taller than our house when it stands up!"
"…The centipede's feet are so sharp that they can pierce a person and make a bloody hole."
"Also, the evil ghost that haunted Mr. Chen's family was of great origin. But to be honest, that female ghost was too miserable. Even a grown man like me almost cried... Mr. Chen's son really deserved to die!"
On the evening they came back, the eight of them sat by a fire at the entrance of the village and proudly recounted what they had seen. The villagers were stunned and could not close their mouths, especially when they learned that the chief clerk in the county government had given three books to Lu Liangsheng. That was a big deal, and they looked at the young man differently these days.
It's fine to just listen to the stories about gods and ghosts. It 's a great honor to tell others that there's a scholar in the village. If outsiders don't believe it, the villagers will raise their chins and say proudly, "Don't believe it? The young man who sometimes leads an old donkey with a toad on his shoulder is Lu Lang from our village. He often wanders around the river and the fields. If you don't understand something, go and ask him and he will definitely give you an answer."
"Since you are a scholar, what are you doing outside?"
"I don't know. That's what scholars do. But I always see Liangsheng throwing stones into the water. I don't know what he's doing."
“…”
By the river outside the village.
Lu Liangsheng squatted on the river bank and looked at the slowly flowing river. He pinched his fingers and raised them upwards. A stone on the shore flew into the water with a bang, splashing water.
"My cultivation is still too low..."
He shook his head and continued to flip through the book in his hand. "Master, if this magic array makes the river water spiritual, will it make the fish, shrimps and crabs in the river become spirits?"
"Becoming a spirit? That's not that easy." The toad opened his mouth and breathed in the fresh morning air, as if practicing breathing techniques. He also said casually, "The techniques in the book are just some small tricks that can make the water quality better, and the fish and shrimp will grow much bigger and have better meat quality."
Lu Liangsheng stopped flipping the pages, wrote down a piece of content, and tilted his head to look at the toad.
"What about irrigating the crops?"
"Of course it's good." The toad rolled his eyes, swallowed the mosquitoes flying by with his long red tongue, and licked his mouth: "By the way, last time I told you that there is another cultivation method."
"Um?"
"It should be quite rare... "The Right Way of Heaven and Earth"
"Master, you really know a lot."
"Haha, that's it."
The Toad Taoist rolled his eyes and turned his toad face away… The original owner of the magic formula was swallowed by this old man in one gulp. Everything became mine, so how could I not know a lot?
"Come closer and take note of the formula. Then practice according to it. It will suit your personality."
The formula was a bit long, and was very different from what Toad had taught him before. It was dry and difficult to understand. Fortunately, Lu Liangsheng had a good memory, and he wrote it down on paper while reciting it.
"Practice at noon every day... Okay, I'll make a note of that."
After placing the last stone in the water, it was almost noon. He dusted himself off and walked back with his master. Every twenty feet on the river, there was a magic circle made of stones at the bottom of the river. This was what Lu Liangsheng had been busy with for the past half month. If they went further down, they would reach Beicun.
It is still necessary to go there in the afternoon.
When I returned to the village entrance, I heard people shouting and cursing from afar.
"Lu Erlai, you really haven't changed your bad habits. You've started stealing things again!"
"...This bastard, after using up his share, now wants to target my family. This guy deserves to be beaten."
"We haven't even settled the score from last time, and this guy is starting to act dishonestly again..."
The gathered villagers pushed the skinny villager over there, and after they dealt with him, they saw Lu Liangsheng coming back. Someone told him what had happened, saying that Lu Erlai was lazy and had spent the money, and had started stealing things again.
Lu Erlai, who was holding his head, put down his hands when he saw that everyone had dispersed. He looked at Lu Liangsheng who was approaching with a grin on his face.
"Liangsheng, I have this old habit of spending money lavishly. I was careless and spent all the silver you gave me last time... It's all my fault, Liangsheng, you see... why don't you give me a little more help? You still have so much silver left anyway..."
The people around immediately got angry and surrounded him again, shouting and yelling.
"Do you think money falls from the sky?!"
"Why would you want another one..."
Lu Liangsheng separated the crowd, suppressed his discomfort, and said to Er Lai with a smile: "You can have another share, as long as you cultivate your family's fields this afternoon, then I will give you another part."
These words were naturally spoken with good intentions. If this method could help a person correct himself, it would be a merit. After all, I heard that the master's practice of Taoism is also about cultivating virtue.
Seeing that the main person had said so, the others stopped nagging. Over there, Lu Erlai smiled and rubbed his hands, nodding: "Liangsheng, this is what you said, don't regret it, I'll go back and dig the ground now."
"Naturally, we keep our word."
After Lu Liangsheng said this, he squeezed through the crowd and went back home. Lu Erlai waved his hand to let everyone go and ran back excitedly. He could get one or two taels of silver by digging a few acres of land, which was equivalent to giving it to him for free.
After noon, he didn't care about the scorching sun above his head and went to the fields carrying a rusty hoe. The few acres of his own field was overgrown with weeds. He dug with the hoe and turned over the soil with the roots. It was very difficult.
"Damn... I thought it was easy."
After just a few swings of the hoe, Lu Erlai's hands felt weak and sweat broke out all over. He sat down on the edge of the field and stared at the holes in the east and west.
A strange idea came to my mind.
"Why does Lu Liangsheng have hundreds of taels of silver... He has so much, so what if he gives me a few taels?"
He wiped the sweat off his neck, stood up, picked up the hoe and prepared to stop working. Suddenly, he swung it towards the field again, smiled and pointed in one direction, nodding: "Liangsheng, where are you going?"
"I have something to go out for."
After lunch, Lu Liangsheng went to Beicun as planned and set up a small magic circle containing spiritual energy in the lower reaches of the river. This way, even if the water level is low, the crops can still have a good harvest.
Looking at the leaving figure, Lu Erlai's eyes rolled around, and when the person walked away, he hurriedly picked up the hoe and ran home. He put the hoe against the wall and walked towards Lu Liangsheng's house.
“…I think it’s at home.”
Hiding in the corner, seeing that Lu Laoshi was not under the eaves, Li Jinhua ran to pick up eggs in the weeds behind the house. Lu Erlai was so happy that he rushed into the yard quickly, scaring the hen that was pecking at the ground and making it run around with a "cluck".
squeak……
He tiptoed to the eaves. The door of the middle room was half-open. Lu Xiaoxian was taking a nap on the bed. Staring at the white soles of her feet, Lu Erlai licked his lips.
"If I have enough time, I might even be able to get a wife for free."
After thinking for a moment, he turned and went to the next door. The door was not locked, so he pushed it gently and walked in easily. A faint scent of books and ink filled his nose.
There was a big toad lying next to the wooden pillow at the head of the bed.
"It must be the Golden Toad that attracts wealth... Lu Liang hasn't even fully grown his hair yet, how could he possibly get hundreds of taels of silver for nothing? Take them all away later!"
He swept his eyes around the room again, looking at the inkstone, the books, and the paintings on the wall, and his mouth was wide with smile: "They should be worth some money. Once they are in my room, they are mine..."
Lu Erlai fixed his eyes on the beauty in the scroll and touched her carefully with his fingers.
"Tsk tsk... So beautiful, my beauty, you will be in my room soon."
After saying that , he began to rummage through the drawers and cabinets in the house, trying to find the several hundred taels of silver. At the head of the bed, a huge toad opened its eyes, stared at his diligent back, and then closed them again.
Lu Erlai shuddered, stopped and touched his neck.
"Why is it so cold?"
The beauty in the painting on the wall suddenly moved her eyes, and slowly extended her scarlet nails to the back of Lu Erlai who was touching his neck.
