Volume 1: The magnificent Qixia Mountain, the young sparrows faded their spots, the phoenixes jumped on the branches and cried Chapter 042 Heart Knot
The cold wind whimpered as it ran over the eaves, squeezed in through the doorway, and the oil lamp on the stove swayed gently.
"Let me tell you something. This afternoon, the head constable chased me across a hill. If my master hadn't repeatedly warned me not to attack ordinary people, I would have beaten him to a pulp with just one palm strike that day..."
The kitchen was dim, reflecting the shadows of five people eating around a small table. From time to time, Sun Yingxian's casual remarks made the three of them laugh, and the small room was filled with warmth.
Li Jinhua picked up a dish for her husband with chopsticks and saw her son holding the bowl and silently picking up rice grains.
"Liangsheng, what are you thinking about? If you don't eat now, the food will get cold."
Lu Liangsheng raised his head, hummed, took two bites, and smiled at his mother, "I'm not thinking about anything."
After saying that, he put down his bowl and chopsticks.
"Mom, Dad, I'm done eating."
Then, he stood up and walked to the stove, took an empty bowl and scooped a spoonful of hot soup from the wood stove. The cold wind was howling outside the window. When Lu Liangsheng turned around, he waved his wide sleeves to that side, and the slightly opened window closed with a "click".
Walking to the kitchen door, the door creaked and opened by itself. The boy walked out into the cold wind, and the door closed again behind him, leaving the old couple holding the bowl and chopsticks who had forgotten to eat, and the stunned Lu Xiaoxian.
Only Sun Yingxian curled her lips.
"Hmph... If I had a female ghost, I could pretend to be one..."
He stopped talking abruptly, and while the family of three opposite him were still in shock, he quickly reached out to the plate with his chopsticks, picked up the food from the bowl, held up the bowl, leaving only his eyes exposed, and shoveled the food into his mouth.
He, Lu Laoshi and Li Jinhua saw a different scene. Except for the fact that Lu Liangsheng was using his magic power to close the window, the female ghost was the one who opened and closed the door, so he naturally didn't think it was a big deal.
Lu Xiaoxian came to her senses, hit the Taoist with chopsticks, and then started to grab the food. Li Jinhua looked at the closed door, put down the bowl, and did not pay attention to the Taoist and his daughter's actions of grabbing things.
"Liangsheng, you have something on your mind."
Lu Laoshi nodded: "He is like this after coming back from outside. Is it because of that Wang Zhubu..."
The woman just sighed.
Outside, Lu Liangsheng walked over the eaves carrying soup. A cold wind blew past, pushing the door open. A young man walked into the room, waved his sleeves, and the oil lamp lit up with a flame as big as a bean.
The warm yellow light illuminated the room. Between the bedding on the bed, the Toad Taoist was shivering under the sheets. Feeling the light, he opened his eyes. Lu Liangsheng sat on the edge of the bed, holding a bowl that was steaming.
"Master, drink some hot soup to warm your body. It has ginger and scallions in it and tastes pretty good."
The Toad Taoist turned his face away and snorted, "No."
Nie Honglian waved her long sleeves to cover her delicate face, floated to the side of the young man, and her eyes curved into crescents: "Master Toad is in a bad mood. I've often heard that the older you get, the more you act like a child..."
"I'm not making a fuss!" Toad wrapped in the quilt turned in another direction.
The boy smiled and sat at the other end.
"Master, what happened to you?"
The quilt fluttered a few times, and the Toad Taoist stretched out his two short legs and sat up, hugging his webbed feet: "How can your academic master look down on people who practice cultivation? If I still have the magic power, I might talk to him and reason with him. I am old enough to be his grandfather!"
Hong Lianpiao sat down on the edge of the bed and chuckled.
"Same words as Master Sun."
"Don't mention that stinky Taoist priest!" The Toad Taoist priest jumped up in anger. "It makes me angry just talking about it. If he hadn't grabbed my cotton-padded jacket, I wouldn't have fallen into that pond!!"
Lu Liangsheng smiled and nodded: "Yes, I will scold him later." Then, he scooped a spoonful of warm soup and handed it to him: "You are angry, you should drink the soup first, so that you can have the energy to scold Sun Yingxian."
"You think your teacher is a shrew?!"
After Toad Taoist priests had probably finished speaking, they felt much better. They took a sip of the soup and felt a warm feeling in their stomach. Looking at the disciple in front of them, they suddenly felt that they were treated no worse than that old scholar.
He smacked his lips and said, "The taste is a bit bland. Ask your mother to add more salt next time. I am an expert in food..."
When he opened his mouth and took the second sip, he heard voices coming from the yard outside the house, followed by the voices of Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi.
"Grandpa, how come you are here without asking for help?"
The voice entered the room. Nie Honglian took the bowl from the bedside and said, "Master, go take a look outside."
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng nodded, said a few words to comfort the Toad Taoist, then stood up and opened the door. Lu Taigong, leaning on his pear wood stick and supported by Li Jinhua and Lu Laoshi, walked slowly to the eaves.
"I've been lying in bed for three months... I'm fine... I'm fine..."
The old man sat there, his eyes cloudy but kind. He looked at Lu Liangsheng coming over, and his toothless mouth smiled, wrinkling his face.
"I... came here just to thank Liangsheng in person... If it weren't for him, I'm afraid I would have been buried in the ground."
"Hey, grandpa, don't say thank you or not." Lu Laoshi is not a very talkative person. After saying a sentence, he forgot what to say next.
Lu Liangsheng took over the conversation: "My father is right, there is no need for a family to say thank you." He walked over, squatted in front of Lu Taigong, touched the old man's wrist with his fingertips, and felt his pulse.
In fact, he had never read any medical books, but there was an article in "Qinghuai Bugeng" that talked about how to use magic power to observe people's physical condition.
"Grandpa, you are still a little weak. You should not go out too often during this period, so as not to catch a cold, which will be troublesome."
The old man was very old, but he had never experienced any major events and had basically lived in the mountains all his life. Hearing Lu Liangsheng's calm words at this moment, he felt at peace.
He held the boy's hand, and after a while, he said, "Liangsheng... I'm sorry for you... Grandfather is also afraid of death, and he wants to see more of the children in the village. Their lives are getting better day by day. I have also heard that every household in the village is doing well now. Grandfather has nothing to thank you for."
He stood up from the stool unsteadily with the help of a cane and was about to bow down.
"only……"
"Grandpa!"
Lu Liangsheng quickly reached out to support the old man, "Grandpa, this is what Liangsheng should do...what he should do..."
What to do...
Mumbling these three words, I finally understood the knot between me and my mentor Tian Jian.
"Whether it is practicing to help others or serving as an official to benefit the people of the world...do not refrain from doing small acts of kindness."
After pushing the old man back to sit on the stool, Lu Liangsheng suddenly had a smile on his face.
Inside the house.
The soup bowl was empty. The Toad Taoist touched his bloated belly, leaned back in the quilt, squinted his eyes comfortably, and told the female ghost how he accepted Lu Liangsheng as his disciple. When he talked about the night he encountered the centipede monster, he paused.
"...At such a critical moment, he still came up."
The ghost girl lay on the bed, bent her legs and swayed slightly, propped up her chin, and her pretty face was full of curiosity: "Why? Aren't you afraid, sir?"
"Afraid? He... is just a pushover."
Taoist Toad looked at the swaying oil lamp and smiled.
"Guess what he said last?"
"say what?"
"He said: You are the master..."
The Toad Taoist sat up. He had some past that he couldn't talk about. After thinking for a while, he just smiled and said, "I only have this one disciple in my life."
The small lights flickered, illuminating the inside and outside of the house, the mountain village far away under the outline of the mountains, the city with thousands of lights, and a quiet courtyard with human figures cut through the tiny paper windows.
Amid the occasional barking of dogs, Zuo Zhengyang looked at the manuscript spread out on the desk, which looked like a crude relationship diagram drawn up in a hurry.
Soon, the tip of the pen dipped in ink circled the three words "Lujia Village".
The firelight reflected on his face, and his thick brows furrowed.
