Chapter 282: Flowers wither in the dream, flowers bloom in the yard
A grey donkey with a bag on its back and a Taoist sitting on it. The bag was old and white, and the Taoist's robe was also old and white. The bag swayed, and the Taoist swayed too, and they slowly went down the mountain.
The fox was already familiar with the road and walked in front.
Walking down the mountain, before reaching the official road, I saw quite a few people walking on the small road.
There were people walking with me, coming from another fork in the road behind me, and there were people coming from the opposite direction, obviously going to Fengshan, but obviously not going to Hongye Temple. There were businessmen and common people, as well as women and young ladies dressed in rich clothes, most of them were women.
There are also police officers.
The path was too narrow for carriages or sedan chairs to pass through, so most people on the road walked, or rode in bamboo sedan chairs carried by two people, and some rode donkeys.
The fox was very polite and stopped by the roadside to give way.
An obese middle-aged man riding a big black donkey walked past it. It was only March and the weather could only be described as warm. The middle-aged man was obviously not walking, but he was sweating profusely. While walking, he kept raising his hands and wiping the sweat with a handkerchief. It was obvious that he was very weak.
The fox first looked at him curiously, then at the donkey he was riding.
What a big guy!
What a big donkey!
He turned around to look at Lin Jue, then at the black donkey. After comparing them, he found that it was indeed bigger than his own donkey.
But our donkey is not small either.
It’s not as big as some big donkeys, but it’s bigger than some skinny donkeys.
A middle-class donkey, huh?
Yes, the one at home is a mediocre one.
The fox thought so.
Lin Jue behind him was already very confused and couldn't help asking, "Fellow believer, may I ask why there are so many people on this road today?"
"what?"
The middle-aged man stopped, wiped his sweat and looked at him: "Aren't there so many people on this road every day?"
"is it?"
"No, isn't it?"
Lin Jue realized upon hearing it that he didn't know either.
"Although we haven't walked this road many times, there were very few people on the road when we walked it before. There were only people from the village over there." Lin Jue said, "Why are there so many people today?"
"I don't know. This is my first time here too." The middle-aged man stopped the donkey and panted as he spoke to him. "But there is a deity living on this mountain. It is said that he has some special abilities that can help people get rid of their, uh, puffy skin. Many wealthy women and daughters of the capital city, as well as singing girls and dancers, have come here and said that it is very effective. I have had this puffy skin for a few years and it won't go away. Now, let alone walking, I can't even finish a long sentence. So, that's why I came here to try."
He paused, took a deep breath, and craned his neck to look at the people on the road:
"My guess is that it is the end of spring and the approach of summer. The wives and concubines of the wealthy families in the capital and the women in the brothels are about to expose their bodies. They are a little anxious, so they come to ask the gods for help."
Hearing this, Lin Jue looked at the people on the road again.
There were many people just now, but now there are few. However, when I think about it carefully, most of the people I met on the road were women with extraordinary clothes, and some women with lead and white paint on their faces. Men like this official were rare.
"Where is it from?"
"This way."
The middle-aged man raised his fat hand and pointed.
Lin Jue looked over there.
This stretch of mountains is full of maple trees. I was coming from that direction. Niu Village is in the middle. If I want to go to Hongye Temple, I should go to the right, but the middle-aged man pointed to the left.
It doesn't look like it's in the same direction, but it doesn't seem to be far away.
Lin Jue suddenly remembered the treasures that he and his companions had buried in the mountain behind the Taoist temple, which were dug out and buried again. At that time, he also guessed that there might be a neighbor on the mountain, but until now, no spirit had come to visit them. He didn't know whether it had never come, or it just happened to arrive when they were in the capital.
"Help people lose weight?"
"almost."
"Do you know the name of this immortal?"
"No, no name."
"Unknown name?"
"yes……"
"You dare to worship someone you don't know?" Lin Jue was so surprised that he couldn't help laughing. He had seen people worshipping evil gods, but he had never seen anyone so chaotic as this.
"Alas, desperate to try any possible means, there is still no solution."
"Thank you for your kindness. Be careful."
"Yes, yes! Thank you, too, Taoist Priest!"
A big black donkey and a gray donkey passed by each other.
The fox still walked to the front, and when he saw that there was no one around, he jumped lightly and flew very far away with the wind. However, he still couldn't help looking back and comparing the two donkeys.
I wandered to the capital.
Although Lin Jue's face was far from being as good as Master Fan's, who could make a living by relying on his looks, the guard at the city gate was the first to recognize him and invited him in without waiting for him to show his ordination badge.
Passing by the Juxian Mansion, several more people came to visit.
Lin Jue took a curious look.
Although the gray donkey did not know the way, it knew to follow the fox. Without waiting for the fox to look further, the fox had already taken lazy steps, carrying him across the long street and into the house.
There were a few miscellaneous poems on the wall. Lin Jue knew at a glance that Mr. Pan should not have returned recently. When he walked into the house, he did not see Mr. Pan, but only a figure in a Taoist robe standing under the willow tree by the lake. He was seen with his hands behind his back and his head raised, leaving a weakened back, as if he was worried about the affairs of the world, and seemed to be about to utter a poem, but it was unknown what it was.
However, when he heard the words "The donkey is back", he turned around abruptly, and the mysterious look on his face disappeared without a trace.
If other people in the capital saw this, they would not believe that Master Fan, who was highly respected by many people in the capital and even in northern Qinzhou, and was also very impressive outside, would be so respectful and polite to this young Taoist in this courtyard.
"Fellow Daoist, you're back? Just in time! I've received a reply to the letter I asked that spirit to take to Huizhou!"
"Where? When did it happen?"
This was not unexpected to Lin Jue.
I had heard from Master Fan before that this spirit was good at running, so it shouldn't be difficult for it to travel a thousand miles a day. But it sent the letter before the New Year, and even if it took time to find the way, it should have returned to the capital within the first month of the year, but it didn't come back. Lin Jue knew at that time that it was probably waiting for a reply from his brothers.
“I came back early last month.
"I'll get it."
Master Fan flicked his sleeves and left immediately. Lin Jue couldn't bear to ask him to get it for him, so he followed him and waited at the gate of his courtyard.
I saw that the layout of Fan Tianshi's yard was similar to his yard, but slightly larger. There was also a tree in the middle, but it was a loquat tree, which was already lush and leafy at this time of year. He entered a room and soon came out holding a small box.
"It's all here."
"it is good."
Lin Jue opened the box and saw that it was full of envelopes.
He said thank you and then left.
The fox returned to the yard before him and was now standing under the crabapple tree in the yard, staring up at the branches with his head slightly tilted, as if he was thinking about something.
Lin Jue also took a look. He didn't find it strange at first glance. He just felt that it was the same as the first time he came to the hospital. It was not until the second glance that he realized something was wrong.
After thinking about it for a while, it suddenly dawned on me.
It is already late spring. The peach, plum, apricot and pear trees on the mountain have all blossomed and withered. The loquat tree in Master Fan's courtyard has also grown lush and leafy, but this crabapple tree is still bare, just like it was in the cold winter of last year.
This is obviously not normal.
Just as he was thinking about it, Mr. Luo also walked out of the house.
"Mr. Luo, this tree..."
"I don't know what happened, but it hasn't bloomed or grown leaves this year, but it hasn't died either."
"That's it..."
I don’t know why and I can’t figure it out.
Lin Jue didn't have time to think about it for the moment. He just sat down at the stone table, put down the box, and took out the letters one by one.
There were seven senior brothers in total. Except for the third senior brother, the other six senior brothers replied to the letter. They also replied to him and the younger junior sister respectively, for a total of twelve letters.
Lin Jue naturally only looked at his own.
After thinking about it, he started with the sixth senior brother.
As expected, Sixth Brother was the last one to write.
Why did these letters wait until early February to be sent back? Of course, it was because Lin Jue and the younger sister asked the sixth brother to help take the letter to Yishan. The sixth brother had to go find someone, and then the eldest brother had to wait for the eldest brother to finish writing and entrust someone to bring it to the sixth brother. After the sixth brother received the letter, he started to send it back.
Sixth Senior Brother made this clear in his letter.
Lin Jue patiently read them one by one.
Nowadays, the world is becoming more and more chaotic. All high-ranking officials are very concerned about the direction of the current situation, which concerns their interests and even their lives. The sixth senior brother is good at divination, so he is doing very well in Qiu Ru County.
The fourth senior brother lives close to him and went to visit him to celebrate the New Year this year.
Shimen Mountain in Biluo County is indeed a suitable place for the fourth senior brother and his good friends to practice meditation. The fourth senior brother said in the letter that he stayed with his good friends all day, playing the flute, brewing tea, and practicing. He also made friends with the mountain gods and the spirits in the deeper parts of the forest. He lived a very comfortable life. The leisure revealed in those words was like the life of a god, and even Lin Jue envied it when he read it.
Fifth Senior Brother is in Cuiwei County and often travels around practicing medicine.
He did not mention his own gains and losses, but Senior Brother Seven said in the letter that he had heard of Senior Brother Five's reputation even in Mingxia County.
And Seventh Senior Brother's social skills were indeed very strong. His Taoist temple was right on the roadside, and he really did as he said, buying several guest halls to accommodate passers-by for free. Merchants often passed by and stayed in his Taoist temple. Later, some people even came specifically to visit. As a result, he had established friendships with several traveling merchants. With the help of these merchants, he could send letters from Fuqiu Peak in Yishan to Langfeng County. When he and his junior sister did not reply to any letters, thanks to Seventh Senior Brother, several senior brothers had exchanged several letters with him.
Just waiting for the address of myself and my junior sister.
The second senior brother's letter was very brief. He only said that he had been to Yuankuze County, found many rare treasures, and refined many pills. He said that if they needed them, they could go back and get them.
After reading it carefully, I found it was already dusk without realizing it.
It seems that several brothers have found their own lives, or have made great progress in their spiritual practice.
Several senior brothers have several things in common.
First, he was not worried about the third senior brother at all, and the second senior brother even blamed the third senior brother for being too unreliable. The seventh senior brother was very interested in their experience that night, and was also very curious about what the Princess Hua who was pursuing the third senior brother looked like.
Secondly, they had almost all learned the spells that he had given them before leaving, and some would even mention a few words in their letters to discuss with him.
Third, please be careful in the capital and take good care of your junior sister.
"..."
Lin Jue shook his head, feeling very complicated.
It seemed as if there was a smile on his face, which he did not notice unconsciously when reading the letter. However, his heart was full of emotion and sigh. After reading the letter, he inevitably felt a little disappointed.
I wanted to read it again, but it’s getting late.
I had no choice but to put away the letters and go back into the house.
No matter what, these letters came at the right time, as if I had reunited with several senior brothers in this season of falling flowers.
I couldn't help thinking about it all night, and I unconsciously dreamed back to Fuqiu.
It was as if I had returned to the past, it was also spring, when nine brothers and sisters and their master were sitting together in the peach blossom forest on Fuqiu Peak. There were often white foxes running in the wind in the forest, and cats jumping up to catch insects. Everyone in the master's sect sat casually under the peach trees, eating, drinking and chatting, not talking about the past, not thinking about the future. There were no worries at all, only trivial matters and joy.
The seventh brother picked up the petals and turned them into butterflies, and the breeze blew away the azalea petals.
The things in the dream were too real, as if he had really returned to the past, so much so that when Lin Jue woke up, he actually seemed to smell a faint fragrance.
But this fragrance is not from peach blossoms or rhododendrons.
I got up and pushed the door open, and seemed to see two figures, graceful and elegant, flashing across the yard.
The faint fragrance he smelled was neither an illusion nor a relic from a dream, but rather the crabapple tree in the courtyard. The tree was bare yesterday, but suddenly it was full of flowers overnight, as if it was waiting for him to come back and see it.
Half Xifu and half Chuisi.
The petals are as white as jade and grow all over the branches. Behind them are the courtyard wall and tile eaves. A pale white moon has not yet left the early morning. It is quietly beautiful, yet breathtaking.
"Please enjoy the flowers..."
I vaguely heard one sentence, so faint that it seemed like an illusion.
Lin Jue was stunned for a moment, then smiled.
Perhaps this was the spirits in the courtyard returning the respect he showed them.
(End of this chapter)
