When the two came to the door of the main hall, the old Taoist priest was just about to come out, and when he saw Liu Qiao and Hou Liangzhu coming, he immediately said: "The two of you eat so fast, after the apprentice came back just now, we first moved the things in his house, and now the house has been vacated, and you can live in it now, I don't know what you still lack?" ”

Liu Qiao said: "It's so troublesome for the viewer, we don't lack anything, but now I want to ask the viewer a few words, I don't know if the viewer is convenient now?" ”

The old Taoist priest said: "The apprentice is cooking, it is estimated that it will be half an hour younger, and now that the poor Taoist is free, do you think you will go outside and talk while walking, or go to the house to sit down and drink tea?" ”

Liu Qiao thought for a while and said: "Let's go outside to talk, you just moved things in the house, it is estimated that it is a little messy, we have just finished eating and drinking, we don't need to drink tea, we can take a walk to eliminate food, remember the URL of this site:. After speaking, he instructed the guards next to him to ask someone to clean up the room vacated by the old Taoist apprentice, and by the way, vacate a few firewood rooms next to him.

The three of them walked out of the Taoist temple to the west, only to see a clear river flowing slowly until the mouth of the mountain loop, presumably this is the upstream of the small river they saw when they came in, it seems that this small river flows out of the mountain crevice in the west around the Taoist temple, and then flows out from the mouth of the mountain loop, it is estimated that the soldiers use the water in this small river for cooking. Looking forward along the river, I saw that there were a lot of miscellaneous numbers growing on the bank, which were not tall, crooked, crooked, disorganized, and disorganized, and the size was different, so that people knew that they were wild at a glance. On the other side of the river, there are several farmhouse courtyards on the side of the mountain, and on this side of the river are some rice fields, the water in the fields has dried up, and the ears of rice have been pulled out, waiting for the sun to ripen the ears of rice.

Liu Qiao asked, "These rice fields belong to these farmers?" ”

The old Taoist priest said: "The river as the boundary was originally the property of Guanli, but then it was occupied by the farmers and no longer paid rent, at that time my master went to the county to fight a lawsuit but there was no result, the county order said that there were no two people in the temple to occupy so many fields It is unreasonable, and in the end it will not be done." I don't dare to do much when I take over as the master now, I should have snickered if they didn't come to invade the house, how could I dare to ask myself for being bored? ”

Hou Liangzhu said strangely: "It is impossible to have such a confused county order, right?" As long as there is a land deed, even if the county order connives, the villagers can go to the state capital to complain, is it that you yourself are not coming from the right way or there is no land deed at all? ”

The old Taoist priest said with some embarrassment: "There must be local villagers in the field deed who also know that this is the property of Guanli, but a few people died because of the affairs in Guanli, and the villagers thought that Guanli should be responsible for forcibly occupying the property and forcibly cultivating it, and the county order finally sentenced them to pay rent for the rations provided to everyone in the Taoist temple." ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "I see, because of your reasons, a few people died, and it is okay if you are not dragged to resist your fate, and the county decree is fair in this sentence." ”

Liu Qiao ignored the old Taoist priest's old past, and just asked, "Where is the source of this river?" Why do you dig wells when the river is so clear? ”

The old Taoist priest said: "The source of this river is a spring about two miles above the mountain, this spring water is very hot in winter and cold water in summer, some people have also seen live fish a foot long from it, it should be a spiritual spring." It's late summer and early autumn, and there is a lot of rain and a lot of water seeping down the mountains, so the water in this river is clear and abundant, but in winter and spring, the river is only a shallow palm deep, and it is not as convenient to pick up water in the river as well water. Moreover, I heard that the well in the temple was not dug intentionally, but something else dug deep and water came out, so the master at that time, my master, decided to dig deeper and finally build a well with stones. ”

Liu Qiao looked at the old Taoist priest and asked: "You said that your master was the master of the temple here at that time, as far as I know, this Taoist temple was built for a maximum of sixty years, is the person who built the Taoist temple your master?" He's still not there? Where is it? ”

The old Taoist priest looked at the sky, as if he was recalling something, and thought for a while before saying: "If my master is still alive now, he should be more than eighty years old, this Taoist temple was indeed built by him, and it was fifty years ago, when the poor Taoist was only seven years old. One day thirty years ago, he left suddenly and didn't say anything, and then remembered that he was so abnormal before he left, and he didn't reprimand me much, but just told me carefully about all the affairs in the view, and I guess he had the idea of leaving at that time. ”

Hou Liangzhu interrupted his memories regardless of the old Taoist's feelings and asked: "According to what you said, your master left thirty years ago, and he was over fifty years old at the time, and now even if he is still alive, it is a question of whether he can breathe evenly, so there is no need for us to think about it anymore." I only care about what this well is, according to you he didn't originally want to dig a well, but only dug out the water, so you know what he was going to dig in the first place? ”

The old Taoist priest shook his head and said, "Poor Dao was only seven years old at the time, and I was not there when the master asked someone to dig the well, and then I came to the Taoist temple to worship him as a teacher after a while. ”

Liu Qiao said: "Since your teacher asked someone to help, is there still anyone who helped at that time?" ”

The old Taoist priest shook his head and said: "Poor Dao was seven years old and now he is fifty-seven, most of the people who built the Taoist temple back then were people from the clan, they should have been about thirty years old at the time, and now they should be in their seventies and eighty years old in the past fifty years, and Poor Dao doesn't remember that there are people in the clan who have lived so long." ”

Liu Qiao said: "You said that you are a clansman, then you were also a local living around before you left home?" ”

The old Taoist priest said: "Yes, the poor Taoist family surname Long, turn around this ravine outside all the people surnamed Long, it is said that when the construction of this Taoist temple, the master did not have much money after buying the land, and negotiated with the clan that he sent the clan to work for free, the condition is that in the future, no matter who is the main person surnamed Long, can come here to become a monk, and the poor Taoist is the first person to enjoy this benefit." ”

Living a poor life and saying that they are enjoying the benefits, thinking about it, this is also a reasonable thing, at least they don't have to pay taxes and sleep in the temple, and someone will give them food to eat, and they are indeed enjoying happiness than those ordinary people who have to pay taxes with their faces to the loess and their backs to the sky.

As he was talking, he saw the apprentice of the old Taoist priest come to compare and let him go back to eat, Liu Qiao asked him to go back and said that he still had to walk by the river→ after the Taoist priest left, Liu Qiao asked the guards to call ten soldiers to come with tools, ready to go to the source of the river to have a look, the clear river water is still warm in winter and cool in summer, and what is even more strange is that it is said that there will be fish occasionally coming out, which is not strange and does not believe anything, thinking of this Liu Qiao can't help but have some expectations. After a while, ten soldiers came with shovels and hoes and other tools, and one person also brought a leather bucket and said that he could catch fish and go back to eat, Liu Qiao nodded and praised, and everyone set off along the river to the source.

Everyone went forward along the river, passing by two houses, and the watchdog of these two households knew the news, roaring and even roaring, provoking the surrounding dogs to participate in the sound group attack, but seeing that these people were too fierce with knives and sticks, they only kept a safe distance from each other□, and Qiao and the others didn't put a few earth dogs in their eyes, but just walked forward, except for the one who wanted to eat fish, he looked at the fat and thin of several dogs, and looked at the ill-intentioned eyes of the bucket, and several dogs barked more fiercely but also farther away, Sending Liu Qiao and others all the way, they waited until they were far away, and then went home to ask for merit from the master.

As Long Daoist said, after walking about two miles, he arrived at a mountain recess, a small spring covered with half of the moss and duckweed appeared on the water surface in front of everyone, from the empty water surface did not see the legendary live fish, now life is difficult, it is estimated that even if there is someone to eat□ Qiao Qiao circled around the spring and did not find anything suspicious like the eye of the earth, he did not give up and took a hoe and smashed it twice on the bottom of the stone under the spring, except for a small amount of mud and sand to make the water appear muddy, and did not find anything special.

Hou Liangzhu asked softly: "Brother Liu, I have already discovered the place where the spring water is bubbling, do you need to dig the spring bigger to see what it is?" Or dig up all the land around and see if there's the spot you're looking for? ”

Liu Qiao thought for a while and said, "There is no need to dig the spring bigger, ask the brothers to hoe the grass around first and then look at it, if it is really strange, you will definitely be able to see it." ”

This world is unpredictable, everyone used the tools in their hands to hoe the grass on the bank of the spring and found that except for the stone is the soil, there is no particularly conspicuous place, at this time someone reported that there are two young people on the side of the road in the distance to fetch water, seeing that there are officials and soldiers here too frightened to come□ Qiao walked over and asked: "Are you the villagers here?" Do you know what's suspicious around here? ”

One of the two young people was very nervous, and he clung to the flat pole that carried the water and bit his mouth and did not dare to respond, and the other was a little bolder and replied: "Even if there is a suspicious place, it is not here, this spring is only cleaned in the spring, except for two large mussel shells, if you really want to say that there is a place nearby, it should be on the mountain behind, and the old man of the family has repeatedly told everyone not to go up." ”

Liu Qiao asked, "Is it because you feel suspicious because you haven't been there or have you seen something with your own eyes?" ”

The young man said, "What do you see when you never go up?" I didn't hide it from the official that I had run all over the surrounding mountains, but I hadn't been to the mountain behind me, so I felt suspicious. ”

Liu Qiao said: "I'm bothering you to carry water, let's go right away, you can continue to carry water." ”

On the way back, Hou Liangzhu said: "Brother Liu, I remember what the two book guides said in the morning, they said that many years ago, more than 20 young people encountered fairies on the back mountain and were killed. ”

Liu Qiao thought for a while and said: "It is very likely that Daoist Long said that only a few people died, and the two clerks said that more than 20 people died, but one was exaggerating and the other was deliberately saying less." But it doesn't matter, as long as we know that there are strange things on the mountain, let's go back and ask about the things on the mountain of Daoist Long, and find a chance to go up the mountain tomorrow to see what is going on. ”

When the two returned to the temple, Daoist Long had finished eating and was waiting for them in the main hall, and when he saw them come back, he said: "There are many tea trees on the mountain, we generally pick tea by ourselves, rub tea, roast tea, and then drink it ourselves. ”

Liu Qiao nodded and said, "If you are thirsty, you can bother to make a pot of wine." ”