After the Taoist priest turned into a puff of white smoke and left, only we were left in admiration.

"This Maoshan Taoist priest looks young, I didn't expect his cultivation to be so superb." Xin'er also said what I really thought in my heart.

"He's not young." Chen Lin said, "When I was three years old, I had a strange disease for a period of time, my hands and feet were unconscious, I couldn't move, and all Langzhong couldn't see the reason, and someone gave my father a trick and asked him to take me to the mountains to visit a Taoist priest, and it was this Maoshan Taoist priest who visited at that time, and he swept my body with a whisk, and recited a mantra that my illness was cured." I remember that he was so young at that time, and when I came down the mountain, my father mentioned this Taoist priest to others, and everyone said that his age was different, some said that he was 60 years old, some said that he was 100 years old, and some people said that he was hundreds of years old. ”

"How old is that?" I asked.

"It's not clear how old it is, but the most said thing is that this Taoist priest has already been a monk in the mountains in their grandfather's generation, so the Taoist priest is at least a hundred years old."

"If only I had just asked him directly about his age." I said with a smile.

Chen Lin waved his hand and said, "I can't help it, I can't help it." ”

"Why? Can't even ask about age? ”

"You can't ask the age of the Taoist." Chen Lin explained, "The Taoist doctrine is that immortals are noble beings, the pursuit of immortality and long-term vision, and every Taoist priest who practices hopes that he will one day become immortals. If you ask them about their age, they will definitely laugh and not talk about it, but it is better not to ask, Taoist priests will look down on age when they practice to a certain level, and they will not talk about age. In addition, it is also inappropriate to communicate too much with Taoist priests about mundane matters in the outside world, because the practice is about quiet and inaction, and Taoist priests are not willing to talk too much about this topic with others. Moreover, the Taoist priests live in the jungle of the ten directions, the mountains of the eight directions, and the peers are all senior brothers, they are mainly cultivators in this life, the four seas are their homes, and they travel outside the world, thinking that everywhere is the same, so it is taboo to call them brothers and brothers. ”

"Fortunately, I didn't think about age at the time, and if I did, wouldn't it seem too reckless?" I didn't know that Taoism had so many places to avoid.

"Of course." Chen Lin smiled and said, "Now that the matter of Xiao Sheng's nightmare has been dealt with, and it is not too early now, then I will go back to take care of the grocery store's business." ”

"Okay, I'll have time to eat another day." Xin'er said.

"Yes, but there wasn't that good wine back then." I laughed and said, "But I'm sure you can drink it just as well as ordinary wine." ”

"Okay, then I'll go first, and I'll visit another day." Chen Lin said and hurried back.

"And my clay figurines." Xiao Hao muttered quietly.

"Is the glutinous rice in the house always left like that? Do you need to sweep it off? "My mother is cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks on the stove.

"This, this is not easy to say, the Taoist priest didn't say it clearly when he left, the main thing is that we didn't ask so much, I'll take a look." Xin'er walked into the house, "Xiao Hao! Xin'er exclaimed.

"What are you calling Xiao Hao for??" Dad asked.

"The glutinous rice in the house is gone, I want to ask Xiao Hao if he didn't get it." Xin'er said.

Xiao Hao ran to the house, looked at Xin'er with an aggrieved face, and said, "I didn't get it, I didn't even enter the house just now." ”

"Xiao Hao didn't enter the house, he was with me by the stove just now." Mother said.

"Mother, you didn't favor him, did you?" Because Xiao Hao made a mistake before, her mother stood up in time to protect Xiao Hao, so Xin'er was not at ease and confirmed it again.

"Why are you lying to this? Xiao Hao is really with me at the stove. What's the matter, all the glutinous rice grains in the house are gone? The mother asked.

"Well, it's all gone."

"That's really a god!"

Xin'er walked to the stove and cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks for her mother, "Mother, you rest, I'll do it alone." ”

"By the way, Xiao Sheng, seeing that the spring equinox is about to come, I have bought the seeds, and there is a cocoon at home, and now there is a lack of a cow, and every family will definitely have to sow seeds at that time, it is almost impossible to borrow a cow, you go to the market with me to buy a cow and come back." Dad told me.

"Okay, shall we go now?" I asked.

"It's nothing to do now, let's go and see, lest there be no good cattle to sell." Dad said, "It costs a lot of money to buy a cow, so I'll go get the money." ”

As the spring equinox approaches, there are a lot of cattle sellers in the market, and there are many people who buy cattle. My father and I looked all the way, and I didn't know how to judge the quality of a cow at all, so I could only follow my father.

"Xiao Sheng, do you know how to judge the quality of a cow?" Dad turned around and asked me with a smile.

"I really don't know." I answered truthfully.

"Dad was just like you at the beginning, and he knew about it after dealing with cattle a few times in the past few years." Dad said methodically: "At first glance, it is actually very easy to judge, those who are tall and burly, with strong limbs and muscular limbs, clean and bright fur, bright eyes, and high heads, are basically good cows." If you look closely, those with large mouths, large nostrils and moist lubrication, eyebrows and eyes clearly separated and white lines running through the pupils, are healthy cows. There are also cows with ears close to the horns, which are generally more agile, with short, dense, and black hardy, and so on, and you will naturally have no self-knowledge when dealing with cattle a few times in the future. ”

I just nodded vigorously in the back.

After walking around for a while, he finally stopped in front of a simple and honest man's stall, and his father took a fancy to his cow, and at the same time a group of people also took a fancy to his cattle, and they shouted to buy this sturdy cow.

"Everyone, I'm just this cow, and I don't know what to do if there are more monks and less porridge!" The man selling the cattle said with a look of embarrassment.

"I'll give 3,500 yuan, I want this cow." A man preemptively spoke.

"You can pull it down, you want to buy this good cow for 3,500 Wen?" Another man said disdainfully, "I'll give me 4,000 wen and sell me the cow." ”

"I'm the first to buy cattle, first come, first served, you know? I bought this cow. ”

"Why were you the first to come? I was the first to come to the stall. ”

"Don't rob this cow from me, I want to buy it, and I'll pay 4,300 yuan."

"Don't raise the price, this cow of mine isn't worth that much." The man who sold the cattle said that his voice was completely drowned out, and I only heard what he said when I stood next to him, and I really couldn't understand what he meant. Who doesn't want to sell something as expensive as possible? And this cow should be worth the price.

I looked closely at the appearance of this cow, it was tall and burly, its fur was shiny, its eyes were bright, its eyebrows were distinct, and its mouth and nose were thick...... It is completely in line with the characteristics of a good cow that Dad said, no wonder everyone wants to buy this cow.

"Don't rob me, I bought this cow for 5,000 yuan, all my belongings, please don't rob me!" The price of cattle has risen from the initial 3,500 wen to 5,000 wen.

"I really want to buy this cow too, and the farmland must be very good."

"Yes, this cow must be very good at plowing the land."

"It's the best-looking, most robust cow I've ever seen."

"Five thousand two hundred wen, sell it to me." The price of cattle is still gradually rising.

"Five thousand four hundred wen, it can't be more."

"Six thousand texts! I'm going to buy it. "I don't know who suddenly shouted loudly, and the price of cattle was raised several more points.

"That's close to the price of two cows, and no matter how good a cow is, it won't cost such a high price." Someone shook his head and said.

"It's worth it to buy one first-class cow than to buy two second-class cows, and I think it's worth the money."

I looked at my father, he was caught in the crowd and couldn't get out, but his eyes kept staring at the cow, and my father really liked this good cow, but the current price made him a little dead.

"Seven thousand texts!" Others have taken the price to new heights.

"The price of this cow has been mentioned as 7,000 wen, this can't be a trick of the cattle seller, right?" Someone said suddenly.

"Hey, that seems to be the case? The price of this cow has increased several times, which is a bit outrageous. Someone chimed in.

"In this case, let's stop arguing, let him tell him how much this cow sells."

"Yes, let the cattle seller say it himself."

Everyone turned all their eyes to the cattle seller, and suddenly fell silent.

The cow seller's face suddenly turned red, probably because he was nervous by everyone, and stammered: "I, I don't have a bad heart, I said this, this cow is not worth the price, the price, but you, you don't listen to me at all." ”

"Then tell me what price this cow of yours should be worth?"

"Three thousand texts." He hesitated and said, "If you want to buy it sincerely, 2,500 wen will do." ”

"What? Are you kidding? You're selling a prime cow cheaper than a second-class cow? "Everyone couldn't believe that the price of the cow could be so low.

"It's really worth the price, this cow of mine, a little, a little." The man who sold the cow looked embarrassed.

"What's wrong with this cow? What's wrong? ”

"It's a little, it's a little lame."

"What? Such a good cow actually lame? There were voices of surprise and regret from the crowd.

"A lame cow is not suitable for farming, and no matter how good it looks, it is useless." Everyone dispersed in a hurry, and there were few people in front of the stall in an instant.

"Who said that? My cow ploughs the land so quickly and well, I wouldn't have sold it if it weren't for my father's illness and urgent need for money, but it's my old friend! The man selling the cattle turned red as he spoke.

Dad approached to see the cow, and then shook his head helplessly, ready to leave, but at this moment, the cow gently grabbed the placket of Dad's clothes with his mouth, and Dad didn't tear it open, and looked back at the cow again.

"I bought this cow, how much did you just say?" Dad said.

The man who sold the cow looked at his father and said sincerely: "I see that this cow is related to you, I will charge you 2,000 yuan, don't look at it as a lame cow, the cultivated land is really no less than other cows, it is definitely a good helper, if it is not for the urgent need for money, I will not sell it." ”

Dad took out 2,000 yuan and handed it to him, and then led the cow and was about to leave, when the man suddenly grabbed Dad.

"What's wrong?" Dad asked.

"Be nice to it," said the man, as he kept stroking the cow's sturdy body with his hand, and his eyes showed reluctance, and the cow looked back at the man, and could see that the cow's eyes were moist.

"Don't worry!" Dad said.

I followed the cow, which was indeed a little lame.

"How stupid, how did you buy a lame cow?"

"Lame oxen can work hard to plow the land."

……