The man looked so desolate that the people outside were also confused. Xiao Zhi and Xiu'er looked at Zhou Xuanqing - there was still a tacit understanding of growing up since childhood, and they probably guessed what the reason was.

Nanshan put the jar back under the Sanqing shrine, came out and knocked Zhou Xuanqing on the back of his head, "Nonsense, scared away the food and clothing parents who were teachers, who gave money to repair the palace?"

Zhou Xuanqing smiled and asked, "It's strange that the apprentice was not a rich son in the past, wasn't the master a rich boy in the past? After so many years of being a Taoist priest in Niutou Mountain, and always being scolded on credit in the wine shop in the town? Could it be that you were kicked out of your house in the past? So you don't have the face to go back?"

Nanshan was like being stepped on by someone's tail, his temper suddenly went up, and he frowned and said: "I see that you are too idle for the teacher, hurry up and copy the Yin Fu Sutra and Huang Ting Sutra a few times." ”

"Okay, well, let's go back to the room and copy the scriptures that are quiet and inactive, and leave the country and sit and forget. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone stepped into the hall. Nanshan glared at Zhou Xuanqing and closed the door.

After copying the scriptures for a full hour, Zhou Xuanqing fell asleep and dozed off. By the time she was woken up by Xiao Zhi, the sunset had already fallen on the bedside.

At this moment, the palace view has returned to its deserted appearance.

She stepped into the room and saw Nanshan sitting upright, wearing the copper plates on the table one by one. Every time I picked up a copper plate, I blew it, and I heard a crisp and lingering sound in my ears, and the corners of my mouth couldn't help but smile.

Zhou Xuanqing helped Xiu'er put down the dish plate and reminded loudly: "Master, it's time to eat." ”

Eight minutes of hunger, the night has fallen, everyone is in order to rest.

The windows are lightly covered, the wind sweeps the leaves and toss, the candlelight in the house is faintly flickering, and the palace view burns incense all the year round, and naturally there is a lingering smell of incense sticks wafting around.

Zhou Xuanqing crossed his legs, and sat opposite Nanshan.

After coughing lightly, he looked over with relief, "Ah Qing, you are literate at the age of three, memorize scriptures at the age of six, and open the altar for the teacher at the age of ten." You were born into the Tao, you are very intelligent, but you are low-key... ”

Zhou Xuanqing was praised by such a fierce meal, fluttering and not knowing why, his heart was not adaptable, and he interrupted: "Master, if you have something to say, you might as well say it directly, you don't have to go around that bend when facing the apprentice." ”

Sure enough, what I said above is all inconsequential foreshadowing. Nanshan took a deep breath and glanced at it before holding back a sentence, "I'm going to go down the mountain to get married for my teacher." ”

Zhou Xuanqing hadn't prepared at all, so he paused for a moment before saying, "Master, don't make trouble, we're Taoists." ”

"To be a teacher is to be a casual cultivator, eating meat and drinking wine, marrying a wife and having children are not in the way. If I hadn't picked you melon babies back and raised them at the beginning, would you have delayed until now to get married? Whoever wants to stop him as a teacher will be in a hurry. You can't be without a conscience. ”

After hearing this, Zhou Xuanqing first raised his eyebrows and stared, and then pretended to be sad, but his eyes secretly glanced at Nanshan's face, and he couldn't help laughing when he saw that he was nervous.

"Okay, master, don't you just want to find out what your apprentice is talking about? Are you really afraid that any of the three of us will not agree?"

Nanshan nodded, and said angrily: "What do you think of what the teacher is going to say?"

"Master, you and Cui Niang have been eyebrow-to-eye all these years, and the apprentice's eyes are not blind. If you want to go down the mountain, you should wish you and your teacher a hundred years of harmony, and your children and grandchildren will be around your knees. ”

She only moved to Datong Town a few years ago to do the bean curd business. The age is similar to that of Nanshan, and he looks graceful, and when he speaks, he is gentle and polite, which makes people feel happy naturally.

Nanshan often went to the wine shop in the town to drink on credit, and once he owed too much and couldn't pay it back, and the shopkeeper of the wine shop was in a hurry and wanted to tie him up and send him to the official. Thanks to Cui Niang's righteous stopping, she took out the silver to pay off the debt. This debt is not easy to owe, as long as Nanshan goes down the mountain, he will go to the bean curd stall to help. After coming and going, they still met their eyes.

Although the three apprentices are informal, they always see it in their eyes: the master and Cui Niang are not young anymore, and some things are difficult to open in their hearts. Occasionally, when they were reprimanded by Nanshan, they would joke about it. But as long as the word Cui Niang is stained, Nanshan's temper will disappear in a flash.

Following

Nanshan is going to return to customs. The first and last thing he did before he left was to hand over the position of head of Yicheng Palace to Zhou Xuanqing.

There is no cumbersome succession ceremony, and there are only four masters and apprentices in the palace. Zhou Xuanqing took a scarf in his robe, lifted the hem of his clothes and knelt down, looked at the shrine of Sanqing Tianzun, and bowed three times.

Outside the hall was very quiet, only the wind blowing through the treetops, shaking the branches and leaves. Niutou Mountain is a dark color, and a figure is slowly walking up the mountain road.

The sun jumped from the flat ground to the top of the mountain, and the warmth poured into half the house from under the eaves.

Zhou Xuanqing raised his head and straightened his waist, and solemnly took a peachwood sword, a Qingyin bell and a bag of Lingqi tokens from Nanshan's hand.

"In the future, Yicheng Palace, Xiaozhi and Xiu'er will all rely on you. Xuanqing, the teacher is ready to leave today. Nanshan's eyes were warm, and he took a deep breath, melting the parting injury into his chest for a long time.

His gaze slowly swept over the faces of the three apprentices one by one, and in a trance he could still see the appearance of them when they had just picked them up. The figures overlap, year by year, from toddler to brisk walking, from immature and young to sharp edges and corners.

"Master is above, please bow to the apprentices. Zhou Xuanqing pulled Xiaozhi and Xiu'er in a row, knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Master is like father, let him bow three more times!" once, twice, three times. The door of the head thumped against the ground.

Nanshan hurriedly wiped the moistness from the corners of his eyes, swept away the injury and became happy, and raised his hand to help the person. "Okay, okay, okay! Gua Wazi will coax people, happy for the teacher, very happy. ”

"Yo, it's a coincidence that I'm here, and I'm crying when I see you. ”

A figure stood in the backlight, leaning on the doorrail with his arms propped up, looking at the four masters and apprentices with a smile.

"Cui Niang, when did you arrive?" Nanshan raised the corners of his mouth, walked over and pulled him into the house with a hand, and did not look away from anyone.

Cui Niang's posture is slender, her eyes are more and more gentle with her light yellow clothes, and she is thinly powdered, but she sees fine lines of wind and frost hidden at the corners of her eyebrows and eyes.

The three apprentices looked at each other, and Xiao Zhi's wit spoke first, "Hello master." In the future, I will trouble the master, take care of the master more. ”

Cui Niang lowered her head slightly and smiled, and when she raised her gaze again, she stopped on Zhou Xuanqing's face, and her expression was a little speechless.

"Ah Qing, I will go to his house in the capital after I go down the mountain with your master. If you have the chance, you should come to the capital to see us. ”

The voice is gentle, like a gentle breeze. It's hard to refuse.

Zhou Xuanqing's chin was clear, and his eyes were bright. "Definitely. ”

Nanshan changed out of the old Taoist robe today, put on a gray regular clothes, packed up his baggage, and said a few more words to the three apprentices, before taking Cui Niang down the mountain without looking back.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a black-shed carriage, and the two sat quietly after getting into the carriage. With a flick of the coachman's whip, the horses began to move forward, their wheels grunting over the gravel path, occasionally jolting.

Cui Niang lifted the corner of the curtain and looked back at the Niutou Mountain that was getting farther and farther away. Originally, his heart was like a flat water, but it was like a stone was suddenly smashed, and there were fine ripples.

"You have been guarding them for so many years, why don't you take them back to the capital with you?"

Nanshan looked at the distant mountains outside and sighed, "Yes, but the three of them were picked up near Datong Town." I always hope that one day their father and mother will find out in their conscience, and if they come back to look for them, they will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Besides, they should have their own lives, and it wouldn't be a waste to follow me. ”

Cui Niang lowered the curtain and leaned on Nanshan's shoulder, "I've always been curious, your three apprentices were really picked up by you?"

Nanshan touched Cui Niang's hand and said, "Naturally, you won't think that I was born illegally, right? When she picked it up, she was still wrapped in swaddling clothes, and it was snowing heavily, so she was thrown into the grass, her face was purple from the cold, and her crying was mute. At that time, I thought, whose father and mother are so ruthless? Since you don't want it, it's better not to give birth. Fortunately, I saved it, otherwise it would have been a sin. ”

After hearing this, Cui Niang closed her eyes and sighed with pity: "Perhaps, who has a last resort." ”

The wheel prints of the carriage soon disappeared on the official road.