"Tao begets one, life gives birth to two, two begets three, and three begets all things."

"Man is the law of the earth, the earth is the law of the sky, the heaven is the law, and the Tao is the law."

"Heaven and earth are unkind, and all things are dogs, and saints are unkind, and people are dogs."

"Goodness is like water, and water benefits all things without fighting."

I read the content of the Tao Te Ching, and the seven little gourds were all immersed in the scriptures, and they quietly made seven beautiful gourds.

Until the evening, an old man with a bamboo basket on his back returned.

"Kids, I'm back." The old man waved his hand and shouted from afar, waking up the seven gourds that were comprehending, and seeing the old man from afar, the gourds happily practiced and shouted: "Grandpa! Grandfather! ”

The old man quickened his pace happily, but when he got closer, he found that there was a stranger in front of the house. Seeing that this person was dressed in white and had an extraordinary bearing, the old man was shocked: "Are you?" ”

"Uncle, it's polite." Left and right clenched their fists and saluted.

The old man hurriedly returned the salute: "The son is polite, I don't know why the son is here?" ”

"Read 10,000 books, travel 10,000 miles, travel here in the clouds, see someone here, come here to bother, but don't want to meet the seven treasure gourds, the old man is really blessed." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled.

"Childe has won the prize." The old man said politely and said: "It turns out that the son is a scholar, which is really amazing, but the humble house is simple, and there is no game to entertain, please forgive the son." ”

"It doesn't matter." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled slightly: "I have learned the art of flying knives, and it is not a problem to shoot a few game, my husband can boil water to cook first, and then I will catch a few game." ”

"The son is a guest from afar, and the son has to take action in person, and the little old man is ashamed." Old man said.

"You don't need to be polite, I'll come when I go." Left and right looked in the direction, and a few vertical leaps had disappeared into the mountains and forests.

Seeing this, the old man exclaimed: "I don't want this son to be a strange person, it's really unseemly." ”

"Grandpa, that person reads very well." A few gourds staggered and talked about what they had read to them before: "We were all fascinated by what we listened. ”

"Oh?" The old man sighed with emotion: "What a strange person! ”

Not long after, the old man had already boiled a pot of hot water and cooked some wild vegetable porridge, and Zuo Xiaoyou also came back with two pheasants: "Old man, scald your hair with boiling water." ”

"Leave it to the little old man." When the old man saw the two pheasants, his saliva was about to flow out, he hadn't eaten meat for a long time, and he would definitely be able to eat a full meal today.

Blanching, plucking, disemboweling, cleaning up the internal organs, taking out some spices from the left and right, and making it called flower chicken. There are no lotus leaves here, so you can only replace them with other leaves, but fortunately, the essence of the flower chicken is not in the lotus leaves, but the other leaves are as delicious as them.

When the old man saw Zuo Xiaoyou's fresh way of roasting chicken, his eyes kept blinking: "Childe, what kind of method is this?" ”

"It's called a flower chicken." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled slightly and said: "It's a way for me to see some beggars eating chicken in Jiangnan when I was traveling around the world, and the taste I don't want to make is very good, so I learned it." The old man will find out after a try. ”

"That little old man really wants to give it a try." The old man laughed.

Unconsciously, it was dark, the night sky was full of bright moon and stars, and the roasted chicken was also completed, and the yellow mud was removed, and the indescribable aroma floated out.

The old man smelled the aroma, and his saliva was about to flow out: "It's so fragrant called Huaji." ”

"It tastes better." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled slightly, and the old man had a chicken, and the wild vegetable porridge was quite suitable, there were meat and vegetarian, dry and thin, and the old man who ate it was full of oil, and applauded again and again.

Soon after, a chicken and 20,000 wild vegetable porridge entered the old man's stomach. The old man licked the corners of his mouth, rubbed his belly that was a little swollen, and sighed: "Childe, this is called flower chicken, it is really delicious in the world, and Xiao Lao'er has never eaten such a delicious chicken." ”

Zuo Xiaoyou has also eaten up the chicken in his hand, and said: "If my husband likes it, it is easy to make the flower chicken, and my father can make it himself when he hits the pheasant in the future." ”

The old man nodded, although he was old and frail, but because he had been collecting medicine in the mountains all the year round, his body was quite tough, and he also had a 'flying knife technique', although it was a firewood knife that flew it, but the firewood knife was also a knife, and it was a good knife to be able to cut a pheasant.

Although the mountains and forests are barren, there are a lot of pheasants in the mountains, not to mention picking up mountain eggs, you can also raise them in captivity, chickens lay eggs, eggs give birth to chickens, there are a few years, you can raise a lot of chickens, you can be completely self-sufficient.

When the old man was thinking about a better future, the seven gourds urged Zuo Xiaoyou to continue reading to them, Zuo Xiaoyou had just eaten a full meal, just reading to eliminate food, but he didn't take out the book, just opened his mouth and read a three-character scripture to the seven gourds.

The thousand-character text and the three-character classic are all enlightenment books for ancient children, especially the three-character classic, which tells some stories that happened in history, which is very interesting and educational, but these are not Taoist mantras, so the seven gourds did not fall into comprehension like listening to the Tao Te Ching, but they do not know much about the allusions of the three-character classic, and they need to be explained one by one.

Hearing that there are so many allusions contained in the three-character scripture, not only the seven gourd babies were surprised, but even the old man listened to it with relish, and said in his heart: It is worthy of being a reader, and he knows a lot.

Until the middle of the moon, Zuo Xiaoyou saw that the time was not early, so he stopped: "That's it for today, and I'll tell you tomorrow." ”

The seven little gourds are not ignorant children, seeing that the time is indeed a little late, in order not to delay the rest of the left and right, although reluctant, but still let him rest early, waiting for tomorrow.

However, there is a problem, the old man is single all the year round, and he can only sleep one person on the kang he sleeps on, and two people are too crowded.

"Son, you sleep on the bed, and the old man just spreads some hay on the ground." The old man said.

Zuo Xiaoyou smiled and waved his hand: "My husband sleeps on the bed, I still have to practice at night, and there is a place to meditate." ”

"Oh?" The old man was surprised: "Childe knows how to spell?" ”

"I understand a little."

"What a strange person!" The old man sighed with emotion, then spread a straw mat on the ground, and said: "The old man only has a straw mat at home, and he asked the son to be wronged for one night." ”

"It doesn't matter." Left and right sat cross-legged on the straw mat and closed their eyes.

Seeing that the left and the right were 'settled', the old man sighed again, washed his feet, and went to sleep on the kang.

Soon the next day, the sky had just revealed the white of the fish's belly, and Zuo Xiaoyou opened his eyes and walked out of the house, walked to the side of the mountain, and looked up at the void. His gaze penetrated the layers of space and saw a heavenly palace.

The Heavenly Palace is completely different from what Zuo Xiaoyou has seen before, and the gods in the Heavenly Palace are also different from what Zuo Xiaoyou knows. These gods are divided into two kinds, one is a Taoist priest wearing Taoist robes, and the other is a strong man who is shirtless.

Of course, the two gods are divided into men and women, but they are mainly male, although the number of female gods is large, but the status does not seem to be high, and they are quite humble in front of the male gods, and there is a feeling of the ancient environment.

This is not surprising, in the ancient social environment, the status of women was not high. Some people may say that heaven and earth should be two different things, but you have to be clear about what is called 'upward and downward effect', the so-called social environment must be from the top down, what the top wants this society to become, what this society is like, and it is difficult for the grassroots at the bottom to influence the decisions of the upper level. At least in the history of China.

"Brother, what are you looking at?" The gourd baby's voice interrupted his observation, retracted his gaze, turned his head to look at the seven gourds that had recovered their spirits, smiled slightly, and said, "It's nothing, haven't you slept?" ”

"I've woken up." One of the gourds said, "It's okay if we don't sleep, but sleeping can speed up our growth, so we sleep for a while when we're fine." ”

"I see." Zuo Xiaoyou nodded, looked at them, and asked, "What will you become when you mature?" ”

"We'll take human form and break free from the gourd." One of the gourds said: "I'm the eldest brother, and I will be able to break out of the shell in about three days." ”

"Three days...... Zuo Xiaoyou nodded: "Then I'll stay here for three days and see what you guys will be like?" ”

"Good! All right! The other little gourds shook happily: "Brother, then you can tell us the story for three days!" ”

"It's fine." Zuo Xiaoyou smiled slightly, "Today I will tell you a story about Nezha's troubles." ”

……

Zuo Xiaoyou stayed here for two more days, between the mountains and forests, but also quite quiet, it is a good place to cultivate the mind, and it is rare to be accompanied by seven little gourd babies who are about to mature, telling stories every day, but also at ease.

The old man is different from Zuo Xiaoyou, he is a mortal after all, and he has to run for a living every day. There are not many other herbs in the mountains, but there are many herbs, and the old man's daily work is to go into the mountains to collect medicines, and then send the collected medicinal materials to the small town under the mountain every once in a while to sell, and the money from the sale is to buy some rice and flour materials, and he has been living like this.

This kind of life is actually very hard, and the damp and cold in the mountains is very heavy, and people who are not in good health are easy to get sick, especially in summer, there are many mosquitoes, and if you are not careful, you will die from mosquito bites.

I heard the old man say that there were still more than a dozen families in the mountains before, but after decades of death and walking, he is the only one left, and he doesn't know how long he can live? Especially the two goblins in Hulu Mountain came out to make trouble, and they couldn't figure out when they would be eaten by the goblins.

Hearing this, Zuo Xiaoyou and the old man sounded: "Did those two goblins hurt a lot of people?" ”

"It is said that those two goblins harmed people everywhere 10,000 years ago, causing the gods to be angry, and they were suppressed in the gourd mountain, and it only took 10,000 years to turn into ashes, this year is 9999, and it only takes one year to complete the merit, but a pangolin accidentally penetrated the gourd mountain, so that the two goblins ran out, and the **** saw that many animals in the mountain were frozen into ice sculptures by the yin wind, which is really hateful."

After hearing this, Zuo Xiaoyou asked, "Those two goblins just froze some animals into ice sculptures?" Have you ever harmed anyone? ”

"This ......" The old man was stunned for a moment, and said: "There is no one in the mountain, and those two goblins must not have had time to harm people, but when the living creatures in the mountains are eaten up by those two goblins, they must be going to harm people." ”

Zuo Xiaoyou smiled faintly: "Uncle, don't speculate about what hasn't happened." What's more, 10,000 years ago, who did my husband know about it? ”

"This ...... It was the pangolin who told me. The old man said.

"What about pangolins?" Zuo Xiaoyou asked.

"I was still there a few days ago, so I guess I went to find out the whereabouts of the monsters, maybe I'll be back in two days." The old man said.

Zuo Xiaoyou smiled faintly: "Uncle, how can a pangolin know about 10,000 years ago?" What's more, the pangolin is already a goblin! Can the goblin's words be trusted? ”

"This ...... But it was the gourd seeds that the pangolin let me find, which gave rise to these seven gourds, even if the pangolin is a goblin, it is also a good goblin. The old man said.

"Will a good goblin penetrate the gourd mountain?" Zuo Xiaoyou said lightly: "I'm still a goblin who knows the legend of 10,000 years ago." ”

The old man opened his mouth, but he was speechless.

Oh, yes! How do pangolins know? If so, why drill mountains? drilled the mountain to release the goblin, and asked him to plant a gourd to deal with the goblin. What the hell is this trying to do?

He believed that the gourd baby was not a bad boy, and that the two goblins froze the animals to death...... Although it looks a little cruel, doesn't he often hunt a few pheasants to eat these days! Is it true that the pheasants he eats are not allowed to be eaten by goblins?

So if the goblins are not bad, what the hell are the pangolins trying to do when they release them and ask him to plant gourds to deal with goblins?

"Don't be anxious." Seeing that the old man frowned, Zuo Xiaoyou smiled slightly: "Everything will be clear when the pangolin comes back, before that, why bother yourself?" ”

The old man sighed: "Although this is the case, the little old man is uneasy. As Childe said, there must be something wrong with this pangolin. ”

"I'm still the same." Zuo Xiaoyou said: "When you find the pangolin, everything will be known." ”

But the pangolins didn't come, the monsters came.

Dozens of bee spirits descended from the sky and shot their poisonous needles, but in the end, they became sperm wasps, and the poisonous needles shot turned into arrows and shot at the gourds.

At that time, the old man was going into the mountains to collect medicine, Zuo Xiaoyou also went to the mountains to pick wild fruits, the gourds were attacked by arrows, and they were furious.

Although the bee became a fine, it couldn't resist the flames of the four babies at all, so it was roasted into a mature bee in the air, fell from the air, and died cleanly.

At this time, the old man had just returned from collecting medicine, and when he saw the situation here, he was very anxious: "Children, what's wrong?" ”

"Grandpa, there are youkai." The gourd babies told the truth, and then said: "Grandpa, the goblins will definitely come again, don't go around these days, just stay in the house, don't come out, just leave it to us here." ”

"You're not mature yet, what if the other party sets fire to you?" Holding a bamboo basket of wild fruits, the left and right jumped and landed in front of the gourd vine. (To be continued.) )