Yue Guanchao stood on the stairs and looked at the ancient town in the mountains, the surrounding wild mountains were smoky and humid, and the peaks in the distance were suitable and inexhaustible, as if they were unfolding a map of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in front of them.

Ren Peacock patted the railing and sighed: "Look at the nearby hills, these forts and stacks used to be used to defend against bandits, every time the bandits came, every household with men needed to patrol the fort. ”

"The old days were restless?" Song Siyuan asked. Ren Peacock pursed his lips and retorted: "It's really not Ansheng, since the land has been changed and returned to the stream, Xiangxi has been completely transformed by the official master, I heard that in the past, only Gu people were allowed to live in the Tulou Ganlan, and they were not allowed to build houses and palaces, they knew that this poor mountain and bad water could not collect the field tax, so it was changed to tea tax and salt tax, as long as the southwest people drank tea and ate salt, it was equivalent to paying taxes to them, and it was precisely for this reason that the salt and tea tax was collected very heavily in the local area, so that the price of salt tea was so high that it scared people to death. ”

"Over the years, the three provinces all know that there are bandits in the border cities and three counties, and the government decree is easy not to come here, even the security corps and tax collectors rarely come over, without these annoying flies, our lives are getting better and better, and in peacetime, Xiangxi was exploited so badly by the officials and lords, and the last years of the previous dynasty were in chaos, and the sun was getting better, which shows what these officials have exploited us."

"Oh, yes, yes, don't talk about this, let's go back for lunch later, and I'll take you to find the master in the afternoon." A few people looked at the general location of the ancient town of Tudong, with Ren Peacock getting off the blue brick tower, and when he returned to the yard, Jin Qinghua had already cleaned up the house, the Ren family had many houses, and the peacock still lived in her original house, as for Yue Guanchao, the three of them didn't have to squeeze together, they were scattered in different rooms on the second floor.

It was already noon after Jin Qinghua called them downstairs to eat, and everyone went down the stairs to the hall, and the round table was already full of Xiangxi dishes, which were very local characteristics.

"This is rice tofu, iron-boned pork stir-fried, bacon fried yellow eel, beef soup pot, yellow Jiong local chicken, wheat sauce boiled fish, loach arch tofu, red pepper fried sour pork, bud valley sour and hot fish, extremely mushroom fried meat, are all local dishes in Xiangxi, I don't know if you are used to eating it, but also try the craftsmanship of the family." When she spoke, Jin Qinghua had already divided the dishes and chopsticks, and a few people didn't eat at all in the morning, so they ate happily with small rice, and the southwest dishes mostly used heavy and spicy seeds, which tasted fragrant and spicy and extremely refreshing, and unconsciously, Yue Guanchao had dried three bowls of rice.

"This kid, I've never seen anyone eat so much, and if you don't have enough to eat, there's still one in the pot." Jin Qinghua's eyes were full of shock when she saw Yue Guanchao adding rice three times, this kind of food is definitely a huge amount among the southwesters: "In the end, the northerners eat a lot, and the things you eat are enough for me and your Uncle Ren to eat for several days." When Song Siyuan heard this, she looked at this vulgar and reckless man with playful eyes, put down the dishes and chopsticks and quipped: "Did Yue Guanchao hear it, you have eaten other people's rations for several days, and you still dare to say it." ”

"Oh, my sister, this can't be nonsense, it's a blessing to be able to eat, you are in a hurry, you should eat something delicious." Jin Qinghua spoke, and added a pot of fine rice to them, and when they were full, let the peacocks take advantage of the warm spring sun, walk to eat and come to Fengtou Mountain, a few people walked along the mountain road plank road to the top of the mountain, and they have already seen the corpse Yizhuang and the mansion, appearing in the dense bushes.

Look carefully, Yizhuang is just an ordinary courtyard of blue bricks and gray tiles, the stone wall is built in the courtyard, it can be seen that the wall is crawling with mottled weeds, there are four sides of the eaves to expose the horns, on the lintel, the black plaque writes the word Yizhuang.

Next to Yizhuang, is the house of the old Taoist priest. This house is much larger than Yizhuang, and the front and back courtyards form a square courtyard, and the white walls are hanging outside

The plaque of "Phoenix View", there are lanterns hanging on both sides of the lintel, the black lacquered wooden door is open on one side, and the stone road is cleaned without dust, and it is obvious that someone is still living.

"Listen to my old man and old lady, this old corpse chaser is a Maoshan Taoist priest called You Tianchen, twenty years ago wandering here, was licked off half of his face by the wild mandrill in the mountain, fortunately was saved by the hunters who entered the mountain, in order to repay the kindness of all its cause and effect, he built a phoenix temple in Fengtou Mountain, prayed for the blessings and elimination of disasters for the nearby people, and at the same time drove the corpse home, so that the people who died unjustly outside returned to their roots." Ren Peacock walked into the courtyard as he spoke, and shouted inward, "Is the master not in the house?" After a while, an old Taoist priest in a gray coat came out of the hall, and they looked carefully at the old corpse chaser, who was not particularly tall, with a childish face and a stiff appearance, and a kind of backbone and tough temperament, with gray hair tied up in a bun on the top of his head, and a flat hat.

They turned their gaze to the old Taoist priest's face, only half of the slightly narrow and thin face was good, and the other half seemed to have fleshy lumps and sores, and there were many hypertrophic scars, which looked shocking, even if the other half of the face was fine, it could be regarded as ugly.

"Peacock, are you back at this time? Aren't you afraid that the cave gods will take you away? "You Tianchen has been in Xiangxi for more than 20 years, and his words have long lost his native accent, but he is different from the local natives, he sounds half Han and half Gu, and his accent is surprisingly easy to recognize.

"Oh, I'm not afraid, but my aunt made Tufa vegetarian chicken, and I called you to taste it, if you want to say that, I'll go down the mountain." Before the peacock's words fell, he shook off the black jar he was holding a few times, and the old Taoist priest shook his nose when he heard this, and skillfully took the jar: "Immeasurable Tianzun, put down the things first, these three rabbit cubs went to Xiu'an County next door to deliver the corpse, and they didn't even show their faces after the crested mountain, I haven't eaten anything good for several days." ”

"Master, do you even know that they are back?" The old Taoist priest waved his hand while taking the black jar: "Pinch your fingers, watch the wind and see the water, you can't hide the eyes of the old Taoist." After speaking, he opened the jar and took out a piece of vegetarian chicken with thick fingers, filled it into his mouth and chewed it slowly, eating until his mouth was full of oil flowers.

Maoshan Taoist priests can marry and eat meat, but the old master was almost killed by the mandrill, and was rescued by the mountain people.

This kind of thing is a special product of Sichuan and Shu, with fresh bean skin, with aged soy sauce and grinding sesame oil to marinate evenly into the flavor, and then with pepper, pepper, sesame, monosodium glutamate and other condiments wrapped in the whole body wrapped in a long square, if you want to look like a little more will also use the old hen soup to collect the juice, it looks similar to the brown spring rolls, take a bite of the hemp fragrant, the taste is thousands, it is the top grade in vegetarian food.

Back then, after the old master redeemed the peacock, Jin Qinghua never broke off contact in order to thank the old Taoist, and would send some vegetarian food all year round to express his gratitude.

Ren Peacock saw that the old Taoist priest was eating hot, and asked: "Master, how did you redeem me back then, so that I escaped from the hands of the cave god, since I can redeem myself, why didn't others come to you?" As soon as the old Taoist priest heard that she was here to ask this, his eyes dodged slightly: "Not everyone can be ransomed, and the key factor is the Falling Flower Cave Girl herself." These words aroused the curiosity of the three of them, and Ren Peacock continued to ask while the iron was hot: "Why are they not confused by the cave god in the Falling Flower Cave Girl?" The old Taoist priest wiped his mouth: "My sister, I was chosen by the cave god to become a girl in the Falling Flower Cave, it is indeed a forced purchase and sale, but there will still be a pull, for example, some people become the Falling Flower Cave Girl after a few days, and some people are confused for a longer time, and it will take two or three months or even half a year to become crazy, which all depends on the Falling Flower Cave Girl's own will." ”

"In other words, the Falling Flower Cave Girl was not confused by the Cave God overnight, the Falling Flower Cave Girl will not be taken down by the Cave God so quickly if she is firm in her mind, you have been confused for half a year and have not completely become a Falling Flower Cave Girl, which is considered to be extremely firm in mind." The old Taoist priest paused, and his eyes became mysterious: "I also took this opportunity to redeem your soul, but if you are uncertain, the old Taoist priest must have no way at all." Ren Peacock recalled the past, she was indeed a cheerful and pungent person in the past, but since she was confused by the cave god, she gradually became depressed, so that in the end she became sentimental, and even in the end she couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams, and only felt dizzy.

"But, since I'm leaving, why can't the cave god let me go, I found the crotch fox mountain totem on his arm, don't you let me go if I leave." After many years, although Ren Peacock no longer had hope for the resurrection of that mouth, he still wanted to know why the crotch fox mountain totem appeared.

When the old Taoist priest saw her mention this, his eyebrows gradually became serious, and he sighed slightly and said: "Sister, the cave god has been angry when he was divorced, your name has been stored in the cave god since he was chosen by the cave god, and the old Taoist just used the blood paper man to replace you, which means that you will fall into the cave after a hundred years." ”

"There is still a marriage contract between the cave god and you, not to mention that you are married, even if you go away, he can feel it, it is true that I asked you to leave, but I didn't say that you should be married, you are married privately in the outside world, the cave god will inevitably punish that person, and the appearance of the crotch fox mountain is to remind you, don't forget that you are a crotch fox mountain person."

"Could it be that I really tired Brother Zhi?" When Ren Peacock heard the words of the old Taoist, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes, but this emotion was quickly suppressed: "I don't believe it, there must be something wrong with this cave god, since it is so powerful, it would be good to make the cave girl crazy, why wait a few more months, there must be a problem here." ”

"Master, according to what you mean, there are many girls after me, and they have all taken this road?" Ren Peacock is only now figuring out the taste, the implication of the old Taoist's words is that many women have redeemed their soul bodies, but they are not so lucky, or they are the girls of the Falling Flower Cave, her words caused the old Taoist priest to nod and acquiesce: "Yes, it is also the old Taoist priest I am incompetent and can't save more people." ”