The steaming heat on the winding official road, the old trees next to the tea shed, the cicadas on the branches chirped for a long time, the merchants who rested, the busy sweaty guys, took off the rag to wipe the sweat stains on their foreheads, and at the end of the road, the neck bell jingled.

The mud and dust stirred up under the hooves of the donkey, and a scholar in a white robe with a green robe led the old donkey, laughing with the bearded man with a wooden box next to him from time to time, pointing to the outline of the city ahead.

"That's Hegu County over there, have you been there when Yan Daoyou came?"

"It's not like that, I'm just in a hurry on the way here, where is I in such a mood at the moment. Yan Chixia put down the water bag and wiped the water stains on her beard, under the scorching sun, she only felt dry mouth, and she felt powerless when she spoke.

Behind the two of them, Yuwen Tuo's light blue robe, clean and tidy, didn't seem to care about the scorching sun above his head, a red and blue, dragon's head and gold handle of the long sword hanging from the waist, swaying gently as he walked, on his side, after Li Sui'an passed Fushui County, the spirit of going out went down, listless all the way.

Qu Yuanfeng, who followed behind the two, was carrying a big bag, he was tall, two or three burdens hung on his arms, which did not affect his walking at all, and the distance of more than 100 miles was nothing to his foot strength.

When he arrived in the city, Lu Liangsheng invited Yan Chixia to go in together: "There is a senior in the city, I haven't visited him for many years, Yan Daoyou might as well go over together, right?"

Outside the city gate, looking at the merchants and pedestrians who came in and out, and the soldiers who were checking, Yan Chixia didn't want to trouble, waved her hand, and walked to the base of the wall.

"No, no, Yan is waiting outside the city, I hope Lu Daoyou can hurry up, I'm afraid Zuo Zhengyang won't be able to hold on." ”

"Over there, don't worry. ”

Lu Liangsheng comforted him, turned his head to look at the three apprentices behind him, and gave him some copper coins.

"For the teacher to go in for a while, you go around buying and writing bits and pieces of food. ”

"Yes, Master!"

The three of them took a few copper coins, and saw that the figure of the master holding the old donkey was gradually blurred, and walked straight into the city gate.

"Let's go, when I came over there, I saw a ...... selling good things"

As he spoke, he encouraged Yuwen Tuo and Qu Yuanfeng to go to the roadside stall outside the city not far away, Yan Chixia pressed her knees, sat on the wooden box with a golden knife, looked up at the sky from time to time, shook her head and sighed.

In the city, Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey through the bustling long street, the tinkling copper bells rang outside the blue brick courtyard wall, and a few pine branches fell on the street through the mottled spots, walked to the high mansion gate in front, loosened the reins, and passed through the stone lions crawling with moss on both sides.

Standing in the doorway, he reached out and knocked on the brass buckle on the red door.

Chirping..... In a soft voice, the door leaf moved a small crack, and the old porter leaned out his gaze to look at the scholar outside the door, feeling a little familiar.

"This son, are you looking for my master?"

"In Xia Lu Liangsheng, do you still remember?"

The old man in the door opened his mouth slightly, and dragged out a long "oh" sound, and once he was reminded, he suddenly remembered this scholar who had almost become an uncle in the house.

He hurriedly opened the door and welcomed Lu Liangsheng in, who thanked him and looked at the old potted trees in the courtyard, which were as green and lush as in the past, and many places were still elegant.

"Master Zhou's health has been fine in recent years?" Lu Liangsheng asked casually as the gatehouse descended the stone steps under the eaves.

"It's okay, it's okay, but the old man has been a little sick recently. ”

Lu Liangsheng was familiar with the path in the house, and he didn't need the porter to lead the way, so he searched for it all the way, and on the way, he also met the maids and servants who were familiar with the house, and they ran away in surprise and joy one by one.

"Hey, come and see who's coming to the house. "Ouch, isn't this Lu Gongzi?!"

"I'm afraid I can't call him a childe......"

"What's that called?" "I don't know, don't speak, Lu Gongzi is here." ”

"Aren't you still called Childe?!"

.....

In the small and fragmented voices of the maids and servants gathered together, they looked at the scholars walking under the eaves of the corridor in the distance, asked a few words with others, turned around, and walked to the study.

Lu Liangsheng knocked on the door, and a familiar voice came from inside: "Come in." ”

Squeak.

The door was pushed open, the old man who was dressed in clothes and coughed a few times, raised his face from the bookcase, his hair was almost completely white for a few years, and when he saw the figure entering the door, his somewhat cloudy eyes lit up, he put down the brush in his hand, pulled the single coat on his shoulder, and walked out of the desk quickly.

"Why did Liangsheng come?! ”

This scholar and he also have a teacher-student friendship, invited each other to sit down, took a teapot, and poured tea: "I haven't seen a good student for many years, but now I'm doing well." ”

"Greetings should be asked by juniors. ”

Lu Liangsheng took the teapot from his hand, filled it with a cup, and respectfully presented it to the old man.

Zhou Yao clicked his fingers a few times, took the cup with a smile, and took a sip.

"Don't say this pedantic etiquette again, sit down, don't stand and talk. ”

An old man and a young man sat down together, Lu Liangsheng sat opposite the old man, taking a closer look, since the death of his teacher, in the past few years, the old man in front of him has been much older, and his eyes are not as majestic as they were at the beginning.

This time, I came to see him and chat about some family things, the two talked for a while, Lu Liangsheng got up and squatted in front of Zhou Yao, and asked him to stretch out his arm and put his fingertips on his pulse.

"Master Zhou is afraid that he is overworked these days, his liver is on fire, and he is old and frail, so he stays up late and catches the cold. ”

On the brown lacquered wooden chair, Zhou Yao smiled and waved his hand: "The country is ruined and the dynasty is falling, and the old man is also worried that the new dynasty will not be kind to the people of my old dynasty, so he often writes articles, calling on those who read to run more and repay the grievances of the people. ”

On his wrist, a sudden warm breath spread, the old man stopped talking, looked at the scholar in front of him with wide eyes, only to feel this warmth spread along his arm all over his body, and the feeling of drowsiness and swelling suddenly receded.

"Master Zhou will take good care of his life in the future, and the people of this land and water will not be lost. ”

Lu Liangsheng withdrew his hand, put down the old man's cuffs and got up, returned to his seat and took a sip of tea: "The unification of the world will only be beneficial to the people, and Master Zhou is famous, so you might as well let those big clans in Jiangnan open their hearts and accept the new dynasty more." ”

"It's difficult. ”

Zhou Yao shook his head, "It's hard to say that this is intricate, plus Emperor Chen is not dead, lobbying everywhere will inevitably make some big clans waver." ”

The old man's words are not unreasonable, this kind of mortal red dust matter is sometimes more complicated and difficult than cultivation, Lu Liangsheng smiled, and did not continue to talk with Zhou Yao.

After sitting in the study for half an hour, he proposed to say goodbye, after all, there was still something important to do, so Lu Liangsheng didn't stay long, the old man sent him out of the house, returned to the study, sat quietly on the chair, looked at the two cups of tea on the table, and thought of the deceased old friend.

'Uncle Hua, you have a good student. ’

There are also lonely words whispering, since the daughter re-elected her husband's family and married, she rarely comes back, leaving only the old wife to accompany her, and the house always feels empty.

The tea is warm, the heat drifts outside the door, the treetops swaying in the wind, the birds with cicadas in their mouths, fly to the top of the tree, in the city, leading the figure of the old donkey through the bustling long street, out of the city gate, in the dozing, head peck a little by one Yan Chixia snapped her fingers in her ears.

"Wake up, it's time to go. ”

Not far away, the three apprentices who wandered around to see the excitement also came back, Li Sui'an also put some small snacks he bought in the bookshelf compartment, and the toad Taoist looked at the preserved molasses, and the corners of his mouth grinned to the back of his head.

"It's still this disciple who can be a man. ”

Tie the rope, push open the small door of the cubicle, and sit on the edge, hanging two little short legs and shaking gently, humming a tune, 'Lead the old donkey...... He was followed by two apprentices, one cold, one stupid, and one of the smartest ......

While humming, he quickly picked up some snacks and stuffed them into his mouth.

There was food and drink all the way, and Li Sui'an was a knowledgeable and interesting boy, which was quite comfortable, much better than following an apprentice.

After that, the footsteps accelerated, and after the former Nanchen capital city Tianzhi, the road behind became more and more rugged, and the surrounding mountains became steep.

Summer rainstorms sometimes come suddenly, in the afternoon, the sky is clear, Lu Liangsheng and others arrived in Heliangzhou at this time, passing by a certain section at the beginning, Yuwen Tuo, who has always been silent and cold, suddenly stopped, and turned out the incense candle paper money from the baggage.

This was bought with copper money given by the master before, no wonder Li Sui'an bought snacks, Qu Yuanfeng didn't save a penny, only he went out, but he didn't let people see it, and it was not until now that everyone knew what he bought.

"My father and mother brought me back to visit my family, and it was here that something happened to me. ”

Watching the incense candles on the ground burning, Yuwen Tuo opened a thick stack of yellow paper and lit it, burning it towards an open space, the voice of the exit was a little choked, and tears flashed in the corners of his eyes.

Throwing the last piece of yellow paper into the fire, he raised his face to look at Lu Liangsheng who was accompanying him.

"Master, do you know who killed my father?"

Lu Liangsheng shook his head and helped him up.

"This, I don't know for the teacher, the great monk who sent you that day saw those murderers, but they were all masked. ”

Ketuo heard a Nanchen accent that day. Yuwen Tuo clenched his fists, although he had learned clearly in the past three years, but the enmity of his parents made him have a lot of anger between his eyebrows.

"If you are planning to commit murder, how can you let people seize the handle? ”

Lu Liangsheng also had an opinion on this matter, and now it is not impossible to hand it over to the apprentice, and now Yuwen Tuo is not twelve or thirteen years old, and it is better to say it than to have an estrangement between master and apprentice.

"What the teacher is worried about is that only the strategy of blame will reveal that he is not secret, and the language can never be used as evidence, he can imitate it, and I can also imitate it, so the teacher guesses that the real perpetrator is definitely not Nan Chen's side. ”

After hearing these words, Yuwen Tuo fell into thought in silence, and on the side, Li Sui'an patted him on the shoulder.

"Master is right, this kind of thing was too fake at first, and it can only deceive you when you were a child. ”

"Well, I can save it. ”

Immediately, he bowed to Lu Liangsheng: "Tuo, Master Xie for your guidance, after that, I want to go to Dasui to see other relatives at home." ”

"Hmm. ”

Over there, Lu Liangsheng nodded, took the reins, and pulled the old donkey to continue on the road.

"Bringing you out, is to let you go through the experience, after Lanruo Temple, let's go. ”

Dingding.....

The sunset shone over, reflecting the shadow of a group of people slanted on the ground, facing the red glow, walking to the ferry, not a day, the ferry went to the north, towards Jinzhou Shangyong, Yuwen Tuo gradually got rid of the previous sadness, and there was a little smile along the way, five people and a toad, counting the old donkey, lively and tight.