The man just sighed slightly, then walked to the corner of the house, picked up half of the broken crockpot, and handed it to Meng Ran, "There is a pool five hundred meters to the left, go and wash it." ”

After that, he sat on the hay shop where Meng Ran rested last night, motionless.

Meng Ran snorted, carried the clay pot and herbs out of the temple gate.

Although the sun was already out and the sun was shining, the dew was still all over the woods and hillsides. Before Meng Ran walked far, the hem of his robe and shoes were already soaked with cold water, which was a very uncomfortable feeling, which made Meng Ran feel the urge to walk barefoot.

After walking for a while, Meng Ran saw the waterhole. The waterhole is not big, three feet square, but there is still a lot of water, and I think it was the rainwater poured last night, which made the small puddle that was not visible jump into a waterhole.

After Meng Ran stopped at the water's edge, he bent down and squatted on the ground, and began to seriously clean the broken crockpot and the handful of herbs.

After a long time, Meng Ran returned to the broken temple with the broken clay pot and the herbs dripping with water droplets.

The man looked up slightly, "Why have you been here for so long?"

Meng Ran looked at the black shadow with an inviting expression, "I washed all the herbs, look..."

The person behind the hat snorted and said with a smile: "Are you a fool?" Or is this nurse of your family having an enmity with you, and you want to kill him, but you can't find an excuse, so you have to pretend to be stupid?"

Meng Ran looked at the figure innocently, and asked very puzzledly, "Senior, why do you think so?"

The man laughed a few more times, coughed lightly, and asked with a little seriousness, "Did you come back with an empty crockpot?"

"yes, or else?"

Meng Ran replied very naturally, then thought of something, and ran out of the temple gate with a face full of shame.

After he fled, there was a crisp laugh of 'giggling' from the temple, if Meng Ran ran a step slower, he might know something unusual, but he didn't have a chance to know about it for the time being.

By the time Meng Ran came back tremblingly with the clay pot, the figure sitting on the hay shop had already left its original position and sat in the middle of the small temple again.

The man didn't say much, just used a few stones to prop up a simple stove, then put the crockpot in Meng Ran's hand, put in the medicinal materials, and began to make a fire and add firewood.

Meng Ran, who felt useless, just squatted in the crockpot for another time, looking at the blurred face under the black veil with admiration and gratitude.

The man was a little speechless, and said impatiently, "What are you going to do again?"

Meng Ran snorted: "I want to thank my seniors, and I also want to learn some skills from my seniors, but I don't know if my seniors are willing to teach me." ”

The man smiled coldly, "You're all a dying person, why bother to learn these trivial and worthless skills?"

"Mr. once said, live to learn all the time, live for decades, there is always something you don't understand, always have to learn from others, don't rest on your laurels, be humble and studious......"

"I'm not interested in listening to what the hell Mr. you say, so you better shut up!"

Meng Ran's expression instantly darkened, his eyelids lowered, and he looked miserable and helpless.

The man smiled self-deprecatingly, and then comforted, "Okay, it's me who is wrong, I'll teach you." ”

"Well..."

"And what about that gentleman of yours? I wonder what kind of person would teach you such boring and dull nonsense. ”

"Since it's a ghost doctrine, it's naturally a ghost religion..."

"I'm sorry. ”

"It's okay, he's been dead for years, and although I haven't heard from him, I just know he's dead. ”

The man did not respond to Meng Ran's last sentence, as if he had closed his eyes and fallen asleep.

In this regard, Meng Ran just grinned stupidly, and then stopped speaking, just looked at the water in the crockpot intently.

There were bursts of green smoke, flames gushing, and a wave of heat invaded all around, and the water in the crockpot gradually bubbled, driving the herbs to roll in it. Soon the sound of 'gooing' echoed through the temple, and the clear water had turned into a black soup.

The fire, which had not been filled with firewood, gradually began to go out, and the burning sensation slowly dissipated, leaving only the residual warmth. The liquid in the crockpot gradually stopped tumbling, exuding a strong bitter taste.

When the temperature dropped to about the same, the man said to Meng Ran, "Go and pour him the medicine." ”

Meng Ran looked at the broken crockpot and was a little helpless, not knowing what to do.

The man continued, "Hurry up, I'm in a hurry." ”

Meng Ran didn't say much, picked up the still hot crockpot and walked to the Geng Nursing Courtyard.

Faced with a patient who couldn't swallow, Meng Ran had no choice but to forcibly pinch his mouth open and slowly pour the medicinal juice down. After the medicine was filled, the patient's mouth and neck were sprinkled with a dark yellow liquid, exuding a bitter smell.

Meng Ran glanced at Geng Huyuan deeply, took a long breath, and then slowly walked in front of the black-shirted man, "Senior, please do it." With that, his eyes were closed, quietly waiting for the sword light to fall on his body.

After waiting for a long time, Meng Ran, who had not seen the sword light for a long time, couldn't help but open his eyes, looked at the figure sitting in front of him, and asked softly, "Senior?"

"What? are you in a hurry to die?"

"That's not it, it's just that you have to keep your promises, and it's naturally ......"

The man waved his hand, as if he didn't want to say more, "Then you just remember that you owe me a life, and you will pay it back to me in the future." ”

Meng Ran's heartbeat accelerated a few times, then returned to normal, and asked, "What is the name of the senior?"

The man smiled indifferently, "I don't want to know your name, and you don't need to know my name." ”

"Then how will I repay the favor in the future?"

"If there is fate, thousands of miles will meet each other, if there is no fate, the other side will not know each other. Why should they know each other's names?"

"My name is Meng Ran, a person from Lin'an County, Hangzhou Prefecture, Jiangnan East Province, if my predecessors are in need in the future, I should go to the soup to fight the fire. Meng Ran didn't care about it, he just said his name and household registration in one breath.

The man took a stick and shook the fire that had been completely extinguished, and said lightly, "Who knows your name?" I am me, you are you, and I will never see you again. ”

Meng Ran hesitated for a moment, and finally asked, "Who is the senior?"

"It's better that you don't ask about some things, but if you know, it's just a matter of trouble, and even your life will be lost. ”

Meng Ran was silent for a long time, and said very seriously: "No matter what happens to my predecessors, I will naturally not back down." ”

The man smiled, "You don't care about your own life, don't you care about your family's life?"

Meng Ran stopped talking, because he didn't know what to say. Of course, he wanted to keep his promise and repay the person in front of him, but he didn't want to put the safety of others at risk.

The two sober people in the ruined temple stopped talking, as if they had become mute, and only the breeze passed through the hall, causing the black veil to sway and the green silk to flutter.

The sun slowly rose, the birds in the forest fluttered their wings and sang, and the warmth outside gradually poured into the ruined temple, except for the slight temperature change, there was no other difference, and there seemed to be only these two relatively silent people left in the heaven and earth.

Meng Ran stood in place, neither standing nor sitting, extremely uneasy, he couldn't help but take a step.

The man seemed to feel Meng Ran's emotions, so he slowly stood up, glanced at Meng Ran, and said, "Let's go." ”

As soon as he had finished speaking, he turned and walked out the door.

"What?

"What's the matter? It's your house outside, and you have to take care of where you go?" the man replied lightly as soon as he crossed the temple gate.

"No, I just... It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know the name of the senior yet..."

The man turned around and glanced at Meng Ran deeply, "Lu Shen." Then he turned and walked away, and was never seen again.

Meng Ran only vaguely saw a pair of big and dark eyes, which were very deep, but a little sad. He wanted to keep it, but he couldn't. They say they are strangers, but they live together and talk for a long time, and they say they are acquaintances, but they meet each other and have never met.

Meng Ran was in a daze at the mountain god in the temple in the summer, he didn't know what he should do, or what to think, so he had to stare at the clay sculpture.

Just when he was coming out of his trance, suddenly there was a loud gasping sound on the side, he hurriedly turned around, and saw Geng Huyuan, who had his eyes slightly open, struggling to get up.

"Uncle Geng, are you awake?" Meng Ran shouted excitedly.

Geng Huyuan replied very weakly: "Young master, I'm awake... Where are we?"

Meng Ran scratched his head, "I don't know, it should be a mountain temple." ”

"Oh..."Geng Huyuan gasped a few more times, and said slowly, "Are we outside the city?"

"Well, between the mountains and forests, I don't know where it is. Meng Ran looked at Geng Huyuan with some frustration.

Geng Huyuan comforted: "It's okay, you help me up first, and the two of us can find a way together." ”

"Yes. Meng Ran, who was humming, suddenly thought that there was another person, "Uncle Geng, Uncle Song... Uncle Song is dead, he is still lying there, I didn't have the strength to carry him over at that time, I..."

"Young master, don't blame yourself too much, you don't need to be sad, life and death are fateful, this is a personal blessing, I can only say that Old Song Fu is ......"

Although a master and a servant wanted to comfort each other, they didn't know how to choose words and sentences, they just held hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes in the not very bright broken temple, speechless and choked.

The sound of 'cooing' came, and both of them were a little embarrassed, as if they had forgotten the sad atmosphere just now.

"Uncle Geng, I'll go find something to eat..."

"Where do you know this, let's wait for me to regain some strength before we go out together. ”

"Yes. ”

Meng Ran was silent for a while, and then asked another question that already had an obvious answer, "Uncle Geng, what about Uncle Song's corpse?"

"Alas... What else can I do, just bury it on the spot. ”

“......”

In the small and dilapidated mountain temple, a boy seemed to have grown up and matured a little at this moment.