It is already mid-autumn, and the grass and trees in the deep mountains of Luliang have long been withered, and the frost is gradually falling, and it is even more cold at night. The mountain wind is blowing and blowing, blowing the coolness through the bone marrow. Where can I hear the strange cry of the night owl.

In front of the dilapidated temple, four figures supported each other, and it looked as if they were stacked on top of each other in the dark ground. One of them looked up at the dilapidated plaque above the entrance and said affirmatively: "That's right! This is it, I finally found the Qingyou Temple!"

Listening to the voice, he is very young, he is a teenager.

Someone rushed up the steps and knocked on the knocker. The ancient view of the deep mountains, the night is quiet and the mountains are empty, and the voice sounds particularly loud.

There was the sound of shuffling footsteps inside, and the glimmer of candles swayed through the cracks in the door.

The door creaked open, and a short candle in the man's hand almost poked everyone's faces, and he scolded impatiently: "Which bastard doesn't let people sleep in the middle of the night!"

It's an old man. Wearing a tattered hemp robe, with a straw rope tied around his waist, he was dry and lean, with sharp-beaked monkey gills, and his arms were still open on a cold day, revealing rows of black "ribs" on his chest. The image is really not flattering.

The young man was overjoyed, and rushed to the old Taoist and shouted, "The Taoist doesn't know me, I'm Li Hong!"

Lao Dao held a candle and shone the boy from top to bottom, and gradually recognized it: "It's you, the medicine picker I met on the hillside that day." ”

"Exactly, the kid is Li Hong, a native of Li Jiawa, two hundred miles away, and the Taoist promised that day, as long as you come to Qingyouguan to find you, you will accept me as an apprentice. The boy's face was full of hope. He was about fourteen or fifteen years old, dark and thin, not handsome in appearance, but his eyes were very bright, and they shone like stars in candlelight.

The candlelight danced on the old man's face. He looked at the boy silently, not knowing what he was thinking.

The young man stared at Lao Dao closely, his expression obviously nervous.

After a while, the old man finally said: "Okay, I'll take you, and him." His fingers ran over the face of Li Hong, who was full of joy, and stopped on the face of another young man who was traveling with him.

This young man has big ears on the back of a tiger, and at first glance he seems to be ten years old, but just a closer look reveals that his face is full of childishness, and his age is at most similar to that of the previous young man;

Lao Dao glanced at the other two people who were traveling with him, his expression suddenly turned cold, and he said coldly: "The Taoist temple is small and does not leave women, you two please go back." ”

The two women, one old and one young, the older one was too tired to stand, and leaned on the shoulder of the other young woman.

Lao Dao's words made the two of them tighten their expressions at the same time, and the old one immediately shouted: "I'll leave now!"

The old woman fell to her knees with a puff and kowtowed to the old man.

But the young woman stood still. Two lines of clear tears gradually slid down her pale cheeks, pointed chin, and drip on the tattered placket of her chest.

The old woman cried in the night wind: "Dao Chief, please give the baby a way to live." We had nothing, no land, no houses, no food, no relatives, and the golden dog burned everything down and robbed it all. For the sake of everyone being Han Chinese, give the baby a way to live, please!"

Lao Dao was finally moved, sighed and said, "Okay, thirty miles down from here, there is our Qingyouguan industry, and you two women can live there." But ......" his words were sharpened: "The two babies must sign a death deed and sell them, and whether they live or die in the future has nothing to do with you." ”

The old woman was stunned when she heard this. The young woman trembled like a leaf in the wind.

Li Hong's heart was in a mess, but the scene before her mother died became clearer and clearer, she rushed towards the sharp knife of the golden dog, shouting in her mouth: "Hong'er run...... " The eldest brother was tied with his hands full of grief and helplessness when he left, and the long team of strong men turned back and slowly walked forward on the mountain road step by step. Sister-in-law Wanyi was doing heavy farm work in rags, and her slender hands were full of rough calluses. Second Uncle Zhang hugged his only surviving relative, his little granddaughter Jiao'er, and cried loudly, his voice was as sad as a wolf's howl. When the golden dog burned the mountain, the hellish flames were like skyrocketing, and the villagers hugged each other tightly and were burned to death, and their faces were covered with black ash. Uncle Li sighed before he died: "In this world, it's better to die than to live......"

- Rather be a peaceful dog, don't be a troubled world!

Li Hong unconsciously burst into tears. He said loudly: "As long as you are willing to accept us, the death contract will be the death contract!"

After pressing the bloody handprints, the two deeds of sale were put away by Lao Dao, and he immediately ordered someone to escort the two women down the mountain.

In the dark view, Li Hong saw the figures of his sister-in-law and aunt staggering away, his eyes overflowing, and hot tears kept sliding down. He immediately shook off the useless salty droplets with the palm of his hand.

Now is not the time to cry, being able to live is more important than anything else.

Since the golden dog beat the Song realm, everything in life has collapsed. So many familiar relatives disappeared beneath the loess. There are only three relatives left, desperate and out of food, and it is a great luck in misfortune to be taken in by Qingyouguan.

Li Hong turned his head, saw that the bear boy was still wiping his tears, and said loudly: "Don't cry! One day, I'll see my sister-in-law and your mother again!"

Lao Dao stood behind the high threshold, holding the short candle in his hand, his deep gaze always stayed on Li Hong and Xiong Xiaozi, and his eyes actually revealed a strange bright crystal. But when Li Hong and Xiong Boy turned around, Lao Dao's shining eyes immediately dimmed, and they looked no different from ordinary people.

He said lightly: "Come with me." ”

The yellow candlelight enveloped the figures of the three people and slowly disappeared into the depths of this ancient temple in the deep mountains.

Qingyouguan only has three courtyards, and the area is really not large.

The first entrance is the main hall, which is dedicated to the three Qingdao Daozun. The second entrance is the residence of the Taoist priests. There are three main rooms, and there are three old Taoists, one of whom is this sloppy old Taoist Lingshi Daoist. The other two meditated in their rooms all day long and did not show their faces at all. There are six wings, one of which is now the residence of Li Hong and Xiong Boy, and two are inhabited by two miscellaneous Taoist boys. The rest are empty. The third was the kitchen and some empty rooms that had been locked and locked for some purpose.

The entire Taoist temple entered the courtyard three times, and only seven people lived in Li Hong and Xiong Xiaozi.

Every day, I get up early in the morning, fill the four large tanks in the kitchen, and start cleaning after breakfast. Lao Dao stipulates that the statue of Sanqing Daozun must be wiped once a day, and then kneel on the ground to wipe the bluestone floor of the main hall to the light, and then clean the second and third courtyards.

After doing this, it's almost lunchtime. After lunch, I had to go to the back vegetable garden to plant vegetables and chop firewood. There is only a small amount of land in the vegetable garden, but in fact, there is not much life. However, the Lingshi Daoist has many additional harsh rules, such as not a single weed to be seen, not a single insect on any vegetable leaves, and all pumpkins and green vegetable leaves must also be wiped clean. Firewood must be split to the same thickness – no thick or thin, just two finger widths, and so on. It's not much, but it's very grinding.

These are not difficult for the two of them, hard work has long been used to it, and this little work is really nothing compared to it. Li Hong and Xiong Xiaozi are most satisfied with the fact that although Lao Dao has a bad complexion, he never deducts from eating, and he is full.

Either the best white flour steamed buns or the glutinous and fragrant Jiangnan japonica rice that I have never eaten before, with fried vegetables in lard, I almost swallowed my tongue together with every meal. Sometimes Lao Tao will add vegetables to them, and throw half a catty of pork with a fish, which makes people pat their stomachs and sigh happiness.

Except for one point, it seems that only the two of them eat in this temple.

This fact is odd. Lingshi Lao Dao also counted, and it was often common for him to come back from nowhere with a mouth full of oil. But the two old Daoists and the two miscellaneous Dao boys have never come out of the room since they had been photographed that day, and according to Lingshi Lao Dao, they meditated and practiced in the room.

Li Hong was puzzled: Shouldn't you have to eat to meditate and practice? He couldn't help but think of the scene half a year ago.

The Jin soldiers burned the mountain, and the fire burned for several days before it was extinguished by the heavy rain under the mercy of God. The war disaster was followed by fire, and the surviving villagers in the village fell ill one after another. In order to collect medicine, Li Hong waded through mountains and rivers to the vicinity of Guandi Mountain, the main peak of Luliang, two hundred miles away, and it was there that he met Lingshi Lao Dao.

At that time, the hillside was obviously empty, but when Li Hong turned his head, he found that there was such a person in front of him, and he was so frightened that he almost lost his soul.

Lao Dao looked at him for a while, and told him in a very casual tone that as long as he was willing, he would accept him as an apprentice when he came to Qingyouguan to find him within a year, and then in Li Hong's astonished gaze, he went up and down like a big bird a hundred zhang away, and his figure quickly disappeared behind the mountain.

At that moment, Li Hong was stunned, and then he never forgot it, and when he encountered a hailstorm, he simply took his sister-in-law Wanyi, cousin Li Xiong and his aunt to take refuge.

Actually, it was not that luck in his heart, he really wanted to learn the elusive kung fu of Lingshi Lao Dao.

Thinking of this, Li Hong sighed, now that he is afraid that he doesn't have to think about it, he has been sold into slavery and has nothing to do with his apprenticeship. Just ask the old way to give you a full meal, and when you are in a good mood, you can teach a few hands for life.

Carefully wipe the Sanqing statue, bring water and kneel on the ground to wipe the bluestone floor vigorously, until each stone slab is clean and shiny. I poured out the dirty water, took a thin bamboo broom and began to clean the yard carefully. When he swept into the courtyard for the third time, Li Hong stopped in surprise. He distinctly heard someone talking in the wing room on the left.

Li Hong couldn't hold back his curiosity, gestured to the bear boy, and walked cautiously towards the house step by step.

Before he reached the door, he heard the bear boy coughing vigorously behind him, Li Hong hurriedly stopped, pretending to pinch a broom and sweep around in front of the room.

Lingshi Lao Dao appeared at the entrance of the third entrance porch with his hands behind his back vividly, beckoning to Li Hong.

Li Hong threw down the broom and walked over, he had already pretended to be pleasing to the eyes with low eyebrows. Lao Dao didn't speak for a long time. Li Hong lowered his head, and saw a few black toes of Lao Dao swinging around the cracks of his shoes.

After a long time, Lingshi said, "Raise your head, hmph, do you think you are pretending to be an elephant well?" Say, what are you doing sneakily at the door of that room?"

Li Hong pretended to look inexplicable and raised his head, and looked at Lao Dao "blankly": "Didn't the Taoist let us sweep the floor?

"You kid don't tell the truth. Lao Dao scratched the top of his head: "Why do you want to go to the door of that house? As long as you tell the truth, my old man will consider accepting you as an apprentice." ”

Li Hong's eyes lit up and blurted out: "I heard someone talking inside." ”

"Oh?" Lao Dao was slightly startled, and curiously squinted his eyes around Li Hong in circles, looking from top to bottom.

"Hehe," the old man laughed dryly, "You kid must have heard it wrong, if anyone is talking inside, just go in and see." ”

Out of nowhere, he took out a large bunch of keys, took one out of it, walked to the front of the room, opened the lock, smiled and pushed open the door, and made a "please" gesture.

Li Hong intuitively felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't say it, so he stepped into the door hard.

As soon as I walked into the door, I suddenly felt that my eyes were dark, and I looked at it again, only to see that the autumn was bright outside, and the sun was shining obliquely into the door, leaving an elongated and long shadow at the door. The rooms are ordinary—every room here is the same. A local wooden table with four benches is set behind a common earthen kang. The kang was empty, and even the kang mat was not served, and only a lonely ball of pampas was placed in the center.

This room is clear at a glance, how can there be half a figure!

Li Hong was about to turn around and go out, when he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Just now, he glanced at it, and found a slight dent in the center of the futon pressed by someone sitting on it, a beautiful celadon tea set on the table, and half a cup of fragrant tea that was slightly steaming. The main thing is that I clearly feel that there are people in this room. The man seemed to be very close to him, standing near the left in front of the kang. Li Hong is very sure. But the problem is that you can't see the man.

The scalp exploded, and cold sweat meandered to the eyelids like earthworms. Li Hong turned his head stiffly and saw that Lao Dao was looking at him with a very playful look. Li Hong calmed down, grinning reluctantly and pretending to smile: "It's true that there is no one, I heard it wrong just now." ”

Lingshi Lao Daopi said with a smile: "This is what you said yourself!

Li Hong's head was cold, and all kinds of strange thoughts rushed to his heart, and he said vaguely: "Got it." "Shake off your steps and run to the front yard.

Ghosts!