Time turned back to Bai Shuo and Liang Ying. Liang Ying finally got rid of her mother-in-law and continued to work as a bar-shift waitress. During this time, Bai Shuo seemed a little anxious, during the interval of stock speculation, he always ran into the hall from time to time, but he never ran into Chen Bing again. Because of Chen Bing's appearance, Bai Shuo's restless heart became restless again. In addition to wanting to give her back the sheet music that he had always kept, he wanted to ask her some questions, some questions related to his dream. The dream that had been haunting him and the memories that seemed to be true and false, with the appearance of Chen Bing, Bai Shuo felt that all this seemed extraordinary, and he was eager to find out what the truth was.

In addition, there is a great news during this time. The owner of the open-air tea shop next to the pedestrian street of Hongwan Square set up a stage on the site of the tea house, and lasted for two weeks on the night, and held an open-air tea house cup amateur karaoke king competition. In addition, I don't know where a few seventh- and eighth-tier stars were invited, and a small star rotated to help every night. Although the weather at this time was no longer suitable for open-air tea tasting, it made the business of his tea shop more prosperous in an instant, especially in the evening, when there were more people who came here for leisure and play day by day. Even the popularity of Hongwan Plaza has risen sharply. Zheng Hong, the owner of Hongwan, finally showed some due level at this time, taking this opportunity to carry out promotional activities in various commercial stores, and even pulled several auto shows with full discounts on a vacant lot on the other side of the square. In this way, the daytime exhibitions and promotions and the evening performances and competitions reflect each other, which instantly drives the popularity of Hongwan Plaza to a reasonable height, and the popularity has a rising trend.

At present, the price of the shop in Hongwan Plaza has risen to about 5,000 yuan per square meter, which can only be said to be a relatively reasonable price for the commercial shop in this area of Shudu. But this marks that Bai Shuo and Liang Ying have achieved a book profit of more than 40 million. On the surface, the price of the shop has increased by about 40% compared to Bai Shuo, when they bought it. But at this time, the actual funds paid from Bai Shuo's hands were only about seven million. If you calculate it according to the return on investment, the return of more than three months is quite scary.

However, Bai Shuo and Liang Ying were not too satisfied with this profit, and had no plans to sell some stores in a hurry. However, although Liang Ying usually always looks clear and calm, she is obviously relieved at this time. Obviously, the price of the store has not risen during this time, and he is also under great pressure. Just when Liang Ying was very happy that the store finally showed a money-making effect. Bai Shuo also lit a cigarette, leaned against the bar counter of the bar, and then exhaled a smoke ring, looked at Liang Ying coolly and said, "Forty million is so happy, what will happen to 400 million in the future?" Knowing that Bai Shuo was laughing at himself in a certain way, Liang Ying, who was annoyed and angry, chased after Bai Shuo.

On this day, Chen Bing's news finally came again. Because Bai Shuo had already spread the news of looking for Chen Bing among his dead friends, coupled with a beauty like Chen Bing, it was inevitable that people's attention would be noticed wherever he went, especially people like Bai Shuo's dead friends, so he soon learned the exact news that Chen Bing appeared in Qingcheng Mountain. Although it was news two days ago, Bai Shuo immediately pursued it. However, he lingered in the position of the information for a long time, this is a location that is usually sparsely populated, but at this time, how can he find Chen Bing's figure. Bai Shuo did not give up, since it has appeared here, there must be some traces, at least for now, Bai Shuo has no other way than to look for it here.

Walking on the mountain road, although it is winter, Qingcheng Mountain is still full of verdant mountains, streams trickle everywhere, a beautiful scenery of "the mountains reflect the blue water, and the stream flows into the deep forest". There seems to be a slightly dilapidated Taoist temple in the secluded place where the winding path leads, and Bai Shuo follows the mountain road, winding and winding for a while before coming to the door of the Taoist temple. It is said to be a Taoist temple, but it is not much bigger than a courtyard house in the imperial capital. The gate, which is full of vicissitudes, seems to have never been opened for a long time, but there is a side door next to it that is hidden for people to enter and exit freely. Walking into the view, the main hall is still a small statue of Sanqing. The other houses are a little dilapidated, but the overall feeling is that the interior is clean and tidy.

At this time, from a fairly well-behaved room, came out of a sparsely haired, thin old man, wearing an old but plain robe, with deep eyes but looking Qiongqiong. "This good man, no one has visited here for a long time, and today you and I are destined. The Taoist priest first said to Bai Shuo.

Bai Shuo hurriedly prepared to fold his hands, but suddenly felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly turned his back on his hand, just nodded slightly and saluted: "Dao Chang is disturbed, I just coveted the mountain scenery and didn't feel lost, so I got here." ”

"Even if you are lost and visiting, how do you know that it is not the guidance of the ancestors, the little brother might as well give some merit and make a fortune with the ancestors."

Hearing this, Bai Shuo realized that this old man wanted to reach out and ask for money. Thinking that since Chen Bing had appeared near here, he could also inquire with this old Taoist by the way, maybe there would be some news, and then he also took out a hundred-yuan note and threw it into the merit box. Lao Dao's eyes had been staring at the banknote from the time Bai Shuo took out the money, until it was completely submerged in the merit box, and then he looked at Bai Shuo again with a smile on his face.

Bai Shuo asked Lao Dao: "I don't know what to call the chief?"

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, the poor Dao's surname is Li, and the Dao name is Huayangzi. ”

"Oh, it turned out to be Daochang Lee." Bai Shuo said with a slight salute, and then asked: "I came here to actually look for a girl, I heard that I came here a few days ago, I don't know if I have ever seen it?"

Li Daochang smiled and said: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, presumably good people have traveled a long way here, and they are also a little thirsty, if we go to the side room to drink tea first, if there is anything that needs to be answered by Xiaodao, Xiaodao will do his best." ”

Bai Shuo was indeed a little thirsty at this time, and he didn't refuse, so he followed the old Taoist priest to another room. The room is quiet and elegant, except for a tea table and a seat specially set up for drinking tea, there are no superfluous furnishings. Outside the window next to the tea table, there is a mountain stream, at a glance, the layers of forests are dyed, the stacked peaks are picturesque, a picture of the stream falling into the silver ditch, the beautiful scenery of the clear spring stone upstream, full of poetry and painting.

"Daochang Li is really elegant. Bai Shuo felt relaxed for a while, and he didn't sigh.

"See the smile and laugh the smile".

The two sat separately, and the old Taoist skillfully brewed a pot of green tea, but he was not as particular as kung fu tea, so he directly poured the tea soup into Bai Shuo's cup, and then poured some into his cup. Bai Shuo was a little thirsty, and after taking a sip, he felt that it was sweet and delicious, so he drank it all in one gulp.

"Good tea, good tea!" In fact, Bai Shuo only cared about being thirsty, and he didn't drink anything special about tea, but he felt that after drinking other people's tea, he always had to thank and praise him.

"This tea is self-picked and fried by Xiaodao in this mountain, so it is not nameless, and there is nothing to pay attention to. It's good if the little brother likes it. The old Taoist priest was obviously a little happy to hear the praise, and filled the cup with Bai Shuo.

Bai Shuo muttered in his heart, this tea is a three-no product. In his cognition, tea leaves are not planted in tea gardens, what kind of things are picked by hand all over the mountain, and don't catch any rotten leaves and poisonous weeds. And the environment of this Taoist temple just now, there is no decent workshop, let alone aseptic disinfection equipment. Thinking of this, although Bai Shuo was still a little thirsty, he didn't touch the tea again.

"Daochang Li, I don't know if you know what I asked before" Bai Shuo got straight to the point at the moment.

Seeing that Lao Dao looked a little thoughtful, Bai Shuo continued: "Well, it is a woman who looks about 20 years old and looks very beautiful, maybe she is dressed in white. Because in Bai Shuo's impression, Chen Bing seems to be wearing white clothes, so he also described such an image.

"In my place, ordinary people rarely come here, let alone beautiful women, anyway, I haven't seen any women in the past two days. The old man said leisurely.

When Bai Shuo looked a little disappointed, Lao Dao said again: "But I can see that little brother, there seem to be some doubts in your heart, if it is convenient, Poor Dao can help you refer to the details."

Bai Shuo thought about it for a long time, not knowing whether to talk about those strange things with this old Taoist, but asked the old Taoist lightly: "Daoist Li, I don't know much about Taoist things, I don't know what to mean by this Taoist word?"

Lao Dao pinched his beard, thought for a moment and said: "Tao is Tao, very Tao, famous, very famous." Nameless, the beginning of heaven and earth, famous, mother of heaven and earth. The Tao dominates the universe and all life. It's empty and unspeakable!"

Bai Shuo thought for a while, this old way seems to be the head of the Tao, but after thinking about it carefully, it has no substance at all. So he asked, "Where exactly is this way?"

"The Tao is born from the chaotic elemental energy, which produces yin and yang, and yin and yang are mixed into all things, which are formless and operate according to certain laws. The Tao is born from nature and is everywhere. You see the clouds rise and fall, alternately flowing, circulating, these are all the existence of the Tao. Lao Dao said directly without any hesitation this time.

Bai Shuo saw that the old Taoist seemed to be reciting scriptures, and he also felt a little bored, so he smiled bitterly and said: "What the Taoist chief said is too profound, and it can't solve the actual problem for me."

Lao Dao smiled slightly: "Little brother, you are asking about the principle of the Great Dao, and I will naturally answer a little empty." If you don't talk about the specific problem, how can I know how to deal with the explanation? ”

Hearing Lao Dao's words, maybe there are some things that have been held in his heart for a long time, and he really needs to find someone to talk to, or maybe he wants to let go of his burden because of the pleasant scenery outside the window. In the end, after hiding and processing some things, Bai Shuo organized the language to tell Lao Dao.

"Dao Chief, I feel that my life is very confused now. It seems that I feel that I have already walked the road, but I have to go again, and I am about to reach the end, but I suddenly find that I am still at the starting point. I now feel that everything around me is both real and unreal, as if I used to have a long, long dream, and now I wake up, but I can't tell whether it was a dream or not. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a dream. I feel like I've lost a lot, and suddenly it's as if I never got it, and now I feel like I can get a lot, but I always feel like I'm going to lose it all eventually......"

Because Bai Shuo didn't want to say the things in his heart too bluntly, some words didn't reach the point, and after saying a lot intermittently, Lao Dao still had an indifferent expression, sometimes taking a sip of tea, and sometimes nodding thoughtfully.

When Bai Shuo said that he didn't know what else to say, Lao Dao said slowly: "This situation of the little brother is a state of enlightenment from our Taoist point of view. Of course, as for how long it will take, it depends on your creation.

"Enlightenment?" Bai Shuo asked puzzled.

"A lot of what you're talking about is actually not difficult to understand. In the eyes of ordinary people, what they see and feel when they wake up is real, and everything in their dreams is illusory and unreal. But the so-called Zhuang Zhou dream butterfly, although waking up is one realm, dream is another realm, the two are not the same, Zhuang Zhou is Zhuang Zhou, butterflies are butterflies, the two are also different. But in Zhuang Zhou's view, they are just a phenomenon, a form and a stage of the Tao in motion. Whether it is Zhuang Zhou, butterflies, real things, or dream things, they are all just empty Tao in essence. There is no difference, this is the so-called "Qi Wu".

Seeing that Bai Shuo was obviously a little struggling to hear this, Lao Dao smiled quietly, and then continued: "Maybe the little brother can't understand these truths immediately, let's put it simply." In fact, everyone will have such a time, when they come to a certain place and do something, they suddenly find that they seem to have been here, or seem to have done such a thing, but they have never been here in their real life, and they have never done such a thing. At this point, we tend to attribute it to the fact that the dream world has experienced these things. ”

"Of course, this is only a very short, very fragmentary memory. People can firmly believe that the present they live in is the real world, and they will not pay too much attention to those fragmentary memories. What if it's a long, complete memory?"

Just as these words were in Bai Shuo's heart, he asked eagerly, "Has this ever happened?"

"Yes. Let me tell you a story. In ancient times, there was a man named Lu Sheng, who pursued fame and wealth all his life but had no ambition, and after failing to take the exam, he was about to return home, and when he passed the hotel, he was about to enter the store to rest, and saw that the store was preparing to steam yellow cakes. He felt tired and fell asleep in the shop. After resting, I got up and went home. A few months later, he married a beautiful woman from a wealthy family, which made Lu Sheng very happy, and his life became better and better. In the second year, he went to participate in the imperial examination and entered the jinshi, and even went to high school in one fell swoop, became a secret school official, and at the behest of the emperor, went to Weinan to be a county lieutenant, and was soon promoted to supervise the imperial history. After three years, he began to serve as a local magistrate, helping the people do a lot of good things, being loved by the people, and erecting a monument to praise him. Later, he was promoted all the way back to the capital. At that time, Emperor Shenwu was using force to deal with Rong Di to expand his territory, so he ordered Lu Sheng to lead his troops to the battle. As a result, he broke the captives, expanded the territory of 900 square miles, and received a grand reward after returning to Beijing, and later became the prime minister, which can be said to be more than 10,000 people under one person. Later, he experienced all kinds of frame-ups, and came back to life several times in despair, but finally won the trust of the emperor, and his family was full of children and grandchildren. Later, Lu Sheng grew old and asked for his resignation many times, but he was not allowed. still won the trust of the emperor and the love of the people, and the most popular lived to be more than eighty years old before dying.

But at this time, Lu Sheng stretched his waist and woke up, only to find that his body was still sleeping in the hostel, the yellow cake steamed by the shopkeeper was not yet cooked, and the surrounding things were the same as before. Lu Sheng was melancholy for a long time before he realized: "The way of favor and humiliation, the luck of poverty, the reason for mourning, the feelings of death and life, and the desires of people are nothing more than this." So he gave up the idea of pursuing fame and wealth, and returned to his home to live a peaceful life. This is the allusion of "Huangliang a dream".

"A dream?" Bai Shuo read silently, and then sighed deeply and asked, "So is this Lu Sheng a dream, or has he really experienced all this?"