Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

A dragon soars in the sky; it is a good omen to see it.

Wen Jiao had seen the Hongjiang Dragon King before, but he was unreliable and appeared in human form, so he naturally lacked some majesty. But now, when Wen Jiao could see a real dragon for the first time in history, she felt not only shock and admiration, but also fear from the bottom of her heart.

Seeing such a huge, beautiful, divine creature flying high in the sky, kneeling down was the most natural reaction. If Wen Jiao had not received more than 20 years of modern education, and had not had an aversion to kneeling down and kowtowing for no reason, she would have prostrated herself to the ground. The others present, whether it was the county magistrate, the common people, the servants of the prime minister's mansion, or even Huo Ling'er, had already knelt down in the mud: "The Dragon King has appeared!"

In the sea of ​​cheers, Wen Jiao just wanted to sigh.

Shocked, the Dragon King has appeared.

Great joy, a blessing from heaven.

Great sadness, she doesn’t have the wish-fulfilling jewel either.

The blue dragon flew away quickly, and people calmed down their excitement and realized that they were soaked to the skin. They hurriedly looked for a place to take shelter. Wen Jiao and Huo Ling'er took shelter under a protruding rock. Huo Ling'er then noticed that Wen Jiao's Ruyi pearl hairpin was missing. Her hair bun had lost its fixing hairpin, and the heavy rain washed away a few strands of hair, which were dripping with water.

Huo Linger jumped three feet high and hit the rock above her head with a "bang" sound that made people's teeth ache: "Where is your Ruyi Pearl? Was it squeezed out when you were squeezed in the crowd just now?" As she said that, she was about to rush into the heavy rain curtain to look for it.

Wen Jiao dragged her back and said, "It's not lost. I gave it to someone."

When Huo Linger heard "it wasn't lost", she immediately breathed a sigh of relief. When she heard "it was given to someone", she immediately became anxious: "This is a treasure, how could you give it away without saying anything? Who did you give it to? Did you meet a liar?"

Wen Jiao raised her chin to the sky. He was not a liar, but just an old dragon who could fly and make it rain.

Huo Linger asked blankly: "Wen Jiao, is your neck uncomfortable?"

After Jia Quan personally witnessed the old man transform into a dragon and fly into the sky, he felt as if he were in a dream. When he heard the two talking about this, he came to his senses and sighed, "The hairpin that the young lady gave was not given to someone else, but to the dragon that just made the clouds and rain. The old dragon said that if he got the hairpin, it would rain. The young lady was also kind-hearted."

Huo Ling'er was stunned, and for a long while she howled in despair: "The Ruyi Pearl is gone, ah ah ah ah!"

After the rain stopped, on the way down the mountain, Huo Linger kept repeating this sentence over and over again, which attracted many people's sympathetic looks. Their eyes all said, "What a beautiful lady, but it's a pity that she is a fool."

Back at the teahouse, the rest of the people were waiting anxiously. They finally saw Wen Jiao and the others coming back. Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they noticed that Wen Jiao looked very unhappy, Huo Linger looked very shocked, Jia Quan and the two servants who followed them out also looked unhappy, so they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Li Sanlang saw that something was wrong and asked quietly, "Brother Jia, what happened?"

Jia Quan whispered, "We'll talk about it in detail later. It's getting late, so we should find a place to stay first. The young lady got caught in the rain, so you and your brother should remember to make ginger soup tonight."

So they called the tea master to come and settle the bill. He came over happily and said, "The shopkeeper has said that it rained today, which is a great joy. All tea, snacks, and fodder are free!" He looked out the window, his eyebrows and eyes relaxed by the moist wind after the rain, "It's a good thing that it rained. If it was delayed for ten days or half a month, there would be drought and death."

In this way, her painful sacrifice was worth it. Wen Jiao raised the corners of her lips slightly, then quickly turned them down.

No, just thinking about the Ruyi Pearl still makes her feel painful.

After taking the horses, they found a clean and bright inn nearby to stay. The two brothers of the Li family had already asked Jia Quan what happened and knew that their young lady had exchanged her beloved treasure with the Dragon King for rain in order to save Shangyong County from drought. Didn't you see that the maidservant named Huo Ling'er who served her was also very shocked? Is she still talking nonsense now?

"This is a righteous act!" The Li brothers praised. In order to make Wen Jiao and Huo Ling'er feel better, the brothers did their best to prepare a table of delicious dishes. They also boiled a thick ginger soup to help Wen Jiao drive away the cold.

Maybe it was because of the cold air that entered her body after walking in the rain, or maybe it was because she lost the protection of the Ruyi Pearl and her body became much weaker. In short, Wen Jiao couldn't help coughing a few times when drinking ginger soup, and she coughed several times in the middle of the night after falling asleep. It turned out that she had caught a cold.

As the only female member of the group besides Wen Jiao, Huo Ling'er always stayed in the same room with Wen Jiao. Hearing something was wrong, she got up and went to Wen Jiao's bedside. She touched her forehead with her hands and felt it was burning. She was shocked: "Wen Jiao, you have a high fever. Do you want to ask a doctor to come and see you?"

Wen Jiao buried her face in the quilt: "It's the middle of the night, there's no need to mobilize so many people. There are other guests in this store besides us. Don't disturb everyone's sleep. You should go to sleep too."

Huo Ling'er had seen her in a state of ease since she met her. It was rare to see her so vulnerable. She felt pity for her and suddenly felt like a big sister. She patted her chest and said, "You go to sleep. I'll get you a wet towel. Anyway, without the Ruyi Pearl to shine on me, I feel like something is missing when I close my eyes at night. I can't sleep at all."

Wen Jiao picked at the corner of the quilt melancholy, wishing she could howl to the sky, but when the words came to her lips, they turned into a few hums: "I can't bear to let go, ah!"

Although it was definitely worth it in exchange for a heavy rain, she still felt heartbroken. No matter how painful it was, if she could go back a hundred times, she would still choose to trade the hairpin for rain.

I can't take it anymore. The more I think about it, the sadder I feel. Not only does my body hurt, but my heart also hurts.

Frustrated, she scratched the quilt a few more times, and suddenly felt a cool breeze on her forehead. It turned out that Huo Ling'er had soaked a wet towel and put it on her forehead to cool it down. Wen Jiao said "thank you" reflexively, and then her mind became clearer. She hummed and said, "Huo Ling'er, the Ruyi Pearl has been given away, and I can't keep you any longer. What are your plans for the future? If there is a place you want to go, I can also prepare a ceremony to send you off."

Huo Ling'er was stunned by her question: "That's right, I followed you because of the Ruyi Pearl and the comfortable life. Now the Ruyi Pearl is gone, I have to run around everywhere, and my life is much harder than before..." She pondered for a long time, and suddenly slapped her forehead, "Why am I thinking about these things? I was led away by you. Wen Jiao, if I abandoned you when you were sick, what would I become? This lion is also loyal!"

But you are not a lion, you are a crystal lion paperweight... Wen Jiao wanted to refute, but Huo Ling'er pulled another quilt over her head and covered her head. She struggled to get out: "It's hot."

"Be patient, you'll sweat faster this way. Although I've never been sick, I've seen others get sick, so I'm very experienced." Huo Linger said proudly.

Wen Jiao laughed quietly. The cricket pupated a few times and huddled himself in the quilt.

So warm.

She fell asleep.