Tranquility

"Where is this place?" Tangning and Xie Baiyun came to a remote dead end.

This alley is surrounded by walls. It used to be a small alley, but later two walls were built to seal the alley.They jumped over the wall.

A worn-out straw mat and some messy sundries were piled up at the corner of the alley, forming a triangular area under the corner.

Before Xie Baiyun could answer, a slender yellow bitch suddenly emerged from an unobtrusive hole in the other corner, staring fiercely at the two strangers in front of him, making a low threatening sound from his mouth, but didn't say anything. Barking loudly.

Tangning stared at this dog that was very similar to Qiuqiu, and was stunned. Then, a five or six-year-old boy emerged from the small hole.

Suddenly seeing two strange adult men appear in his secret little world, the little boy panicked and hugged the bitch tightly, looking up at Tangning and Xie Baiyun timidly.

Tangning knew immediately that this was the "secret base" of the little boy and the dog. She apologized for her abruptness, so she smiled gently and knelt down to be level with the little boy.

"Sorry, we broke in here by accident. What's your name?"

It was the first time for the little boy to see such a beautiful and clean person, and felt Tangning's kindness, so he was relieved and said softly, "My name is Po. Who are you?"

Suddenly, the little boy cut off the conversation and nervously looked behind Tangning.

Tangning turned around and saw that Xie Baiyun was lifting the straw mat, and a few fluffy, golden-yellow balls appeared under the straw mat.

At that moment, Tangning thought she saw Qiuqiu again.It's a pity that it was the severe winter and the twelfth lunar month at that time, but at this time it was extremely hot.He quickly came back to his senses, the bitch was even more threatening, moving around uncontrollably, and was hugged tightly by the little boy.

Tangning already understood Xie Baiyun's intention for bringing him here, and quickly comforted her, "Don't be afraid, we're just here to deliver some water."

Before he finished speaking, Xie Baiyun slowly poured the water from the bucket into a dirty wooden box that couldn't be seen from its original shape. Obviously this was the box that bitches used to eat or drink.

"Water." When the little boy saw the water, his eyes lit up immediately, and as soon as he let go of his hand, the bitch came out and rushed towards Xie Baiyun.Xie Baiyun didn't care. With a wave of his hand, the bitch rolled away.

The little boy hurriedly ran to hug the bitch and shouted, "Ah Huang, Ah Huang."

There were four puppies under the straw mat, and they were still walking unsteadily, but they could already smell the smell of water, and their four heads squeezed together to drink water desperately.

Tangning picked up the bucket, put it in front of the bitch, and said, "Drink."

The little boy reached out to drink water, but Tangning grabbed him.

The little hand in the palm didn't feel fleshy at all, it was like a chicken's paw, the nails pricked Tangning's palm. Compared with Tang Yu when he was a child, this child was much thinner, such a small dog hole could be easily Get in.

Tangning picked up the little boy and said softly, "You can't drink this water, you will get sick if you drink it. Uncle will take you to get clean water later."

The little boy nodded obediently, and he still couldn't believe it. His little black hand touched the blue silk on Tangning's body, leaving a black paw print.

"I'm sorry to stain your clothes." The little boy said shyly, he was just curious about how such a beautiful dress feels to the touch.

Tangning's smile deepened. She never expected such a young child to be so polite. Although it seemed that his family's conditions were not good, the parents taught him carefully.

"A Bao, is this your dog?"

"Ah Huang is a dog raised by Ah Bao and brother Rui."

"Who is Brother Rui?"

"Brother Rui lives next door to my house. His mother is so fierce, she won't let him go home without giving him food, so Brother Rui lives here now."

Tangning glanced at this small world surrounded by four walls of less than ten square meters. There was not even a shade on his head, and there was no trace of anyone's life inside. How does Brother Rui usually live?

"Why doesn't Brother Rui's mother give him food or let him go home?"

"Because Brother Rui's mother thought Ah Huang was too edible and dirty, she asked Brother Rui to throw away Ah Huang, but Brother Rui refused, so they were kicked out together." The little guy sighed like a grown-up. .

"My mother doesn't want to raise Ah Huang either, she said there is no water for Ah Huang to drink."

Don't want to raise a dog Tang Ning can understand, but there is no mother in the world who drives her son out, Tang Ning doesn't believe it, but he didn't ask Ah Bao such a complicated question, instead he asked: "Brother Na Rui, how did you eat after being kicked out Ah, why isn't he with you?"

"Brother Rui is very good. He can climb trees, catch cicadas and eat them. There is an inn at the east end of the town. There are rich people there. They will feed Brother Rui."

Ah Bao was too young to understand, but Tangning didn't believe that the people in the post station would give a child alms at such a time, that post office was not a kind person.

"Then do you know where brother Rui is now?"

"Brother Rui has gone to be a lotus boy."

"What is the lotus boy?"

"Brother Rui said that Lianhua Boy is a boy under the seat of Lianhua Fairy. From now on, he will serve Lianhua Fairy and will never come back again." The little guy choked up a little while talking.

"Although I don't need to eat or drink... I don't need to be hungry anymore, but I'm not allowed to come back again... Fairy Lianhua will be angry."

Tangning heard that something was wrong, she turned her head to look at Xie Baiyun, just as Xie Baiyun turned her head, the two of them looked at each other, and they both knew what the other meant.

If you guessed right, this Lianhua town should offer sacrifices to pray for rain.

Xie Baiyun led Tangning and Abao out of the four corners of the world, and ran all the way. When they came in the morning, there was no one on the street. They thought it was a bad year, but looking at it now, it was very suspicious.

"Where are the people on the street?" Tangning hugged Ah Bao and said to herself.

"They all went to the Temple of Flowers, and my mother also went, but my mother won't let me go."

"Why are they going to the Temple of Flowers?"

"Worship the Flower God!" Ah Bao said these three words very smoothly, which shows that he is very familiar with this word.

When Xie Baiyun collected the well water in the morning, he ran all over the town. Although he didn't know which building was the Temple of Flowers, he could guess it based on A Bao's words.

When the three arrived at the Huashen Temple, they found that the Huashen Temple was in chaos, without the slightest sense of solemnity for sacrifices. More than 1000 people gathered together in a dark, noisy and noisy manner.

"I'll go ahead and have a look." Seeing that he couldn't squeeze in, Xie Baiyun turned around and explained to Tangning before jumping onto the roof.

It was inconvenient for Tangning to hold Ah Bao, so she had to wait aside and listen to the scattered people chatting.

"Has the lotus boy been found yet?"

"It seems that there is not, otherwise the sacrifice should have started."

"That's great, the auspicious time is coming soon."

"Yes, the well has bottomed out. If we can't get rain today, we will run out of food tomorrow."

"Do you want us to leave our hometown with the same background as Luhua Village?"

"I said, Empress Lianhua, she doesn't care if it rains. If she can't ask for it today, that's great. I think I'd better ask Master Dragon King."

"It's not that our town doesn't rain. Other towns have already begged the Dragon King eight hundred times. It's useless."

"After all, Empress Lianhua has a relationship with our town. She used to bury lotus pods in the ground to create our town. Otherwise, why would there be so many wells in Lianhua Town? How many lotus seeds are on the lotus pods, and there are as many wells in the town. well."

"It makes sense, isn't the lotus born in water? I don't ask the goddess of the lotus for rain, just ask her not to let our well dry up."

While they were talking, there was a sudden commotion in the crowd, and the shouting in front was even louder.

Tangning hugged Ah Bao and was hit twice by Yu Bo, so she hurriedly asked the people next to her what happened inside.

Before he finished speaking, he heard a man in the middle standing on the high platform and yelling:

"Folks, that brat from Degui's family has run away, and our boy is gone. Seeing that Empress Lianhua is about to get angry!"

There was an uproar underneath.

"You said that if Empress Lianhua doesn't give us water, we won't be able to live for a few days. If we don't starve to death, we will die of thirst."

"It's fine if we're thirsty to death, half our life is enough! But what about our baby?"

The people below were even more disturbed, discussing what to do.

"I don't know, there is no unparalleled road in the sky!"

When the people below heard that there was a door, they stopped talking and looked up at the person.

"The Taoist priest found a boy. Judging by his face, he is more blessed than the white-eyed wolf in Degui's family. He is so beautiful. Our Lady Lianhua will like it when she sees it. If she likes it, she will definitely not forget us. Don't ask her to give it to me. Let's make it rain, filling our well is always a piece of cake, isn't it?"

The people below shouted: "Mistress Lianhua is merciful, Master Daoist has profound magic power."

"It's a pity, this kid is not from our Lianhua Town. You said he didn't come sooner or later, but he came when our boy ran away. Isn't it the fate of God, God can't bear the hunger of our town I'm dying of thirst."

The people below started whispering again.

"It's not from our town, who is it?"

"Besides the post station, where are the outsiders coming to our town recently?"

"It's not so good, after all, it's someone else's child."

"Hey, you're confused, it's not someone else's child, could it be your child? Without him, saving more than 1000 people in our town, he has accumulated great blessings, and he may have a good pregnancy in his next life. "

"Hey, there is no next life. I will become a fairy with Empress Lianhua, and I will live forever!"

Tangning panicked when she heard this, besides Tang Yu, there were no other children in the station!

Hugging Bao, he squeezed into the crowd, pushing the people around with all his strength, "Let's go, let's go!"

At this time, the benefits of being good-looking showed up. Although many people didn't know Tangning, they could tell from his clothes, demeanor and appearance that there was a huge gap between him and their own class, so they allowed it a little bit.

And their attention is all on the high platform, that is the major event related to their survival.

The people on the high platform didn't care about the movement of the people below, they whetted their appetites, and waited for the people below to chatter: "What's the matter with the outsiders, you have to listen to us when you arrive at our territory, who stipulates that the lotus boy must be the original?" People from the town, I don’t know where the oil bottle from Degui’s family came from.”

For their own survival, the ordinary people, who are usually simple, showed their cruelty unabashedly at this moment.

The people on the high platform saw that everyone had thought clearly, so they said:

"But the child's family does not agree to surrender. After all, they are foreigners. They are leaving today. Our life and death have nothing to do with them!"

Hearing that he was about to leave, the people below were not calm anymore, they crowded forward one after another relying on the large number of people, and even the clever people had already called for people to seal the exit.

Tangning, who was already approaching, followed the pushing and shoving, and was finally pushed to the front.

Seeing Tang Yu being protected by Xie Baiyun and Shu Hongyu, a hanging heart finally let go of half.Putting down Abao, he ran over to hug Tang Yu, at this moment he felt the joy of regaining what was lost.

Shu Hongyu stepped forward and said in shame: "Third brother, I brought Yu'er here to join in the fun. I didn't expect to encounter such a thing. I wanted to take Yu'er out to kill..."

Tangning reached out her hand to stop him from speaking, "This is not the time to talk, I understand what you mean."

Shu Hongyu brought a child to face more than 1000 people. Even if he is a peerless master, it is not easy to get away, let alone the monks who can run away can't run away from the temple, and their luggage carts are still in the post.

Xie Baiyun's eyes were sour as he watched from the sidelines. However, although his status was high, he couldn't be exposed. At this time, only Tangning could stand uprightly.

"Who are you!" shouted the man on the high platform.

"You don't have the right to talk to me. Where is the local county magistrate?" Tangning straightened her clothes a little. She didn't even look at the person on the high platform. She only stared at the brightly colored people in the front row.

Among the people in that row, a person wearing a pink lotus collar and a big red lotus skirt stood up shyly. He first looked back at the Taoist priest sitting cross-legged in the Huashen Temple, and then stepped forward and said, "This The officer is."

Tangning looked at him wearing ridiculous clothes, acting obscenely, without assertiveness, and bowing to her before he knew his identity. It can be seen that he has been under others for a long time, and he has no sense of the authority of his parents in front of the people in the town. You know how useless this county magistrate is.

"This official is the No. 31 scholar in Jingle's [-]st year. Because I am the third-ranked official and a sage who cherishes talents, I am appointed as an official to edit from the sixth grade. After three years, I will be the Chancellor of Zhan Shifu and the assistant teacher of the Imperial College. Now I am the Tongzhi of Yongzhou. , I passed through Guizhen on the way to take office, and I wanted to set off on the road today, but I didn't expect Guizhen to detain the dog and sacrifice him."

The county magistrate began with Tangning's first sentence that he was the number one scholar. He had already dared not even imagine that the number one scholar came from a Juren background. He followed up with three yuan and the first place, the Holy Lord Long En. Every time he said a word, he became shorter. At that time, a flattering smile was already on his face, and he was about to step forward to defend himself.

Tang Ning didn't give him a chance, and continued with a straight face: "The court's law, any government, clan, ancestral temple, or Taoist temple, any sacrifices are not allowed to use human sacrifices. Those who violate the law will be dismissed from their posts, and the monks and Taoists will confiscate them." The status is issued, one family is punished, the other three are punished, and there will be no pardon!"

"I dare to ask you, as a parent official, you actually despise the law and force the people under your rule to sacrifice their sons as sacrifices. You also want to detain the sons of officials appointed by the court as sacrifices. Where did you borrow the courage?"

Tangning's voice was so stern that it frightened the magistrate to the point of death, and he said tremblingly, "I, sir, I..."

"This official will submit a letter to the imperial court, and I will surely kill Er and other clans!"

The county magistrate couldn't say a word now, his legs were already weak and he was sitting on the ground, but now he knelt down on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

The onlookers were all shocked. Although the county magistrate is usually a bit useless in their hearts, they are parents' officials after all, and they have their own deterrents in the hearts of the people.

Seeing that the county magistrate died half of his life after being scolded with just a few words, the rationality blinded by panic finally became clearer. They actually wanted to sacrifice the son of a court official. They couldn't believe how they could There will be such boldness.

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable." The Taoist priest sitting in the Goddess Temple saw that Tang Ning shocked the crowd as soon as he came up. His subordinates didn't even fart, and finally couldn't sit still.

"He Fang Xiaoxiao, report your name!" Tangning stood like a pine tree, with an aura that was overwhelmingly evil, no matter who you are, I will call you Xiaoxiao.

The Daoist paused for a while, and then he said indifferently and indifferently: "Pindao's name is Qingfeng, he is a person from outside the world, and he has been away from the secular world for many years. There is some cause and effect in the town, and Pindao has some kind of friendship with the lotus fairy. He knows that a pair of boys and girls under the lotus fairy have an affair and stole down to the mortal world. All are taken care of by the boy under the seat, so Pindao will discuss with Lianhua Fairy and choose a pair of boys and girls from the secular world to take over his affairs. The ceremony here is to express gratitude to Lianhua Fairy from the people of this town, not to sacrifice , this pair of boys and girls are not sacrifices, after the ceremony, Pindao will send them to the Lotus Fairy Seat."

"It's a bunch of nonsense, take it down!" Tangning was already very impatient when she heard it, but due to the weight of the Taoist priest in the hearts of the townspeople, she patiently listened to his excuses. bigger.

As soon as Shu Hongyu heard Tangning's words, he immediately kicked the Taoist priest's knee, forcing the Taoist priest to kneel down with a "plop", and then stepped on his back, making him unable to stand up.

"What do you mean by this, my lord? What the poor said is true, why are you talking nonsense?"

"Hmph, aren't you a fairy, why can't you even stand a mortal's foot?"

"Taoism has its own rules, and it is not allowed to hurt people with immortal methods."

"I won't let you hurt others, but only let you show off your magic skills."

"The state owns the laws of the country, and the immortals also have their laws. In the mortal world, the immortal laws are not allowed to be used privately."

"Well, if you don't use the fairy method, don't use it. Didn't you say that you have friendship with the lotus fairy? Dare I ask what the lotus fairy looks like, where is the fairy house? How do you get there? Can you discuss it with the lotus fairy, Let her come to the town to choose boys and girls. After all, she is serving her, so how can you choose her according to her wishes?"

"Fairy Lianhua is a woman after all, how can the poor Taoist talk about her appearance and where she lives, and she is devoted to Taoism, so how can she have time to delay for such a trivial matter."

"According to what you said, I have some friendship with the Buddha, and I can send you to the west to see the Buddha. Are you going?"

"You, how can you disrespect the Buddha?"

"Aren't you a Taoist? What does it matter to you if I disrespect the Buddha? What evidence do you have to prove that I don't know the Buddha?"

"You, you are talking nonsense, and you have no evidence to prove that I don't know Lotus Fairy."

"Why should I prove that you don't know Fairy Lianhua? You are the one who wants to send my son to serve her. You should prove that you know her. How do I know if you abducted my son and sold her?"

"I, I. Love, I was stunned by Tangning again, or" Dao Qingfeng pushed his back and was trampled so painful that he simply swore: "Patriarch Sanqing is here, Pindao Qingfeng swears here, Pindao sincerely wants to help If Lianhua Town survives this catastrophe, Pindao will personally send the boys and girls to the Lianhua Fairy so that they can enter the immortal way. If there are false words, there will be a thunderbolt!" Tang Ning sneered, and was about to refute, but heard a thunder from the sky, resounding through the sky .