Yu Hongchen

Walking to the house where Nan Xing lived in the past, he opened the door and walked in. The door squeaked, and a thick cloud of flying dust rushed towards him, causing the two of them to wave their hands hastily.Because the yard has been unoccupied for ten years, it exudes an old and decaying smell. The walls are ruined and cobwebs are everywhere. There is a pile of firewood piled high under the thatched shed on the west side, which has become old and black.On the east side is a small open yard with a stone table and a few stone benches, and a well dug beside it.It was exactly the same as when he left here.

Fortunately, the well was sealed with stones and was not affected by the open air.Xie Liuchen entered the yard, stretched out his hands to pull away the cobwebs that blocked the way, and removed the stones on the side of the well. Seeing that there was still water in the well, he beckoned and called Danwu over.

As early as the moment Danwu entered the door, he rushed to the small room in the center, opened the door abruptly, and once the smoke and dust that had been dusty for many years reappeared in the sky, he was choked to sneeze again and again, the corners of his eyes were full of tears, but his mouth could not be closed with a smile .Hearing Xie Liuchen's call, he ran to the well again, clapped his hands, and shouted happily: "Wow, there is water in it!"

Xie Liuchen wiped the stone bench clean, sat on it, looked at his excited figure, and said leisurely, "Xiao Danwu, will you listen to me?"

Dan Wu responded loudly: "Listen!"

Xie Liuchen asked him to sit on the stone bench next to him, and said solemnly: "Well, since we have decided to live in the mortal world for a period of time, we must follow the rules of the mortal world and live like ordinary people. Tell others that we are practitioners. Do you know?"

Dan Wu said: "I know."

Xie Liuchen pointed to the well and said, "Then, let's start moving now. If we're lucky, we can have a meal before the sun goes down."

As soon as he heard that there was food, Danwu let out a wow, and his eyes lit up again. Without further explanation from him, he went to find the bucket and slipped to the well to fetch water.He has lived in the mortal world for a few months, and he is curious about everything. He hops outside every day, and he has explored more than half of the living habits of mortals. He brought a bucket full of water, scrubbed the furniture in the house, and found He took a broom and started sweeping the yard in style.

Xie Liuchen stood in the yard, stretched out his hand, and brushed off a bundle of straw that had fallen from the roof.Thinking back to when he was taken away by Daoist Xuan Si, he was only six years old, and the thatched hut was extremely tall at that time, now it seems that it is too small to be worth mentioning.After ten years, the thatched huts on the barren hills are all the same, and they can't change much.That changed, of course it was him.He left a sentence: "I'll go find some food." Then he went out empty-handed.

After leaving the courtyard gate, the left side is the direction they came from, and the right side is a village road paved with loess, winding to nowhere.On the right side of the village road, after walking hundreds of steps, I saw another low thatched hut.Households in Zhoujia Village live by hunting and chopping firewood, and there are few people in it. There are only dozens of families living in such a large mountain village, and dozens of gray tile houses are scattered here and there.These houses are all lived by villagers in mountain villages, and they are not very particular about construction, and the walls are crooked and colorful; looking up at the courtyard around the house, there are piles of firewood, sticks and withered grass on the ground.

Walking to the foot of the mountain, an exceptionally clean room came into view, which made his eyes shine.This house is located at the innermost side of the village. It is different from other earthen houses. It is built of beam wood, decorated with vermilion lacquer and green tiles, and the color is very bright; Singing loudly on the half-supported window lattice, the faint scent of books and ink came from the window.

He thought: "This is not like the place where ordinary mountain people live."

But this thought was just a flash, and he didn't care about other people's daily life. He bypassed this wooden house and went up the mountain.

He is a person of cultivation and does not need rice or meat to fill his stomach, but Danwu is different. He is a beast king who has just transformed into a human body and needs to eat meat and drink blood to grow.Walking up the mountain, one can see barren mountains and wild forests growing wantonly. The tops of the trees point straight to the sky.

Seeing that there was no one around, he swept into the forest, shook his chest, raised his head to the sky and screamed a few times. After a while, the leaves rustled and a few birds fluttered down.Holding the Xiuming Sword again, he went deep into the wild forest, caught several mountain rabbits, and even got a wild deer that screamed.

After wiping off the blood on the sword, he tied a few mountain rabbits into a pile, tied them around his waist, and tied a long thick yellow vine around the neck of the wild deer. He led the deer down the mountain along the way he came.Thinking: "Give this little deer to Danwu to play, he must like it very much." There is nothing interesting in this wilderness mountain village, Danwu is too playful, if he doesn't find something fun for him, I'm afraid he won't stay for a few days Day will make a noise to leave.

When going down the mountain, I saw a few woodcutters by the roadside, carrying knives and axes, resting on the stones by the roadside, looking at him.

He led the wild deer and walked slowly past them. A man with a simple and sweaty face yelled, "Little brother is very skilled."

Xie Liuchen smiled and said nothing, nodded and walked past them.Since he came to the mortal world, he made a private agreement with Danwu that it would be best not to deal with mortals too much.Listening to their greetings at this time, they are only polite.

Those woodcutters looked at the prey on his waist, and smiled again: "Little brother, do you want to do business?"

Xie Liuchen stopped and asked casually, "What business?"

Just then the man said: "We'll give you some money, and you sell us some rabbits on your body, okay?"

It turned out that they were local residents who lived by hunting and cutting firewood for generations, but these people were not skilled enough to do the work of hunters, so they could only go to the mountains to cut firewood to make a living.Their life was poor, and they kept everything simple in terms of food and clothing. At this time, they took a fancy to the mountain rabbits on his body, and their appetite was aroused for many days.

Xie Liuchen saw that these people should be the villagers of Zhoujia Village, so he untied the rope around his waist, handed two of them over, and said with a smile: "Why sell it, we two brothers can't eat so much, so I will give it to you That's all right."

The man was gearing up, took it with some embarrassment, and said, "How can you be ashamed?"

Xie Liuchen said with a smile: "You're welcome, meeting is fate, just take it." After finishing speaking, he was about to go down the mountain, when he turned around, he glanced at the bundles of firewood piled up beside them, and walked away again. When I came back, "There is no need to give money, but I was so focused on hunting just now that I forgot to get some firewood to go back."

The man understood as soon as he heard it, and he agreed with all his mouth: "Young Master, if you like the crude things in our hands, that is the best."

He called out again: "Qiu'er, untie a pile of firewood and give it to this young master." He admired Xie Liuchen's generous behavior of giving away the prey, and even called him "Young Master" instead of "little brother".

"Hey—" I only heard a girl's voice from the side of the road.Xie Liuchen looked sideways, and it turned out that there was a little girl among the group of woodcutters.She was about fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in rough clothes and linen, her face was slightly yellowed by sunburn, but her eyes were full of smoke, and she was extremely energetic.Seeing Xie Liuchen looking at her, she lowered her head, blushing from her cheeks to the base of her neck.

In fact, since he came to the mortal world, he changed his disciple's clothes and put on ordinary men's clothes, and with the travel and dust all the way, his clothes had already become dusty.But with his handsome appearance and years of practice, he has an aura that ordinary people can't match.All her life, the girl has seen all the mountain people who are big and rough, but when she sees such handsome men, her heart beats non-stop.

Qiu'er untied the driest and loosest firewood, tied them into a bundle, and tied them firmly with hemp rope. She shyly walked in front of him and said in a barely audible voice, "Young master, here it is."

Xie Liuchen said "Thank you", and chatted with the woodcutters for a while, seeing that the sun was getting dark, he took the deer by the hand and said goodbye.

When I got back to the courtyard of Zhoujia Village, the sun had not yet set, and Danwu had already cleaned the courtyard inside and outside. Although it was not completely new, it was enough for people to live in.When he saw the wild deer behind him, his eyes were straightened, his sleeves were rolled up halfway, and before he put down the rag in his hand, he ran over with a running belt, poked the antlers, and kept shouting: "What is this? What is this?" What is it?"

Xie Liuchen entered the yard, put down the firewood on his back and the hare on his waist, and said with a smile, "This is a wild deer." He closed the gate of the yard, pulled the cane off the deer's neck, and let it walk in the yard.The deer lived on the mountain, looking for food carefree, and was captured by Xie Liuchen as a pet for no reason. He was very dissatisfied, and was chased by Dan Wu all over the yard, whining.

Danwu was a little surprised: "Give me something to eat?"

Xie Liuchen smiled and said, "You just want to eat, don't you?" Holding firewood and prey, he went into the back kitchen.

As soon as Dan Wu saw him enter the kitchen, he rushed, "I'll come, I'll come, I love cooking the most."

Xie Liuchen didn't take it seriously, simply threw the things on the stove, turned around and left the kitchen.It doesn't matter what Danwu will cook, anyway, whether it is cooked well or not, even if it is half-cooked, he will eat it alone.

Waiting for Danwu to leave the kitchen with a plate of rabbit meat and a plate of bird meat still bleeding, and bring them to the stone table in the yard.Xie Liuchen covered his eyes, and Dan Wu asked attentively: "Brother, do you want to taste my cooking?" He waved his hand and said weakly: "I don't need it, you can eat it yourself."

Dan Wu grinned, directly tore a piece of bloody rabbit meat with his hands, put it in his mouth, and enjoyed it deliciously.

Xie Liuchen entered the room, fiddled around, and finally took out a candle under the bed, lit a fire, and immediately filled the room with brilliance.

With meat in his mouth, Dan Wu said inarticulately: "By the way, brother, when I was cleaning the yard just now, I found a lot of things. Look," he ran to the grass in another part of the yard while chewing. In the shed, he pushed aside the pile of rotten and blackened firewood, and waved: "What do you think this is?"

Xie Liuchen walked over with a candle, and saw that where the piles of firewood were parted, there were clumps of lush green plants, so close together that you couldn't even tell where the branches were.He said clearly: "Herbs."

Dan Wu raised his head in doubt: "Herbal?"

Xie Liuchen explained: "Master Nan Xing planted the herb. He is not in good health, so he grows the herb all the year round and boils it for himself."

Dan Wu asked: "Master Nan Xing? Who is that?"

Xie Liuchen lowered his head slightly, wiped the rabbit blood from the corner of his mouth for him, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly said: "Danwu, you have learned a lot during the time you followed me in the mortal world."

Dan Wu didn't understand why he changed the subject suddenly, he was stunned, nodded and said: "Yeah."

Xie Liuchen's tone became serious: "You have grown up, and it's time to tell you many things."

Dan Wu groaned, as if he didn't care, followed his gaze, and saw him staring blankly at the clump of medicinal herbs.

There is no sunlight, rain or dew under the thatched shed, and no one takes care of it. This clump of medicinal herbs is deeply covered by rotten firewood piles, but it can still grow so far, and its vitality is really tenacious.