Although Xu Zhipeng discovered many abnormalities, he did not dare to make a sound for fear of affecting the old Taoist priest. This is an old immortal. He looks like he has profound skills and is a true immortal. He is afraid that if he makes some strange noise, it will interfere with his pure cultivation and cause the old man to go crazy. He didn't know why the old Taoist priest wanted him to watch him meditate. Could it be that he wanted to arouse his curiosity and join his Taoist sect?
Xu Zhipeng shook his head with a secret smile and waited patiently.
Time passed quietly. In a blink of an eye, the sun has set in the west. Xu Zhipeng had never had breakfast in the first place. At noon, he was afraid of disturbing the old Taoist priest and kept silent. However, in the afternoon, he was really hungry. He took a deep look at the motionless old Taoist priest, apologized, and quietly left the hall.
"This is really timeless cultivation!" Xu Zhipeng stretched out his hands and feet to soothe his blood. Fortunately, he was already accustomed to using his computer and mobile phone all day long, otherwise he would not have been able to endure the pain of sitting for a long time. I felt a little sore in my hands and feet, so I kicked my legs and twisted my waist, and I felt relieved immediately.
The kitchen is on the east side of the main hall, leaning against the courtyard wall and connected to the living room where we had dinner last night. However, the entire design is high in the north and south, extending to the corner of the kitchen. He is 1.76 meters tall and can no longer stand straight. On the low wall, there is a small window with a wooden partition. The dark green window glass has been cracked several times, and it is reluctantly left on the window frame with strips of unknown adhesive, shivering for fear of an autumn wind. Just blew them off.
The location of the rice vat is easy to find, but there are no modern kitchen appliances such as gas stoves and rice cookers in the kitchen. There is only a small stove and an iron pot. It is a problem to fry vegetables and cook rice at the same time.
"Alas~" Xu Zhipeng sighed deeply. After getting married, he and his wife had clear responsibilities, and he was responsible for cleaning up after meals. His cooking skills had deteriorated for more than ten years.
Inside the cupboard, there was only a small half bowl of assorted vegetables left over from last night, and they had long lost their original freshness, making them less appetizing.
"Let's just make do with it!" It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, let alone a handicap like him. It would be great if he can survive starvation. Fortunately, I have seen large earthen stoves in rural areas since I was a child, and I also burned them when I was a child, so there was no embarrassment about not being able to catch fire.
Washing baskets, two liters of rice, a big water tank... Alas, there is no running water on the mountain, so I can only scoop water to wash rice, which is not used to me. He was not clean, and he didn't get sick after eating, so he put it in the pot, estimated the amount of water, lit a ball of hay, threw it into the stove, and ignited a few dead branches, and the fire became strong. I also stuffed a few thick branches into it, and I guess it should be enough to cook a pot of rice.
One advantage of cooking with wood is that you don’t have to keep an eye on it in real time, unlike when you were a child in the countryside, when you cooked with straw, you had to stuff straw into your stomach from time to time. There were too many straws, and either the fire was too strong and burned the rice, or the fire was accidentally put out.
There is still something very particular about making a fire in a large stove.
It was much more convenient to use firewood to make a fire. After checking the stove mouth, it turned out that no matter what, the fire would not be drawn outside. Xu Zhipeng clapped his hands in relief and walked out of the stove.
The old Taoist priest was still meditating quietly, and Xu Zhipeng did not dare to disturb him. He glanced at the outside of the hall from a distance, then turned around to admire the dilapidated Taoist temple.
To be honest, there is really nothing to see in this Taoist temple. Not to mention it is old, but there is also an aura of decline, as if it is the same as the old Taoist priest and is on the verge of decline. The only thing that was a little lively was the vegetable patch behind the main hall. Although it had already entered autumn, it was still growing lush and full of vitality.
Slightly curled small peppers, okra that is as tall as a person with small yellow flowers still blooming on the top, two rows of half-withered and half-green corn stalks, several puddles of green vegetables, and a small half of the sweet potato field that has not been put away, among other things. There were several items, but no fruit was visible. Xu Zhipeng did not recognize them for a while. This can really be said to be a lack of diligence in all aspects of life, and a failure to distinguish between grains and grains. I have been out of the countryside since I was a child, so how can I recognize all these things?
He had no idea of harvesting, and he didn't get the owner's permission. It was okay to cook a meal to fill his belly. If he continued to pick and fry randomly, he would be treating himself as an outsider. Besides, he is still handicapped!
He turned back to the stove and took a look at the fire. There were signs of the fire spreading. He used the fire rod to pass it through a few times, pushed some wood into the belly of the stove, and ventilated them. The fire became much stronger, and there was also fire in his nostrils. I smelled the aroma of rice.
At this time, the rice is not ready yet. Based on experience, it will take at least three minutes. Don't be impatient and don't overcook it, otherwise, the rice in the pot will be burnt. At this time, people can no longer walk away. Once they smell something burnt, they have to take out the firewood from the stove immediately. Of course, there is no need to worry about this at this time. There are still blisters on the edge of the wooden pot lid, which means that there is still enough water in the pot. There is no need to worry about scorching. Wait until the blisters dry up. Always pay attention. For safety reasons, Xu Zhipeng took out a piece of firewood to make the fire much smaller. In this last period of time, you don't actually have to worry about whether it is cooked or not. It depends on the person. Some people like to eat softer food, so they can start the pot earlier, and some people like to eat crispy rice, so they can start it a little later. Another characteristic of rice cooked in a large stove is its aroma! Especially when the bottom of the pot is slightly burnt and the rice crust is just formed and slightly yellowed, it is crispy and fragrant. It is really my favorite when I was a child.
The firewood has been taken out, and the rice will become more fragrant and delicious after simmering for a while. Xu Zhipeng walked out of the kitchen stove and came to the door of the hall again. He glanced inside and saw that the old Taoist priest was still the same, not moving at all.
"Oh~" He sighed slightly, and was about to turn back to the kitchen to clean his five internal organs first, when the door suddenly opened with a creak, and an old monk walked in minding his own business. Xu Zhipeng took a closer look and saw that it was the old abbot of Xifei Temple at the top of the mountain.
"Master, why are you here?" Xu Zhipeng greeted him.
"Amitabha!" the old monk sang. "Today is the day when Uncle Jun'an will become an immortal. How could I not come?"
"Uh, why did you become an immortal and ascend again?" Xu Zhipeng's heart tightened, and a bad thought suddenly arose. "Master, Master Jun'an has been sitting in meditation all morning. Could it be that..."
"Amitabha!" the old monk sang again, and walked towards the main hall. Then he walked to the door of the hall, took a look inside, clasped his hands and bowed. "Namo Amitabha!"
"Grandmaster?"
"Donor, Master Jun An has become an immortal. Can you tell me when this happened?"
"Ah, dead!" Xu Zhipeng was shocked. He always thought that Master Jun An was joking. Although he looked old and decrepit, he didn't look like he was going to die soon. Besides, who could predict his own fate? As for life and death, I didn't want to have a good morning, but it went like this.
"The old Taoist priest was still active outside the hall at around nine o'clock. He chatted with me for a while and said that today was the day that he would become an immortal. I always thought he was joking. I didn't expect it to be true, alas. ~" Xu Zhipeng sighed, not too sad. He and Lao Tao had only met by chance. If he left today, he would be just a passerby from now on. What's more, if a person lives to be more than a hundred years old, there is nothing to be sad about. Who knows how old he can live in the future.
