Zhao Rang looked at the little boy who appeared out of nowhere, and he felt doubtful in his heart. He secretly held his right hand on the handle of the knife.
I have been out for a long time and have encountered many things. I know that you can't judge people by their appearance, even if the other person looks like a child.
It was already very late, the cold night in the mountains, and even the breath was filled with white air. A child was still wandering outside, and the clothes he was wearing were very elegant. At first glance, he could only be produced by the best cloth shop in the city. Out of materials.
"Hey, why don't you speak? Are you mute?"
When the little boy saw that Zhao Rang was ignoring him, he became a little anxious. He jumped up to Zhao Rang and waved his hand at him.
Zhao Rang said:
"I am neither mute nor blind."
The little boy smiled and said:
"That's good. I'm most afraid that people won't talk to me. No one in my family likes to talk, but when I was born, I kept talking since I was a kid. Do you think it's strange?"
Zhao Rang echoed and said:
"No wonder."
"Right! I don't think it's strange either. Talking is not a bad thing. But they say that too much talk is bound to be wrong, but I don't think so... I just say whatever comes to my mind."
Even though this kid talks a lot, it's hard to avoid making people find it funny when he talks about being a kid before he has grown up.
Seeing that he wanted to continue talking, Zhao Rang didn't want to waste any more time, so he waved his hand and said:
"I still have something to do, let's talk next time!"
The little boy's eyes flashed.
His eyelashes are very long and his facial features are very delicate. If he were dressed up, he would definitely be mistaken for a little girl.
"When is the next time? Tomorrow morning? Or tomorrow afternoon?"
Zhao Rang didn't know how to answer.
In the adult world, the word "next time" often means that we will never see each other again. If you really want to continue chatting, you will definitely agree on a specific time.
Facing the child Zhicheng's questions, Zhao Rang did not want to deceive him, so he had to say:
"The next time will be when I finish my work. Now I have to go to work!"
This was an acceptable answer for the little boy, so he nodded, pointed to the Daozang Pavilion behind him, and said:
"When you're done, come here to find me. Go and do your work. I'm going to be busy too!"
The little boy was very neat, and after finishing speaking, he left without looking back.
Zhao Rang looked at his back and asked out of nowhere:
"what are you busy with?"
The little boy stopped, turned around and replied:
"draw!"
"Then what are you busy with?"
In a child's world, the world is fair. Now that I'm back to your question, you have to tell me the answer to the same question.
"I also draw."
The little boy became even happier after hearing this and said excitedly:
"When you finish painting, be sure to bring it to me to see. I'm really good at painting! Master praises me every time!"
Zhao Rang watched the little boy walk into Daozang Pavilion, thinking that his master could be the acting headmaster, right?
After coming back to his senses, Zhao Rang continued walking towards the disciples' residence at the foot of the mountain. On the way, he met the mountain guards who were patrolling the mountain at night, and there were also several young disciples among them.
The leading mountain guard was the one who was guarding the small courtyard of the three missing disciples today.
"who?!"
"Shut up……"
The disciples who patrolled the mountain did not know Zhao Rang.
In the middle of the night, seeing a man wandering around with a knife on his waist and a lantern would inevitably make him nervous.
However, the leading mountain guard had already seen Zhao Rang's face clearly. He quickly scolded the disciple, stepped forward respectfully, saluted politely, and asked:
"May I ask where you are going, Master?"
Zhao Rang looked at his sinister but extremely flattering look and said bravely:
"Go find the acting headmaster!"
It was late at night, so there must be something important. ?
The man didn't ask any more questions. He raised the lantern in his hand, turned sideways, raised his hand and said:
"Sir, let me show you the way!"
At the same time, he ordered his subordinates to continue patrolling, especially taking care of those disciples carefully.
"Young Master, it's so late and you haven't rested yet!"
The two of them walked on the mountain road one behind the other, with the lanterns on and off.
Zhao Rang simply blew out the lantern in his hand, put it on his shoulder, and said:
"I was about to go to bed, but I suddenly remembered something."
The man chuckled and said:
"Young master has worked very hard for Baihe Mountain. He has really helped the Acting Headmaster a lot!"
Zhao Rang seemed relatively indifferent to this person's enthusiasm. No matter what he said, Zhao Rang would only try it briefly and deal with it one after another.
"Just turn here and you'll be there! The acting headmaster's courtyard is at the very edge!"
"Well, thank you!"
The lights were still on in the courtyard of the Acting Headmaster.
The place he lives in is indeed, as the junior sister said, a courtyard for ordinary disciples.
However, the land in the courtyard was all uncultivated. It must be that the acting headmaster had devoted himself wholeheartedly to the long river of Taoism and had no time to care about this.
The courtyard door was not closed.
Zhao Rang walked straight in.
The courtyard was extremely quiet, giving Zhao Rang an extremely unreal feeling. It seems that this courtyard has become a part of Taoism, hidden in the thick inheritance, carrying the ancestors and inspiring future generations.
The closer he got to the house, the slower Zhao Rang's footsteps became.
Although his steps were very gentle, he was still worried that the movement would break the long-standing balance of the courtyard.
But the road is only so long. No matter how slowly Zhao Rang walks, he will eventually reach the door.
Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door, the door slowly opened from the inside.
The thin figure of the Acting Headmaster stood at the door.
He seemed a little surprised to see that the person coming was Zhao Rang.
"Master Zhao!"
"Has the Acting Headmaster not rested yet?"
Zhao Rang greeted.
The acting headmaster invited Zhao Rang into the door and said with a smile:
"I thought it was some disciple who had an epiphany in the middle of the night and came to me to discuss the confirmation. I didn't expect it to be you, Mr. Zhao."
Zhao Rang also smiled and said:
"The Acting Headmaster has to take care of everything in the sect during the day, and at night he has to study the Taoist canon and answer questions for the disciples. It's really hard work."
The Acting Headmaster sighed and moved his somewhat stiff neck. He didn't know what he thought of and stood there stunned for a long time.
"Ah! My brain... I'm so rude! Mr. Zhao, please sit down quickly!"
The furnishings in the Acting Headmaster's house were simpler than those in Zhao Rang's house, with the only addition being a desk and rows of bookshelves against the wall.
Zhao Rang sat across from the desk and looked at the piles of books on the shelf behind him. Many of them contained slips of paper and were filled with densely written in small regular script. He felt that even the few old academics in the academy who had written pens for thousands of years were probably just... in this way.
"Mr. Zhao, I'm really sorry. I only have water here, no tea or wine. I know that you martial arts cultivators probably like to drink."
The acting headmaster brought a bamboo life and placed it in front of Zhao Rang.
It doesn't matter what you drink. If Zhao Rang wanted to drink, he wouldn't come tonight.
What concerned him more was this bamboo cup.
"Master Zhao, do you like this cup?"
Zhao Rang said:
"It seems ordinary, but it also has an indescribable feeling, as if it contains a secret."
The acting headmaster's eyes lit up and he said:
"No wonder my uncle said that Mr. Zhao, you are a person blessed with immortality, but you can actually see the extraordinaryness of this cup!"
With that said, Headmaster Dai turned around and took out a book from the bookshelf, quickly turned to one of the pages, pointed at Zhao Rang and said:
"You see, this kind of bamboo is the most precious treasure of the Taoist sect in the South. It is called Tianji Bamboo. It is said that the lifespan is endless and it can survive two calamities without dying. Using this bamboo to make a water cup can help Taoists realize the secrets of Tianji faster. reason."
Zhao Rang quickly let go of his hand, glad that he didn't drink the water in the cup just now.
Now that he heard the word "Nandi", he had a headache... His whole body felt bad, let alone using things from there.
"This cup was brought by Master Haoyi. There are only two of them, and they were given to my senior brother and me respectively."
"Senior Bai Hezi also used it?"
Zhao Rang asked.
The acting headmaster did not expect that Zhao Rang would ask this, but he still thought about it seriously and then replied:
"I think I've used it before, I can't remember exactly."
"By the way, Mr. Zhao came to visit at night. Why?"
Finally getting to the point, Zhao Rang cleared his throat and said:
"Several things happened tonight."
As a result, before he could elaborate, the Acting Headmaster interrupted his narrative and asked:
"Is another disciple missing?"
Zhao Rang shook his head.
The acting headmaster responded, feeling a little calmer.
"But some disciples were poisoned, and others died."
The acting head teacher was still deeply impressed by the disciple, Senior Sister, and felt that he was diligent and studious but lacked some innate understanding.
But he has no memory of Sun Er, the handyman in charge. No matter how Zhao Rang described it, he couldn't remember when there was such a person on the mountain.
"I heard that Sun Er went up the mountain with Taoist Priest Yuyi, and he brought it from the Southland!"
"I remembered!"
The acting head coach suddenly became enlightened, pointed at the water glass in front of Zhao Rang and said:
"This cup was sent to me by him."
"Sigh... Sun Er is very good... he works quickly and doesn't talk much. I asked him if he had read, and he said he couldn't read. I also said that if he wanted to learn how to read, he could come to me after work. , I taught him, but he never came to me."
Putting aside the thoughts of the Acting Headmaster, Zhao Rang was even more grateful that he had not drank the water in the cup just now.
Even if there is nothing wrong with the things Sun Er has handled, Zhao Rang still feels uncomfortable...
"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhao, please continue."
After the acting headmaster talked for a long time, he finally stopped.
But Zhao Rang had already said what needed to be said, and there was nothing more to say.
Before entering, he thought about whether to tell the Acting Headmaster the fifteen secrets left by Bai Hezi, but now it seemed that it was right not to tell them.
Sometimes telling others too much is not always good. Just like the table is filled with fine wines and delicacies, you don’t necessarily have to raise your glass and use your chopsticks right away.
He originally came to ask the acting headmaster about the painting, but now he changed his mind.
Because Zhao Rang suddenly remembered the little boy he met at the door of Daozang Pavilion just now.
The little boy lives in Daozang Pavilion.
The little boy said he had a master.
The little boy likes to draw.
Zhao Rang's intuition told him that there must be something terrible behind the connection of these three points, which was even more difficult to understand than the cup made of bamboo that day.
