Night came quietly. Li Zi and Xu Huaigu were both a little scared and stood tightly on both sides of the Taoist priest, fearing that he would leave.
The surrounding jungle is quiet, and only the sharp chirping of insects, unique to summer, can be heard, one after another, never stopping, as if the entire summer night is filled with this sound.
The entire field of vision was dark, not even the leaves on the trees could be seen.
A white figure suddenly appeared not far away in front of him, which was particularly eye-catching in the dark night.
Xu Huaigu and Li Zi were frightened at the same time and grabbed the corners of the Taoist priest's clothes tightly, shouting in panic: "Ah!"
Unexpectedly, Shi was frightened even more. He stumbled back several steps in a panic, and then fell to the ground. His face was pale, and he was speechless looking at the white figure.
Xu Huaigu and Li Zi both looked at him in shock, feeling even more frightened.
This Taoist priest looks very powerful, is he just pretending? Are you so scared now that you are in danger?
What to do! Are you going to die here today?
The white figure slowly approached them until the outline of her face could be seen. She was a young woman.
The woman was dressed in a white dress, standing barefoot, without makeup, and her face was pale and bloodless. Dai Mei frowned slightly, looking at this group of people with confusion, as if she had a little pity.
When she walked up to the Taoist priest, she was stunned for a moment after seeing his face clearly. She had never seen such a beautiful man before, he was simply perfect.
She chuckled and said, "Why did this young master suddenly fall down? Could it be that the road was slippery and he couldn't see the ground clearly and slipped?"
The Taoist priest said in horror: "Don't... don't come over. I know you are a ghost. I... tell you that my sect has a special spell to restrain ghosts. You must not come over."
The woman was a little worried at first, but she felt relieved after hearing this. This is really a man with little knowledge. He clearly knows that there is a white snake spirit, but he thinks it is a ghost. His pitiful behavior can be ignored and does not pose any threat to himself.
But this little Taoist priest is indeed handsome, and even he is a little tempted by it.
Her smile grew wider and she covered her mouth and said, "Young master, what nonsense are you talking about? The little lady was just passing by here tonight and wanted to stay in an ancient temple on the mountain for a night. She happened to see the young master and his group at the foot of the mountain, so I took the liberty to bother you. If you have anything to do with the young master, If it causes trouble, the little girl will not do it again."
The woman has a beautiful appearance, and her smile is even more touching. The Taoist priest seemed to be fascinated by her. He stood up, patted the dirt on his body, and said casually: "How can I be presumptuous, girl? I accidentally slipped and made the girl miss you. It's my fault. I'm from Xingqing. "Mr., I passed by this place during my study tour. I wonder where the girl is from?"
Xu Huaigu and Li Zi were about to spit out blood. In this wilderness, at night, he met a strange woman who claimed to have met her by chance. He actually had the time to flirt with her. This was too unreliable!
Li Zi suspected that he had been deceived and asked this person to be his master. What could he learn?
The woman replied: "I didn't expect that the young master is a noble person in the capital, and the little girl is just a careless person. She can't catch the young master's eyes."
The Taoist priest seemed anxious and grabbed the woman's arm and said, "What are you talking about, girl? I, Sun, have never looked down on Jianghu people. Anyone who sees disasters and famines in the places he goes by must help him. How can he say that he is inconsiderate?"
The woman shyly pulled away his hand and said in a soft voice: "Young master, you want to stay in an ancient temple too?"
"Exactly, it's very dangerous at night in this wilderness. It's safer to go to the ancient temple."
"Then why don't you go with us, young master? You and I go to the ancient temple to spend the night together?"
"It's so good, please go first, girl."
The two of them were minding their own business on the mountain. Li Zi and Xu Huaigu were astonished at the spot.
Li Zi couldn't help but sigh: I really wronged my master by saying that I couldn't learn anything before. This master's skills in seducing girls are simply amazing. It will be really useful if he learns it in the future.
The two of them chatted and laughed along the way, leaving Xu Huaigu and Li Zi aside. Xu Huaigu felt unhappy now and really wanted a ghost to jump out quickly and scare them all away. But things didn't work out as expected, and everything was fine all the way to the gate of the ancient temple.
The ancient temple is very small, with no surrounding courtyard. Only this small mud house stands in the lonely countryside, desolate and helpless.
A wall of the small temple was smashed by a fallen tree, and the mud bricks were scattered on the floor. The small clay Buddha statue also fell face down, but it was not broken. The weeds in the corner were extremely luxuriant, and there were rats running around. It was unknown how many years the ancient temple had been abandoned.
A group of people walked into the ancient temple and felt sad when they saw this dilapidated scene.
The Taoist priest stepped forward alone and helped the fallen Buddha statue up. Regardless of the dirt of the Buddha statue, he wiped the dust off the face with his sleeves, then respectfully placed the Buddha statue on the altar and bowed deeply three times.
Li Zi and Xu Huaigu saw the Taoist doing this. Although they didn't understand why, they followed him. The woman also stood up, bowed devoutly, and looked at the Taoist priest with a different kind of emotion in her eyes.
After the salute was completed, the woman thanked the Taoist priest and said, "Young Master is indeed a good man. You should be polite to the clay Buddha when you see him. I would like to thank you here."
The Taoist priest replied: "What are you thanking me for? Isn't it the merit of a Bodhisattva to have a small temple for us to rest in the wild without having to worry about wild beasts attacking us? We should thank the Buddha statue."
The woman said "hmm" and said no more words.
The Taoist priest felt that the atmosphere was too heavy, so he teased her: "The girl hasn't told me her name yet, which makes me feel itchy."
The woman smiled and said, "My surname is Bai and my first name is Xiaoyu."
"Miss Bai, I wonder where you are going when you pass by here. Maybe I can give you directions."
"The little girl is just like a duckweed. She has no background and no idea where to go. I'm afraid the young master can't show me the way."
"Since Miss Bai doesn't want to say it, then I..."
He was suddenly interrupted by a trembling voice reciting words loudly from outside: "If you don't say anything, your strange power will mess up your spirit. If you don't say anything, your strange power will mess up your spirit..."
A man dressed as a down-and-out scholar yelled and looked back. He hurriedly crossed the temple steps and almost tripped to the ground.
He entered the temple, let out a long breath, turned around and moved forward, only to see a few black figures sitting cross-legged in the temple. He was suddenly frightened, and was so scared that he paralyzed and dared not move.
He begged: "Please, great immortals, please let me go. I just happened to pass by here and have no intention of disturbing your chat."
The Taoist priest laughed and said to him: "Why are you so timid? We are just passing by and resting here. We are not monsters."
The woman smiled and said: "Young master, you have the nerve to call others timid. Who was scared out of my mind before?"
The Taoist priest said awkwardly: "It's just that the road is slippery, haha..."
The scholar saw that they did not do anything to him, and that the Taoist priest and the woman were quite good-looking, and they must not be robbers or monsters, so he lowered his guard, but still did not dare to approach.
Xu Huaigu asked him curiously: "Hey, coward, what's your name?"
He glanced at Xu Huaigu and saw that he was a child, and then taught him earnestly: "Children must be polite to their elders, and cannot call others cowards. They must treat others with courtesy."
Xu Huaigu ignored him completely and asked, "Then what is your name?"
The scholar sat upright, looked straight at Xu Huaigu, and said: "The parents of those who bear the surname and the first name should be treated seriously. The young man's surname is Wang, his first name is Haocheng, and he is from Wuliang. He is only seventeen years old and has no nickname yet."
Xu Huaigu scratched his hair and said, "So you said so many things, is your name Wang Haocheng?"
"It's Xiaosheng."
Xu Huaigu thought for a long time and found that he really had nothing to say to him, so he had to ask him: "Then where are you going?"
"The young student is preparing to go to Binxi City to take part in the imperial examination in the fall. But he is short of money and cannot afford to rent a carriage. He can only take a shortcut through the mountains and forests to reach Binxi on time."
The Taoist priest looked at Wang Haocheng and said with a smile: "What a coincidence. We are also planning to go to Binxi. How about going with Brother Wang? We can also take care of each other."
Wang Haocheng said happily: "That's the best! Xiaosheng is worried about having no one to talk to and the journey is boring. It is a privilege for Xiaosheng to have a Taoist priest accompany him."
The Taoist priest smiled slightly and nodded.
When Wang Haocheng saw the Taoist priest's eyes, his heart palpitated inexplicably, as if he had fallen into a sea of stars. It seemed very familiar, but he didn't think much about it and let go of this small feeling.
He found that the woman was staring at him, blushing a little and pretending to look at the ground. After a while, he raised his head and took a sneak peek in that direction. He found that the woman had closed her eyes and was sleeping against a pillar. Then he took a closer look at the woman.
To be honest, he has never seen such a beautiful woman in his entire life.
He has lived in Wuliang since he was a child, which is also a small town in the south of Dayu State. Everyone relies on farming to survive. Girls get married early. Those at this age either work in the fields or are already children. .
He was one of the few educated people in Wuliang, and there were a lot of people who came to get married, but he refused because he was delaying his studies. In fact, he didn't like anyone at all. When he saw this woman today, he felt a little like her.
Naturally, the woman knew that this man was staring at her, and she couldn't help but think: He is also a superficial vulgar person with a good skin and flesh, no different from those thieves and robbers.
She was unhappy with him, but she still pretended to have dreamed of something beautiful, and raised an imperceptible smile at the corner of her mouth, which stunned Wang Haocheng.
On the suspended beams of the temple, a pair of eyes silently watched everything that happened tonight. Decades of memories flooded into my mind again, and my eyes squatted down, tears streaming down my face, but there was no sound of water dripping on the ground.
The moonlight is still fine.
