The middle-aged Taoist priest struggled to get up, revealing a "Jie" flag under his body to protect him from the cold. He glanced at Song You, nodded immediately, and said repeatedly:
"Leave now, leave now..."
However, he fell down. Just after taking two steps, he heard the voice of a young Taoist from behind: "Changjing is so big and the cold night is so long, where can we go, brother Taoist?"
The middle-aged Taoist priest stopped and looked back.
Song You also looked at him, saw his thin body, and said helplessly: "We are destined to meet each other, so please invite Brother Dao into the house to drink a glass of hot water, eat something, and warm up before leaving."
"..."
The middle-aged Taoist priest raised his eyes to meet him, murmured several times, and finally raised his hand to salute:
"Thank you, fellow Taoist..."
Song You opened the door and led the horse into the house.
The calico cat crossed the threshold with him.
The middle-aged Taoist priest followed behind him, and he felt a lot more relaxed after discovering that he was also a Taoist priest.
"Please take a seat."
Song You put down his luggage and said to him: "Brother Taoist, please wait for a while. I will go upstairs to bring the stove and then go cook for Brother Taoist."
I caught a glimpse of the middle-aged Taoist priest looking at the bay-red horse.
"My horse is very smart. It doesn't need a rein and will never hurt anyone. Brother Dao, please rest assured."
After saying that, Song You went upstairs.
The middle-aged Taoist was left sitting stiffly, shaking from the cold from time to time, staring at the calico cat on the ground.
Song You went upstairs and lit the stove, then brought it down to keep the middle-aged Taoist warm.
Then he went to the stove to cook a pot of porridge. He also took out the preserved eggs he had made a few days ago from the basket. He opened one and looked at it. Seeing that it was covered with pine flowers, he took an extra one and used it as a meal.
It was almost dark in Changjing at this time.
Song You lit the oil lamp, reflecting the scene inside the house.
There were only simple meals on the table, a bowl of porridge, a plate of pickles, and two peeled preserved eggs.
The young Taoist and the middle-aged Taoist sat opposite each other. The cat sat on the wide bench next to the young Taoist, and a bay-red horse stood quietly behind him.
"Brother Dao, please use it."
"Fellow……"
"On our way back, we ate a bowl of soup cakes."
"Here……"
"It's just fate, no need to say anything." Song You's voice was soft, "Eat."
"Thank you."
Only then did the middle-aged Taoist pick up the chopsticks.
Song You watched him from the side, fearing that he would eat too hastily, so he spoke to him softly: "How long has it been since you last eaten, Brother Tao?"
"To be honest, fellow Taoist, it's been three days."
"Is Brother Tao really a Taoist priest?"
"..."
The middle-aged Taoist was silent for a moment, then stopped his chopsticks: "To be honest with you fellow Taoists, I am not a real Taoist. He just read some books, wore these clothes, and came out to earn fortune-telling money."
"It doesn't matter, I am also a fake Taoist priest." Song You said with a smile, "Eat slowly. After being hungry for a long time, it is not advisable to eat too fast."
"Thank you, fellow Taoist."
The middle-aged Taoist picked up the chopsticks again.
"I remember we met at the beginning of the year. Brother Dao was still telling fortunes on the street. Why did he end up like this?"
"this……"
"Brother Taoist may have forgotten it, but I still remember it." Song You said with a smile, "Brother Taoist was doing divination on the street at that time, and I was not wearing a Taoist robe. Brother Taoist wanted to tell my fortune, and I said that I am also a Taoist. , Brother Dao thought I was fooling Brother Dao at first."
"ah……"
The middle-aged Taoist seemed to have just remembered:
"It's you!"
"It's quite a fate."
"well……"
The middle-aged Taoist sighed: "It's a long story..."
"Brother Taoist, please speak slowly."
"My poor Taoist family originally lived in the north, but he couldn't grow crops and couldn't have enough to eat. Then there was war and all the demons and ghosts came out. He couldn't find a way to survive. No one could find a way to survive..." the middle-aged Taoist said. It was a bit sad at the time, "Later, Pindao had to leave his hometown and go south to find a way to survive. However, Pindao didn't have any skills. He only remembered that he had read a few books and read a few fortune-telling books when he was young, so he got a Taoist robe and such a face. Qi Zi pretends to be a Taoist and makes a living by telling fortunes.”
"It's not difficult to make a living by telling fortunes in Changjing, right?"
"That also depends on the person..."
The middle-aged Taoist shook his head in shame: "Now it seems that the book that Pindao read when he was young was just a fake book. Pindao has no real talent and knowledge, and his articulation is not fluent, so he can only Students can only earn some auspicious money during the period when they go to Beijing to take exams and celebrate the New Year. After those days, it will only depend on whether God will provide food for them."
"I see……"
Song You nodded, thinking it made sense.
The so-called "lucky money" is really a nice thing to say, but this kind of behavior is actually the same as cheating.
Song You pushed the two preserved eggs on the plate to the middle-aged Taoist, and also pushed a small plate of soy sauce to him, and said: "Don't just drink porridge. This is a specialty of my hometown. It's called preserved eggs, also called Songhua." Eggs, don’t think you can’t eat them just because they’re so dark. They’re actually edible, but they taste a little weird. Some people like them, and some don’t. They may taste weird when you first eat them, so dip them in soy sauce and it’ll be better.”
"Thank you..."
"I wonder where in the north my brother is from?"
"People from Yanzhou."
"Is Yanzhou approaching the border?"
"It's close to the border." The middle-aged Taoist said, "In the past, before General Chen came to the north, the Saibei people went south to plunder every year. Life was already difficult, and then a big war broke out in the north. Jiukong. Later, the war ended, and we won. The people from Saibei didn’t come much, but the farmland has become a wasteland, and there is no one for dozens of miles."
"Life is hard."
"If that's all, it's just a lack of people. But when there are fewer living people and more dead people, all kinds of monsters and monsters will come. Who would dare to live there?"
"How many people like Dao Brother go south to seek a way to survive?"
"It's not that many, but there aren't many people left. Of the remaining people, half should stay and the other half should run around. Wherever there is a way to survive, go wherever you can."
"I have also heard that demons and monsters are rampant in the north. I have heard a lot from a general. However, although that general is guarding the north, he is a border general after all, not the people in the rear. Think about the suffering he has caused to the people in the north. I don’t know much about it either.” Song You looked at him and said, “It would be great if Brother Tao is willing to explain a few things.”
"There is nothing to talk about. Ordinary ghosts are nothing more than causing chaos and eating people, making people panic, just like military disasters and man-made disasters. But if those monsters become the climate, they are like enclosing the land as kings and feeding the people. Those who are more charitable only need to control those monsters. The king's request is to regularly offer the people they want, whether they are boys or girls, or people born in which year and month, then they can maintain peace for a while. The more cruel people will treat the people as vegetables in the fields and livestock in the stables. Chickens are killed at will, and I even heard that in some places, demons only eat the hearts and livers, and the roadsides are full of human heads.”
The middle-aged Taoist's hands holding the chopsticks were shaking.
"It's so scary!"
"In addition to monsters and ghosts, plagues are also rampant in the north. Once the plague comes, it is three times more terrifying than the monsters." The middle-aged Taoist said, "Some people also become monsters in the face of the disease."
"I see."
Song You stared at this man for a long time before nodding.
It seems that God wants him to go to the north first.
I don’t know if it’s God.
Song You shook his head and did not ask these questions, but continued to ask him: "Brother Taoist, have you been making money by telling people's fortunes since you left your hometown?"
"There's really no other way."
"But Brother Taoist is not a real Taoist, and he has not learned the ability to truly deduce divination. After such a long time..." Song You paused and smiled slightly, "Not to mention whether he is deceiving people and making money, but Brother Taoist just wants to rely on It is also difficult to support a family in this way. It has been like these past few days. Brother Dao has not eaten a grain of rice and is wearing only thin clothes. How many more days can he survive?"
"What fellow Taoist said makes sense. If it weren't for fellow Taoist, Pindao would die tonight, or he would die tomorrow night." The middle-aged Taoist showed a bitter look, shook his head and said, "But what can I do? Speaking of which, Pindao has already died." He has lived many years longer than the others in his original family.”
"I'm willing to give you a few small coins as a gift to my Taoist brother, but the winter in Changjing has just begun, and I'm not a rich man with a fortune and thousands of mansions. I'm afraid this little money will be of little use."
"this……"
The middle-aged Taoist was suddenly stunned.
I want to refuse out of habit, but I am afraid that the other party will really refuse. I want to be as shameless as a fortune teller, but at this time I am a little unable to speak.
The expression was wonderful at the moment.
After a moment, he said with shame: "I am very grateful that my fellow Taoist is willing to help. How can I ask for anything else? If Pindao dies one day, it will be his fate. It is only because Pindao has no other ability and is so deceitful." If you do too much, you will be punished."
"How do these eggs taste?"
"Um?"
The middle-aged Taoist was stunned for a moment, not knowing why he suddenly asked, but he quickly said: "It tastes quite strange, but it tastes pretty good after being dipped in soy sauce."
"It's extremely delicious when used to cook lean meat porridge."
"Thank you, fellow Taoist, thank you, fellow Taoist..."
"This is made of duck eggs." Song You ignored his thanks, "It's very simple to make. But since I came down from the mountain, I have traveled to several states and haven't seen it anywhere else. Because People in the world feel regretful that they cannot taste such a simple delicacy, and feel troubled because they have to make it themselves if they want to eat it and cannot buy it everywhere.”
"This is indeed..."
The middle-aged Taoist was stunned as he spoke, as if he heard something. He got stuck mid-sentence and raised his head to stare at Song You blankly.
Song You's eyes were calm and his face was also calm.
"Please, fellow Taoist, show me the way!"
The middle-aged Taoist immediately stood up and saluted.
Song You smiled and said to him: "Brother Tao, please sit down. Eating is important."
The middle-aged Taoist sat down.
There were a few duck eggs left at home, which were intended to be boiled and eaten. After the middle-aged Taoist finished eating, Song You took him to the stove room with an oil lamp and explained to him how to make preserved eggs. After he wrote it down, He also gave him nearly a ton of money so that he could survive these days. Afraid of being too honest and poor in eloquence, I told him how to sell the goods, and gave him the paper fur I bought in Yizhou before sending him out.
"There is a hotel near the east city gate. It's a general store. You only charge a few dollars a night. If you don't want to get cold on the street, Taoist brother, you can stay there. But you have to be careful about your money. If you drop it, it will be gone."
"Thank you, fellow Taoist! You are truly a living god!"
"It's nothing, I just feel that Brother Tao is not good at deceiving people. Using fortune telling and divination to defraud people of money is neither appropriate nor can he support him. I only hope that Brother Dao will not have to do this kind of trouble from now on." Even if you are cheating, you can still live in other ways, at least you don’t have to starve and freeze anymore." Song You smiled at him, "Besides, Brother Dao also showed me the way, so it’s one for one."
"..."
The middle-aged Taoist looked a little more solemn, and then he saluted solemnly: "I guarantee with my life that I will never do this kind of business of defrauding people of money again!"
"Take care of yourself."
"I'm confused because I'm cold and hungry. I haven't asked the Taoist master's name yet."
"My surname is Song and my name is You, and I don't have a Taoist name."
"Pindao's real name is Zhang Qing. I have already engraved the name of the Taoist master in my heart. I will never forget my kindness and kindness."
The middle-aged Taoist bowed deeply and then left.
The figure was soon submerged in the darkness.
I don't know where he went.
…
Please double the monthly pass!
(End of chapter)
