The peacock was hugged by Taoist Jiuhe, its tail feathers swept down, almost touching the stone steps, and its beak moved forward, bit by bit, trying to peck Taoist Jiuhe's chin.
"Hey, oh, oh, don't touch it!"
Taoist Master Jiuhe tilted his head to avoid it, but his expression was very happy.
Guan Luoyang asked curiously: "I heard that peacocks are arrogant. Why is this big peacock so close to the Taoist priest?"
Qiu Di laughed at the side and said, "This peacock is extraordinary. It is a sacred bird famous for dozens of miles around."
"Two years ago, Ma Qiang, the eunuch of the Jiaozhou Prefecture, ordered that a thousand peacock tails be paid to him in Jiaozhi. They must collect them all in one month, otherwise the bird catchers will be severely punished. Between the fifteen prefectures, When the bird catchers heard about it, their expressions changed, and some went to the Tianzun Temple to pray, knelt in front of the statue of the Great Emperor, and burst into tears."
"Later, Uncle Jiuhe went into the mountain and took the peacock to the Supervisor's Mansion. He said that as long as the peacock stayed in the treasure house for one night, all the tails of thousands of peacocks would be collected immediately."
Qiudi clapped her hands and said, "Do you know what happened next?"
Are you still guessing about this kind of thing?
Guan Luoyang shook his head in a dignified manner and asked, "What happened next?"
Qiu Di said to himself: "Of course Ma Qiang didn't believe it, and even drove the uncle out of the house, leaving only the peacock. But when he opened the treasure house the next day, he found that there were indeed a thousand peacock tails in the treasure house, and this A peacock flew out of the library gate, landed in the arms of my uncle, and was carried back to Tianzun Temple."
Since then, thousands of bird-catching households in the 15th Prefecture of Cochin have been able to avoid catastrophe and regard this peacock as a sacred bird. Some people even do not want to do the bird-catching business after visiting Tianzun Temple.
Guan Luoyang asked: "What happens next?"
Qiudi said: "Then? Later this peacock lived in the temple."
Guan Luoyang shook his head: "I'm not asking this..."
"You must be a little hungry after traveling all night."
Taoist Master Jiuhe suddenly spoke out, holding the peacock in his right hand, and lowering the peacock's head with his left hand, letting it rest on his shoulder, and said, "Qiudi, Guan Xiaoyou, let's go see if there is breakfast in the temple."
As soon as he mentioned being hungry, Qiudi's stomach growled in response to the situation. He stopped paying attention to the topic just now and hurriedly walked up.
When the three of them entered the temple, they were immediately greeted by several Taoist boys aged 12 or 13. They called out to their uncles and uncles in a very friendly manner, but when they asked about breakfast, they all looked around.
The strongest one stood up and said: "Master and uncles are not here recently, and Master also went out last night. We didn't make breakfast, so we ate last night's leftover porridge, and we just finished it."
Qiu Di's face was stern: "You are really lazy. I will punish you to chop firewood. As long as everyone comes back, give me the firewood for lunch and dinner."
The little Taoist boys dispersed in a hurry, and Qiu Di shouted: "Wait a minute, take a walk with what you just ate, and then chop it later."
He turned around and said, "Uncle Master, Brother Guan, I'm going to cook now, please wait a little longer."
"No need. Guan Xiaoyou just arrived today, and you asked him to wait. What do you mean?"
Taoist Master Jiuhe placed the peacock in the courtyard, touched it twice comfortingly, straightened up and said, "Let's go eat noodles."
Qiudi said happily: "Lao Heiji's noodles, I haven't eaten them for a while."
Guan Luoyang knew it was okay, so he followed them down the mountain again. The noodle restaurant was not far from Tianzun Temple. Go down the steps from the main entrance and walk around the foot of the mountain for twenty or thirty steps to get there.
This is a small restaurant, with a short flag stuck horizontally on a bamboo pole on the door. On the dirty cloth, there are several large characters "Lao Hei Ji Noodle House" written in majestic and powerful fonts. It is better than those of the signboards next door. The wine flag looks much better.
Seeing Guan Luoyang reading the words, Qiudi whispered: "Uncle Master ran to ask Master to write the words. Uncle Master's own handwriting is ugly."
Taoist priest Jiuhe glanced at him and stepped forward to lift the black curtain hanging in front of the door.
The door is not big, so you can only walk in one by one.
The tables and stools placed in the noodle shop are all made of old unpainted yellow wood. With only a little light coming from the windows, the environment is a bit dim.
It was already past breakfast time, but still far from lunch. There were no customers in the store, except for an old man in thick clothes, working on the side of the window where the sun didn't shine.
Taoist Master Jiuhe greeted: "Old Hei."
The old man straightened up immediately and said with a smile: "Taoist Master, it's you who are here. You haven't been here for almost a month."
Taoist Master Jiuhe smiled and said, "I've been busy lately, but I won't forget that incident."
"Don't talk about that, don't talk about that."
The old man was overjoyed. He turned around and took out a square folded with red cloth from under the cabinet. It looked heavy and sounded like it contained some copper coins.
"Taoist Master, my daughter is getting married in half a month. My parents-in-law have been friends with me for many years, and the child is an honest child. This is wedding money. You must accept it."
Taoist Master Jiuhe declined and said with a smile: "Well, I am an outsider after all. How can you give me any wedding money? I will just come to your door and bother you."
The old man had a blue square scarf on his head that was almost fading after washing, and a blue scarf around his neck. He forced the money into Taoist Master Jiuhe's arms and said, "Taoist Master, you know this. If it weren't for you, How could I see this day coming? If you don’t accept it today, I, I, I will kneel down for you.”
Taoist Master Jiuhe finally accepted it.
Qiudi explained to Guan Luoyang there again: "Uncle Lao Hei was almost killed by a demon the year before last. It was his uncle who saved him, so they have a good relationship. To be honest, people like Uncle Hei are really rare. The whole Chengyin There are several people in the government who have never dealt with Tianzun Temple, but if they are as eager as him, we will not dare to go out in the future."
Guan Luoyang nodded slightly, with a smile on his face.
Looking at this kind of scene, people's mood will get better unconsciously.
Having said that, this Qiudi seems to have a tendency to chatter. He never stopped talking and always found a topic.
For Guan Luoyang, who is new here, he is a very good commentator.
The three of them found a table and sat down, and Lao Hei started making noodles.
First, I took a few bottles and cans, mixed the soup, threw the noodles into the pot, and as soon as I picked them up, I put them into the cool soup while it was steaming.
The aroma of the soup was immediately stimulated. It seemed to be soup made from bones, with some Chinese medicinal flavor and a bit of spiciness.
A few more slices of meat were cut on the bowl and covered. At first glance, the brown soup and black and red meat in sauce can arouse people's greed.
Lao Hei brought three bowls of noodles together on a tray, stood next to Guan Luoyang, and put bowls on the table one by one.
Guan Luoyang had been smiling at first, but gradually he frowned, turned his gaze, and looked at Lao Hei carefully, his ears twitching slightly.
Taoist priest Jiuhe noticed his movement, tapped the table with his chopsticks, and said, "Qiudi, go to the end of the street and buy me some Liu's pickles."
Qiudi was afraid that her face would get lumpy, so she responded and quickly went out.
Lao Hei put down the three bowls of noodles and returned to the stove. Guan Luoyang followed him with his eyes.
Taoist Master Jiuhe chuckled and said, "What are you looking at, little friend Guan?"
Guan Luoyang came back to his senses, aligned his chopsticks in his hands, and said in a low voice: "Taoist Master Jiuhe didn't think there was anything strange."
"Are you saying that Lao Hei has no breathing and heartbeat?"
Guan Luoyang's eyes flashed: "Huh?"
Taoist Master Jiuhe said softly: "This place in Nanyang, with its river valleys and deep forests, and its hundreds of beasts and wonders, is the best in the world. Some strange things are actually not that strange if they are placed here."
There are many strange things. For example, a certain Taoist priest encountered a leopard cat blocking his way and left a step too late.
The demon who captured Lao Hei was a head-dropping master. Among the Nanyang head-dropping techniques, flying head-dropping is the most mysterious.
After a head-lowering master has reached a certain level of cultivation, he must change his birth date to match a special spiritual inspiration before he can continue to improve.
The way they changed their birth date was to find a person whose birth date matched the same eight characters, capture that person, soak him in a medicine jar, inscribe the character "worm" on it, attach it to the bones, and finally cut off the head, pull out the spine and internal organs, and then remove his body. The head, internal organs, and spine are moved into the body, adjusted and healed, thereby greatly increasing the mana.
When Taoist Master Jiuhe left, they had already reached the last step. Although Lao Hei had not been decapitated, he had already expired, and he was still pleading. Taoist Master Jiuhe couldn't bear it, so he tried to do something.
"His case is a special case. As long as I re-operate the spell on him every forty-nine days, he can survive without harming anyone, but he will have to endure great pain."
"He just wants to see his daughter have a happy life for the rest of her life."
Taoist Master Jiuhe said sincerely, "This technique can only last three years at most. He doesn't have much time left anyway. Brother Guan, can you keep it a secret for me?"
Guan Luoyang said: "Qiudi and the others don't know?"
"yes."
"So how long have we known each other, and you're telling me this?"
"Because you can see it."
Guan Luoyang was silent for a moment, flipping the noodles with chopsticks, and amid the heat rising from the bowl, he said vaguely: "I didn't see anything."
Taoist Master Jiuhe smiled knowingly and started to eat noodles: "However, it actually doesn't hurt to let Qiu Di and the others know. The main thing is not to let my senior brother Jiuying know. He is an old-fashioned man who firmly believes that Yin and Yang are separated from each other and each has his own place. I won’t let my boss stay here without the pain.”
Guan Luoyang listened quietly, picked up the noodles and sucked them to the end.
As expected, the taste is rich and salty.
After he finished scooping out the noodles in the bowl, he exhaled a long breath of hot breath and felt warm in his stomach.
The anxiety of being suddenly reincarnated and being taken on a distant and unfamiliar road finally settled down completely.
"Boss, have another bowl."
