Eastern Region, Academy.
"All gentlemen from the Academy, please return to the palace! Count the number and status of your disciples!"
The sun had just emerged, and it was originally time to get up, but the Academy had already entered a state of alert.
At Chen time, most of the students from the Academy received the call from Chun Da to offer wine and came to the main hall of the Academy one after another.
"Painting Mao!" What should have been done every day at Mao time, ended up being done at Chen time. This situation has been rare since the founding of the Academy.
After Mr. Xuegong finished drawing the knot, the great priest took the list, took a look at it, and asked:
"Is Mr. Peng not here?"
"Mr. Peng was ill at home and left the palace at noon yesterday." A gentleman replied.
"Well, Mr. Yin has traveled far and wide, hasn't he come back yet?"
The gentlemen glanced at each other, and the answer was obvious in the eyes of the great priest: they haven't come back yet.
"Isn't Mr. Ji here too?"
"Mr. Ji just asked me to say something to Dajiujiu. Mr. Ji said that he has been overworked recently and is feeling a little unwell. He will not come to draw Mao today. He will come back later to apologize to Dajijiu." Another gentleman replied.
"Mr. Ji has really worked hard these days, and I know this. Did Mr. Ji lead a team to track down the troublemakers before sunrise?"
"Yes, I saw it." "I saw it too." Several gentlemen replied one after another.
"That's really hard work, and Chun doesn't blame him. There is another one who is absent, where is Mr. Ba?"
The people below looked left and right, but did not speak.
"Why, no one knows where Mr. Ba is?" Chun Da Jijiu frowned.
The people below looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Then which gentleman saw Mr. Ba yesterday?"
A gentleman raised his hand and said: "Yesterday at noon, I saw Mr. Ba near Mr. Ba's residence."
"How was Mr. Ba's condition at that time?" Chun Dajiu asked.
"When XX greeted him, he was still a little absent-minded. It was clearly noon, but he asked XX if he had had dinner?"
"Aren't you kidding?"
"It's not a joke." The gentleman's answer was still a little cautious, fearing that it would affect Chun Da's judgment on the wine ceremony.
"Then who else saw Mr. Ba at any time yesterday?" Chun Da Jijiu asked again.
For a long time, there was no response. Chun Da Jijiu began to ask about the students' situation, and he felt relieved when he knew that they were all fine.
"Gentlemen, please help Chun to ask each student whether they saw Mr. Ba at any time yesterday. Gentlemen, sort out the information collected and hand it over to Chun before noon today. Chun is very grateful."
"You're welcome for the grand ceremony!" Faced with the fact that the superior was so polite for everyone's benefit, the gentlemen were frightened and expressed their opinions one after another.
"Let's break up."
"Take care of the great wine."
…
Eastern Region, Southeast Taoist Temple.
"homesick?"
"think."
"Then go home?"
"don't want."
Daoyuan looked at his junior brother fondly: "Home is a very beautiful place. Since I miss home, why don't you go back?"
"Elder brother," Yin Yi asked without answering, "Where is your home?"
"My home..." Daoyuan's eyes deepened, and he became a little depressed, "I have no home. In my impression, it was the temple owner who took me away from the tiger's mouth. So, insist on saying If my home is anywhere, this is my home.”
"Sorry." Yin Yi also felt a little guilty when he realized that he had touched someone else's pain point.
"It's okay, it's all over." Daoyuan smiled slightly, "I think back then, when the temple master adopted me, there was no Taoist temple, and he was still called a teacher."
"Then he takes care of his senior brother so well, he will soon be a father."
"Once a teacher, always a father. He is both my teacher and my father."
"Oh, is this why you still work hard without complaining when he ignores Taoism?"
"Maybe. After all, he has taken care of me for twenty years, and it is he who gave me the crown."
"Twenty years, that time flies so fast. It's really like 'the passing of time is like a man, never giving up day and night'."
"Oh, you are a Taoist disciple, but you still read the Sage Sutra from Xingtan?"
"Master has a saying: Only by reading a lot of books can one achieve greatness."
"Hahahaha!" The two looked at each other and smiled, as if the bad things just now had disappeared.
…
Eastern region, Sophora Valley.
The old man in linen robe stood in the pavilion with a serious expression, looked eastward, and murmured:
"What on earth do you want to do?"
On the chessboard nearby, on the right side of the chessboard, in the middle of the area that should have been all white chess pieces, there was a black chess piece lying quietly.
…
In the Eastern Region, deep inside the Academy.
The old fisherman opened his eyes and saw a black fish suddenly swimming around in the empty pond, and couldn't help but smile.
The pond was very big, and the fish was quite far away from the old man. The fish was swimming in circles there, as if it had no intention of coming over.
Coincidentally, the old man had no intention of going over. One person and one fish are all consumed in this way.
…
Eastern Region, Academy, Xuangui Pavilion.
They offered sacrifices to wine, flew over eaves and walls, and took back the torches used at night in batches.
The torch last night was only for temporary use, so Mo Jijiu did something wrong. This kind of torch only needs to be lit for a while, and after the fuel on the top is burned out, it will stop burning.
Mo Jijiu tied up the used torches and prepared to take them back for reuse.
"Old thief Mo! I missed one!" Kuang Jijiu stood below and watched, like an overseer.
"No leaks! I personally deployed the torches yesterday, and I know the number in my heart." Even so, Mo Jijiu still counted them carefully again, and there were no leaks.
"Isn't that right?" Kuang Jijiu pointed to the offering table. There was also a torch there. The shadow man threw it out in desperation last night and rolled it there. It seemed that the remaining length was about the same as Mo Jijiu's torch.
Mo Jijiu bent down, took out the torch, touched the material, and frowned: "Huh?" Then he took out a small bottle of oil from his pocket, poured some oil on the top of the torch, and then lit it with flint.
The torch ignited immediately, but as the oil decreased, it went out after a while.
"Flame retardant layer! This torch has the same flame retardant layer as those torches!" Mo Jijiu exclaimed.
"So this is also your handiwork?" Kuang Jijiu's eyes lit up.
"I don't know. This isn't too complicated, but there are only a few people who can do it." Mo Jijiu thought for a moment and said.
"Then do you know if anyone has come to you to get this thing recently?" Kuang Jijiu was unwilling to let go of this clue.
"Even if it is, it's not necessarily true!" Mo Jijiu continued to pour cold water on him.
"Have you forgotten the current state of the academy, you bastard! This might be a direction." Kuang Jijiu insisted.
"Yes, let me think about it... Hey! That's right! Yesterday afternoon, you were looking at the hiding spots outside, and I was setting up the traps here. Someone came in, looked at the progress of my arrangement, listened to my explanation, and felt My torch is very magical, so I have to leave one. I didn't count that one when I counted just now." Mo Jijiu's face became heavy and he did not say who that person was.
"Yesterday, Xuangui Pavilion was notified of closing, so it shouldn't be a student. You haven't been in the academy for a long time, and you don't know many people, so there shouldn't be many people who can ask for your torch. I am near Xuangui Pavilion. I will definitely know who is approaching here. However, yesterday afternoon, someone did say hello to me and said that he wanted to go in and have a look. I did not stop him. At that moment, the only person who did not stop either of us was Could there be..." Kuang Jijiu said and his face became heavy.
The two looked at each other, saw the solemnity in each other's eyes, and unanimously said the same answer:
"Chunda offers wine!"
