Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Idle clouds stay in the shadows, enter the Taoyuan and ask for it

The road was quiet and quiet, so when he woke up, he would chat and laugh with Qiong Xi, and occasionally tease the elegant girl who was shy of words.Not long after, the three of them came to the big river of Zhenshui running from east to west. The Zhenshui River is a famous big river in the south of the Five Ridges.Today, when he came closer to have a look, he saw that the Zhenhe River was very imposing: there were about three or four miles between the two banks of the river bed; In the eyes, it is only amiable, at most, you can only see the general outline of the river beach on the other side.

However, although the Zhenshui river bed is wide, the water surface in the river is far less wide now.Due to the drought, the river is only half as wide as the two sides of the river, and the water edge is far away from the high bank.From the shore to the water, a large dry riverbed is exposed, covered with cracked lines.In this piece of mud that has been condensed into dry soil by the scorching sun, there are still some long-dead shells stuck upside down here and there. Xing Yan said that at the end of the post road that the three of them were walking on, it was a stone ferry crossing facing the Zhenshui River.However, at this time, the real place where the ferry carries passengers is already a hundred steps away from the stone ferry.

Arriving at the ferry, Xingyan was not in a hurry to wait for the ferry, but wandered around on the dry river beach for a while.Because at this time, the wide and exposed river bed is crowded with people, and it is very lively; if you look at it from a distance, it looks like a market. Many of these people came to fetch water.As the saying goes, "big rivers have little water and small rivers dry up", just like the villages and towns that Xingyan has seen along the way, most of the ponds have dried up.Nearby residents almost all go to the Zhenshui River to fetch water.Now these men and women who fetch water are working hard to pump water from the Zhen River into wooden barrels, and then pick or carry it back to their homes several miles away.Among these endless crowds of people fetching water, there are also quite a few half-grown children active, carrying small buckets to share the worries of the adults.

Except for those who fetched water, most of the rest were people praying for rain. Many old people are lighting incense candles on the river bed, offering food, and praying devoutly towards the river.When Xingyan passed behind them, he heard that they were all begging the Dragon King for mercy and rain.And those younger men and women, dressed in bright clothes, surrounded by a dozen or twenty people, beat gongs and drums, chanted mantras to drive away ghosts, and danced the common yu dance of Lingnan people, which was used to drive away drought demons. Passing by them, Wake up and saw that there was still a dark crowd around the embankment, all kneeling on the ground, praying unceasingly to the portraits on the big tree in the center.

Looking into the middle from the outside of the crowd, most of the hanging portraits depict half-naked women with vague features, dressed in red, leaning against the red dead tree, with long fiery hair entangled on the treetops.Above her head, there are a few red birds flying around.These red-eyed hanging portraits are no strangers to young people who are familiar with the classics of the philosophers, and they are representative of the drought that burns everywhere they go. Standing behind the circle of people, Xingyan could clearly hear that these faithful men and women were making countless food offerings there, begging the Great God of Hanba to show kindness, to hurry up and leave early, to return to the cave as soon as possible, or to travel elsewhere as soon as possible.

Seeing that the two parties on the river beach, who are chasing or begging, and have diametrically opposite attitudes towards the drought, are able to walk side by side on the same river beach without conflict and peace, the Master Shangqing, who doesn't believe in ghosts, is secretly amazed, and he thought to himself: " Does this count as 'coercion' right now?" Hearing these sincere prayers and pleadings in his ears, Xing Yan felt very disapproving in his heart.If the records in the classics I have read are correct, from my own point of view, the severe drought in Zhenyang is really not like the work of Hanba.One must know that this Drought Demon is a great god of ancient times, if it doesn't come out, it will be empty, once it comes out, it will be a thousand miles away, how can it be like this, it's just that there is a lack of water within a hundred miles.

"Perhaps, the drought in front of me is just natural, and there is nothing surprising about it." Thinking of this in his heart, Xingyan couldn't help feeling thirsty again, so he hurriedly took Qiongxi and Xueyi to the thinly rippled Zhenshui River to scoop up water to quench his thirst.After some drinking, the three of them found a ferry to cross the river.Due to the severe drought, the price of goods in Zhenyang has risen sharply, and this ordinary crossing of the river took Zhang Zhang's sixty essays. After crossing the Zhenshui River, after walking for a mile or two, under the scorching sun in the sky, he wakes up and feels hot all over again, so he asks the little mage Qiongxi to cast another spell on his and Xueyi's heads Give it a good drizzle.According to Xingyan's current thinking, this place is very close to Zhenshui, and there is a lot of water vapor, so it should be easy for a little girl to do.

Unexpectedly, it's really a human being who is not as good as God, this time Xiao Qiongxun just poured water on her sister Xueyi's face again, and when it was her hall master's brother's turn, there was no water at all! As a result, while the boy yelled that he was unlucky, he couldn't help feeling some strange feelings in his heart. Not long after Qiongxi cast the spell this time, the three of them saw the outline of Zhenyang County. Looking at the towering and tall city wall and the wide moat surrounding the city, one can know that Zhenyang is a large county in the south of the Lingnan Mountains.

Walking across the almost dry moat on the suspension bridge, just after passing the city gate, he woke up and saw the place where the official documents of the city wall are usually pasted, surrounded by some idlers, looking up at the notice on the wall.Next to the proclamation, there were still two officers and soldiers standing guard, which seemed quite grand.Seeing this, Xingyan's curiosity was immediately aroused, and he brought his two daughters closer to watch. It was obvious from a closer look that there were many white paper notices pasted on the city wall, most of which were offering rewards for the capture of bandits, or money from wealthy families to find escaped servants and the like.However, where the two county guards stood, there were two notices written on yellow paper posted side by side.

Xing Yan browsed briefly, and found that the one on the right was the announcement of the Zhenyang Government Office, the county magistrate signed the recruitment, and paid a lot of money to hire mages and sorcerers who can pray for rain.The yellow list next to it is a private notice, saying that there is a monster in my house unfortunately, and I would like to give two hundred gold to invite a powerful magician to come to drive out the evil and bring down the monster.Look at the inscription on the notice of catching monsters, it is Peng's mansion at the end of Zhuqiao, Zhenyang North Street.

Originally, these two notices were nothing to be surprised about.However, the private yellow list added another item after the gift money: If the cleaning of the house is completed, and the rain is obtained for the people of Zhenyanghe County, then no matter whether the mage is married or not, no matter how old or young, as long as he is a man, So he was willing to promise the youngest daughter in the family to be his wife and concubine. "Hee, but I don't know if this little girl from Peng's house is like the two veiled girls in Liushuzhuang in the morning?" The young man read this and thought narrowly in his heart. Just as he was thinking about it, he heard a bystander beside him who happened to say something, as if answering the joke question in Xing Yan's mind: "Wow! I, Zhang Sanguan, have long heard that Miss Peng's family is not only outstanding in appearance, She is also a good female celebrity, and she is the number one lady in Zhenyang!" "It's more than that!" He also heard a scribe nearby shaking his fan and jokingly said: "Students can hear again, our Miss Pengxian Ye's family is intelligent and kind-hearted. She is proficient in all kinds of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. She is really a rare talented woman in the past and present!" "Tsk tsk, if I knew there was such an announcement today, I, Xu Yunlu, would have gone to find a Taoist temple to learn spells, and even read some sage books!" Following this sincere lament, Xingyan heard a sound of smacking lips and sighing beside him. Amidst the mourning, someone suddenly interrupted: "According to me, why should Xu Daguan go to the Taoist temple to study the law. I heard that the monks in the temple have mana!" Who knew, as soon as this gossip came out, it immediately drew laughter from the surrounding area.Only someone retorted in a rough voice: "Brother, these days, you can't just hide from your wife's bed and don't go out, right? Who doesn't know that the county magistrate put up a list to pray for rain, and two bald monks came here a few days ago. I got it." After receiving the news, they also went to join in the fun to see the big scene—who knew that they could only play with some bonsai, and they were still chattering and chanting scriptures, after a whole morning, they didn’t see a single drop of rain in the end!” Before the words were finished, another idler jumped out to argue: "I said Butcher Zhou, isn't that called bonsai? Putting willow branches in a porcelain vase is called gardening..." In the midst of this chaos, someone suddenly laughed and proclaimed "Infinite Heavenly Venerable", and then said loudly: "Good luck! It has been predicted that today's trip will be good for the southeast. Looking at this list today, it is my fate. It's here!" As soon as the words fell, everyone saw a middle-aged Taoist priest with a high bun, striding forward apart from the crowd, and he stretched out his hand to take off the two yellow lists for recruiting talents. At this moment, I suddenly saw the two guard soldiers, with their spears down, stopped the Taoist from approaching, and shouted: "This Taoist, my county lord's list is not for you to reveal!" "Uh?!" "You still don't know? Before you, there have been more than a dozen Taoists who have reported to the county government." "check in?" Hearing this, the imposing Daoist was slightly taken aback, and said angrily, "What's the meaning of this? Don't you guys believe in my Daoist's spells?!" Seeing his angry face, the guard quickly smiled and said softly: "The Daoist's magic power, we little soldiers naturally dare not doubt it. However, before our county government came a lot of charlatan warlocks who knew nothing about it. Everyone was unable to pray for rain, and it took a lot of time and words from the county lord. Therefore, now there is an order from the minister that all those who come to see the list and vote for names must first report to the official post of the government office, and only wait for the repair of the burnt Dragon King Temple in the city to be completed. After that, the altar will be opened in unison, and the gods will be invited to come on the stage to pray for rain in the order of first come, first come." "Dragon King Temple is completed? When will it be!" "Don't worry, Daoist. You are lucky. I heard that the Dragon King Temple will be finished in about three or four days." "This Taoist priest, this is the order of the county magistrate, and we are also following orders, so please don't be angry!" Now these soldiers don't know who is really a living god who saves the suffering, so they don't dare to neglect, and their words are really polite. Hearing what the county soldier said, the middle-aged Taoist immediately calmed down; thinking back to what the soldier said just now, he didn't dare to be negligent, and hurried away from the crowd. Besides, the hall master of Shangqing, who had been listening attentively, aroused a lot of interest after hearing the conversation just now.Originally, after the failed demon subjugation not long ago today, he woke up and self-criticized several times, wondering if he was really as those onlookers said, and he was indeed a bit nosy.However, after carefully reading the two side-by-side proclamations, he had some other calculations in his mind: "It seems that, according to the situation along the way, the drought in Zhenyang is indeed a bit strange. Maybe there is really something wrong with it." The ghosts are making trouble." As soon as I thought of this, I naturally thought about my mission on this trip: "Although this time I came out to find water spirits, it seems that it has nothing to do with this drought. It's just that things in this world complement each other. There are opposites and complement each other; physical yin and yang are also accompanied by each other. The current matter of yang and yang may not necessarily have nothing to do with water spirits." Thinking about this in his heart, the young man's face inevitably became serious, and he looked carefully at the two yellow lists in front of him, and then he turned his head to greet him, and led the two girls out of the crowd. "Well, since that Peng's mansion is the home of the county magistrate, and it will be three or four days after praying for rain, I shall visit Peng's mansion first." What the young man who was making plans in his mind didn't know was that at the corner of the street not far away, there were two women, one big and one small, who had been staring carefully at the place where the list was read.The older woman, about eighteen or nineteen, saw the young Taoist priest's focused gaze, which finally stayed at the end of the Peng Mansion's exorcism notice for a long time, and couldn't help getting angry, and "huh" With a sound. However, Xingyan didn't know the reason; he was rushing to the city with Qiongxue Xueyi and two accompanying Taoist boys. "At the end of the bamboo bridge on North Street..." While the young man was silently chanting the location of Peng's residence, suddenly a little girl appeared from the sidewalk, standing in front of the three of them. This sudden change caught the young man who was focused on moving forward and almost bumped into this reckless little girl.After finally steadying her footsteps and looking up, she saw that the girl blocking the road in front of her was about fourteen or fifteen years old, dressed as a maid, with a delicate face and clear eyes, she was obviously very clever. Seeing the little maid standing in front of her and just looking at her, Xingyan felt a little puzzled, so she asked, "Why is this young lady blocking the way?" Seeing him talking, the little maid rolled her eyes and said with a smile: "I didn't realize that Xiaodao's mouth is quite sweet. From this point of view, I will do you a favor and tell you exactly how to get to Peng's residence." "Uh?" After waking up and hearing the words, she was taken aback, thinking that this girl had good ears, and she could hear her whisper just now.But seeing her good intentions, he hurriedly bowed, and said with a smile: "Then thank you girl, Xiaodao is all ears." "Well! Head of the small road, you go forward from here, turn right at the first intersection, then turn left when you see the intersection, then turn right every time you see the intersection, turn three times in a row, then turn left again, and then turn left again. Turn right, turn left again, turn right again, turn right again, turn left again, turn a few times, and finally arrive!" The little maid's conversation became faster and faster, and in the end it was like pouring beans into a bamboo tube, her mouth was moving rapidly, and the cadence was down like a tongue twister! Unexpectedly, even though the little girl spoke so quickly, she memorized the words just once.Immediately, after thanking the kind-hearted man with a bow, Zhang Zhang, who was full of intentions to slay demons and demons, took Qiongxu Xueyi and went to find Peng's mansion as the little maid said. After the young men and the others left, I saw the little maid who showed the way quickly ran back to the woman Ai Ling at the corner, and asked her for credit with a smile: "Miss! Xing'er sent those hated Taoist priests away again~" "Hmm! Xiao Xing'er is becoming more and more clever now." After boasting, Miss Jiao, who was dressed up like everyone else, asked casually, "Where did you point them?" "Hey, Miss Runlan, Xing'er was talking nonsense just now, and I don't know if they are going to go to the wilderness outside the city, or will they walk into a dead end!~" "You smart ghost! But it's also unlucky for these unscrupulous Taoist priests who are greedy for money and sex." Hearing the servant girl's words, the woman named Runlan also lost all her sorrow. She laughed and cursed, then couldn't help stretching out her hand to scratch the servant girl's face, and said cheerfully: "There are no Taoist priests here for the time being. Let's go, let's go!" Go tell a fortune!" Leaving aside the reminder that the three of them were wandering around the city, let's talk about the master, servant and two daughters. After walking two streets, they stopped in front of a hexagram stall called Ghost Valley and God's Fortune Teller. After handing over the hexagram silver, this graceful young lady of the noble family held the hexagram tube in her hand, closed her eyes, and shook it sincerely.Not long after, a stick flew out of the bamboo tube and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Xing'er quickly picked up the hexagram and handed it to the stall owner, and then listened nervously to the result of the divination together with the young lady who had opened her eyes. After getting the hexagram lottery, the stall owner narrowed his eyes and asked: "What is Miss asking for?" "Marriage!" The shrewd servant girl was the first to answer for the young lady.Seeing her rushing to talk, Miss Runlan just gave her a slight white look, but she didn't blame her. She just looked shyly at the fortune-teller, waiting nervously for his answer—— But the fortune teller sighed slightly and said: "The hexagram master does not hide evil; to tell you the truth, Miss, your hexagram is the sixth lottery—" "how?" Hearing what he said, Runlan's heart was half cold, but she still couldn't help blurting out the question.I just heard the hexagram master reply: "It's a lottery. The hexagram scriptures name this lottery as 'Mandarin ducks fly apart': mandarin ducks are separated from each other, and there is no time to seek harmony. Conservative but reform is appropriate, and now advances and retreats but hesitates. " Upon hearing the words of the hexagrams, this Miss Qiugua, who is familiar with poetry and books, was dumbfounded! While she was in a daze, the pretty servant girl beside her who loved her miss immediately raised her brows, put her hips on her hips and scolded softly: "You are a pure fortune-teller, miss's divination doesn't work at all!" Just as he was about to say a few more words, he felt that the young lady tugged at his sleeve and said in a mournful voice, "Xing'er, stop talking. The old man's hexagram is very clever." "No, miss," Seeing Miss's distraught appearance, Xing'er couldn't help but said: "If it doesn't work, let's do it again!" As she spoke, she took out a piece of silver from her sleeve and slapped it in front of the old man at the divination booth. Seeing the little girl in front of the booth anxiously stuffing the divination tube into the young lady's hand again, the old fortune-teller said calmly, "That's fine, maybe there will be some improvement after another fortune-telling." "That's natural!" Xing'er's maid answered decisively, and then urged the young lady to shake quickly. Seeing that she was so dedicated, Miss Runlan couldn't help but shake it a few more times.After a while, there was only a "click", and another bamboo stick fell.Seeing this, Xing'er quickly picked it up and handed it to the stall owner, then asked eagerly, "How about the old man's hexagram?" But when the old man looked at the hexagram sign, his expression suddenly changed, and he said in amazement: "It's weird! Why is it actually the sign this time!" "Humph!" Hearing the old man's awkward words, Xing'er's little maid became very angry.It's just that in a blink of an eye, she suddenly remembered what the old man said just now, and she reacted, and immediately clapped her hands and shouted happily: "Sign it up?! Then explain it to my lady!" Seeing her urging, the old Chang Gua Master still said slowly and unhurriedly: "This hexagram is very auspicious, and it is called 'No Ji Tai Lai'. The hexagram scriptures explain: there is a predestined relationship between creation and self-arrangement, don't sigh that there is no predestined relationship. At this moment It’s nice to listen to the qin and se rhyme, don’t teach night raindrops and empty eaves.” Hearing this, the originally sad Miss Runlan couldn't help jumping up with the little maid at this moment.However, in stark contrast to the two of them, the old fortune-teller was now grimacing, and murmured: "This is really unreasonable. My Zheng Yigua has always been successful, why today..." So the two masters and servants who were jumping happily were very surprised to hear the stall owner eagerly say: "Miss, today I will give you another free hexagram from Zheng Yigua, let's see what's going on! " "Miss, go away, don't pay attention to this weird person!" Fearing that the night would be long and dreamy, the little maid hastened to urge her.But Ms. Runlan ignored the servant girl's kindness, and calmed down and said, "That's fine, thank you, old man. I also thought it would be safe to do the calculation again." "Well, that's all for this hexagram. Let's see what God will do." Thus, Miss Runlan made a trigram for the third time.But before explaining the hexagram this time, the little maid of Xing'er was more nervous and anxious than the seeker herself. Just listen to the old man who explained the hexagram, and said in a puzzled way: "Strange! It's still auspicious: the karma in the previous life will be in this life, don't love or hate for wealth. If there is a place where noble people are promoted, I can climb the laurel to the clouds..." "Hmph! Originally, the young lady's marriage would be happy!" It turned out to be the little maid Xing'er, who became more displeased with the old man the more she looked at her, she pulled the young lady who was about to double the payment, and walked away without looking back.Behind him, only the stall owner known as Guigu Shensuan was left there lamenting: "Weird things, strange things, my Zheng Yi Gua sometimes fails! It seems that if I don't practice diligently, my name of 'Zheng Yi Gua' will be lost. It's about to be changed to 'Zheng San Gua'!" Not to mention that the dedicated divination master sighed and sighed there, and the two masters and servants of Runlan are in a happy mood now, just like wearing willows and swallows lightly, talking and laughing all the way back to their original place, which is only two streets away from here. government. Almost at the same time as they arrived home, they saw a young Taoist priest leading two female Taoist boys, who also happened to come to the gate of the mansion.Looking up at the plaque with "Peng's Mansion" written on the top of the gate, the young man was wiping the sweat on his forehead and panting, "Phew~ That young lady is really good at guiding the way. Arrived." "Well, it really depends on the help of noble people to go out. It is really difficult to find such a complicated road without the guidance of kind people!" Hearing that his brother was grateful, Xiao Qiongxi also echoed: "Yes, yes! I see that big sister is really kind~" At this moment, Runlan and Xing'er, the master and servant, looked at the grateful three people not far away, but they were dumbfounded, they opened their mouths wide and couldn't speak for a while! After a long time, the young lady came to her senses and asked suspiciously: "Myolie, are you really not pointing the right way?" "I……" When asked by the lady, the little maid was a little speechless.After being stunned for a moment, he said with a bit of tears: "Miss, you have to trust me, I... I'm really just talking nonsense!"