Yellow rice, not yet cooked?
This sentence seemed to wake Qi Wuhuo up. He slowly moved his eyes away and saw the baggage on the table on one side, several books spread out next to him, and the three slings of copper coins sent by Mr. Su.
I saw the green plants I raised on one side, the cabbage piled up in the corner, the courtyard outside, the unfinished firewood, and I was lying on the wooden bed I made myself. There were still residues on the bed.
Feeling the warmth, I closed my eyes, and my eyes regained their aura:
"Yeah..., my yellow rice is not yet cooked."
Under the urging of the old man, the young man got up, put away the food, took out the yellow rice from the stove, cut a plate of side dishes, put it on the table, sat here, took down his chopsticks to eat, but he didn't move.
Pause.
"Boy, the food is almost cold, what are you doing standing still?"
On the dining table, the old man took a bite of yellow rice and picked up a crispy side dish with chopsticks. He pointed at Qi Wuhuo and said with a smile, "What's wrong? You've woken up from a dream, are you still thinking about it?"
Qi Wuhuo raised his eyes but did not answer.
There was a trace of thoughtfulness in his eyes.
The heavy snow outside the window has stopped, and the birds are perched on the branches, preening their feathers, the branches are shaking, and the snow is falling, which is a kind of mountain scenery. There is a stoneware bowl filled with yellow rice on the table, and there are crispy side dishes, on top of the cabbage.
Decorated with spicy circles, it is cute to the eyes.
It had been quite some time since Qi Wuzhuo woke up from his dream. The yellow rice rice was slowly getting cold. Qi Wuzhuo's food was tasteless. He put down his chopsticks and said calmly to the old man: "Old man...just now, I did it."
A dream..."
The voice paused and looked at the bed on one side: "That jade pillow..."
The old man smiled and said:
"Oh? Jade pillow? That was given to me by a wandering Taoist priest."
"It is said to be beneficial to sleep and soothe the mind into dreaming."
Qi Wuhuo nodded silently.
The old man asked with a smile: "It seems that, as the Taoist You Fang said, you slept very soundly."
"However, no matter what kind of dream you have, don't worry too much. Life is like a dream, and dreams are like life. You and I are living in this world. How do you know that you are not the body in the dream?"
"Having this dream, did Wuhuo gain anything?"
Qi Wuhuo lowered his eyes. Although it was a dream, everything he experienced in that dream was so clear. Maybe small things could no longer be recalled, but many big things were so clear and so clear.
can be grasped.
If only I could go this way again.
It would be smoother than before, and it would be easier to accomplish what he had accomplished in his previous life, but so what? The young man suddenly felt bored.
Over the past seventy years, the clouds have gone away, and Taoists from eight hundred miles away have returned.
"Is it just a dream..."
Qi Wuhuo sighed for a long time and replied:
"The way of favoring and humiliating one's husband, the luck of poverty, the reason of mourning, and the feelings of life and death."
"It's all there..."
The old man stroked his beard and said with a big smile: "The best."
After finishing the meal, Qi Wuhuo finished washing the bowls, dried his hands, and wanted to pack up the things Mr. Su gave him. He put away two large pennies among them, and kept one of them in the cabinet for convenience.
Take.
Chopping firewood, sweeping the yard, and doing laundry are the same as before, no different.
Then when I was free, I picked up a few ancient books given by Mr. Su.
This is a classic book prepared for the spring examination next year. It contains knowledge about how to obtain a scholar through the imperial examination, and there may be some difficult parts in it. There are annotations written by Mr. Su in small letters with cinnabar red pen to explain the knowledge contained therein.
For Qi Wuhuo, these are all things that he has yet to learn.
Even some bureaucrats may not be able to explain it thoroughly. Mr. Su understands it deeply and penetrates it deeply. He is famous even in the entire state and county. It is because of this that he is like this.
The noble family sent their children to study in the academy in this small town.
Qi Wuhuo opened a few pages, but before he read them, there were many words in his mind, flowing past like water. It was the contents of these volumes, as if he already knew these things in his mind, and had never stopped reading them.
I have read it over a dozen times, but before I even read it, it seemed like it was already welling up in my heart.
Qi Wuhuo's movements paused slightly.
He was sure he had never read this book.
Except in dreams...
A ridiculous thought rose in his heart.
"Could it be that……"
"That dream..."
He quickly recalled the contents of this book in his mind. Even though he had never read this book before, the words of this book still emerged in his heart very clearly. Then he opened the book and quickly flipped through it.
The content is exactly the same as what appeared in my mind!
I went to read the other books again, and they were all like this.
Not only is he extremely proficient in its content, but the subtle and profound meaning of it is also deep in his heart and he knows it like the back of his hand. Now let’s look at the annotations left by Mr. Su. Mr. Su also has a great name among the prefectures and counties, and is called a famous scholar.
But now Qi Wuhuo could vaguely see Mr. Su's omissions in explaining and explaining these classics. Although they were still subtle, they were still lacking.
It was as if he was no longer a fourteen-year-old boy at this moment.
It was like Master Wuhuo, who was a master of the Qiu Sutra, who was unparalleled in the world in terms of generals and figures. After a long time, Qi Wuhuo put all three books back, his expression was calm and peaceful, and his guess gradually became clearer.
In the dream, the things experienced and the strong personal emotions have dissipated, but the reading experience seems to be still there. It is not obvious at ordinary times, but once encountered, it can operate and think like instinct.
That's just a dream though.
But the books I have read and the things I have seen are not nothingness.
Qi Wuhuo stood up and looked at the jade pillow.
The pillow is made of white jade, with six tadpole cloud patterns on the top and bottom. The relief clouds are lingering, and it seems to be a Taoist thing. When I reach out and touch it, it seems to have touched something. The cloud pattern on it seems to light up for an instant.
It seemed to be just a dream, but soon followed by the sound of cracking and breaking, and it was densely covered with cracks.
The old man's regretful voice came from behind:
"Oh, what a pity, what a pity."
"It has been twenty-seven years since I got it from that wandering Taoist priest. I never thought that it would be so light and brittle that it broke into pieces after just one use. That Taoist man was just teasing me."
Qi Wuhuo turned around and saw the old man standing behind him, his purple robe half hidden in the light and half hidden in the dark. At first glance, he looked like he was wearing a purple Taoist robe, looking at him with a smile.
Qi Wuhuo knew that this old man was definitely an ordinary person, so he was silent for a moment and said:
"My father-in-law said... Taoist?"
The old man said with a smile: "That's right, that guy calls himself [Fire Dragon Master]."
"I met Dao Zuo more than 20 years ago. He lost to me three times in a row in bets, so he gave me this pillow to pay off his debt. It's just a sleeping utensil, not worth much."
"Wuhuo, you don't have to worry about it."
"Anyway, I remember that there should be more than one pillow, and there is probably another one. I can just ask for it back when I see him next time."
Qi Wuhuo suppressed his doubts, poured tea and water, and his attitude towards the old man was the same as before. He did not become more respectful because he knew his identity in his heart, nor did he become frivolous and arrogant because of his experience in the dream.
Holding the tea cup in hand, recalling the past, he said to himself:
"There are demons and ghosts in the world. Demons are just beasts channeling spirits. They also have life and death."
"Ghosts are just persistence of obsession."
"Can……"
Qi Wuhuo's words were silent, his eyes were slightly closed, and the seemingly real and fake pictures in his dream were tumbling in his mind. Over the past seventy years, he had had absurd dreams, studying, becoming an official, becoming a general and a prime minister, the prosperous world, emperors and generals,
All the famous and beautiful women were passing by, and suddenly they were sitting upright, with their faces drawn back, and they asked:
"I dare to ask my father-in-law, are there really gods in this world?"
The old man's smile faded and he replied: "Yes."
The young man asked again:
"Can I live forever?"
The old man tidied his clothes.
Sitting upright, with a straight face, he answered:
"Can."
ps: The update is completed today. It has been updated to eight chapters in two days. After that, one chapter will be published at 12:00 noon and one chapter at 6:00 p.m. every day.
This chapter has been completed!