The mountains in Liling are vast and the peaks are continuous. Dozens of villages are located at the foot of the mountains. The farther you go into the mountains, the more uninhabited they become. The inner mountains have rugged roads and crisscrossed streams. In the evening, the ox cart hired by Xia Zhaoyi has no way to go and stops at
To Qiuningpo.
They slept in the open at the foot of the mountain for a night, and started the real journey up the mountain the next day. After another dusk and dawn, on the third day, they reached Liling Lanxing Peak.
Beautiful rocks, beautiful pools, beautiful streams, flowing through fertile fields, and an elegant courtyard standing in the bright sunshine.
Outside the courtyard, there are several ancient trees that are thousands of years old, with hundreds of flowers in bloom, and flocks of chickens and ducks running around, bypassing a large open space filled with books.
Zhili spread out each book one by one and glanced at it a few times. At this moment, he felt something. He raised his head and looked behind him. He saw the girl and the big man standing in the sun. Zhili was overjoyed: "Ah!!!"
The chickens and ducks were scared away.
"Senior sister!" He rushed over happily, "Senior sister, you are back!!"
Dai Yu heard the sound and rushed out, overjoyed: "Ah Li!!"
Inside the house, the old man was writing. His pen paused for a moment, his solemn expression became a little gentle, and he came back.
Zhi Changle was so tired that he just wanted to sleep, but Dai Yu forced him to kill chickens and ducks.
Excitedly, he accompanied Xia Zhaoyi to meet the old man. The old man had put down his pen and was holding the coarse cloth to lift the teapot on the small stove and slowly brewing two cups of fine Dingtao white buds.
The fragrance of tea overflowed, and it was quiet and ethereal. Xia Zhaoyi sat down on the soft mat and said with a smile: "Master, you miss me."
The old man came over and put the tea cup in front of her, and said quietly: "You have broken your appointment."
"Although it's half a month late, it's still late."
The old man sat back down, picked up the tea cup and blew the hot air on it: "Are you going to rescue Shen Zhiyan?"
"Um."
"I haven't seen him for several years. Is there any unfamiliarity with him?"
"On the contrary, we are closer," Xia Zhaoyi smiled, "I don't have many friends, so I am very happy to see Mr. Shen."
The old man nodded and looked at the young apprentice with bright eyes.
"Zhi Li, what do you have to say?" the old man said.
"Yes, yes," Zhili came closer to Xia Zhaoyi, "Senior sister, Mr. Shen has grown taller, more handsome, or disabled. Did he mention me? Did he read my letter?
?Did you say anything after reading it? Did you say why you didn’t come to us all these years?”
The old man was silent for a moment and said, "Zhi Li, get out."
Zhili glanced at his master aggrievedly, got up, and whispered next to Xia Zhaoyi: "Senior sister, I'll wait for you outside!"
Xia Zhaoyi looked at the closed study door, looked back at the old man, and said with a smile: "I don't have many close friends. Master, don't blame him for being like this."
The old man took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Seven years ago, you traveled thousands of miles to the north for your second brother and never came back, and now."
Xia Zhaoyi lowered his head slightly and picked up the tea cup on the table.
"What have you gained in the past few years?" The old man changed the topic.
Xia Zhaoyi didn't answer. She drank the tea in the cup very slowly. The hot air was thick, and she suddenly felt that the time and years were half real and half false.
After putting down the tea cup, she looked at the old man calmly and said: "Master, the work has fallen short."
"What's the explanation?"
"Master's intention is for me to cultivate my moral character and resolve the anger in my heart. I know that I was very violent and full of hatred. Now after all these years, I thought I was calm and peaceful. But on the way back, I saw Jiang
The corpse is rotting and floating in the air. Master...Li Zhi deserves to die."
The old man's face was calm and he said calmly: "If there are no corpses everywhere, how can it be called a corpse? You should get used to it."
"The common people are in trouble," Xia Zhaoyi took out the three words that the old man handed him before leaving, and looked down at them, "In all the past dynasties, I have never seen such an absurd emperor. When the dynasty is about to end, the princes from all walks of life raise their troops and fight hard. To protect the emperor, even if he has two minds, he still needs to be a teacher and have a reputation. Why can the princes be ordered to use the emperor? This is because it has to be superficial. Even if the princes do not take the so-called emperor as the emperor, they still have to seek the support of the people and reputation. But Li Ju , the soldiers retreated with strong force, abandoning the world and the country, but they spared the princes and warlords from pretending to be disguised. They did not even use excuses, and gathered people wantonly to invade the world. The common people are meat, and the wolves are divided among them. The common people are difficult to survive. "
"So, where are you going," the old man said, "to the north, to the east, or to the south?"
Xia Zhaoyi raised his eyebrows, still looking at the word "difficult for common people".
She went north to find her second brother, but Xia Zhaoyi understood that the old man was asking her if she wanted to deal with Tao Lan.
Going east, we are looking for Li's stronghold. Hejing is in the east, and the east side occupies two-thirds of the entire territory of Daqian. He is still surnamed Li today.
Heading south, we will reach the Central Plains, which is a smoky oven filled with separatist warlords from all directions.
She never had any intention of competing in the world, but her master considered going south as an option.
"My disciple." The old man suddenly said again.
Xia Zhaoyi raised his eyes: "Master."
"Actually, you understand in your heart that life is difficult for the common people. Is it really difficult in troubled times?"
Xia Zhaoyi shook his head: "Whether there is chaos or not, life will be difficult for the common people, but in troubled times, it will only be more difficult."
"The so-called common people are all the fuel for the powerful and wealthy," the old man said calmly, "No matter whether they are in chaos or not, their whole lives will be burned into a handful of ashes."
Xia Zhaoyi put down the word "depreciation" and said seriously: "Every time I think I have the answer to what Master asked me to think about, my confusion becomes deeper and deeper, but I also become more and more bold."
"tell me the story."
"I just said what I said, but I can't finish it. I have written it down, and I should have brought it back with me."
The old man nodded: "Then go get it and show it to me later."
"Um."
"So, go north, go east, go south, are there any options?"
"Yes," Xia Zhaoyi smiled slightly, "But if I want you to choose for me, which one would you choose?"
"No choice," the old man lowered his eyes while serving the tea, and said calmly after taking a sip, "Wouldn't it be great to stay on the mountain and chat with me, play the piano, and make tea."
"Huh?" Xia Zhaoyi raised his eyebrows slightly, "Master can say such childish words?"
The old man put down the tea cup and suddenly the corners of his lips curved into a smile.
He rarely smiled, he even forgot how to laugh, and now he didn't know why.
"Tell me," the old man said, "where you are going."
"Dong." Xia Zhaoyi said.
The old man nodded, stayed quiet for a while, and said: "Actually, I don't want you to join the world, but the hatred in your heart is in the world outside the mountain, and the inner demons must be eliminated eventually."
As he spoke, the old man took out the map on the side and spread it out on the desk.
The map is extremely detailed, the proportions of the background composition are pleasing to the eye, the mountains and rivers are majestic, and the characters of the state capital and place names are elegant and gentle.
There are all kinds of colors, and the color palette is very comfortable. Based on the old and new, Xia Zhaoyi can tell at a glance that it is a recent work.
"Drawed by Master?" She raised her head and said.
The old man did not answer the question, but said calmly: "Killing Li Ju directly is just an easy task, and it is not fun. Destroying the entire Li family's foundation, just like he destroyed the entire Xia family, is called revenge."
Xia Zhaoyi took a deep look at the old man, wondering if he had been switched.
