The Taoist did not stay in Yundu for long, and the places where demons were eliminated were mostly in mountain villages. It was not as convenient as the tea road for people to come and go. News and rumors these days moved slowly, and sometimes just one mountain or one village could separate the people.
It was the same story, but it was not until a few days after the Taoist left that the news about the demons and evil spirits being eradicated outside Yundu City gradually reached the city and reached the ears of the Zhu family.
At this time, the Taoist was already on the way to Marsh County.
The sun was shining brightly all the way, and the sun was so hot that you didn't need to wear thick clothes. Occasionally there was a gust of wind, and you could feel the coolness of the autumn wind. Even the sound of horse hooves became much lighter.
Autumn has already begun to appear in the world.
The mountains beside the road are not bad, they are still green. Occasionally, a few trees with yellow leaves that are prone to yellowing have become embellishments on the green mountains. The large flat land in the mountains has become farmland, and most of the fields are rice.
At this time, the harvest has already been done, but the rice stalks are still left in the fields, dyeing the earth with autumn colors.
Alongside the golden flat farmland, there are scattered houses with white walls and blue tiles.
Under the sun, everything becomes exquisite.
This road is also the road to eliminate demons.
The Taoist climbed mountains one after another, rested in the wind on the top of the mountain, watched the sunset and looked at the stars, passed by lakes, made fires and cooked meals by the lakes, washed clothes, watched his children fishing, and begged for water at the homes of locals who did not understand the language at all.
Sometimes I was chased and barked by the native dogs raised by the locals, exorcising demons in the mountains and forests, exorcising ghosts in the ancient villages, taking shelter from the rain in the temples, and sleeping in the open wherever I wanted to stop.
The 900-mile journey has not been completed in half a month.
Song You discovered that his child had a quirk——
This little thing always turns into a cat, turns an ordinary stone into gold, and holds it in front of the children in the village along the way. She does not speak, does not tell the children what it is, does not ask for anything, and waits until the children
Thinking that the stone was gold or that it was unusual, she took it home and showed it to her parents, so she followed it secretly and peeked at the door to see other people's reactions.
She is very happy when she sees others happy.
It was like seeing myself a few days ago.
She was still happy when she saw others discovering that the stone was only gold, not gold.
If someone else was overjoyed and found that the stone quickly changed back to its original appearance, she would run back as fast as she could, with a serious look on her face, as if nothing had happened.
No one knows what is going on in her mind.
"It's not good for Sanhua Empress to be like this. Although it's harmless, you can tease others for fun. This is not what a cat god who is upright and serving the people should do." The Taoist stopped by the roadside to rest and said to her, looking at her calmly.
The scenery ahead, "Three Flower Empress must know what is right."
"Empress Sanhua just gave them a stone."
"Not an ordinary stone."
"It's a better looking stone."
"not only that."
"Miss Sanhua is just playing with them."
"..."
The Taoist pursed his lips, pointed forward and said, "Does Sanhua Empress know what is growing under the mountain over there?"
The calico cat followed his gaze.
That side is a flat and regular land, planted with small trees that are taller than a person and as thick as a forearm, like larger grass, densely forming a forest. There are paths in the middle, all horizontal and vertical, and you can vaguely see them.
Someone was pulling a cart on the path. Looking from a distance, the scenery was wonderful.
"It's bamboo!"
"no."
"It's Barmao!"
"no."
"It's Reed!"
"No."
"It's the reed!"
"Sanhua Empress is so pitiful." Song You shook his head and finally turned to look at her, "Sanhua Empress is so fond of eating sweets and drinking sweet water, she doesn't even know that it is sugar cane."
"sugar cane?"
"yes……"
"Miss Sanhua has never seen sugar cane."
"Sanhua Empress has clearly seen her before," the Taoist recalled. "When we were going from Xuzhou to Pingzhou, we passed by a place where a lot of sugar cane was grown. It was just far away. The sugar cane was at the foot of the mountain. We only passed by on the mountain.
, I didn’t go down to take a closer look. At that time, I also took some barmao from the roadside and made a barmao ball for Sanhua Empress.”
"Miss Sanhua remembers the Barmao ball." Mao'er said and frowned, "It's a pity that it's broken."
"It should be that Empress Sanhua didn't know that she liked eating sweets and drinking sweet water at that time. Of course she didn't know that a lot of sugar comes from sugar cane."
“It comes from sugar cane!!”
"Does Sanhua Empress know what's in sugar cane?"
"It's empty!"
"no."
"It's cotton!"
"It's sugar water."
"syrup!"
"Natural sugar water."
"!"
The cat's expression condensed and it stared at him.
The Taoist smiled slightly, stood up with a bamboo stick, and said as he walked down the mountain: "Now is the time when the sugar cane is ripe. I didn't go down the mountain last time. Let's go and have a look this time."
"!"
Mao'er had a serious expression on his face and stood there, looking at his back and then at the sugar cane field at the foot of the mountain in the distance. After being stunned for a long time, he quickly trotted to catch up with the Taoist.
"Ding-ding-dong..."
The sound of horse bells echoing loudly on the mountain.
Yunzhou is far less prosperous than Yizhou, and the transportation is not as convenient as Yizhou. Fortunately, the road from Yundu to Majun is one of the most important official roads in Yunzhou, and it is well built. It winds like a dragon and a snake in the mountains.
There is a small road on the mountain leading to the sugar cane field that Song You saw. Village houses can be vaguely seen in the distance. Big trees grow quietly beside the road, with lush branches and leaves. I don't know how many years have passed.
Maybe it was like this hundreds of years ago.
If Taoists keep walking along the official road, this village landscape will be a place they will never visit in this life. It is the hometown of others and a place where a group of people who will never meet live and grow up. However, in Yunzhou's excellent weather
The Taoist seemed to have a little more leisure time, so he went down to take a look.
The cat still walked and looked down, confused and expectant.
Sugar cane filled with sugar water...
It looks like bamboo.
In the cat's imagination, the sugar cane has become as empty as the bamboo, but it is not filled with air, but full of sugar water. Once it is cut open, the sugar water will flow down - it must be very fast.
You have to catch it with your mouth, otherwise it will be wasted.
Slowly walked to the bottom of the mountain.
There is a flat land at the foot of the mountain. Sugarcane grows taller than people and is planted very neatly. Walking in it, people can only see the mountains in the distance and nothing else. Cats can't even see the mountains.
The Taoist looked left and right.
The cat also looked left and right.
Although she was filled with doubts and endless expectations, Sanhua Empress still walked on the road honestly. At most, she came close to the sugar cane, opened her eyes and took a closer look, and sniffed her nose to smell the smell.
Slowly I heard the sound of the cart swaying.
Accompanied by the sound of branches and leaves rubbing together.
The Taoist immediately stopped on the side of the road.
The cat also ran to the roadside and stood in the grass, raising its head and looking over with the Taoist.
A farmer came over pulling a cart. The farmer was dark and skinny. The cart was full of sugar cane. Some of the leaves had been removed, but not all. They swayed with the cart and made a scraping sound.
"That's polite."
The Taoist bowed to him.
"Meow……"
The cat meowed.
The farmer was dressed in local costumes, mainly white and blue. He did not wear a headgear but wore a turban. Hearing this, he stopped immediately and looked at him with confusion and confusion.
The Taoist must know it, but the language is blocked.
But there are other things that are universal.
For example, currency, such as smile.
With a smile on his face, the Taoist bowed slightly, took out a few copper coins from his body, held them in his hand, and handed them to the farmer. He then pointed at the sugar cane on the cart, and his smile became even stronger.
After a while, the cart drove away.
The Taoist held several sugar canes and stood there, watching the farmer go away with the cat.
"Bang bang bang..."
The sound became farther and farther away until it was no longer audible.
“So cheap~”
The cat said very quietly.
"It's not that sugar cane is cheap, it's because the farmers are kind-hearted. Seeing that we are Taoist monks and walking a long distance, they thought we had no water to drink, so they gave it to us." The Taoist said and looked at the sugar cane, but he was a little distressed and didn't know what to do.
Take it away.
"Empress Sanhua gave him a golden stone!"
"Snapped……"
"Well!"
The cat stood up and covered its head with its paws.
"laugh!"
The Taoist pulled out Swallow's dagger from the horseback. The magical weapon that cuts iron as thin as air is also very useful for cutting sugar cane.
The head and tail of the obstruction were cut off, and the fracture was smoothed.
Then he put it on the horse's back.
The Taoist cut the last root into three pieces, called the swallows down, and asked them: "Do you want to eat the upper half, the lower half, or the middle?"
"Miss Sanhua doesn't know."
"I...I can do anything..."
"Then the Sanhua Empress will eat half of it when she is running on the ground, and the upper half will be eaten by the swallows flying in the sky. I will be a little aggrieved and just eat the middle piece."
The Taoist handed it to them respectively.
The swallow and the cat both transformed into human forms and took over.
Then the three figures turned around and turned back, still walking on the path full of sugar cane, but one of them was holding a sugar cane in his hand. The Taoist skillfully tore open the sugar cane skin, and the girl observed his movements while walking, and imitated him to remove the sugar cane in his hand.
The sugarcane was peeled to pieces, revealing the heart of the sugarcane inside.
The white color is slightly bluish, translucent like jade, and very beautiful.
It was different from what she imagined.
"That's it, you can eat it after tearing off the skin. As soon as you chew it, your mouth will be filled with sugar water. It tastes better than the sugar water that Sanhua Empress usually drinks."
"Click..."
The Taoist took a bite first and chewed slowly.
The weather here is good, the sun is good, and the light is sufficient, which is very suitable for growing sugar cane. When the Taoist peeled off the skin, he felt that it might be delicious. After taking a bite, as expected, the juice was soaked, sweet, and cool.
With the fragrance of sugar cane, the sugar content is abundant, and it pours into the mouth all of a sudden, filling the gaps between the teeth. It is really a comfort during the journey of hundreds of miles under the sun.
"Click..."
Empress Sanhua imitated his movements and also took a bite.
She bit off a piece of sugar cane, and as soon as she bit her teeth, all the juice gushed out, and it was cold and ice-cold. The taste immediately astonished her, and she opened her eyes wide.
It's simply more delicious than drinking sugar water.
"Gudong..."
"Pooh……"
"vomit……"
Three different voices sounded.
Yan An, who had just spit out the sugar cane, looked at the girl blankly.
The Taoist also held the sugar cane in his hand and looked at Sanhua Empress as he walked, but only then said: "After chewing the juice, if you feel that it is no longer sweet, you can spit it out."
"Spit it out? Can't eat it, meow? What a pity!"
"Can't swallow it."
"Then what should I do if Sanhua Empress swallows it?"
"That would be terrible." The Taoist continued to chew the sugar cane and said as he walked, with a natural demeanor and a calm voice, not like lying. "It will take root and sprout in the belly of Sanhua Empress, and finally grow on the top of Sanhua Empress' head.
When sugar cane comes out, well, it grows as high as the roadside."