The sun at noon was scorching and releasing waves of heat. The vegetation on both sides of the road barely brought a hint of coolness under the blowing wind. On the long and winding loess road, an old horse pulled a broken car and walked swayingly.
.
On the carriage, two old men with white beard and hair were communicating softly. It was Qi Yuan and the old man He Yu.
Some time ago, Qi Yuan promised to teach them some cooking skills. Later, he heard that the other party intended to return to his hometown. After asking about the other party's itinerary, he learned that the other party's hometown was the territory of a small prince in the west, but he needed to go north first.
Then turn to Qinglong Pass and head west.
So Qi Yuan planned to take a ride and let Duofang give him a ride. He planned to go to Chaoge to see if he could find any opportunities.
Although the future trend lies in Xiqi, Xiqi has not rebelled yet. According to Qi Yuan's speculation, Xibo Hou Jichang should still be imprisoned by King Zhou, so he has no plans to go to Xiqi now.
After more than ten days, Qi Yuan taught them some dishes. Although many things could not be cooked due to the limited ingredients and tools, the He Yu family was shocked and grateful just by what they were taught.
In fact, Qi Yuan sincerely felt that he had not taught the other party much, because the conditions were too simple. He felt that the most practical thing to teach the other party was a few methods of making pasta.
There is no way, in this era, apart from roasting over fire, most of the food is cooked and eaten. Qi Yuan once pursued a girl from the pastry shop, and he shamelessly learned a lot of pasta recipes from her.
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He Yu is already very old, and he has felt a little powerless in recent years. It is his biggest wish to be able to settle down with his family without running around.
Now with these skills given to him by Qi Yuan, He Yu has enough confidence to have a foothold in his hometown and live a stable life, so he is very grateful to Qi Yuan in his heart and also teaches several spells he has practiced.
Gave it to Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan studied very hard, and his brain was very flexible, so he learned quickly. Within a few days, he thoroughly understood the technique, which was only a few hundred words long, and he also memorized the spelling formulas of several spells.
This point made the old man He Yu highly praised.
The only pity is that although Qi Yuan memorized everything He Yu taught him, he was able to sense the existence of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth even after studying it with his heart for a period of time.
However, he just couldn't develop the sense of Qi.
Regarding this, He Yu told him that this was because he was old and the meridians in his body were blocked. In the initial stage of cultivation, it was necessary to guide the spiritual energy existing between heaven and earth to open up the meridians in the body. After penetrating the Dantian, he could
Spiritual energy is converted into mana. If he wants to cultivate the sense of energy in his Dantian, he first needs to open up the blocked meridians.
After these days of trying hard, Qi Yuan almost cried. Until now, he has not been able to open up even the smallest meridians.
"Mr. Qi, follow this road and it's only three or two days' journey to Chaoge."
He Yu's eldest son, who was driving the carriage in front, slowly pulled the reins to stop the carriage, turned around and said.
"Oh, arriving so soon?"
Qi Yuan stuck his head out and looked at the fork in the road ahead. He shook his head helplessly, got up and got out of the carriage, and said to He Yu, "It seems we are going to separate."
He Yu said gratefully: "If my virtuous brother hadn't taught me cooking skills, I would not have known how to make a living even if I brought my children back to my hometown. There is really no way I can repay you for such a great kindness."
After saying that, He Yu bowed deeply: "This place is not far from Chaoge, and I haven't heard of any bandits or bandits daring to do evil nearby, so there shouldn't be any dangers along the way. I don't know if we say goodbye this time."
There will be no day when we meet each other for the rest of our lives, so please take care of me, dear brother."
Qi Yuan quickly helped He Yu up: "It's the same with me, brother. You don't have to travel around and suffer in the future, so you can raise your grandson well, so that you can see your great-grandson fulfill your filial piety in front of your knees as soon as possible."
"Hahaha."
He Yu's words greatly comforted and made him happy.
He Yu's two sons handed over their hands one after another: "Mr. Qi, take care."
"Take care of yourself."
Qi Yuan returned the gift and watched the family leave leisurely in a carriage. After a long time, he sighed softly, turned around and looked at the road ahead, distressed: "There is no free carriage, so I can only walk on two legs, alas."
, but it hurts my old legs..."
Helplessly, I stepped forward and stepped onto the road ahead, walking slowly step by step.
In the evening, Qi Yuan stood on a high slope and looked around, but he didn't see any house. He had no choice but to light a fire by the roadside and bake the pancakes given by He Yu's family before leaving.
Roast it and eat it to barely satisfy your hunger.
After staying up until midnight, Qi Yuan was too sleepy, so he took a nap against a tree trunk.
He didn't dare to turn off the fire for fear of encountering wild animals at night. At least most wild animals were afraid of fire, and the light of the fire could prevent him from falling into darkness.
The idea was good, and he didn't encounter any danger all night. However, Qi Yuan, who was sleeping soundly at dawn, suddenly woke up. He turned around and saw a lone wolf trying to approach quietly.
Qi Yuan was startled and quickly reached out to pick up a wooden stick. This was what he picked up yesterday. It could be used as a crutch and for self-defense.
Wolves are animals that live in groups. Lone wolves like these that walk alone are often old and frail and have been driven out of the pack. In order to get food, they will be more ferocious and patient than ordinary wolves.
Qi Yuan tried to intimidate the lone wolf, but could not scare him away.
This lone wolf was always wandering on the road ahead, but it happened to block Qi Yuan's path.
Qi Yuan had no choice but to look around and could only go around.
It's impossible to waste time with the other party here. He doesn't think he can defeat a wolf.
However, as we went around, the direction deviated from the original road, and a river appeared in front of us.
The river was several feet wide and the current was fast. Qi Yuan didn't know if the wolf could swim, but there was no way to fight the opponent here, so he planned to swim across the river to see if he could get rid of the old wolf.
As for whether there are monsters in the river, Qi Yuan no longer cares. Besides, it is not far from Chaoge City after all, so there shouldn't be monsters hanging around just anywhere!
He came to the river cautiously and did not give the lone wolf a chance to make a sneak attack. He carefully looked at the small river for a few times. The water was clear, but he did not see any big fish, which made Qi Yuan feel relieved.
The water in the early morning was a bit cold, but fortunately it was summer, so he wouldn't catch the cold. Looking at the lone wolf who was following closely, Qi Yuan walked step by step towards the water.
The lone wolf saw Qi Yuan's intention and wanted to rush forward, but was scared away by Qi Yuan waving his wooden staff.
But this lone wolf didn't give up.
It is old and has no physical strength to chase other prey, but the similarly slow-moving human in front of it is its hope for food.
So even though Qi Yuan had swam across the river, he was still following him on the other side, trying to find a place where the water flow was relatively slow before swimming over.
Qi Yuan was forced to the extreme. The old wolf just followed him neither far nor near, and did not give him any chance to fight.
Of course, if there is a real fight, Qi Yuan may not be able to defeat this old wolf. The current situation is just that both sides are afraid that the other will cause harm to them.
After walking like this for more than half an hour, Qi Yuan was tired and hungry. He wiped the sweat from his head and cursed in his heart as he looked at the persistent lone wolf.
However, no matter how tired he was, Qi Yuan did not want to stop and give his body to the other party to enjoy, so he could only force himself to move forward, hoping to find a way to get rid of this old wolf.
When passing through a valley, Qi Yuan focused most of his energy on the wolf, so he did not notice that the surroundings were quiet, and the sounds of birds and insects gradually became less and less.
On the contrary, the lone wolf hesitated at the mouth of the valley for some reason and did not follow up.
Qi Yuan was overjoyed when he saw it. He thought that the lone wolf had given up after seeing that he was careful and had no chance, so he accelerated and rushed forward, thinking that it would be better to stay away from the wolf as soon as possible.
However, the further we walked, the colder we felt.
At first, Qi Yuan thought it was because there was no sunshine in the valley all day long, which caused the coldness. It was not until the clothes on his body that were not dry yet started to freeze that he realized something was wrong.
When he turned a corner, he suddenly felt a strong chill. Looking forward, he saw a small pool in front of him, from which endless cold air was gushing out.
Looking around, there is no life in the entire valley except for a crystal clear lotus growing in the cold pool.
At this time, the lotus flowers are in full bloom and are exuding a charming fragrance.
After smelling this fragrance, Qi Yuan couldn't help but swallow his saliva, and the desire to swallow it arose in his heart.
"Could this lotus be the legendary exotic flower?"
Qi Yuan muttered in his heart: "Yes, ordinary lotus flowers cannot emit such an alluring fragrance. It seems that I am lucky today. I never thought there would be such an opportunity."
Qi Yuan, who was overjoyed, came closer and was immediately shivering from the chill in the cold pool. He didn't know how lotus flowers could grow in such a cold pool.
As Qi Yuan came closer, he felt that the aroma was getting stronger.
However, the crystal lotus petals withered and fell in a very short period of time, leaving only the jade-green lotus pods exuding endless vitality.
Qi Yuan endured the chill and excitement, and saw that the lotus pod was not far from the shore, so he stretched out his wooden stick and hooked it closer, and pulled it, but it didn't come off, so he simply took out the kitchen knife he had on him and chopped it down.
Then he took the lotus pod in his hand.
The alluring fragrance hit his face, and Qi Yuan could no longer resist the instinctive desire in his body, so he took out the lotus seeds and ate them one by one.
After eating the lotus seeds, Qi Yuan burped happily and felt a cool breath flowing through his body, which was extremely comfortable.
At this time, a rustling sound came from the side. Qi Yuan turned his head and looked strangely. When he saw clearly what it was, he was so scared that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.