Chapter 52 Senior Sister Comes Back to the Mountain
"Eldest Brother's health is not serious. It will only take a few days to recover. However, the ruler given by Master was damaged. Eldest Brother is very heartbroken. He has not been able to eat for the past two days. I comforted him for a while."
The second senior brother returned from the neighboring town of Canghe in the afternoon and had tea with the temple owner in the West Hall.
He liked the tea brewed by the visitor with boiling water very much. It had a unique fragrance, refreshing taste and long aftertaste.
"Old man Gu went to apologize in the morning and sent a basket of fresh meat, a fresh fish, and a live chicken. Senior brother heard that the evil ghost was killed by you. He was very happy. He only said that the master has unique vision and it is a pity that you followed him.
Master has been practicing Taoism for the shortest time. If he had been longer, he would have learned all of Master’s skills. I didn’t tell him about your breakthrough."
The second senior brother briefly explained the matter, and the room fell into a brief silence.
Zhang Wenfeng put down the white porcelain tea cup and said: "While you are not busy during this period, you can slowly select the apprentice seedlings in a few villages. You can be more strict at the checkpoints. It is better to have fewer than too many. When the new courtyard below is completed, mid-winter is the right time for apprentices."
Check in.”
Not short of money, he was willing to support his apprentices during the winter.
It just tests the apprentice's will. Practicing Sanjiu in the cold winter is no joke.
"Well, tomorrow morning I will open up the vegetable field first, sow the radish (radish) and Chinese cabbage (cabbage) seeds, and then go to Jieqiao Village in the afternoon and talk to the village leader. I should be able to recruit them in two days.
Got a few seedlings.”
After talking about the arrangement, the second senior brother hesitated for a moment and looked at the spectator who nodded in agreement.
"What, do you have something to say?"
"There is one thing. I met the fourth junior sister Yue Anyan who came to visit me at my senior brother's house today... When she sent me out, she said that she wanted to go up the mountain to practice. I wonder if the temple master can accept it?"
"Oh, Fourth Senior Sister, what is she doing? I haven't seen her for several years."
"A few years ago, she went down to the Huichun Medicine Hall in the county town and worked as a doctor, specializing in treating female customers. After her brother and sister-in-law had a few troubles and disrupted her livelihood, she went out to travel. At the beginning of this year
When she returned to Xiling County, she went to a doctor's office in Cuizhu Town, thirty miles away from here, and she settled down. Her brother and sister-in-law saw that she was too old to get married, so they stopped going and stopped making contact."
After the second senior brother finished speaking, he clasped his hands under the tea table and pursed his lips.
Zhang Wenfeng picked up the steaming teacup, slowly tasted the tea brewed by Lingquan, and fell into thought.
The fourth senior sister had a calm temperament and was born a poor child. It seems that when she was seven or eight years old, she was sent to the mountains by her brother and sister-in-law in order to save one person's food rations. At first, she only had a nickname, Yue Xiaoya, "An
The word "yan" was chosen by Master.
"Good harmony without fighting means peace." I hope she can practice in peace and quiet.
Later, when the fourth senior sister reached the age of sixteen and became a beautiful woman, the brother and sister-in-law who had sent her up the mountain took the initiative and betrothed her to a butcher from a neighboring village. They were greedy for the huge bride price given by the butcher's family and completely ignored the objections of the fourth senior sister.
After waiting for more than half a year, seeing that the Fourth Senior Sister never came home to visit, not even to celebrate the New Year, her brothers and sister-in-law, together with more than ten cousins of the same race, went to the mountains before the fifteenth day of the first month.
She needs to be taken back to the groom's house to worship her and get married.
Zhang Wenfeng had only been up the mountain for more than two months and had just had a full stomach. He was very impressed.
The master did not allow other senior brothers to come forward, and only said to the angry Yue Anyan, "You have been practicing Taoism for eight years. Make your own decision and take the road behind. Don't disturb the purity of the mountain gate."
Taoists practice Wuwei, but they are not useless people who can be bullied by others.
Yue Anyan understood what Master meant. After practicing Taoism for eight years and still not having his own opinion, why should he practice Taoism?
Wearing a thin green-grey Taoist robe, she followed the noisy crowd of ten people down the mountain.
The cold wind howls, the trees are dull, and the green silk clothes are fluttering.
The scene that day fell into the eyes of the unfamiliar and frightened Xiao Zhang Wenfeng, and it was indescribably poignant.
After arriving at Aishan, Yue Anyan quarreled with her four brothers and sisters-in-law for a while, then kicked all the dozen or so people who were trying to tie her up and kicked them into the ditch. She scolded severely, "Whoever dares to come up the mountain again, I will cut off their legs." ”.
He drew his sword and chopped off a rough tree with a bowl-shaped mouth. With a determined expression, he frightened and sent away a group of cowardly people.
For more than a month, Zhang Wenfeng always walked around the gentle-looking Fourth Senior Sister. He even took the snacks that the Fourth Senior Sister gave him in his hands and did not dare to eat them in front of her.
"We are both from the end of the world. She wants to go back to the mountain to practice. Please tell her to come back!"
Seeing that the master thought for a long time and finally agreed, the second senior brother was overjoyed. He stood up and bowed, turned around and walked outside.
He couldn't wait to tell the good news to his fourth junior sister who was still in town waiting for the letter.
He felt heartbroken when he heard that the fourth junior sister was wandering outside with no fixed place to live.
So today, Junior Sister talked hesitantly with him and promised to make an exception for Junior Sister to pass on the message.
Zhang Wenfeng didn't expect that the second senior brother, who had always been calm-tempered, couldn't wait even one night. Was he in such a hurry?
Then he added: "Everyone else is well and don't go back to the mountain."
The second senior brother ran out early, and I don’t know if he heard him.
Zhang Wenfeng finished his tea and went back to the backyard. He changed into a pair of old clothes and went to the kitchen. The old lame man was chopping chicken, so he tied up his sleeves to help and said: "Uncle Lame, I'll cook the fish and chicken. I'll grab a handful later." When the rice is in the pot, guests are coming."
"Oh, how many are there? Isn't an extra handful of rice not enough to eat?"
"A female guest."
Zhang Wenfeng didn't say anything, but seeing how eager the second senior brother was, the fourth senior sister might just be waiting in the town?
He would not let the first senior brother and the third senior brother return to the mountain. Those two were good at worldly business and both had families. Taoism did not prohibit marriage, but those who went to the mountain to practice asceticism did not marry ordinary people. He did not want to disturb the purity of the mountain.
The old lame man didn't ask any more questions and put the chopped chicken pieces into the basket. He smiled and said, "Brother Feng, I heard that the food you cooked is delicious. I want to try your cooking later."
"It's not that serious. The only thing that makes the food delicious is adding more oil, not less salt, and not adding oil until it is cooked in water. I followed the cooking method of the chefs in the city. We couldn't afford it before, but now, we don't need to do that. save."
"Then I will study hard later. Some of the dishes cooked by the chefs in the city are delicious, and some are not."
After the old cripple put the brown rice in the pot, he started a fire and said: "Brother Feng, I want to sue for what happened last night. I shouldn't have taken the trouble. I almost didn't step over and hurt our father." Three.”
"Let it go after the matter is over. You are very loyal. Next time you meet an acquaintance, consider the size of the matter and agree after discussion."
"We are old and merciless. How can there be a next time? From now on, I will only take care of the kitchen and vegetable garden and not take care of other people's business."
After a few words, the two settled the matter without any estrangement.
Zhang Wenfeng asked him to heat up the iron pot on the other stove. He added salt and sauce to marinate the chicken. After waiting, he poured a spoonful of clear oil into the pot, then added a small spoonful of grated salt, and removed the internal organs. Remove the gills, drain the water and make a few cuts before placing the whole fish down.
With a sound of "chila", the aroma of oil overflowed.
After he had browned both sides of the whole fish, added water to cover the fish, put in the sauce and minced ginger, covered the wooden pot and was cooking, he heard a soft call from outside: "Guanzhu!"
Looking back, a beautiful young woman wearing a gray robe and a sword at her waist was smiling.
I haven't seen him for more than two years. Yue Anyan is a little more calm. You can still see that his indifferent eyes are a little more cold and can see through the warmth and coldness of human feelings.
"Senior Sister is back. Let's go to the West Hall with Second Senior Brother to sit down and have dinner later."
"Yeah, it's the fourth girl who's back. Brother Feng only said that a guest was coming and asked him to grab some more rice, but he didn't say which one it was? Really." The old lame man put his head in and narrowed his eyes, smiling happily.
"Uncle Lame, you are stabbing yourself hard! I will light the fire, and you can rest your hands."