The water droplets hit the ground, shattered, and splashed. Some flew into the air, and some landed on the brown corner surface.
Two people were standing by the wall under the eaves.
There was a man, thin, no more than ten years old, with a red complexion, and wearing a blue robe that had been washed white.
His long black hair was tied into a bun, and a wooden brown crescent crown was inserted. The rough and unpolished corners of the wooden crown could still be seen.
Standing opposite him was a beautiful woman wearing a veil, with bright eyes and fair complexion.
The woman has a slim figure and wears a plain white skirt. The hem of the skirt only reaches the middle of her thighs, revealing her fair skin. She wears brown leather boots that reach to her knees. She also wears an emerald green belt made of jade leather around her waist.
"Rong Fang, I may have to go to Dadu in a while. From now on... I may not be able to see you often." The woman's voice was soft and clear, as clean as mountain spring water.
"Didn't you promise me that you wouldn't accompany that Du Malan anymore!?" The man gritted his teeth and almost made a sound from between his teeth.
"I promised you." The woman nodded, "That's why I'm not following Du Malan now."
She sighed softly and turned to look at the dense forest in the rain curtain outside the eaves.
In the dark green mixed with brown forest, the wind blows the branches constantly swaying.
The sound of rushing and the pattering of raindrops were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish one from the other.
"In life, if you don't want to be bullied by others, you must try your best to climb up. Don't you still understand this truth?"
The woman said softly.
"I don't want to be like this, but besides this beauty, what else can I use as a bargaining chip? At the very least, I am much luckier than other mediocre women. At least I still have hope of turning around!"
She opened the sash from the small bag on her back, took out an item wrapped in light butter paper, and handed it to the man.
"My parents passed away early, and we are the only two siblings left in this world to depend on each other. Rong Fang, this is what I have saved over the past few years. Take it..."
She handed over the oil paper bag.
In the past few years, since she figured it out, the woman sold her body at a suitable price, in exchange for the safety of her brother and herself, as well as food and clothing.
Moreover, in this paper bag, there is something that my brother has wanted for a long time.
Thinking of this, the woman unconsciously pressed the skin on the back of her thigh with her other hand.
I could feel the pain through my skirt.
For that thing, she gave up her dignity and became someone else's plaything.
But it's worth it.
This money, plus that thing, should be enough to feed and clothe her brother for several years after she leaves...
"Take it, don't worry, I will definitely let us live..."
Snapped!!
The man slapped the oil paper bag hard.
The oil paper bag was knocked away with great force and rolled down into the rain. It rolled several times on the wet mud floor and scattered a bunch of banknotes and copper coins of different sizes.
"Who the hell wants your dirty money!" The man suddenly raised his head and shouted, "Do you think others won't know if you don't tell them? Do you think you can live a good life if you have money!? Do you think you do what you do all day long?
No one knows about it!? Do you know what others say about you behind your back?!"
"You don't know anything! It's fun to be played with, right? You are shameless, and I want to be shameless!"
"What did our parents teach us? Have you forgotten all about it?"
"I, Zhang Rongfang, will never recognize you as my sister from now on! Now take your dirty money and get out of here!!"
Snapped!
He slapped the woman hard, turned around and left. After a while, he disappeared deep into the forest in the rain.
The woman was stunned for a moment, her right cheek was red from the beating and slowly became swollen, but she didn't care much and rushed out of the eaves, ran towards the blown paper bag, squatted down and picked up the banknotes one by one from the ground.
.
She picked it up very carefully, but unfortunately, the rain and mud, as well as smashing it several times on the ground, still made most of the older banknotes muddy and rotten.
These rotten and mushy ones cannot be used and can only be invalidated. This means that most of her previous efforts have been wasted...
As the woman picked it up, drops of water suddenly dripped on the back of her hand, but the drops did not seem to be raindrops.
Tears blurred her vision and her hands were stained with mud.
"Don't blame him, he is still young and ignorant... He doesn't know the importance of money. In the future, he will..."
She didn't say any more, she just put the money and things back into the oil paper bag and squatted there, soaked in the rain, her voice became more choked and muttering, not knowing what to say.
*
*
*
Daling·1183, February.
Pingyu Road, Huaxin County, Qinghe Palace.
The cross-shaped red flowers swayed gently in the wind on the tree, and a drop of dew slipped from the end of the petals.
The dewdrops fell, crossed the tree more than ten meters high, and lightly smashed on a person's cheek.
The Taoist stretched out his hand to rub his face, closed his eyes, picked up the yellow gourd in his hand, and sniffed at the opening.
"A gourd intoxicates Haitangzhou in spring, and the fragrance of a gourd is revealed before drinking. This wine is indeed the famous gourd wine... You can feel comfortable all over the body when you smell it!"
He looked intoxicated and sighed. He held the gourd and raised his head as if drinking wine, imagining that wine was pouring out of the empty gourd.
In front of the Taoist is a black and white Tai Chi dojo, which is square in shape, surrounded by white walls and lined with flowers and trees.
A dozen young Taoist priests were sitting cross-legged in the dojo, reciting scriptures.
"When bamboo is broken, it is necessary to replenish the bamboo, and to raise a chicken, it is necessary to use eggs. All kinds of extraordinary efforts are in vain, striving to be like the real lead containing the holy secret..."
A group of young Taoists recited the scriptures in a singing tune. There were two Taoists beside them, one holding an emperor bell (Taoist hand bell) and the other playing a small drum, echoing each other's accompaniment.
In the corner, a young Taoist priest with slightly dark skin and some skinny eyes was opening and closing his mouth, but no sound came out.
Apparently the person was just lip-syncing.
He was dressed in dark blue Taoist uniform, with a crescent-shaped wooden Taoist crown on his head, and his expression was dull.
On the surface, he was singing a chorus, but actually his mind was in a state of confusion.
It has been more than ten days since he came to this world, and Zhang Rongfang is still confused and unable to adapt to the life here.
One night, he simply closed his eyes, opened them again, and changed places.
After more than ten days of observation, Zhang Rongfang quietly collected various information and probably figured out some of the situation here.
This is a huge country called Great Spirit.
The area where he is located is a medium-sized Taoist temple in the mountains to the west of Daling.
The Taoist temple is called Qinghe Palace. There are hundreds of Taoist priests living in the square Taoist palace.
He Zhang Rongcong is one of them.
Taoist priests hold morning and evening classes every day. In addition to chanting sutras and doing chores, you can occasionally see some Taoist priests practicing Taoist techniques.
but.....
After Zhang Rongfang inquired carefully, he learned that the Taoist techniques in this world have no exaggerated effects and were mainly created for longevity and health.
There is no magic, no strange magic weapons, and no flying swords.
The only benefits of Taoist priests here practicing Taoism are good health, fewer diseases, and occasionally they can treat other people's diseases, which is what the saying goes: Qigong treatment...
After meeting several Taoist masters in Taoist palaces who were said to have profound Taoist teachings, Zhang Rongfang gave up completely.
Decades of practice have made these veterans healthy, glowing in the face, running fast, and strong in energy, but nothing else special.
After reciting the Qi Strengthening Sutra in the morning lesson, a group of Taoist priests sat in silence for a moment before standing up one after another to the sound of the bell.
"If you want to go to the fire room, walk faster. A noble person is visiting this morning. Let's all be energetic and don't be as lazy as usual." The senior brother who was responsible for supervising the morning class shouted loudly with a whisk in his hand.
.
"If we go earlier, we won't be able to make a fire. We're running out of firewood and haven't replenished it yet. It's been screaming all day long and the master hasn't said a word."
The fat white Taoist priest beside him murmured in a low voice.
The fat Taoist priest glanced at Zhang Rongfang.
"Lao Fang, why don't you do it for me? I'll give you this number." He stretched out his hand and pointed his index finger.
"Shiwen?" Zhang Rongfang understood, "No, I have something to do today."
"Oh, you're going to the letter room to get a letter, right?" The fat Taoist called Pang Zhong and laughed when he heard this.
But there seemed to be something different in his smile.
Zhang Rongfang ignored it.
After he came to this world, he more or less inherited the memories of his predecessor. He knew that both his parents were dead and that he had an older sister, but now her older sister has also gone to the distant metropolis and has lost contact with her.
And it seems that he left on his own initiative and came to Qinghe Palace to become a Taoist priest before breaking contact.
He left the dojo and walked along the side corridor towards the letter room.
The corridor on the road is in the shape of a zigzag, linking three dojos.
In one of the dojos, three or five pairs of disciples wearing Taoist robes, leggings and hands were sparring with each other.
Zhang Rongfang glanced at him from a distance and saw that all the Taoist priests on the field were practicing ordinary boxing and kicking skills.
There is no internal energy, except that he is slightly louder than the average person, there is nothing unusual about him.
An undetectable black line flashed in his eyes.
All of a sudden, lines of game-like attribute data appeared above the heads of every Taoist in the field.
'Wang Yingshi - life 11-15, skill: Rejuvenation Purifying Time Talisman-Seventh Mountain Talisman.'
'Xie Zhao - life 12-13, skill: Rejuvenation Purifying Time Talisman - the fifth Hunyuan Talisman.'
‘Chen Dashi—life 11-14, skill: Rejuvenation Purifying Time Talisman-Seventh Mountain Talisman.’
Information about each Taoist priest appeared in Zhang Rongfang's eyes.
He lowered his head and glanced at himself.
‘Zhang Rongfang——Life 8-9, skills: none. Available attributes: 0.’
There are small yellow plus signs behind his own life and skills. Obviously, this is the same as the game he played in his previous life, which can be forcibly improved with attribute points.
This ability looks a lot like a game, but Zhang Rongfang prefers to regard it as a mutant ability.
Because this ability did not appear at the beginning, but was gradually improved as he learned more about the outside world and collected more information.
Names, lives, and skills all come from this.
Moreover...this world doesn't feel like a game either, because it's too real.
After more than ten days of thinking, analyzing, collecting data, and testing, Zhang Rongfang discovered that the only way to increase attributes was to eat.
The better you eat, the richer the nutrition, and the faster you can accumulate attribute points.
He has passed the test and gained some attributes, which are added to his life. Therefore, his life can be increased from the original 7-8 to 8-9.
In this Qinghe Palace where ordinary Taoist people's lives are 8-9, Zhang Rongfang has reached the average level.
Walking through the corridor, he quickly found a small room.
The room was a separate wooden house built at the entrance of the corridor. It was filled with various letters and packages and was guarded by an old Taoist with half-squinted eyes.
The old Taoist was sitting in front of the door, with his back against the wall and smoking a dry cigarette in his hand.
"Senior Brother Xu, please take my letter." Zhang Rongfang cupped his fists and saluted.
Mr. Xu stretched out his hand and shouted from behind, pulled out a package, opened it, and took out a rough yellow envelope from inside.
Zhang Rongfang took it, clasped his fists again, turned around and walked towards the bungalow area where the disciples lived.
As he walked, he tore open the sealing wax of the envelope and took out the letter paper.
There was only a small line of text in the letter, and a small denomination of banknotes was attached. On it was the figure of one hundred yuan.