A dozen miles southeast of Xuan'an City is surrounded by mountains.

This is a deserted land, inaccessible, and often no carriages or horses will be seen passing here from morning to evening.

The steep slope up the mountain is full of soft loess, and occasionally some rolling stones slide down the mountain.

There is no doubt that this is a steep area, but on the road leading to the mountainside at this moment, even after being washed away by the rain, many large and small footprints can still be clearly distinguished from the soil.

There are no homes on the mountainside, but it is not completely without buildings. Every once in a while, you can find an ancient temple in the forest beside the road.

Why I say "once" is because these temples have obviously been abandoned for a long time. Some of their roofs are broken and some of their walls have collapsed, but they are all covered with spider webs.

What's more, for example, at the entrance of the dilapidated ancient temple in the farthest place, there are several thick dead trees that have fallen on the ground, blocking the road.

At this moment, a long-bearded old Taoist wearing a worn-out robe pushed a small wooden cart and stopped in front of these dead trees. He lowered his head and took out a large bag of parcels from the cart and put it on his shoulders. Climbing through these tree trunks lying horizontally on the ground, we entered the temple.

"I'm coming!"

This ancient temple was actually inhabited by people. As soon as the old Taoist priest stepped into the door, three shabby-looking children in ragged clothes came forward and crowded around the old Taoist priest, tugging at his robe.

It was actually a bit rude for these children to do this, but the old man with a long beard didn't care. He took out a few steamed buns from the package and handed them to the children. They happily took them and hurriedly broke them in half and stuffed them in their mouths. , without even saying "thank you", he quickly ran and distributed the remaining half to the three or four adults lying on the ground in the room.

After receiving the steamed buns, the adults stood up slowly and expressed their gratitude to the old Taoist priest.

"Old man Yun, why did your robe get torn? Did you get bullied by some grandson?"

Lying in the corner was a man with a messy beard. One of his legs was bent, one leg was stretched, and his right hand was resting on his right knee. After seeing that the old Taoist priest's robe was torn, he struggled to stand up against the wall. He stood up and sounded a little excited.

"Hey, I fell down when I was going up the mountain and a lot of steamed buns fell out. Otherwise, you guys are unlucky. You are the only ones assigned to these remote areas in the city. I've also lost some luck."

The old Taoist priest waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, bent down and took out some lamp oil from the package, walked to a lampstand full of insect remains in the house, and poured it out.

Seeing that the old man's legs and feet were still strong and his body should be fine, the man sat down again, leaning against the wall.

Seeing the old Taoist lit the lamp, he curled his lips and circled the beggars in the room.

"I told you, why spend money on these useless lights? It's better to save them and buy some incense for those who need them."

"People still have to have some fire." The room suddenly became much brighter. Yun Laodao chuckled and dragged the packages to distribute some simple food that could be stored for a few days to the remaining people.

"Actually, most of the other temples at the foot of the mountain still have some minor officials in charge of the food. How come you are the only ones on the mountainside with no one in charge?" The old Taoist priest took a bite of the steamed bun himself and stood next to the man to chat with him.

"Hehe, climbing is still tiring." The man sneered, "I advise you not to come here often. Your body should be buried no matter how hard you put it. We can find some food on our own."

Hearing what he said about "being laid to rest", Old Dao Yun suddenly felt unlucky. He glared, patted his robe and said, "You'll be fine without me. I'm too lazy to tell you, so I'll go to a hut."

"Wait! I'm going too."

However, just when the old Taoist priest was about to turn around and leave, the strong man suddenly grabbed the corner of his clothes. Old Taoist Yun turned his head to look at him and saw that his expression was abnormal, so he secretly winked to himself.

Without showing any expression, the old Taoist helped him up, hummed a relaxing tune, loosened his robe, and the two of them walked out of the temple gate side by side.

It was not the first time for the old Taoist priest to go to the latrine of this temple, but he still held on to the wall with one hand and stretched out his feet to explore the way. It had rained a few days ago and the road was slippery. He still had to be cautious in the dark.

It would be a bit embarrassing if I tripped over.

However, just when the two of them walked out not far away while holding on to the moss-covered wall, the big man looked around and suddenly lowered his voice and whispered in the old Taoist priest's ear: "I went out in the early hours of the day before yesterday, and I heard...

…There is a temple nearby that contains some jewels…”

The old Taoist priest's legs trembled and he finally slipped.

…

"Taoyuan Poetry Club?"

The night was like water. In the courtyard of his house, Situ Xi held two invitations in his hands and sat opposite Zhong Li at the round table. There was no evening breeze and the candlelight illuminated them straight.

"Yes, this invitation was sent by Butler Chen. It is said that it was originally sent to the house, but my father sent it to my concubine. He seems to have intended for my husband and me to go there."

"Why are we specially asked to participate?" Situ Xi was a little confused. There should be no shortage of talented people under Zhong Limei who can recite poems and compose poems.

"Since this poetry meeting was invited by Prince Mi, most of the younger members of the family should participate. Several brothers are away on business, and the older one in the family is Brother Mo... And my father knows that I loved poetry in the past, so maybe he will

Thinking of letting us go."

Guessing Zhong Limei's intention, Zhong Lim saw his husband-in-law frowning slightly, thinking that he didn't like to participate in this, so he said to him softly: "My husband makes the decision on these matters. If he doesn't go, we will return the invitation.

Father will not blame us for these little things."

However, Situ Xi shook his head. Since there were two invitations, it meant that Zhong Limei wanted him to go.

He had just conveyed Mr. Fan's request to Zhong Limei in the morning. Even if it was a commission from an elder, purely from a human interaction point of view, he should go to this poetry meeting.

"It's okay, let's go and have a look." After making the decision, Situ Xi put the invitation away, and then looked at Zhong Limin and talked about purchasing the house.

"Madam, it's not convenient for the three of us to squeeze into a small house after all. Now that I got some banknotes, I found a suitable house by Qianshui today. Why don't we go and see it together another day?

how?"

Unexpectedly, when she heard this, the sweet smile on Zhongli's lips suddenly froze, but only for a moment, she looked at Situ Xi with a smile and said, "Everything depends on the husband."


Chapter completed!