After a sudden winter rain, the sun shines through the clouds and shines on the earth, and the clouds and mists slowly disappear. The vast and rugged Taijin Mountain stands tall and clear.

Deep in the dense forest on the mountainside, the Taoist temple with gray tiles and yellow walls appeared and appeared. The walls of the Taoist temple surrounded by giant trees were mottled. The doors with peeling vermilion were closed. Groups of tits were shuttled and cried among the treetops.

Outside the cottage in the backyard, a young Taoist priest about 18 years old, wearing a blue Taoist robe squatted in front of the charcoal stove, holding a thread-bound book in his left hand to concentrate on reading, and the long-handled bamboo-shell fan in his right hand was leisurely inciting.

The charcoal fire was burning vigorously, and the thin-mouthed clay pot on the charcoal stove began to blew steam, and the rich aroma of medicine drifted around.

A pot of charcoal fire also arose in the house. Wu Ming, who was lying on the low couch, had his high fever subsided, his swollen face had basically returned to its original state, his broken left arm had been fixed by three small pine wood boards, under the warm quilt, clean gauze was wrapped around his naked waist and abdomen, and his scarred legs and feet were covered with blue ointment.

Wu Ming, who was sleeping for three days and three nights, woke up leisurely, but he couldn't open his eyes no matter how hard he tried. In the long nightmare after another, every bit of the future life in his mind was like images, making him moan endlessly.

In the complicated dream, the horror scene of Lao Song's head being broken and a blood mist recurred, followed by Mr. Zhang's smiling face with black-framed glasses, and the extreme fear of pushing a headless corpse out of the deep pit.

The footsteps sounded outside the house, and the thin old Taoist priest wearing a dark gray Taoist robe came outside the door. The young Taoist priest quickly put down his books and fans, stood up and stood respectfully.

The old Taoist priest looked at Wu Ming who was lying on the low couch in the room, turned his eyes to the clay pot with the fragrance of medicine on the charcoal stove, and gently stroked the white beard half a foot long nodded slightly: "What are the symptoms of the patient today?"

"Uncle Master, the patient was able to swallow the porridge of medicine. The swelling on his head and body had decreased. His bowel movements were unobstructed and the fever gradually subsided. The wound began to heal, but he had not opened his eyes yet." The young Taoist priest looked clear and his voice was calm and slow.

"Um."

The old Taoist priest with a clear appearance entered the room, bent down to check Wu Ming's injuries, took off the yellow gauze on Wu Ming's head, wiped the ointment left on his right forehead, and looked at it for a while and nodded with satisfaction: "The wound on his head is not required. This person has a good physical condition and will probably be cured after recuperation. Adjust the prescription tomorrow and help him walk around every day."

"yes!"

After the old Taoist priest left, the young Taoist priest brought the medicine in with a porcelain bowl, and left it for a while to feed Wu Ming with a spoon, and carefully and meticulously from beginning to end.

"Thanks……"

The young Taoist priest who had just put down the bowl turned around and looked carefully at Wu Ming, who opened his eyes and looked grateful: "I finally woke up, just wake up."

Wu Ming sat up with the help of a young Taoist priest, leaned against the head of the bed and took a deep breath: "You saved me, right? I remember when I climbed out of the deep pit, I was confused, I couldn't open my eyes, and I couldn't see who the person carrying me was. Later, I didn't know anything."

The young Taoist priest smiled slightly, brought a bamboo stool and sat in front of the collapse, and added a few charcoal to the brazier: "I went down the mountain to buy it that day. When I passed by the Taiping Valley, I saw you climbing out of the roots of a big tree. At that time, you were quite scary, your body was covered in blood, and your head was swollen and you couldn't see it. I carried you back without thinking too much. You're welcome. My uncle often took me down the mountain to treat pilgrims and fellow villagers around me. It is our duty to save the suffering."

"Where is this? What is the name of the master?" Wu Ming asked politely.

"This is the Qizhen Temple in Taijin Mountain, which my teacher was practicing. My surname is Sun and his name is Chengzong. My teacher's name is Bingzhen. He is a deacon in the ancestral courtyard of Longhu Mountain. After his family ascended four years ago, his teacher was ordered by the ancestral heavenly master to repair the Qizhen Temple, and hang a pot to save the world and promote morality."

The young Taoist priest replied slowly, and then asked kindly: "The name of the layman Gao? I heard that you seem to be a local person with accent?"

Wu Ming hesitated: "My name is Wu Ming, from Wujia Village, Huanggu Town. He was framed by someone to pass the bandits into the county prison. The ** Red Guards entered the county town and released me, and fled with a group of people in a daze... and then, that's it."

The young Taoist priest looked at Wu Ming's eyes kindly: "So that's it! Yesterday I went down the mountain to buy and saw a row of heads hanging on the columns in front of the entrance tax office in the street market. There were also notices posted on the notice board saying that the Red Bandits were rioting and robbing the prison, and many people died. The officers and soldiers in the city patroled everywhere and were panicked. The county government and several large households were burned. It turned out that this was the case."

Wu Ming had no choice but to know that the young Taoist priest did not believe in his words. He thought about it for a moment and asked worriedly: "Will I implicate you?"

"It doesn't matter. Our Zhengyi Taoism has spread far and wide. In Jiangxi, from famous people to nobles, from all over the country, from all over the country, from all over the country, they will not make things difficult for us. Many wealthy officials in the surrounding counties and towns are all registered disciples of our Longhu Mountain ancestral court. We will definitely not come to Qizhen Temple to make things difficult for you. Don't worry, stay here to recuperate."

After saying that, the young Taoist priest stood up, told him to say goodbye a few words and left, and came to the door of the sutra room in the middle hall to whisper. After entering the door, he respectfully bowed to Taoist Bingzhen: "Uncle Master, the layman in the backyard woke up. He claimed that his surname was Wu and named Wu Ming, and he was from Wujia Village, Huanggu Town, east. He said that he escaped from the prison in the city with a group of people."

Taoist Bingzhen stopped writing: "That's right, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the dozen headless corpses on the Taiping Valley. From this point of view, this person is quite honest."

"Uncle Master, do you want to go to Wujia Village?" The young Taoist priest was very careful.

Taoist Bingzhen looked at the sky outside the window: "It's getting late, so don't hurry. Although I haven't been to Wujia Village for a while, I still have some impression of this person. I just don't know why he had this experience. I remember that this person is dull and taciturn, but he is very filial to his mother and the elders in the village. He is not an evil person. By the way, yesterday your junior brother said that he didn't understand before he gotten away from the fever, and seemed to be speaking official words?"

The young Taoist priest nodded: "Yes, he said again last night, and he couldn't hear it in a vague way, but he could tell the official words mixed in the local dialect. After thinking about it, he really couldn't figure it out."

Taoist Master Bingzhen thought for a moment and shook his head slightly: "Let it go with the flow, there is no need to deliberately explore it. He has woken up and will figure it out sooner or later. After changing the medicine for him tonight, you can grab the medicine for five days and tell your junior brother to take care of him. Tomorrow morning, you go down the mountain with me and go to Huanggu Town to see a few patients first. After that, you can go to Wujia Village."

"Yes." The young Taoist priest asked hesitantly: "Uncle Master, can't Mr. Wu be a member of the Communist Party?"

"I can't say that everything will be clear. Nowadays, there are chaos in the world, wars are everywhere, and people are in troubled life. The world is getting more and more uneasy..."

The next morning, Wu Ming, who woke up early, struggled to get out of bed. Taoist priest Chengzong led a young Taoist boy about twelve years old and brought a bowl of hot medicine porridge in.

Chengzong put down his bowl and went up to help Wu Ming up, took him to the thatched cottage, then washed and cleaned at the pond in the yard, went back to the room to serve Wu Ming and drank the porridge. He patiently told the little Taoist boy, and then apologized to Wu Ming and left.

It was raining in the middle of the night last night. At this moment, the mountains and fields were covered with the turquoise mist. A hundred birds outside the Taoist temple chanted and roosters crowed. Wu Ming was so uncomfortable in the bed that he sat up slowly and looked at it for a while, put on a white-washed Taoist robe, put his feet into cotton shoes, and walked out of the hut step by step with his painful arm.

"Give."

The little Taoist boy's crisp voice sounded, and a crutch made of branches was delivered to Wu Ming: "Senior brother told me that I can walk around with the layman in the morning and evening, so that I can relax my muscles and unblock my meridians."

Wu Ming smiled at the childish little Taoist boy and said, "Thank you! What's your name?"

"My name is Chengyuan."

The little Taoist boy was very sensible and gently helped Wu Ming into the yard.

"Why are your sleeves and trouser legs wet? Go out?" Wu Ming's observation was very carefully.

The little Taoist boy looked down at his wet trouser legs, raised his head and replied with a smile: "I got up at Maochu, practiced with my senior brother for half an hour, then drove the sheep up the mountain, and then cut a basket of grass back, so that my clothes and pants would inevitably be covered with dew."

Wu Ming thought about it for a while before he realized that "Maochu" was just after five in the morning. He was quite impressed: "You are like this every day?"

The little Taoist boy rubbed his cold red hands and replied: "No, it's not. If it happens to rain, you don't need to herd sheep. I will still have to burn incense and oil to Sanzhen of the front hall. After that, I will do my homework, decoct medicine for you, and then cook."

Wu Ming nodded with gratitude, looked around and asked, "Master Chengyuan, how many people live in your temple?"

When the little Taoist boy heard Wu Ming call him a master, he giggled with joy: "Just master and me, senior brothers, and there are two senior brothers, who have gone down the mountain to travel around the age of eighteen."

"Are there many people coming to burn incense?" Wu Ming asked again.

Chengyuan put away his smile and shook his head in disappointment: "I heard from my senior brother that there were many pilgrims in the past few years. I have been few in the past two years. My senior brother said that the world is now in chaos, and many families in the villages and towns at the foot of the mountain cannot have enough food. They usually come to pray for blessings and fulfill their wishes on holidays."

Wu Ming was quite sad: "Yes! This world is really chaotic and not easy! Master Chengyuan, where is your hometown?"

Cheng Yuan was stunned for a moment, his head was dark, and the two buns on his head were a little messy: "I don't know, I have been following my master since I was a child. I turned out to be in Longhu Mountain, and I only came here later."

"Uh? Oh, I'm sorry!" Wu Ming sincerely apologized.

Chengyuan raised his head and had a rare arrogance on his face: "Senior Brother Chengzong, like me, has also picked it up. I, Chengzong, is so smart. He can recite the "Tao Te Ching" at the age of five, start learning the "Hundred Herbs Sutra" at the age of six, and practices with his passing master at the age of seven. He can usually copy scriptures and write correspondence for his master. In recent years, in Qizhen Temple, he has taught me how to read and practice martial arts. He also told me a lot of new things outside the mountain. Chengzong, a senior brother, has been on a large ship and was fortunate to follow his masters and uncles to Zhenjiang at the beginning of the year, and he has made friends with his masters and uncles in Hangzhou. He has had a great experience. The master said that when I grow up, I can go out for a trip."

After hearing this, Wu Ming couldn't help but stop and looked at Xiao Chengyuan with longing on his face and whispered to encourage: "I believe you can do it. Chengyuan, you are very smart and will definitely have a great future in the future."

"Really?" Chengyuan looked at Wu Ming with clear black and white eyes.

"Really, when I was as old as you, I was not as smart as you, I had never learned martial arts, I could not even cook." Wu Ming smiled for the first time, as if I recalled my carefree childhood.

Cheng Yuan smiled happily, his red face was so cute, and he smiled foolishly for a while as if he realized something. He threw down the sentence "I'm going to work hard." He turned around and ran to the nave. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned around and shouted to Wu Ming: "You, you are like a big brother!"

Wu Ming held out and asked with a smile: "Really?"

Xiao Chengyuan turned his head and ran away excitedly, disappeared into the back door of the middle hall. Wu Ming held back his smile and stood for a long time before shook his head and continued walking.

The warm sun broke through the mist and shone on the earth. Wu Ming, who was sweating, came to the pool, put down his crutches and sat on the stone slab, looked up at the blue sky and wandering white clouds, and suddenly felt a burst of melancholy in his heart.

After a long time, Wu Ming sighed, wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, and leaned down gently to scoop water to wash his face. When his fingertips approached the water, the strange face floating in the quiet clear water made Wu Ming stiff and confused.

The reflection of this face...why is it like this...
Chapter completed!