The old lady looked at the old man in the portrait and murmured: "The ancestor's real name is Meng Sheng, courtesy name Changming, from Chang'an. He was born in the first year of Linde in the Tang Dynasty, which is 664 AD. Later, he began to practice Buddhism in order to seek immortality.
, so he called himself Changsheng layman and changed his name to Meng Changsheng. Meng Laozu is the honorific title given to him by our Jiang family."
"Meng Changsheng..." Ye Chen muttered. He had never heard of this name, but he was not too surprised.
The painting itself seems to be very old, and the old lady's family has inherited it for 1,600 years. It is not surprising that the person in the painting is an ancient person from the Tang Dynasty.
At this time, the old lady said again: "When Meng Laozu was young, he was a Jinshi in high school and an official in the court. But later, he accidentally got the opportunity to practice, so he resigned from the official position and came here with his wife and children to devote himself to practice. But his wife
Not long after his arrival, his sons passed away one after another due to infection with wind and cold, leaving him alone to continue practicing; "
"Meng Laozu practiced here for decades, until the 14th year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, which was 755 AD. He left this place temporarily and traveled down the mountain."
When Ye Chen heard this, he was a little surprised and said: "In 755 AD, Patriarch Meng was already over ninety years old at that time..."
"Yes." The old lady replied: "But according to the memories of my ancestors, when he met Meng Laozu in the fifteenth year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, that is, in 756 AD, Meng Laozu looked like the one in the painting.
He doesn't look like an old man who is nearly a hundred years old."
Ye Chen looked at the painting again and couldn't help but marvel.
The old man in this painting is skinny but strong in spirit. In that era, the average life expectancy was only over 50 years old, and the old man in his 50s should probably look older than the old man in his 70s or 80s today.
.
Therefore, under the background of that era, the person in this painting looks to be in his forties, which is equivalent to a spiritual old man in his sixties now.
But when the other party is over ninety years old, he still looks like this. This proves that the other party has indeed mastered spiritual energy!
Otherwise, even if he accidentally obtained one or two rejuvenation pills, considering the background of the times and the average life expectancy, it would be difficult for him to live to such a long age.
At this time, Ye Chen remembered the old lady's previous self-introduction, so he asked her: "Grandma Jiang, when we met in Mexico, you once said that your ancestors practiced medicine for generations, and it was not until the Anshi Rebellion that the inheritance of medical skills was discontinued. Is that right?
What happened when your ancestor met this Patriarch Meng?"
"Yes." The old lady nodded and said: "In 756 AD, at the height of the Anshi Rebellion, An Lushan occupied Chang'an and started the first year of Shengwu. My ancestor, his parents, and grandfather originally lived in Chang'an. His
My grandfather and father were both imperial doctors in the imperial court. They escaped before An Lushan occupied Chang'an and went south. However, they encountered rebels nearby. The rebels killed all the ancestors' relatives. At the critical moment, it was Meng Laozu who fought all the way.
I saved my ancestor from the rebel sword by killing him with a sword. That year, my ancestor had just turned six years old."
Ye Chen suddenly realized: "So your ancestors survived. But their medical skills were lost, right?"
"Yes." The old lady nodded slightly and added: "At that time, all the medical classics passed down by our ancestors were included in the accompanying luggage. It is said that there were at least three to five boxes. But at the critical moment, the ancestor's father met Meng
The ancestor fought all the way and stuffed a genealogy and two phoenix bone rattan bracelets into his arms. Then his father burned all the medical classics with kerosene. Since then, the Jiang family's medical skills have been lost..."
Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh: "Countless classics were lost in this turmoil. Your ancestors in the Tang Dynasty knew what Phoenix Bone Vine was, but now, in the whole of China and even the world, few people still know this kind of thing."
Things, our current traditional culture and Chinese medical skills are all citing classics, but we don’t know how many classics have been buried in the long river of history..."
Speaking of this, Ye Chen suddenly remembered something and asked in surprise: "By the way, Grandma Jiang, you said there are two bracelets?"
"Yes!" the old lady said firmly: "Both bracelets are made of phoenix bone vines. They were originally a pair and were heirlooms of the Jiang family. After our ancestors were rescued by Meng Laozu, Meng Laozu recognized
The bracelet was made of phoenix bone vine, so he asked his ancestor if he was willing to give him one of the bracelets. In return, he was willing to accept his ancestor as his disciple. The ancestor was helpless at the time, so he naturally agreed without hesitation.
. And Patriarch Meng is indeed a gentleman. He only wanted one of the Phoenix Bone Vine and asked the ancestor to keep the other one."
Ye Chen asked again: "Then your ancestor also learned Reiki from this Ancestor Meng?"
"No." The old lady shook her head and said with emotion: "It is said that it is difficult to find one among millions of people who has the talent to master Reiki. If you don't have this talent, you will not be able to step into the door of Reiki even if you practice hard all your life.
Not to mention my ancestors, even Patriarch Meng’s wife and children don’t have this talent..."
As she said that, the old lady pointed to the painting of children reading on the wall and introduced: "My ancestors didn't have that talent, so they worked as a waiter with Old Ancestor Meng. They said they were waiters, but in fact they were more like Old Ancestor Meng."
The adopted son of my ancestor, Patriarch Meng kept him by his side and taught him to read and paint. These three paintings were all made by my ancestor when he was old. The last one is his self-portrait in his old age."
When Ye Chen heard this, he couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that this Patriarch Meng is indeed a divine man. He not only has great supernatural powers, knowledge, and fine painting, but he is also compassionate. It is really rare..."
"Yes." The old lady nodded slightly, and then said: "My ancestors lived with Patriarch Meng for more than sixty years, until 820 AD, the fifteenth year of Yuanhe in the Tang Dynasty..."
"At that time, Patriarch Meng was nearly one hundred and sixty years old, and my ancestor was already seventy-one years old. At that time, Patriarch Meng told my ancestor that if his cultivation level was still unable to break through, or he could not refine what he wanted,
He was afraid that he would not be able to live to be two hundred years old if he took the elixir, so he decided to find another more suitable cave to concentrate on retreat; "
"When the master and the servant parted, Patriarch Meng gave my ancestor some money and a pill, and ordered my ancestor to live in the world. He promised that when he found the way to immortality, he would come back to make our ancestors happy.
opportunity;"
"Although my ancestor was reluctant to give up, he also knew that the relationship between master and servant was over, so after the two said goodbye, my ancestor passed into the world and married a woman in Jiangyang Mansion not far from here to continue their relationship;"
"Three years after his marriage, he took his wife and children back to settle here. He hoped to stay here to guard the tomb of Patriarch Meng's wife and children. At the same time, he also hoped to wait here until Patriarch Meng came back. This would cost dozens of people.
Generations, more than a thousand years..."
Ye Chen had some doubts in his heart and said: "Your ancestor was already seventy years old when he and Ancestor Meng parted ways. He was still able to go down the mountain to get married and even continue their incest. This was really unbelievable in the environment back then. Is it possible that everything depends on it?"
With the elixir given by Patriarch Meng before he left?"
"That's right." The old lady sighed: "Laozu Meng gave my ancestors two pills in total. One was given to my ancestor when he was fifty years old, and the other was given to him when they parted. According to my family,
The ancestral teachings left by our ancestors said that these two pills are really the most precious treasures in the world. Just taking one pill can make a person twenty years younger. Therefore, even though our ancestors were already seventy years old when they entered the world and got married, it seems that
He looks no more than thirty years old."
Ye Chen was shocked and blurted out: "Grandma Jiang, is the elixir that Patriarch Meng gave to your ancestors called the Rejuvenation Pill?!"