Before leaving, He Qizhou asked Lu Baogen carefully and found out that Yang Zheng's area was the North Peak of Huashan Mountain, which was now almost deserted. Only twenty or thirty disciples lived on the top of the mountain, making it the weakest hilltop of Huashan Mountain.
Because Lu Baogen said that Qiu Huan, the head of Huashan who was in charge of Zhongfeng, was narrow-minded and asked He Qizhou to be more careful, he pointed out a trail. There was no need to go up the mountain from the south peak. You could go around to the north mountain. Although the transportation there was inconvenient, there were few pedestrians, so there was no need to worry.
After being discovered by Qiu Huan, he repeatedly emphasized that he must be careful after going deep into Huashan Mountain to avoid getting into trouble.
He Qizhou said he just had a look and then left, which reassured Lu Baogen. Starting from the early morning, the big yellow horse walked briskly, and it was almost dusk when it reached the foot of Huashan Mountain. It was completely opposite to the rolling mountains of Zhongnan Mountain. The abrupt and towering Huashan Mountain was like an abnormal
The tall stone castle rises from the flat ground to the sky.
The sky was still bright, and He Qizhou didn't want to stay so early, so he went all the way west and found the trail Lu Baogen mentioned. The trail was built along the foot of Xifeng Mountain, winding and extending northward without an end. Looking up to the right, you will see Huashan Mountain, which is thousands of feet high.
of cliff.
After marching for about an hour, the number of pedestrians on the trail gradually became thinner and the sky gradually became darker. He Qizhou complained secretly. He had seen some villages on the west side of the trail just now, but now the whole road was filled with barren mountains and wild ridges.
Alas! The worst case scenario is to sleep in the open air all night. He Qizhou sighed and moved forward while there was still daylight. After walking for more than ten miles, the gravel path suddenly turned along the mountain to the west and then north.
It's a dirt path that slowly goes up the mountain.
When He Qizhou was thinking about where to camp, he saw a roof behind a hill in the west. In the dim afterglow of the sunset, he seemed to be able to see a roof. He felt happy and shouted at the big yellow horse to quickly climb over the gentle hill. Suddenly, his eyes were filled with a blur.
It was cheerful, with a large village on the back of the hill followed by endless green fields. The trail he came all the way ended abruptly at the foot of the hill. He Qizhou was a little overjoyed by the small inn with a wine sign hanging at the end of the road.
Seeing someone coming with a horse, the innkeeper who was sitting on the threshold enthusiastically helped Qizhou settle the big yellow horse and led it into the inn. The inn is really small, with a total of two floors. There are six Eight Immortals tables on the bottom floor and two on the second floor.
At first glance, there are only four or five guest rooms.
He Qizhou actually felt like he was going home. This inn was very much like the small hotel at the entrance of his village. It usually served the villagers in the wine and food business. Only when the autumn grain was purchased would grain merchants stay. Of course, occasionally,
There are also visitors from far away and salesmen from the city staying here.
There were quite a few people drinking on the first floor, and there were people at almost every table. He Qizhou went upstairs with the waiter to put away his luggage, and when he went downstairs, the number of dining guests actually increased.
The waiter apologized and said, "Sir, it's an unfortunate time for you to come. This time of day is always the most crowded. Do you think it's okay to share a table with others?"
"It doesn't matter." He Qizhou saw a table in the corner with only an old man dining, so he said to the waiter: "Just over there."
"The old man doesn't want to sit with others, and he's not very smart either. You'd better not sit at the same table with him, or sit at our shopkeeper's table. There are only three of us now," the waiter said.
He Qizhou looked around carefully and heard that the accents sounded like they were all locals. He was the only outsider and was very satisfied with finding a place to eat and sleep. Naturally, he would not pay so much attention to it, so he readily agreed.
The shopkeeper, an old man in his sixties, was chatting with two villagers at the same table. When he saw that the waiter had brought guests, he warmly greeted He Qizhou to take a seat.
He Qizhou inquired about the characteristics of the shop, ordered two side dishes and a pot of old wine, thinking that he would ask the shopkeeper how to get to Beifeng tomorrow.
Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper started the conversation first: "Brother, it seems that you are not a local. Do you want to go to Huashan to learn from a teacher?"
He Qizhou thought that carrying a bow and sword on his back would indeed make people think so, so he said: "The shopkeeper has a good eye and just wanted to go up the mountain to have a look. But it was getting late and I happened to see an inn here, so I would avoid having to sleep in the open."
"Little brother, then you are going the wrong way. It is very difficult to go up the mountain from the North Peak, and there are not many people on the North Peak. I heard it is the worst among the five mountains in Huashan. You should go from the South Peak. There are still people at the foot of the mountain.
There is a big inn and a racecourse owned by the Huashan sect. Alas, there are always some young men like you who bump into this place by mistake every year." The shopkeeper said.
"It doesn't matter. I grew up in the mountains. The thing I'm not afraid of most is climbing. I'll go up to the mountain tomorrow and have a look. If the North Peak doesn't work, I'll go to other peaks. The horse will be kept here for the time being. Please feed it the best fodder. I
That old yellow horse has a bit of a naughty mouth, so you can just decide on the price."
"That's fine. I'll ask the guy to show you a mountain path tomorrow morning, but you still have to be careful. If you can't climb it, just go back and walk to the south peak." The shopkeeper saw that He Qizhou was dressed in a green shirt and had an elegant face, unlike those in the mountains.
The wild boy is still a little uneasy.
"Shopkeeper, when I came from Zhongnan Mountain, I saw that most of the people on the road looked hungry. Your place seems to be a lot more prosperous!" He Qizhou saw that most of the diners were ordinary villagers. Even in Jiangjun Village, ordinary villagers could not treat the little ones every day.
The hotel is full.
The shopkeeper laughed and said: "That's because we have met a good owner. To tell you the truth, half of this large farmland is the dowry given by the emperor to his sister, Princess Xianyang. Because it is imperial land, there is no need to pay taxes. Princess Xianyang is
When the Bodhisattva was reincarnated, she married into the Zhang family and was not short of money. The annual output was left to her tenants, and she asked her tenants to help the poor people around them. When the tenants added up, they shared the other half of the land.
Taxes and grains, so our six villages have always been the most prosperous. Alas, it is a pity that Princess Xianyang did not live long and passed away ten years ago..."
"Then her descendants don't want you to hand over money or food?" He Qizhou asked.
"Well, the princess left all the fields to her only daughter. Her daughter is also a living Bodhisattva. Although she married a poor servant, she still didn't ask us for money. We are embarrassed. We will send some grain fields after the autumn harvest every year.
Speaking of which, they are all like gods..." The hotel manager said with emotion.
He Qizhou felt the same way and thought, isn't my mother the same person? He raised his thumb and said, "She is indeed a kind person. You are really blessed here."
The shopkeeper sighed: "Yes, even if there was a drought last year, our life was still okay, but the surrounding villages were much more miserable. We also lent tens of thousands of kilograms of grain to store. According to everyone's wishes, we are not prepared to ask others to pay it back.
Hey, little brother, you said that when you came from Zhongnan Mountain, the Quanzhen Sect confiscated you, right? Don’t be discouraged, many boys in our village have not fallen into the eyes of those Taoist priests in the past. They don’t care about money, they only care about their qualifications for practice. Yes.
Well, let me tell you, don’t show off your wealth too much when you go to Huashan. Although they will accept you as long as you have money to pay for your studies, but if you look rich, they will give you a hard knock.
Pen!"
No wonder it turned out to be like this. He Qizhou cursed and nodded to thank the shopkeeper. However, he saw the old man in the corner wiped his mouth with his hand, took out a few coins from his sleeve, placed them gently on the table, and then hunched over.
, walked out slowly. When passing by the shopkeeper's table, he looked up.
He Qizhou took advantage of the situation and saw that the other person's cloudy eyes seemed to be looking at him. The wrinkles on the old man's face were like hills and valleys on the loess. He Qizhou didn't know if he was frightened by the old man's old face. After looking at each other, his heart suddenly pounded.
Then a jump.
The old man didn't say anything, turned around and walked out in the direction where He Qizhou came from.
"Old immortal, please go slowly!" the shopkeeper called politely to the old man.
The old man put his hands behind his back and moved his skinny fingers, probably to say hello to the shopkeeper.
He Qizhou asked worriedly: "Shopkeeper, there are no cottages nearby except here. It's already dark. Did the old man go the wrong way?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Don't worry, sir. At the corner of the trail is a dirt road going up the mountain. A hundred steps up there is a small mountain god temple. The old man lives in a cave behind the temple."
He Qizhou looked at the dozen or so copper coins left on the old man's table and asked in surprise: "Shopkeeper, are the food and drinks here so cheap? A pot of wine and three or four dishes only cost ten cents?"
"Of course it won't be so cheap, but if someone is really in need of money, the store is still willing to give credit. If you really can't pay, forget it." The shopkeeper continued: "This old man is really strange. If there are too many little brothers,
Order two jugs of wine, I'm really willing to talk about it."
"Okay, then could you please bring me two more pots of the best wine in the shop? Since I have nothing to do tonight, I just want to listen to you tell a story." He Qizhou said.
The shopkeeper liked to brag, so when he saw that someone was listening and he had secured business, he was so happy that he kept talking:
"I am a local, and this inn is passed down from my family. About twenty years ago, every morning and evening, there was always an old man who came to drink a pot of wine and order some food. He gave me ten taels of silver and said that I would spend it as soon as possible.
Tell him. The old man never asks about other people's affairs. He doesn't tell anyone when they ask him about his name and origin. If someone wants to share a table with him, he will keep blowing his beard and glaring at him so that the other person has to leave.
Later, a kid who had some good intentions secretly followed the old man and found that he lived in the deserted Mountain God Temple cave at the foot of the mountain. Except for the occasional person coming down from Huashan Mountain, few outsiders came in here. The Mountain God Temple is also the foundation of Huashan Mountain, so we
I guessed that he might be a handyman who was kicked out of Huashan because of his old age. Some kind people were worried about the old man's health, so they took care of the abandoned mountain god temple and secretly sent some bedding and clothes.
The old man couldn't stop coming twice a day, and the ten taels of silver were actually used very quickly. I was too embarrassed to speak at first, but I didn't expect that the old man would put some copper coins on the table every time he finished eating. Later I learned about the copper coins.
Where did it come from? It turns out that after the mountain god temple was cleaned up, some unhappy villagers went to complain to the mountain god. Some people would throw a few copper coins into the arms of the mountain god statue. The old man picked up these coins to pay for the drinks.