However, Li Tongya and Li Xiangping entered the reed swamp, smoothed away the layers of reeds and took a look. The green-gray sword was shining warmly with white light. Li Xiangping looked in the direction and whispered:
"This is the direction of Wangyue Lake. It only takes half an hour to walk along Guli Road."
Li Tongya shook his head and said: "The Guli Road is impassable, so we have to walk through the reeds."
Li Xiangping responded in a low voice and started walking with his brother.
Lu Jiangxian only felt that the gravitational force was getting stronger and stronger, and his eyes brightened even more when he entered the reed swamp. A blurry scene appeared in front of him, which seemed to be a cool and clear lake, with more than a dozen white gulls and herons standing on one foot.
Rest on the shore.
As Li Xiangping continued to move forward, the blue and gray sword in his hand became hotter and hotter, making him uneasy. He looked up at his second brother. Li Tongya also had a cold face and said nothing, but his eyes were full of worry.
"Is immortality really something that mortals can touch..." Li Xiangping touched the mirror without realizing it was hot.
"Good Jianzi, good Jianzi, we'll be here soon." He murmured while holding the blue-grey mirror.
Not long after, the two emerged from the overlapping reed swamps, and the sparkling Moon Moon Lake and a pool of frightened gulls and herons leaped into view.
Lu Jiangxian looked straight at a rocky sandbank in the lake. Among the moss-covered rocks, a shining white jade was stuck between the cracks.
A pale white moonlight spurted out from the hot blue-gray glass, and the sandbank appeared vaguely in front of Li Tongya and Li Xiangping's eyes, with white jade shining between the cracks.
Li Xiangping and Li Tongya looked at each other, and both saw surprise and joy in each other's eyes. Li Xiangping nodded vigorously, took off his clothes, and was about to step into the lake.
"Wait a minute!" Li Tongya pulled him and shook his head:
"I'll go get it. You wait on the shore with the diary. If the moon moves to that position, I haven't come back yet."
He pointed to the sky.
"Just hide the sword in the reeds, run to Guli Road, and don't go home." Li Tongya looked at his brother solemnly. "Wait until the sun rises three poles before coming back to check the situation."
"Yes..." Li Xiangping began to cry unknowingly, wiping his tears and looking at his second brother.
Li Tongya smiled and took off his clothes, revealing his strong arms, turned around and swam into the lake, leaving Li Xiangping hiding in the reeds and staring blankly at his brother.
He had been to Wangyue Lake with his father and brothers a few years ago. He swam back and forth countless times and swam to the center of the lake with ease.
He carefully explored the many crevices in the rocks, and in just one stick of incense, he wandered all over the sandbank.
"No." Li Tongya frowned, checked it carefully again, and took out five or six small river crabs.
Sure enough, he felt a cool touch between his fingers and touched something smooth. He used two fingers to pull out a piece of jade about two fingers wide.
The jade was in the shape of a long strip, with some characters written on it. Li Tongya looked at the moonlight and identified:
"Tai...yue...qi...yanglun..." He could only read a few characters in a scribble. When Li Tongya was young, he went to his husband's place to learn the characters. He could recognize most of the characters, but the patterns on this jade stone were complicated and difficult to identify.
Looking calmly at the shore, he held the jade in his hands and swam towards the shore.
"Third brother!"
He got on the shore and called lowly into the reeds, and Li Xiangping leaned out. Just when Li Tongya was about to show the jade, he opened his hand and the jade turned into a white light and fell into the mirror with a "swish".
The two of them were frightened by this turn of events. They looked at the white light surging on the mirror, and the moonlight turned into haloes and fell into the mirror one after another.
However, Lu Jiangxian felt as if he was struck by thunder, a white light hit him directly, and a vast sea of knowledge quickly poured into his mind. He screamed in pain and fainted happily.
Li Tongya and Li Xiangping watched the jianzi in their hands slowly calm down after swallowing the jade, and the white light gradually dimmed.
The golden-red morning glow climbed up into the sky and fell on Li Tongya's naked upper body, revealing golden lines. He lowered his head and said to his brother:
"Go home first."
————
Li Mutian sat at the red lacquered wooden table and listened to his two sons explain the whole story clearly. He nodded and said to Li Tongya:
“Well done.”
He and Li Changhu tossed and turned all night long and couldn't sleep. Now that he saw the two children returning safely, his hanging heart finally calmed down.
"The front yard of our house is not too small, and the back yard is close to the back mountain. I thought about the two melon fields in front and built two houses. The left and right guards connected them to form a large yard. As soon as the front door was closed, people peeked in."
Li Mutian said slowly that he had had this idea in the early years. His children were growing up day by day and the family was about to be separated.
With his savings, the Li family can be said to be a prominent family in the village. Li Mutian bought more than ten acres of paddy field after returning from the army, plus more than five acres of fertile land inherited from his father, the total is nearly twenty acres.
Lijing Village is good at water and soil for nourishing people, and the reed marshes and tidal flats are treasures for survival.
If the labor force is eliminated, twenty acres of land can feed more than ten people in good years. The Li family is already at a level where they can close their doors and become landlords.
It is precisely because the Li family has food and fields that his four children can read and write. That is to say, Li Mutian has never been used to wealthy people who are idle, so he requires his children to study and farm every day.
Everyone can eat well and live well.
"Now the family is inseparable, and the daughter-in-law has to find someone of her own."
Li Mutian thought of the wealthy families he had seen in the city. They had one family living in the courtyard, studying as officials, and training as military commanders. It was so glorious! On the other hand, the poor and peasant families were all divided neatly. If you don't interfere with me, I won't interfere with you.
"That's it!"
Li Mutian's eyes lit up and he looked after the two children.
"Go to the fields and call your eldest brother back to level the foundation. Just leave the fields to the tenants. Your fourth brother doesn't have to pick mulberries in the afternoon. From now on, he will study at your husband's place all day."
"Okay." Li Xiangping was still full of energy after struggling all night. Hearing this, he went out quickly.
Li Tongya looked at his father, thought for a while, and then said:
"Father wants to learn the clan laws in the book, build an ancestral hall, open a clan mansion, study and become an official, and practice martial arts and generals."
"My Li family has been saving for two hundred years, and it's time."
Li Mutian smiled and waved his hands.
"As for studying and practicing martial arts, the Guli Road is extremely dangerous. If you go in and out of Dali Mountain, you will die nine times, and studying and practicing martial arts will not be sold to the emperor of Yue. It is just a matter of seeking someone to inherit the family business and protect yourself..."
Li Tongya nodded and said in a low voice:
"There is nothing better than studying and practicing martial arts."
"Don't talk nonsense here."
Li Mutian laughed loudly, patted Li Tongya on the shoulder, raised his head and went out with his hands behind his back.