Volume Four, The Year of the Curtain, Chapter 73: The Master's Story (2)
It took a long time since I saw Chang'an City, and the black carriage was slowly driving on the Zhuque Avenue. Ning Que and Sangsang lifted up the curtains and looked at the familiar street scene, and couldn't help but feel a little moved.
Just like the Taoshan Xiling Temple, no one in the residents of Chang'an City noticed the black carriage, as if they could not see it at all.
From Zhuque Street to the east, the building gradually faded and arrived at Dongcheng.
The carriage drove into the Lin47 Lane that had been gone for a long time and stopped in front of Lao Bizhai.
In the fake antique shop next door, there were still the quarrel between Boss Wu and his wife echoed, and there were still oil stains left by the sour and sour noodles soup stall at the entrance of the alley.
With a creaking sound, the door of the Lao Bizhai Shop opened, Ning Que and Sangsang welcomed the Master into the backyard to rest, and a cat was heard, and a shadow flashed by the wall.
He looked at the wall and smiled, walked to the well to fetch water, cleaned it up with Sangsang, and prepared to cook. This was the first time that Master had come to Laobizhai, and he always had to have a serious meal.
A few plates of simple green vegetables and home-cooked meat dishes were quickly prepared and placed on the table in the front shop. The Master took the chopsticks and ate a few bites, showing a satisfied expression. Sangsang, who was very nervous, breathed a sigh of relief.
After eating, drinking tea and chatting, Sangsang stood behind the Master and pinched his shoulders for him. The atmosphere was very peaceful and comfortable, but the Chang'an City in midsummer was always annoying. Ning Que took a fan and stood in front of the Master.
He asked while fanning, "Why didn't you bring the Mingzi roll back?"
The Master said: "When I was reading books in Zhishouguan, I didn't have the idea of stealing books, so I naturally wouldn't take them at this time. I thought it would be better to leave them to that guy's disciples, until later your uncle was destroyed.
I didn’t want the Taoist sect to take it back, so I picked it back.”
I didn't sit in Lao Bizhai for too long. After drinking tea, the Master took the two of them away and continued to stroll in the carriage. As he walked around, he went to the North City of Chang'an, where he could vaguely see the imperial city.
It was midsummer, and the heat was unbearable in Chang'an City. There were not many pedestrians on the streets, but the trees were very happy, lush and lush, and extremely rich, covering the palace walls, which were very beautiful.
"After the Tang Dynasty defeated the deserted empire, the Xiling Temple had to recognize the status of this country and silently agreed to its particularity. The secular countries were influenced by the Tang Dynasty and began to revise the laws, Taoist sects and practice sects gradually brought more
The power is handed over to ordinary people.”
The Master looked at the palace not far away from the window, and after a moment of silence, he said, "This is a good thing. Ordinary people do not know how to practice Taoism and have less awe. Instead, they can find a balance in disputes about interests. But ordinary people
There is also a bad thing, that is, they are too prone to grow old and have too short lifespan.”
"Emperor Li is good at strategy and military command, but he is an ordinary person after all, and he will grow old. When he gets old, he is easy to be confused and sometimes he will contradict my ideas. In those years, I built a college in the south of Chang'an City, so I was simply aware of it.
Studying in the academy, I was too lazy to see him so as not to get angry.”
Ning Que was curious about how the story of the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty and his master would develop, and asked: "What happened later?"
The Master said, "Later, Emperor Li was really a little confused. He didn't know where to hear gossip, saying that he wanted to live forever, so he needed to eat my meat and wanted to deal with me."
Ning Que said worriedly: "What should you do?"
The Master said, "Haotian wants to eat me, but I don't let it eat it, let alone Emperor Li. When he wanted to deal with me, I went to the palace to kill him."
Ning Que said in shock: "Just kill like this?"
"What else can I do if I just kill this? Do I have to be tried by the three departments and sentenced him to Lingchi?"
"Teacher...I didn't mean that."
"Anyway, the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty was killed by me. Although I didn't feel sad, I still felt a little regretful. So I came up with a way - I will teach the new emperor, so even the new emperor will
I'm confused, but I don't want to eat my meat."
Ning Que thought that this was probably the historical origin of the academy's position in the Tang Dynasty.
"The new emperor is a very filial child, very good." The master stroked his beard lightly and said with satisfaction.
Ning Que thought silently, Teacher, if you kill someone’s biological father, you can kill him at any time and then create a new emperor. What else can the poor Emperor Taizong do besides being filial to you?
"The emperors later in the Tang Dynasty were also excellent. The bloodline of the old Li family was worthy of pride. After everything was on the right track, people as lazy as me, of course they were unwilling to pay attention to the government affairs.
After that, I never stepped into the palace again.”
The Master's eyes passed through the car window, through the dense green trees, through the golden river with hot mist, and fell on the vermilion palace walls. His expression was very calm, and only some sentimentality could be seen in the deepest part of his eyes.
The black carriage slowly started, getting farther and farther away from the imperial city, and reached the bustling and lively place. It was walking forward under the lazy gaze of shops all over the street, and stopped in front of a shop called Chen Jinji.
The Master walked into Chen Jinji and bought a large box of powder for Sangsang.
"Teacher, why do you spoil her like this?"
Ning Que looked at Sangsang's small face evenly coated with powder, and couldn't help laughing and said, "No way, my Sangsang is getting whiter and whiter now.
Sangsang lowered his head slightly and thanked the Master.
The Master waved his hand with a smile, indicating that he didn't care.
The black carriage left Chen Jinji and continued southward, driving on the straight and spacious Suzaku Avenue. This time the carriage passed through the famous Suzakura stone painting.
The wheels crushed the stone slabs. The tourists from Tang Kingdom who came from other counties and states were holding umbrellas and looking at the painting of Suzaku on the ground. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew up and were narrowed.
In the wind and sand, the eyes of the Suzaku's portrait turned slightly, as if they were about to come alive, but after a moment, they lost all the agility, as if they had lost their soul.
A red bird suddenly appeared in the dim carriage.
The little red bird moved on the floor, and its posture seemed a bit clumsy and looked very cute, but the vermilion feathers seemed to contain extremely terrifying power, which made people shudder.
"Chirky."
The little red bird walked to the Master and shouted twice.
Confucius gave out a finger and gently touched its head.
The little red bird turned against the Master's fingertips, looking very happy.
"This...is that Suzaku?"
Along the way, Ning Que has heard and seen many shocked and speechless things. Now he knows that Chang'an City and even the Great Scarlet Formation are all the methods of the teacher. At this time, he saw Suzaku suddenly transform into a body and appear in the black carriage, although he was still
It was shocking, but it wasn't panicked yet.
He learned from the Master's appearance and carefully wanted to touch the legendary Suzaku.
The little red bird turned around suddenly and stared at Ning Que's eyes, with an expression that looked particularly majestic, and there was a feeling of vigilance, disgust, contempt and disdain in his eyes.
Ning Que remembered the feelings when he and Sangsang were watching the painting of Suzaku in the rain with a big black umbrella, and his experience when he was seriously injured while lying on the painting of Suzaku, so he quickly stuffed the big black umbrella under his buttocks to cover it.
The little red bird turned his head and looked at Sangsang again, and the emotions in his eyes suddenly became very confused.
The black carriage drove out of the south gate of Chang'an and headed towards the academy.
Over the countless mornings over the years, Ning Que followed this road to study and practice. He was very familiar with the scenery on both sides of the road, so he took a look and then looked back.
He originally wanted to ask the Master about the changes in the academy over the past thousand years... Then he figured out this question without asking. There could be many deans in the academy, but there was only one Master.
"You are the first president of the academy and the current president of the academy. What have you been doing in the past few years? If you really don't want to pay attention to the world, why would you come out and take charge of the academy again?"
"I've been very busy in the past few hundred years. I think that I was in charge of the library in the Xiling Temple, and I like reading books. With a college, of course I have to go to collect books everywhere in the world. This is a time-consuming thing."
The Master said, "And don't forget that I have been flying into the sky for so many years, and it took more years to prepare for this matter and make up my mind. During the journey of the world, I searched for the legendary underworld,
It also took a lot of time to find the edge of the world, find truly delicious food, find some people."
Ning Que asked: "Who are you looking for?"
The Master said, "I want to find some people who are the same as me."
Ning Que asked, "Have you found it?"
The Master said, "I found the drunkard and the butcher. From them, I learned more about Haotian and some things about Eternal Night, so I wanted to invite them to do something together."
Ning Que said: "They didn't agree?"
The Master nodded and said, "Not bad."
"Then how did you do it?"
"I fought with them."
"Who won..." Ning Que waved his hand and said, "Sorry, this question is very idiotic."
The Master sighed: "Of course they can't beat me. What annoyed is that they still refuse to listen to me."
"What exactly do you want to do?" Ning Que asked.
The Master looked at Ning Que and said, "Didn't you ask me what I've been doing all these years?"
Ning Que nodded.
The Master said: "I spent most of the years thinking about a problem."
Ning Que asked: "What's the question?"
The Master said: "How can we defeat Haotian?"
The black carriage became very quiet, and only the Master's voice seemed to be floating, falling on the floor, and the burnt marks made by the Vermilion Bird were gently brushing like water.
This journey of practice has long revealed the truth, and the master and apprentice have discussed more specific issues, but when this sentence finally appears so truly and simply, it still seems so shocking.
Ning Que was silent for a long time, raised his head and asked, "Teacher, have you figured out a way?"
The Master said angrily: "If I had a solution, why would I still be in this carriage?"