Chapter Twenty-Two: Orchid

  "Afraid?" Yu Xuanji's face showed a puzzled expression.

  Xu Xian put the half piece of osmanthus cake back on the plate and said, "I'm afraid that after a hundred years, eating this osmanthus cake will no longer feel like it does now. I'm afraid that the path to immortality is long and winding, and when we meet again, my heart will no longer be moved like it is today. The heavens are unfeeling, but how can this feeling and this moment be erased? I don't know, and I don't want to know."

  Yu Xuanji suddenly felt a jolt, and she suddenly remembered when she was young, running barefoot in the fields chasing butterflies. Those moments that she thought had long gone, those pasts that she thought had been cast aside, now appeared more clearly in her heart, making her feel flustered for a moment. But she quickly calmed down and looked at Xu Xian in front of her, whose eyes were filled with a strange determination.

  Is it confusing? But those eyes seem to have penetrated even life and death.

  Is it stubborn? What's wrong with insisting on being human and living a human life?

  Yes, after a hundred years, there may be no trace of me left in the world, but I have lived, laughed, loved, hated, and have no regrets.

  What you call obstinacy is my persistence, what you call ignorance is the result of my life-and-death experience. Isn't living a good life just fulfilling the promise I made to myself from the start? How can I lightly abandon it for the sake of the immortal way?

  In the mountains, time stands still. Decades of cultivation are like a single day. So after a thousand years, who has missed out, you or me?

  The warm sunshine, Xu Xian's eyes were clear and bright. Unbeknownst to him, the "Tao Te Ching" on his body was shining with a soft glow. It was a gift he had intended to give to Yu Xuanji, but had long since forgotten.

  Yu Xuanji fell into a long, deep contemplation. The pride that Daoist practitioners had towards ordinary people was originally extremely hidden and profound. But at this moment, she suddenly saw another path, an ordinary person's path.

  Xu Xian suddenly laughed and said: "However, of course, if you don't mind, Master Sister, I originally intended to come and sit down often!"

  "Really?"

  "The osmanthus cake you made is really delicious, and often with such a beauty like you, even without practicing, it can probably benefit your life and prolong your years!"

  Yu Xuanji smiled, this younger brother still involuntarily said some frivolous words, but his eyes were forever so clear. As if to say to a flower: I love your beauty. It's only natural, nothing could be more ordinary.

  The tea on the table still had some warmth, but the person beside it was already gone.

  Yu Xuanji gazed at the wisps of blue smoke rising from her cup and suddenly smiled.

  But don't think I'll give up like this! Your performance only makes me more want to guide you in cultivation, let's see what kind of path you can cultivate. Such a temperament shouldn't be trapped in the cycle of rebirth!

  The bamboo shoots hid on one side, looking at the master in shock and emitting a terrifying aura. Silently retreating, wanting to escape the master's line of sight.

  "Bamboo shoots, come out." Yu Xuanji said without turning his head.

  The young apprentice carefully walked out with a pitiful expression and said: "Master?"

  "What crime should I be guilty of for eavesdropping on Master and Master's uncle's conversation?" Yu Xuanji's voice was unwavering.

  "Shall we go pick water, hoe the land, wash clothes and cook?"

  The cruel Fish Daozhang, who abused and exploited minors, harshly rejected Zhu'er's suggestion, saying: "These are for the master to handle, you go recite the 'Ten Heavenly Strategies' I taught you yesterday, I'll check on it tonight."

  "But, but this is what I just learned yesterday!"

  "Hurry up and go!" Yu Xuanji said sternly.

  The bamboo shoots were bitter and responded with a series of mournful cries in their hearts: "Master uncle, come quickly!"

  Xu Xian cautiously asked a black-faced scholar wearing an academy green robe in front of him: "Are you Ning Caichen?"

  "Hei Lian Shu Sheng said with a smile: 'Xu brother, I am Ning Cai Chen. Have you prepared your luggage? We will take a boat first and then walk, probably two days to reach Jinhua.'"

  "Then I'll have to rely on you, Brother Ning!"

  "Alright, Jinhua is my hometown. When the time comes, I'll invite Brother Xu to taste my wife's cooking at home." Ning Caichen, however, was not as polite as a typical scholar.

  Xu Xian exclaimed in surprise: "You, you're already married?" Although he looked at his dark face and thought it shouldn't be Ning Caichen, after all, no matter what kind of theme Ning Caichen was always a pretty boy image. But knowing that he was already married, Xu Xian still let out a sigh of relief.

  Ning Caichen burst out laughing and said, "I'm not as talented as Brother Xu's youth, who at a young age can enter the Imperial Academy to study. As for me, I'm already 20 years old, so of course I'm married." He looked at Xu Xian's youthful and tender face, and from their first meeting, he had been careful and cautious, thinking that Xu Xian was on his first trip away from home, so he had a mind to take care of him.

  Xu Xian finally couldn't help but ask, "May I ask, sister, what is your honorable surname? Is it Nie?" He also knew that this question was somewhat impolite in ancient times, but at this time, in order to alleviate the worries in his heart, he didn't care about so much anymore.

  Ning Caichen indeed furrowed his brow, but did not get angry, and instead said: "My wife's surname is Wang."

  Xu Xian finally let out a deep breath and put his mind at ease, "Please forgive me for my rudeness, it's just that I have a hometown that is married to Jinhua, so I couldn't help but ask. By the way, big brother doesn't have a concubine, does he?" Xu Xian suddenly thought of this, as in those times, wives and concubines were two different things.

  Ning Caichen was finally relieved and listened to Xu Xian's last words. He said seriously, "I have never been unfaithful in my life, how could I take a concubine?"

  Xu Xian put down his last bit of worry, but for some reason felt that this sentence was a bit familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before! But he had no time to think about it, and after bidding farewell to Pan Yu who came to see him off, he set off on the road with Ning Caichen.

  Northerners ride horses, southerners ride boats. The two Xus traveled together along the winding river, following the Jinhuajiang River downstream. Along the way, Xu Xian felt that Ning Caichen was generous and bold, although he was a few years older than himself and sometimes liked to put on an air of seniority. However, he took good care of Xu Xian along the way and was a man worth befriending.

  "The two officials, it's not that the old man is untrustworthy, but the boat is broken like this, if we don't repair it a bit, it really can't be sailed. The boat owner apologized while docking the boat by the riverbank. It turned out that today they accidentally bumped into a floating log in the river, and the old boat had long been rotten, suddenly breaking a hole, and couldn't go forward anymore. If they wanted to repair it, it would probably take two or three days."

  The two got off the boat and took a look, and indeed there was a big hole at the bow of the boat, which was really impassable. However, they were not petty people, so they paid the remaining fare and planned to walk to Jinhua. Xu Xian still wanted to deduct the remaining distance, but Ning Cai Chen waved his hand and said: "Forget it, leave it for him to repair the boat."

  The old man got on the boat and thanked him a thousand times. If he had encountered a stingy customer, he might not have even given him the remaining change. Being able to deduct only the remaining fare was already the best result, but unexpectedly, he met such a generous customer.

  Xu Xian could only shake his head and smile wryly. In the past two days, he had come to know that Ning Caichen's family was not wealthy, but he was too generous with money.

  Then they could only use their feet as a boat and their legs as horses. Fortunately, neither of them was the kind of person who couldn't even tie up a chicken, and since the boat was small and rocky, they abandoned the oars and stepped onto solid ground. After walking for a while and sweating a bit, they actually felt more comfortable.

  It was already late autumn, with a continuous landscape of autumn colors, purple and red. Passing through a maple forest, the whole mountain was covered in red, like a wildfire, and it was even more dazzling. Xu Xian, who had been trapped in the city for a long time, felt his mind broaden and his worldly thoughts dissipate upon seeing such scenery. Those who cultivate can live in the mountains for a long time, observing the changes of the four seasons, which is indeed something to yearn for.

  But if it's always like this year after year, I'm afraid there won't be much fun left. At that time, with a heart focused on the Tao, without day and night in the cave, I'm afraid there won't be the emotions of today. Isn't it only with the "human" heart of this moment that these scenes have flavor?

  There is a saying: "A crane stands in the snow, fools see the crane, wise men see the snow, and Zen masters see white." However, Xu Xian thinks that seeing the crane is human nature, seeing the snow is also interesting, but when it comes to seeing white, one has already lost sight of the crane and the snow.

  No one can have everything, choice necessarily means loss, and even immortals cannot be an exception! The fool who sees the crane is just trying to grasp the present vitality, storing this thought, relying on your wisdom, sighing and laughing.

  They walked for two hours, from noon till dusk. Although they had taken in the scenery, they didn't feel too tired, but as night began to fall, it was also time to rest.

  Ning Caichen said to Xu Xian: "There is a broken temple ahead, let's go there to rest for the night and set off again tomorrow!"

  "Alright, go take a rest then."

  As they chatted idly, the two of them walked for another li and indeed came across a dilapidated temple.

  Xu Xian curiously asked: "Has Brother Ning been here before?"

  "No, I heard about it when I was young, but later on a new official road was built in the west, and this temple is far from the city. These monks don't engage in production, there are no incense guests, and they have no income, so it's been abandoned."

  Xu Xian nodded and walked towards the temple. They came to this road, which was overgrown with weeds, probably abandoned for a long time! Thinking back, there were probably bustling scenes in the past! The rise and fall of things is just the way of the world. It's just laughable that those who claim to be detached from worldly affairs are actually still ordinary people.

  The temple's hall and pagoda are magnificent, vaguely visible is the former prosperity, only the weeds fill the courtyard, already lost the atmosphere of that year.

  In the great hall, a high-seated Buddha statue, already worn out and disfigured, with all its gold paint faded away, was originally just a mud-and-stone sculpture.

  The temple's gate signboard had long been chopped up by the nearby villagers for firewood, regardless of whether it was "Zheng Da Guang Ming" or "Pu Du Zhong Sheng". If there were still signboards, Xu Xian might have known the name of this temple - Lanruo Temple.

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