Chapter 211 Coming Back to Catch Them in the Act?

Song Chunxue stir-fried sliced ​​meat with garlic, served a plate of steamed buns, and also made two poached egg soups.

The Taoist priest had a good appetite and ate quite a lot.

He kept sighing, "It's still better to have someone cook for you. I walked twenty miles and almost thought I wouldn't get a hot meal."

Song Chunxue watched him eat quietly. "Didn't you eat dinner?"

"No, it was still afternoon when I left home, not yet lunchtime. I passed by your second brother's village and chatted with him. He said the wealth-attracting talisman I drew was very effective, and he was also planning to buy land in the county."

At this point, the Taoist priest sighed, "Why is it that it doesn't work for me? Is it because I drew it myself?"

He looked at Song Chunxue and said, "I'll teach you to draw tonight. Once you've learned, draw me a few pictures. Maybe they'll be useful."

Upon hearing that she could learn how to make a money-attracting talisman, Song Chunxue's eyes lit up.

"Is what you say true, Senior Brother?"

The Taoist priest picked up a piece of meat with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. "It's fake."

"Senior brother!" Song Chunxue stood up anxiously.

The Taoist priest sat upright and steady, saying, "I never lie to anyone."

“Things from graves still carry some bad luck, so I won’t dig them up again. I’d rather work hard and earn money with my own hands. As for your half, it’s still on Dongshan Mountain. Once you move to the city, I’ll take it to a money exchange and exchange it for banknotes. It’ll be more reassuring to keep it there.”

Song Chunxue nodded, "Senior brother is right."

After the meal, the Taoist priest went to the west room to meditate, while Song Chunxue stayed in the north room.

When the fourth brother returned, Song Chunxue had already locked the door and gone to sleep.

He knocked on the door, and upon hearing that she was alright, he went back inside.

"Oh my mother!"

As soon as the fourth brother lifted the curtain, he saw a person sitting cross-legged by the kang (a heated brick bed), and he was almost scared out of his wits.

"When did the Taoist priest arrive?" The fourth brother rolled his eyes, clutching his chest. "I was almost scared to death."

“You’re so easily frightened,” the Taoist priest said, taking out a talisman from his robes and handing it to him. “Call your soul back. If you’re scared, just call your own name. It won’t hurt.”

The fourth brother reluctantly accepted it.

"Where is Sanwa?"

"He'll be back in a bit."

The fourth brother kicked off his shoes, got onto the kang (a heated brick bed), and told the Taoist priest about what had happened that night.

The Taoist priest didn't hide it. He happened to see two people trying to climb over the wall outside the gate and he taught them a lesson. He then told the fourth brother about it.

The fourth brother was so angry that he wanted to go and seek justice that very night.

"Go again tomorrow. They crawled home tonight, and I bet you'll get bitten if you go there," the Taoist priest advised him. "Just let this matter go and don't mention it to outsiders. They know what's going on."

There's a saying that goes, "A ruthless person doesn't talk much." Today, we've made them suffer a great loss. After today, we'll never mention it again, which will only frighten people.

The fourth brother nodded, "The Taoist priest is right."

“But there’s one thing,” the Taoist priest frowned slightly, “you shouldn’t have gone out tonight. What if I’m late? Could your mother fight two men?”

"If something really happens, you'll regret it deeply," the Taoist priest said earnestly. "Your mother is, after all, a woman, and the difference in strength is too great. Don't take any chances next time."

Knowing he was in the wrong, the fourth brother nodded vigorously, "Daoist Master, I've got it."

The sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

At three quarters past noon, the show begins.

In the afternoon, I sang "The Butcher Scholar," and in the evening, I sang "A Stroll on West Lake," both of which are popular songs.

The Taoist priest went there during the day, and many people recognized him and rushed to buy lucky charms.

The Taoist priest returned happily, saying he had earned one hundred coins that day.

A single piece of paper costs five coins, and many children gather to watch.

Song Chunxue went there in the evening, but returned shortly afterward.

The plays I remember are still the best.

When she returned, she saw the Taoist priest sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), leaning against the thick quilt, one leg crossed and the other bent, leisurely crocheting wool socks.

He learned it after Song Chunxue taught him only once.

"Why are you back?" The Taoist priest glanced at her and sat up straighter. "When I came here today, I saw your fourth sister's son, Alai. He has already completed his foundation-building meditation. What about you?"

Song Chunxue looked bewildered. "What exactly is Foundation Establishment?"

"Reach out your hand."

Song Chunxue stretched out her wrist, and the Taoist priest placed his fingers on her wrist before quickly withdrawing them.

"If you work harder, you can reach the Foundation Establishment stage within a year if you're quick, and it could take 35,000 years if you're a little late. But Alai is a natural-born cultivator. There are very few people who cultivate in the mortal world. Alai has already become my disciple, and he will have to call you 'Uncle-Master' from now on."

Her senior's words aroused Song Chunxue's competitive spirit.

"Then teach me how to quickly build a foundation. Maybe I have some talent too."

Master Zhang put down the wool yarn and willow stick in his hands and flicked his sleeves.

"That's fine too. After all, you're older and your memory isn't as good, so it's possible you haven't mastered all the essentials."

"..." She didn't like hearing that at all.

She took a deep breath, composed herself, sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), and closed her eyes.

"Adjust your breathing, slow down your breathing, let your breath rise from the dantian and circulate along the Du meridian..."

Song Chunxue followed his instructions and went through it herself. "That's right, that's how I did it before..."

Before she finished speaking, Song Chunxue felt a strange sensation spreading from her dantian to the roots of her hair.

She suddenly opened her eyes, "Senior brother..."

"You've reached the Foundation Establishment stage." The Taoist priest looked at her strangely. "Didn't you say you'd learned it? You've been doing it this way before?"

"..." Song Chunxue had a feeling similar to when she went to school with her second brother and was scolded by the teacher.

Could it be that she really missed something in her studies?

I felt great before, and after the meditation and energy cultivation, I felt refreshed and invigorated.

"You do it yourself, I'll watch." The Taoist priest didn't believe in superstitions. "Otherwise, how come he could have reached the Foundation Establishment stage after just one lesson?"

"Okay, senior brother, please don't scold me."

"..." The Taoist priest took a deep breath. "If I had scolded you like I would my other junior disciples, you would have cried and chased me away long ago."

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Song Chunxue followed the instructions carefully and practiced her breathing exercises from memory.

The Taoist priest stared intently at her, able to see the faint flow of energy within her body.

After a moment, he chuckled, "Senior brother forgot before that there is a difference between men and women. When you meditate, you don't contract your anus and lift your breath, do you?"

"..." She understood the instructions on contracting her anus and lifting her breath; she really hadn't paid attention to it before.

“It’s your fault, senior brother. Remember this from now on.” The Taoist priest rubbed his forehead and added, “Try not to meditate after your period starts, or you might suffer a hemorrhage.”

"..." Why didn't you say so earlier? No wonder she felt something was wrong during her meditation last time, and it scared her so much that she lay in bed for two days.

"Cough cough."

Sanwa came in from outside the door, heard their conversation, and coughed twice, feeling embarrassed.

"Why did you leave after only a short while, Mother? Why didn't you call me to come with you? What if we encountered someone with bad intentions?"

Sanwa was still shaken by what happened last night.

"Don't worry, I'm very vigilant when I go out now. I even have a short knife on my waist. No one will dare to do anything to me."

"By the way, didn't you put on makeup tonight? Why are you back?"

The Taoist priest looked at Sanwa and asked in a serious tone, "Did someone say something that made you come back to catch them in the act?"