Chapter 808 The Wang Brothers

Xie Zheng settled down on the mountain.

He would get up early every day and go down the mountain for half an hour. In the evening, after leaving the government office, he would go up the mountain to the Taoist temple. He worked tirelessly, traveling back and forth, and insisted on living on the mountain without disturbing Song Chunxue.

Every day, Wu Shuang would carefully whisper this to Song Chunxue, saying that Lord Xie was practicing swordsmanship in the front yard and playing chess with Lord Zhao, but in reality, he was waiting for Daoist Song to come and see him.

These things, when they reached Song Chunxue's ears, were like warm candlelight being placed into a cold lampstand.

She knew it was her own fault, and that such avoidance was very unfair to Lord Xie, but she didn't want to return to his side with resentment before she had sorted out her thoughts and feelings.

If you don't cleanse your heart of its impurities before approaching those you're close to, you'll only taint them as well.

She knew that the healing process was taking a long time, and even considered staying on the mountain indefinitely.

But thinking of Lord Xie, he must be exhausted from climbing such a high mountain back and forth.

She admitted that she felt sorry for him.

It was afternoon, and the weather was getting colder.

It's already mid-September in the blink of an eye; it's time to prepare winter clothes.

Her senior brother's seclusion is almost over; she shouldn't be hiding here in comfort.

Little White's fur is getting thicker and thicker. After she finished practicing her sword, she sat down on the ground, hugged Little White, and lay down on the ground, looking at the shadows of the trees across the blue sky, her heart was clear.

In the past few days, she has come to a lot of conclusions. At her age, she definitely can't cause trouble for her senior brother.

She knew that her senior brother and Master Han were waiting for her to come out of seclusion and then try to persuade her, but she felt bad about it.

Her senior brother finally emerged from seclusion, yet he still had to go to great lengths to comfort her, just like how a woman would trouble her family after a quarrel with her husband.

It's best not to involve the wife's family in matters between the two of them.

We've already troubled everyone enough these past few days.

She ruffled Xiaobai's hair. "Do you think Lord Xie will come up the mountain again today?"

Little White glanced at her sleepily, then closed his eyes again to enjoy being petted and stroked by her.

Song Chunxue thought to herself that even if he didn't come, she should still go down the mountain to find him.

After making up her mind, she got up and continued practicing her sword.

Practicing swordsmanship not only strengthens the body but also releases pent-up emotions, leaving the mind and soul clear and serene.

But the prerequisite is that you have nothing on your mind, you are one with the sword, and you devote yourself wholeheartedly to sword practice.

She felt that if she lost focus and her breathing became disordered, the consequences would be severe, causing stagnation of qi and blood, so it was better not to practice at all.

Anger injures the liver, joy injures the heart, worry injures the spleen, grief injures the lungs, and fear injures the kidneys.

Therefore, doctors say that the best way to maintain health is to cultivate the mind, the middle way is to replenish qi, and the worst way is to nourish the body.

For spiritual practitioners, cultivating the mind is paramount.

For the first three days, she focused on sleeping and calming her mind, and only in the last few days has she dared to practice.

After she had completely figured it out, her sword practice became much smoother. Half an hour later, she put away her sword and went down the mountain, intending to take a good bath, change her clothes, and go to see Xie Zheng in a refreshed state.

However, as soon as she returned to the Taoist temple, she found someone waiting for her at the entrance.

Unexpectedly, the people waiting for her were from Lijiazhuangzi, just a dozen meters away from their old courtyard, the two brothers from the Wang family below the courtyard of the eldest brother in her previous life.

Their grandfather, Wang Xuan, was a few years older than Song Chunxue and was a refined scholar, but he had a tragic fate.

The two brothers in front of them were notorious scoundrels in the village.

Wang Xuan had always hanged himself from the roof beam of his main house in previous years, all because of his eldest grandson.

At this time, the older of the two Wang brothers was not yet twenty years old and neither of them had married.

Moreover, these two brothers are the kind of people who won't act until they get what they want; they must have come to find Song Chunxue with a purpose.

With her mind made up, Song Chunxue calmed down considerably and walked towards the Wang brothers, who were asking Tu Dan'er Wuji about her.

"Yongyong, Hengheng, what are you two doing here? What a coincidence!" Song Chunxue walked over and greeted them with a smile.

The Wang brothers turned around with a smile, and when they saw Song Chunxue, they showed a surprised and honest smile. She had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and she was quite good-looking.

“Aunt Jiang, we didn’t expect it to really be you. We heard you were a Taoist priest here, so we came up to try our luck. We didn’t expect it to be true.” Wang Zhiyong said with a smile, “So we came here specifically to see you and also to pray at the temple, asking the gods to grant us a wife.”

"I'm here to make money." Wang Zhiheng smiled brightly, the two brothers' pearly white teeth were perfectly aligned.

It has only one drawback: it falls off early, it's hereditary.

“It’s rare to see such a thing, but don’t say the wrong thing. You’re here to worship the gods and just happened to drop by to see me. What if the ancestral master hears this and is unhappy?” Song Chunxue smiled and patted Yongyong on the back. “Come on, let’s go in and burn incense first, and then we can leave after we finish eating.”

"Yes, yes, Aunt Jiang is right, we're both so stupid."

Hearing that they could eat here, the Wang brothers felt reassured and picked up their bedding to walk into the temple.

Seeing their cloth shoes with their big toes sticking out and their patched clothes, Song Chunxue couldn't help but recall the past when his children were dressed worse than others.

As people from the same village, it's only right that we help each other out when we're away from home.

But looking at the two brothers' faces, Song Chunxue felt that something was different about them.

After they finished burning incense, Song Chunxue led them to eat in the kitchen.

Looking at the long, white noodles and stir-fried vegetables, the two brothers didn't have time to talk and wolfed down three bowls.

Wuji made him hungry, so he called out to Changfeng and Changyun to eat noodles together.

As for Lord Zhao, Daoist Han, and the others, they didn't like eating noodles every meal; they ate rice for dinner.

When the rice was ready, the Wang brothers craned their necks, their mouths watering at the enticing aroma.

Song Chunxue knew they hadn't eaten enough.

“Mother-in-law, is there enough rice today? Please give each of the two brothers a little so they can try it,” Song Chunxue said with a smile. “The people in the village have never seen white rice before, so let them try something new.”

Xia's mother used a spatula to scrape off the rice crust. "Yes, there's a big bowl of it. We were thinking it would be a waste to waste it since we're all eating noodles, but it's perfect now."

Alternatively, Xia's mother would divide the rice into the bowls that the two brothers had already eaten from, and then cover it with the remaining shredded potatoes.

“Don’t let the kids from your village go hungry. They’ve come here because of your mother-in-law. They think that if she’s doing well, she can give them a full meal. They must eat their fill,” Xia’s mother said with a smile as she placed rice in front of the Wang brothers. “Otherwise, if they go back to the village, people will think that your mother-in-law is stingy, and that would be terrible.”

The Wang brothers scratched their heads in embarrassment.

Wang Zhiyong's ears were red. He shyly held the bowl, staring at the glistening white rice as he squatted on the ground and leaned against the wall.

"Aunt Xia is overthinking it. We haven't had a full meal in a long time, and it's long noodles too. Actually, three bowls are enough to fill us up."

"However, we have never eaten white rice before, which is embarrassing. Well then, we will not be polite and will try what white rice tastes like for southerners. It will broaden our horizons."

Wang Zhiheng nodded vigorously, picked up a mouthful of rice with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. "Mmm, it's really fragrant and very chewy. The grains of rice are like jade, so beautiful. I almost don't want to eat it."