Chapter 306 Is this stone pretty?
No matter how much Song Chunxue asked, the Taoist priest did not elaborate.
He dismissed Song Chunxue with the saying, "There's always a way out."
It took them two hours to get from Dingxi to Jincheng. Before entering the city, they stopped in front of a mountain.
Just as Song Chunxue was about to jump off the carriage, she felt her right eyelid twitch.
"Hey, senior brother, have you done a divination to see if our master is actually on the mountain? What if he's not on the mountain? Wouldn't we have made a wasted trip?"
The Taoist priest stood in front of the carriage and said, "Indeed, then I'll cast a divination."
He took out three copper coins from his pocket and threw them on the ground with a pious heart.
They've tried twice, and the hexagram shows that their trip will indeed be in vain.
The Taoist priest looked at Song Chunxue with curiosity, "Junior brother, did you receive instructions from the Ancestral Master?"
"It's not that mysterious, my eyelid just twitched. I'm really hungry. If I make this trip for nothing, when will I ever get to eat?"
Song Chunxue waved her hand, "Senior brother, why don't you come up? Since we might not see the person we want to see if we go up the mountain, why don't we go into town first and have a bowl of noodles?"
The Taoist priest stroked his beard, shook his head helplessly, and pointed at Song Chunxue, saying, "Junior brother is getting more and more cunning; even I, as his senior brother, can't do anything about it."
He climbed back onto the carriage. "Then I'll go find my master when I get back."
Song Chunxue smiled, though she was actually quite afraid of meeting the martial uncle he had mentioned.
She was afraid of not gaining her uncle's approval.
As they were about to enter the city, Song Chunxue saw a man selling ramen from a cart.
A young man wearing a white hat was rolling up his sleeves and tossing long strands of white dough, and a rich aroma wafted from the steaming pot...
Something's wrong, the more I smell it, the more nauseous I feel.
"Senior brother, we... ugh..."
Song Chunxue was about to ask him if he wanted to go downstairs for a bowl of ramen, but before she could finish her sentence, she started vomiting.
The Taoist priest laughed irritably, "You're incredibly bold, daring to eat noodles with beef broth on top. I'll teach you a lesson from the patriarch."
"Senior brother, I ate beef jerky before and I didn't feel anything... Ugh..."
The Taoist priest said to the driver, "Please hurry up, sir. We Taoist priests can't stand the smell of beef."
"Alright." The driver said gleefully, "The Hui people can't eat pork, so their noodles are made with beef and mutton broth. We Han people don't raise cattle and aren't used to eating it, but the people of Jincheng have gotten used to it. Their noodles are chewy and smooth, and the broth is well-seasoned."
Just as Song Chunxue was about to say something, she covered her face with her handkerchief again and began to dry heave.
The carriage quickly entered the city, and Song Chunxue couldn't wait to get off. She squatted by the roadside to suppress the nausea that was churning her body.
"Haha, I was just saying you were quite perceptive, able to twitch your eyelids even after getting off the carriage, but you didn't feel anything after eating beef. It seems the Ancestral Master is preventing you from eating beef now." The Taoist priest crossed his arms. "Alas, the Ancestral Master is fair."
Song Chunxue squatted on the road, her face pale, too weak to retort.
After a long while, the intense feeling of nausea gradually disappeared.
She stood up, stroking the large willow tree. "Let's go, let's have a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce."
"Okay, I know a place that makes really good chicken soup noodles. Don't you like chicken blood noodles? You can have two bowls."
As he spoke, the Taoist priest led Song Chunxue through a maze of turns and ended up in an inconspicuous narrow alley.
Before even entering the door, the strong aroma of chicken soup filled the air, whetting Song Chunxue's appetite.
She ordered two bowls of chicken blood noodles with a little bit of wheat bran vinegar, but it wasn't enough for her at all.
Seeing the Taoist priest eating so elegantly, Song Chunxue whispered, "Senior brother, would you like some chicken blood noodles?"
The Taoist priest understood what she meant, "You want another bowl? You can't finish it?"
"I ate too much and won't be able to take a nap later. I was thinking of having my senior brother share half a bowl with me."
The Taoist priest remained expressionless. "Alright."
"Shopkeeper, another bowl of chicken blood noodles, please."
Song Chunxue rarely eats out, and this chicken blood noodles are so chewy.
To her surprise, after scooping out half a bowl, she still felt unsatisfied.
"Eat up. It's okay to overeat once in a while. Your senior brother won't make you kneel incense as punishment."
"Thank you, senior brother."
Song Chunxue smiled sheepishly, having eaten all three bowls of noodles except for the broth.
As Song Chunxue emerged from the noodle shop, she spotted a burly man in a white hat in the distance, turning over mutton skewered on red willow branches.
Red willow barbecue, and it's in Jincheng, Song Chunxue really wants a skewer.
“If you want to eat, go buy it, but don’t even think about taking a nap at the inn today. You’re too full and will have to walk for a while. Why don’t we go to Wuquan Mountain ourselves? I’m worried that someone will buy that family’s courtyard.”
Before she could finish speaking, Song Chunxue had already run to the roasted mutton stall.
Each piece of mutton is bigger than a meatball, and a skewer for only three coins is a great deal.
Before long, she walked along eating and handed a skewer to the Taoist priest.
"Senior brother, here you go."
The Taoist priest took the fragrant roasted mutton from the red willow branches, took a bite, and saw it sizzle with oil. The cumin and salt, roasted to perfection, completely masked the muttony smell.
It smells so good, so delicious!
But the Taoist priest was afraid that Song Chunxue wouldn't have enough to eat and would go buy more, so he strode towards the foot of Wuquan Mountain.
Looking at the towering mountain before her, Song Chunxue wondered if it was on the very top of the mountain.
How long would it take to climb?
In fact, it was not far from what she had imagined.
Although it's not at the highest point, it's not much different.
They climbed for a full hour before the senior brother finally stopped and stood in front of a courtyard with blue bricks and white walls.
Luckily she ate a lot today, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to climb up in two hours.
The mountain was covered with pebbles, and there were large rocks underfoot. This made Song Chunxue, who was used to seeing loess, feel as if she had stumbled into a different world.
She sat on the ground, dangling her feet over the edge of a stone, waiting for news from her senior brother.
This mountain is full of pine trees, and the pine and cypress trees that are rare and extraordinary in the eyes of farmers are everywhere.
The air was filled with the faint smell of rotting pine needles, a natural incense.
The mountain air was very humid, clouds drifted past, and the sky grew darker and darker, as if it might rain at any moment.
Song Chunxue then realized that she had forgotten to bring an umbrella when she went out.
For people who live in arid and rainless areas year-round, an umbrella is something they can do without.
Her gaze shifted and she saw a very smooth and shiny stone.
Unfortunately, the stone is in the large pit below.
Not hearing her senior brother's voice, Song Chunxue decided to pick it up and take a look.
She carefully made her way down the steep slope to the edge of the pit and scooped the ink-black, rain-soaked stone into her arms.
"Junior brother, what are you doing?"
The senior brother lowered his whisk, "Come up quickly."
Song Chunxue sensed his anger and knew he was afraid she would fall off the mountain.
But the hillside is covered with trees, so if something falls, it will get caught in one of them, so it's not a big deal.
But she couldn't talk back; otherwise, all those years would have been wasted.
Grasping the whisk, she was quickly pulled up.
"Senior brother, is this stone pretty?"
The senior brother's expression wasn't good. "Do you know that if you accidentally roll down from here, all my hard work over the past two years will have been for nothing?"
"Yes, yes, senior brother is right, but I'm lucky and have a long life. The ancestral master is unwilling to see me die here."
"Hmph, that patriarch must be so busy, don't do such stupid things again!" The Taoist priest flicked his whisk, "Hurry up and follow me."
The elderly Song Chunxue was scolded until she dared not utter another word.
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