Chapter 575 Wandering Taoist
Xia Mulan's gaze swept quickly over the three children, and she remained silent.
She thought to herself that Sanwa was clearly sad and about to cry. He had told her before that he was worried that his mother would devote herself to Taoist cultivation and that in a few years she might not even come back to celebrate the New Year with him.
Unexpectedly, my mother suggested moving to the mountains so soon.
The Taoist temple wasn't even fully built yet, but Mother was in such a hurry to move in. How much did she want to live the life of a proper Taoist priest?
If it were an ordinary Taoist priest, it would be fine; he would live in seclusion, cultivating himself in peace and detached from worldly affairs.
But her senior brother happens to be a guide who travels among humans, a beacon for countless people, a living god who would never stand idly by. Her mother will also be wandering around in the future.
"Mom, would you like to eat dumplings? I'll make them for you tomorrow. Or would you like to eat noodles with minced meat and vinegar? I remember you said the dough I kneaded was especially chewy, and I haven't had it in a long time."
Song Chunxue looked at Mulan, knowing that the greatest wish of farmers was to cook a good meal.
In her past life, whenever her children came home, Mulan would always take half a day off, no matter how busy she was, to cook them a delicious meal.
She felt that once she was home, nothing else mattered, but she had to eat and drink well.
Mulan is treating her like family members who are about to leave.
Mulan's noodles are indeed delicious, mainly because she has strong hands and her noodle-cooking technique is different from others.
"Okay, then let's eat the noodles with minced meat sauce and vinegar that you made."
She had never known this noodle dish existed before; it was Mulan's specialty.
The next morning, Mulan, heavily pregnant, started preparing lunch early.
The cook assisted her, went to the street to buy fresh lean black pork, grabbed a few wilted but tender red shallots from a corner outside the kitchen, and stir-fried the pork sauce with the shallot roots until it was exceptionally fragrant. She stir-fried it over and over until the peppercorns and soy sauce were absorbed, then added some water and simmered it for a while to make the sauce tender. Finally, she reduced the sauce over high heat, and the sauce was incredibly delicious.
Song Chunxue stood in the kitchen tending the fire, watching Mulan stir-frying food in the pan with a spatula. The two women chatted about everyday things.
They talked about how they couldn't afford pork during the Lunar New Year in the past, how Li Dazui's mouth was more persuasive than anything else, and how Xia Ying loved to nag, saying that all the family's good fortune had been wiped out by her nagging.
"By the way, hasn't your mother written to you yet? Has she made up her mind?" Song Chunxue looked at her belly. "It's fine since you're about to give birth, but I'm worried that your mother will have a hard time being caught between her two sons and daughters-in-law."
Xia Mulan was chatting happily just now, with a childlike smile on her face, but she couldn't smile anymore after hearing these words.
"No, there's nothing I can do if she doesn't want to come. My mother thinks that a mother's job is to serve her son, not to abandon her family to serve her daughter. Daughters grow up and can't be relied on by other families. She's afraid of offending my older brothers, and that when she's old and lying on the bed, no one will look at her or give her a drink of water."
Song Chunxue remained silent; wasn't that what she thought in her past life?
“Then write to her and try to persuade her to come to Langmenzi. You can invite her to visit Jincheng. It’s not like she’s not going back. Maybe when your mother’s life gets better, your older brothers will be envious and want to take her back.”
"Just tell her that I invited her to Wuquan Mountain to cook for everyone and pay her wages of five hundred copper coins a month. She can save up enough to buy a maid to take care of her when she gets old. She'll definitely be tempted."
People who are terrified of poverty are all greedy for money, and Xia's mother will definitely waver.
Xia Mulan nodded, her eyes clear. "Is what Mother said true?"
"Really, I don't usually lie." At this point, Song Chunxue's heart skipped a beat; she thought it was a good idea. "Anyway, she's like me, so if she comes to the mountain in the future, we two in-laws can keep each other company, don't you think?"
With her children all married and no land to cultivate, Xia's mother lived in front of her eldest son's house, becoming an eyesore every day. Although she had no worries about food and clothing, she sighed all day long, which was bound to make her sick.
If I can still get away from the mountains and see the world, I'm sure I'll live a little longer.
Otherwise, all of Song Chunxue's good intentions would be in vain.
“Yes,” she clapped her hands, “You write a letter after you finish eating, coax and trick her into coming. How can a living person be held back by urinating? Let her learn to eat, drink and have fun, then she won’t have the mind to only revolve around her son.”
Xia Mulan was also excited by what she heard, "Okay, I'll write it in a bit."
The water in the pot had just boiled when Sanwa came back from outside. He liked Mulan's noodles, but he didn't want to order her around because she was heavily pregnant.
I remember in my past life, Sanwa was a rooster who only knew how to find fault with people and never praised them. He poured all his worries about being busy like a spinning top all day long, not going home until dark, and having elderly parents and young children to care for, onto Mulan.
Fortunately, Mulan has a mouth, and the older she gets, the better she becomes at talking back. If Sanwa complains a little, Mulan can retort with thirty sentences.
Later, Sanwa didn't dare to provoke or lose his temper as much. He would tell the people in the village that he couldn't afford to offend his mother.
The current Sanwa is a far cry from the disheveled man with a weathered face and hair that never seemed to have time to wash.
Not only that, he would often come back from outside and secretly buy Mulan some trinkets to please her.
Today, Mulan let slip that the hairpin in her hair and the agate buttons on her clothes were bought by Sanwa.
"Is the food ready?" Sanwa came in from outside, turned around and looked behind him. "Sir, come in quickly, just in time for us to start eating."
Song Chunxue raised an eyebrow. Who is the gentleman that Sanwa is talking about?
“Mother, I met a Taoist priest from out of town on the street a couple of days ago. He said he really wanted to meet you and me. We happened to meet again today, so I brought him here. Maybe you can cultivate Taoism together in the future.”
Sanwa didn't say that the reason he brought him here was because he thought the Taoist priest was incredibly insightful. He said that because his mother changed the world, he went from being a shepherd boy to a scholar, but despite his great skills, he was ragged and had nowhere to go.
He felt that this wandering Taoist priest was the same kind of person as his mother and senior brother He.
Song Chunxue watched as a man holding a long pole with a fortune-telling flag hanging from it, dressed in a patched Taoist robe, stepped across the threshold.
My whole body tensed up instantly.
Her intuition told her that this person was no good, and they were not on the same side.
But since the person was brought by Sanwa and had already entered the house, she couldn't just kick them out.
She was still willing to give him a meal, but the feeling of being exposed to the cold reminded her not to let her guard down.
"Fellow Daoist, I apologize for the abrupt arrival. I am a rogue cultivator from Longhu Mountain. May I ask which sect you belong to?"
"..." Song Chunxue looked at him indifferently. Didn't he think there was something wrong with what he said?
He meant that his master used to belong to the Longhu Mountain sect.
She didn't know how to answer that, and she didn't even know which school or sect she belonged to.
She only acknowledged her senior brother but didn't formally become his disciple. It seems that her senior brother has now left Xuliang Mountain and is no longer considered a member of the Xuliang Mountain sect.
The Taoist temple on Wuquan Mountain had just been built and had not yet established itself.
Sanwa quickly sensed his mother's displeasure and hurriedly tried to smooth things over, saying, "My mother is also a rogue cultivator. Why don't we sit down and talk while we eat?"
He was now in a difficult position; his mother didn't seem to welcome the Taoist priest.
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