The voice fell, but there was no answer. The young prince walked forward cautiously. The room was quite quiet and plain, with only a bed, a table, a zither, a bookshelf, and many scattered fragments of text. A young girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed in silk, with clear eyebrows, large and soft eyes, and especially dark and bright pupils, was holding a chess piece and looking at an endgame. She was silent for a long time and could not make a move yet.

The voice was clear but not cold, and he just said:

"I came back a little late."

"Did you see the two Taoists from Lianyang Temple?"

The young prince smiled and said, "Yes, sister, you really are as good as a god."

"Just like what you said, sister!"

"Those two saw the changes in the city, so they sprinkled realgar water everywhere in the city. It's just that they didn't use realgar water today, but brought some cold-dispelling and qi-boosting medicines to help the people. I never thought that in this Zhongzhou, there are other people who make the same judgment as you, sister."

"That little Taoist priest is also very interesting."

"We had such a great time chatting that we came late."

The girl kept a restrained expression on her face and simply replied:

“It’s a good thing.”

The young man watched her play chess. He had learned music, chess, calligraphy and painting since he was young. He recognized that this was the famous piece of music by Kun Long. From the chess game, he knew that she was still worried about their current situation. So after hesitating for a long time, he said:

"Sister, why... Father has passed away. We finally left the capital. We should have kept a low profile and not done anything. But now you are still running a porridge stall and contacting officials in the city to ask them to sprinkle realgar water."

"I know that you are doing this to gain a good reputation, so that you can gain the support of the people and the approval of the Qing Party."

"But what's the use now?"

"It will only make Second Uncle more determined to kill us."

Qiong Yu pondered the chess game and asked, "Do you think it is to seek reputation and win people's hearts?"

The young prince said, "Isn't it?"

The girl did not answer. After making her move, the game of chess eventually went from [Trapping the Dragon] to [Slaying the Dragon]. So she sighed, stood up and said, "Closing the chess game." The young prince knelt obediently, then reached out his hand to clean up the chess game, put away the black and white chess pieces, and put them back into the chess basket.

Qiong Yu coughed several times, and seemed to be in particularly poor health. She sat next to the stove and answered the young prince's question just now, saying:

"Of course not because of reputation."

"It's just because I saved people."

"You're making the problem too complicated."

The young prince was stunned: "Ah?"

Qiong Yu said: "As you said, if we stand out too much, we might attract the murderous intentions of Second Uncle; but if we don't do it, many people will suffer from disasters and diseases this time, and have a hard time in the cold winter. We are just taking some risks, but these people will really get sick, or even die."

“Now that we’ve seen this, and we have the opportunity to change this, why not do it?”

"The immortal way values ​​life, and the human way is the same."

"When you are in a low position, you don't act in an upright manner. Even if you have the opportunity to rise in the future, you will only care about yourself."

The girl looked at her brother, and seeing that he seemed unconvinced, and was about to say something like "a body of a thousand gold cannot sit in the hall", she asked calmly, "

"Besides, do you think that if we behave ourselves, our Second Uncle will let us go?"

So the young prince fell silent.

The girl reached out to take the hairpin and fiddled with the animal-head incense burner next to her. Her wrist was as white as frost and snow, and her fingers were particularly slender.

For a moment, the only sounds in the room were tiny fragments of noise.

The young prince was quiet for a while, somewhat unconvinced, and said, "These words."

"Is it the same thing that Master Qi said when you were talking to him in your dream?"

The girl replied: "Not only listening, but also watching and thinking."

"He told me about it, and I saw what he did, and I was thinking about it."

“Then I believed what he said.”

"The ancients said that listening to one side leads to ignorance, while listening to both sides leads to enlightenment, but this is actually not true."

“You will never understand anything unless you see it with your own eyes and experience it yourself.”

The young prince straightened his chest and said confidently, "One who listens only partially will be blinded. Then can I not study?"

Qiong Yu answered simply and to the point: "No."

The young prince was depressed, holding his chin in a daze for a long time. He really didn't want to read. Compared with reading, daydreaming and thinking about random things was really a wonderful enjoyment. Finally, he suddenly asked a question that had been pressing in his heart for a long time, "So, sister, do you want to find Master Qi? Is it because he is a great talent that you want to recruit him?"

Qiong Yu put down the hairpin in her hand.

He picked up a pen from the table and tapped the boy's forehead with it. There was a crisp sound, and then he put the pen down and said:

"Wrong again."

"Great things are not achieved."

"All the great talents in the world have pride. It is a great fortune to be able to be their friend."

"Who can control them? Don't even think that."

Her voice became a little stern, and when she saw her brother agreed, she nodded, paused, and replied:

"I looked for him only because I had just woken up from a dream at that time. He was the only thing I could remember clearly. It was truly a nightmare-like experience... It took me several days to figure out what was a dream and what was reality. Did I see the mountain god Qiong Yu in my dream, or did the mountain god Qiong Yu dream of himself as a teenager before he died?"

"While I was still in a coma, my father passed away and my youngest brother fell into the lake."

"Originally, I was the next one to be poisoned."

“I had no choice but to try.”

The young prince fell silent.

That was a really difficult period.

Because the sister knew it in advance, the brother was saved from falling into the lake and dying.

Afterwards, under the instructions of his sister, they spent more than half a year and, with the help of the Cui family, finally escaped from the imperial city. During the past year, he witnessed his sister's personality change from being cheerful and noisy to being quiet and reserved. Most of the time, she would just gaze at the falling leaves outside the window calmly with her eyes.

When she was leaving the capital, she sighed, pointed at that ordinary mountain, and said, "I really want to climb Dingyan Peak again."

"Playing the zither, watching the falling leaves flying into the flowing water."

"Unfortunately, it can no longer be done."

At that time, he was unable to understand his sister's feelings, but now he seems to understand it a little better.

Qiong Yu said: "As for why I was looking for Master Qi, it was only because most of the dreams were vague, but the things related to him were particularly clear."

“If you can find it, you will know that the dream is not a dream.”

"A small dream within a dream is a big dream in life."

“People walk in this world like they walk in a big dream, it is fleeting.”

The young prince was confused and asked curiously, "Then why don't you look for it again?"

"You know he was just a dream?"

"No, I just know what he is doing, so I know that I won't be able to find him if I look for his hometown."

“That’s why I stopped.”

Qiong Yu replied:

"It seems that because of the past, he has been trying to figure out some things in his dreams, and he also wants to do a lot of things for the people. He has been a clean-handed person all his life, and he will not be disturbed by the rich and powerful families if he does not marry. As he said, only those who have no father, mother, wife, children or daughters can boldly do something."

"Being an official in the capital, I was dragged into the rules by the rich and powerful. I should just give up my noble status, go out to be an official, and do practical things for the people."

"The path of the civil servants is checked and balanced."

"Then become a military officer and fight against the demon kingdom."

"When I was sent down to the countryside, I became a teacher. When I was locked up, I wrote books and biographies."

The young prince, who looked wealthy and noble, held his chin up and looked at his sister, talking about the young man in the dream from her perspective.

From these words, it seems as if I really see a young man with his back straight, walking step by step in the world.

Watch him grow from a young scholar, to a young official, then to a general and a prime minister, and finally to an old man.

Suddenly, he sighed and asked, "Speaking of which, sister, has the Master Qi you mentioned achieved what he wanted to do?"

Qiong Yu shook her head:

"No, it seems that it was limited by that dream. He was unable to figure out what he wanted to know."

The young prince was surprised and asked, "What about your wish to do something for the people?"

“No.”

"In the end, his fame 'held him back' and he could no longer do anything. He became a decoration for the court's prosperity and peace."

The prince was puzzled and asked, "What is stopping him is..."

His voice paused, and he suddenly understood.

The only one standing in their way could be the emperor.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, "He can't avoid this road."

"It's a pity for Master Qi."

"So, sister, do you think he has given up?"

"It's good to be free from now on."

The young prince saw his sister looking at him with regret and pity, as if he were a fool, and said:

"Wrong again."

Her sleeves fell down, and her tone showed that she trusted her friend as if he were herself. She said:

"give up?"

"No, he never gave up along the way. If there was something that the Beijing officials couldn't do, he would be transferred to a remote place. If there was something that the civil servants couldn't do, he would be a military officer. If there was something that the officials couldn't do, he would resign and do it."

"Given his personality, when he found that he couldn't achieve what he wanted to do by being an official."

“It will just be a different approach.”

"If he is as I expected, he has already embarked on the path of cultivation."

"He will find out what he wants to know and save the people who deserve to be saved."

"In this case, the years are long and the road is difficult. Neither he nor I are the kind of people who will give up easily. As long as we don't die, we will meet again on the road one day. Why should we keep looking for him now?"

The light from the incense burner was reflected in the girl's eyes. She suddenly asked, "Well, let me test you. What can you learn from Master Qi's experience? What have you learned? And what is the purpose of my saving people this time? Write an article based on what would happen if Master Qi also remembered the things in his dream."

"Let me see your progress."

The young prince's expression slowly froze.

ah??!

The girl lowered her eyes calmly and said, "Go read a book."

"One hour."

"ah?"

"Two hours."

"Ah, good, good!"

So the young prince left obediently. Qiong Yu did not use the incense chopsticks beside her, but casually pulled out a hairpin from her hairpin, and gently poked the snow-like frosty ash with the hairpin in her hand. Unconsciously, she poked many tiny holes in the ash made of fine charcoal, and reached the buried fine charcoal. The extinguished flame suddenly came back to life, and warmth flowed out.

One end of the wooden hairpin was roasted and turned red, emitting a woody fragrance.

The girl suddenly smiled.

When she stood up, she turned around and her skirt swayed like a lotus blooming and falling.

She just held the hairpin and wrote some words with the red-hot end.

All in one go——

"Your heart is as strong as iron, mending the cracks in the sky."

The girl smiled slightly, looked at her own writing style, then threw away the wooden hairpin, and her black hair fell like a waterfall.

He didn't care that there were traces of charcoal on his white sleeves, and just said calmly:

"Qi Wuhuo."

"It should be so."

…

After Qi Wuhuo's peacock egg hatched, it ate and drank its fill and fell asleep straight away.

The young Taoist put it in a secret pocket inside his sleeve and walked for a day, but he still hadn't woken up. The young Taoist Mingxin brought some meat porridge to his master. The old Taoist first thanked him with a smile, touched the young Taoist's head, and then pointed at the Taoist robe that was wet and stained by rain and dirty water, took out an old bamboo stick, and said, "Little Taoist, is your buttocks itchy?"

"Do you know how powerful my bamboo sticks are?"

"Would you like to try my 'Stir-fried Pork with Bamboo Sticks' with your buttocks?"

The young Taoist listened to the old Taoist who was not far away and just hit the young Taoist Mingxin's palm with a bamboo stick a few times, not too hard or too lightly, and then pulled the young Taoist to tell him what to do. It's okay if the clothes get dirty, but what if you catch a cold? It was quite a nagging voice.

Qi Wuhuo thought about his past experiences.

Parents, husband, teachers.

In the distance was the voice of the old Taoist priest giving earnest warnings.

The young Taoist in the Sutra Building was staring at the moon that was about to become full in a daze, thinking about how his parents had scolded him before. When he was a child, he would also play in the water. Usually, his father would have a gloomy face, and his mother would persuade him beside him. Obviously, she was still very angry before, but when his father pretended to hit him, his mother suddenly became anxious and started to get angry at his father. But when she was anxious, she would often say -

Please be gentle and don't hurt the child.

Oh, get out of the way, you clumsy guy, get out of the way, let me hit you.

The young man thought about his mother's anxious and angry look at that time, and suddenly burst out laughing.

Then the smile stopped, slowly disappeared, and he became dazed.

Listening to the distant chatter.

I don't know why I feel a little sad.

Just a little bit actually, really just a little bit.

Lying on the table.

Bury yourself in your arms and stay quiet.

Ah, the moonlight is so beautiful...it's almost the full moon.

It's time to reunite.

Qi Wuhuo thought.

It was also the time for the Mingzhen Dao League...

Dad, Mom, Sir...

Suddenly there was a movement, and something furry and warm rubbed the young Taoist's palm gently.

Qi Wuhuo came back to his senses, saw the little peacock, and finally woke up.