The yellow rice is not yet cooked?

This sentence seemed to wake Qi Wuhuo up. His gaze slowly shifted away and he saw the bundle on the table at the side, a few books spread out next to it, and the three strings of copper coins sent by Mr. Su.

He saw the green plants he had been raising on one side, the cabbages piled up in the corner, the unchopped firewood in the yard outside, and he lay on the wooden bed he had made himself. There was still some warmth left on the bed. He closed his eyes, and the light in his eyes returned:

"Yeah..., my yellow rice is not cooked yet."

At the urging of the old man, the young man stood up, cleaned up the food, took out the yellow rice from the stove, cut a plate of side dishes, put them on the table, sat upright, picked up his chopsticks to eat, but paused.

"Boy, the food is getting cold, what are you still standing there for?"

At the dinner table, the old man took a mouthful of yellow rice, and then took a chopstick of a crispy side dish. Then he pointed at Qi Wuhuo and said with a smile, "What's wrong? You've woken up from your dream, are you still thinking about it?"

Qi Wuhuo raised his eyes but did not answer.

There was a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

The heavy snow outside the window has stopped. Birds are perched on the branches, preening their feathers. The branches are swaying and snow is falling, creating a mountain scene. On the table there are coarse pottery bowls filled with yellow rice and crisp side dishes. The cabbage is decorated with chili rings, which is lovely to the eye.

It had been quite some time since Qi Wuhuo woke up from his dream. The rice had slowly cooled down. Qi Wuhuo had no appetite. He put down his chopsticks and said to the old man calmly, "Old man... just now, I had a dream..."

The voice paused, and looked at the bed on the side: "That jade pillow..."

The old man smiled and said:

"Oh? The jade pillow? That was given to me by a wandering Taoist priest."

"It is said to be good for sleep and calm the mind and allow one to fall asleep."

Qi Wuhuo nodded silently.

The old man smiled and asked, "It seems that, as the wandering Taoist said, you slept soundly."

"However, no matter what kind of dream you had, you don't have to take it too seriously. Life is like a dream, and dreams are like life. You and I live in this world, so how can we know that we are not in a dream?"

"Did Wuhuo gain anything from this dream?"

Qi Wuhuo lowered his eyes. Although it was just a dream, everything he experienced in the dream was so clear. Perhaps the small things could no longer be recalled, but the many big events were so clear and so graspable.

If I could take this route again.

It was smoother than before, and easier to accomplish the feat that took him so long to accomplish in his previous life, but what was it? The young man suddenly felt bored.

The clouds and mists of the past seventy years have passed, and the Taoist has returned from eight hundred miles away.

"Is it just a dream..."

Qi Wuhuo sighed for a long time and replied:

"The way of honor and disgrace, the fate of poverty and wealth, the principle of gain and loss, the feelings of life and death."

"I have seen it all..."

The old man stroked his beard and laughed, "Shangshan."

After the meal, Qi Wuhuo washed the dishes, dried his hands, and packed up the things Mr. Su had given him. He put away two of the large bills and kept one in the cabinet for easy access.

Chopping wood, sweeping the yard, washing clothes, just like usual, nothing different.

Then, when he had some free time, he picked up the several ancient books that Mr. Su had given him.

This is a book prepared for the spring examination next year. It contains all the knowledge required for the imperial examination. Some of the parts are difficult to understand, so Mr. Su wrote annotations in small regular script with a cinnabar red pen to explain the knowledge.

For Qi Wuhuo, these are the parts he has not yet learned.

Even some bureaucrats and scholars may not be able to explain it thoroughly. Mr. Su has a deep and penetrating understanding of it, and he is well-known throughout the state and county. It is because of this that so many dignitaries send their children to study in the academy in this small town.

Qi Wuhuo turned a few pages, but before he even read them, many words flowed through his mind like running water. They were the contents of these books. It was as if he already knew all these things by heart and had read them more than a dozen times. Before he even read them, they had already emerged from the bottom of his heart.

Qi Wuhuo paused slightly.

He was sure he had never read the book.

Except in dreams...

An absurd thought arose in his mind.

"Could it be that..."

"That dream..."

He quickly recalled the contents of the book in his mind. Even though he had never read this book before, the words of the book still emerged very clearly in his mind. Then he opened the book and quickly flipped through it. The contents were exactly the same as what appeared in his mind!

I then looked through the rest of the books and found the same thing in all of them.

Not only is he extremely proficient in its content, but he also has the subtle mysteries deeply rooted in his mind and knows them like the back of his hand. Now, looking at the annotations left by Mr. Su, we can see that Mr. Su is also well-known in the prefectures and counties and is known as a celebrity.

But now Qi Wuhuo could vaguely see the omissions in Mr. Su's explanations of these classics. Although they were still exquisite, they were still insufficient.

It was as if he was not just a fourteen-year-old boy at this moment.

Instead, he was like Master Wuhuo, who had devoted his whole life to studying classics, served as a general and a prime minister, and was an unparalleled celebrity in the world. After a long time, Qi Wuhuo put all three books back with a calm and peaceful expression, and his guesses gradually became clear.

In the dream, the things that happened and those strong personal emotions have dissipated, but the reading experience seems to be still there. It is usually not obvious, but once encountered, it can function and think like instinct.

It was just a dream though.

But the books I have read and the things I have seen are not nothing.

Qi Wuhuo stood up and looked at the jade pillow.

The pillow was made entirely of white jade, with six types of tadpole cloud patterns on the top and bottom, and embossed clouds. It seemed to be a Taoist item. When I reached out to touch it, it seemed like I had touched something. The cloud patterns on it seemed to light up for a moment, but then they seemed to be just empty dreams, and then they shattered with a sound of cracking. The whole pillow was covered with dense cracks.

The old man's regretful voice came from behind:

"Alas, what a pity, what a pity."

"It has been 27 years since I got it from that wandering Taoist priest. I never thought it would be so light and fragile. It broke after just one use. The Taoist priest must have been playing a trick on me."

Qi Wuhuo turned around and saw the old man standing behind him. His purple robe was half hidden in the light and half hidden in the dark. At first glance, it looked like he was wearing a purple Taoist robe, looking at him with a smile.

Qi Wuhuo knew that this old man was definitely not an ordinary person. He was silent for a moment and said:

"My father-in-law said... a Taoist priest?"

The old man smiled and said, "That's right, that guy calls himself the [Fire Dragon Immortal]."

"I met him more than 20 years ago. He lost three gambling games to me in a row and gave me this pillow as payment. It's just a sleeping device and not worth much."

"You don't have to worry about it."

"Anyway, I remember that there should be more than one pillow. I think there should be another one. I will ask for it back next time I see him."

Qi Wuhuo suppressed his doubts, poured tea and water, and treated the old man the same as before. He did not become more respectful because he knew the old man's identity, nor did he become frivolous and arrogant because of his experience in the dream.

Holding the teacup in hand, recalling the past, he said to himself:

"There are demons and monsters in the world. Demons are nothing more than wild animals with spirits. They also have life and death."

"Ghosts are nothing but the lingering obsessions."

"Can……"

Qi Wuhuo was silent, his eyes slightly closed, the seemingly real and fake scenes in the dream were churning in his mind. For seventy years, he had had a ridiculous dream of studying, becoming an official, becoming a general and a prime minister, the prosperous world, emperors, generals, fame and beauties, all of which had passed by him. Suddenly, he sat up straight, restrained his expression, and asked:

"May I ask, old man, are there really gods in this world?"

The old man's smile faded and he replied, "Yes."

The young man asked again:

"Can I achieve immortality?"

The old man straightened his clothes.

Sitting upright, with a composed expression, he answered:

"Can."