Thirty Years of Life
The third level of painting realm.
When Xu Shulou opened his eyes, he found himself in tattered clothes, dishevelled hair and dirty face, half lying on a bumpy ox cart, with a dusty road in front of him.
She sat up and brushed the dust off her body.
She remembered this place, of course she remembered this place.
This was probably the most embarrassing memory in her life.
With such a start, I don’t know if it was because the voice was annoyed by the two bricks that fell on its head.
She remembered it very clearly. After escaping from the palace that year, they hid from place to place for a month. The nanny who followed her became seriously ill due to constant fear. She had no choice but to leave the nanny in a small town. She gave half of the silver she brought out of the palace to hire a doctor for the nanny, and kept the palace maid who followed her to take care of the nanny.
She embarked on the next journey alone. After all, the new emperor only had her as his target, and she didn't want to drag anyone else down.
However, the little princess, who had no survival experience at all, encountered obstacles everywhere. Even the silver she had on her was stolen by thieves in the second month after leaving the palace.
Later, she met a simple-looking merchant who felt sorry for her dirty and hungry face and said he could take her back to the village and let her help with work in the mill at the entrance of the village temporarily.
She was extremely grateful to the uncle, but unfortunately, when she was resting in a small inn in the town that night, she overheard the uncle next door saying to his fellow villagers who were doing business with him that he actually wanted to take her back to be the wife of his nephew who had never been able to find a wife.
The fellow villager, who knew everything about his nephew, said, "Your nephew's last wife ran away. Given his situation, isn't this harming the girl?"
The uncle retorted: "Although my nephew is crazy and stupid, his family has built several large tiled houses and has two maids to serve him. This girl is almost dying, how can you still despise her?"
"Well, that's true." The fellow villager didn't say anything else, and the two gradually started talking about other topics.
The displaced little princess sat blankly against the simple wooden headboard of the bed in the inn for most of the night.
She had only one goal, which was to obey her father and mother and survive. Of course, going to the village to be someone's daughter-in-law was a way to survive. At least she didn't have to struggle to escape, she could have a hot meal, and she could have one or two maids to serve her.
She can survive, but did her father, mother, and brother send her out of the palace before they died, just to let her live like this?
Xu Shulou bit his lip, trying hard to hold back the tears that were about to burst out. Rather than living like this, it would be better to die on the day the city was broken. At least there would be someone to accompany him on the road to the underworld.
She had never encountered such a situation before. She was born smart, but she never had to rely on herself. There were always people to solve everything for her. No matter what she wanted to do, someone would help her. If she wanted something, she only needed to beckon her finger and someone would bring it to her. It was only at this time that she realized... that the brain was to be used.
She reviewed all the knowledge she had learned about survival after leaving the palace, hesitated for a long time, and found the fire starter used to light lamps in the inn. She secretly dismantled the mattress in the room, and wanted to burn the straw inside to start a fire and escape. Later, she thought about it and didn't want to hurt anyone, so she sprinkled some cold tea from the previous night. The damp straw didn't catch fire, but it did emit a burst of thick smoke, which fooled the inn's people into thinking there was a fire. When a group of people were busy shouting to put out the fire, she took advantage of the chaos to run away.
While escaping, she heard that the top scholar who had been engaged to her had become an official of the new dynasty and was sent to a remote area. Coincidentally, the Qingyang City where he took office was only two cities away from her current location.
Should she go to him? She believed that he would not betray her, but... Xu Shulou stood at the fork in the road and hesitated for a long time.
She met a kind couple who were returning from visiting relatives. Seeing her standing alone in the middle of the road, they asked her if she wanted a ride in a ox cart.
Xu Shulou seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw: "Are you going to Qingyang City?"
The woman shook her head: "We are going to Jingxiang City, and the girl wants to go to Qingyang? Then we are going in different directions."
Xu Shulou closed his eyes and finally made a decision with a trembling voice: "No, I won't go to Qingyang."
She followed the couple to Jingxiang City. She was lucky to meet the Immortal Chang Yu in this city. He was attracted by the most famous Xiaoyao Brew in the city's restaurant. The high-ranking cultivator stood on the top of a tall building and looked down at all living beings. When he saw her in the crowd for the first time, he knew that this child had an excellent talent and would become a great person whether he became an immortal or a demon.
The man who had never accepted a disciple had an idea, counted with his fingers, and agreed to this worldly relationship.
Xu Shulou's choice at the crossroads of life, a slight change in his thought, resulted in a completely different path to immortality.
Since then, she has been the chivalrous and brave elder sister of Mingyue Peak on Wuchen Island, and Xu Shulou, who is admired by almost everyone in the world of immortal cultivation when talking about her talent. No one knows that there was another possibility in her life. If she really followed the merchant that day, or went to ask for the top scholar... she has no way of knowing what those two paths would be.
At this moment, Xu Shulou woke up on this ox cart, and was staggering towards the city that changed the trajectory of her life.
However, since her "Dao heart" is to be tested, it may not be so easy to meet her master this time.
The woman riding on the ox cart handed over a water bag: "Girl, are you awake? Have some water."
Xu Shulou took it with a smile: "Thank you very much."
The woman looked at her in surprise. This girl had been so depressed and desperate along the way, as if she had lost the whole world. How come she suddenly cheered up?
They soon arrived at Jingxiang City. Xu Shulou got off the ox cart and looked around the small city in her memory. The world had just experienced a turmoil not long ago, but the people here had already returned to a peaceful life. Even if she was reluctant, she had to admit that Xiao Juncheng did have some ability to be an emperor.
But after all, we have been through a period of turmoil, and some local governments have lost their household registration systems. They are now re-registering household registrations door to door, so there should be something that can be used.
If Chang Yu didn't show up, she would have to find a way to survive here.
The couple's destination was a bookstore. The woman looked at Xu Shulou hesitantly: "Miss, if you really have nowhere to go..."
Her husband beside her pulled her, as if to stop her from being too kind.
Xu Shulou laughed and said, "I can read and write, so I can help you copy the books."
The man looked at her with suspicion: "Can you do it?"
"I don't want any wages. I'm helping you copy books. I want to exchange them for a clean pair of men's clothes and a temporary place to stay."
Hearing that he didn't need to be paid, the man nodded and said, "Okay, then you can try it first."
The woman pulled her over and said, "Young girl, go take a bath in the yard first. I'll find you some clothes that your husband can't wear anymore. Then write a few words so we can see what kind of book you are suitable for copying. When the shop closes in the evening, I'll bring you a quilt and you can make do with it in the shop first."
"Thank you very much."
Xu Shulou took a cold bath in the deserted backyard, changed into the men's clothes given by the woman, tied her hair into a bun on top of her head, looked at herself in the water, and nodded with satisfaction at the handsome young man reflected in the basin. Even if her life, Xu Shulou's, was miserable, she would live it beautifully.
She went to the place where they met that year and waited, but Huajing was not so kind, and Immortal Changyu did not show up this time.
When she finally earned her first penny, he didn't show up.
When she bought some men's clothes and dressed herself up as a handsome young man, he didn't show up.
She lied that she was a scholar, lost her diploma in the war, and passed the examination with her real talent and knowledge to teach in a private school, but he still didn't show up.
The voice in the void seemed to have forgotten her. Of course, it might also be lurking quietly, waiting to see when she would completely collapse.
Since she couldn't wait for the Immortal Master Chang Yu, she had no way to take the initiative to seek immortality. The voice used some means to confine her to the human world.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, thirty years have passed in the world.
One day, Xu Shulou was lying on a hammock in the backyard, his face covered with a copy of the Tao Te Ching, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Finally, a voice sounded beside my ears, and it sounded a little proud: "How have you been doing in the past thirty years?"
Xu Shulou stretched lazily: "You finally showed up?"
"It's been more than 30 years. You're old."
Xu Shulou swung in the hammock, shaking his head and chanting: "I have been walking in the world for thirty years, and I have also been running wildly to pursue fame."
"How are you doing?"
"Thirty years is a new life, and in between there are both laughter and sorrow."
"…Speak properly."
"Okay," Xu Shulou finally took off the book that was covering his face to block the sun, and smiled, "I didn't expect that I would look like this when I'm fifty."
"How can you still laugh?"
"They are all fake." Xu Shulou flicked her sleeves. She was wearing a scholar's robe embroidered with cranes today. She looked elegant and gentle, a bit like her father.
"But the majority of your life here is real."
Xu Shulou nodded, stood up and poured himself a glass of wine: "Finally, my life is still meaningful. I became a private school teacher, bought a yard with the money I earned, and planted apricot flowers in the yard."
Some children passed by outside the courtyard, calling out "Master Xu" and saying hello. Xu Shulou waved to them.
The voice in the void sounded surprised: "You seem to be doing well?"
"It's okay, but the neighbors are too enthusiastic and always want to introduce me to a wife, which is a bit troublesome."
The voice murmured, "How come you haven't gone crazy yet?"
"There's no point in going crazy." Xu Shulou spread her hands. Before she came in, she had read in the booklet that there was a man who had stayed here for a hundred years, but when she came out of the painting, only a few hours had passed. In this way, her fellow disciples would not be too worried.
The voice asked anxiously: "What do you do every day?"
"I read all kinds of classics, and I used this time to accumulate knowledge. I also read a lot of story books in my spare time, many of which were based on my own works. I also wrote a book myself, but unfortunately it didn't sell very well."
“…”
Xu Shulou waved the folding fan in her hand. Yes, she even went to a street shop to pick up a handy folding fan. "Thanks to you, I have learned how to open doors and pick locks, grow vegetables and flowers, play the Qinzheng and fluff cotton in the past thirty years. I can speak the very nice Wu dialect, I learned how to cheat in casinos without the help of spiritual power, and I also learned how to mint coins privately. Of course, the last one is useless."
"Wait, privately minted coins?"
"By the way, I also stole some exquisite sword techniques from the human world. When I get out, I can try to integrate these sword techniques into my spiritual power. It will definitely increase the power. But I still haven't learned how to cook."
"You are really not in a hurry to delay your practice like this?"
Xu Shulou smiled and pointed to his forehead: "I am cultivating my mind."
“…”
An old man outside the courtyard shouted, "Master Xu, my wife wants you to come over for dinner. Today we're making your favorite mutton noodles!"
"Okay, I just bought a jar of Xiaoyao Brewing yesterday. I'll bring it over later so we can drink it together."
"Okay!" The old man left with a smile.
Xu Shulou looked into the void again: "By the way, I haven't asked how to address you yet. What's your name?"
"You don't need to call me that."
"Can I give you a name then? It's so awkward to talk like this."
"cannot!"
Xu Shulou said regretfully: "Well, it's your loss. I'm really good at naming."
The voice did not continue the topic, and said with a hint of disdain: "What's good here?"
Xu Shulou pointed to the rockery and waterfall in the courtyard: "This is flowing water", then pointed to the sky with his folding fan and said "Those are stationary clouds", then pointed to the tree "apricot blossoms", pointed to the table top "fine wine", and finally pointed to the ground "gray bricks".
Finally, he concluded: "With flowing water, still clouds, apricot blossoms and fine wine, how can it not be good?"
“…”Wait, did something strange just sneak in?
"You're not crazy," the voice said. "I thought someone like you who loves the hustle and bustle would go crazy if trapped in a small town like this."
"I have traveled occasionally, but after so many years, the emperor has stopped looking for me."
The voice suddenly seemed to have grasped something and asked, "Have you ever been to Qingyang City?"
"No," Xu Shulou smiled frankly, "He is no longer in Qingyang. He returned to the capital and was appointed as a marquis and prime minister."
"I don't believe you can really be so calm, are you just trying to be brave?"
"Yes, I am just trying to show off," Xu Shulou threw and caught the folding fan in his hand, "By the way, can you transform yourself into an illusion? Even if it's just a phantom, I don't want to talk to this empty space."
The voice had learned its lesson and sneered, "I'm just turning into a shadow for you to aim at, right?"
Xu Shulou was surprised: "How can you speculate about me like this?"
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