The woman's words immediately caught Li Guang's attention.
"Auntie, what kind of old Taoist priest are you talking about?"
“My husband said that this old Taoist priest is at least eighty or ninety years old, very tall, and thin. I don’t know where he came from.”
"It's him, it must be him!" Li Guang said excitedly.
Li Xue certainly knew who Li Guang was talking about. Li Guang had told her about the old Taoist priest, and she also thought the old Taoist priest was an extraordinary person.
Seeing Li Guang's excited expression, the woman asked:
"Does this young master know that old Taoist priest? My husband knows some other things about him; you can ask him."
"Thank you, Auntie, for your trouble."
The woman led Li Guang into a room next door. There was only one bed in the room, and a man was lying on the bed with splints on his legs and arms, unable to move.
The man had been lying in bed the whole time. He had heard the conversation outside clearly and knew that the people outside had picked a lot of mulberry leaves for his family and even delivered them to their home. He was very grateful.
When he saw someone come in and ask him about the old Taoist priest, he tried to sit up in bed, but as soon as he moved, his hands and feet started to hurt, and he grimaced in pain.
Seeing this, Li Guang quickly stepped forward and held him down, saying:
"Uncle, please don't move around. If you move, your bones might become dislocated, which would be troublesome. To be honest, it takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone. What you need now is rest and let your bones heal first."
The man sighed and had no choice but to lie down.
"Young master, thank you for your help. You want to know about the old Taoist priest, and I can tell you, but I don't know much, and I don't know if it will be of any use to you."
After the man finished speaking, he began to recount his story with the old Taoist priest.
Dozens of miles away from here is a town called Lianqiao Water Town, which is famous in the south. It not only has a thriving silk market, but is also the largest silkworm cocoon trading base in the south.
This place has become a silkworm cocoon trading base thanks to the large number of silkworm farmers in the surrounding area. In order to cultivate the best silkworm cocoons, the silkworm farmers come to Lianqiao Water Town every spring to buy silkworm eggs.
As the weather warms up, it's the season for silkworm eggs to hatch. As in previous years, the man came to Lianqiao Water Town to buy the best silkworm eggs of the year.
In the town, the man was about to cross a stone bridge when an old Taoist priest appeared on the other side. The priest was tall and thin, about eighty or ninety years old, but in good spirits and had piercing eyes.
The stone bridge was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to pass through. The man decided to wait for the old Taoist priest to cross first.
Unexpectedly, the old Taoist priest stopped in the middle of the stone bridge. The man had no choice but to go up on the bridge as well. Since the stone bridge could only accommodate two people, he didn't need to wait for the old Taoist priest to cross first.
The man walked to the middle of the bridge and realized that the old Taoist priest had no intention of letting him cross.
If the old Taoist priest had stood still in the middle of the bridge, it would have been difficult for him to cross.
Before the man could say anything, the old Taoist priest spoke up.
"Is this devotee going to buy silkworm eggs to raise silkworms at home?"
The man was taken aback. How did this old Taoist know that he was going to buy silkworm eggs? But then he thought about it and realized that it was quite normal.
I dressed as a silkworm farmer. At this time of year, silkworm farmers come to town mainly to buy silkworm eggs.
"I am indeed here to buy silkworm eggs. I wonder what advice you have for me, Daoist Master."
The old Taoist priest nodded and said:
"Take my advice, believer, do not raise silkworms this year. After this year, you can raise them however you like."
The man was taken aback, wondering why the old Taoist priest would say such a thing to him. Could it be that his silkworm farming had not gone well this year?
"Master Dao, I have been raising silkworms for over twenty years. As a silkworm farmer, silkworm farming is my family's only source of income. I have elderly parents and young children to support. If I don't raise silkworms, how will I feed them?"
The Taoist priest told me why I can't raise silkworms this year.
"This is a secret of heaven and cannot be revealed. If you insist on raising silkworms this year, you will never have the opportunity to raise silkworms again from now on."
After the old Taoist finished speaking, he bowed to the man and then quietly walked past him.
The man stood on the bridge for a long time, half believing and half doubting the old Taoist's words.
He was very familiar with silkworm farming; in his view, there was no risk involved, except for the question of how much income he would make.
Besides, if we don't raise silkworms, what will our family eat? We've finally saved up some money over the years, are we just going to sit around and do nothing?
As the man walked, he pondered this question and unknowingly arrived at the shop selling silkworm eggs.
The man was a regular customer of the shop. When the shopkeeper noticed that the man looked troubled, he asked him what was wrong.
The man then recounted his encounter with the old Taoist priest, and the shopkeeper burst into laughter upon hearing it.
"You almost fell for it. This old Taoist priest wanted to swindle your money. If you had asked him if he could change your fate, he would have said yes, but you would have had to pay him."
After he gets the money, he starts pretending to change your fate. Do you believe him?
The man suddenly realized what had happened. He was glad he hadn't talked to him much, or he would have been fooled.
After returning home from Lianqiao Water Town, the man became busy raising silkworms and gradually forgot about the incident.
Later, he heard that the old Taoist priest had been living in Lianqiao Water Town all along and had never left. Some people said that the old Taoist priest had been eating and drinking for free in a restaurant for a long time and had already owed the restaurant a lot of money.
If the old Taoist priest doesn't pay off his debts, the restaurant owner will send him to see the authorities.
After listening to the man's story, Li Guang was both surprised and delighted. He really wanted to meet this Taoist priest and have a good chat with him.
Before leaving, Li Guang took out ten taels of silver and handed it to the woman, hoping that her family could get through the difficult time.
After returning to the inn, the group discussed their plans and decided to head to Lianqiao Water Town the next day.
Meanwhile, Li Hui and his guards, under the doctor's careful treatment, had gradually cleared the toxins from the mountain bees from their bodies and no longer felt unwell.
Although they survived the ordeal, they were left with some aftereffects; each of them had a small spot on the part of their body where they had been stung by the mountain bees.
If these spots are not a problem on other parts of the body, then the situation is different if they are on the face.
The guards were in relatively good condition, with only one or two pockmarks on their faces, which didn't significantly affect their appearance. But Li Hui was a different story.
His condition was terrible; his face was covered in pockmarks, which were very noticeable and he was basically disfigured, much to Li Hui's dismay.
He was the eldest prince of the current dynasty, the future emperor of the Great Northern Dynasty, and he couldn't stand having so many pockmarks on his face.
If the world knew that the Crown Prince chased after a black bear in order to eat bear paws, and was stung by mountain bees in the deep mountains, although he survived, he was left with a face full of pockmarks, he would surely be ridiculed by the world.
Only a few guards know that I am in this state; even Zhao Xian is unaware.
What he needs to do now is to return to Beijing immediately and find a famous doctor there to treat him, and remove the pockmarks on his face no matter what.
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