A little sparrow as a gift
Seeing that the purpose of his trip had been achieved, Meng Yan decided not to disturb him any further, waved goodbye, and turned to leave.
"Are you in such a hurry, Miss Yan? It's so hot under the sun. Luckily, there's an ice stove you brought. Why don't you wait out the heat for a while before you leave?" Although Yue Lang tried to stop her, he had already stood up. As soon as Meng Yan took a step, he followed closely behind her, seeing her off without leaving her side.
Li Li turned his head and found that the two people beside him had stood up. After thinking for a moment, he also stood by the pavilion.
"Oh dear, since you're hesitating, why don't you stay yet? It just so happens that Senior Brother Li has quite a few questions about the mechanical umbrella you gave me some time ago and would like to discuss them with the designer. I wonder if Miss Yan is available right now?"
"Huh?" Li Li looked at Yue Lang blankly, pointing to himself with his finger. "Me? Did I?"
“Yes, there are. If you really don’t have any, just think of one now and you’ll have one,” Yue Lang said generously, patting his shoulder.
.
The three of them rested in Yue Lang's house. The host busied himself serving them tea and water, and moved the items they had been discussing from the corner to the table between the two of them. After finishing these tasks, he picked up a chair and an umbrella and sat down with them, looking around between the two of them.
Meng Yan tried his best to ignore Yu Guangli's constantly turning head and focused his attention on the iron umbrella he hadn't seen in a long time.
She hadn't seen this umbrella for a long time; it seemed that ever since she won that competition, it had been treated as a pile of scrap metal, serving as a large but useless reminder. The last time she took it out, it happened to run into Yue Lang, who was about to get soaked, which was a coincidence she couldn't understand. After throwing it down, she never thought she would see it again.
However, at this moment, the large iron frame lay peacefully in front of him. The old mechanisms had been dismantled and repaired, and the rusty edges had been carefully smoothed, just as it had been when it was first made. A light touch would elicit gasps of amazement from the audience.
"Senior brother, may I ask you something?" Yue Lang tapped the table on Li Li's side, resting his chin on his hand.
Li Li examined the umbrella from both sides several times, glanced at him, and carefully asked, "Miss Meng Yan, I'd like to know under what circumstances, or rather, under what influence, you created this umbrella..."
He hesitated for a while, but still couldn't come up with anything.
“This iron thing can be called an umbrella, but it’s not really usable as one,” Yue Lang said, turning to Meng Yan.
Meng Yan didn't hide anything and directly revealed the whole story of the mechanical competition from back then, which drew shocked looks from the two people opposite him.
"This pile of things, which could kill someone with the slightest movement, was designed by you two years ago?"
Meng Yan nodded innocently, then gestured: "Back then, I was young and ignorant, and I only thought about how to make it more complicated, while ignoring the practicality and convenience that mechanical creations should have. For a long time after that, I changed my pursuit of complexity and began to try to study some small things that could help in daily life."
"For example, the ice furnace?" Li Li asked. "It really helped a lot during the summer. Before this, we had to lower the temperature inside the library every year and prevent water and insect infestation. It took a lot of effort, but often the results were minimal."
To everyone's surprise, Meng Yan shook his head and denied it, simply saying, "I accidentally created the ice furnace this year. In the past few years, I have been busy improving the mechanical sparrow and mechanical kite. Fortunately, with the help of Senior Brother Li Li and you, the mechanical kite is now a great success."
Having just recovered from the fact that the ice furnace incident was unintentional, the two brothers each had new questions.
Yue Lang: "What is the mechanical sparrow used for?"
Li Li: "Is the mechanical kite not just an ordinary launching and retracting device?"
The two exchanged glances as if they were looking at each other as fools, and without Meng Yan saying a word, he explained the uses of the two items to the other.
So Meng Yan received two neat sentences in return: "May I take a look?"
I found a large enough open space behind Yue Lang's house. The short grass on the ground was yellow and withered, which was in line with the current season, but it was not like the scenery that should be in this fairyland.
"Ahem." Yue Lang coughed softly, crossed his arms and looked up at the sky, muttering under his breath, "If you had come a few days earlier, this place wouldn't be in this state."
Li Li glanced over and immediately understood, "With your senior brother attitude, you're laughing at your junior brother? Why don't you just collapse your own house while you're at it?"
"It's all about discretion. This just shows that I controlled things well. It's also the fault of this talisman. It's such a small piece of paper, yet it burned and exploded. Luckily, I stopped it in time, otherwise you wouldn't be here with me in the sect." Yue Lang looked up at the sky and then at the ground, never daring to meet the eyes of the two.
A gentle breeze came from afar, swirling around the grass and turning the charred bits to the surface. The smell of burning food assaulted the three men's heads, causing them to cough repeatedly.
"Don't blame me, I really did take care of it." Yue Lang coughed as he leaned against the wall, trying to defend himself. "This place used to be red and black. After I watered it, I squatted on the ground and cut grass for two days. Otherwise, you would have turned around and left as soon as you turned the corner. You wouldn't have waited for this wind to blow here."
Li Li wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, recalling the sunset he had casually praised a few days ago. Now he had doubts: was it really the beautiful evening scenery on the horizon that day, or a magnificent feat created by someone on their own?
Meng Yan wasn't much better off than the other two. Fortunately, his clothes were thick and he reacted quickly. When he noticed something was wrong, he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, so his tears didn't flow like those of his fellow disciples.
This position was obviously not very useful in any way. She grabbed the two people who were still coughing from the rising ashes, and with a little force, pulled them out of the gray grass. The three of them leaned against the wall, still recovering their senses.
"Your talisman paper is probably more than just burned and fried, right???" Li Li, his face covered in ashes, spoke with difficulty.
"I'm not sure either, but it seems there's something else involved," Yue Lang, his face weathered by time, replied hesitantly.
Although Meng Yan's clothes and hair were dusty, she was still in good spirits. She moved to Yue Lang's side and waved her arms in front of his eyes, but unfortunately, he was unable to see and was completely unaware that someone wanted to say something.
She sighed very softly, grabbed Yue Lang's forearm, pried open his hand, and quickly wrote in his palm: "Unblocking Talisman".
Just as Yue Lang felt a cool breeze brush against his hand, it was snatched away in the next moment. He tried to break free but couldn't, so he realized that it was Meng Yan who was drawing randomly in his hand.
"Good idea! The antidote talismans are in the wooden box on my windowsill. Just grab a handful and that will be enough. The safety of my fellow disciples and I is in your hands." After saying this with great effort, Yue Lang immediately turned around, covered his face with his hands, and burst into tears.
Meng Yan didn't bother going back and forth into the room. Instead, he went around to the window, spotted the box, grabbed it, and carried the unopened box back to the two of them.
After smoothly lifting the lid and taking out the paper face mask, Meng Yan returned the box along with its wooden lid.
As the shadows slowly shifted, some fellow disciples passing by tried to join in the fun, only to be rebuffed by Yue Lang and Li Li, who were facing the wall. The news spread like wildfire, and suddenly half the sect was passing by, greeting the two as they walked: "What a coincidence, Senior Brother Li and Senior Brother Yue, reflecting on your mistakes!"
Having already lost all face, the two had nothing more to say and gradually accepted the fact that they had to reflect on their mistakes.
They knew their faces must be a truly gruesome sight; even with their best friend right in front of them, they couldn't make out a human shape no matter how hard they tried. Meng Yan was still waiting inside, but out of a sense of shame, the two secretly conspired and went to their junior brother's house next door to wash their faces before returning to their room to embarrass themselves.
As soon as they entered, Meng Yan gave them a thumbs up, saying, "These talismans are very effective for self-defense. Save some for me later."
All their worries vanished, and the two sat down as if nothing had happened. The little curiosity they had about the mechanism had long since disappeared with their tears. Their minds were blank, they were exhausted, and they sat there in a daze.
Having unfortunately experienced this feeling, Meng Yan understood very well. He poured them tea and then pulled a mechanical sparrow out of his pocket.
Li Li pointed excitedly at the bird, his eyes darting back and forth between it and Yue Lang.
Yue Lang: "You recognize it?"
Li Li nodded.
Yue Lang: "Should I recognize it?"
Li Li nodded.
Yue Lang: "But I've only ever seen the retracted mechanical kite."
Li Li shook his head in exasperation and ignored him.
Without the help of Senior Brother Li, who knew the inside story, Yue Lang had no choice but to shamelessly ask Meng Yan for help to figure this thing out.
What a coincidence, he is indeed very skilled at this.
“Miss Yan, since you’ve already taken it out, why don’t you say a few more words so that I, with my limited knowledge, can also see something new?”
As he spoke, his fingers lightly tapped the table, seemingly casually, but in reality, his eyes had been following Meng Yan's hand around many times.
Meng Yan pretended not to see it, seriously playing with the little guy in his hand, occasionally switching hands to rest, passing it between his left and right hands.
Li Li, who rarely gets any peace and quiet, turned around and saw his silly junior brother being completely fooled by the girl. He silently turned away.
The playfulness came quickly and went quickly. Taking advantage of Yue Lang's distraction, Meng Yan reached out and stuffed the mechanical sparrow into his hand.
Yue Lang, who was inexplicably grabbing the mechanical sparrow, thought: "?"
His empty mind raced through the current situation. After a while, he stammered, "This, this is for me, or did I snatch it from Miss Yan?"
Having witnessed the whole thing, Li Li couldn't help but cough, his head aching as he covered his mouth with his hand.
"From now on, this mechanical sparrow is yours. You can mark it for easy identification. We will communicate with you about talismans through it. You can also use the wooden bead in its beak to summon my own mechanical sparrow and give it what you want to say to my little sparrow to bring back."
With a gentle tap along the bird's beak, a wooden bead indeed fell out. Yue Lang held it and ran to the door, knocking a few times. He looked up at the sky for a long time, but no bird flew in. Disappointed, he slumped back to the table and sat down.
“The journey is long, and my little sparrow probably won’t be able to get here anytime soon. Perhaps we’ll meet tonight,” Meng Yan comforted her.
In the corner of his eye, Li Li stared intently at the two people playing with the birds. As if thinking of something, his brows furrowed and relaxed, and his fists clenched involuntarily.
Meng Yan's eyes twitched, and he quickly pulled Yue Lang aside to explain, "I originally only planned to trick Yue Lang this time, so I made a mechanical sparrow for him as an apology. I didn't expect to trick Senior Brother Li in the process. I will definitely send the mechanical sparrow for Senior Brother Li next time."
After listening, Li Li shook his head, his brows slightly furrowed, and said, "That's not what I meant. I just felt something was off... never mind, I didn't notice anything."
After Yue Lang finished conveying his warm greetings, he pondered the meaning behind the words while they were talking. He then suppressed his smile, pointed to himself, and asked Meng Yan, "Did you come here specifically to see me?"
Meng Yan blinked and made an apologetic gesture, opened the food basket on the table, pushed the mooncakes inside in front of him, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
The fire, which hadn't even started, was extinguished in an instant, completely and utterly. Yue Lang lowered his hand, turned his gaze away, and exhaled.
Although she intended to drag herself into this mess, didn't she at least ask for her own opinion? Besides, given the long distance, and the fact that the person brought a car full of heavy food and useful items, it's clear they had been preparing for a long time and had arrived early in the morning.
Most importantly, she came specifically for me.
Anyway, we didn't lose anything, so why should good friends be so calculating?
Thinking this, a smile secretly returned to his lips, and Yue Lang looked at the mooncakes in the cage with satisfaction.
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