I served as Li Bai's page.

"Young master, why don't you go and look at your family photo?" I said.

Li Bai stood up, walked to the paintings of Pingyang and Boqin, squatted down, and drew a large frame to enclose both paintings. Outside the frame, he drew a page holding the frame and said, "This is what our happy family looks like."

Pingyang quickly interjected, "I know this is Uncle Yuehua."

"Honestly, they didn't even bother to make me look prettier," I said.

Xu Ziyan walked over, drew two braids and a flower on the page's head, and said, "Isn't it beautiful now?"

Li Bai said, "Of course they're beautiful! They've all become beautiful pageboys."

We stayed at the Reading Rock until almost noon before returning home. Zhang Ma had already prepared lunch. After lunch, Xuanmeng went back to the Taoist temple on the mountain. In the afternoon, I began preparing a plaque for Xuanmeng. I searched all the wood in the house, but none of it was satisfactory. I thought I would ride my horse to Anlu to buy some.

"Young master, we don't have any suitable wood at home. I'll go to Anlu Street and buy a piece," I said to Li Bai.

"I'll go with you," Li Bai said.

"I want to go too," Xu Ziyan said.

Pingyang and Boqin also insisted on going.

Li Bai said, "Go, all of you, take the carriage."

I went to the stable to get the horses out and harnessed them to the carriage. Before I was even ready, the two children started climbing onto the carriage. I quickly carried the two children onto the carriage, and Li Bai helped Xu Ziyan onto the carriage before also getting on.

I sat in the driver's seat and cracked the whip on the horse. I heard Wu Ma shout, "Slow down!"

We arrived in Anlu Street by carriage. Xu Ziyan and her two children rarely went out, and they were very curious to see the bustling streets and the rows of shops.

When we arrived at a calligraphy and painting mounting shop, I stopped the carriage, walked up to it, and asked:

"Shopkeeper, do you sell plaques?" I told him the size and dimensions, and the shopkeeper went inside and brought one out.

At this moment, Li Bai and his companions also got off the carriage and walked over.

"Young master, would you like to take a look and see if this piece is suitable?"

Li Bai approached and examined it carefully, then said, "Alright, let's buy some more paper and ink."

"Shopkeeper, give me two of these, and some paper and ink."

Li Bai asked me, "What are you going to do with those two pieces?"

"Isn't there another bamboo house? Let's hang one up for him too, it'll make it look more impressive," I said.

After we finished shopping, we drove around the city in a horse-drawn carriage and returned to Baizhaoshan before dark.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Bai went into his study to study how to write the two plaques for Xuanmeng.

"Yuehua, how do you think it should be written?" Li Bai asked.

"Everything you write is good; write however you want," I said.

After pondering for a long time, Li Bai picked up his brush and wrote the four characters "Bai Zhao Shan Ju" (白兆山居) on a plaque, signing it "Presented by the Hermit of Taibai." He also wrote the four characters "Yin Lu Can Xia" (饮露餐霞) on another plaque, signing it "Presented by the Hermit of Taibai."

After Li Bai finished writing, I put the two plaques on the ground to cool, spread the two couplet papers on the desk, and said:

"Young Master, you also need to write a couplet. I promised Xuanmeng."

"You write it, let me see if you write it well," Li Bai said.

I thought for a moment, then picked up my pen and wrote: "Take a detached view of the three thousand affairs of the world, and chuckle lightly a few times in my leisure."

After reading it, Li Bai clapped his hands and praised, "These two proverbs are absolutely perfect for the gate of Bai Zhaoshan Residence."

"Young Master, aren't you going to change it?" I asked.

"I won't change it, it'll stay like this."

After lunch, I asked Wu Chao and Xiao Peng to help me carry the two plaques to the front of the Taoist temple. I led Pingyang and Boqin by the hand, and Li Bai led Xu Ziyan by the hand, and we arrived at the Taoist temple.

Under Li Bai's direction, Wu Chao and Xiao Peng hung the two plaques in the center of the Taoist temple gate and on the top of the bamboo building, respectively. With nothing to do, I took out the couplets and pasted them on the door frame. After everything was completed, Bai Zhaoshan Residence suddenly appeared to be full of spiritual energy, as if it were the secluded dwelling place of a hermit.

Xuanmeng became excited upon seeing it and said, "This is the home I've always dreamed of. Thank you for helping me fulfill my wish. No matter how far I travel in the future, my roots will always be here."

When Xuanmeng spoke of the root, I saw Li Bai's face darken. I quickly interjected, "A cultivator should roam the world freely, not cling to one place. You will understand when your cultivation advances."

"Yuehua is right, my cultivation is too shallow. My master just goes wherever he is and stops wherever it is suitable for cultivation. This is the highest realm of cultivation," Xuanmeng said.

"Xuanmeng has made progress," Li Bai said.

"We'll have dinner here tonight. I'll go and call everyone up from below," Xuanmeng said.

Seeing Xuanmeng's sincere expression, Li Bai couldn't refuse his kindness, so he said to Wu Chao, "Go and bring Xiaoqian and the others up. Tell Zhang Ma to bring the dishes up; we'll have dinner at Baizhao Mountain Residence tonight. Also, grab two jugs of wine."

Upon hearing this, Xuanmeng quickly replied, "No need to bring wine. I bought two jugs and have them ready; we'll drink them tonight."

After making the arrangements, Li Bai and Xu Ziyan composed poems and painted in the Yinlu Canxia Pavilion, while I took the two children and Xuanmeng to the vegetable garden behind the mountain residence to pick vegetables.

After Zhang Ma and the others came up, they started cooking. We moved the dining table up to the bamboo house and enjoyed the scenery around Baizhao Mountain while we ate. Everyone took turns performing, and the two children were the most excited. Reciting poetry was their forte; they knew many of Li Bai's poems. I saw a satisfied smile on Li Bai's face.

After finishing our meal and cleaning up, we said goodbye to Xuanmeng and returned to our home at the foot of the mountain. Everyone was a bit tired after a busy afternoon. It was only a short while after dark, and the house was already quiet. Everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.

A few days after returning home, life gradually returned to normal. Li Bai resumed making friends and often gathered with them at Peach Blossom Rock. His family was always busy taking care of him.

Xu Ziyan was happy, the two children were happy, and I also thought this kind of rural life was quite nice. Every day, I would get up and go to the fields with Wu Chao and the others to do some farm work, and then take some time to go to the top of Baizhao Peak to water the ginkgo trees, or go to Xuanmeng's Baizhao Mountain Residence to play the bamboo flute and talk about ideals. It was much better than running around outside and having to watch other people's faces.

However, this is the kind of life we ​​desire, but not the kind Li Bai wanted.

One day after the Spring Festival that year, I went to Anlu to buy groceries. Just as I was driving my horse-drawn carriage back, a caravan stopped by the roadside with several large carts full of goods. One of the caravan members shouted loudly to the shop owner, "Excuse me, sir, do you know anyone from the Xu family of Da'an Mountain?"

The shop owner pointed at me and said to him, "This is the pageboy of the Xu family's son-in-law."

I quickly jumped off the carriage and bowed to the man, saying, "Brother, what business do you have at the Xu residence?"

"I'm not going to the Xu residence; I've come from Qinglian Town in Western Shu. Madam Li of Longxi Courtyard asked me to deliver a letter to her son, Li Bai."

"Thank you. I am Li Bai's page. Please give me the letter. Would you like to come to my house for a visit? It's not far from here," I said.

"No, the customer needed this batch of goods urgently, so I took the land route." The man took out a large bag and handed it to me: "Here, this is the bag; the letter is inside."

"Thank you, brother. Have a safe journey!" I said.