Longyou Taoist

The name of Jianhui Town is unknown by an ancestor. Its meaning is unpredictable, and a few allusions have not been handed down.Even if later generations are interested in exploring, even if they search through thousands of years of ancient books, they can't tell one thing or two about it.

But one thing is certain: this ancestor was an out-and-out lazy person.

No one has doubted this inference for a long time, and naturally there is an irrefutable reason - because the names here, without exception, use the same words: Jianhui Mountain, Jianhui Town, Jianhui Inn, Jianhui Bridge.

By the way, there is Jianhui River.

It can be seen how lazy this person is.

There is no need to comment on this lazy man. At least he left a few names, and it is a merit that the small town of Yuanshan here does not exist pitifully.

Let's just talk about the piles of ravines.

On the banks of the Jianhui River, which seems to have been named casually, there is a legend that has been circulating.

In this legend, whether it is credible or not, the Jianhui River was once a place favored by the gods.

Maybe it was because the gods rested their feet, or just sprinkled a few blessings, but the reputation of Jianhui River has been passed down.

It is said that all things cultivated in the world can be contaminated with a little fairy energy here, which will add many benefits to the cultivation of righteousness.

Ordinary people don't know whether this statement is true or not, but whether it is true or not, it has nothing to do with them.For many years, these things have been regarded as a topic of conversation after dinner.People sighed a few words, then let it go lightly, and then talked about another family squabble, which has become a common practice.

Until one day, someone came back to the town.

An unusual, but nothing special person.He was dressed in a gray robe and held a dust whisk in his hand. He looked about twenty years old, with a handsome face and a free and easy demeanor. He looked aloof.It can be seen at a glance that this person is a true Taoist priest.

The local people's attention naturally shifted to him. After all, in this remote town, it is very rare for a stranger to come.

What's more, this man is not a farmer, a seller, an official, or a student—he is a Taoist priest.

Although it is said that priests are not as rare as gods, but they can't stand the boredom of the townspeople, so they abruptly broke up this Taoist priest with a sense of existence.

When they sat on the threshold after dinner and talked long and short, they talked about this rare Taoist priest.

From eating Dong's cake for breakfast, to stopping for a cup of tea when he passed by Xi's, and then picking a handful of fruits by the Jianhui River, and saying a few words to someone's fortune-telling during the day, there are many things. Details can be subdivided.

Maybe it's a rare joy during the busy farming season, maybe it's instinct to reject outsiders, in short, the people here have carefully understood his behavior and itinerary since the day the Taoist set foot in the village, except for the time of sleeping at night. It can be said that there is nothing left.

After a few days like this, the people in the town discovered that this young Taoist priest actually had some supernatural powers.

The matter has to start with the daughter of the Wang family in Zhendong.

The daughter of the Wang family was surnamed Wang and her name was Qiaozhi, and the townspeople called her Zhiniang.This girl lived up to her name, she was good at weaving, and lived up to the name given to her by her parents.

Zhiniang learned weaving at the age of seven, and after five years and four months of learning, she weaved a bolt of silk satin that everyone praised.

Jianhui satin is not an ordinary material, it is a kind of cloth unique to Jianhui Town.This cloth can be used as a tribute after it is woven, and it can be seen how rare it is from the imperial merchants in the city to the palace.

And its weaving method is particularly peculiar. The peculiarity is not that few people know it, but that every girl in Jianhui Town knows how to weave it, but not everyone can weave it.

Looking at the whole town, apart from Zhenxi, who used to weave cloth in Jinyun Division of the Imperial Palace, there is only Weaver.

The weaver girl is skilled and handsome, and just turned [-] after winter this year, the matchmaker who proposes a marriage has barely broken through the threshold of the Wang family.

However, Miss Wang refused to nod at all, and she just sat by the loom every day, with the shuttle up and down, weaving bolts of high-quality cloth.

And the thoughts of her cardamom years seemed to be twisted into the loom together, leaving only a cold body, not uttering a word in front of the loom.

It was early summer when the Taoist came to Jian and returned to the town. At this time, Zhiniang had been ill for more than half a month.

She was very sick, and fell ill inexplicably in the few days when the weather was hot.

Early that morning, she was preparing to weave as usual, and when she raised her hand to reach the shuttle, she suddenly couldn't lift the small piece of light wood.Then the whole person fell heavily on the half-woven silk satin, unconscious, and when Zhiniang woke up a few days later, she could no longer weave.

It is true that we can no longer weave.

Whenever she got close to the loom and tried to move the shuttle, her hand would suddenly go weak.

In this way, let alone weaving, she didn't even enter the weaving room in the back, and sat in her own yard blankly, watching the sky and clouds, and she sat for a whole day.

Jianhui satin can't be woven in a short time. The weaver has been busy with the half piece of cloth on the machine since years ago, and she only made half of it.But before autumn, the imperial merchants would come down to collect the cloth, and all the cloth returned to the town depended on the imperial merchant's turnover. If the returned cloth could not be completed, the cloth business of the whole town next year would be hopeless.

The whole town was in a state of disquiet, but Zhi Niang's strange disease was rare, and there was nothing they could do.

After the Taoist priests came, they went to Jianhui Street—yes, there is another street named after Jianhui.He set up a stall on Jianhui Street to tell fortune-tellers.

People in Jianhui Town don't know whether the Taoists know how to do fortune-telling, and whether their calculations are accurate or not, but they will come to him with a few fresh pictures. The business is not bad, and they can barely make ends meet.

This fortune-telling booth is set up with a certain degree of attention: Sishi is set up for a whole hour, and Shenshi is set up for a whole hour, neither early nor late, no more, no less, just two hours.In the rest of the time, Taoist priests wandered around, went up mountains and crossed rivers, ate and drank a little bit of wine, which also provided the people in Jianhui town with conversation material.

That day, the people from Jianhui Town watched the Taoist pacing to the door of Wang's house, stopped suddenly, looked at the closed gate of Wang's house for a long time, then walked away thoughtfully, and went back to the small shop where he stayed.

His behavior is intriguing.The strange illness of the daughter of the Wang family was the concern of the whole town, and in their eyes, Taoist priests had something to do with supernatural beings, so they couldn't help but attract people's attention.

So the next day, as soon as the Taoist priest set up the fortune-telling booth, someone came to give money.

It was Zhiniang's father, the mayor Wang Huiqian.It is said that he took this name because the ancestors of the Wang family went to Beijing to become high officials, so he took this name, hoping that he would bring the Wang family back to their former glory.

However, hope has always been an empty hope. It was not until Zhi Niang appeared that there was finally some hope.After all, those who can weave Jianhui satin may have a bright future, and the expectation implied in Wang Huiqian's name will be fulfilled by then.

At this time, Mayor Wang hurried to the Taoist priest, just because he was afraid that the lucky star that his family had finally hoped for would not be able to keep him.

The Taoist priest took his money, and then politely invited him to sit aside.It wasn't until an hour had elapsed that he leisurely closed the stall, put the whisk in his arms in an imposing manner, and said a few words: "Let's go to your house."

Before Wang returned, he led the man to the outside of his daughter's courtyard, looking at the tightly closed wooden door with a helpless expression on his face: "Master Daoist, Zhiniang doesn't go out these days, how can she be better?"

The Taoist walked around the area, and after about a stick of incense, he came back and asked, "The door bolt is inside and there is no exit. Does it mean that she doesn't even eat?"

"Food is for eating," Wang said back, "I don't go out until half an hour after eating."

"That's enough," the Taoist priest nodded, with a confident look on his face, "When you have dinner tomorrow, tell her that there is a ritual to pray to the heavens at noon when you go back to the river to keep your parents healthy and happy, and ask her if you want go."

"Here, I haven't heard of any sacrificial ceremony..."

The Taoist gave him a look: "Of course it's to lie to her. At noon tomorrow, I'll be waiting under the Jianhui Bridge."

The sentence "Naturally deceived her" was taken for granted by the Taoist priest, which added a lot of courage for no reason, so the worry that was full of worries before the king's return was shrunk back.

This incident was soon known by the people of Jianhui Town, and at noon the next day, the trees and bushes by the bridge were full of people hiding.

Wang Qiaozhi didn't show up for half a month, so when she appeared by the river, a young man behind the tree screamed in a low voice. Miss Wang was alarmed.

She stood there hesitantly, as if considering whether to move forward or turn her head.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Taoist hurriedly came out from under the bridge, rushed to Miss Wang and made a misty salute, and then said: "Miss, have you been trapped by demons lately?"

Wang Qiaozhi hadn't gone out for many days, so naturally he didn't know about the big and small matters in the town, let alone a Taoist priest coming to the town, so when he saw this person, he was stunned for a moment.

Fortunately, the Taoist priest was very skilled on the surface. Miss Wang was taken aback for a while, and then thoughtfully returned the gift, without seeming to doubt it.

"The Taoist priest is indeed extraordinary, and the little girl is indeed a little confused recently."

The Taoist nodded solemnly: "As soon as I saw you, I knew something was a little troublesome."

Wang Qiaozhi was obviously taken aback, and then hesitated: "The Taoist is serious? I wonder if there is a way to resolve it?"

"Yes, there are," the Taoist said sincerely, "I see that the girl has a predestined relationship with Taoism, and I would like to help the girl, but the girl must act according to what the poor Taoist said."

"Master, please speak."

"Miss, please look at the river and recite your wish silently."

The Jianhui River is gurgling and flowing, the water surface is clear and rippling, and the round stones on both sides reflect the colorful sunlight, which is really beautiful.

But no matter how beautiful it is, it is at most a beautiful river, and there is nothing unusual about it.

The Taoist priest held the fly whisk in his hand and muttered something for a long time, but there was no response.Wang Qiaozhi couldn't help becoming suspicious, and was about to turn around to ask what happened, when suddenly there was a wave on the water.

The waves gradually spread from small to large, and gradually spread across the entire water surface, suddenly forming a large vortex in the middle, a strong wind blew past, and then a black shadow jumped out of the midair.

Wang Qiaozhi tremblingly pointed at the hovering black shadow and asked the priest: "Master, what is this?"

The Taoist gave her a calm look: "This is a dragon."

Wang Qiaozhi was frightened and knelt down on the ground in a hurry, bowing down.The people hiding in the bushes were also taken aback when they heard the words, and suddenly they couldn't care less about hiding, and they all came out and knelt down to the black shadow.

Only the Taoist priest stood steadily, with a detached demeanor, staring at the black shadow without fear.

The black shadow hovered for about half an hour, then flew to a higher place, disappeared above the clouds, and disappeared without a trace.

The old Taoist god looked at the crowd from the ground: "The dragon has returned, everyone please rise."

The people who got up from the ground looked at the Taoist priest differently, full of genuine reverence.

The Taoist priest looked at these peeping guys as nothing, turned his head and gave Wang Qiaozhi a light gift: "Girl, what I asked for just now will be fulfilled, so I will take my leave now."

This farewell is not an ordinary farewell, it is a farewell that we will never see each other again.No matter how enthusiastically the people of Jianhui town begged, the Taoist still stepped out of Jianhui town that afternoon without hesitation.

The author has something to say:

The ending has been written, you can rest assured to collect it