Chapter 2 The Old Liar and the Little Fellow

The young Taoist Qingyang left the city and walked along the road for a while. When he came to a fork, he walked along the small road towards a group of small hills. After walking for more than half an hour, he bypassed a valley and climbed up the mountain from the back. He saw a dilapidated small Taoist temple in the distance.

The Taoist temple was extremely dilapidated. It was unknown how many years it had passed. There were rotten beams, rotten tiles, broken bricks, and traces of repairs everywhere, as if it could collapse at any time. The small Taoist temple was really small, with a radius of only two or three feet, and there was not even a yard. The main hall was at the entrance, and there was only a little space in the corners on both sides of the main hall as their usual resting place.

The main hall was empty, and the edge could be seen at a glance. The master, the old Taoist priest Songhe, did not know where he had gone. Qingyang was wondering when suddenly an old voice said, "Little bastard, why did you come back at this time? Do you want to starve me to death?"

Qingyang followed the voice to the back of the Taoist temple, and saw a sloppy old Taoist lying on the stone under a crooked tree. The old Taoist had white hair and beard, and wore a worn-out Taoist robe. He was thin and had a ruddy complexion. He brushed his beard with one hand and rested his other hand behind his head. If you ignore his shabby clothes, he could be considered a man with white hair and a youthful face.

This old Taoist was none other than the young Taoist Qingyang's master, Songhe Zhenren. Next to the old Taoist was a huge wine gourd. Sniffing it, there was a faint smell of wine. I don't know how much the master drank. He was already drunk before noon.

Seeing the carefree look of the old Taoist priest, Qingyang was immediately filled with grievances and said, "You say I am a bastard, then what are you, Master? I work hard to make money outside, and you lie at home leisurely drinking. I have to cook for you when I come back? Is there any justice?"

The old Taoist priest Songhe narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled, "I am your master. It is natural for the disciple to serve the master. I worked hard to raise you, isn't it just for today? Do you think I, Songhe Zhenren, have to cook a meal myself?"

The young Taoist priest Qingyang snorted coldly and said, "I'm afraid this is the purpose of your tricking me to go up the mountain? Old liar! If not, If it were you, I might be sitting in the Imperial College of Xiping Prefecture taking the exam. If I were a little luckier, I would pass the exam and have a promising future in the second half of my life. It would be better than living with clay sculptures and wooden carvings on the mountain. "

Hearing Qingyang's words, the old Taoist priest Songhe raised his two white eyebrows and said angrily: "You ungrateful little bastard, if it weren't for my master who brought you to the mountain, you would have been starved to death by your mean sister-in-law."

Qingyang called Songhe an old liar, and he was not wronged at all. This old Taoist priest Songhe cheated, ate, drank, gambled, stole, and did all kinds of bad things when he was young? Otherwise, Qingyang would not have learned his skill of being empty-handed.

Of course, Songhe did not rely on these skills to bully ordinary people. These were just his means of self-protection. The rivers and lakes are dangerous and survival is difficult. Without any means of self-defense, how could the old Taoist priest Songhe live peacefully until now?

However, what the young Taoist Qingyang said was not wrong. He was indeed kidnapped from the mountain ten years ago by Songhe. Qingyang originally lived in a small town below Xiping Prefecture. His family was relatively well off. After his parents passed away, he lived with his brother and sister-in-law. Unfortunately, his brother and sister-in-law were not virtuous. He suffered a lot when he was only five or six years old. Being beaten and starved was commonplace.

Under normal circumstances, Qingyang didn't know whether he could live to adulthood. Later, he was met by Songhe who was traveling there. Seeing that he was pitiful, he used a string of candied haws to kidnap Qingyang to the mountain.

Although Song He had led Qing Yang up the mountain, he had saved his life. Qing Yang could not refute, so he said angrily: "You lied to me first. You said that you were the descendant of a god and had many ways to become a god. I followed you to the mountain because I could become a godly master that everyone admired. But what have you taught me all these years? All tricks of cheating. What are you if not an old liar?"

Song He blushed when his apprentice exposed his shortcomings, and said: "Is cheating not a skill? You can still support your family if you learn it well."

"Anyway, you cheated me." Qing Yang, a young Taoist priest, was still unconvinced.

"You can't blame me for this. My master fooled me in the beginning. Our temple is now only left with these tricks of deception. What else can I teach you if I don't teach you these?"

Old Taoist priest Songhe first expressed his grievances, and then said: "I have passed on all my skills to you. Now there is only the broken temple and this wine gourd next to me. You can take whatever you like? This wine gourd is the token of the head of our temple. It is said to be an amazing treasure. I will pass it on to you today. Maybe one day in the future you can study it out. Come."

Since childhood, Qingyang has studied the wine gourd countless times, but he has never found anything special about it. After hearing what his master said, he curled his lips and said, "You are using that broken gourd to deceive me again. Who would believe it? You should just keep it and pretend to be a wine drinker."

Seeing that Qingyang was not fooled, Songhe picked up the wine gourd, took a sip of wine for himself, and said with a smile, "Forget it if you don't want it. I will keep it for drinking. Little bastard, why don't you hurry up and cook? I am almost starving to death, and I have wasted half a day here with you. "

Just now, the two of them were just bickering out of habit, and they would not get angry just because someone called them a little bastard or an old liar. The two of them have been dependent on each other for nearly ten years, and their feelings are very deep. They have long surpassed the relationship between master and apprentice, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are father and son.

Not only Master Songhe was hungry, but Qingyang was also hungry. The dry food he brought with him when he entered the city was eaten up last night. He had been traveling for a whole morning, and he was already starving. Qingyang had to pout at Songhe and turned to enter the Taoist temple to prepare lunch.

Qingyang and Songhe's lunch was very simple, just a little brown rice cooked with a small dish of pickled vegetables. Qingyang prepared the meal, and then said to the back: "Old liar, it's time to eat."

"Master, my legs are numb from lying down, bring me the meal." Songhe said.

Master had given orders, so Qingyang had to do what he was told. He filled a bowl of rice and carried it to the back of the Taoist temple, muttering as he walked: "He really knows how to order people around. Let me bring the rice to him now. If he can't move in the future, I don't know how to serve him."

Songhe seemed to have good ears, and continued: "You are the disciple and I am the master. Just bear with it. When you become the master one day, you can also order him around."

"Humph, by then I will have a few more disciples, at least four or five, one to massage his legs, one to fan him, one to pour tea, and one to serve rice. I'll envy you to death." Qingyang said.