Painter

Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Jingsang Gate is on the halfway up Wushan Mountain. It is built of blue bricks and is more than ten feet wide.In the past, Empress Liang of the first dynasty used to come out from Qixiang Gate of Xuandu every year to go to Zhixingshan to worship Buddha, and she must pass through here.The so-called only the sang and the blue, must be respectful. Empress Liang would stop every time she passed the customs, and meditate for a while before getting up again.

However, 20 years ago, Xuandu cleaned up the water transport, dug a river channel for transporting stone materials on the east side of Wushan Mountain, and repaired the road.Nowadays, when people from Xuandu go to Zhixing Mountain, they often take the main road of Jindu Town, and the Jingsang Gate on Wushan Mountain has been abandoned.

After Wushan was abandoned, the mountain temple lost its aura. Although there were occasional scholars who lived in the mountain or people in mourning who offered incense to it, the gods in the temple also withered.There is a row of tile-roofed houses built on the pass outside the temple, and the tile-roofed houses are in good order. Although the red-painted wooden pillars, doors and windows have peeled off their paint, they are not too old as a whole, and there is no dust on the guardrail outside the door.

The sky darkened quickly, and there was no one in the tile house. Li Chan went up the stone steps beside the pass and found the study.After looking around, there was still half a candle left on the square table by the window, and the candle tears had condensed into a puddle on the rough pottery candlestick.He lit the moxa fire sickle, and as soon as the candle was lit, the mosquitoes in the mountain gathered together.

This is the room where Zhao Yanqing read books. There are books such as "Fu Xue Zheng Hu" and "Pian Ti Wen Chao" beside the table.Books are precious, but the scholar left them here.Li Chan opened the drawer and saw a stack of papers. Looking at the candlelight, there were some articles and poems on the paper, and the word "Qingluo" repeated dozens of times. "The word, together is "Xue Qingluo".

Although the candle was on, it was suppressed by the pitch black sky and only illuminated a desk. Most of Lian Yi's body stood in the eerie darkness. She said, "This is the woman he never forgets."

"Probably so." Li Chan glanced at the darkening sky outside the window, and then at the half of Lianyi's face reflecting the candlelight, "A common girl at your age should be afraid of the dark."

Lianyi looked at Li Chan in surprise. As a disciple of the Great Bodhi Temple, this was the first time she saw someone who dared to tease her.But after thinking about it, I understood that these words seemed to be frivolous, but they were reminding her not to reveal her identity.

At this moment, Li Chan suddenly raised her head and looked out the window. Under the gate of Jingsang, the rocky mountain road was covered by branches and leaves. There was a pale figure. It looked like a woman. She was looking up to this side. She could only see her movements but not her face.

After only looking this way, she walked up the stone steps, her figure blocked by the wall.Lian Yi took half a step forward and looked out the window, but the woman had disappeared, only the rustling of leaves and the buzzing of insects remained.

Li Chan and Lianyi looked at each other, and there were footsteps approaching outside the door.

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

Li Chan and Lian Yi looked at the door together without saying a word.

"Zhao Lang..."

"Zhao Lang?"

The woman outside the door called softly.

Lianyi let out an "ah" softly, with a hint of panic in her tone.

Li Chan glanced at Lian Yi approvingly, and stepped forward to open the door.I saw a woman standing outside the door, dressed in filial piety, with delicate eyes, apricot cheeks and peach cheeks, and two clouds hanging down her ears.She looked surprised, and looked past him to Lian Yi, "You are..."

Li Chandan looked at the woman. In Dan's eyes, the woman's face was pale, her lips were black and blue, and her body seemed to be there.He said calmly, "Is this lady surnamed Xue?"

The young woman was startled, and then saluted, "The little girl's surname is Xue, and her name is Qingluo. Did Zhao Lang tell you about me? Zhao Lang..."

Lianyi came up at this moment, blocking Li Chan behind her, "Is the lady in mourning on this mountain?"

"Yes." Xue Qingluo's eyes wandered between Li Chan and Lian Yi, "I was on the mountain with my mother, mourning for my father. It has been 26 months, and you still haven't mentioned Zhao Lang..."

Li Chan looked at Xue Qingluo. The hem of this woman's filial piety was uneven, with no hem, in a cut-off style.There were double maids hanging by her ears again, obviously she hadn't betrothed yet.This woman was born handsome and dressed in filial piety, so it's no wonder that the scholar was tempted.Unfortunately, this Miss Xue is not human.

Lian Yi smiled and said: "Zhao Yanqing is dead, how could you not know?"

"Zhao Lang is dead?" Xue Qingluo's eyes widened and her lips trembled.She took two steps back, her heel tripped over a protruding brick, she staggered and fell, and without getting up, she murmured in a dazed way: "It was I who killed him... I knew people and ghosts go different ways, so I shouldn't have met him... ..."

This remark made Lianyi a little puzzled, she had already seen through the identity of this ghost with Tianyantong, but she didn't expect that this ghost would take the initiative to admit it, she pondered for a moment, and asked: "What's going on?"

Xue Qingluo bit her lower lip, "He...he was killed by the mountain god."

Lian Yi said: "Mountain God?"

"That's right." Xue Qingluo gritted her teeth tightly, "It's the mountain god."

Lianyi said: "The mountain god protects one side, how can he harm people?"

Xue Qingluo said bitterly: "Since Wushan was abandoned, the mountain god has rarely been worshiped with incense, so he has evil thoughts. My mother and I were observing the filial piety on the mountain. Ghosts... more, more..."

When it came to the latter, Xue Qingluo couldn't continue.But looking at her expression of shame and indignation, one could guess what she was going to say.Li Chan was thoughtful, with a sneer that seemed to be absent from the corner of his mouth.

Lianyi said solemnly: "Everything you said is true?"

"Every sentence is true." Xue Qingluo pursed her lips, "You two really shouldn't come here, but it's already dark tonight, and it's inconvenient for you two to go out of the mountain, so just stay here for a night. I think you two I'm not someone who waits for nothing, just be careful tonight and leave early tomorrow."

"No need." Lianyi stared at Xue Qingluo, "Miss Xue, can you lead me to find the Wushan Mountain God?"

(End of this chapter)