Please call me Huanxian

Chapter 1 One Money

Qingping County, at the foot of Izumo Mountain.

The eaves are low and the stream is green.

"call……"

Xu Yuanchang, who was thin and slim, exhaled a long breath of turbid breath like white mist. He slowly opened his eyes, his cheeks were rosy, and his sick appearance faded away.

Unable to hide the joyful smile in his eyes, he lifted his legs and got out of bed, stretching his body and feeling indescribably comfortable.

I practiced the art of breathing out last night and was surprised to find that I could feel the breath. I breathed out again this morning and the feeling of breath became more and more obvious. After ten years on the mountain, I am finally proud and have the opportunity to become an official disciple of Izumo-kan.

He picked up the short gray preaching robe neatly stacked on the old wooden chair, shook it out and put it on.

Squatting down halfway, he put his trouser legs into his socks, tied them into leggings with cloth tape, put on a pair of new cloth shoes with round mouths that he was reluctant to wear, washed himself with water, and put his hair back into a bun. He felt refreshed. .

Open the door to the room and walk out easily.

In the early morning, Izumo Mountain is filled with mist, ancient trees are lush, and hundreds of birds are chirping.

A Taoist priest in green robes walked towards him on the rugged path. He was about thirty years old, with a white face and short beard, and his face was expressionless.

The green-robed Taoist priest stopped, looked at Xu Yuanchang who was saluting by the side of the mountain road, and said: "Deacon Luo, let me inform you that you are no longer qualified to be a handyman in the outer courtyard. Go to the dormitory to settle your wages. Come down the mountain today."

His tone was calm and he left immediately after speaking.

The long sound of copper bells could be heard from halfway up the mountain. Morning classes at the Taoist temple were over and breakfast was about to begin.

Xu Yuanchang was stunned for a moment, and then shouted: "Manager Lu, I've been cultivating the sense of qi..."

Manager Lu, who walked a few steps away, did not look back and said coldly: "So what? Someone accused you of being lazy at work because of fear of difficulty and of choosing easy things over hard ones. You are over 18 years old, so go down the mountain."

There is no room for accommodation.

Taoist boys worth cultivating stand out as early as three years after going up the mountain to find the sense of qi. After the age of 15, even if they can cultivate the sense of qi, they are classified as inferior talents, and it is difficult to introduce the qi into the body and cross the threshold of "refining the qi". Become a formal monk.

There are many handymen in Taoist temples who have a sense of Qi. In addition to increasing their strength, they can eat more bowls of dry rice.

Nothing.

Xu Yuanchang's outstretched hand froze in the air, and he actually said he was lazy? He found a good reason why he was speechless.

The original owner of this body was submissive and timid. Except for the first three years when he went up the mountain, he had time to read and practice martial arts. In the next seven years, he stayed on the mountain as a handyman and was ordered to carry water, chop wood, light fires, chop vegetables, etc. every day. Cleaning the kitchen, planting vegetables and other chores, doing cattle and horses, etc., it is so busy that it is difficult to have a moment of leisure.

In the evening, they have to go to the mid-mountain to clean the courtyards of several side halls, or they may be asked to go down the mountain to do odd jobs, or follow the mage and Taoist boys to perform all-night rituals.

Who said that the original owner was weak-tempered, but the dough was just as easy to knead as it was?

I'm so tired that I can fall asleep just by touching the bed, so how can I have the energy to meditate and practice?
Suffering from oppression and overwork, he became ill.

In mid-spring, in the middle of the month, when the weather turns warm and cold, I was sweating and catching a cold after being ill a few days ago. I struggled to finish my work. Late at night, I had a high fever and coughed, and I couldn't breathe. I was pierced by the soul of the overtime dog who died suddenly on the earth.

He took a five-day leave to integrate his memories, adapt to the new environment, and prepare medicine to nurse his body on the verge of collapse. During this period, he declined all kinds of chores forced on him.

After less than four days of training, he ended up being "fearful of difficulties and lazy, and choosing easy things to avoid hard things" and was dismissed.

Xu Yuanchang shook his head mockingly, "I don't want to leave you here, I have my own place to stay."

But before leaving, he had to settle those old accounts, which were all the hard-earned money of the original owner.

Returning to the hut room, he took out the account book from the bottom of the glove box under the bed, looked through it for a while, and put it in his sleeve.

By the time he arrived at the dining hall halfway up the mountain, the handymen sitting around the kitchen for dinner had already spread the news about his dismissal, laughing and joking about him without saying a single word of comfort or warmth.

Xu Yuanchang smiled and didn't bother to answer. He just took a bowl to make porridge, took three large cooking cakes, sat on an empty seat, and finished the cooking cakes and porridge as if no one was around.

"Hey, this kid can still eat. Could it be that his head hit the door and he was stupid?"

"He's always been a tough guy, heartless."

"Pah", Xu Yuanchang put down his chopsticks hard, interrupted the teasing of the people opposite him, took out his account book, flipped it over, and said: "Yang Laowu, you owe me 332 coppers in the past three years. You have to raise the money to pay it off in the morning. .”

Ignoring the stunned look of the burly man opposite, he looked at the other person.

"Ma Laosan, you owe me two hundred and eighty-four coppers."

He killed seven people in one breath, and the least one owed him more than sixty coppers.

Not counting the handymen who left the mountain before.

Xu Yuanchang lamented in his heart that the original owner was a good-natured person but was bullied. After he became a formal handyman at the age of fifteen, apart from the four sets of clothes and shoes he was issued every year, he worked hard in the mountains and his monthly salary of one hundred copper coins was almost spent. Being "borrowed" by someone, he died of cowardice.

Yang Laowu's mouth showed sarcasm, he clenched his fists and sneered, and said arrogantly: "I have no money, I will give you my life, how dare you take it?"

Several others passed by with initial shock, threatening eyes, or serious disdain.

"You kid is so rebellious that you dare to falsely accuse me of owing you money?"

"It's empty talk, bring me the IOU."

"That's right, your boy still owes me three hundred dollars. They can all testify to it. Pay it back soon."

There was a lot of talk and anger.

Xu Yuanchang stood up, put the account book into his arms, supported the table with both hands, leaned over and stared at Yang Laowu opposite who owed the most money, and said: "Three years ago, you borrowed fifty copper coins from me for the first time, go We were gambling at the "Jinliu Tower" in town. You put your fingerprints on the ledger. And you guys either went to town to drink wine or gambled and listened to the opera. Every entry was recorded in the ledger. It really started to make a fuss. Qinglu The hospital is settling accounts with you, and you don’t want to do any errands anymore? You want to be punished, right?"

He is no longer the weak and cowardly original owner. Now he is barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. He looks around at everyone with a menacing and tough attitude.

It is these filthy goods who bully the original owner the most.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that the outer courtyard turned a blind eye and let it go.

Ma Laosan next to him rolled his eyes, stood up and apologized: "Brother Xu, please bear with me for two days. We will raise money to pay you back, so we can reconcile and break up." He also put his fingerprints on the account book once, but he didn't expect it. He was as soft as a slug, but he was so tough before leaving, and he showed it as evidence.

Yang Laowu also reacted and coaxed him to pay back the money with nice words, but he had to give him time.

They don't want to lose their job as a handyman in the Izumokan outer courtyard, and they won't pay back the money.

Xu Yuanchang pushed away the palm on his shoulder, turned around and went out, calling to the table next door where people were dining: "Manager Lu, someone owes money and refuses to pay it back, please make the decision..."

He is not stupid, how could he believe Yang Laowu and others' plan to delay the war.

Since you've already been fired, let's make a fuss about it.

If Manager Lu is on good terms with Xini, he will go to see Deacon Luo and the Taoist priests. If there is no trouble at this time, when will we wait?

Yang Laowu and Ma Laosan chased after them. When they saw the stewards at the table, all the stewards looked over. Steward Lu's eyes were particularly stern, and he hurriedly said, "Pay back the money. I'll raise the money to pay you back immediately."

They almost called me "Master", but was it such a big fuss?

Others in the kitchen came out with their rice bowls, enjoying the farce.

When the sun rose three poles high, Xu Yuanchang went down the mountain along the gurgling stream with a coarse cloth bundle on his back and an old peach wood sword slanted on his waist.

After settling old accounts, he walked briskly and headed straight to the archway at the foot of the mountain.

Yang Laowu and others were busy with their own work during the day, so it was impossible for them to take time off to go down the mountain.

He was not afraid of the large number of people on the other side and intercepted him near the mountain gate to take revenge.

Manager Lu is also a shameless person.

Heading east along the road, we arrived at Qianshan Town, twenty miles away, in the dust at noon.

The sun was in the sky, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Xu Yuanchang walked into a street shop. He was really hungry. He ordered a big bowl of braised pork noodle soup and three meat noodle pancakes. He drank all the soup before he could suppress his hunger and feel satisfied. The ground burped.

He took out ten copper coins from his sleeve, put them in a pile on the counter, turned around and was about to leave.

"Please wait a moment, sir. This store will not accept your money!"

The noodle shop owner behind the counter held a copper coin and handed it back to Xu Yuanchang, who looked slightly surprised, with a smile.

Taking the "spending money" which was as thick as an ordinary copper coin, Xu Yuanchang looked carefully. The copper coin was round on the outside and square on the inside. The front was engraved with the Bagua Yang pattern, and the back was four complicated characters. The strokes were interspersed and connected to form a whole.

After spending ten years at Izumokan, he recognized it as a "Dharma coin" that had been handed down from an unknown age. The edges were badly worn and the copper was shiny.

I don’t know when it was time to repay the money, but he sneaked in to top up the money?

I heard that every thirty years, the Taoist court of the Daning Dynasty would mint Dharma coins and distribute them to various Taoist palaces and Taoist temples to pray for Dharma. Therefore, many people lived in the countryside, which was also called "spending money". However, without incense and consecration, there was no money. Very useful.

Before going down the mountain, he strung other copper coins on a string and put them into his bag, carrying only some loose money in his sleeves.

Staring at the four characters to identify, my eyes suddenly fell into a trance, and I seemed to hear the sound of ethereal fairy music in my ears. A hazy and majestic Taoist temple appeared vaguely, with white clouds like a tide, covering the plaque...

"My guest, my guest."

The noodle shop owner called Xu Yuanchang out of his daze several times in succession.

Xu Yuanchang smiled apologetically, took out a normal copper coin and handed it to the shopkeeper. He held the magic coin in his palm and walked out.

I looked up at the scorching sun in the sky. Was it an illusion just now?

Or has this piece of money been consecrated by incense and become a rare magic weapon with some magical properties?
Walking on the street, Xu Yuanchang stared at the money and looked it over and over again. He couldn't find anything strange anymore. He suspected that he was dazzled.

"Taoist Priest, please stay!"

A round-faced man wearing a blue satin robe hurriedly walked over, with a handsome figure. He held his hands and smiled politely: "Can you take a step to talk?" He extended his hand to the east.

Xu Yuanchang put away the Dharma money, clasped his hands in Tai Chi pose, and replied with Taoist etiquette: "If you have anything to do with me, I can tell you here."

He looked at the man with a slightly worried expression on his brows and did not leave easily with him.

At lunch time, there were few people in the town. The round-faced man was about forty years old. Seeing no one around, he lowered his voice and said, "Are you going down the mountain from Izumo-kan?"

Xu Yuanchang roughly guessed what the other party wanted from him, and nodded slightly: "Exactly."

The round-faced man's eyes were filled with joy and he continued to ask: "Do you know how to exorcise evil spirits?"

It's a twenty-mile journey to Izumo-Kan, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth. I heard that Taoist priests who can walk down the mountain from Izumo-Kan are all good at it.

The Taoist priest in front of him looked young and had a calm demeanor, which suited him very well.

The little Taoist priests you meet on the road must charge a lot.

"Know a thing or two."

Xu Yuanchang replied honestly.

He had less than two copper coins in his bag, but he still had to collect the money. How could he be in such a good situation when he returned home this time?

The original owner's parents died of illness a few years ago before he could go down the mountain to visit his relatives before he was fifteen years old. His eldest brother and sister had already started a family, so he probably didn't have a place to live.

There is nothing wrong with him earning some subsidies when he encounters business on the road.

The original owner followed the Taoist priest and Taoist boy down the mountain to perform rituals to ward off evil spirits and settle the house. He had seen this many times.

Now he has found the sense of Qi, his Qi and blood are stronger than ordinary people, and he is not afraid of the invasion of ordinary evil spirits.

……

　In the new year, a new book sets sail. I ask old and new friends to support me and make corrections. Please add it to your collection, vote, and read it. Thank you all!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)