Chapter 221: The Duck Day is here again (13)

Hot summer.

Eastern Capital, Imperial Palace.

A red-robed eunuch hurried into a bathhouse. Hearing the noises in the bathhouse, he looked anxious and paced back and forth, but did not dare to go in and disturb them.

After about a cup of tea, a message suddenly came from inside.

The red-robed eunuch then hurriedly lowered his head and went in.

Don’t say that eunuchs can stop considering themselves as men and enter and leave the palace at will.

In ancient times, no one could act rudely in front of the emperor.

Even looking up at the emperor was a capital offense.

The red-robed eunuch lowered his head, walked three steps in, and immediately knelt down and greeted:
"May the saint be blessed with good health."

When the current emperor Li Longji saw that it was his close eunuch, he waved his hand and asked Mei Fei, who was rubbing his shoulders, to leave. Then he asked with a smile: "Have you met the young lady from the Yang family?"

The red-robed eunuch buried his head in his crotch and replied, "Your Majesty, I did see it."

Li Longji immediately became interested and asked:

"Oh, is the young lady from the Yang family really as stunningly beautiful as the rumors say?"

"This...it's hard for me to say."

The red-robed eunuch gritted his teeth, bowed again, and replied:

"To answer your question, the young lady from the Yang family is probably beautiful, but she has a bad temper. As soon as she saw me, she threw a sword and said, 'Gao Lishi, you dog slave, quickly ask your Sanlang to release my father. If you dare to say 'no', I will take a sword and go to the Taiji Hall tomorrow to have a clear discussion with him.' My lord, the young lady from the Yang family is really good at martial arts. The twelve Qianniu Guards I brought with me were not even a match for her."

"Haha, that's really interesting."

After hearing what Gao Lishi said, Li Longji not only did not feel scared or angry, but became interested and asked Gao Lishi to tell him in detail about their meeting.

Gao Lishi explained it again in detail.

Li Longji's eyes sparkled when he heard this:
"This is a wonderful woman."

Seeing that the emperor was interested, Gao Lishi quickly spoke again:

"Saint, this young lady from the Yang family is indeed a remarkable woman, but her martial arts are too powerful. I'm afraid that except for a few old priests in our palace, no one can catch her. I heard that this young lady from the Yang family has a master who can fly around, which is probably even more amazing. Please, Saint, please put the state first, or... spare her."

After being persuaded by Gao Lishi, the anger in Li Longji's heart cooled down a little, and he started to ask who the master of the young lady from the Yang family was.

Unfortunately, Gao Lishi couldn't find out the details at all.

Things are at a slight stalemate.

Li Longji had no choice but to let Gao Lishi make his own decision and resolve the matter in advance.

In short, Li Longji was not very old at this time, and his pursuit of immortality was not particularly strong, but he had great respect for the hermits.

Gao Lishi kowtowed with a wry smile, then hurried out of the palace to do his business.

This is easier said than done.

After all, Yang Xuanyan was an innocent person who was implicated, so all he needed to do was to clear his name.

The problem was that Li Longji wanted to bring the young lady from the Yang family into the palace, and Gao Lishi really had no idea what to do for a while.

In Gao Lishi's opinion, the young lady from the Yang family was an extraordinary woman who was determined to cultivate immortality, so how could she possibly enter the palace to accompany the king?

That night, the Yang family took Yang Xuanyan, who had been detained for five days, away from the Dali Temple.

"Father, mother, please forgive me for being unfilial."

Yang Yunu took her father back to the inn, and with a plop, she knelt on the ground, her eyes red, and kowtowed three times with tears in her eyes, saying in a sad voice:

"Dad, Mom, there are countless people in Dongdu paying attention to me. If I continue to stay with you, it will definitely bring you misfortune. I can only bid farewell to you and travel far away. I will not be able to serve you in the future, so please don't blame me."

"It's okay, Dad understands."

Yang Xuanyan had long known that as his daughter showed off her abilities in order to save his life, trouble would surely arise.

In this case, my daughter rescued me from the Dali Temple, which was already a repayment of gratitude. If I ask for too much, according to what my daughter said, it might be "unpredictable blessing or disaster".

That night, Yang Yunu talked with her parents all night.

The next day, under the watchful eyes of many forces, Yang Yunu walked out of Dongdu and then flew away on a cloud.

When the news reached all the major powers, discussions on metaphysics and seeking immortality began to spread throughout the Eastern Capital, and finally even the court began to debate it.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year.

Su Mingzhe accompanied Yang Yunu quietly back to Chang'an. Hearing that the voices of discussing metaphysics and Taoism were still prevalent in the world, he couldn't help but shake his head secretly.

"It seems that without Yang Yuhuan in this world, there will inevitably be a Zhang Yuhuan and a Liu Yuhuan in the future."

"Since ancient times, when kings were incompetent, they would always blame their faults on women."

All Yang Yunu can guarantee now is the safety of her own family. As for the king's affairs, they have nothing to do with her.

Even towards the Yang family, Yang Yunu did not dare to take too much care of them.

In history, Yang Yunu's three sisters were not people who could be taken care of without any worries.

After Yang Yunu's rise to fame, the Yang family also benefited from the success of one person.

After ten years of prosperity.

With Yang Yunu being hanged to death, the entire Yang family collapsed in an instant and turned into ashes.

In Yang Yunu's eyes, this generation of the Yang family has failed, and she can only focus on the next generation.

Yang Xuanyan had a total of six wives and concubines, and had seventeen children, ten of whom survived.

The family still alive today includes four legitimate daughters, five illegitimate daughters, and one illegitimate son.

The child mortality rate is over two-fifths, which is very common in this era.

Every time Yang Yunu visited her parents during the Spring Festival, she would also guide and educate her sisters. Under Yang Yunu's training and education, although the girls of the Yang family did not marry into wealthy families, at least they lived a good life.

His only illegitimate brother also passed the imperial examination and was sent to serve as an official in other places after he came of age.

More than ten years later, Zhang Guo was invited by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Just like what Yang Yunu said.

Zhang Guo is an old Taoist priest, although he may be old at heart.

He directly stated that if the emperor wanted to learn his secret of immortality, he must ask his sister Princess Yuzhen to marry him.

Li Longji wanted to agree, but Princess Yuzhen, who had long since become a nun, disagreed at all.

Princess Yuzhen's reaction was particularly strong. When she heard that her brother was going to marry her to a Taoist priest, she wrote a memorial directly to her brother, the emperor, requesting the removal of her title of royal princess and severing her ties with the royal family from then on.

When Li Longji saw that his sister was so resistant, he gave up the idea and prepared to select a woman from the people to serve Zhang Guozhen.

After a year of selection, thirty-six beauties were chosen and all of them were sent to become Kundao to serve Zhang Guo.

The past happened again, and Yang Yunu couldn't help but recall the past. For a moment, she couldn't control her emotions, and said to the man beside her:
"Sir, this Holy Emperor has chosen thirty-six female Taoists to serve Zhang Guo. Zhang Guo promised to leave one daughter to Li Longji and teach him the true immortality method, but the other thirty-five will be used as furnaces and die early."

Su Mingzhe thought that the woman was sentimental and felt sorry for her, so he spoke to comfort her:

"If you have a close sister, we can rescue her."

"Humph!"

After hearing what the man said, Yang Yunu immediately put away her false righteousness and sneered:
"Back then, all 36 beauties knew that only one could survive. On the surface, they were all sisters, but secretly they were fighting to the death. How could there be any affection between them?"

There is one thing Yang Yunu didn't say.

Even if there was some kindness back then, more than a thousand years have passed and that kindness has long disappeared.

In the days that followed, Yang Yunu and Su Mingzhe returned to their previous simple and secluded life, farming when they were busy and traveling and visiting immortals to ask for advice when they were free.

In this way, a hundred years passed in a flash.

After her parents and sisters passed away, Yang Yunu no longer paid attention to the affairs of the Yang family.

After all, the family relationship has become a little distant.

During the Anshi Rebellion.

Yang Yunu once took action and killed all the alchemists around Li Longji at that time.

This is revenge.

On this day, Su Mingzhe calculated that it was almost the Day of the Lunar New Year.

Remembering that the clay figurine that sealed a wisp of Sanqi's spirit was still with him, Su Mingzhe asked Yang Yunu to take care of the house, and he went to the underworld alone to return the clay figurine to Mengpo Sanqi.

After Su Mingzhe left, Yang Yunu felt a little uncomfortable at first.

After all, I haven't tried this kind of life alone for many years.

Fortunately, this world is vast and boundless, and even if Yang Yunu gets tired of being alone, she can still wander around.

The area around Qingniu Mountain was originally barren and desolate, with no human habitation.

However, as the Tang Dynasty developed and the population increased, more and more mountain people migrated here.

Three villages appeared nearby, each with about a hundred people.

The earliest villages were mainly inhabited by monks and nuns who returned to secular life and their surname was Shi.

Another village is a branch of the Lu clan, whose surname is Tian.

Another branch is the descendants of criminals. They are not allowed to use their original surname, so they changed it to Zhou.

These three tribes intermarry, and when they encounter outsiders, they will form a village to protect themselves.

In recent decades, there have often been natural disasters and man-made disasters, and many people have migrated here and left.

After going back and forth, these three tribes have been preserved intact.

These three tribes have been here for a long time and they know that there is a forbidden area nearby called Qingniu Mountain.

On the Qingniu Mountain lived a pair of immortal lovers who could not only ride on the clouds and mist and live forever, but also control the wind, rain, thunder and lightning.

This year, there was another severe drought.

Seeing that there would be no harvest this year, the three village chiefs gathered together to discuss a solution.

The village chief Tian, ​​who was from a relatively small village, spoke first, anxiously:

"Brother Shi, tell me, what should we do this year? If things continue like this, our village will not be able to survive."

"it's the same."

Village chief Shi took a puff of Shijia Village's unique dry tobacco, and his wrinkled dark face was full of helplessness: "Recently, our village is also running out of food. Every day we have only a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun. The elderly and women don't even have steamed buns. God is pushing the poor to death."

Seeing that Village Chief Shi had no other options, Village Chief Zhou exchanged glances with Village Chief Tian and said:

"Second Brother Shi, actually, Brother Tian and I have an idea, and we need you to make up your mind."

Village Chief Shi had long seen that the two families had agreed to come together, so they must have something to discuss. He knocked on his pipe, put it away, and then spoke:

"What's the matter? Tell me. No matter what, it's better than being dead."

"Okay, then we can talk about it."

When Village Chief Tian heard Village Chief Shi speak, his cloudy old eyes suddenly sparkled:
"Second Brother Shi, we all know that there is a pair of immortals living on Qingniu Mountain. They can ride on clouds and mist, and can summon wind, rain, thunder and lightning at will. Why don't we go to these two old immortals and ask them to have mercy and send some rain here, what do you think?"

"no!"

Village Chief Shi glared at the two heads of neighboring villages and directly rejected the proposal:

"Our village's ancestral precept states that we must not disturb the secluded lives of the immortals of Qingniu Mountain."

(End of this chapter)