NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39 Scholar Sees Ghost
Luda took some time and made two bamboo swords for Ajiao and Xiaodouzi. The two little guys liked them very much.
After leaving school, Xiaodouzi took Ajiao to play by the river in the village, with Yuanbao and Preserved Dan beside him. Ajiao holds a bamboo sword and imitates Luda to duel with his brother.
"Brother! You can't beat me. This sword belongs to Taishang Laojun!" Ajiao bluffed and waved the small sword at his brother.
"My sword belongs to Erlang Shen, and the preserved egg is the roaring dog. You can't beat me!" Xiaodouzi imitated the actors on the stage, gesturing and dancing with the sword in his hand.
Tired of playing with the bamboo sword, the two of them sat on the big rocks by the river. Xiaodouzi looked at the fallen leaves drifting with the waves, and had an idea and found some wood chips by the river.
"Mei, let's compete to see whose wood chips can float farther in the river!"
Two brothers and a sister, each holding a piece of wood, put it in the river and floated down the stream.
Xiaodouzi ran along the river bank with the bamboo piece, followed by Ajiao, and the two puppies followed the little master.
The wood chips floated from upstream to downstream, and did not stop all the way to the back mountain. The two brothers and sisters chased after them. When they saw that they were about to leave Liujia Village, Yuanbao and Preserved Egg stopped and roared behind them.
"Brother, stop chasing me!" Ajiao looked back at Yuanbao Preserved Egg.
"We're about to stop, let's see whose bamboo piece floats the farthest." Xiaodouzi still didn't give up and followed the bamboo piece into the back mountain.
"Brother, don't leave me!" Ajiao followed.
The two local dogs were worried about their little master, and finally ran to catch up with Xiaodouzi.
"Ajiao, look, your bamboo pieces float farther!"
There is a small pool ahead. The bamboo pieces drift here and stop moving forward. Visually, Ajiao's is farther away.
"Brother, there is someone!" Ajiao saw someone fainting and lying by the pool in front of him.
Xiaodouzi stepped forward and took a look. He saw a scholar-looking man passed out by the pool, still breathing a little.
"Ajiao, go to the village and call someone." Xiaodouzi stayed where he was to take care of her.
After a while, Ajiao took Aunt Shen to the edge of the pond, and together with Xiaodouzi, they carried the scholar home.
The brother and sister were very excited after rescuing the person, and immediately ran to Lihua Town to find Mao Xi.
Aunt Shen fed the scholar some water, and the scholar finally became more conscious.
"Young man, why did you pass out in the mountains?" Aunt Shen brought a roasted sweet potato, "Here, you are hungry, eat quickly!"
The scholar took the sweet potato and gnawed it quickly.
"Eat slowly, don't choke!" After saying this, Aunt Shen went to the yard to prepare dinner. When she entered the room again, the scholar had eaten enough and fell asleep.
After Chunsheng returned home, he saw the scholar helping Aunt Shen dry vegetables in the yard.
After some understanding, I realized that it was Xiaodouzi and Ajiao who saved him.
"Brother, can you take me to see the Liu brothers and sisters? I want to thank them in person for their life-saving grace."
"They just came home, I'll take you there."
Mao Xi is making glutinous rice cakes. She has not forgotten Master Mi Yuan's suggestion to make a fruit that candidates can carry long distances.
The scholar, accompanied by Chunsheng, came to Mao Xi's house.
"Excuse me, who are Xiaodouzi and Ajiao?"
"Little brother, you are okay!" Ah Jiao shouted happily when she saw that the scholar could move around. "Sister, he is the person that my brother and I picked up by the river in Houshan today."
"Xiaosheng Zhang Qingyan, from Xinghua Village, thank you both for your help today!"
Seeing the scholar bowing to himself and his elder brother, and speaking strangely, Ajiao chuckled.
"The mountain road in the back mountain is not easy to walk, why do you go there?" Shui Xi asked in confusion.
"Because I was going to Kaitang County to attend this year's Autumn Festival, I took a shortcut from the back mountain. Unexpectedly, I spent the night in a ruined temple on the mountain last night. In the middle of the night, I saw ghosts seeming to be floating in the temple, and the ghosts were whispering. I hurried down the mountain, but because I didn’t bring enough dry food and water, I fainted from hunger by the river.”
"Is there a ghost? It's impossible. My sister and I went up the mountain several times at dawn to pick mushrooms, but we didn't see any ghosts!" After Xiaodouzi finished speaking, he teased the little rat bamboo tube that crawled onto his hand, and the bamboo tube nodded.
"This is absolutely true. Not only did I see it, but I also heard the ghost saying, 'Kill him, kill him,' and I was so scared that I ran away!"
"Scholar Zhang, what was the color of the ghost you saw at that time?" Shui Xi suddenly became curious.
Zhang Shusheng knocked his head and recalled: "It dangled its two blue eyes and flew towards me...I can't remember the rest clearly."
Mao Xi thought for a while, isn't this the phosphorus fire produced by rural methane that the teacher mentioned in the middle school chemistry class? How can there be any ghost chasing people!
"Scholar Zhang, please sit down first. Since you are going to take the exam, may I ask if you are taking the college exam or the provincial exam? I am making glutinous rice cake. You should also try it."
"The student has passed the academician examination and is going to take the provincial examination."
"It turns out to be Zhang Xiucai, nice to meet you!"
After the polite greetings, Ma Xi mixed the steamed glutinous rice with milk, sugar and oil, put it into a large stone mortar, and took turns beating it with Lou Lan'er with a wooden pestle. Madam Chen dipped water on the edge to flip the rice cake. Xiaodouzi and Ajiao squatted aside and watched very seriously.
Beating took a lot of physical strength. Brother Chunsheng and Zhang Xiucai took over the hands of Lou Laner and Shu Xi and took turns beating.
After beating until sticky and glutinous, Mao Xi put the glutinous rice balls on the dustpan. After the brother and sister cleaned their hands, they applied some oil on their hands and kneaded the glutinous rice balls with her sister. Squeeze out a small ball of glutinous rice dumpling from between your thumb and index finger, put it into the coconut and roll it.
"Let's try it. Is this glutinous rice cake delicious?" Ma Xi brought the glutinous rice cake to the table.
Zhang Xiucai took one and bit it, his mouth full of coconut fragrance: "Miss Mian Xi, can you give me some to take on the road?"
"Okay, I'll make some other flavors."
Mao Xi turned around and continued making glutinous rice cakes. She wrapped the glutinous rice dumplings with sesame filling, and then coated the outside with a layer of soybean flour and peanut flour.
As soon as the new glutinous rice cakes were placed on the table, Xiaodouzi and Ajiao grabbed one and put it in their mouths. Ajiao pulled off a small piece and fed it to the little spirit rat in a bamboo tube.
Zhang Xiucai took a bite of the soybean flour glutinous rice cake and exclaimed: "It's sweet and glutinous, delicate and delicious... It's true that in ancient times, Wu Zixu used glutinous rice as a wall foundation to save the people, and today, millet Xi makes glutinous rice cake to save me, Zhang!"
"The scholar's speech is just different!" Lou Lan'er joked after hearing Zhang Xiucai's words, "As in the past, as in the present."
Mao Xi packed the two kinds of glutinous rice cakes and gave them to Zhang Xiucai: "Zhang Xiucai, these are for you to eat on the way. I wish you a gold medal!"