Chapter 30: Scenery and Schemes

The next day, we boarded the bus to Xiangxi. Before getting on the bus, I nervously looked around to see if the man was there, but there were only unfamiliar faces around me.

Sitting on the bus, my thoughts were very unsettled. I had many questions that I couldn’t figure out, but I couldn’t figure them out either. As the saying goes, “a different profession is like a different mountain.” As a Taoist priest, I have come into contact with many things that are supernatural and unimaginable to ordinary people. But when it comes to this matter of the Gu technique, I don’t understand anything, just as ordinary people don’t understand metaphysics.

It seems that it really is just a matter of different studies. Everyone is just an ordinary person.

Chengxin was sitting next to me. Seeing me thinking hard, he suddenly said, “Xiangxi is a place with dangerous mountains and rivers, difficult roads, but also a place with beautiful scenery that is intoxicating. It is also one of the few places in our country where we can still find certain medicinal herbs and medicine. My master and I have been here many times. This time, let’s go to Fenghuang County first, shall we?”

The car was heading for Jishou City. Originally, once we arrived, we would go straight to the county seat we wanted to go to, but I didn’t expect Chengxin to suddenly say that we were going to Phoenix. What did that mean?

Unfortunately, in the face of my inquiring gaze, he just smiled and said, “There are many things to do and solve in a person’s life. If it’s not something urgent, then it’s not a bad thing to take in the scenery along the way with a carefree mood. In just a few decades, we all have to be open-minded.”

After that, Chengxin didn’t say anything else, but stretched and took out a towel, folded it neatly, put it behind his neck, and then slept very peacefully. I was shocked and thought, this guy really knows how to enjoy himself.

The car arrived in Jishou City without a hitch. In fact, when I entered the city limits, I realized that my eyes were not enough. The scenery along the way had successfully captured my eyes. Whether it was the towering mountains, the fresh flowing water, the large fields, or the wispy smoke, it was all so beautiful, like a series of life-like oil paintings, amazing.

Suddenly, a sense of leisure and comfort also spread from the bottom of my heart. As Cheng Xin Ge said, life is short, so don’t just rush along the road and forget the scenery along the way. The end of life is just the reincarnation of life after life. The scenery along the way is the most precious treasure in life.

Yes, the scenery along the way is like this, over and over again, time and time again, using the beauty of nature to cleanse our hearts, allowing our souls to finally return to nature. This is what the heavens want to tell us.

I don’t know if I was absorbed in the scenery or if the scenery infected me, but before we left, my anxious state of mind was almost gone, and when we got off the bus, a smile appeared on my face.

With this kind of mood, we spent two days in Jishou City very peacefully. I guess my mood and that of Brother Chengxin also infected Su Rou and Qin Huai. These two guys were also unusually quiet, and they happily traveled with me, eating, drinking, and watching beautiful women. They were very happy, especially Su Rou. This kid almost forgot that he was poisoned.

“This is life. I suddenly don’t feel like making money anymore. I just want to slowly travel around the beautiful mountains and rivers of China. But if I don’t make money, I can’t travel. It’s really annoying.” This is Su Rou’s lament.

“I want to do that too, but how can I be so carefree? What about my responsibilities to my family and friends? Life is so helpless.” Qin Huai also had such a sigh.

As for me, I think it’s simple. Everyone originally yearns for a clean and pure life, but such a clean and pure life is only a step away from laziness. It is precisely these responsibilities and causes and effects that can be experienced in the heart. In the eyes of a heart, where is not a landscape?

At least, a family eating together in a small, ordinary house is a beautiful sight.

However, I ask myself if I have reached this level. Only when I am close to nature can my thoughts be more natural. After all, relying on external factors is not the natural way for oneself.

The three of us were enjoying the scenery, but Chengxin was busy. He was busy going to some local places that only he knew about to collect medicinal herbs. When we were about to leave for Fenghuang, he had already collected a lot of medicinal herbs and asked an acquaintance to help him dry them.

I originally thought that Chengxin’s intention was just to let us relax and face the upcoming crisis, but I didn’t expect that this seemingly gentle man had another intention, and it had a strange effect, so much so that when I saw someone studying medicine later, I would instinctively think that the people studying medicine were more meticulous than ordinary people.Taoist priest

Two days later, we arrived in Fenghuang County. At that time, this county was not yet a famous tourist destination, and it was relatively closed. Sure enough, as soon as I set foot on the land here, I felt that it was so beautiful that it was breathtaking.

Here, I could already feel the unique style of the scenery of Miaojiang.

The clear Tuo River flows through here, and the smoke from the stilted houses by the water is wafting. Walking on the cobblestone road, I carefully looked at each building, and the unique patterns made me feel that the simplicity was beautiful.

“How is it? Are you not regretting coming here?” Chengxin brother stopped me and said.

“Well, it’s great. I often dream of living in a place like this with my family and friends, and never leaving for the rest of my life. Even if others say I’m a bumpkin, I’ve never seen the world, and even if I live a very poor life, I don’t care.” I said to Chengxin seriously.

“Chengyi, I never thought you had such feelings and listened to poetry.” Chengxin’s brother smiled like a trademark, then looked at me very seriously and said, “Do you know where your pain is?”

I was a little taken aback. Where is my pain? Why did Brother Chengxin suddenly say this?

He touched his chin and suddenly smiled again, using his usual, gentle tone, “It’s because you are a man who is content with a simple life, but the reality is that you are a descendant of the Mountain Line, and you cannot escape your destiny and responsibilities, which are contrary to your ideals. Therefore, I hope that every day you spend, whether it is thrilling or peaceful, you can treat it as your simple life and live it peacefully.”

I looked at Chengxin with surprise, realizing that I didn’t know him at all, but he knew me very well.

Seeing my surprised expression, Brother Chengxin patted my shoulder and said, “Don’t look at me like that. These words were said by your master to my master, and then I remembered them. In our lineage, which of us doesn’t have to bear something? However, you are the hardest-working one. Haha…”

I looked at him helplessly and thought to myself, why do I feel like you are gloating?

So, the four of us walked around the ancient town chatting and enjoying ourselves. Chengxin said he had an acquaintance here, so he could stay in a small courtyard. I was amazed. How could he have an acquaintance in Jishou City, and an acquaintance in a county here?

But that’s good, at least walking in this town, I can’t think of any place to stay in a hotel, maybe there is, but I don’t want to stay there.

Sure enough, after missing us for an hour, Brother Chengxin found the three of us playing in the river and then led us into an alley. In the middle of the alley, he really found a small wooden building for us to stay in.

I don’t know where the original owner went, but when we went in, there was no one there, but all the living facilities were complete. I even saw some dried meat hanging there.

Su Rou and Qin Huai didn’t think about it too much. As soon as they entered the house, they were captivated by the freshness of the house, especially the fire pit in the house. Qin Huai shouted that he wanted to have a barbecue party.

As for Brother Chengxin, he walked into the house and told me to take off my clothes. I was very “horrified.” What was he going to do?

Brother Chengxin smiled and said to me, “Do I look like a guy that no girl would like? Then, do I look like you? You can’t have what you want, and what you have you can’t keep? So, you can take off your clothes without worrying.”

Damn, if I didn’t know him, I would definitely beat him up.

In the end, he just threw away the gauze bandage on my shoulder and washed it several times with hot water before saying with a relieved voice, “Well, the medicine I applied should have no effect now. Don’t object. After you told me your guess that day, I called Uncle Li and told him. Uncle Li said that he had discussed it with several other uncles and let us do it this way.”

“What do you mean?” I was a little confused.

“Oh, don’t put any medicine on it. Just stay here with this mark on your head. Stay here until you have guests.”