Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 871 Passing by the door without entering

I drove out of the courtyard gate and headed south along the Houhai Lake.

It was a little past two in the afternoon, and the winter sun was not too glaring. It shone on the ice, creating shimmering golden light.

On the frozen surface of Houhai Lake, many people were playing. Some were skating on ice skates, some were riding on ice sleds, and many more were using homemade skating equipment to glide around on the ice.

Chen Fan noticed that most of the people playing ice skating here were young people in their early twenties, both men and women, in groups of three or five, or seven or eight.

Normally, today is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and all organizations have officially resumed work. If you have a regular job, you shouldn't be ice skating here at this time.

So, are these all unemployed youths?

He gripped the steering wheel and slowly moved forward, then suddenly slammed on the brakes, his eyes fixed on two groups of people not far from the shore.

A young man in his early twenties stood at the front of a group of people, carrying a red-tasseled spear. Opposite him was a man of similar age, carrying a sword.

Looking at the young men behind them, most of them were carrying wooden sticks, and occasionally some were carrying large blades.

Chen Fan parked the car on the shore, stuck his neck out of the window, and looked on in disbelief.

Is it possible that fights in Beijing are now starting to involve ancient weapons?

Just as he was thinking about whether to go back and call the police station to disperse the group, he saw the leader carrying the red-tasseled spear hold it horizontally and say coldly, "My spear is twelve feet long, the commander of all weapons, from the Bajimen, and is called Liuhe."

The so-called "six harmonies" refer to the harmony of mind and intention, intention and hand, hand and footwork, footwork and spear, spear and waist, and waist and strength.

The young man opposite him, wielding a sword, showed no fear. He raised his sword and said proudly, "My sword is three feet and three inches long, with a blade that is two feet and six inches long. It weighs two jin, three liang, and seven qian. It comes from the Taiji School and is called the Taiji Sword."

Tai Chi swordsmanship emphasizes lightness, gentleness, and continuous flow, prioritizing intention over force, and excelling at using softness to overcome hardness.

Having said that, he resolutely drew his sword, the tip pointing forward, and said with a cold smile, "Today I will use this Tai Chi sword to experience your Baji Liuhe spear. Please."

The boy opposite kicked the butt of his spear, grabbed the shaft with his left hand, and pointed the spear forward, saying, "Please."

The others immediately backed away, and two particularly clever people shouted, "Get further away, even further away!"

"Those who are close by, don't blame me for not warning you. If you get pricked or stabbed, don't complain and demand compensation. Let me tell you, that's impossible, because they didn't—no, I mean, because it's all your own fault. Do you know what 'you brought it on yourself' means? It means..."

The boy with the gun couldn't hold back any longer. "Haozi, shut up. Kid, take this!"

After saying that, he rushed forward.

The man with the sword was not to be outdone, and charged forward with his sword, shouting, "Watch me overcome strength with gentleness!"

Chen Fan slapped himself across the face. "Damn it, you're using a sword like a knife? And you're trying to use softness to overcome hardness?"
And that guy wielding the gun, are you sure you've ever practiced with a gun? The spearhead is practically wobbling, and he calls himself the Six Harmonies Spear? Li Shuwen would be furious enough to come back to life if he saw this. Please, don't ruin the reputation of the Eight Extremes Spear!
But then he finally remembered what the two groups of people were acting out. It was none other than the scene from "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" where the old Taoist priest and his monks encounter bandits.

The Tai Chi sword remains the same, but the Xingyi spear has been replaced with the Baji spear.

What, are you playing a role-playing game?
Seeing that the two "martial arts masters" had knocked their weapons away and were now fighting each other with wild, uncontrolled punches, he wondered if he should meddle.
After all, these people must have seen the movie "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" before they gathered together to gesticulate. If they didn't know, that's fine, but since they've run into it, it doesn't seem right to remain indifferent.
Why don't we just call the police?
Just as he was about to take action, two police officers rushed over from a distance, one of them, an older one, shouting, "What are you doing? You dare to fight in Houhai? Don't you want to die?"

Haozi immediately shouted, "This is a tough situation, let's get out of here!"

After saying that, he fled to the shore.

The two martial arts masters, who were exchanging wild punches, stopped without hesitation. One grabbed his gun, and the other snatched a sword, and they quickly made their escape.

Soon, the scene scattered like birds and beasts. By the time the two policemen ran over, panting, there was no one left.

Chen Fan was left standing there, completely speechless.

Alright, the phrase "If the idea is tricky, we'd better get out of here" is also something I learned from a movie, but I'm not quite using it correctly.

After letting out a long sigh, Chen Fan restarted the car and drove forward, inwardly lamenting, "These young people, they only learn bad things instead of good ones. Why don't they learn the chivalrous deeds and virtuous acts in the movies? All they learn is 'humphs, hahs, hey,' and fighting."

It's exactly like when I was a child.

Chaoyang Temple is right next to Beihai Park, not far from Houhai.

Although Chen Fan had anticipated that the temple would become even more popular after the release of "Monk Comes Down the Mountain".

After all, they are both called Chaoyang Temple, and Zhang Xuansong has spent almost the entire year in the temple. Many people know that there is a man named Zhang Xuansong here, who shares the same name as the protagonist in the movie.

It would be strange if no one thought much of it when the two were combined.

So it's certain that there are a lot of people here.

But when Chen Fan arrived, he was still quite startled.

In the past, there were only a lot of people in front of the Taoist temple, while the backyard was relatively quiet. How come today even the walls of the backyard of the Taoist temple are covered with people?
This doesn't make sense!

He thought for a moment, parked the car a little further away, then put on his gear and wrapped himself up completely.

After getting off the bus, he looked around first, then put his hands in his sleeves and walked to the back of the crowd.

You don't need to make any special inquiries; you can find out what's going on just by listening to these people chatting.

"Little Six, you didn't manage to get a seat today either?"

"Brother Zhu, you're here too? No, I haven't managed to get one for several days in a row. We got the news too late. I heard that after the movie started showing on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, people came here to wait for Master Zhang. The number of people increased starting the next day, and then more and more people came. Master Zhang started giving lectures in the backyard every afternoon, talking about his personal experiences back then. Sometimes he would even demonstrate a few kung fu moves, which attracted a lot of people to watch."

I only found out about this on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and today is the seventh, and I still haven't managed to squeeze into the backyard even once.

"There's nothing we can do, there are just too many people. Sigh. But I heard that Master Zhang is no longer a Taoist priest?"

"Brother Jun, you've heard about it too? Yes, he later joined the army and dedicated himself to the organization. How could he continue being a Taoist priest?"

"Then why are you still in this Taoist temple?"

"Oh, you don't know? Master Zhang's disciple is that famous writer Chen Fan. This Taoist temple was built specifically for his master by writer Chen. The movie 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' was also made specifically for his master. Otherwise, would he have made that movie?!"

Upon hearing this, the people around gasped.

"real or fake?"

"No way?"

"That's Writer Chen! He lives in a Taoist temple?"

"Hey, that's how it's been going on anyway. I don't know where the news originally came from, but it's all very detailed and believable."

Moreover, I heard that Writer Chen not only renovated this Taoist temple, but also inherited Master Zhang's mantle, that is, the lineage of Taoist priests, so he is the true Taoist priest.

"Hey, this rumor is getting way out of control. He's a Taoist priest? Give me a break. He might have built that temple, but he definitely couldn't be a Taoist priest." "Why?"

"You don't know yet, do you? It's all over the arts and health system. This year, writer Chen took his wife back to his hometown to get married."

"Is that Lujiawan?"

"It's that Lujiawan!"

"His wife is still the sister of writer Jiang Tiantian, and he hasn't changed her?"

"What are you saying? They met when they were both struggling, so you could say they went through thick and thin together. Why can't you stand to see them doing well?"

"Hey, has anyone seen his wife? I heard that someone saw Jiang Tiantian at the last literary and art conference, she's so pretty. I wonder what her sister looks like?"

"She must be very beautiful, otherwise how could she have captivated Writer Chen so much? Didn't you see Writer Chen's appearance at this year's Spring Festival Gala? She was absolutely stunning, even a little bit better than me."

“yue、ou…”

"tui..."

“pei…”

……

Seeing that these people weren't talking about serious matters and were only gossiping, Chen Fan lost interest in listening any further.

He walked around the Taoist temple, thinking there wouldn't be anyone on the side, but there were people there too, except there was no wall for them to tear down.

There are only houses here, what is there to defend?

He returned to his own Taoist temple, only to find he couldn't find the entrance. Where could he possibly complain?!
Helpless, Chen Fan could only dejectedly head back home.

But he didn't do nothing.

Zhou Yali's two gyrfalcons were still flying in the sky when Chen Fan strolled over to Beihai Park, called them down with his bird whistle, and then gave them a few words of advice.

The two gyrfalcons immediately flapped their wings and wobbled as they landed inside Chaoyang Temple, landing squarely on the roof of the main hall.

Not only that, they would also chirp from time to time, as if afraid that others wouldn't see them.

The number of players in Beijing is probably the largest among all cities in the country, even surpassing Shanghai. After all, Beijing was once the stronghold of the Eight Banners, and there are very few who can outplay them.

Within minutes, someone recognized the two birds.

An old man pointed at the roof and shouted, "Hey, a gyrfalcon? Is it really a gyrfalcon?"

He slapped his thigh and cried out, "Oh my god, I never thought I'd see a gyrfalcon in this lifetime! It's truly a miracle from our ancestors! It's worth it, even if I die, it's worth it!"

The gyrfalcon is a sacred bird in the hearts of the Manchus. There were several Manchus in the courtyard today, and they all craned their necks to look at it, even more enthusiastically than when they were looking at Master Zhang.

In front of the dormitory building in the backyard, there was an eight-immortal table with a chair on it. Zhang Xuansong was sitting in the chair, telling these "fans" stories of the past.

In the past, if someone enjoyed listening to him talk about these old things, he would talk enthusiastically for three hours straight without even taking a sip of water.

However, now they've been telling the story eight times a day, from the third day of the Lunar New Year until today, for five consecutive days. The old man himself is almost sick of telling it, and these people are still not satisfied.

They took turns coming to listen.

Now Zhang Xuansong understands why his beloved apprentice teased him last time, saying that there is a group in foreign countries called fans, which is a transliteration of the English word "fans," specifically referring to movie fans and music fans who like a certain celebrity.

Maybe I'll have fans after "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" is released.

He even said at the time that he wasn't an actor, he hadn't shown his face, so what kind of celebrity was he? He certainly couldn't have any fans.

Unexpectedly, not only did fans come to the door, but different people also blocked the door every day.

If it weren't for Old Lin coming up with a way to limit meetings in the backyard, this Taoist temple probably wouldn't have been able to stay open.

No Taoist temple is packed with so many people every day that you can still sweep out two baskets of shoes after it closes.

He had been having a headache these past few days when he suddenly heard someone shouting something about a gyrfalcon.

Looking up, I saw, lo and behold, those were the two birds that little girl Zhou Yali kept.
The appearance of these two birds must mean that their precious apprentice has returned. They immediately gave Old Lin and Old Li a wink.

Lin Yuanxiang understood immediately; his apprentice must have been using them to deliver a message.

He had personally witnessed his apprentice's skills in taming animals and birds back in Lujiawan, so he naturally had no doubt about it.

Upon seeing the signal from Old Zhang, he immediately summoned Lei Kongyun and the others.

After a few young Taoist priests had spent some time explaining, today's "lecture" successfully ended halfway through.

Once the crowd had dispersed somewhat, the three old men, under the cover of Lei Kongyun and the others, quickly left the Taoist temple and ran towards Houhai.

When Chen Fan drove home, Zhou Zhengdong had just brought down a few books from the attic study on the third floor and was sitting at the tea table preparing to read them. Hearing the noise outside, he immediately went over and asked, "Hey, why are you back so soon?"

Hearing the noise, Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian quickly ran out of Chen Fan's room on the second floor.

Zhou Yali was left holding the game controller, looking conflicted. "Hey, wait for me! Wait until I finish this level."

When the two sisters saw that Chen Fan had actually appeared at the door, they didn't care about her anymore and immediately ran down the stairs.

Only Zhao Wanru was resting in the room with her youngest son, who was probably already asleep and didn't hear any noise.

Chen Fan threw his car keys on the table by the door, took off his coat and hung it on the wall, and said helplessly, "What can I do if I don't come back? I can't even get into the Taoist temple."

As she spoke, she gestured a couple of times, "There are people inside and out. They all came to watch the excitement after watching 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' and knowing that there is a Chaoyang Temple here. The real-life figure, Monk Zhang, is also in there."

I heard the traffic jam has been going on for days, and I don't know when it will end.

At this moment, Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian came downstairs. One immediately went to pour tea, while the other went to the bathroom to get a towel and poured half a basin of hot water, which she then brought over.

Zhou Yali finally gave up the game and skipped down the stairs. She overheard Chen Fan's words and couldn't help but laugh, "So you're just passing by your own home without going in?"

Chen Fan rubbed his face with a hot towel, wiped it clean, and then looked at her and said, "Though not perfect, it's not far off."

The group burst into laughter.

Chaoyang Temple is his private property, almost like his home. Isn't this just passing by his own home without going in?
Just then, the doorbell rang, and Zhang Xuansong's voice came from outside, "Hey kid, is that you back? Hurry up and open the door."

(End of this chapter)