Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1235: Hunting in the Mountains
Later, a young Taoist boy came down from the Taoist temple. This boy was a disciple of Xuan Yi, who had already passed away. The boy told the patriarch that the fourth son of the Su family had gone out to join the Beiyang Army. This made the Su family patriarch so angry that he almost fainted.

Coincidentally, after Su Lao Si left, his wife gave birth to a boy. The head of the Su family was overjoyed to see the boy. The Su family had originally had five branches, and one of them could not be cut off for no reason. Thinking of Su Wenwu, who made his teeth itch, the head of the family directly named the child Su Zhijia, meaning that he was determined to protect the family.

But the old man was disappointed again. The child was only five years old when he was abducted by Xuanqing. Xuanqing was the Taoist boy. His master was Xuan Yi's grand-disciple, Master Xuanwen, who is now the abbot of the Taoist temple. He was still guarding his home, but he didn't want his home anymore. He was also a martial man.

Su Shoujia did not disappoint the family head. He was a brave and fierce man. When he was sixteen years old, he had turned the surrounding mountains upside down. But strangely, although the abbot taught him martial arts and various boxing techniques, he never recognized him as his disciple. He only said to others that he was teaching on behalf of his father.

When Su Shoujia was eighteen, he suddenly returned to the family head's location to live with his mother. The Su family head was very surprised, but after a while, he felt that Su Shoujia might have settled down. When he was nineteen, Su Shoujia got married. Nowadays, marriages are all arranged by parents and matchmakers. The bride was brought back from outside by the Su family's external affairs manager, and they got married and entered the bridal chamber directly.

Just as the news of Su Shoujia's wife's pregnancy spread to every corner of the family, Su Shoujia ran away. Before leaving, he only had a deep talk with his mother once, and then left without saying goodbye, which made the head of the Su family jump up and down and curse in the ancestral hall.

Just as the head of the Su family had forgotten about Su Shoujia's departure from home, Su Wenwu's wife, who was also Su Shoujia's mother, for some reason, directly sent Su Shoujia's son—yes, the big, healthy boy that Su Shoujia's wife had given birth to after ten months of pregnancy—to Shangqing Temple and handed him over to Daoist Xuanwen.

The head of the Su family calmed down this time and carefully considered the performance of the past three generations of the fourth branch. It seemed that they were all related to the outside world. Starting with Su Wenwu, their family seemed to know a lot about the outside world. The Su family usually did not concern themselves with worldly affairs. Even when the person in charge of external affairs went out to do business, they would not talk about the outside world when they returned, just to avoid disturbing people's hearts. After that, the head of the Su family stopped caring about the affairs of this branch.

Su Yun, the son of Su Shoujia, grew up in a Taoist temple and became a disciple of Master Xuanwen. This formal apprenticeship was witnessed by all the elders and the head of the Su family. Although Su Yun was only three years old at the time and was still quite naive, the Su family was very happy. The people in the Taoist temple had always looked down on the Su family, and the first one to catch their eye was actually Su Yun, the fourth branch member who was so out of place in the Su family.

Since becoming a disciple, Su Yun has rarely been seen by the Su family. If his mother and grandmother want to see him, his senior brother Xuanqing will take them to the Taoist temple for a few days on a regular basis. Only the people in the Taoist temple know the way there.

And so our protagonist grew up for twelve years. During these twelve years, he actually had a master. He called this old man Old Man Zhang because the old man was not often at the Taoist temple. He would only come to the Taoist temple in April or May and leave around September. Why was he called the dirty old man? Because Su Yun had never seen him change his clothes since he met him. He smelled like mutton and would often take a gourd of wine, lie on the ground, drink, and chatter incessantly.

The Shangqing Temple that Su Yun worshipped was a legitimate Shangqing School, a lineage that was orthodox and emphasized cultivating essence, energy, and spirit. Master Xuanwen was a strict teacher, and this dirty old man was also a successor of another school of Qimen Dunjia.

So since Su Wen went up the mountain, the Su family has never seen him again. No one knows Su Yun or what kind of person he is now. The Su family has gradually forgotten that there was such a person as Su Yun. They only talk about him occasionally when they see Su's mother and grandson working in the village.

Sujiazhai is located on the south side of Haral Mountain. Because there is an underground karst cave at the bottom of the valley, which is a natural large hot spring, and the valley is surrounded by high mountains, it naturally forms a different weather and climate than this area. After hundreds of years of construction, Sujiazhai presents a simple and elegant layout. At the very back, near the entrance of the karst cave, are the Sujia Ancestral Hall and the Wenci Temple, where there are schools and libraries.

Shangqing Temple is not far from Sujia Village, located north of Haral Mountain. There is a mountain there that is even higher than Haral Mountain, but Xuan Yi changed its name to Qingyun Mountain, and no one remembers the original name anymore. Shangqing Temple consists of three simple main halls: one enshrines Yuanshi Tianzun, one enshrines the Three Pure Ones, and the other enshrines Xuan Yi's ancestor, Daoist Qingyun.

The rear hall was where the master and his disciples lived. The main building was a scripture pavilion and a literature hall. The east room was the living room for several people, and the west room was the dining hall.

At this moment, four people were sitting at the table. The one in the main seat was Master Xuanwen, who was eating attentively with his head down. To his left was Senior Brother Xuanqing, who was looking at a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old across from him, but he was still eating.

The dirty old man squatted to the right of Master Xuanwen, tilting his head, not eating, his eyes fixed on the boy next to him.

The boy ignored everyone, picked up the bowl, and shoveled large mouthfuls of rice into his mouth, taking bites of rice and meat at a time, completely disregarding the three people as if they didn't exist.

Master Xuanwen sighed and said, "Su Yun, can you please stop bullying that little gold? It has already run more than two hundred miles away all winter just to avoid you. It even risked hiding in the territory of a tiger, and you still chased after it and insisted on stealing its prey."

The dirty old man next to him spat out a mouthful of wine, laughing heartily. Looking at Su Yun eating heartily beside him, the dirty old man knew that Little Gold was a pangolin and had a grudge against Su Yun since childhood.

Su Yun pursed his lips, glanced at the dirty old man, and said, "Old man, why are you dressed like this?" At this moment, the dirty old man was actually not dirty at all. He was dressed in a formal suit, with a military overcoat and a military cap, but Su Yun had never seen him before.

The dirty old man didn't answer, but waved his hand and said, "I'll talk about it tonight, no rush." ​​He then continued drinking, but had already picked up his chopsticks.

It was summer at Shangqing Temple, but the nights were still incredibly cold. The group of people got up early, closed the doors, and stayed in the tea room, sitting opposite each other.

Su Yun sensed that his master was a little different from the dirty old man today, as if he had something to say to him. But Su Yun was a smart man, and the smart man's way was to never bring up the topic, but just sit there drinking tea and waiting quietly.

(End of this chapter)