Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 129 Chinese Valentine's Day
When Qing Wan saw a boat approaching, she quickly dove into her pocket and looked at the person through the seam of her clothes.

The two sides were still some distance apart when Li Zhao beamed and said loudly, "Brother Lu, I was just saying that this figure looked familiar. It really is you!"

Lu Zheng looked at Li Zhao and several other students and couldn't help but ask, "Shouldn't you be studying in Kaiyang County? Why are you here?"

Li Zhao grinned and said, "Brother Lu also knows that we are traveling to study, but something happened. My father told me not to wander around, saying that there is a big monster in Kaiyang County. We figured that since we are traveling to study, we can go to other counties, so we ran here..."

"I see." Lu Zheng nodded slightly.

However, looking at the appearance of these people, he felt that they did not come here to study, but rather to have fun.

Li Zhao said, "We were worried about you before, but we didn't expect you to come here. It's really fate, you came at the perfect time!"

"Hmm? What do you mean, Brother Li?"

When Lu Zheng saw Li Zhao's eager eyes, he inexplicably thought of his previous experience in Mingyue Tower.

As the two boats approached, Li Zhao beckoned, "Brother Lu, please get on board. Let's sit down and talk!"

If Lu Zheng's boat wasn't too small, Li Zhao would have wanted to help Lu Zheng onto the boat himself if he was afraid of capsizing it if he jumped over.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng took a step forward and stood steadily on the boat.

Li Zhao also asked a guard to row the boat to avoid blocking the river.

Li Zhao enthusiastically took Lu Zheng's arm and introduced him to a student he had never met before.

"This is Zhang Bo, a student at Changchuan County School and my friend...Brother Zhang, this is Lu Zheng I mentioned to you, the worldly scholar from Kaiyang County!"

Zhang Bo bowed and said, "I have long heard of Mr. Lu's great name. Seeing him today, I can see that he is indeed an extraordinary person!"

"Lu has met Master Zhang. Master Zhang, thank you for your compliment!"

Lu Zheng quickly returned the greeting and greeted the other students.

The other students also politely returned the greeting.

Li Zhao on the side said with a smile: "Hey, we are all friends, why be so polite, come on, come in and have a seat!"

This boat was rented by Li Zhao. It was not big, but the cabin was more than enough for a few people to sit, chat and drink tea.

Li Zhao pulled Lu Zheng to sit down and personally served him tea.

Lu Zheng thanked him, took the tea, and asked, "Brother Li, what's the matter?"

"Hey, what's going on? It's just Qixi Festival. Students from several counties are gathering together to have some fun!" Li Zhao said. "You're a top scholar in Kaiyang County. Showing up is a great honor for us. We won't ask you to do anything! Many students have heard of your reputation and want to meet you!"

"Qixi Festival, it seems like Qixi Festival is really coming." Lu Zheng nodded.

Li Zhao raised an eyebrow and said, "Brother Lu, are you studying abroad and even forgot the date? Today is Qixi Festival. Didn't you see how lively the river is today? Many people are from outside..."

Lu Zheng was slightly surprised when he heard this. It seemed that he had been staying in the mountains for a long time and didn't even notice that time passed so quickly.

Li Zhao pointed out the window at a large flower boat outside and said excitedly, "See that big flower boat? We'll all go aboard tonight and interact with students from several counties... There will also be some courtesans, but don't worry, Brother Lu, they won't be like those at Mingyue Tower! They'll just be invited to show up, play the zither, listen to music, and liven up the atmosphere."

"There's also a poetry and writing competition tonight. Of course, since Brother Lu isn't good at poetry, we won't force him. We have other people in our county who will compete with them!"

Lu Zheng became a little interested and asked curiously, "Who?"

"Jia Gu!" Li Zhao curled his lips. "Although I don't like him either, he's a bit of a hypocrite, but he does have some talent in poetry. Besides, when we're away from home, we're all students from the same county, so we should help each other and stand together!"

There were fights among students within the county school, and there were also fights between county schools.

The struggle was even more intense among court scholars and Confucian and Taoist schools.

It has never stopped from ancient times to the present. It has positive significance but also negative aspects.

Lu Zheng was not interested in getting involved in such things.

Li Zhao said, "Brother Lu doesn't like these social events, so I won't say much about it. But would you please come with us tonight and just show up?"

Li Zhao looked at Lu Zheng, his eyes shining with a hint of earnestness.

Several other students also looked at Lu Zheng, as if Lu Zheng going with them could also earn them some face.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I've never seen such a Qixi Festival party before, but I think I can go and see it for myself."

"Okay!" Li Zhao slapped his thigh and grinned.

Suddenly, Li Zhao looked at Lu Zheng's twisting chest and asked, "Brother Lu, are you carrying anything?"

Lu Zheng looked down and couldn't help but say, "Qing Wan, we are all friends, come out and meet each other."

Qing Wan came out after hearing that, stood on Lu Zheng's shoulder, and looked at these people timidly.

Although they were all Confucian and Taoist scholars, she didn't like the aura of these people.

When Li Zhao and his companions saw such a little man, they were immediately surprised.

Lu Zheng smiled and explained, "She's a companion I met in the mountains. She agreed to travel with me... Her name is Qing Wan, and she's a pea spirit."

Everyone was surprised, but not too shocked.

To them, this is just a spiritual pet. Some wealthy families have spiritual beasts.

However, plant spirits like this are indeed rare. "Even peas can become spirits!" Li Zhao exclaimed in surprise.

In comparison, they were more surprised that Qingwan was a pea fairy.

It's not uncommon for some ancient spiritual trees and medicinal herbs to become spirits, but even ordinary pea herbs can become spirits, and there are probably not many such spirits in the world.

Qing Wan faced everyone's gaze, bowed, and said seriously, "It's a pleasure to have friends coming from afar!"

As she spoke, a hint of literary aura emanated from Qing Wan.

"Ah this!"

Li Zhao and the others stared with their eyes wide open, their mouths opened but they were speechless.

Not only can peas become spirits, they can also cultivate literary energy.

Several students were immediately shocked.

Lu Zheng whispered, "Brother Li, please don't be impolite."

Li Zhao was shocked and quickly stood up, saying politely, "Li Zhao, greetings to Miss Qingwan!"

Several other students also stood up and greeted politely.

Qingwan cupped her little hands and returned the greetings one by one.

If one can cultivate literary spirit, then he has entered the realm of Confucianism.

Even if Qing Wan is only a first-level Confucianist, Li Zhao and others cannot look down on her or be disrespectful to her, otherwise it would be disrespectful to Confucianism.

When there is a fight between scholars, they will use courtesy first and then force.

What's more, there is no struggle between them.

After the greeting, Qing Wan said goodbye and put the money back into her pocket.

Li Zhao was dumbfounded. How come he didn't encounter such a good thing when he came out to study and found a cultured little fairy?

Li Zhao asked suspiciously, "Is this really what happened to Brother Lu? Wasn't it something you enlightened me to?"

Under certain special circumstances, Confucian and Taoist scholars can enlighten some animals and plants, causing them to become intelligent and turn into demons.

I heard that there was a great scholar in a certain country who studied at home all year round. The orchid in his study was nourished by his literary spirit and turned into a monster.

There are also scholars who have a lot of books in their homes, and they give birth to bookworms with literary temperament.

Such rumors are not uncommon...

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I don't have that much ability yet. My encounter with Qing Wan was just a coincidence, so I can't go into details about the one or two things that happened."

Seeing this, everyone hesitated to ask any more questions.

Li Zhao smiled and said, "Come to think of it, we've been here for a few days now. These days, I often hear stories about Brother Lu from ordinary people. They say you killed many demons and eliminated many disasters. Is this true?"

"I did do some insignificant things, but it shouldn't be as exaggerated as everyone says." Lu Zheng nodded.

Li Zhao asked curiously, "Tell us about it. We didn't find any monsters or ghosts this time. Those mountains are too difficult to climb..."

Li Zhao and his companions had originally thought about slaying demons and ghosts, but they wandered around in several mountains with a few guards and found nothing, which made them discouraged.

They were all pampered young men, and they never imagined that the monsters and ghosts would be so difficult to find. There was no road in the mountains, and after searching for a while they were in such a mess that they didn't want to go into the mountains at all.

Lu Zheng recounted some of the things that had happened to him.

Everyone listened with great interest. They didn't expect that Lu Zheng's experience of studying abroad was much more exciting than theirs.

They came out as if they were just having fun.

Li Zhao was surprised to hear about the wild gods. "I heard my father talk about the Anguo extermination of the gods earlier. We actually have wild gods here!"

"Destroy the gods?" Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask curiously.

Li Zhao said with a smile: "That was at the beginning of the founding of Da'an, more than a hundred years ago. At that time, some gods were left behind by the previous dynasty, and our An Kingdom dispatched many powerful people..."

Li Zhao paused, then pointed at Hong Jiang. "The river god that Brother Lu just mentioned was killed at that time, directly in the river. Someone from our Li family was involved in this incident!"

"As for the Hebo and Jiangshen Temples, they must have sunk during that time, and all the temples along the river were destroyed! At the beginning of the founding of the country, in order to eliminate the remnants of the previous dynasty, the An Kingdom was completely devoid of gods. The Shinto practices were also completely destroyed, and were forbidden to outsiders. However, it is possible that some have slipped through the net."

"Also, it's possible that other countries have re-established Shintoism and secretly brought it back here. Of course, no one dares to come here openly. We in Anguo don't respect ghosts and gods. Coming here to become a god is like seeking death!"

Hearing this, Lu Zheng said, "No one should have offered sacrifices to the gods by the river in recent years, right?"

Zhang Bo, who was standing nearby, said, "Not really. However, every year, the government sends people to organize the people to offer sacrifices to the river. It's simply a sacrifice to Hongjiang River, to bless Changchuan County with good weather and good harvests. It's just a formality to reassure the people."

"Will there be any problem with this?" Lu Zheng couldn't help but say.

Zhang Bo asked in confusion, "What could be wrong with this?"

Lu Zheng said, "I've heard some strange legends that say if people worship a stone for a long time, it will become intelligent and become a god. Is it really okay to worship Hong Jiang in the same way?"

"Well..." Zhang Bo said uncertainly, "There shouldn't be any problem. The government keeps an eye on it every year, and I haven't heard of any cases of it absorbing incense offerings. We've stood on this river, and we haven't felt any of Hongjiang's divine power."

(End of this chapter)