Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 164 The Shepherd Boy Points to Xinghua Village

"We didn't find anything. He must have run away."

Li Zhao walked out of a dry cave with a sword in hand, looking disappointed.

They climbed over several mountains but didn't find the way, but they did sense a hint of evil spirit.

After finding the monster's cave, there was no trace of the monster.

Zhang Bo held up some of the hair he had found and said, "It should be a fox demon, at the second level of cultivation."

Li Zhao said, "Could it be that we scared it away? Should we continue chasing it?"

Lu Zheng, who was not far away, checked some traces and said, "It shouldn't have been scared away by us. This fox demon has been gone for some time, maybe looking for food."

Li Zhaoxing said excitedly: "Then we wait here? Like sitting back and waiting for something to happen?"

Lu Zheng shook his head and said, "There's no other special smell here. It's just a wild fox. There's no need to do that. Let's continue on our way."

Who knows how long it will take for the monsters in the mountains to come back after going out. Lu Zheng doesn't have the energy to waste on an insignificant little monster.

At this moment, Qingwan, who had run to the top of the mountain, returned in a flash.

"I found a mountain road not far from here!"

Upon hearing this, everyone followed the direction Qing Wan indicated.

The group traveled through the dense forest and finally found a flat mountain path.

Walking along the road, Lu Zheng, with his sharp eyes, discovered a small tuft of fox hair on the side of the road, which seemed to have fallen off recently.

After walking a few miles along the winding mountain road, a village came into view at the foot of a mountain in the distance. The houses were neatly built and some people were working in the fields.

Lu Zheng and his group followed the mountain road to the village.

In a field of weeds, a big, shiny black buffalo was grazing on the grass.

On the buffalo's back, there was a half-grown child, holding a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth, lying there leisurely.

Nearby, a big yellow dog was jumping around in the grass.

Suddenly, the yellow dog turned its head, saw Lu Zheng and his companions, and started barking a few times.

The shepherd boy glanced sideways upon hearing the voice, sat up from the cow's back, and looked at Lu Zheng and the others with his pair of clear black eyes.

Li Zhao smiled and said, "Little kid, what village is this?"

"Xinghua Village!" the shepherd boy asked curiously, "Who are you?"

Everyone looked towards the village. There was a fruit forest outside the village.

It's the wrong season, so there are no flowers blooming, but there are many golden fruits hanging on the branches, and they are apricots.

Zhang Bo said, "We are students who are traveling to study."

The shepherd boy scratched his head when he heard this, "Scholar?"

"That's right." Zhang Bo said with a smile.

The shepherd boy's eyes suddenly changed. He knew that scholars were very powerful people.

Li Zhao teased with a smile: "You are just a little kid herding cattle, aren't you afraid of being caught and eaten by monsters?"

The shepherd boy couldn't help but say, "There are no monsters here! Dahei and Dahuang will protect me!"

Dahei and Dahuang obviously refer to the buffalo and local dog around the shepherd boy.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Hasn't there ever been a monster here?"

The shepherd boy thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, this isn't a good place. What would a monster do here?"

Li Zhao threatened, "They're cannibals. They only eat tender skinned children like you."

The shepherd boy said disapprovingly, "I don't have much flesh, not even as delicate as you! I heard that those powerful monsters will transform into beautiful women to seduce young men like you..."

Li Zhao couldn't help laughing and said, "Where did you hear such a thing, kid?"

The shepherd boy said, “That’s what the elders in the village said!”

Everyone smiled when they heard this.

Lu Zheng walked forward and gave the shepherd boy a handful of candy.

When the shepherd boy saw the sugar, his eyes lit up.

But he didn't reach out his hand, but said: "Mother said that I can't just ask for other people's things... I'll treat you to apricots!"

After saying this, the shepherd boy rummaged through his pocket and took out two big yellow apricots.

He looked at the five adults again and felt that it was not enough, so he jumped off the ox and said excitedly: "Let's go, I have an apricot tree at home, please go and pick the best ones!"

Li Zhao, who was standing next to him, jokingly asked, "Are you not going to release the cows anymore?"

The shepherd boy waved his hands and said, "No one stole it. Dahei is very smart. When he is full, he will go home on his own!"

Lu Zheng handed the candy to the shepherd boy again and said with a smile, "Take it. Thank you for showing us the way."

The shepherd boy swallowed hard, and this time he did not refuse. Instead, he happily accepted it and bowed politely, saying, "Thank you, sir!"

The shepherd boy ate a piece of candy and his eyes became sweet. He jumped and skipped in front, leading the way for everyone.

"Few outsiders come to our village. Why did you gentlemen come here?" the shepherd boy asked curiously as they walked. Li Zhao smiled and said, "We were exorcising demons and ghosts along the way, and then we came here."

"Huh? Is this true?" The shepherd boy looked suspicious.

Li Zhao patted the long sword at his waist and said seriously, "I'm not kidding you. I've killed several villains with this sword!"

The shepherd boy was surprised when he heard this and asked curiously, "Tell me about it?"

Li Zhao couldn't help but say, "You're quite brave, aren't you afraid that you won't be able to sleep at night after hearing this?"

The shepherd boy was surprised and said, "Why should I be afraid? You killed those people. If they turned into ghosts, they would look for you, not me. My mother said that only those who are timid and have done something wrong will have trouble sleeping and nightmares at night."

Lu Zheng smiled and nodded, "Your mother is right. You do have a pure heart."

The shepherd boy shook his head and said, "I'm not the second son, I'm the youngest. My second brother got married a long time ago and has two children."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they heard this.

The shepherd boy scratched his head, wondering what these scholars were laughing at.

The group walked for a while and arrived outside the village.

In the fields, an adult discovered Lu Zheng and his companions and began to ask about their origins.

When the villagers learned that he was a scholar from the city, they no longer had any doubts and their attitudes and tones became much friendlier.

After all, looking at the appearance, dress, conversation and temperament of people like Lu Zheng, they are not something that a swindler can pretend.

The shepherd boy whispered, "There is also a scholar in our village, a student, who is still studying in the town. What are you?"

"Scholar from the academy in the city, how about it? Do you want to go to the academy to study?" Li Zhao said with a smile.

The shepherd boy waved his hand and said, "Studying is very expensive. My family can't afford it!"

"Then do you want to study?" Lu Zheng asked.

The shepherd boy said without thinking: "No, I'm stupid. The elders in the village taught me to read, but I couldn't learn it. I couldn't even recognize a few of them..."

Lu Zheng didn't say much after hearing this. This little kid didn't sound good at reading and writing, but he was smart and not stupid.

The shepherd boy excitedly led the group to the apricot forest and pointed to an apricot tree covered with yellow apricots. He said, "This apricot tree belongs to my family. You can eat as much as you want."

Lu Zheng looked at the large apricot forest and asked curiously, "This one? Are the other apricot trees divided among others?"

The shepherd boy nodded and explained, "Yes, these apricot trees were passed down from generation to generation by a landlord in the village. Later, the landlord died without any children, so the trees were divided among the villagers. My family was given four large trees and six small trees. We can't eat all the apricots from these trees, absolutely not enough..."

The shepherd boy sighed as he looked at the tree. When the apricots were not ripe, he looked forward to eating them all day long. Now that the apricots are ripe, he is almost tired of eating them...

The shepherd boy pointed to some large apricots on the top of the tree and said, "The ones on the top are delicious, but they are too high up. We need to find a bamboo pole to knock them down."

Lu Zheng smiled when he heard that, jumped up, and then waved his hand to grab a few ripe apricots.

The shepherd boy opened his mouth and stared in amazement.

His eyes sparkled as he looked at Lu Zheng, and he couldn't help but say, "Master, please teach me martial arts!"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "I am a scholar."

The shepherd boy was skeptical and asked, "Can a scholar do this?"

"If you read more books, you can learn various skills. You also need to be able to read to learn martial arts. Otherwise, even if I give you a martial arts secret book, you won't be able to understand it." Lu Zheng said with a smile.

The shepherd boy's expression became serious, as if this was the truth.

Zhang Bo and his companions also used some light skills to pick a few apricots to taste.

The shepherd boy was very envious of the abilities of these scholars.

But he didn't have any delusions. Seeing several people eating apricots, he smiled and asked, "How is it? Is it delicious?"

Lu Zheng commented, "It tastes great."

The shepherd boy grinned and said, "That's right. Our village's apricots are very famous, and we also have apricot blossom wine! Oh, and by the way, we also have an Apricot King tree here, it's hundreds of years old."

"The apricots from that tree are more delicious, but the Apricot King belongs to our entire village, so I can't pick the apricots. The adults pick the fruits and share them with everyone... If you want some, I can talk to the village chief!"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask: "Can you take us to see it?"

"That's no problem! Follow me!" The shepherd boy led the way.

A few people walked into the lush apricot forest, where adults were busy picking apricots for their own garden.

When an adult learned about the origins of Lu Zheng and his companions, he put down his work and took Lu Zheng and his companions to visit King Xing.

In the center of the apricot forest, there is an extremely lush and strong apricot tree.

The trees are lush with branches and leaves, and red cloth strips are hung on many branches. There is a stone platform under the tree, which is a platform for people to worship, and there are still some traces of incense on it.

The elders in the village said, "It's said this tree existed before our village was built, hundreds of years ago. We come here to worship it every time the flowers bloom and the fruits ripen... Our village is able to live better than other villages because of this apricot forest."

Li Zhao stroked his chin as he observed the apricot tree, muttering, "It looks like it's quite old, and it still bears so many fruits. It's really rare."

The villagers laughed and said, "The fruit of this Apricot King is better than ordinary apricots. If we take it outside and sell it, it will fetch a good price. You gentlemen, please try some!"

Next to him, Zhang Bo walked around the tree and vaguely sensed something strange. He couldn't help but wink at Lu Zheng.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng nodded calmly.

(End of this chapter)