Notes on Longevity

Chapter 128 One cannot know fortune without experiencing poverty; one is naive without understanding human affairs.

The flowers planted at the very front of the wooden house are all winter jasmine. Behind them are forsythia, which is similar to winter jasmine.

Forsythia branches grow upwards with four petals; those growing downwards have six petals, and their flower color is yellow. This is what distinguishes it from winter jasmine.

Dao Yisheng smiled upon hearing Taihua's words, "You can compose poetry on the spot. How come I've never heard you do that before?"

Taihua rolled her eyes at him, said nothing, and looked toward the wooden house.

The wooden house is spacious and looks quite exquisite, with two floors. There are eight wooden pillars supporting the eaves under the windows on the second floor.

In the middle of the four pillars on the left, there was a long wooden table. Not far above the wooden table, there were two hemp ropes, each wrapped vertically around one of the two pillars opposite the door. It was unclear what they were for.

"What are you doing?" Taihua was looking at the wooden house when he saw Daoyisheng walking towards it through the mud. He quickly asked.

"I'll go knock on the door and see if anyone's home," Dao Yisheng said, stopping in his tracks and turning to answer when Taihua asked him.

He was speechless.

Taihua beckoned to Daoyisheng, who then returned to Taihua's side, looking puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's alright," Taihua smiled at him speechlessly, then put a hand on his shoulder and led him to turn around and walk outside. "It's getting late, let's hurry up and get going, otherwise we won't reach Yu'an until it gets dark."

Dao Yisheng exclaimed in surprise, then thought about it and realized it made sense. If they arrived in Yu'an at night and had nowhere to rest, it would be troublesome. However, he couldn't help but turn back to look at the wooden house and asked Taihua, "You just said that the owner of this wooden house values ​​his life, and judging from the furnishings, it was all planted by his own hands. Don't you want to see what kind of person he (or she) is?"

Taihua replied, "That's interesting, but the door is tightly closed, which means the person isn't there. If the person isn't there, how can we find them?"

“That’s true. If the master were here, we might even be able to have a meal or something.” Taihua’s words had a hidden meaning, but it was obvious that he didn’t understand.

After hearing Dao Yisheng's words, he lowered his hand from Dao Yisheng's shoulder, rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, "One cannot know fortune without experiencing poverty, and one is too naive without understanding human affairs."

"What do you mean?" Dao Yisheng sensed that Taihua's words had a hidden meaning, and he questioned him.

"It's meaningless, nothing at all. I just meant you're quite good. Someone like you will surely achieve great things in the future." Taihua lazily carried his gourd and walked slowly in front of Daoyisheng, sword in hand. Daoyisheng, meanwhile, pondered Taihua's words as he walked, until he returned to the forest.

The forest path, sometimes straight, sometimes winding, came to an end. As they walked, they looked towards the unseen direction of Yu'an, where there was still a distance to travel.

"What's so fun about Yu'anli that you mentioned?" Dao Yisheng suddenly asked.

“People,” Taihua replied.

"A person?" Dao Yisheng asked, puzzled.

His confused look made Taihua laugh for a while. "Do you know what I meant by what I just said?"

Dao Yisheng was puzzled and asked, "Which sentence?"

"One cannot know the hardships of poverty without experiencing them, nor remains naive without worldly wisdom." Taihua smiled and repeated this saying to him.

Dao Yisheng lowered his head in thought, then gave up and asked again, "What do you mean?"

Taihua patiently explained, "You are a tree spirit, a person who has cultivated for a thousand years. Fortunately, you live near our Taoist temple, so those who make a living by logging won't bother you. But what about those who don't live near the temple? What will happen to them?"

Dao Yisheng frowned and said, "They will be cut down."

He looked at Dao Yisheng, who was frowning, and smiled, "That's right, that's what that sentence means."

Taihua didn't say everything, but tried her best to guide him, even though he looked like a young man. Perhaps this could be seen as paving the way for his growth, after all, their relationship seemed to be bound together by some kind of bond.

While at the Taoist temple, he never spoke to anyone else, except when he met Taihua.

He also witnessed Dao Yisheng's attainment of enlightenment and the most important moment of obtaining a human body, and gave him the name Dao Yisheng.

The name is derived from Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching and a sentence from the Book of Changes: "The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things," and "The Supreme Ultimate gives birth to the Two Forms, and the Two Forms give birth to the Four Symbols."

The reason for choosing this name is that Taiji is the starting point of everything, the chaos before heaven and earth were created and yin and yang were separated; and the laws of all things, the natural order, are called the Dao. And the most important word in this is "birth".

Life is evolution, reproduction, and growth. He hoped that this tree spirit, whom he had witnessed cultivating into human form, could grow naturally in the human world without being tainted by worldly things, without losing its original heart or extinguishing its true nature.

That's why he said that the people in Yu'an are the most fun, but it's not limited to Yu'an; rather, Yu'an is the only stop on their trip!
-

The two walked for half an hour and set foot on the official road. The official road was short, which meant Yu'an wasn't far away. But just then, they encountered something.

Not far ahead of them, two men on horseback were circling a woman dressed in green with her head down. They were grinning and teasing her with their whips.

Upon seeing this, the two immediately quickened their pace and walked over.

"Young lady in green, please don't refuse. We brothers will see you off. Besides, it's getting late, you can come back with us."

The man who spoke was handsome, with an air of nobility about him, and his fine clothes further indicated that he was no ordinary person, but rather someone of great wealth and status. The other man, on the other hand, was rather plain-looking, with a large mole at the corner of his eye that looked like an unnecessary and superfluous embellishment on the upper left side of the character for "ugly."

“Yes, our room is big enough for the two of us brothers, enough to sleep in and enough to use,” the decorated man chimed in.

“Young Master Wei, no need. My home is quite spacious, so I won’t trouble you.” The woman called Green Robe continued to politely refuse with her head bowed.

"That's fine then!" the man clapped his hands in approval. "In that case, we'll take you back."

Another man chimed in with a laugh, "We don't need anything in return, just treat us to dinner."

The woman in green didn't speak. Instead, she gently raised her small, cute face, which looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old. A green light flashed in her eyes, carrying a hint of murderous intent, as she stared intently at the handsome man.

The man's mind went blank at her gaze, and he swayed precariously on his horse. Just then, Taihua and Daoyisheng approached.

Taihua, carrying a gourd on his back and holding a sword, greeted the three with a smile: "This humble Taoist, Taihua, is very polite. I just heard there was food to eat; may I ask where it is? My friend and I haven't eaten all day; could you please take us with you?"

As soon as Taihua's voice rang out and he said "This humble Taoist," the woman in green quickly looked away and lowered her head again. After catching her breath, she raised her tear-filled face and looked at Taihua and the others.

Dao Yisheng frowned upon seeing Luyi's appearance and asked, "Miss, are you alright?"

Green saw her tearful eyes and was about to speak when the handsome man, who had come to his senses, turned his horse around and stared at them: "Where did these Taoists come from? What do you want to eat?"

Upon hearing this, the man with the decorations also spoke up: "What are you, a Taoist priest, eating? Hurry up and leave, don't delay our business. Otherwise, you'll be sorry."

"Indeed handsome, this young master is indeed handsome." Taihua continued to smile, showering the decorated man with compliments: "Young master, your eyebrows are as thick as ink, your eyes are as bright as torches, your nose is like a tiger's mouth, your lips are like sausages, and especially that mole at the corner of your eye, it's like honey gathering from a flower, it's quite beautiful!"

"Huh?" After Taihua finished speaking, the adorned man and the handsome man didn't react for a moment. They only realized what was happening when the green-clothed man chuckled and Dao Yisheng laughed.

The man, dressed in finery, rode up to Taihua and angrily rebuked, "Who are you insulting?"

"This humble Taoist wouldn't dare. It's just that the young master looks like this. Taihua is simply stating the truth."

Taihua's words made Daoyisheng, who was standing to the side, burst into laughter. He said to Taihua, "I didn't realize you were so good at 'praising' people!"

The man, enraged, pointed at Dao Yisheng and said, "If you laugh again, believe me, I'll cut your tongue out."

Taihua, who had been smiling, frowned upon hearing this and gently tapped the horse's head with his sword. The horse suddenly seemed to lose its balance and collapsed to the ground, pinning the decorated man down without moving.

The handsome man panicked upon seeing this and quickly dismounted to run to his side, trying to push the horse away. But the horse remained motionless, its eyes fixed straight ahead like a mountain.

Dao Yisheng stopped laughing and stared at the man who was being held down by the horse and the man who couldn't get up from the horse.

"What kind of spell have you cast, Taoist priest? Undo it right now!" the man shouted angrily.

The green-clad figure, whose eyes were devoid of tears, also ran over and said to Taihua, "Daoist Master, please untie him. You can't afford to offend them."

Taihua frowned upon hearing this, glanced at the woman in green, and then turned to look at the handsome man. "You can untie me, but apologize to the young lady first."

"Don't go too far." The handsome man pointed at Taihua and was about to say something when Daoyisheng slapped his hand hard.

The handsome man was in pain from the blow and immediately withdrew his hand, glaring at the three men: "Let me tell you, I am the son of the richest man in Yu'an. Judging from your direction, you are also heading to Yu'an. If you don't undo the spell, believe me, when I get back and tell my father, you won't be able to leave Yu'an alive."

Upon hearing this, and seeing that Taihua had no intention of untying her, Green Robe bowed to the man and apologized, "Young Master Wei, please don't be angry. It's all my fault."

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you." Taihua glanced at the woman in green again, a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.

However, the next moment he tapped the man's forehead with his sword again, causing him to faint as well.

Because when he looked at the green-clad man, he said, "You damned old Taoist, did you hear that?"

Without saying a word, Taihua, having knocked the man unconscious, pulled Daoyisheng along and continued walking. As they left, they knocked out another horse, leaving only Green Robe standing there watching them depart.

Dao Yisheng glanced back at the woman in green, then turned back to Taihua with some concern and asked, "Are we just leaving like this?"

Taihua frowned and looked at Daoyisheng, saying, "Otherwise what?"

"So, is that girl just going to stay away from her? It's not safe for her to walk alone on the street." Dao Yisheng said, glancing behind him again.

"Don't worry. That girl is no simpleton," Taihua said.

"What do you mean?" Dao Yisheng pressed, but this time he didn't answer. Instead, he told him:
"We're almost in Yu'an."

"what?"

The woman in green watched Taihua and Daoyi walk away, her eyes filled with curiosity as she stared at their retreating figures. She wondered: How did this Taoist and demon end up together?
She thought about it, then stopped thinking about it. Instead, she looked at the two people lying on the ground and chuckled quietly, "You two are lucky. If that Taoist priest hadn't knocked you out, I would have really wanted to take you two beasts back and use you as fertilizer."

(End of this chapter)