I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 239 Paper Cutting in the Palace That Day
Princess Yuzhen gave him a strange look. "How is it?"

Thinking of Li Bai, Wang Wei made a move, his tone indifferent.

"I've heard of it before."

“The imagery is magnificent, but the writing style is ordinary.”

Princess Yuzhen, however, thought it was quite good. She thought that perhaps poets and talented men were jealous of each other, so she smiled and didn't say anything more.

Under the same tree, the maid fanning the other side smiled, her eyes crinkling.

She said lightly:

“Princess, Lord Wang was just joking. He was the one who introduced the poems to Prince Qi back then.”

"He composed the music himself and played the pipa himself."

"If you don't like it, why would you do this?"

Princess Yuzhen was hearing about this for the first time. She looked at Wang Wei, who was idly tapping the chess pieces with his head down, looking at the chessboard, without saying a word.

It's impossible to tell whether they like it or not.

Thinking of what Li Bai wrote in his poem, and then of Wang Wei's poems and prose from the past two years.

She found it amusing.

The one who used to be called Wang Wei is now reading Taoist scriptures...

My mind was a bit shrewd, but for a moment, I became unhurried and relaxed.

We chatted casually about the scenery of Tiantai Mountain, the Guoqing Temple in the mountains, which was said to have been built during the Sui Dynasty, and how my fourth brother, Prince Qi, once sent someone to Xiangyang, but I wondered what for.

Princess Yuzhen said with a smile.

"The country has been at peace for the past two years, and all the officials say it is a blessing from the Fengshan ceremony."

"My imperial brother has been trying to find the immortals who performed the Fengshan ceremony for the past two years."

"It's a pity that at the time I didn't know the name of that immortal. I only heard a few words from other places. Zhang Guolao, who lived in seclusion in Zhongtiao Mountain, called him a friend."

Wang Wei raised his eyes.

"Fairy?"

Princess Yuzhen nodded.

"I sent many officials to visit Zhongtiao Mountain, but they didn't see him. They even wrote to me to complain that Zhang Guolao was unpredictable and probably already knew that I was looking for him, so it was very difficult to invite him."

"Many monarchs of our Great Tang Dynasty have previously wanted to summon Zhang Guolao to court."

"Even a god as powerful as Emperor Taizong never received the transmission of the Dharma."

"I'm afraid my brother's wish will not be fulfilled."

When Princess Yuzhen left the capital, the emperor was still in good health. He even hunted a deer himself and gave it to her as a reward, having it escorted to her villa in the Zhongnan Mountains.

Wang Wei seemed very interested in this matter.

He asked, "Who is that immortal?"

Princess Yuzhen knew nothing about immortals; her brother hadn't even found Zhang Guolao yet.

After several games of chess, the score was evenly split. As dusk fell, the servants packed up the chessboard. Princess Yuzhen was drinking flower dew when she suddenly heard the cheerful laughter of children, which puzzled her.

"Are there young Taoist disciples on this mountain?"

The maid had already found out, and smiled:

"A guest has arrived at the temple, and he is discussing the Dao with Master Sima."

……

……

The sun is setting.

After applying a base coat to the murals and having a simple dinner, Chen Hong and his servants went to the front hall to chant sutras and pray for their deceased relatives.

Sima Chengzhen invited the group to stay overnight.

We had a chat in the afternoon, and the Taoist temple treated them with the courtesy due to honored guests.

Even after the meal, they would bring out the frozen ice from winter and mix it with goat's milk, fruit drinks, and snow to make shaved ice, which would then be made into a milk shaved ice, sprinkled with chopped fruit.

The two children, Sanshui and Chuyi, ate without even looking up, and had several more bowls of food.

Jiang She was holding a bowl of ice cream.

A small table sits before me; I might as well read a book.

He had only eaten a little over half when the two of them already ordered a second serving. Jiang She noticed this and said to Yuan Danqiu, "Those two will probably suffer from severe stomach pains tonight."

"What is unbearable?"

Sanshui didn't hear clearly, and was focused on eating the ice bowl, his eyes squinting with delight at the delicious food.

Jiang She watched them with a smile.

"You'll find out tonight."

I didn't hear it on the first day of the Lunar New Year either.

He held the bowl and said, "If we had known, we should have come down the mountain a few years earlier. There are no such things on the mountain. They are just a bunch of wooden puppets, very clumsy. They even trip over themselves when they walk. They can't do anything except farm."

Sima Chengzhen listened with a smile from the side.

Suddenly he asked, "A wooden puppet?" "Yes!"

Sima Chengzhen asked the two children, "What is that?"

Sanshui generously said, "It's a kind of supernatural power that our master master knew. There aren't many disciples who have learned it now. It's very difficult to learn. It can be used to farm and replace human labor."

Chu Yi said from the side.

"But it's not very useful. Master said it's very difficult, and only people on the mountain can use it. With that skill, you can buy a bushel of rice for only twelve or thirteen coins."

Sima Chengzhen's expression showed regret.

"Have you all learned it?"

The two children shrank back and remained silent.

It seems even their master doesn't know this kind of technique, but their senior master knows some.

“Our master said that Taoist arts are difficult and profound, and often it takes a lifetime to comprehend one Taoist art. He didn’t want us to learn too many different kinds. As for the techniques, they were for our own amusement, and he didn’t teach us much about them.”

Sima Chengzhen laughed.

"I asked the wrong question. Your master explained it very well..."

"That's what the senior said too!"

Sima Chengzhen glanced at the man in blue robes reading under the tree, occasionally jotting down notes. The sky was already dark, the moon high in the sky. This man was reading, but without a lamp.

"What did they say?"

Sanshui thought back for a moment.

The senior said that you don't need to learn too many different things; just find a path you like and keep going down it.

"He told us to do whatever we wanted."

Jiang She, who was writing, looked up and glanced over there when he heard this.

He never said that.

Sanshui and Chuyi were completely unaware that the old Taoist priest seemed kind and spoke of Taoist scriptures as if he were even more knowledgeable than the Taoist priest Taihe in Luoyang.

The two of them pushed each other.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride towards the smiling old Taoist priest.

The two lowered their voices and said mysteriously, "We also have a cat, but it's different from ordinary cats. It was a gift from our senior."

Sima Chengzhen watched with interest.

He had heard that some sacred and mysterious places in the mountains and wilderness, due to their advantageous location, sometimes give rise to strange and supernatural beings.

Could it be a cat demon?

As he was thinking, he saw the girl look around, reach into her bosom, and pull out a purse.

I took out that paper-cut.

With a gentle touch, the paper fluttered to the ground, revealing a lifelike yellow cat with its long tail raised, meowing and looking around.

It was a living cat.

Sima Chengzhen paused for a moment.

Thinking of that paper-cut in the hall, light and airy, soaked by the rain, its illusion gone, it could never be brought back to life.

He asked, bewildered and uncertain.

"Paper cutting?"

"Yes, it's said to be an inspiration for life, drawing upon a bit of spiritual energy from heaven and earth!" the two young disciples said happily. "This was given to us by our senior."

San Shui said, "The senior also said that we will be able to learn it in the future."

"It just requires more hard work..."

Both of them lowered their voices and spoke somewhat indistinctly.

They clearly have nothing to do with hard work.

Since leaving the mountain, Chu Yi had been wandering around aimlessly, and the money his master had given them was almost gone. Chu Yi even regretted it a little and whispered to San Shui that he should have not refused the Taoist Taihe when they were in the Taoist temple in Luoyang.

They still had about three strings of cash left at the time.

Now all that's left is loose change; I doubt I can even scrape together a string of cash.

The cat's tail brushed against Sima Chengzhen's Taoist robe. For the first time, the old man felt speechless. He couldn't stop thinking about the day the donkey in the hall turned into paper, and then was drenched by a sudden downpour.

I do not know how long it has been.

I think I heard a sentence.

"It's just some trivial trick, what's there to tell others about?"

Sima Chengzhen immediately looked up.

Under the tree at the Taoist temple, a man in blue robes sat cross-legged on the ground, relaxed and carefree.

The page has been turned.

【Ask for monthly ticket】

(End of this chapter)