I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 38 Departure Date
Magistrate Cheng held the letter, reading it aloud as he did so.

"All the sages and worthies of the past are dead, only drinkers have left their names... only drinkers have left their names... What a fine poem."

Seeing that he had been muttering to himself for a long time, Madam Zhao grabbed the bag and looked at it.

"What poem is this? Did your friend write it for you?"

"Hiss—be careful!"

Magistrate Cheng hurriedly put the paper back; this was an article he had been waiting for for many days.

"I'm referring to a line from Li Bai's new work. It's so well-written: 'In a dream, I wander through a feast of ghosts and gods,' it's so vivid, as if I were experiencing it myself."

"Among them, immortals preached the Dharma, fierce tigers discussed the Dao, monkeys wept bitterly, mountain gods and earth spirits gathered, and ghosts and monsters were listed next."

"The poet drank with him, got very drunk, and did not wake up for several days."

"How carefree and joyful..."

As Magistrate Cheng read on, he became somewhat wistful.

After listening to him recite the poem, Madam Zhao, fanning herself with a fan, thought for a moment and said, "The poem doesn't say that it was written in a dream. How do you know that the poem was written in a dream?"

Magistrate Cheng laughed and said, "How could I not know that?"

"Could it really be possible..."

He suddenly stopped talking.

Seeing that he had come to his senses, Madam Zhao said from the side, "Right? Think about where Li Bai lives. Now he lives in the same courtyard as that person. Who knows... maybe that person took him there?"

Magistrate Cheng somewhat agreed.

But he refused to admit that his wife was right, insisting, "It's probably because of the rumors circulating in the city these past few days. He wrote the poem based on what the hunter said."

Madam Zhao put down her fan and pinched it.

"Still arguing back!"

"The servants all told you that you encountered a fierce tiger, the one from the rumors, which could speak human language. And think about the immortal in blue robes that the hunter encountered."

"Are you still going to argue with me?"

Cheng Zhi felt a slight pain in his lower back, and decided not to argue with his wife.

"Alright, alright, what Madam says is true."

Magistrate Cheng was in a good mood. He picked up the letter and reread it. The more he read, the more relaxed and happy he felt. He smiled and said:
"He has finally finished writing this article. The county will find a craftsman to carve it into a stone tablet."

"In this way, I too can be remembered in history."

"Who knows, he might even get promoted..."

"Ha ha……"

Madam Zhao asked, "What did you write down?"

Magistrate Cheng stroked his beard and said proudly, "Under my jurisdiction, people are harmonious and the harvests are plentiful. A passing immortal from Xiangyang came and exposed those fraudsters, ordering them to return the money to the Lu family..."

"A hunter once again spent the night in the mountains and forests and encountered a celestial being."

"The banquet was filled with clinking glasses and singing and dancing day and night; it was truly a blissful paradise."

Cheng Zhi felt more and more pleased with himself as he spoke, until he finished recounting the miraculous events at Qingxu Temple on Black Stone Mountain a while back.

"How was it? This happened a little later, so I had to write back to catch up on it."

"Among the 1,500 county magistrates in our Great Tang Dynasty, only Cheng encountered an immortal, hahaha."

"It is truly a stroke of luck that we have received divine assistance."

Li Bai's poems and prose.

Within days, the news spread throughout Xiangzhou.

Not only was it the talk of the town of Xiangyang, but students in the academy were also reciting poems with their heads swaying, and the news had spread to nearby places, including counties like Gucheng, Yiqing, and Lexiang.

Suddenly, paper became scarce in Xiangzhou.

The governor of Xiangzhou had also heard of it. The feast of ghosts and gods described in the poem was so magnificent and magical that even his children read it to him several times at home, and he often talked about gods and ghosts at the dinner table.

The next day, the governor of Xiangzhou summoned Magistrate Cheng and asked him many questions.

Upon learning that Cheng Zhi was about to erect a monument for the immortals, the governor simply said:
"Why not build a temple and place the stone tablet in front of it?"

The governor, having read the poem and heard a wealth of anecdotes, was in high spirits. He dipped his brush in ink, casually spread out a piece of paper, and sketched a rough map of Xiangyang.

Where is the Lu family located?

Cheng Zhi pointed to a place outside the county town, not far from Mount Lumen, which was quite scenic. "This is the Lu family where the immortal first appeared, and also the place where those nineteen people had a great dream."

The governor pondered.

"Where do you think the temple should be built?"

The governor of Xiangzhou stroked his beard with some regret, saying, “Vice Minister He’s poetry and prose are excellent. It’s a pity that he is too busy with official duties this year because of the Emperor’s Fengshan ceremony. Otherwise, I would really like to ask Vice Minister He to write an article, which would be engraved and his name would be remembered for all time.”

He Shilang is He Zhizhang, who is currently serving as the Vice Minister of Rites and an Academician of the Jixian Academy. He is exceptionally talented in literature.

This year, the emperor is going to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan ceremony, and everyone is busy, so the prefect of Xiangzhou should not disturb him.

The two discussed it for a while. After listening for a long time, Cheng Zhi decided to go back and add the governor's name to the article himself, urging the craftsmen to finish carving the stone tablet as soon as possible.

After everyone left, the governor of Xiangzhou recited the poem about immortals for a long time.

I savored it repeatedly in my heart.

I felt as if ghosts and gods were talking and laughing, their words were playful, and immortals were preaching and pointing out the way for people.

Overnight, they were all seen.

He beckoned to his men and said with interest, "Quietly find out what kind of person he is, what he likes, and where he often goes."

"Do not go near the gates of eminent people; such people prefer tranquility and do not cause displeasure to the immortals and gods."

"Prepare another gift. After a few days of rest, Cheng Zhi's stone tablet should be carved. I will go and pay him a visit."

"Do you understand?"

The subordinate bowed with his hands clasped and said, "I'll take care of it right away."

……

……

Jiang She sat in the courtyard, where it was quiet, making the sounds outside seem even clearer.

Unlike the first few days after he arrived, Jiang She could now recognize the vendors' cries outside—it was Wang's sesame cakes. Now that the summer heat was intense, there were beverage stalls set up nearby, and his family's hawthorn and plum drink was the most delicious.

You can still hear it.

The neighbor's little boy was having a fight with other neighborhood children using sticks, each vying to be the general. They would often end up in a chaotic brawl, with no one willing to concede. In the end, the children would be taken home by their parents, sobbing and crying.

The kittens were frightened by the noise and jumped up into a tree.

Among them, a small black cat trotted over the wall.

Upon seeing Jiang She, they became much more familiar with each other. The cat rubbed against the wall, watching him organize his things.

Jiang She counted the coins: five qian of broken gold, twelve strings of coins, and two hundred and fifty-six coins. Since copper strings were difficult to carry on the road, most people chose to carry them on their backs. Fortunately, Jiang She had another way.

That's already quite a sum of money, enough for an average family to live on for two or three years.

He doesn't have to pay taxes, and he can spend money more easily.

There were also three bottles of pills, nine pills in total, and six bottles of spiritual liquid. Jiang She placed them on the table, unable to think of their uses for the moment, and decided to deal with them later.

Two sets of clothes for changing, a water bag, and a ceramic bowl.

A few books, some paper and pens, that notebook, and a map.

The table was already full of things, and the cat on the wall seemed quite interested in the medicine bottles and gold fragments, staring at them with its round cat eyes and occasionally licking its little paws.

Jiang took it back when he was about to speak.

To prevent the cat from knocking over the medicine bottle and to avoid financial loss.

After taking stock of the old belongings, Jiang She went to the kitchen and got a piece of meat for the cat.

The cat, having been fed a lot, is no longer afraid of strangers. It meows and munches as it eats, clearly enjoying its meal.

Li Bai returned from a banquet at noon. The courtyard was quiet and shaded by green trees. He saw Mr. Jiang feeding the neighbor's cat meat. The pieces of poultry were large, and the cat's teeth were small, so he had to tear them apart carefully.

Li Bai couldn't help but laugh.

"It's that cat again, coming to freeload."

The cat's ears perked up, and upon seeing the approaching person, it gradually arched its back and ate even more voraciously, as if afraid someone would try to snatch its food away.

"Taibai".

Jiang She stroked the kitten's fluffy head.

"I will be leaving after tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)