Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

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An old Taoist priest stood at the door.

He was wearing a dark blue Taoist robe, the fabric of which looked very fine. The hem of the robe was embroidered with cloud and crane patterns, and an apricot-yellow silk sash was tied around his waist with two tassels hanging down.

Her hair was meticulously combed and tied into a bun with a white jade hairpin, a few strands of silver shimmering softly in the sunlight. Her face carried an air of otherworldly elegance, her eyes were deep, and a slight smile played at the corners of her lips.

Standing there, he looked like a wise and enlightened sage who had stepped out of a painting.

Even when attending a meeting of the Taoist Association, Cheng Shou had never dressed this formally.

The lynx crouched beside him, squinting and gently swaying its tail as it sized up the newcomer.

It's not like Big Yellow, which is silly and doesn't rush up to fawn over everyone it sees.

Duoduo immediately withdrew her hand and stood obediently.

It was shown in the animation that those naughty children would stand at attention when they saw their master.

I need to perform even better myself.

Cheng Shou raised his eyes as if examining something, then coughed twice.

Cheng Mo looked at his master with a puzzled expression: "Master, do you have a cold? Why are you coughing so much?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Cheng Shou really choked this time, coughing several times in a row, and his face turned a little red.

He pointed at Cheng Mo and said irritably, "You brat, come here now!"

Cheng Mo pulled Duo Duo along and ran over, grinning, "Master, I brought my junior sister back to see you!"

Duoduo bowed respectfully, her little body bent like a shrimp: "Master...Master."

Cheng Shou nodded reservedly, glancing behind them and then to the side.

I waited for a while.

There's no one here.

He waited a while longer.

Still no one.

Cheng Shou couldn't help but ask, "Where's that girl named Xia He?"

Cheng Mo said, "She had some family matters to attend to, so she took the train back from Qin Chuan."

Cheng Shou's tense tension immediately relaxed.

He quickly pulled a large bag of snacks from his Taoist robe, his old face beaming with a smile, his wrinkles crinkling up. He squatted down and stuffed the snacks into Duoduo's arms: "Duoduo, come here, these are delicious~"

Duoduo was a little confused.

She thought her master was going to give her a lecture or something when he was so serious just now. Why did he suddenly turn into this?

Suddenly she's so... cute.

Yes, cute.

Duoduo then realized that the word "cute" could be so fitting when used to describe an elderly person.

Cheng Mo finally realized what was going on, and looked at his master with drooping eyelids: "So, that otherworldly demeanor you were just now was to see Xia He?"

Cheng Shou turned and glared at him: "That's nonsense! Do I need to go to all that trouble to see a brat like you?"

He stood up, straightened his Taoist robe, and said irritably, "Do you know that your master got up early this morning to take a bath? I even dug out this robe that I'd kept at the bottom of my trunk and wore it for most of the day, and you still haven't come!"

Cheng Mo twitched: "I thought you were here to see Duoduo."

He glanced at the snacks in Duoduo's arms and said, "Besides, this is the first time you've met your new apprentice, and you're just going to give her a bag of snacks?"

Cheng Shou suddenly switched back to his previous smiling face, bent down, picked up Duoduo, and walked into the house.

"Duoduo is our own apprentice, making things too formal would only create distance, right, Duoduo~"

Duoduo nodded hesitantly, her little face a little confused.

Cheng Shou smiled, took Duo Duo's little hand, and stroked his beard: "Isn't Master's beard handsome?"

Duo Duo: "???"

She didn't know why her master asked that, but she guessed she should answer, "It looks good~"

Cheng Shou smiled broadly, his eyes narrowing into slits: "Then pluck one and let me see~"

Duoduo was completely bewildered and looked to Cheng Mo for help.

Cheng Mo rolled his eyes: "Just pull it out if Master tells you to. He's the one who's going to feel the pain anyway."

Duoduo turned around and looked at Cheng Shou again.

Cheng Shou gave him an encouraging look and leaned forward slightly: "It's okay~ Just pull one out~"

Duoduo carefully reached out, pinched a beard hair, and gently applied force.

His beard fell down.

"Ouch~ Ouch~" Cheng Shou exclaimed exaggeratedly, but his face was beaming with joy. "My little girl likes her master so much that she even wants to collect his beard~"

Cheng Mo: "..."

The old man has gone mad again.

Duoduo looked at the beard in her hand. Why was her master acting so strangely?

Cheng Shou laughed heartily, put Duoduo down, and took out a necklace from his pocket.

The chain is silver, and the pendant is a cute little bunny: "Does Duoduo like it?"

Duoduo nodded timidly: "I...I like it."

Cheng Shou grinned: "That's good. I asked several young girls, and they all said this is their favorite."

He handed the necklace to Duoduo.

Duoduo turned to look at Cheng Mo.

Cheng Shou was unhappy: "Why are you looking at that brat? This was given to you by your master. Do you think he can explain anything about it?"

Cheng Mo nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, it's a gift from Master, so we should accept it without any guilt."

Duoduo tilted her head and thought for a moment before taking the necklace.

She suddenly knelt down.

In the animated film, you have to kowtow to become an apprentice, so she has to kowtow to her master.

Before her knees even touched the ground, Cheng Shou swiftly scooped her up, beaming from ear to ear: "We don't do this here, as long as Duoduo likes it~~"

Duoduo smiled happily and whispered, "Thank you, Master. I like it very much."

Cheng Shou's face has gained a few more wrinkles.

Cheng Mo casually replied, "Because she's like a flower bud about to bloom, so we just took her name."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Shou's face fell, and he pointed at Cheng Mo's nose, scolding, "Don't you know you're just giving her a random name? Duoduo is a flower bud now, but what about when she grows up? Once the flower blooms, it withers, doesn't it? Why don't you give her a name with the character 'withered'?"

Cheng Mo: "..."

Upon hearing this, Duoduo's face immediately fell: "I like this name."

Cheng Shou's expression instantly changed, his face crinkling with a smile: "As long as Duoduo likes it~ We won't change it~ Master was just scolding your senior brother~"

Cheng Mo, however, was thinking that the name seemed a bit unlucky, so he said, "Duoduo is a nickname, how about you give me a formal name, Master? I can use it when I go to school and so on."

He looked at Duoduo and said gently, "Is it okay, Duoduo?"

Duoduo nodded timidly: "Yes, you can."

Cheng Shou thought about it seriously: "Then I need to think about it. I can't just pick a name randomly."

He then glared at Cheng Mo as he said this.

Cheng Mo, the little bear, shrugged.

Cheng Shou put Duoduo down on the ground, then squatted down and said to her, "How about this, when Duoduo turns ten, Master will decide on your formal name, okay?"

Duo Duo looked at Cheng Mo: "Senior brother, what's my birthday again?"

In fact, the Medicine Fairy Society did not record the children's birthdays, only the dates on which they delivered their medicines to the Society.

Liao Zhong took the average of the differences between the birthdays of the children who had already found their parents and this date, and set the birthdays of the other children on that day.

Duoduo's birthday is...

Cheng Mo thought for a moment, "June 6th."

Cheng Shou nodded: "June 6th, an auspicious day, I'll remember that."

Cheng Mo rubbed Duo Duo's head: "Then let's look forward to the good name Master will choose~"

Duo Duo smiled happily: "Mmm!"

Cheng Mo suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, Duo Duo, didn't you want to know what a melodramatic TVB drama is? Let Master demonstrate it for you."

Duoduo looked at Cheng Shou expectantly.

Cheng Shou didn't think there was anything wrong with letting a four- or five-year-old child watch melodramatic dramas. He smiled and led Duo Duo into the living room, turned on the TV, and tuned it to TVB.

A TV drama was playing on the screen. A mother-in-law, hands on her hips, was berating her daughter-in-law: "You've been married into our family for three years and haven't even given birth to a son. How dare you eat our rice?"

The daughter-in-law lowered her head and wiped away tears: "Mom, I...I will try my best..."

The mother-in-law scoffed, "Work hard? My son works overtime until midnight every day, and then he has to wait on you when he gets home? You barren hen!"

A man next to him shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

Duo Duo didn't quite understand, so she pointed at the screen and asked, "Master, why are they arguing?"

Cheng Shou patiently explained: "This mother-in-law is a bad person who bullies her daughter-in-law. The man is even worse; he doesn't dare to say anything when his wife is being bullied."

Duoduo's eyes widened as she stared intently at the screen.

Cheng Shou continued, "The daughter-in-law's family will be here soon, and there's bound to be a fight. That's how these kinds of dramas are; it wouldn't be TVB if there weren't two or three fights in an episode."

Duoduo nodded vigorously, her eyes unblinking.

Soon, the daughter-in-law's mother rushed in, and the two old ladies started arguing, spitting everywhere, making such a racket that it seemed like the roof was about to fall off.

Duoduo stared, her mouth slightly agape, completely captivated.

Cheng Shou watched with great interest, occasionally explaining the plot to Duo Duo.