With virtue

Zhang Wang suddenly opened his eyes. Only then did he realize that everything in front of him was pitch black, with only a few sparks in the Taoist's palm providing a glimpse of his surroundings.

Judging from the flickering firelight illuminating his surroundings, he was currently inside a cave.

He struggled to his feet and could smell the earthy scent and a cloyingly sweet fragrance, somewhat like... honey?

He licked his lips, which were sticky from the sweet taste. His mind was still hazy from just waking up, and he didn't even realize that he was lying in a crowd of people.

Yes, a crowd.

Zhao Yunshu could see that there were at least several hundred people lying here, densely packed together in the cave. Some were curled up, some were lying on their backs, some were lying on the ground, and some were turned over on their sides. They were all sleeping very soundly. Some were even hanging upside down, like dried meat hanging upside down, lined up in a row.

Moreover, without exception, every one of these people had glistening sugar stains on their lips, and they all slept very soundly, not wanting to get up at all.

As consciousness slowly returned and his body gradually awoke, Zhang Wang looked around and saw what was happening.

In an instant, he felt goosebumps rise all over his body, his hair stood on end, and he gasped in fright. The cold air made him feel like his brain had shut down and all the blood in his body had stopped flowing.

What about Liujiazhuang?

The grand stone-paved road, the enviable blue-tiled houses, the two-courtyard houses, the brightly lit threshing ground where horses could run.

Where were the beautiful, slender-waisted, and well-endowed young mistress of the Liu family, the lovable young master, and the servants on the estate who trusted him implicitly? He opened his mouth, wanting to shout, but it seemed as if his throat was blocked because he hadn't spoken for so long, or as if it were stuck by something sticky, so when he shouted, only a low, hoarse gasp came out.

However, he didn't call out a second time. Instead, realizing what was happening, he frantically shook off Zhao Yunshu, quickly crawled out of the crowd, staggering and stumbling as he tried to see his surroundings clearly.

The cave wasn't deep, and he ran out after a short while. He saw that it was already dusk outside, and the light was a dim, yellowish twilight. Although the light wasn't bright, it still hurt his eyes.

He rubbed his eyes and looked up again. There was no longer any grand mansion in Liu Family Village, no threshing ground where horses could run. In front of him was only a barren mountain. Because everyone needed firewood, the mountain had been almost completely cut down. There were rubble everywhere, and even the withered grass was gone. Because withered grass had many uses, it could be made into mattresses or woven into straw sandals.

He was best at weaving straw sandals, second only to being good at accounting. Even though he used to do accounting and scheming against people every day, he never forgot his craft of weaving straw sandals. He knew that one should not forget one's roots.

But at this moment... he truly hasn't forgotten his roots. He can still perhaps make a living by... weaving straw sandals...

Zhang Wang suddenly lost all strength, his legs went weak, and he slowly sat down on the ground along the rock, trembling all over.

After a moment, he suddenly moved, as if reminded by something, or as if he had figured something out.

As if shoved, he sprang to his feet, lunged forward, grabbed Zhao Yunshu who had followed behind, and began punching him wildly in the chest, crying as he did so: "Give me back my wealth! Give me back my son! Give me back my young mistress!"

He was like a wild dog whose tail had been stepped on and whose bone had been stolen. He kept slapping the ground frantically, tears and snot streaming down his face, looking utterly pathetic. But his punches were getting harder and harder. Zhao Yunshu didn't block at first, but after being punched several times, he was forced back several steps.

However, the young Taoist priest did not retaliate. He simply raised his arm to block twice, but after about four or five breaths, seeing that the other party showed no sign of stopping, he reached out and gently deflected the blow with his sword sheath, knocking the other party to the ground.

After throwing him to the ground, Zhao Yunshu bent down to help him up. However, Zhang Wang suddenly broke free of his grasp.

He crawled two steps toward the cave, then stumbled to his feet, scrambling and rolling as if he had remembered something, muttering repeatedly, "They're waiting for me... I have to go back..."

As he spoke, he ran straight into the cave.

Zhao Yunshu, trying to catch up with him, called out, "Zhang Wang!"

Then, the young Taoist priest hurriedly chased after him and tried to pull him away, but he was thrown off like a madman. He rushed back to the cave entrance, plunged into the group of sleeping people, and searched for the spot where he had just lain down. Once he found it, he immediately lay down again.

A few drops of viscous honey seeped from the cracks in the stones, glistening like some kind of amber-colored dew.

Zhang Wang stuck out his tongue, licked the honey, smacked his lips, and made two smacking sounds, followed by a satisfied groan from his throat.

Then, he closed his eyes, his body slowly went limp, he turned over, rested his head on his arm, his rapid breathing gradually calmed down, his eyelids closed heavily, and he fell back into that dream.

Zhao Yunshu chased after him all the way back, reaching the cave entrance, but then stopped. She watched him fall asleep again, his chest heaving violently before gradually calming down, a smile on his lips, muttering something unintelligible.

Seeing this, Zhao Yunshu sighed.

Ugh.

After sighing, he turned and spoke in another direction within the cave. The young Taoist said, "Come out. You should have seen it too. When I called them just now, they all woke up, but then they all crawled back to sleep."

He rubbed his temples, turned to the side, and looked at a hidden spot at the very back of the cave. It was pitch black down there, and if you didn't look closely, you would think there was nothing there.

But the young Taoist priest still retorted, "So what about you? Why didn't you try it? This stuff can bring you immense wealth! If you don't come out soon, I'm coming over."

As he said this, his tone already carried a hint of helplessness.

After he finished speaking, half of his little head peeked out from the hidden little pit.

She was a little girl, no more than ten years old, with dry, yellow hair tied in two messy buns. Her face was dirty, and she was wearing an adult's tattered shirt with the hem dragging down to her knees. Her trouser legs were rolled up several times, and she was barefoot with mud on the insteps of her feet.

At that moment, she secretly hid behind the pothole, trembling all over, holding a stone, and said in a tearful voice, "Don't come any closer! I... I'll hit you!"

The voice was high-pitched and thin, but the accent was different from the locals; it was soft and gentle, making it difficult to understand, and it carried a tone typical of the Sichuan mountains.

Zhao Yunshu noticed that the stone in her hand was bigger than her fist. If it were to hit her hard, it would leave her with bruises, even if it didn't draw blood. She found it amusing; this little girl was quite carefree.

He thought for a moment, then took a step back and softened his tone: "Don't be afraid, I won't harm you. I'm just a passing Taoist priest. Why are you hiding here alone? What's your name? Where are you from?"

The girl remained huddled in the pothole, as if that gave her some sense of security.

Although this would only put her in greater danger, hiding inside would make it impossible for her to escape when she wanted to, showing that she had no knowledge of how to escape. Zhao Yunshu, who had been abandoned in the mountains by her parents to be a mountain spirit child since childhood, knew very well that normal orphans were used to being wild dogs and were particularly good at escaping. Someone like her, on the other hand, was obviously very well pampered by her parents.

Why is such a beloved daughter all alone?

While Zhao Yunshu was observing and contemplating, the girl also revealed her eyes, looking the young Taoist priest up and down.

The Taoist priest in front of me was carrying an iron sword, wearing an old Taoist robe that didn't look very fancy, and had a large bundle on his back. I wondered what was inside.

Moreover, judging from her attire, she didn't seem to be one of the servants from Liu Family Village. Only then did she loosen her grip on the stone slightly and whisper, "I...! I recognize you! You entered the village with them last night. They all said you were a Taoist priest. I was being led around by my parents when I saw you."

Zhao Yunshu nodded and said, "Yes, my surname is Zhao, and I am a wandering Taoist priest. So, you also know about what happened at Liu Family Village last night?"

That's right, what happened in Liujiazhuang last night was all true.

The Liu family village where porridge was distributed, the large manor and its servants, all of them were genuine, and it's even quite possible that when he was welcomed in for a meal, they were all real people.

But when it was fake... Zhao Yunshu didn't know.

When the girl heard Zhao Yunshu say that, she started to wriggle around inside, as if she was thinking.

She hesitated for a while before slowly moving out of the pothole. With her head down, she said softly, "My name is Yaomei. My father... my dad brought me here to escape from disaster. When we got here, my parents were starving, so they told me to stay and have some porridge first, and see if I could find some work to do."

"If I could stay and work, that would be best, so I went over there to try out the work. Later... then I fell asleep, and I don't know what happened. When I woke up, I was here. I was scared, so I ran out and hid."

As she spoke, her words were in the authentic Sichuan dialect, which sounded somewhat out of place in this desolate wilderness, but it still stirred something in Zhao Yunshu's heart.

Speaking a dialect from another region is inherently more credible than other languages, and what the other person said was something Zhao Yunshu already knew.

So he continued, "Are your parents in here too?"

"They're not here. I've looked around. Some of the people here were with us yesterday when we fled the famine, but I don't recognize most of them. My parents aren't here either," the youngest sister said.

As she spoke, she glanced at the cave entrance again and suddenly asked, "Master Daoist, how did you wake up? Did you eat some candy too?"

Zhao Yunshu didn't answer her directly, because... he didn't know the answer to that question either...

The story begins a few days ago. At that time, he obtained Anhe's address and information about the Prefect of Nanke. He was preparing to go find that so-called "Old Tree Grandpa" to see what the Prefect of Nanke was all about.

He was confident that as long as he stayed by the side of the Prefect of Nanke for a while, the Yellow Book would naturally record it for him, making the Prefect of Nanke nowhere to hide. Then he would go back to find Young Master Wang, bring the restraint items, and take him away in one fell swoop.

After making up his mind, he set off from Dingzhou and headed southwest to find the Prefect of Nanke.

He was tired from walking along the road, and when he came to the side, he met a group of refugees. He followed them and asked to stay overnight at a village that was distributing porridge nearby. Because he was a Taoist priest, he was treated well by the villagers.

The young Taoist priest was naturally wary and didn't eat or drink much, but everything seemed normal in the end. He didn't find any ghosts or spirits on the table and assumed it was just an ordinary local gentryman. He planned to rest for the night, gather some information, and leave early the next morning, as his business was more important. However, during the banquet, he suddenly felt dizzy, and after that, he couldn't remember anything. In any case, when he opened his eyes again, he was already in the cave.

Moreover, a large group of people lay sprawled around him, all fast asleep, each with a mouthful of sweet honey water in their mouths and a smile on their lips, each sleeping more soundly than the last.

As for the young Taoist priest himself, he felt nothing unusual when he woke up. He didn't notice any sugar on his lips, nor did he have any pleasant dreams.

I don't know why, but perhaps it's because he has cultivated inner vision, and his mind is clearer than that of ordinary people, making him more aware of anything wrong in his body, which is why the honey water couldn't stay in his body.

However, he wasn't entirely sure.

Moreover, during the half hour he was awake, he had been trying to wake up the people around him.

The first time, he woke up a tall, thin young man, who looked to be in his early twenties. When the young man woke up, he was initially confused, but then, just like Zhang Wang, he went crazy and pounced on him, crying and shouting that he wanted to go back to his "home" and that his wife was still waiting for him at home.

He couldn't stop him, so the young man climbed back into the cave and went to sleep.

The second time, he called an old woman, thinking that since the old woman had lived a long life, she should be able to get rid of the influence. He believed that the old woman's age would bring a sense of reality. After all, would an old woman who had lived most of her life still act this way after knowing that she was dreaming?

As a result, the old woman sat up blankly, saying as if in a daze, "My son passed the imperial examination and became a scholar... I want to go back for his wedding banquet..."

After Zhao Yunshu pointed it out, she didn't climb back. Instead, she understood what was going on, ran to the edge of the cliff, and without saying a word, jumped off the cliff, even more decisively than Zhang Wang.

There was also a woman in her thirties. After being woken up, she did wake up, but she wouldn't communicate. She just huddled in a corner and cried, doing nothing. When forcibly pulled up, she said she would rather die in her dream than return to this mortal world to suffer. Finally, there was Zhang Wang.

Zhao Yunshu watched them wake up one by one, and then...

He only felt terrified.