Chapter 3: The Gift of Meeting

  Li Anran was very lacking in historical knowledge, but he also knew that if he really traveled back to the first year of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, other problems were not urgent, and the most important thing to solve was his own identity.

  Staring at his Taoist robe, Zhao Er shouted again and again. Li Anran naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to come up with some lame excuse like those transmigrated protagonists who always claim to have returned from overseas.

  "Is this a mount? That Taoist priest must be an immortal!"

  Zhao Er, who had just been startled by the powerful engine roar of the three-wheeled vehicle, directly classified this thing into the category of myth and legend, as a mount for immortals.

  "Immortal? I dare not accept this title, at most I'm just a Qi Refiner."

  Li An actually also wanted to use the title of immortal, after all, with this identity, he thought it wouldn't be difficult to make a name for himself in the Tang Dynasty.

  As for the magical techniques that match those of the immortals, Li Anran has been following the wandering Taoist priest Li Guizhen for so long, and he still knows a thing or two about the tactics of those Jianghu masters.

  Such as entering wood three points, fried little devil, words into stone tablets, divine family drunken wine, empty palm invites butterflies and so on. However, these are not the content of the Pure Yang Palace inheritance.

  It was Lao Daoshi Li Guizhen who had been traveling outside for many years and sorted out the tricks of Jianghu technicians to deceive people, in order to increase Li Anran's experience.

  In Li Anran's view, these tricks can fool some ordinary people in ancient times, but for those with deep minds in the temple, they are not useful.

  Even if not everyone can see the way, as long as one person sees it, Li Anran, who claims to be a god, will inevitably fall into an absolute predicament.

  Moreover, this immortal's reputation isn't that easy to use, not only can Li Anran not do things like moving mountains and seas or plucking stars and moons, even if he gets stabbed by a knife or shot by an arrow, he will still die in a very ugly manner.

  Compared to this, the identity of a Qi Refiner is much easier to deal with. Some things that one can't do themselves can be completely explained away by saying they're not skilled enough or that their skills are specialized in a particular area.

  If Zhao Er had been somewhat puzzled by the identity of that Qi Refiner at first, he completely "understood" once they sat on the three-wheeled rickshaw and started hurrying down the mountain.

  For Zhao Er, Li Anran's mount was not only able to make a loud roar, but also run on its own. If it wasn't a divine mount, what else could it be?

  Since this is a divine mount, who else can ride it besides the gods? Only, I never thought that I could sit on it too.

  Being able to ride with the gods, this experience directly put Zhao Er's spirit in a state of constant excitement, and even the bumps on the mountain road were completely ignored.

  Fortunately for Li Anran, the area he was in previously was already on the outskirts of the Qinling Mountains and not too far from Zhaojia Village, so the journey was relatively smooth.

  Apart from this section of mountain road being really bumpy and some places not being easy to walk, requiring detours elsewhere, there's no major trouble.

  After the two of them finally managed to climb over the last hill through the gap between the trees, Li Anran suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in front of him, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.

  Since childhood, he followed Old Master Li Guizhen to practice medicine in the surrounding areas of Yixing County. As for the environment around Yixing County, it's no exaggeration to say that Li Anran was familiar with it like the back of his hand.

  The village situated below the rugged and uneven mountain slope, not too far from the river, is actually not any known village near Liyang County.

  Looking at this village with less than twenty households and mostly thatched cottages, Li Anran felt a deep sense of sadness.

  It's not that the village is poor, but rather it feels like I've really traveled through time. I've traveled back to the first year of the Zhenguan era in the Tang Dynasty, which is the era when Li Shimin had just ascended to the throne.

  After leaving the mountain, the last section of road was obviously a sheep intestine path that had been trampled out by villagers over the years. Although the road conditions were still very poor, it was much easier to walk than in the mountains.

  It's just that the three-wheeled vehicle originally had low requirements for road conditions, and except for Li Anran and Zhao Er sitting on it feeling a bit uncomfortable due to the bumpy ride, their speed had increased.

  As the engine roared, Li Anran soon came across a group of young people carrying baskets and cutting grass, except for Zhao Er.

  After discovering Li Anran, or rather Bian Sanlun, these lolis and shotacons who were wearing very tattered clothes all stared blankly.

  "Immortal, Dao is long, stop for a moment, I see my dog egg at home."

  Sitting upright in the cart, tightly grasping the handlebar in front of him to prevent himself from being thrown out, Zhao Er's gaze fell onto a patch of grass and he hastily spoke up.

  "Where's Dog Egg?"

  Before going down the mountain, Li Anran inquired about Zhao Erjia's family situation and naturally knew that this dog egg was his son, so he stopped the car.

  Zhao Er hadn't even had time to respond when the original jolting suddenly stopped, and he immediately felt a wave of nausea in his chest and abdomen. He hastily jumped off the vehicle and ran to the side to vomit.

  Listening to the sound of vomiting, Li Anran, who was still riding on the sidecar, also felt a wave of acid reflux in his mouth. Who let the road that had just come out of the mountain be so difficult to walk?

  If it weren't for Zhao Er's strength, there would have been several places where the two of them had to lift the car to get through. Otherwise, they would have had to temporarily abandon the tricycle on the mountain.

  "Grandpa! Grandpa! What's wrong?"

  Just as Zhao Er was vomiting against a tree by the side of the road, Li Anran saw a half-grown boy running over from not far away with a bamboo basket on his back.

  "Ah? Didn't Zhao Er say he saw his own son? How did he run here and become a grandfather? But looking at the age, it's not very possible either?"

  Looking at this slightly thin and weak figure, who looked quite like Zhao Er, Li An Ran was somewhat puzzled by the other's title.

  After Zhao Er's years of accumulating experience living in the mountains, the dizziness from the bumpy road was only temporary discomfort. After vomiting for a while, he felt much better.

  After these two men who were either father and son or grandfather and grandson exchanged a few words in dialect, they both came over to the side of the tricycle.

  "Immortal... Daozhang, this is our family's little puppy Dan."

  Zhao Er smiled foolishly with a happy expression, stroking his son's head.

  It was a half-sized kid called Dog Egg, who looked a bit shy. Especially when he saw the tricycle, there was a hint of fear in his eyes.

  "Zhao Er, is this your son?"

  Yes.

  "Uh... got it."

  After confirming their relationship, Li Anran didn't know that the term "Aye" was actually a way for ordinary people to address their fathers during the Tang Dynasty.

  Zhao Er brought the dog egg to his front, and Li Anran, who had just gotten off the tricycle, rummaged around behind him for a while before realizing he didn't have any suitable gifts.

  In Li Anran's hometown, when meeting an acquaintance's child, especially for the first time, there is a custom of giving a gift.

  But this time the crossing was completely unprepared, after a moment of hesitation, Li Anran simply took off the golden crystal pendant tied to his Taoist robe belt.

  "Dao Zhang, this is unbearable, it's really unbearable!"

  Staring at the god-like person in his heart, he actually wanted to give this exquisite treasure to his own son as a gift for their meeting, Zhao Er didn't dare accept it and repeatedly declined.

  "Zhao Er, no one can refuse the things I send out. It's just a small trinket, not worth much money, let Dog Dan take it to play with."

  Li An said this is not polite, don't look at the shape of this gourd-shaped glass pendant is exquisite and elegant, but the price is really not expensive, only thirty or so yuan.

  "This... this..."

  "What's wrong with you? This is for Dog Egg, not for you, just take it if I give it to you."

  Li An suddenly reacted and realized that this crystal perfume gourd pendant was not worth much to himself, but in the Tang Dynasty it was quite valuable.

  Since this thing has already been taken out, it's not just a matter of saving face to put it back now. For the time being, I can only put on a stern expression and maintain my composure.

  Zhao Er had the intention to refuse, but as soon as he thought of the identity of the person in front of him, the words that had already reached his lips could only be swallowed back, and then he took the thing with some trepidation.

  "Hurry up and kowtow!"

  After receiving the thing, looking at his own son still standing there foolishly, Zhao Er hastily slapped a palm on the little guy's head, but didn't use much strength.

  Not only did he resemble his father in appearance, but also in temperament. Dog Egg immediately knelt down on the ground and knocked his head against it several times with a loud thud.

  "Alright, alright, hurry up and get up, don't knock your head silly. Zhao Er, look at the time, it's not early anymore, shouldn't we head back soon?"

  She liked the little guy's honesty and quickly went forward to pull Dog Egg up from the ground, nodding at that slightly dirty little face.

  "Off you go, off you go, Dog Egg! Hurry back and tell your mother that we have a distinguished guest at home. And invite your uncle's family over too, got it?"

  Zhao Er carefully put the crystal pendant into his cloth pouch, only to find that several village kids had already gathered around, and he hastily gave an order.

  Having received his father's instructions, Dog Egg nodded and sniffed back the snot that was hanging down from his nose, then turned around and ran towards the village with quick steps.

  As Dog Egg left, those little guys who were originally still watching from a distance also slipped away with their tails between their legs, and several of them also headed in the direction of the village.

  The little guy who went to report the news still needs some time, and Li Anran, who was also shaken before, didn't ride his bike but pushed it forward.