"Daughter-in-law carrying Zhu Bajie"

  On a late summer night, the rain was pouring down. Fei Yi leaned against a tombstone on the Luanyang Ridge, stretching out his right leg and deliberately placing it on the mountain path. He was both cold and hungry, and had walked to this place where there were no villages ahead or shops behind, so he sat down and didn't move anymore.

  The surroundings were eerily silent, except for the sound of raindrops hitting the broken stones and monuments with a crackling noise. Before long, some voices of travelers on the mountain path in front could be faintly heard at night.

  Min An walked ahead with a lantern and an oil-paper umbrella, clearing the way. He turned his head to shine a light for the team behind him, but couldn't help being careless about his own footsteps. His long legs, sticking out from under his clothes, tripped him up. He got up and held the lantern close to the tombstone, shining a light on Fei Yi's pale face, washed clean by the rainwater. Suddenly, he exclaimed: "Ah! Lord Bi, there's someone else here!"

  Min An shouted that Bi Da Ren was Bi Si, and going forward a bit more would be his jurisdiction, Huangshi County. Bi Si had just finished sending a memorial and gifts to the superior King Zhi County, and on his way back, he happened to catch up with the night rain, with a feeling of annoyance in his heart. Then again, hearing Min An say that there was an unknown person lying on the Luangang Ridge, he thought it might be a wandering beggar from outside the county, or something dirty related to death, and hurriedly sat in the sedan chair and stomped his feet: "Go quickly, go quickly, don't care about those things!"

  The sedan carriers also whispered: "This is a dead man's territory, Master Xiao, don't get involved in this matter."

  Min An held the lantern closer, and saw that Fei Yi's eyebrows were tightly furrowed and his lips were pursed, with a face that was extremely handsome. He carefully examined Fei Yi's collar and cuffs again, seeing that those places were clean, and faintly revealed a piece of lining fabric inside, and he felt more at ease, turned around and said: "Sir, this person is a fallen noble son, not some kind of riffraff, why don't we lend him a hand and save him?"

  Bi Shi pushed open the curtain and said: "He has hands and feet, and his origin is unclear. As an official who guarantees the safety of a prefecture, how can I casually pick up someone to take back?" After finishing speaking, he urged the team to continue moving forward, hurrying back to the prefectural government.

  Min hesitated for a moment and then ran away.

  He continued to sit still, accumulating energy, without moving. In front of the stone tablet where he sat, there was a broken stone base that formed a chair-like shape with the surface of the tablet. After being washed by the rain, the seat was clean and tidy. If he moved elsewhere, he feared dirtying his clothes. Also, when the young servant came to light the lantern earlier, he saw that the young servant looked handsome, with almond-shaped eyes and a straight nose, not the person he wanted to meet. According to the information he had bought, the young servant was only an apprentice of that person.

  Wait until the rain stops at dawn, and then head forward. Huangshi County is not that big, Wu Ren can be found. Fei Yi made up his mind and started to rest with his eyes closed. After a short nap, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the mountain path. He opened his eyes to see that it was Xiao Xiang Gong running back with a lantern.

  Min An wiped the rainwater from his face, squatted down and said to Fei Yi: "Our county has been plagued by thieves lately, they love to rob at midnight, leaving you alone here, I'm still worried." His voice was soft and low, with a pair of black and white eyes looking at Fei Yi, very kind. Fei Yi listened to him say two more sentences, his tone was always so gentle, making Fei Yi feel sleepy.

  Fei Yi thought for a moment, then simply closed his eyes and fell asleep. Min An became anxious and patted him on the arm: "Hey, I'm talking to you, get up and follow me! I came all this way to take you in, do I have to carry you back now?" After patting him for a while, Fei Yi didn't move or respond, nor did he lift an eyelid.

  Min An turned around helplessly, pulled up his clothes and walked towards the county government office with his back to Fei. As he walked, he said: "My name is Min An, what's your surname? Where are you from? Why are you sitting in front of the grave at midnight scaring people?"

  His body was somewhat heavy, pressing down on Min An, who breathed heavily with his mouth open wide, but he didn't say a word.

  Min An dropped the lantern, pulled out a tree trunk to make a wooden stick, and walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The wind on the mountain path was mixed with rain, and sometimes it even flew in some fine stone powder and thorn branches, which hurt when they hit his face. Min An probably felt it, lowered his head, and hid in the neck of Min An's clothes. Min An still had to walk forward against the wind, carrying a guy who was about to fall asleep.

  "Since you're not making a sound, sooner or later someone will have to call out to you, right? Why don't we just call you 'Three Noes'? Because whenever I ask you three questions, you don't answer. You don't answer about your name, your hometown, or why you came here. The other day, I brought back a little wolf dog from the back mountain, and it had a name too - Agu. Agu used to be Ahua, which was also something I picked up. Its fur was black with white spots, just like a stone fish. When I put them together, they would always fight, and in the end, this wolf dog Agu was actually bitten to death by a spotted pig! Isn't that strange? Oh right, Ahua is still at my master's place, and later I'll send you there to rest for a bit."

  After Mo An finished speaking, Fei Yi spoke up. "My name is Fei Yi. I used to live in Changping Prefecture, Chu State. Not long ago, my mother passed away, and I went out for a walk to clear my mind. I got lost on the mountain and had to take shelter by the road. Unfortunately, you woke me up."

  Min An was taken aback: "You're saying... you sleeping in front of the grave is 'borrowing a place to stay'?"

  "Uh-huh."

  Min An whispered: "Is there such a way to borrow a place to stay, sticking out one leg from the grave and not making a sound for half a day, scaring people to death."

  Fei Yi heard what Min An was saying and replied faintly: "In your noble place, within a radius of twenty miles, there is only one inn that does not accept guests like me."

  Min An replied: "The shopkeeper is afraid that you are a spy sent by the thieves, and generally they don't dare to accommodate strangers overnight."

  Fei Yi didn't say anything, but later let Min An understand that the main reason he was drifting between counties without food, shelter or clothes was because he carried a large amount of silver notes with him. Every restaurant and inn they passed by couldn't exchange them for smaller denominations. Even when they encountered a silversmith, upon seeing that the silver notes bore the seal of a previous emperor, not the current Regent King Chusou's seal, they immediately refused to accept them.

  The rich became poor in unavoidable circumstances.

  That night, Min An used all his strength to get Fei Yi settled into the dilapidated wing of the Huangshi County government office. He boiled a pot of hot water and had it sent in for Fei Yi to clean up with. He brought over a set of his master's clean linen robes and passed them through the window, then went to the kitchen to prepare a steaming bowl of millet porridge. Seeing a clay pot nearby, he ladled out a bowl of mountain mushroom lotus root soup and sent it in to Fei Yi's room along with the porridge.

  Fei had gone hungry for a day, and when he finally got to eat this late meal, his demeanor was still elegant. His hair was misty with steam, swirling in the lamp's glow, making his hair color like ink. After washing up, his features were fully revealed, his skin as white as ivory seemed to have been moistened with a layer of jade, beautifully setting off his dark eyes and pursed lips, as if painted by a skilled artist.

  Min An looked at Fei An quietly eating, thinking in her heart, this young master is born so beautifully, as if he hasn't experienced any hardships, but on his fingers there are some thin calluses, it seems that he is also a martial arts practitioner. No wonder he came all the way here and wasn't afraid of encountering thieves and robbers.

  Fang put down his spoon and asked: "What are you thinking about?"

  Min An waved his hand and smiled: "Nothing, nothing, I'll just tidy up a bit and let you rest early."

  The woman in red picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth: "That man who stared at me last time, I dug out his eyes."

  Min An's face turned red as she said: "Alright alright, I'll just glance at you sideways from now on."

  Fei Yi picked up a melon seed from the table and flicked it at Min An's eyelid. Min An couldn't dodge in time, and his eyelid was hit with a loud thud, causing him to yelp in pain. He hastily grabbed the tray and held it up in front of him as he retreated out the door.

  He glanced around the cold and quiet room, at the dusty kang bed, and the remaining melon seeds on the table, furrowed his brow, cleaned up a spotless area, planning to spend the night there. Before going to sleep, he took off his robe, folded it neatly, placed it on his knees, then sat upright in the chair with his eyes closed.

  Outside the door, Min An saw that the oil lamp in the opposite wing of the house had been lit and quickly lowered his body, tiptoeing outwards. A hoarse but excited voice came from inside the room, shouting: "You little scoundrel, what are you doing sneaking around at midnight? Are you trying to snatch the mouse's daughter as your wife? Get back in here!"

  Min An immediately walked into the room, receiving a good scolding from his master. Wu Ren scolded until he was thirsty and asked Min An to warm up some tea for him to drink. However, he complained that the water was too hot and used a cloth shoe to kick Min An out of the door. Min An picked up the cloth shoe and respectfully put it back on his master's footrest. Wu Ren got more and more agitated, stretching out his leg to kick again. Fortunately, Min An dodged quickly, or else he would have been kicked off his hat.

  "Wu Ren glared and shouted: 'Quickly go boil some water and take a bath, if you catch a chill don't expect me to treat you! And that kid next door, with an unknown background, you dare to bring him back, aren't you afraid of inviting trouble?!'"

  Min An hastily put on a smile, repeatedly responding with "I know, I know", and calmed down his master before retreating out the door. He glanced at Fei Yi's window, which was pitch black, and felt that Fei Yi was also an unusual person. His master had been scolding him for half the night, but he hadn't uttered a single word, completely able to hold his temper.

  Minna took two pieces of white radish stalks and walked to the front of the pigpen in the corner of the wall, poking at the motionless spotted wild boar. She said with her mouth, "Huh, so noisy, Ah Hua can also sleep!" The wild boar grunted, the paper screen on the window was lifted, and Wu Ren's cloth shoes were thrown out again, accompanied by a loud shout: "Get away! Don't disturb old man's sleep!"

  From the second day on, there were constantly jailers, attendants, and catchers from the county government who came into the yard, under the pretext of checking whether Ah Hua had given birth to a cub, glancing at the side house with their eyes, sizing up Non-cloth's situation. Non-cloth was wearing a light blue fine linen robe, revealing a white satin undershirt, looking elegant and refined, outshining all the men who walked in the countryside. Bi Si, as the highest official in the county government, heard that an outsider had come, born more beautiful than Xiao Xiang Gong, also couldn't help but come to take a look, asking about Non-cloth's origin and background.

  He still wore the same attire, after his mother's passing, he went out alone to clear his mind. With martial arts by his side, he wasn't afraid of mountain bandits. When Bi Si asked him which young master he was, he hesitated for a moment before answering that his mother came from the Xie family in Beili country, and didn't mention his father's faction.

  "Beili country... That's a distant place..." Bis said with his hands clasped, "For nearly forty or fifty years, we have been trading and doing business with the Huachao kingdom, and have also gained a reputation as a friendly nation. Alright, alright, since you've come from afar, you can stay in our official residence. However, there's one thing: young master must follow Little Premier and listen to his orders, and absolutely cannot cause any trouble."

  He nodded slightly.

  Bis Ha ha smiled: "Small places don't have anything good to entertain the young master, this meal will be temporarily put on my account, and when I become a high-ranking official in Japan, I'll hold a grand banquet for the young master."

  Min An stood by with a faint smile, saying nothing.

  He pulled out a silver note worth 100 taels from his sleeve and handed it to Bi Si with both hands, saying: "This silver note is as worthless as a piece of scrap paper on me. Please help me out, sir, take this silver note, if you can exchange it for silver, it will be enough to cover my food and lodging expenses, that would be your greatest kindness to me."

  Fei Yu's annual salary did not exceed 40 taels, and his elegant and refined language was a great ornament to the declining Bis family of Huangshi County. The Fei family was not short of money either, this low-ranking official below the seventh rank was a quota donated by the family, but having more money is never a bad thing, seeing Fei Yu's dignified demeanor and himself bringing wealth, he must have looked down on doing things like theft, Bis thought so, in just one day, he had completely put his mind at ease about Fei Yu.

  Before accepting the money, Bi Shi habitually declined. Fei Cheng said sincerely: "Please, sir, grant me a small favor." Bi Shi laughed and, seeing that there were no idle people around, took out the silver note and stuffed it into his sleeve before walking away with his usual steady gait.

  Half a month passed, and the taciturn Fei Ling cleverly blended into the Huangshi County government office, assuming the identity of a guest. He moved in and out of the gate with humility, without causing any trouble, and gained the trust of most people. Wu Ren had not stayed at home for a long time, and he was not curious about Fei at all. When he heard that Fei was wealthy, he just rolled his eyes and hummed "what does it have to do with me", then carried his treasure box on his back and hastily left the county government office to go out and make money.

  Thank you for the three landmines with closed pig ears and the green grass landmine

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