Tzu-yang

  It was dawn, and Mo Wen didn't expect to encounter robbers in broad daylight. For a moment, he was stunned by the five fierce men. Lao Wu had never encountered such a situation either, but subconsciously, he blocked Mo Wen's path.

  "Hurry up and hand over your money, or don't blame the steel knife in my hand for being merciless!" The leader of the robbers shook his steel knife and shouted loudly at the two.

  Mo Wen heard the words and was shocked again, but he quickly noticed that these five people were all dressed as farmers, only the leader's hand held a steel knife, while the other four held farm tools such as shovels and hoes. They must be local farmers who, driven by poverty and hunger, resorted to blocking roads and robbing travelers.

  "Gentlemen heroes, my brother and I are refugees who have escaped to this place. What silver do you think we have? If you don't believe me, search us." Mo Xun reached out to pull away Old Fifth, and said to the leader of the robbers.

  As soon as the words came out, all the robbers frowned. The leader of the thieves stepped forward with a knife, and Mo Wen hastily handed over the package. The thief took the package and opened it by hand, and when he saw the buns inside, his face showed joy. He picked one up and ate it, and the other four men rushed to grab and swallow them. Mo Wen saw an opportunity and pulled Old Five to turn around and run away.

  The robbers saw the two escape and immediately got up to chase them. Although the two fled for their lives, they were gradually caught up by the robbers.

  "Lao Wu, you'd better run for your life." Mo didn't ask and let go of Lao Wu's hand. With Lao Wu's strong legs, the robbers wouldn't be able to catch up, but he was holding Lao Wu back.

  "Master, I'll stop them, you run quickly." Old Five's heart warmed upon hearing this, turned around and rushed towards the chasing thieves, with one pounce he knocked down the thief who was running in front.

  The other thieves caught up and pulled out Lao Wu, surrounding him and beating him severely.

  Seeing Lao Wu in distress, Mo didn't ask and hadn't run away, but instead turned around and rushed towards the robbers, stretching out his hand to grab them. One of them countered with a punch to Mo's face, Mo only felt stars flashing before his eyes, and immediately fell to the ground, two robbers surrounded him, punching and kicking, loudly scolding.

  Don't ask if he's a young master, a bookworm, from childhood to adulthood, never fought with anyone, at this moment, there is no resistance, can only curl up on the ground and suffer a beating.

  "Spare our lives, we really don't have any money, you can search us and see, we really don't have any money." Lao Wu begged loudly.

  The robbers also felt that they had beaten enough, so they stopped and searched the two men by grabbing their arms. What Mo Xun did not expect was that these robbers actually started searching their boots first. At this time, the two were like fish on a chopping board, powerless to resist, and could only watch as the robbers found gold from under their shoes.

  Seeing so much gold, the thief was overjoyed and grabbed a handful of gold boards, laughing loudly. After finishing his laughter, he came to untie the hair buns of the two men and searched for money in their hair buns. It wasn't until now that Mo Xun realized that the method he and Lao Wu had thought of earlier was not clever at all, as it had already been used by others before them. The thief was already familiar with where people usually hid their gold.

  "You've taken our silver, that's fine. But if you harm my two brothers and the authorities investigate, you'll be punished to death." Mo didn't ask how he was at this time, with a nosebleed and constant coughing while speaking.

  "Don't worry, we won't kill you." The leader of the robbers laughed loudly and shouted to the other four, "Their clothes are still wearable, strip them off."

  Don't ask, the robbers didn't even spare their clothes, it's freezing cold now, if they lose their clothes, they'll soon become frozen corpses by the roadside. Moreover, Lin Ruochen's hairpin is still in her arms, this was left by a deceased loved one, and must not be taken away by thieves.

  The robbers saw Mo Wen tightly clutching his chest and mistakenly thought he still had gold and silver in his bosom, so they all reached out to grab and tear at him.

  "Amitabha, stop immediately." Just then, a shout came from afar. Mo Xiang's back was facing the newcomer, and he couldn't see his appearance, but the phrase "Amitabha" indicated that the person was a monk, and not an old one at that.

  "Bald donkey, mind your own business, get out of here!" The leading bandit shouted.

  "In broad daylight, you dare to rob people on the road! How can I, a poor monk, just stand by and do nothing?" A voice came quickly from afar.

  The leading bandit, seeing the situation, abandoned his questioning and charged south with a steel knife in hand. In an instant, there was a cry of pain, presumably having been wounded by that monk's hands.

  "Go, go quickly." The leading bandit shouted to his companions, and the bandits, hearing the sound, flashed into the forest, fleeing without a trace.

  After the robbers escaped, Old Five got up and came over to support Mo Wen. Mo Wen's nose was blue and his face was swollen, with blood all over his face. He gritted his teeth in pain and rushed to the young monk in front of him, bowing his head, "Thank you, Master, for saving us. The robbers took away the money we brothers brought with us. Please help us get it back, otherwise my brother and I will have no way to make a living."

  "Amitabha, they've gone far away and can't be found." The young monk said with a shake of his head as he looked around.

  Mo Wen was greatly disappointed by the words, but this young monk had just saved two people. If he asked for more, it would be taking advantage of their kindness and lacking in etiquette.

  "Thank you, Master. Please tell me your name, so that I may burn incense and pay my respects to you from afar in the future." Mo asked again with a bow.

  "Of course, monks have the surname Shi, and from the day they became monks, they no longer had a name." The monk turned around to leave.

  "May I ask where the master monk is from and where he's headed?" Mo asked hastily, grateful for his life being saved, a great kindness indeed, hoping to repay it someday.

  "I am a monk from Bodhi Temple and I want to go to Mount Wuliang in Minzhou." The young monk replied.

  "I humbly ask, Master, what is the purpose of going to Mount Wulao?" Mo asked with a hint of doubt. Mount Wulao was a sacred site for Taoist rituals, yet the monk before him was a Buddhist monk; why would he want to go to a Taoist ritual site?

  "The Dual Bliss Assembly is about to begin, and the Upper Clearness will be present in person. I am a poor monk who has come to listen to the scriptures." The young monk joined his palms together and opened his mouth.

  "You are a Buddhist disciple, why would you go listen to Upper Clarity lectures?" Don't ask about the chill in his feet and the trembling of his whole body.

  "That Upper Clear Ancestor was the Upper Clear Immortal, who enjoyed the worship of a thousand Buddhas and received congratulations from ten thousand immortals. Although the teachings of our Buddhist school were transmitted from the Buddha himself, the mysterious and penetrating Dharma gate as well as the rituals for performing offerings were all taken from the Taoist school. I, a poor monk, went to listen to the scriptures in order to gain a deeper understanding and cultivate great achievement." The young monk finished speaking and turned to leave.

  Mo Wen was greatly surprised to hear this, as he had not known about it before. However, after some thought, he felt relieved. Firstly, the monk would not slander his own sect, and secondly, the main ritual was conducted by Taoist priests, with monks rarely participating. Moreover, sometimes Taoists and Buddhists would hold joint rituals, so it was not unusual for this monk to go to Mount Wuliang to listen to Buddhist scriptures.

  "Old master, please sit down quickly." Lao Wu saw the monk leave and hurriedly helped Mo Wen sit down, taking off his own hemp clothes to wrap around Mo Wen's feet. Both of their shoes had been stolen by the thieves, so they were both barefoot at this time.

  "Use mine." Mo asked, starting to take off his own cloak.

  "Use mine." Old Five hastily stopped Mo Wen.

  "Your clothes have no cotton, use my two sleeves." Without asking, he took off his own robe, pulled hard and tore off the sleeves. The two sleeves were divided into two parts, wrapping around the feet of the two people.

  "What shall we do now, Master?" Lao Wu picked up the bundle that the thief had abandoned. The clothes inside had been taken away, leaving only a few biscuits.

  "I thought only barbarians were cruel and bloodthirsty, but I didn't expect the Han people to be so brutal as well." Mo Xun wiped away the nosebleed that was dripping down.

  "We've run out of money, let's go back." Lao Wu said with a sobbing tone, stretching out his sleeve to help Mo Xun wipe away the blood.

  "Yecheng is just ahead, at this time I turn my head back, and I have an unfulfilled wish in my heart." Mo Wen looked at Lao Wu, who had a similarly bruised face.

  "Old man, how much money do you have on you?" asked Lao Wu.

  Don't ask, but when they searched their pockets, all they found was that tattered red skirt and hairpin, two copper coins and three silver coins. At this time, Old Five also took out the things in his pocket, except for the fire starter, there were only eight copper coins and a wooden sign.

  "We'll be careful with our usage, we should be able to make it back," said Lao Wu.

  "Even two meals a day are not enough." Mo Wen shook his head slowly, one copper coin could only buy a bowl of porridge. The two had been delayed for nearly two months on the way here because they asked for directions and took a detour. On the return trip, even if they traveled day and night, it would take about ten days.

  "I can get by with just one meal a day," said Old Five.

  "How can that be? Lao Wu, I don't want to go back. Xiyang County is no longer a place where people can live." Mo asked shook his head again, the two of them were already homeless, and going back would only lead to more uncertainty.

  "Where shall we go?" asked Lao Wu.

  "We're close to Ye City now, I think I'll go to Ye City." Mo Xiang said.

  "We don't have any money now, even if we find the lady, we can't afford to ransom her." Old Five reminded.

  "Mo's ancestral hall still has a gold ingot, your legs are quick, can you make a run for it?" Mo asked in a deliberating tone, at this moment he was glad that he had left the gold ingot behind earlier, otherwise the two of them would have ended up as street beggars.

  "What can I do for you? I'll go back now, where are you waiting for me?" asked Lao Wu.

  "In front of the mountain temple, I'll be waiting for you to come back." Mo didn't ask and stood up to head south. The two had seen the mountain temple by the road when they came, and had even rested there before.

  The mountain temple has only one room, with no doors or windows, extremely old and dilapidated. The mud statue of the god in the north position has lost its head, and it is impossible to tell which god it is.

  "Old master, these are for you." Lao Wu left the fire starter and dry rations as well as copper coins with Mo Wen.

  "I'll leave the dry rations behind, you take these to make a bundle." Without asking, he left behind the flint and the three biscuits, and handed over the remaining money to Old Five.

  "Old master, you must be careful in this wilderness, there are wolves around, and you must make a fire at night." Lao Wu left the copper plate and returned the three pieces of broken silver to Mo Wen.

  "Be careful on the road, when you reach the checkpoint, go around from the west side, and come back early." Mo didn't ask, but he reminded him that no matter what method he could think of, he wouldn't let Lao Wu work so hard. However, he had no choice, as soon as he left home without money, every step became difficult.

  Lao Wu nodded and turned to run south, Mo Wen stood at the broken temple gate watching Lao Wu leave. Lao Wu was born with good legs, if nothing unexpected happens along the way, he should be back in about twenty days.

  After Lao Wu left, Mo Wen began to collect branches and firewood everywhere. After bundling the branches, he blocked the windows with them. The remaining firewood was piled up in the temple, and it wasn't until noon that he stopped. He used a discarded ceramic shard from the temple to heat some snow water and washed off the blood stains on his face.

  Night falls, don't ask a lonely figure crouches in a ruined temple, outside is the wind, far away are wolf howls...

  .

  New book period, please support with flowers, and don't let the concave and convex votes obtained from free sign-in flow out. As for the extra VIPs and seals given by everyone, I will add more updates to repay them. If the debt is not cleared, the book will not be put on the shelves!