The Guiguzi Collection with Annotations Volume 32

  The house given to Wu Song by Tong Guan, located between the old and new Song gates, had over a hundred rooms, pavilions, towers, and everything else one could need. There were also thirty or more serving women and maidservants, as well as dozens of male servants.

  Inside the mansion, apart from the garden and goldfish pond, there was also an orchard and a martial arts arena. This place was originally prepared by Tong Guan for his own new residence, extremely luxurious, but before he could move in, it fell into Wu Song's hands.

  Chen Liqin, a little girl, ran excitedly into the mansion. After a while, Wu Song found her by the goldfish pond. The little girl sat on the floating bridge in the middle of the pond and said to him with a happy face: "Fifth Uncle, I got lost..."

  "Isn't your mother right next to you? Let her take you, how can you get lost?" Wu Song picked her up and put her on his shoulders. The little girl was restless, her two thin legs swinging back and forth, her small feet raised, with two embroidered lotus flowers on the toes of her shoes, giggling: "I like the feeling of getting lost, it's so fulfilling! I've decided to get lost once a day, Uncle, you come find me!"

  Wu Song shook his head and smiled wryly, also somewhat worried. The estate was too big and there were too many people, it was indeed inconvenient to manage, and maybe even some officials from the imperial court had infiltrated.

  "We are not good at this, but Bai Yulian is quite skilled. Speaking of Bai Yulian, I thought of Pan Jinlian, I wonder how those two girls are doing in Qinghe County? Half a year has passed, and I really miss them, when things settle down here, I must bring the two sisters over."

  For a year and a half, Bai Yulian and Pan Jinlian would send Wu Song letters almost every month. Since he was on the front lines, transportation wasn't convenient, so sometimes several letters would arrive at once. In her letters, Yulian's words were tinged with subtle girlish emotions, using trivial matters to embellish her feelings, faintly revealing a sense of resentment. Jinlian, on the other hand, was much more passionate and effusive, first chattering away about how much she missed him, then chatting about family gossip, and finally ending with a coy phrase like "I think of you in my bed, under the silken curtains, wrapped in sweet warmth." Even now, Wu Song's heart still itches when he thinks about it.

  He also replied with a few letters, but his handwriting was really not presentable, so he asked the military counselor to write on his behalf, and many affectionate words were inconvenient to say.

  Gong Sun is still in the armory, studying other types of mechanical beasts. Meanwhile, Lu Da has been practicing martial arts on the training grounds and comes to find Wu Song, sweating profusely, saying: "It's not good to take things that don't belong to us, although the house Tong Guan gave us is indeed good, but this wind cannot be prolonged."

  Wu Song nodded and said, "I know, don't worry." Just then, Steward Han hurried over and said, "Master, Gao Qiu from the Duanwang Mansion has sent over several boxes of antique jade carvings, as well as some paintings and calligraphy. How should we handle them?"

  "Wu Song waved his hand: 'Take it down!'"

  Lu Da glared at him, and Wu Song explained: "A gentleman is open-minded, a petty person is always worried. If I don't accept it, he will be uneasy in his heart, and if he is uneasy in his heart, he will harm me. By accepting his gift, he will feel at ease."

  "What you said doesn't make much sense to me, but it seems to have some truth to it. However, if in the future you follow their lead and become corrupt, I will cut ties with you!"

  "Hehe, don't worry, just this once, won't happen again!"

  The housekeeper Han came running in a hurry: "Master, someone from Cai Shangshu's mansion brought a large gift, two boxes of silver and one small box of gold bars! Also, Liang Shicheng, the general manager of the Book Art Bureau, sent over a box of ancient books."

  "Got it!"

  "Didn't you just say it wouldn't happen again?"

  "They're also petty people, if you don't take precautions against future troubles, it will set a bad precedent!"

  "Master..." The housekeeper, Han, ran over again. Wu Song gave him a glance, and the housekeeper immediately understood, saying: "The dining room has already prepared wine and dishes, waiting for Master to start the meal!"

  Ruda looked at the housekeeper with a hint of doubt and turned around to leave. Wu Song said in a low voice, "Who's here to offer gifts again?"

  The housekeeper also said in a low voice, "Master, it's not a gift, but a Taoist priest who claims to be Lin Lingsu from the Ghost Valley. He heard that you are a noble person and sent over a few pieces of paper. I took the liberty of accepting the papers, but since his gift was too light, I drove him away."

  Wu Song listened, feeling depressed. These treacherous officials gave gifts that were either books or paintings, or jade artifacts and antiques. In fact, Wu Da Guan Ren still preferred silver, but unfortunately, the fashion of Northern Song was like this, giving books seemed elegant, now even giving paper was a thing.

  "What paper?"

  Han's housekeeper pulled out three pieces of paper from his sleeve, and Wu Song took them over to take a look. They were handwritten copies of "Guiguzi Ji Zhu", which was full of strange and unusual scriptures that were quite different from the usual "Guiguzi". Wu Song hastily said: "Where is Lin Lingsu now? Hurry up and invite him back!"

  The housekeeper hurried out and came back after a while to report: "That Taoist priest has left, and I couldn't find him anywhere."

  Wu Song said solemnly: "If monks or Taoist priests come to pay their respects, you must treat them with kindness and courtesy, and not be neglectful." Han the steward hastily assented.

  After lunch, the five of them went their separate ways. Yang Jia was practicing alone, Lu Da went to exercise, Gong Xun continued to study the mechanical beast, and Chen Liqin took a small piece of silver from her bosom and went out to buy candied hawthorn on the street.

  Wu Song listened to the steward's report on the various expenses at home, only to feel a severe headache, and he waved his hand for him to leave, locking himself in the study, taking out the several volumes of "Guiguzi Jizhu" that Lin Lingsu had given him, carefully studying them.

  Lin Lingsu claims to be a Taoist in the Ghost Valley, but it is unknown whether this is true or not. However, these few pages of "The Collected Works of Guiguzi" are indeed authentic and genuine. Wu Song read them carefully and felt that they contained profound meaning and subtle language, with each word being like a precious jade. The opening chapter discusses a highly advanced technique of deduction, which claims to be able to see through all phenomena in the world using the "Four True Eyes".

  Wu Song became more and more fascinated, more and more excited. Guigu zi was the founder of the yin-yang school, and the four-phase true eyes passed down were also called double-pupil divine eyes. One pair of mortal eyes and one pair of heavenly eyes looked at the world's phenomena with mortal eyes, and looked at heaven, earth, man, god, and ghost with heavenly eyes. But most crucially, the yin-yang school's divination technique could rely on the double-pupil divine eyes to see through others' Taoist methods, thereby deducing one's own gongfa, which was indeed a profound and extreme subject!

  Lin Lingsu was a cunning old fox, and he only gave the opening of "Gui Guzi Ji Zhu" to Wu Song, but not a single word of the most critical part that followed. This move indeed caught Wu Song's psychology at once, making him feel itchy in his heart, and he couldn't wait to grab Lin Lingsu and snatch away "Gui Guzi Ji Zhu".

  Wu Song took a deep breath, Lin Ling sent the remaining chapters of Guigu Zizi, just to attract him with this and take it as a way to advance. Now that he has piqued his interest, he will definitely come again in a few days, but for now, he can't wait.

  The calmer you are, the less you think about it, the more likely Lin Lingsu will come to your door by herself. At that time, can "Guiguzi Jizhu" still escape from your hands?

  "The annotated collection of Guiguzi is even better than the Taoist 'Three Thunderclap Heavenly Book', this study can integrate the methods of military, law, Taoism, Mohism and Confucianism, it seems that I have taken the right path by following the teachings of Duanwang!"

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