Chapter 23: The Man Who Smoked Backwards

  How difficult it is to hunt, I don't know. What I do know is that after waiting for more than an hour in the cave, Lan sister came back with a wild rabbit in her hand, but her clothes were also dirty and scratched by branches in many places. Thinking about it, hunting isn't that easy either.

  Picking up branches, washing rabbits, lighting fires, and roasting, the whole process is no different from what's in the movies, but I always feel that something is off. That feeling can't be put into words, but it exists nonetheless.

  It wasn't until half an hour later, when the rabbit emitted a fragrant smell, that I suddenly realized where the problem lay - it was communication. For a whole half hour, we hadn't exchanged a single word, staring into Lan's eyes, but her eyes seemed to have an extra layer of mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

  "Lan sister, what's wrong?" I asked cautiously.

  "I'm fine." Lan sister didn't even lift her head, just used a branch to poke at the fire.

  "No, you're deceiving me, you definitely have something on your mind, just say it, don't keep it bottled up inside." It's really terrible to obviously have a situation but refuse to talk about it.

  "I said it's nothing," Lan sister's tone became much heavier, scaring me a bit. She seemed to be somewhat angry.

  "Lan sister, don't be like this, if I did something wrong, you tell me and I'll change, I definitely will change"

  "You're a grown man, why are you being so nagging? I've already said it's nothing." Lan sister glared at me fiercely.

  "Alright, alright, but you look so worried. I'm not reassured by your expression." I replied, looking into her eyes. Sometimes I think I'm a bit indecisive too, but Aunt Lan's current state really makes me anxious.

  "You and I are fine, let's head down the mountain early tomorrow." Lan sister said softly, avoiding my gaze.

  "You, are you thinking of your brother? Actually, I miss my parents too. Since the incident, I've been worried about them. I'm afraid those people will go after them. If they lay a hand on them, I think I'll go crazy." For some reason, looking at Lan's expression made me think of my own parents, and my nose started to ache as I almost shed tears.

  "Hehe, you still have parents to think about, but I've implicated my brother. Li Huaguang's paranoia is severe, we're his confidants. My betrayal will put my brother in a difficult situation." Perhaps sensing my sadness, Lan sister lifted her head and said slowly, "One escape attempt, although the outcome was already predicted, but some things are still hard to accept."

  "My parents are the kind of people who are too honest to be honest, they have never left their hometown in their entire lives. If they knew what happened to me, how would they react? Shocked, terrified, afraid... I dare not think about it, and I even dare not sleep, because I'm afraid of seeing them cry in my dreams."

  "Since I was young, my brother and I relied on each other for survival. After being adopted by Li Huaguang, life became even more difficult. When we were still in the country, people often bullied us, beating us up one time after another. Every time, it was my brother who protected me from behind, raising his fist to fight back against those thugs. Every time he was left with scars all over, but every time he would smile and tell me, 'Little Lan, brother is fine. Next time if someone bullies us again, brother will go beat him up.'"

  "I clearly remember that at this time last year, I used the money from my summer job to buy a bottle of wine and a piece of clothing to send back home to them. The wine was for my father, because every time he came back from work, he would want to drink some wine, but he couldn't bear to drink much, just a little bit at a time. The clothes were for my mother, I just hoped that during the slack season, she could have a cleaner set of clothes to wear. But when I called home, I distinctly heard their choked sobs, they were very proud, because their son was also able to earn money. When I went back home for Chinese New Year, the wine and clothes were still brand new, but the whole small mountain village knew about me sending wine and clothes."

  "Our situation became even more difficult once we left the country. In the mercenary training camp, deaths were a common occurrence. Many times our training was with live ammunition. I vividly remember one training session where we had to escape from a jungle that was being bombarded by dozens of cannons. I was a beat too slow and got blown away. Everyone gave up on me except for my brother, who abandoned the training, carried me on his back and ran for over ten kilometers to get me to the hospital, saving my life. But he was severely punished for it and stayed with me in the hospital for a month."

  ……..

  Slowly opening my eyes, they were a bit blurry, but I could still see that I was in the cave. My head was a bit muddled, and I didn't even remember how I fell asleep last night. In my memory, Lan sister and I were roasting rabbits together, then I felt the atmosphere wasn't right, so we started chatting, and somehow both of us became sad, telling each other about our past experiences. There was no interruption in our conversation, but we could feel each other's emotions.

  In the end, somehow the two of us ended up sitting together, leaning against each other. I treated her like my dearest parents, and she treated me like a brother. This should be a very normal thing, but why do I remember that just as we were about to fall asleep, our mouths were facing each other?

  "It's just a dream, yes, that's the fact." The more I think about it, the more it doesn't feel right. I shook my head vigorously to drive away the distracting thoughts. Lan sister is like family to me in my heart, how could I have such a despicable thought?

  "Huh, what's this? It's so soft." Just as I was about to get out of bed, I suddenly felt that my hand was still holding onto something, it was soft and had a nice texture. I even pinched it lightly, but the next moment, my heart skipped a beat. No way, it can't be like this. It must be because I opened it the wrong way.

  "Close your eyes, close your eyes." I felt my eyelids closing, but the sensation in my arms didn't end with my closed eyes, instead it became even clearer. In my mind, Lan's smiling face appeared, and only then did I realize that Lan seemed to be very beautiful.

  "Thud, thud, thud", a strong and powerful heartbeat came from my hand, oh no, such a fast heartbeat can't be from someone who's asleep, Lan sister is already awake, she won't kill me, will she? I'm scared.

  "Bastard, let go of me!" Lan sister shouted in her heart, pretending to be asleep. In fact, she had woken up early, but after waking up, she found herself being held in someone's arms, with a salty pig hand on her chest. This posture made it impossible for her to quietly leave, so the result could only be to startle the other person awake. But how embarrassing would that be? Thinking carefully again, this chest also felt very warm.

  "Pfft, pfft, pfft, how could I think of this?" Lan Jie shouted in her heart the next moment. Although she had seen it all during training, but emotionally, she was a complete blank slate. She felt embarrassed and couldn't bring herself to say what was on her mind. Just as Lan Jie was feeling ashamed and didn't know what to do, a tingling sensation spread from her chest.

  Damn it, he woke up, what to do, so embarrassing.

  "Ah, ah, ah, no way, how could I think that, just now, he pinched me... never mind, you're dead, you're definitely dead!" Ten million grass mud horses galloped through Lan's heart, her fist clenched tightly, but in the end she didn't throw a punch.

  "Hmm, hmm, hmm" A minute later, Lan Jie still hadn't rushed over to kill me, making me feel greatly relieved in my heart. But I didn't dare take advantage of the situation anymore, so I pretended to still be asleep and quickly turned over.

  But Lan Jie quickly got up after I turned around, then coughed and made some noise to wake me up.

  "It's getting late, hurry up and get out of bed," said Lan Jie to me.

  "Alright" At this time, I felt very guilty and of course immediately agreed. "Ah" Prepared to make a carp flip, suddenly jumped up, but found that my hands were not working properly, I was gone.

  "Ugh, ugh, that's so embarrassing, I'm so embarrassed. Why am I always so humiliating? I really want to slap myself."

  "Ah," said Lan Jie surprisingly, without saying much else. She just glanced lightly at my hand with her eyes, and then suddenly her cheeks flushed red.

  "Ah-choo!" Lan's unusual behavior didn't escape my notice, and thinking back to Xuan Wei earlier, my face also flushed with heat. I wiped it away, now that I think about it, I've never been this intimate with a girl before, what a sin, what a sin.

  Two people are so awkward, how can they get along in the future? The more I think about it, the more suffocated I feel. At this moment, I really resent my former dormitory elder. That bastard is good at picking up girls, and he changed girlfriends more times than we three or four had in total over the years. Most importantly, that bastard secretly hid his skills and didn't share them with us. If only I could have learned one or two tricks from him, I wouldn't be like this now.

  Okay, amidst the awkwardness, both of them became less efficient and lingered for a long time before leaving the cave to head down the mountain. The scenery outside the cave was not bad, and the two of them quickly became intoxicated by the beauty of Taishan Mountain, walking together and chatting as if they were a couple.

  At first, when I went up the mountain, it took me six or seven hours, from afternoon to midnight, but at that time I was just an ordinary person, and I had a seriously injured Lan sister on my back, so you can imagine the speed. Now going down the mountain, my body has been improved by the Dragon Tiger Pill, let alone Lan sister, so in less than two hours we arrived at the middle of the mountain. At this time it was early morning and cool, with many tourists around, but still, it could be seen that the tourists were divided into two groups: one group with more people going to Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan, and the other group going to Mount Taishan.

  "Wait, Lan sister, let's go up the mountain too. I want to take a look at Zhongyue Temple." Looking at the dense crowd of tourists, I suddenly thought of going to Taishan Mountain to see if the traces left by Kou Qianzhi over 1,000 years ago were still there.

  "Alright, I'll go with you, but be prepared, Beitian Shidao has vanished." Lan Jie said after some thought.

  I nodded, the Heavenly Master said, or perhaps the outcome of the Tian Shi Dao founded by Kou Qianzhi was already known to me. Since Kou Qianzhi's death, no more brilliant Taoist priests appeared in the Northern Tian Shi Dao. A hundred years later, during the Buddhist-Taoist debates ordered by Gao Yang, they suffered a great defeat, not only was the national religion abolished, but Tian Shi Dao also suffered heavy losses and was once abolished. Kou Qianzhi's disciples disappeared into history.

  The last stronghold of the Taoist sect was transformed into the ancestral court of the Quanzhen School, which was founded by Qiu Chuji and still exists today. What's most laughable is that nowadays when people talk about Taoism, they probably only remember Laozi, Zhang Daoling, Wang Chongyang, and Zhang Sanfeng. In fact, Kou Qianzhi was the one who had the most historical significance for the development of Taoism, because he was the first person to elevate Taoism to a national religion, and it was only after him that Taoism rapidly developed.

  Two people walked slowly on the road of Taishan Mountain, I closed my eyes to feel the atmosphere of Taoist temples, but what filled my heart was the sound of cameras and the laughter of tourists. As for the atmosphere, haha.

  "Don't think too much, if you go to the opposite side, it will be even more frustrating. What has this thousand-year-old temple become now? Is there still some solemnity and treasure? The rich circle of Jiangbei City has basically all been there, but few can calm down there, just treating it as a tourist attraction. This is society, this is reality." Lan sister explained beside me, she understood my mood the most after going through a series of things.

  "It's fine as it is now," I said with a smile. It's just one sect, the Northern Heavenly Master Sect has been destroyed, but there's still the Southern Heavenly Master Sect, and the Quanzhen School. As long as the Taoist lineage hasn't been extinguished, the Tao will still exist. Who cares about the form?

  After going up the mountain, I strolled around Taishan Mountain, but Kou Qianzhi left behind very few traces. The only ones that can be seen are the Kou Qianzhi Stele in Chongfugong and the Zhongyue Songgao Lingmiao Stele in Zhongyuemiao. The Zhongyue Songgao Lingmiao Stele was written by Kou Qianzhi himself, but it was carved during the Northern Wei dynasty.

  "Lan sister, take a look first, this is Kou Qianzhi's true work, I'll go out for a walk and blow some wind," I said to Lan sister, then turned around and left. My mood wasn't very good.

  Half a month ago, I didn't believe in Buddhism or Taoism. How Buddhism and Taoism changed had nothing to do with me all along, but now there are many memories of Kou Qianzhi in my mind, and my mood is also affected by it.

  Kou Qianzhi was a pure Taoist practitioner, so seeing the once glorious Northern Celestial Masters sect being destroyed by history and even its temples being taken over by the Quanzhen School, he would naturally feel unhappy.

  "Give me a pack of cigarettes, yeah, and another lighter." Seeing that there were cigarettes displayed in the small shop, I suddenly wanted to smoke. At this time, I still had 10 yuan in my pocket, so I'll buy some cigarettes.

  Tore open the pack, casually pulled out a cigarette and lit it up, exhaled a mouthful of smoke, suddenly felt much better. It seems that smoking can really relieve worries, not just talk. Looks like I'll have to smoke more in the future.

  "Ahh, damn it!" I spat out a mouthful of smoke, and was about to take another drag with the same hand gesture as eating a lollipop - you know, the kind where you pick it up and shove it into your mouth. But this is a cigarette! I ended up shoving the lit end into my mouth, ow, it burned me to death.

  "Damn it" I threw away the cigarette in my hand, and viciously stomped on it. Shit, my mouth is swollen, you know how painful that is?

  "Hello, man who smokes upside down, I've finally waited for you." Just as I was about to go back and find Lan sister, there was an extra person in front of me, or more precisely, an extra beautiful woman with bright eyes and white teeth, and long hair fluttering.