When Hunjun begins to make elixirs

Chapter 18 Old Man Lu
In the early morning of May 31, the fifth year of Shengtong, there was nothing going on in the capital, and the people were living their lives as usual.

Old man Lu from Dapu Village in Xishan outside the city went to Xishikou to sell vegetables. He was not in a hurry to leave the city. He was hungry and decided to have a little luxury and go to a street stall to eat a bowl of mushy stewed meat noodles.

In the past few days, the old woman went to her daughter's house in Guojia Village to take care of her sick grandson, and there was no one at home to cook.He also specially drank half a kilogram of soju. As he was getting older, he relied on this amount of wine to carry out hard work.

"Uncle Lu, do you have time to eat out today? Didn't my aunt cook for you?" The noodle seller was obviously very familiar with Old Man Lu and greeted him warmly.Old Man Lu put down the basket and said, "Your aunt has gone to Guojiacun." As he said that, he stretched his neck and looked into his brother's pot: "How much is left?"

The younger brother said helplessly: "Business is not easy to do in these disaster-ridden years."

Old man Lu thought of his hard work selling vegetables, and he bargained so hard that his crotch almost fell off: "Oh, what a world! Come to a bowl of noodles, add more braised vegetables, old man, I still have more than ten miles of mountain road to walk, so there is little salt." No more strength."

"Okay!" The little brother reached down skillfully, covered it with more than half a spoonful of braised pork, and served it to Old Man Lu.

"Hey! With this amount, aren't you afraid of losing money?" Old Man Lu teased.

"We are old acquaintances. I owe you a share." The younger brother made a gesture of invitation and walked away with a smile.

Old man Lu accepted the sentiment, picked up a big mouthful of noodles with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. The aroma of meat, wheat and soy sauce mixed with the aroma, and he felt instantly satisfied. He took a sip of wine from the gourd and put it into his throat. The fatigue of several days was gone. .

Time seemed to slow down. Although Old Man Lu ate a big mouthful, he chewed each mouthful for a long time like a cow. He did not dare to drink more wine, not because he was afraid of getting drunk. This small half bottle was enough for him in three days.

After finishing the noodles, Old Man Lu breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his mouth with the back of his relatively clean hand, and walked to the stall: "Brother Xu paid the bill."

The younger brother said: "Thank you for taking care of me, I have two articles."

Old Man Lu was stunned and stopped taking out the money: "The price didn't increase?"

Seeing that he had been exposed, the younger brother said sheepishly: "Others give me three cents, so you can always give me two cents."

Old Man Lu continued to take out money, took out five coins and threw it into the collection bowl: "I know you are kind-hearted, but the old man is not short of your money."

The little brother was not pretentious: "Uncle Lu, you are so polite. By the way, I suddenly remembered that a noodle customer yesterday said that things are not peaceful in Guojiacun recently, and there are bandits. You should ask the aunt to hurry up. come back."

"Teaching bandits? What the hell?"

"I heard that they came from Jinzhou and were called the Shenmu Sect. The imperial court sent a large army to encircle and suppress them, but they were not completely wiped out."

"Humph, under the emperor's feet, in the capital city, no matter what religion he teaches, can he still change the world? Wasn't the Three Kings' Rebellion so powerful back then? It wasn't put down yet!"

Old Man Lu said he didn't care, but in his heart he decided to take over his wife and daughter's family. After giving the money, he picked up the basket and limped away.

The younger brother sighed and watched Old Man Lu leave.

When Old Man Lu left the city, he first went up Guandao Road and walked four or five miles, then turned to a small road and walked about ten miles before reaching his home.The disability in his legs was caused when he followed Emperor Sejong to fight the rebellion in the early years.

At that time, he fought bravely and became a centurion. Later, he was injured and retired from the army. He returned home to work in farming. When he was in his 40s, he had a son, and later a daughter, who was also good at fortune telling.However, his son died of illness the year before last, leaving behind a grandson who worked as an apprentice and followed the caravan to the south last year, leaving only two old people in the family to depend on each other.

After hearing what the noodle seller said, Old Man Lu did not choose to go back directly, but went to Guojiacun first.

Guojiacun is only four or five miles away from the capital, and can be reached by taking the official road, which is just along the way.Old Man Lu was walking on the road, the scorching sun on his head making him sweat profusely. When he was walking three-quarters of the way, he couldn't stand it any longer, so he found a roadside pavilion to drink some water.

"Little brother, can you ask me for a drink of water?" The pergola was guarded by a middle-aged man. He was holding a cattail leaf fan and lying on a chair. His face was covered by a straw hat. Hearing what Old Man Lu said, he pointed to the tree next to him. Large vat.This type of pergola was originally set up to facilitate passing merchants and pedestrians. Drinking water is free, but herbal tea and snacks are charged.

"Thank you."

Old man Lu went over and picked up the water ladle. He took a few big mouthfuls of water. If he had known better, he wouldn't have eaten it so salty.

While Old Man Lu was drinking water, there were sounds of footsteps on the official road, and he saw about three to four hundred soldiers dragging a long line and escorting five prison cars.

When Old Man Lu saw it, he was shocked: "What a huge battle! What kind of prisoners are these? Such a heavy escort!"

When the soldiers approached, Old Man Lu discovered the problem of escorting personnel and prison vehicles.

"Jin Wuwei?"

Moreover, the other soldiers are also well-equipped, at least they are soldiers from the General Military Mansion!The prison cars were all covered with black cloth. As the cars moved forward, the sound of clanking chains could be heard inside.

"Beasts don't need to be imprisoned like this, right?"

They passed by the pergola without stopping. Jin Wuwei, who was riding a horse, glanced at him and Xiao Er with a vigilant expression.Old Man Lu quickly lowered his head, not daring to look directly.

Old man Lu quickly discovered another problem. Why did the waiter still lie on the chair and not move even when such a thing happened?His early marching experience immediately gave him a warning that he might be in trouble!

The Jinwu guard had already passed by, but turned back with his riding whip pointed at the two of them: "You! You! What do you do?"

Old Man Lu hurriedly replied: "I'm a vegetable seller, passing by for a drink of water!"

Jin Wuwei saw that his skin was dark, his shoes were muddy, and his body was dusty. He also had a pole and basket beside him, with a few pieces of vegetable scraps stained on the basket. He didn't look like he was lying. He asked the waiter again: "Get up and answer!"

The waiter was still lying on the chair, and the straw hat covering his face moved slightly.

The Jinwu guard made a gesture to his companions, and the team immediately stopped and took a defensive stance. Three more Jinwu guards came around, and they drew their sabers with murderous intent.

Not to mention the strange behavior of the waiter at the pergola, he was wearing a coarse cloth shirt, but why was he wearing a pair of new thick cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles?You need at least three or four coins to buy it.Moreover, he was too clean on the dusty roadside!
In such a tense atmosphere, Old Man Lu did not dare to move.

"The gods are above and the trees are below! Change the blue to the sky!"

As Jin Wuwei approached, the waiter at the pergola suddenly stood up, shouted a slogan, and stretched out his palms. The temperature of the air that was extremely hot just now suddenly dropped sharply.

"The leader of the Shenmu Cult!"

The Jinwu Guard shouted and was instantly frozen into ice cubes by a burst of ice energy.

At this time, the face of the waiter at the pergola was also revealed, with blue eyebrows, pure white eyes without pupils, and green veins bulging out like centipedes on his neck, he looked like a monster!

Old Man Lu had never seen such a thing before. His feet gave way and he collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, his mind was still clear. He rolled into the grass on the side of the road and ran away crawling.

The remaining Jinwu Guards quickly ordered the soldiers to defend: "Damn it! How could there be such a monster here! Go to the city and ask for help!"

(End of this chapter)