I was an alchemist in those years

At the beginning of the banquet, Gu Xiaotian's table was served first, and the dishes served on the plates were exactly the same, but covered with silver covers, no one knew what dishes were on the plates.

Gu Xiaotian raised his head and said calmly to the participants.

"Today, I specially invited Chef Hui Dexuan to be in charge of the spoon. I hope that the dishes will satisfy another person. Come, don't stand, come and sit!"

I sat down for a moment, and found that there were only ten seats at Gu Xiaotian's table, Gu Xiaotian, Wei Yu, and Kong Guan sat for three, and there were seven seats left, which was not enough for the seventeen people participating in the competition.

"There are too many monks and too little porridge. It seems that not everyone can sit down. You are all dignified people. Of course, you can't rush to sit. How about this? Everyone is happy today. Why don't you just have fun? I don't even know what each dish is on the table." I know, why don't you please guess and sit down if you guess correctly, but there are only seven tables, and if the table is full, others will have no chance."

Gu Xiaotian said it very easily, but I understand the meaning of Gu Xiaotian's words very well. If you guess correctly, you will sit down. If you guess wrong, you have to leave. There are only seven seats. Whoever guesses first will be shortlisted. Of course, this will never happen. It's based on guessing, the first competition arranged by Gu Xiaotian has already started.

"The plate is covered by a silver cover, so how do you guess, who is lucky?" Xiao Lianshan said dissatisfiedly from below. "Isn't this a joke, and I don't know what special powers see through, so who can guess it like this."

I smiled and said to Xiao Lianshan calmly.

"Today's competition is the five skills of Taoism. Although you can't see what is on the plate, you can know it by divination. This arrangement is also interesting. Divination and divination in a short period of time is a test of skill. , You will know right or wrong at the opening.”

I understand Gu Xiaotian's intentions. The first competition is divination. There are 17 people participating in the competition, but there are only seven seats. It means that after the first competition, only seven people can enter the next one. Divination seems simple, but It is absolutely impossible to accurately predict what dishes are on the plate without real skills. Gu Xiaotian used such an extremely harsh and strict method to select dishes when he came up, which shows that Gu Xiaotian really took great pains for this competition.

All the participants in the competition sat in their respective positions without moving, and no one wanted to be the first to eat crabs rashly. When I looked up, I saw Ouyang Cuo was staring at me intently. Even Huo Qian didn't find out the truth People always make me feel that they may be the strongest opponent in this competition.

"Since everyone apologizes, I will show my ugliness first."

It was a short, fat middle-aged man who was speaking, walking to the table while speaking.

"Chang Leyuan!" Lan Qing frowned and whispered.

"You know this person?" I asked curiously.

Lan Qing nodded and said calmly.

"Chang Leyuan is very talented. He studied with a famous Taoist teacher since he was a child. He is proficient in all five Taoist arts. He is especially good at divination. He only calculates one hexagram every day, and he is extremely accurate. He is called Chang Yigua outside, and there is a lot of traffic in front of the door. The nobles flock to him and regard him as the honored guest."

Chang Leyuan took out six extremely smooth copper coins from his bag. It looked like he was often tossing and tossing them. He clasped his hands together and put the copper coins in his palms. After closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment, he sprinkled the copper coins on the table.

"What is he doing?" Yue Qianling asked curiously.

"This is called a hexagram. He used six copper coins. It seems to be calculated with the 64 hexagrams of King Wen. It was written by King Wen of Zhou, also known as "Eight Diagrams of King Wen". Or Kejiao, hold it with both hands, look into the sky and hold it high, silently think about the things you want to divination, shake it several times, and after shaking, scatter the money on the table, and then arrange it in a row from bottom to top." Lan Qing is very familiar with divination , so you can tell by looking at Chang Leyuan's actions.

After Chang Leyuan arranged the copper coins, he looked down for a long time and said thoughtfully.

"The hexagram of Lei Ze's return to his younger sister...begging for a fish from a tree?!"

"What is he talking about, I can't understand?" Xiao Lianshan asked with a frown.

"Lei Zeguimei hexagram is the No. 64 hexagram in the 16 hexagrams of King Wen. .” I explained to Xiao Lianshan.

Xiao Lianshan frowned even more after hearing this, and said in a very puzzled way.

"It doesn't say what kind of dish it is, just these few words and the name of the dish are totally irrelevant."

Gu Anqi rolled her eyes at him and whispered angrily.

"The hexagram is the simplest. Anyone can make a hexagram, but you have to infer it based on what you want to predict and the meaning of the hexagram. Go to enlightenment, you won’t understand even if you tell me.”

Chang Leyuan looked at the hexagrams on the table in silence, slowly raised his head and whispered.

"Lei Zeguimei hexagram... Guimei, the girl is the eldest son, and the yin and yang do not communicate, so there is an image of seeking fish by the tree. The so-called person seeking fish by the tree is like a person who wants to get fish. Instead of getting it from the water, he goes up the tree to ask for it. How can you catch fish? Those who predict this hexagram are a sign of failure..."

Kong Guan watched Chang Leyuan and said lightly.

"Gua, you've already woken up, what is the dish you chose, can you tell me?"

Chang Leyuan didn't seem to hear Kong Guan's words, and raised his head to continue thinking.

"In the past, Su Qin swam with a sword on his back. He used this hexagram. As expected, when he met Shang Yang, he was jealous of his talent and returned it if he failed. It’s in vain to make arrangements if things don’t go your way.”

Seeing that Chang Leyuan couldn't answer for a while, Xiao Lianshan smiled and said to Gu Anqi next to him.

"Did you see, there is such a godly thing, you can get it out by throwing a few copper coins, you see Chang Leyuan can't tell it after standing for a long time, Leyuan, Leyuan, I think he is not far from crying."

I seemed to think of something, dipped some wine and wrote a few strokes on the table, and then covered it with my hand.

"What are you writing?" Gu Anqi raised her head and asked

"If I'm not wrong, I already know the name of the dish!"

"Ah! What is it?" Xiao Lianshan asked eagerly.

Chang Leyuan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he nodded to Kong Guan.

"Looking for fish from a tree, this dish is related to fish, but the fish is in the water, but you have to go to the tree to find it. Seeking fish from a tree is the fish on the tree. Fish can't climb trees, but squirrels can. Hehe, this dish should be squirrel fish!"

"Open!" Kong Guan ordered calmly.

The hands standing in front of the table took off the silver cover, and there was indeed a brightly colored, tender and crispy, sweet and sour squirrel mandarin fish on the plate. The squirrel fish got its name because of its similar shape. Cut it down, then cut the knife from the lower jaw, split the head of the fish in half, pat it slightly with the knife, remove the fish meat on both sides, remove the fine thorns on the chest, fry the fish tail in a frying pan until golden brown, and then pour the sauce on the platter Made food.

There was a lot of amazed voices in the courtyard, even Xiao Lianshan was dumbfounded, he quickly pushed away my covering hand, and the word squirrel fish was written on the table with wine.

"...This, can you really predict it?!"

"Wen Wang's hexagram 64 is very accurate in predicting current events, and Chang Leyuan is not in vain, so it is not difficult to solve this hexagram." I replied.

Yue Qianling had always sneered at numerology and metaphysics, but after meeting me, she was a bit skeptical after some things, and now she saw that I could predict the names of invisible dishes based on the hexagrams, and said very surprised.

"You're singing that, you know why you don't go up?"

I smiled bitterly and rubbed my forehead. I felt very dizzy from the beginning of the banquet, and felt nauseous.

"It's a bit uncomfortable, let's take a look again, there are still six seats anyway."

Gu Xiaotian looked at Chang Leyuan with satisfaction, pointed at the seat in front of the table and said.

"Real materials, please sit down! There are still six seats left, mules or horses come out for a walk, the seats are waiting for no one, let's see the real chapter."

"I'll lend you three copper coins for one use!" It was a man with a Chinese face who came out to speak.

Chang Leyuan politely pushed the copper coins in front of him, and the middle-aged man tossed the three copper coins back and forth six times, carefully recording the pros and cons each time.

"Zhou Fu also came to wade in the muddy water, ha ha." Lan Qing whispered with a thoughtful smile.

"Do you know this person?" Yue Qianling asked. "

"It can be regarded as a senior, and it is by no means a generation who is in vain."

Xiao Lianshan saw that Zhou Fu's hexagram formation method was completely different from Chang Leyuan's just now, so he was very puzzled and asked.

"Brother, just now Chang Leyuan used six copper coins to toss once, but Zhou Fu only used three copper coins to toss six times in a row. What does this mean?"

I smiled and explained calmly.

"The six lines calculate all the affairs of the world, the eight characters measure the people in the world, and the eight characters are used to measure people. To measure things accurately, the six lines are used. The divination method used by Zhou Fu is the six lines."