Chapter 15 Attic Fantasy A pot of white porridge, placed on a small stove, was still steaming, emitting an enticing fragrance in this mountain night. Lin Jue had very little experience in staying overnight or staying in a hotel in this world, so he read more and talked less. After putting down his books, he followed the people around him, each taking a coarse bowl in his hand and queuing up to get porridge. The monk who led the way was still the one who served the porridge. He held a small gourd ladle with a long handle and scooped only half a ladle each time, which was just enough for a bowl. There was another younger monk standing nearby. Whenever the porridge was scooped out, he would be responsible for adding a few slices of pickled radish and a piece of fermented bean curd into everyone's bowl. Once the porridge was in the bowl, it would be immediately submerged in the porridge. "Thank you, Master." Every business traveler says this. When it was Lin Jue's turn, he also stood in front of the pot with a bowl in his hand. The monk smiled slightly, but he lowered the ladle to the bottom, moved it slowly and scooped it up again. What he scooped up was dry food that was obviously different from the clear porridge before. "Thank you Master!" Lin Jue was stunned and quickly thanked him.

"Amitabha……" The monk saluted with one hand, smiling. Similarly, a few slices of pickled radish and a piece of fermented tofu were placed on top of the porridge. Lin Jue continued to thank them and took the bowl out. Seeing that many people were sitting on the stone steps under the eaves, he walked over and saw that someone made room for him, so he sat down as well. Many of the traveling merchants obviously brought dry food with them. There were still a few cooked eggs and a lot of steamed cakes in Lin Jue's book, and there were also a few fruits left from the gift of his third aunt. However, before he could take them from the book, a merchant decisively handed him dried meat and steamed cakes, and politely asked him to try them. "Thank you very much..." "We should thank the young master." "You're welcome, I didn't do anything. I just walked together for a while... In this temple, we can eat meat, is that okay?" "There's nothing wrong with it. It's always been like this, and we're sitting outside," someone said. "We are not monks, so we don't need to be vegetarian. As long as we don't have any disrespect for the Buddha in our hearts, we should eat when we are supposed to. We travel every day, so how can we live without meat?" someone else said. "I see." Lin Jue didn't say any more and just lowered his head to eat. It was an early summer night, exactly the sixteenth day of the lunar month. The sky had cleared after the rain, and a full moon appeared overhead, illuminating the ink-light-like clouds and a circle of colorful light. The temperature had become very cool, and the sounds of people eating in the yard calmed Lin Jue, who had been on the road yesterday and today. Although pickled radish, fermented bean curd, and white rice porridge are light, they are undoubtedly much more comfortable to eat and swallow than the dry food you eat on the road. I actually felt a bit of enjoyment for a moment. Apart from the food, the atmosphere was also good. After seeing the demons and ghosts, everyone walked on a night road and reached a safe place. Even those they did not know before seemed to be much more familiar with them now. They chatted casually, and people often came to share food with Lin Jue. "A mule must cost more than ten strings of cash now, right?" "More than that! That was last year's price. At the beginning of this year, it had already increased to more than twenty guan!"

"What?" "We are transporting military rations to the west, but we are short of mules and horses!" "..." At this moment, the short middle-aged man with three beards came over and looked around. A businessman pointed in a direction for him, so he looked over and saw Lin Jue. It’s nothing else but to express gratitude for the gift. "My benefactor! Thanks to you, we have been able to keep the food we need. This is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it as your travel expenses!" What was handed over was a string of copper coins. The merchants and travelers saw that there were hundreds of them. They had all come with Lin Jue and were now considered acquaintances. Although they had no objection to his returning the mule, they also hoped that he could get more thanks. Someone immediately spoke up and said jokingly: "How much is the mule? How much is this?" "My dear, this is really a way to save money." When the man heard this, he felt embarrassed. Lin Jue didn't say anything, nor did he refuse. He smiled, stretched out his hand, took the money, and said thank you. It's more or less a benefit. This guy really got it right— What Lin Jue lacks now is travel money. Then everyone started to ask him to tell them how he got the mule and how he shocked the monster. Lin Jue couldn't resist their questions, so he answered truthfully. Not long after, the monk who had opened the door for them came back, clasped his hands together, chanted the Buddha's name, and then said, "Tonight, there are too many donors who want to stay overnight. There is not enough room for one bed. We have to ask you to squeeze in and spend the night together. We are really sorry for not entertaining you well enough." "It doesn't matter! Just a place to sleep is enough!" "At least it can keep out the wind and rain." "It's not cold today, so it doesn't matter where you sleep. Thank you for troubling you, Master." As everyone was talking, they took out some copper coins from their pockets. Some people had a dozen, some had twenty or thirty, and they handed them all to the master. "Incense money..." This is what people said. Lin Jue watched from the side and roughly understood - This is both a temple and a hotel. There is no reason not to pay for accommodation, but they try to cover it up a little and use the excuse of incense money. It sounds good and looks good. Lin Jue quickly took out the string of copper coins given by the short middle-aged man, untied the rope, grabbed a dozen or so at random and handed them out. The monk also took it with a smile and thanked him, but stopped in front of him, bowed and said: "I see that you are a scholar, not very old, and you may not be used to being squeezed together with these donors who have been doing business all year round. It just so happens that there is an attic in our temple that has been vacant for a long time. If you dare to live there, I will go and clean it for you." As soon as the monk finished speaking, a businessman next to him interrupted: "Hey, Master! Since there is an attic, why don't you let us live in it, but only give it to this young man?" "Amitabha." The monk continued to chant the Buddha's name, politely, "Donor, you don't know that the attic in our backyard is not open to people without outstanding virtue and knowledge."

"Master, why do you still look down on others?" The monk smiled without saying anything, then continued to lower his head and look at Lin Jue. "Why not?" Lin Jue was indeed not used to being crowded with strangers, especially a group of strangers. He was also looking for a place to read ancient books, so he agreed. "It's just that the attic has been sealed for a long time. If it was opened specially for me, I shouldn't ask the master to clean it for me. Just give me a broom and a feather duster." "The donor is a sensible person." The monk put his hands together and bowed to him. Lin Jue also quickly stood up and returned the greeting. The moonlight became clearer and clearer. After finishing their meal, everyone went back to their rooms. Led by the monk, Lin Jue came to the attic. In addition to the bookcase on his back, he also had a broom and a feather duster in his hands. "Thank you." After Lin Jue expressed his thanks, he took the oil lamp and walked into the attic. Under the light of the oil lamp, there were a lot of sundries piled on one side of the attic's first floor, and on the other side was a wooden ladder leading to the upper floor. As expected, it was covered with a layer of dust and some cobwebs, and it looked like no one had been there for some time. Lin Jue lives in the attic. But since they were kind enough to give you a place to stay, how could you just clean the few feet of space you slept in? So Lin Jue simply put down his bookcase and started sweeping from the bottom. The smell of dust was everywhere, and the oil lamps were moving up the steps. Arriving on the second floor, Lin Jue first placed the oil lamp in a higher position, turned around and took a look, but was stunned - The downstairs was full of dust and cobwebs. Not to mention how much dust was swept away, it must have cost a lot of money just to eat. But the upstairs was spotless, without a speck of dust. The displays were also very neatly arranged, and there were even a lot of pictures painted on the walls and floors, mostly of bamboo, lotus, pine, willow and other objects. There are even some poems on it. "?" Lin Jue looked around, not knowing the reason. Are there monks sneaking here to rest and play? Or are there ghosts in the temple? Lin Jue didn't understand what was going on, so he went downstairs temporarily, brought the bookcase upstairs, and then checked it carefully upstairs. There wasn't much upstairs, just a bed and a coffee table in the middle. There are some wooden bookshelves against the wall, but they are all empty, with only a few common Buddhist scriptures. One of them has signs of being flipped through. Not only can you turn to that page as soon as you open it, but there is also a bamboo leaf in the middle as a bookmark. Maybe there were some debris originally, but someone cleared them out and piled them up on the top of the bookshelf, where they can't be seen. If nothing else, it is clean and quiet. "They come, the security." Lin Jue took out a few books from his bookcase and placed them on the wooden table in the middle of the couch. He then took out a small knife and two pieces of clothes to use as pillowcases and quilts and placed them at the edge of the couch. He even gestured. The couch is about two or three feet wide, which is definitely enough for one person to lie down on, and its design function also includes sleeping. It's just not that convenient to turn over.

But I can't be picky. At least it's better than squeezing into a room with a bunch of people down there, and maybe having to sleep on the floor or sitting against the wall. So Lin Jue took the oil lamp and placed it on the wooden table. He looked around the room first, flipped through a few books at random, and also flipped through an ancient book without words. Sure enough, no new page appeared. Lin Jue fell into thought. It seems that it is indeed - I had this strange feeling that there was something different about this wordless ancient book, and that there were signs that pages recording magic spells had appeared. As for tonight... Lin Jue thought back to the previous two times. One time, he inhaled the smoke exhaled by a monster, another time, the fire exhaled by an old man burned his hair, and another time, he clearly saw the old man absorbing and swallowing the fire. Does it mean that one needs to come into contact with a certain magic spell, or see the general operation of the magic spell, in order to cause a reaction in the ancient book? There are too few cases to be sure. Lin Jue sat here thinking. "..." In fact, it's just idle thinking, there is no point. Lin Jue shook his head, put aside his thoughts, and simply took out the money from his bookcase and counted it carefully. When the younger generation goes out to study, the elders must prepare money for the journey. The old lady originally wanted to give Lin Jue all the twenty taels of silver that he had gotten from the Wang family in Hengcun, but his uncle had just recovered from a long illness and the family also needed money to go around, so Lin Jue naturally couldn't take it. After pushing and arguing for a long time, he finally accepted a piece of silver weighing about five taels, plus more than two hundred coins, which the old lady stuffed into his pocket. But he quietly put the silver back. Therefore, I actually only brought more than 200 coins. In this world, the gap between the rich and the poor is huge. Even in the village, there are prominent and wealthy families like the Wang family in Hengcun, and ordinary families like the Lin family who cannot afford medicine when they are sick. When it comes to money, most ordinary people don't earn much money throughout the year, and of course they don't spend much money. But when you go out and really need to spend money, the money seems to be not enough. Lin Jue was thinking that if it really didn't work, he would go to the city to perform the fire-breathing technique and earn some money for the trip. In addition, it was early summer now and the berries in the mountains were gradually ripening. If he spent more time looking for them, he would not starve even if he was at the end of his rope. It didn't matter if he suffered a little. If the family has more money, my uncle will have less pressure, and my cousin will be able to get married earlier and live his own life. You owe them, not them owe you. Therefore, Lin Jue was very frugal along the way. After deducting the expenses, I had exactly 200 coins left. After receiving the thank-you gift from the short middle-aged man tonight and paying for the incense money for the accommodation, I still had 435 coins left, which made a total of 635 coins. Late at night, the whole house is filled with the sound of counting money... The whole room sighed again... Lin Jue carefully divided them into seven parts and strung them together with seven ropes, each worth one hundred coins, and one worth thirty-five coins, for easy access.

I have to say, money these days is heavy, and it really gives you a sense of ownership when you hold it in your hands. Even though it’s only a few hundred coins. As for the mules and horses he got tonight, Lin Jue had never thought of taking them to the market to sell them. Even dogs know to pay back, so how could he be worse than a dog? "Ugh……" The young scholar kept the money. Outside the window are the lights of the temple, the mountain forest under the moon, and the winding official road like a jade belt. The wind blows through the bamboo forest, bringing a cool breeze. Gradually, the lights in the temple dimmed. The birds stopped singing, and apart from the sound of the wind and the chirping of insects, there was no other sound. It is a familiar summer night. I don't know when Lin Jue looked out the window. This is the world— If there were no moonlight, this place would be pitch black. There isn't much interesting stuff to do either. Lin Jue gradually lay down. Perhaps because he encountered a monster on the road today and it was too exciting, he didn't feel sleepy at all. He had to keep his eyes open and let his thoughts drift. If it were in the past, he would probably like this kind of environment, and sometimes he would even leave his living place to look for such an environment. But when he really came here and spent time there, he naturally understood that the prosperous and dreamy world in his memory was the result of progress. In winter, it was so cold that the hands and feet hurt. In summer, there were mosquitoes everywhere. People didn't have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. Even the princes and grandchildren could die from an illness. Everything was inconvenient. Not many people could endure such a life. Fortunately, there are fairies and ghosts here, magic is practiced, and there are countless strange and interesting stories. This is a rare blessing. According to Buddhism, the universe is made up of thousands of worlds, but I wonder where I came from? I don’t know when I can reach it. Now that I can come, can I go back? Legends often talk about immortality and longevity. If this world were given thousands of years, I wonder what it would become. Compared to taking imperial examinations, these are what he wants to pursue at this moment. Lin Jue had endless imagination in his mind. I fell asleep unconsciously. (End of this chapter)