Chapter 58: Meeting a Neighbor Although it is called a big city, it is actually not that big. Most of the shops are concentrated in one place, so it is not difficult to go around. At this time, there were fewer vendors and many stores were closed, but many stores that already had storefronts and whose owners lived in the city were still open. Most of them sell oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, rice, flour, wine and tea. Lin Jue first asked the price, compared several shops, and temporarily selected some soy sauce, vinegar and cooking oil. He also bought some dried noodles when he saw one. As for rice and noodles, some vendors or farmers outside the city would usually bring some to the city to exchange for money to buy other things. It might be cheaper to buy from them, so he would wait until tomorrow morning to buy. Passing by a drugstore, he bought some cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise, peppercorns, and angelica. Although Seventh Senior Brother and Little Junior Sister didn't know why they had to buy food and go to the drugstore to get some medicine, they listened to him. Before I knew it, it was getting dark. "Just buy these today, and buy the rest tomorrow morning. Mornings are more lively and you'll have more stuff." "Listen to Senior Brother Lin." "Brother, please stop teasing me."

"Ha ha……" "Where are we staying tonight?" Lin Jue looked at the sky and couldn't help asking. "It's up to you. In the past, if the weather was not cold, I would come to the city with Master or Senior Brother, or I would come alone. Unless I was asked to help exorcise evil spirits or cure diseases, and someone would entertain me, otherwise I would stay in the community temple. If the weather was cold, I would spend money to find an inn. If it was me and Senior Brother Three, sometimes we would go to a restaurant to drink when we were in a good mood, and sleep in the restaurant when we were drunk. Or we might suddenly meet a drinking buddy, and when we had a good time drinking and chatting, he would invite us to his house to spend the night." Senior Brother Seven said, "It's up to you to choose." "Um……" Lin Jue and his junior sister looked at each other. With my junior sister around, I obviously can't go to the restaurant to drink. The weather is not cold at the moment, and I can make do for the night with the sky as my blanket and the ground as my bed. It seems unnecessary to spend money to stay in an inn. "Then let's go to the community temple." "Then you have to go left!" "it is good……" Lin Jue said this, but his pace slowed down. I saw an old man carrying a basket on his back walking towards me. He held a bamboo stick in each hand, with red translucent sticky candy in the middle. He walked out of the city, stirring it constantly with his hands. I don’t know if it tastes good or not, but it looks fun. Lin Jue couldn't help but glance at the junior sister beside him. The old man selling candy was coming from their left. But the junior sister turned her head and looked to the right. But there is only a teahouse on the right. How could a teenage girl, born in the countryside and having never eaten any snacks, not be interested in candy? This little apprentice sister was curious about the city all the way, so how could she not be curious about candy? Lin Jue walked side by side with her all the way, so how could he not notice something strange about her? In fact, Lin Jue knew exactly what she was thinking. This kind of thinking belongs to children from poor families and also to children who are not spoiled. It is called both inferiority and self-awareness, but people like to call it being sensible.

"Seventh Senior Brother!" Lin Jue stopped naturally. "What's wrong, junior brother?" "After walking all day, my legs are weak. Brother, please buy us some candy." Lin Jue said so naturally. The younger sister was stunned and glanced at the seventh brother secretly. But Senior Brother Seven didn't hesitate at all. "Okay!" After asking the price, he took out a copper coin from his pocket, bought two candies and handed them to Lin Jue and his junior sister. "Brother, won't the master scold us for spending money like this?" The little sister stirred with two bamboo sticks in her hands, but couldn't help but lower her voice and spoke to Lin Jue, as if she was afraid that the master who was a hundred miles away would hear it. "What's the big deal? We worked so hard, this is what we deserve." Lin Jue said with a smile, "Besides, it was Seventh Senior Brother who paid for it himself." "Hey! That's not it! We still use the money from the temple!" The seventh brother also smiled, and then said to the little sister, "Junior sister, you don't have to worry about these. It's a rare trip to the city. If you see something you want to buy, whether it's food or toys, just tell us. We just need to buy enough things, and leave the rest to us." "What if there is not enough money to buy it?" "What you said is right, Junior Sister! What to buy and how much to buy are all decided by Senior Brother Lin, right?" Senior Brother Seven taught her, "Life is short. If you have money with you and finally enter the city, but you can't even afford to buy a little snack, then what's the point of practicing Taoism? Isn't it the same as living in the secular world down the mountain?" The junior sister opened her eyes wide in shock. Lin Jue agreed very much and nodded repeatedly. He also played with the candy in his hand as he walked, as if he had regained a bit of his childishness. Then he took out half of it, bent down, and handed it to the fox at his feet. "Eat..." This little thing probably hasn't been eaten before. It's funny to say, Lin Jue had thought that it was really not picky and would eat everything, until yesterday he realized: in fact, it was young and had never eaten anything, so it had no way to compare. I'm afraid it has always thought that the food was the same as what the sixth and seventh brothers made in the past two months. Until yesterday, this perception was changed. "Hmm..." This little thing seemed to like it quite a lot. Lin Jue just stood up when he saw another group of people coming up ahead, all dressed as businessmen, all of them were either dejected or crying, leading mules along the street. Lin Jue was stunned—— It turned out to be a neighbor of Shu Village. "Uncle Shu?" There were about a dozen businessmen in this group, all wearing similar clothes. At first glance, Lin Jue only recognized the middle-aged man in the front. After a closer look, he had some impression of almost everyone. At the same time, the middle-aged man in front also heard his voice and turned his head subconsciously. In a sad moment, he did not recognize him at first glance and felt confused. After looking at Lin Jue carefully for a few times, he opened his eyes wide in surprise.

"Lin family kid?" Hearing his shout, the others also recognized Lin Jue, but most of them were not interested in him at this time. Even though they felt a little surprised, they remained silent. "it's me." Lin Jue looked at them in surprise. Seventh Senior Brother and Little Junior Sister stopped where he was and looked at them in confusion. "Aren't you heading towards Jiangnan? I remember you wouldn't pass by here. How did you get here? And why do you all have this expression?" Lin Jue asked with a frown. "Alas! Don't you know? There was a big flood here this summer. Many places were flooded. Many of the roads we used to take became like a vast ocean. We couldn't go there anymore, so we had to take a detour. And we didn't know what was happening in the village, whether it was damaged by the mountain torrents. We didn't dare to delay on the road, so we had to rush home to check." The middle-aged man couldn't help but sigh as he spoke. He didn't answer the last question, but looked at Lin Jue. In this day and age, people are very attached to their hometown. Even though he was sad, he still showed some concern for him. "Weren't you studying in the village before, preparing for the imperial examination? The last time I came home, I heard that you had run into a demon, and your soul was unstable. You also felt that there was not enough talent in the village, so you went out to study and visit famous teachers. We were still discussing your situation, so why are you wearing a Taoist robe and walking with a Taoist priest now?" "It's a long story..." Lin Jue organized his words and said concisely: "For me, there is no hope of passing the imperial examination. The only way to solve my unstable soul is to practice hard. Fortunately, I have become a disciple of the famous master Zhendao in Yishan, and now I have established a firm foothold outside." "Oh, your uncle and aunt are very nice people. You are studying in the village, and with our help, you are not a burden to them." "That's not the reason..." "correct!" The middle-aged man seemed to have just remembered, looked at Lin Jue, and then looked at the young Taoist beside him, his eyes lit up, and then asked: "You said you worshipped the famous master Zhendao from Yishan? Is it true?" When the others heard this, they seemed to suddenly realize this and looked at Lin Jue as if they had grabbed a life-saving straw. "Of course it's true." "Since you are a famous master of the true way, do you know magic?" "Of course I will." "Can you catch monsters?" "I also know some methods of catching monsters." "Then where is your master?" "It takes a day to walk one way in the temple." Lin Jue looked at them and guessed, "What did Third Uncle Shu encounter?" "Ugh……" Uncle Shu suddenly showed a bitter and sad expression. "It's because we took a detour and ended up here. Who would have thought that after we arrived here, we would find out that strange things have happened in this city since this month. People's silver has been stolen all the time, and it's useless no matter what they do. Some people have seen monsters stealing at night, and some have even been killed. "We have to pay for the trip and the goods for the first half of the year. When we heard about this, we thought we couldn't stay at an inn. But if it was a monster, it would be okay to stay at a temple, right? There happened to be a community temple in the city, so we stayed there for one night. "Who would have thought that the door was locked, the money was put away, and someone was on guard at night, but the money was stolen quietly at night.

"It took me two whole months to make this trip. The money I earned from two months of trading, as well as the payment for goods from the first half of the year, are all here! I am waiting to take it home to supplement the family expenses. If my family is also hit by a flood, I may have to rely on this money to repair the house. If I fly away like this, how can I explain to the elders when I go back? How can I explain to the families of these young people?" Uncle Shu was extremely anxious. Lin Jue looked at the group of people. Uncle Shu was the oldest, and the rest were mostly young people in their twenties. He should be the one leading the team. "Have you reported it to the police?" "It's no use reporting it to the government. Even the silver in the county government office has been stolen. Now every household can only lock the silver in an iron cabinet, or they can only store cloth and money. Cloth and money will not be stolen." "so……" Lin Jue couldn't help but feel troubled. This person is from the same village. The Shu family, who lived together as a clan, allowed the Lin family to live in. There must have been some friendship between them in the past. However, that was too far away. Lin Jue didn't care and only talked about the recent ones. The Shu family didn't say that they were very kind to the Lin family, but after the eldest uncle became seriously ill, the villagers more or less took care of him. His father needed money to support his studies, and the Shu village caravan was originally formed by people of the same surname and clan, but he made an exception and let him in, which was also a kind of friendship. However, this time Lin Jue was no longer alone, but was coming down the Taoist temple, led by his senior brother, who was standing right next to him. Lin Jue had no choice but to look at his senior brother. Naturally, if his brother was unwilling, he would go and help himself. (End of this chapter)