Chapter 99 Back to the Mountain
After the Lantern Festival, the temperature in Jinling gradually warmed up.

This is an early spring year.

Compared to this time of year in previous years, the weather this year was noticeably hotter. Merchants on the street began to wear thin jackets, and some coolies even rolled up their sleeves.

The Li family was also busy preparing various things for the third young master who was about to go out.

Mr. Li was very excited and planned to go to Maoshan with Li Daoxuan to watch the ordination ceremony of his three sons.

After all, for a Zhengyi Taoist priest, this kind of thing only happens once in a lifetime and must be taken seriously. And for ordinary people, it is even less likely to have the opportunity to see it.

When he was about to leave, Mrs. Li couldn't help but start crying. She couldn't bear to see Li Daoxuan leave. She was worried about him before he left, and she was still worried after he left. It is said that a mother worries about her child even when he is thousands of miles away. Perhaps this is the normal state of life.

After packing up his things, he got on the carriage and, surrounded by his family guards, he left Jinling City and headed towards Maoshan.

Li Daoxuan leaned against the car window and looked outside. He felt a little reluctant to leave the ancient capital of Jinling, and at the same time, a little worried.

After all, so many things have happened in Jinling, and no one would think that everything will be peaceful in the future.

The old drunkard of the Cheng family, the strange things in the home of Cai, the shopkeeper of Jingxiang Commercial Bank, the howling of foxes in Li Xiucai's home in Lijia Village, and the stone turtle at the bottom of Qinhuai River. All these strange phenomena are not accidental. Maybe... Li Daoxuan was lost in thought, and then he sneered and shook his head in self-mockery.

He was not a person of high position and power, so why should he worry about these things? There were many talented people in the world, and there was no shortage of unknown people like him. Jinling was also an important commercial town and the power center of the two Jiangs. Naturally, someone would deal with these strange things. It was vain for him to think too much.

Wouldn't the world continue to turn without him?

It would be better to learn from Uncle Jiu and the others and improve your skills so that you can be more useful in the future.

With such comfort, Li Daoxuan felt a little more at ease.

But only he himself knew that what happened to the Zhang family that day made him somewhat regretful.

The carriages rocked and swayed, the wheels creaked. There were four or five carriages side by side, with several martial arts masters sitting in the front and back. The journey was peaceful. Occasionally, they encountered a few ignorant thieves who tried to rob them, but they were dismissed by the martial arts masters with a few words or a small amount of money.

The underworld has its own rules. It is not about fighting and killing all day long. It is about human relationships and worldly wisdom.

At first, Master Li still had some energy to chat with Li Daoxuan, but then he felt tired. The bumpy ride in the carriage was tiring for the passengers, so he fell asleep with the help of the maid.

In the era when cars and trains were not yet available, horse-drawn carriages were the best means of transportation. Wait a few more years, and the Celestial Empire will undergo a major change, and by then, there will be earth-shaking changes. China's first train, the Dragon Locomotive, will appear, and the streets will also be filled with cars imported from various countries. With the financial resources of the Li family, perhaps they can even get a few cars to drive.

When passing by Jurong, Li Daoxuan went to visit Brother Chen at his home, but learned that Brother Chen had gone on a long journey to perform a ritual for someone else, so he did not stay any longer. After leaving some gifts, he said goodbye to his sister-in-law. Before leaving, Li Daoxuan left a few ingots of silver for Brother Chen's family as a subsidy.

Although Senior Brother Chen is a Taoist priest of Mount Mao, his family is not rich. Whether it is the clothes or the expenses at home, it can be seen that Senior Brother Chen is a simple person. Even though his wife is the daughter of a scholarly family, she is mostly frugal. The child can't eat meat very often on weekdays, and can only fill his stomach with oil and water.

When they saw Li Daoxuan coming, they were all very happy and ran up to him and called him uncle at the top of their lungs. Li Daoxuan felt that he had aged a lot, even though he was only eleven or twelve years old.

Li Daoxuan also prepared gifts for the children. He ordered someone to unload a large box from the carriage. When it was opened, it was full of clothes for boys and girls. Before leaving, he even brought a full box of clothes that his eldest brother and second sister wore when they were children. All the clothes were selected by Li Daoxuan himself. All of them had only been worn a few times. Except for those that had been stored for a long time, they still looked relatively new.

No matter how bad the clothes of the Li family are, it would cost a lot of savings for the Chen family. It might not be a big deal for the Li family, but it was a huge surprise for Brother Chen's family.

This made Li Daoxuan feel a little emotional. He originally thought that it was a bit embarrassing to give old clothes to others, but now it seems that he has thought too much. This reminded him of his childhood in his previous life. At that time, the shoes and clothes he wore seemed to be made by his family. Only during the Chinese New Year would his parents take him to buy a new set of clothes, and that was when he was happiest. "When you have free time in the future, come to your senior brother Chen's house and visit." Li Daoxuan said goodbye to Chen's sister-in-law and got on the carriage with the mother and son of the Chen family seeing him off.

As they went further away, the shadows of the Chen family gradually became blurred, but Li Daoxuan could still see the two children waving goodbye desperately.

Perhaps for people of this era, leaving means it will be hard to meet again. The journey is long and no one knows when we will meet again. It is for this reason that people will cherish what they have in front of them.

The friendship that exists in tradition is probably the same. Otherwise, no one would have written about the four great joys in life, one of which is meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

After another day of walking, we passed Jurong and along the way we reached Maoshan. There were many more pilgrims coming here, many of them were wealthy merchants driving horse-drawn carriages.

Li Daoxuan followed Master Li down the carriage and went up the mountain, leaving the carriage in the town at the foot of the mountain.

When the brothers in the town saw Li Daoxuan coming back, they all greeted him warmly. After all, many of them had watched him grow up, and some of them were considered half-elders. The brothers and sisters wished each other a happy new year.

Then he saw the middle-aged man with a beard and a plump figure beside Li Daoxuan, and he said that he was his father. The senior brothers looked unkind and didn't look at Master Li well. This made Master Li feel ashamed, knowing that some of the things he did displeased Li Daoxuan's senior brothers.

After all, no one would look favorably upon parents who had sent their two or three-year-old children to the mountains and had not visited them for many years. But he also felt wronged. It was not that he and Madam Li did not want to come. Who would not miss and feel sorry for their own flesh and blood? It was just that when the old Taoist took his three sons away, he repeatedly told them not to come.

In order to change the views of Li Daoxuan's senior brothers, Master Li waved his hand and each family gave a lot of generous gifts. He also pulled the older Taoist priests to chat and told them why he had not visited his children for so many years.

After some financial manipulation, Mr. Li's reputation was largely restored.

Li Daoxuan watched with admiration, thinking that it was a waste of talent for Master Li not to engage in business. Being able to start such a big business from scratch, Master Li really had something.

After greeting his fellow brothers, Li Daoxuan was about to go up the mountain, but was stopped by fellow brother Zhang who had returned and asked him to wait a moment.

"Brother, you must be careful on the mountain this time, and don't be rash in what you say or do." Brother Zhang said seriously. "Some people have come from Master's place, you must not offend them."

"Who is coming?" Li Daoxuan blinked and asked curiously.

Senior Brother Zhang kept silent and pointed to the sky.

"Hey? The Grandmaster has come down to earth?"

"Pah!" Senior Brother Zhang slapped Li Daoxuan on the head, his face full of black lines and speechless: "How dare you. Why did the Grandmaster come down to earth! Someone is coming from the capital!"

Li Daoxuan understood immediately, and touching his head which had been slapped by Senior Brother Zhang, he smiled awkwardly, wondering when his imagination had become so big.

But why did the gentlemen from the capital suddenly come to Maoshan to find the Taoist priest?

I can't figure out the reason. After all, Maoshan is so far away from Shuntian Prefecture. Where is the capital? That's the capital. Even if you want to find a high-level master, there's no need to come to Maoshan. Is there no real magician around Jingye?
With doubts, Li Daoxuan told this to Master Li. Master Li looked cautious after hearing this. People who have worked in the business world have a special interpretation of the word "Beijing". Hearing that the person was from Beijing, he did not dare to be careless.

He was a person from heaven. Even if he was a Beijing businessman, who knew who was behind him? If you offended him, you might end up in trouble.

The father and son continued walking up the mountain, each thinking about something, and their steps were not as cheerful as when they came.

(End of this chapter)