Chapter 34: Chapter 26: Anecdotes of Immortals, Busy Retreat
Translator: 549690339
Life in the countryside, in fact, is very slow and peaceful.
With the arrival of winter, the busy farming season has ended, and the villagers in town, apart from being busy with some trivial matters, have no major rarmmg work to nanale.
After a year of hard work, people finally have some leisure time to enjoy this rare tranquility.
Taking advantage of this atmosphere, Lu Yuan also gave up his plan to hunt in the mountains and stayed at home every day.
In addition to regular palm skill practice, and expanding his meridians and cultivating Inner Strength, he would occasionally bring some cured meat and appetizing dishes to share with his cheap teacher, Sun Siwen, while enjoying a chat and a cup of boiled wine.
Lu Yuan really liked talking with Sun Siwen.
Although Sun Siwen was despised by the townspeople for being in his twenties and still unable to pass the Scholar’s Degree, they considered him a disgrace to scholars.
However, Lu Yuan was not interested in the classics of the imperial examination.
Things like “The Master said, knowledge is power” were simply uninteresting to listen to.
Compared to these, his interest mainly lies in chatting with Sun Siwen about Yue Country and the customs of different regions.
There is a saying.
A scholar does not need to leave his house to know the world’s affairs.
Compared to farmers who spend their whole life in the fields and merchants who travel within a certain range, Sun Siwen, who can often meet with other scholars and engage in higher-level discussions, has more knowledge and a broader perspective than others.
For example.
Through Sun Siwen’s words, Lu Yuan learned that Yue Country had eight provinces, seventy-two prefectures, and over a thousand counties, covering a vast territory.
He also learned that Yue Country was not the only dynasty in the world. To the north, there were Liang and Zhou countries, both great powers that were no less formidable than Yue Country.
Liang and Yue countries were at odds, with occasional skirmishes on their borders, but no full-scale war had broken out.
Around the three nations, there were also several small countries with varying strengths, each of which either paid tribute to or confronted the three nations.
Lu Yuan also learned that it was the 19th year of Longqing.
Emperor Longqing had ruled for thirty years. Longqing was his third title, and the one he had used the longest, for almost twenty years now.
All of the above information was not available in the local teahouses.
Therefore, he visited his cheap teacher more frequently.
On this day, Lu Yuan brought wine and met Sun Siwen at the plum forest outside the town. They boiled wine together in a small pavilion by the roadside.
Today’s topic was myths, legends, and rural tales.
Since learning that there were martial arts in this world, and that he had even practiced them himself, Lu Yuan became extremely interested in the immortal techniques in the legends.
However, he was not sure whether this was a martial arts world or an immortal martial world.
In the past year or so, he had never encountered any spirits or monsters while wandering through the mountains. The fox spirits and wild gods were only to be found in the legends.
But none of this hindered him from exploring the truth about the world.
And the best way to do so at this time was naturally through Sun Siwen.
Fortunately, Brother Sun, though not proficient in classical studies and unable to become a Scholar, had a good knowledge of rural legends and bizarre tales, having read many related collections in his spare time.
Especially in the stories of scholars encountering fox spirits and having romantic encounters for one night, Mr. Sun spoke eloquently.
Lu Yuan speculated privately.
This might be due to professional empathy, or perhaps it was because Brother Sun had been frustrated for so long that he had a deep repression in his heart, and so he was particularly keen on these stories of scholars suddenly becoming rich through a beautiful woman’s embrace. Fortunately, he didn’t mind these stories.
After all, men…
How could the conversation between them not have a hint of color?
Even when discussing which of the various erotic stories was better, whether fox spirits or mermaids, they would argue passionately and eventually laugh it off.
However, Sun Siwen was still a scholar after all.
These sensual stories were just casual fun, and after talking about them once, they didn’t delve further. The topic gradually shifted to the state of the world and the current affairs of Buddhism and Taoism.
Emperor Longqing was an advocate of Buddhism and Taoism, and had even granted several titles to masters and True Persons. They were said to have mysterious powers, able to walk on water and control fire, like real immortals.
To support these masters and True Persons, Emperor Longqing spent a fortune, levied corvee labor, and built several large palaces and temples near the capital for them to live in.
At the same time, he built numerous Taoist temples and monasteries throughout the country, granting them tax exemption. It could be said that they were very well looked after.
“The current peaceful world is all thanks to the wise governance of our Confucian scholars. Those monks and Taoists don’t engage in corvee labor, don’t pay taxes, shelter fugitives, indulge in temple debauchery, and disrupt the imperial order.”
When Sun Siwen talked about the current chaos in the court, although he had no accomplishments or titles, and was still just a commoner, he had the demeanor of a great sage in Lu Yuan’s past life.
At this point, after drinking a cup of green plum wine, he began to criticize the government: “It’s a pity that the emperor has been bewitched by these demons. This indulgence cannot go on, or else the nation will be no more.”
What is the greatest sorrow for a scholar?
Of course, it’s the fact that his knowledge is not valued by the emperor, and his lifelong ambitions are never realized.
For a scholar with aspirations but no achievements, this sorrow is even greater..