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Compared to the drizzle of spring and autumn, the cold wind and freezing rain of the harsh winter were especially biting, with ice droplets that resembled but weren't quite snow pelting the face with the sting of a knife.
The frost-covered path had hardly any respite before it was once again churned into slippery mud.
Jiang Shouzhong, not minding that his hem was sullied with much mud, steadied the old man with a sprained ankle into a deserted temple and finally let out a long sigh of relief. He wiped the rainwater from his face with his sleeve, and took the firewood off the old man's back to place it by the wall.
"This weather really changes in the blink of an eye," he said.
Looking at the relentless water arrows pouring onto the earth, Jiang Shouzhong's brows inevitably knit together with a deep sense of melancholy.
Suddenly, a small handkerchief embroidered with lotus leaves was offered to his face.
The meek little girl in a red cotton-padded jacket, who followed the old man, looked at him timidly, her large, clear eyes as pure as morning dew.
Jiang Shouzhong smiled and shook his head, "A girl's handkerchief shouldn't be casually given to a strange man."
The little girl looked confused, not quite understanding.
The old man, who had sprained his ankle on the way down the mountain, walked with a limp to the stone stool. Without bothering to dust it off for his granddaughter, he plonked down. He took out the old tobacco pipe he carried and smoked it hard twice, alleviating some of the pain in his foot, before speaking in a hoarse voice, "Smoking doesn't leave the house, long worms invade the lane. I had long anticipated trouble, alas, I did not look ahead when coming down the mountain and suffered this misfortune. Lucky for me to have met a young man like you. An old man getting soaked by the rain is nothing, but if my granddaughter, who is frail, gets sick because of this, it would be troublesome."
The little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket, around seven or eight years old, put away her handkerchief and nestled beside her grandfather.
Jiang Shouzhong said with a warm smile, "My teacher always taught us students that in the face of another's emergency, consider it as our own difficulty. Moreover, if it weren't for you knowing there was a temple here where we could take shelter from the rain, I'm afraid I would have caught a cold myself."
The old man, looking at the young man in front of him dressed in a blue shirt with a handsome appearance, clearly a scholar, exclaimed with admiration, "I have seen many scholars, but few are as kind-hearted and refined as you. Surely, your teacher must be a great Confucian saint."
"You flatter me, being a Confucian saint is not something just anyone can achieve," Jiang Shouzhong demurred.
Jiang Shouzhong put the bamboo bookcase on the ground and carefully took out a book wrapped in oiled paper. Upon seeing that the book was unharmed by the moisture, he relaxed and had the leisure to look around the ruined temple.
The temple was half-collapsed, its wooden beams rotten and its roof tiles shattered on the ground. The weathered Buddha statue was incomplete, its contours blurred, its holiness and dignity long faded away.
According to records, this place was once considered an infamous residence with bad luck.
Of course, this was not because someone had died here, rather, it was due to poor feng shui.
The government office of the Treasurer of the last dynasty was built here, and on the day it was completed, a feng shui master kindly warned, "The house is disadvantaged with the river in front and Taishi mountain directly behind, not conducive for occupants."
The initial government official who took over disregarded feng shui, but before long, he was demoted. Successive officials didn't last long either, each getting demoted to a distant small town or directly removed from office.
In the end, the government office was converted into a temple, but not even the incense burned long before the place fell into disrepair.
The old man applied some herbal medicine to his sprained ankle and sat quietly on the stone stool, looking at the dense curtain of rain, puffing on his tobacco pipe, the smoke encircling him and making his granddaughter cough.
Faced with his granddaughter's irate gaze, the old man sheepishly put away his tobacco pipe. Just as he was about to chat with Jiang Shouzhong, suddenly, a voluptuous silhouette rushed into the temple for shelter from the rain.
The woman, around twenty years old, was soft and charming with an especially plump figure. The rain-soaked clothes clung to her body outlining a curvaceous shape, like a plump brocade carp swimming through the rain.
Especially during her run, the attention was drawn to two burdensome, bouncing bundles.
Upon realizing there were others inside the temple, the woman was startled and subconsciously moved towards the entrance.
Seeing clearly that inside the temple were an old man, a child, and an attractively composed scholarly young man, the woman's cautious eyes relaxed a little, and she smiled apologetically at the old man and Jiang Shouzhong, "I'm sorry to disturb you, I'm just here to take shelter from the rain."
The old man said with a smile, "Not at all, we are also here to avoid the rain."
"Come over here," Jiang Shouzhong offered, making space on a relatively clean piece of ground.
"Thank you, young master," the woman said as she wrung out her skirt and elegantly seated herself on a stone stool topped with a straw mat. She took out a handkerchief and gently wiped her hair; every so often her limpid eyes stealing glances at Jiang Shouzhong.
The storm raged outside, while inside the temple, there was tranquility.
With the presence of a stranger, the old man felt it was not appropriate to chat with Jiang Shouzhong anymore, especially seeing the latter engrossed in reading, he didn't want to disturb him. Bored, he couldn't resist picking up the tobacco pipe again, taking small puffs.
Time flowed silently by.
Although the intensity of the rain had lessened, there was still no sign of it stopping.
Thin wisps of smoke exhaled by the old man meandered inside the temple, giving the sense of a faint incense offering.
Jiang Shouzhong finished reading "Ritual Study Enlightenment" and then took out a famous novel by Dongguo Huaiyu titled "Records of Unusual Demons and Monsters" as a leisurely pastime.
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As he was becoming engrossed in his reading, a sudden whiff of an orchid-like, musk-like fragrance of sandalwood invaded his nostrils.
It was the lady, who had come to his side at some unknown time, intently watching the book in Jiang Shouzhong's hand. Strands of her hair, still damp, lightly brushed over Jiang Shouzhong's cheek, tickling him.
Jiang Shouzhong looked over, puzzled, at the woman.
Because she was leaning over, he could naturally catch a glimpse of the scenery beneath her outer clothing: a black silk bodice clinging to the skin, accentuating the blackest black and the whitest white.
The woman, with a delayed reaction, hurriedly straightened her slender waist, her cheeks flushing with a rosy hue, and her magnetic, sultry voice was quite enticing, "I'm sorry, young master, I was bored and thought to ask the young master to borrow a book to read. I didn't expect to become so mesmerized."
Jiang Shouzhong moved the book box over in front of the woman, "Whatever book the lady likes, feel free to take."
The woman truly did not stand on ceremony, crouching down and starting to rummage through the box.
In doing so, the view became even more magnificent.
As for how "magnificent" it was, that was beyond what a few words could describe.
The full-figured woman did not find a book she liked, so she simply sat down next to Jiang Shouzhong, curiously pointing to the page he was reading and asked, "Young master, what is this book about?"
Jiang Shouzhong frowned, "Didn't the lady just watch me reading it?"
The woman bashfully said, "I don't know many characters."
Jiang Shouzhong couldn't help but laugh silently, feeling the woman's soft, delicate body gently pressing against his arm while he remained composed, patiently explaining the content of the book, "This page tells a story of a scholar and a fox demon. It says that a scholar on his way to the capital for an examination found lodging in an ancient temple deep in the mountains at midnight, only to encounter a stunningly beautiful woman. And the woman turned out to be a fox demon in disguise, bewitching those who stayed overnight..."
After Jiang Shouzhong finished explaining, the woman still seemed captivated. She subtly shifted her waist, carving out a tantalizing curve, and smiled as she asked, "Do you like this story, young master? Or should I say, do you like the alluring fox demon in the story?"
The old man in the temple, seeing this scene, deeply furrowed his brows.
The morals of society are truly deteriorating.
Jiang Shouzhong shook his head, "I actually don't like foxes, nor do I like snakes or rabbits and the like. I much prefer fish."
He paused, then stared at the woman's fair and lovely face, seriously adding, "Especially grass carp."
The woman's complexion changed, then with a feigned vexation, she glanced at him, her alluring smile paired with the soft red palm of her fair and tender hand lightly tapping his shoulder, as if engaging in flirtatious repartee, "Young master has... quite a unique taste."
"Can't help it, my tastes are indeed quite strong."
Jiang Shouzhong sat up straight the whole time, even as the woman's slippery hand slid over his belly like a fish, he never showed any indulgence.
Liuxia Hui was merely this way.
Suddenly, the woman's hand stopped.
She furrowed her fine, lovely eyebrows, her eyes revealing confusion, "What is this thing?"
"A gun."
Jiang Shouzhong smiled faintly. "Be careful, it's easy to misfire."
The woman was taken aback, not yet understanding until she felt a metallic, wing-shaped badge with her fingertips, her face instantly turned pale, and she shrieked, "You're a covert operative from the Liushan Division!?"
The full-figured woman tried to escape.
However, a yellow talisman paper inscribed with natural patterns was already stuck on her back.
It was a Class B Livestock Exorcism Charm from the Taoist Zhenxuan Mountain!
The woman screamed tragically, letting out a long series of piercing cries, and collapsed heavily to the ground, her fingers spasming, scraping the floor ceaselessly. As black smoke rose, she transformed into a carp, struggling a few times before falling silent.
The grandfather and granddaughter in the temple were dumbstruck, baffled by the sight.
Jiang Shouzhong stood up, kicked the dead fish on the ground, and pulled out a delicately crafted firearm from his waist, pulling the trigger at the dead fish.
The fish exploded into tiny bits of flesh and blood.
It would be tasteless even in a soup now.
Jiang Shouzhong loaded lead ammunition and soothingly said to the startled old man, "Old sir, don't be afraid. I'm from the Liushan Division. Having heard that a demon was harming travelers in this area, I came to investigate. Disguising myself as a scholar was specially intended to lure it out."
Jiang Shouzhong took out his Liushan Division Identity Token, walked over to them, and shook it in front of them for reassurance.
"Speaking of which, I suppose I've saved your lives."
Looking at the trembling little girl, Jiang Shouzhong tried to use a gentle tone and smiled, "Say thank you."
The little girl instinctively said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Jiang Shouzhong smiled as he patted the girl's head, then raised the firearm to the little girl. With a "bang", the girl's head burst open like a watermelon.