There is killing in the world, but there is also peace, there are quarrels, and there is tranquility.
After the ceremony, Yin Xiu and the Ma family gathered again in the ancestral hall for dinner.
This meal was considered a special thanksgiving banquet sent by the people in the town to thank the Ma family for their service to the festival.
Therefore, the meal was particularly rich, including chicken, duck, fish, beef and mutton, and even several bottles of wine were placed on each table.
This wine was sacrificed, so it is placed here.
As the "town hero", Ma Xinyi was specially allowed to participate this time and sat on Ma Xiaoyu's right hand.
Yin Xiu took advantage of her, and finally no longer had to sit with the men or children of the Ma family, but sat on Ma Xiaoyu's left hand side.
However, the two of them could not sit on the same bench as Ma Xiaoyu, because Ma Lan still sat on the top with Ma Xiaoyu as usual.
At this time, she stood up first and thanked everyone for their hard work in recent days in the name of elders.
Everyone in the ancestral hall respected her and believed in her, but they just listened silently.
Yin Xiu had heard about some of Ma Lan's deeds from the Ma family before. They were all magical, difficult and dangerous experiences. Even a person like Yin Xiu, who was often accompanied by danger, couldn't help but feel awe after hearing this.
After she finished speaking, everyone started to use chopsticks.
"You are a guest, you invite me first."
Ma Lan motioned to Yin Xiu to use the chopsticks first.
Yin Xiu gave in, and finally understood that this was not Ma Lan being polite to him, something he could give in half-heartedly, but some kind of "iron rule".
So Yin Xiu smiled at everyone and picked up a chicken leg with chopsticks.
He habitually handed the chicken drumstick to Ma Xiaoyu.
"Ahem!"
Ma Xiaoyu coughed twice, with a bit of surprise on his face.
Yin Xiu was reminded by the dry cough and turned her hand ninety degrees in the air, then placed it in Ma Xinyi's bowl very naturally.
"Eat more meat and grow taller quickly."
"Yes, yes, eat more." Ma Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly.
Ma Xinyi rolled her eyes, "You better give these chicken legs to me."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ma Lan glared at her, "I gave you chicken legs to eat. Just don't thank me. What are you talking about?"
"Aunt, don't you know best what I'm talking about?"
Ma Xinyi murmured softly, and finally pulled a large mouthful of meat from the chicken leg and swallowed it.
Ma Lan looked at her again and just smiled helplessly.
Then she signaled to Yin Xiu, "Our Ma family doesn't drink alcohol on weekdays, but this is for sacrifice, so we make an exception.
And it’s best for everyone to drink a little to stay safe. ”
After she said this, Yin Xiu picked up the bottle, opened the cap, and poured a glass for everyone except Ma Xinyi.
Ma Xinyi glanced at Ma Lan and whispered: "Aunt, I feel that I am no longer a child."
Ma Lan nodded, "You can think so."
After hearing her "affirmative" answer, Ma Xinyi knew that there was no chance, so she could only continue to deal with her chicken legs.
Ma Lan picked up the cup and smelled the wine inside.
This is a local liquor from Malaysia. It is brewed with sweet potatoes and then passed through the still. The strength is only about half of that of whiskey. When you take a sip, you will feel the faint sweet taste of sweet potatoes in your mouth.
Because there are so many sweet potatoes to eat here, this kind of wine is abundant in the local area. It is said that sugar cane is also used to make wine, but it is very spicy and others are not used to it.
Ma Lan took a sip and a light blush immediately appeared on her face.
She glanced at Ma Xiaoyu from the corner of her eye, and saw that Ma Xiaoyu was drinking the wine as plainly as water.
So she looked at Yin Xiu again. Yin Xiu was also looking here at this time. Her eyes met Ma Lan's and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
"How about the local wine?" Ma Lan asked.
"Good wine, but I'm not used to it."
Yin Xiu shook his head in distress.
……
After eating, Yin Xiu was not taken back to his residence by the servants as usual, but was stayed by Ma Lan, along with Ma Xiaoyu.
By this time, the others had left, and Ma Lan went to the inner room again, leaving only Ma Xiaoyu and Yin Xiu sitting on the chairs.
After thinking about it, Yin Xiu closed the distance between the two.
"Aren't you afraid that your aunt will see you?"
Ma Xiaoyu glared at him, feeling quite uneasy.
"Well, for your safety."
Yin Xiu opened the distance again.
Ma Xiaoyu glared at him again, even wider than before, then she moved over to Yin Xiu, and finally sat down shoulder to shoulder.
"Didn't you say you were afraid of being seen by your aunt?" Yin Xiu said with a smile.
"Hasn't she seen it yet?"
Ma Xiaoyu touched the earrings and said, "Just separate them when you see them."
"Then since she hasn't seen it yet, it doesn't seem too much to kiss and then separate, right?"
Yin Xiu reached over and gently hugged Ma Xiaoyu's waist. The two looked at each other and smiled.
cough! !
The laughter between the two stopped suddenly. Yin Xiu quickly took back his hand, stood up and looked at Ma Lan behind him, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"I eat too much meat and my throat feels uncomfortable."
Ma Lan just pretended not to see anything and waved to Yin Xiu and Ma Xiaoyu, "Come in."
Go in?
Yin Xiu paused, not knowing what Ma Lan was talking about.
"It's the ancestral hall of the Ma family."
Ma Xiaoyu poked his lower back with her finger, "Auntie wants us to burn incense for the ancestors of the Ma family."
So Yin Xiu put away her previous loose mood and wiped her hands again and again. After making sure that there were no stains on her body, she followed Ma Xiaoyu and walked inside.
In the previous few times, he had only eaten with others in the courtyard of the ancestral hall, and could not enter the inner hall.
This is the first time he has entered the inner hall.
Here, there are not as many tablets as Yin Xiu imagined.
There is only a sacred table in the middle with an incense burner on it. The portrait of the founder of the Ma family is hung on the wall. Next to it is a sword and a pure vase with small yellow flowers. That's it.
"The founder of the Ma family, Ma Ling'er." Ma Lan introduced.
Yin Xiu looked at the portrait with respect, but found that under the light of the lights, the fairy-like Ma Ling'er in the image looked a bit like Ma Xiaoyu. Or rather, Ma Xiaoyu looks like their ancestor.
"Nothing surprising."
Ma Lan saw his doubts and said, "Every generation of heavenly masters in the Ma family has such charm. There is nothing surprising."
After saying that, she picked up the incense stick and bowed respectfully to Ma Ling'er's portrait three times.
"I don't know if I'm lucky or not. It's my sister who became the Celestial Master of my generation, not me."
Ma Lan looked at Yin Xiu, "The Ma family's Celestial Master is doomed to have a bad life. Did you make any mental preparations before you came into contact with her?"
When Ma Xiaoyu heard this, she also looked at Yin Xiu, waiting for his answer.
"You said you had a bad fate?" Yin Xiu just asked.
"Yes, this is the curse of the female heavenly master of the Ma family. As long as you have a relationship with a man, no matter what precautions you take, you will end up falling into a bad fate because of the man.
Even though it was not the man's intention, it was a fact, a predetermined fate. ”
"But I heard Xiaoyu say that the last thing Ma family women believe in is fate."
Yin Xiu said seriously: "I think even if everyone does not reach a consensus or does not say it out, in fact, all the Ma family heavenly masters will not succumb to the so-called fate.
The misfortunes of those predecessors, the foreseeable and unforeseen fate, did not bind them.
They just continue to move forward step by step on the shoulders of their predecessors. Even if they encounter a high wall, they will sacrifice their lives to move forward and open a gap for future generations. This is the responsibility of the heavenly master and also personal persistence. ”
"I think Xiaoyu didn't tell you this. This is purely your own understanding."
Ma Lan was quite concerned about Yin Xiu's words, "So, is this why you made up your mind to come here?"
Yin Xiu's expression was very determined, "Actually, I should have been here a long time ago, because no difficulty can stop me. Whether it's prophecies or hexagrams, I don't care about those things."
"So, you are still an atypical Taoist priest. You don't even believe in hexagrams and iron mouth."
Ma Lan became more and more interested in Yin Xiu, "Is this why you provoked Xiandu?"
"Xiandu, what kind of organization is it?"
Ma Xiaoyu asked: "After their visit that day, aunt, you just pretended that this incident never happened, and you didn't answer me no matter how I asked you."
"If I don't tell you, won't you check it yourself?"
"I checked, but found nothing." Ma Xiaoyu confessed.
"Of course you should find nothing. If you find out, it only means that there is a traitor in the Immortal City."
Ma Lan narrowed her eyes, "I should be one of the Ma family members, and even one of the few Taoist priests today, who knows more about Xiandu."
"Didn't you say that unless there is a traitor in Xiandu?" Ma Xiaoyu asked doubtfully.
"I said that, but I didn't tell you that I happened to meet that traitor."
Ma Lan's eyes became a little blurry, and she paused. She threw away the memories and myths about the past that appeared in her eyes, and just murmured: "Everyone thinks that immortals are created by Qi alchemists." A gathering place, a fairyland far away from the world, is actually not that simple.
Xiandu is deeply involved in the world. It is more like a giant beast hiding under the water, or a shadow puppet artist hiding behind the scenes.
At the front of the historical stage, we saw the sworn alliance between Liu Guan and Zhang Taoyuan, Liu Bang and the overlord of Western Chu competing for the world, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Emperor Hongwu establishing the country. We thought that was all history.
But actually that's just the tip of the iceberg.
A great scholar once said that the so-called prosperity of a dynasty is, in the end, nothing more than a battle of fortunes. One dragon rises and the other dies. This is often the case in the world.
Behind these great turmoils, there is often the shadow of Xiandu.
You may have also heard a legend that the First Emperor sent Xu Fu to the Immortal Mountain to seek a panacea for immortality.
Most scholars today believe that Penglai, the immortal mountain at that time, was today's Japan, but some people believe that he actually wanted to reach some kind of agreement with the immortal capital at that time, which would make him immortal and the Qin Dynasty forever.
But for some reason, Xiandu rejected his agreement. It may be because Xiandu did not think that the First Emperor was qualified to make deals with them, or it may be for other reasons. Anyway, the First Emperor did not remain immortal for a long time and continued to rule his vast and powerful country. of empire. ”
Yin Xiu thought thoughtfully, "Then Xiandu let Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu take turns to take the stage, and finally destroyed the Qin Empire, right?"
"Maybe it's possible."
Ma Lan looked at the portrait of our ancestor, "It is said that our ancestor was the imperial master of the First Emperor at that time, and was in charge of the feng shui of the world.
Because of this, there is an unbreakable feud between us and the Immortal Capital.
Originally, after the Ma family moved to Malaysia, this grudge was temporarily put aside due to the distance. However, a month ago, the visit of the messenger from Xiandu made me feel that the situation was not good again. ”
"The root of all this is me."
Yin Xiu said frankly: "If it weren't for my participation in the battle for dragon veins in Kyushu, maybe Xiandu would not reappear in the world, and would not find Malaysia."
"Of course it's because of you."
Ma Lan was unceremonious, "But so what? In the final analysis, it is the Ma family's Celestial Master, not the Immortal Capital or the imperial court, that can decide the fate and direction of the Ma family."
She looked at Ma Xiaoyu and said, "As long as the Ma family's heavenly master decides what to do, we will do it. No one else has the right to interfere."
"Then what do you think I should do, aunt?"
Ma Xiaoyu hesitated for a moment, even though she was only thinking about following Yin Xiu back to Kyushu and unfinished business last night, but this also meant bringing the Ma family back to the center of the whirlpool.
Yin Xiu looked at her tenderly, hoping to give Ma Xiaoyu some support. No matter what decision she made, it would not change the relationship between the two.
Ma Lan looked at this scene and couldn't help but have a layer of mist in her eyes.
After a moment, her eyes returned to normal, as calm and stable as usual.
After a pause, she said: "I don't ask you what you want to do, I just ask you, do you want to go back with him? Or stay in Malaysia?"
"I want to go with him."
Ma Xiaoyu did not hesitate.
"Then are you going to give up your position as the Heavenly Master of the Ma family?" Ma Lan said seriously.
“I don’t intend to give up my position as Heavenly Master, because this is my responsibility and my foundation.
When I took over the Celestial Master's Order, I already knew that it was my life's mission to eliminate demons and protect the Tao. ”
"Eliminate demons and protect the Tao..."
Ma Lan murmured: "Is this why you want to follow him back to Kyushu?"
"That's right."
Ma Xiaoyu said firmly: "I will never become a Buddha until hell is empty.
It is not enough for us to fight against those zombies and vampires in Malaysia, because the source of all decay and darkness is in Kyushu and not elsewhere. Only by going to Kyushu can we truly come into contact with the source of the dark destiny.
More importantly..."
Ma Xiaoyu looked at Yin Xiu and shed tears for some reason.
"I am willing to be with him, no matter where we go. As long as the two of us are together, I feel that even mountains and seas cannot stop us."
Yin Xiu just smiled and gently wiped away her tears with her fingers.
Ma Lan looked at them, just sighed and shook his head.
"I'm not someone who wants to beat up mandarin ducks. Why do you say it as if I have become a villain." (End of Chapter)