Chapter 227: Peony Immortal, traveling far together

Going back five dynasties, there was an Empress who ruled.

To consolidate her regime and intimidate dissidents, this Empress once used imperial power to order a hundred flowers to bloom against the season in winter.

During this period, there was a person proficient in the technique of hastening flowers, named Cui Xuanwei, who, forced by imperial power, had no choice but to accept the imperial order.

Cui Xuanwei lived in Luodong, loved the Dao, and had taken bait techniques and Poria cocos for thirty years. He was usually good at growing and protecting flowers.

Because he feared the Empress, Cui Xuanwei once took the imperial garden flower-growing officials and famous folk gardeners, sparing no cost, to hasten the flowers overnight, and actually made the flowers bloom against the season in the twelfth lunar month.

At that time, a hundred flowers bloomed in fear of power, only the peony refused to obey the imperial order, no matter how the flower officials and gardeners tried, it refused to bow and cater.

Not long after, the Empress toured the Upper Garden and saw that the peony had no flowers, thinking that this flower was transformed by a rebellious official, so she pulled it up by the roots and banished it to Mangshan to be dealt with.

After the peony arrived at Mangshan, it became even more prosperous. From then on, the peony also became the flower of proud bones in the mouths of scholars.

Now, in Qianxi Prefecture, there is a Flower Garden Old Man surnamed Cui, named Shiyuan, who happens to be the descendant of the former flower-growing lad Cui Xuanwei.

Slash-and-burn cultivation, planting flowers to hasten blooming—the way of growing flowers is all in it.

Xu Qing read Cui Shiyuan's life story and realized that his dedication to flowers had already entered the Dao.

In his childhood, Cui Shiyuan was often intoxicated by the fun of admiring flowers alone. Whenever his elders asked, he always replied with a childish voice: "These are all playmates."

By the time he reached the age of binding his hair, Cui Shiyuan had become a famous flower grower.

One day, he heard that there were rare and exotic flowers in Cizhao Temple outside the city that were in full bloom, which were very beautiful. How could this flower-loving teenager miss the good time?

Before noon, Cui Shiyuan hurriedly packed his luggage and set off for Cizhao Temple.

When he arrived at the temple, he saw that the exotic flowers were actually a large peony garden with twelve colors complete.

He had seen peonies, but he had never seen the wonder of twelve colors.

Those flowers were like newly cut cloud brocade, like a golden plate carrying dew, and even more like jade containing smoke.

Cui Shiyuan was amazed, wandering in the flower bushes day and night, unwilling to leave, even sleeping with the flowers at night.

However, good times didn't last long.

After only two days, a group of noble young masters in fresh clothes and angry horses, laughing and calling, came to the temple noisily.

The reason was that they heard there were flowers in the temple and came specifically to admire them.

But their admiration was not based on emotion and stopped at courtesy.

A group of frivolous young masters and young ladies, as soon as they entered the garden, all praised the good flowers!

Cui Shiyuan heard the movement, and at first, he was very happy, thinking that these young masters and young ladies were also flower lovers.

However, the next moment, he saw the leader reach out to pick the flower.

"Stop!"

How much did Cui Shiyuan cherish and love flowers? In his eyes, those flowers didn't know how many days of sun and rain they had to go through in a year, and only then did they have a few days of flowering period. If they were ruthlessly broken by someone at this time, what a great sin it would be?

The rich children who came to play had strange temperaments. It would have been fine if Cui Shiyuan didn't speak to stop them, but once he spoke, the group competed with him, insisting on breaking and picking the flowers!

"Did you plant these flowers? Why do you have to meddle in other people's business!"

"Although these flowers were not planted by me, they are flowers in the temple. You are already rude to break flowers for no reason!"

"Temple? I might as well tell you, when this temple was built, it was funded by our families, which is why it has today's scene. Now, let alone breaking a flower, even if we pull all these flowers out by the roots, what can you do?"

Cui Shiyuan saw that he couldn't persuade them, so he became evil and rushed forward to be the protector of the flowers.

The group fought together. Cui Shiyuan was weak and alone, how could he be the opponent of a group of playboys? After a while, his whole body was bruised and swollen, and he had no strength to parry.

The leader laughed and turned to pick the peonies.

But he didn't expect that Cui Shiyuan, who cherished flowers like his life, would stumble and run up again, using his body to protect the peonies, and no matter how others pushed or kicked, he refused to leave.

The young master of the wealthy family felt he had lost face, and the anger in his heart became more and more uncontrollable. He immediately ordered his followers to restrain Cui Shiyuan, and he went to pick the flowers in the garden in front of Cui Shiyuan to humiliate the other party.

Cui Shiyuan looked at the person entering the garden, and besides humiliation, he felt more heartache.

At that time, Cui Shiyuan cried bitterly, and the flower-picking thief who entered the garden laughed wantonly. If there were no accidents, the peonies in the garden would definitely be doomed.

However, at this critical moment, a woman who went to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings brought a group of followers and guards to stop the behavior of these playboys.

This woman was none other than the newly married mistress of the Huainan Gu family.

What a prestigious family the Huainan Gu family was. A group of powerful children only knew how to bully the weak. At this moment, seeing the Gu family mistress in person, they didn't even dare to fart.

After a scolding, the group of young masters and young ladies who were out playing and not doing proper work were driven away. The Gu family mistress later ordered people to treat Cui Shiyuan's injuries.

The abbot and the supervisor of Cizhao Temple heard about this and came to visit.

The abbot felt Cui Shiyuan's act of sacrificing himself to protect the flowers, thinking that this child had a heart of kindness, so he had the intention to guide him and let him shave his head and become a monk.

Cui Shiyuan only cared about flowers, how could he run to chant scriptures and worship Buddha, and practice Zen?

"Master, I have no intention of becoming a monk, but if the master is willing to consider my love for flowers and let me be a gardener to take care of these peonies often, I would be very grateful."

The abbot readily agreed.

Thus, every other day, Cui Shiyuan would rush to the temple to take care of those peonies, rain or shine.

About two years later, the temple was expanded and the peony garden needed to be abolished to build a new pagoda courtyard. The abbot thought of those peonies and delayed the demolition date, specifically waiting for Cui Shiyuan to come before dealing with it.

The next day, Cui Shiyuan arrived as scheduled.

When he heard the abbot's plan, he couldn't help frowning and said: "Monks have always had a heart of kindness. The pagoda courtyard is ultimately a dead object piled up with bricks and stones. Why does the abbot want to destroy this vibrant garden to build a pagoda courtyard?"

"Amitabha." The abbot twisted the prayer beads and said: "Saving the world and people requires a Buddhist Daoist temple. The completion of the pagoda courtyard can save more believers. As for the stay of these peonies..."

Seeing that the other party still had doubts, the abbot smiled and said: "Does the donor not feel that this is a Buddhist good fate? If it weren't for my Buddha's compassion guiding the donor here to form a connection, how could I bear to destroy these spiritual flowers and plants to build a pagoda courtyard?"

"What does the abbot mean by this?"

"A doctor has a benevolent heart to save the world. Since there are good doctors who cure people, there should also be masters who cure flowers. If the donor is willing to take in these peonies, it can fulfill the wish of my temple to expand, and it can also make these flowers not lose their lives..."

Eh? After hearing this, Cui Shiyuan swallowed back the words he had prepared to argue with the Zen master for three days and three nights.

This doesn't seem impossible.

Just like that, Cui Shiyuan carefully served those peonies and moved them all back to his own home.

Decades later, one day, Cui Shiyuan suddenly had a dream. In the dream, several women claimed to be from the Flower Kingdom and came to visit.

In the dream, all the women recognized Cui Shiyuan as their elder brother.

Among them, a woman with a cold temperament and a bit of pride in her eyebrows specifically told Cui Shiyuan that his lifespan was coming to an end and he needed to make plans early. If there were any unfulfilled wishes, their sisters were willing to help.

At that time, Cui Shiyuan had just taken on the job of setting up flower scenery along the street for Miss Gu's wedding, so he said: "I have no other wishes, only one. In my early years, there was a peony disaster at Cizhao Temple. I had a dispute with others to protect a patch of peonies, and fortunately, I was saved from disaster by the help of the Gu family's old lady..."

"And today, the old lady's granddaughter is getting married, so I want to use my family's secret method to hasten the blooming of a hundred flowers to congratulate the young lady on her return, to repay the kindness of that year." The leading woman heard this and was obviously stunned.

"This matter is not difficult. Brother can first collect the flower pots and plants from each family and entrust them to reliable people. Just remember to return them to their original positions after the auspicious time, and don't mess up the host's potted plants."

When the dream was about to wake up, the guests from the Flower Kingdom said goodbye one after another. Cui Shiyuan felt something in his heart and wanted to keep them, but found that these women were like flowers that had withered out of season. No matter how he called, he couldn't keep them for another moment.

The cold and proud leading woman was the last to leave. Cui Shiyuan was in a half-dream and half-awake state at this time. In his urgency, he only had time to ask one sentence—

"May I ask the lady's name?"

"My surname is Wei, and I live under the west wall of the fence garden."

Cui Shiyuan still wanted to ask, but heard the rooster crowing outside the window. He struggled to get up, and where could he see half a woman's figure in front of him!

"Is it a dream, a ghost, or a person?"

Cui Shiyuan was surprised and uncertain, and his mind didn't know where it had run off to.

He put on his shoes, pushed open the door, and looked at the sky. It turned out that it was already dawn.

Cui Shiyuan had no intention of sleeping, so he simply followed the bamboo path and walked along the fence. When he walked to the corner of the west wall, a garden surrounded by a fence, he suddenly stopped.

I saw that in the garden, a Wei-purple peony had already quietly bloomed.

Flowers clustered on both sides of the road paved with rouge-red silk.

There were fragrant peony and peony with dew, and narcissus and cloud orchid with ice skin and jade bones, but to say which one was the most eye-catching, it had to be the national-colored peony flower.

The peony that refused to bloom even when the Empress hastened a hundred flowers to bloom against the season in the past, today bloomed one after another. This situation is exactly: Power can hardly break the proud bones, sincerity can attract the burning fragrance.

Outside the embroidery tower.

Where the fragrant carriage passed, it crushed the brocade all over the ground.

In the distance, a noble young master in gold saddle and precious horse rode over.

Xu Qing looked at Shang Shaoyang's flashy appearance and felt inexplicably familiar.

This dress, it looks familiar.

The crowd on the street was moving. It was not easy for an ordinary person to squeeze to the front to watch the ceremony! It was only because Xu Qing had great strength and was unreasonable that he could push everyone away and come to the front.

Xuanyu was in close contact with so many living people for the first time, and felt somewhat uneasy, so it kept pulling Xu Qing's sleeve, not daring to stay away for a step.

When Shang Shaoyang jumped off the tall horse and walked toward the embroidery tower in the groom's clothes, many big girls and little wives felt sour.

Why couldn't such a rich, handsome, and powerful noble young master come to marry them?

Hearing everyone praising the groom's clothes and bearing, Xuanyu looked subconsciously.

When it saw the clothes and headwear Shang Shaoyang was wearing, Xuanyu didn't think it was very beautiful.

In its eyes, Shang Shaoyang, compared to Immortal Xu who was wearing a phoenix crown and rosy cape, was like a dog-tail flower and a peony flower on the side of the road, with no comparison at all.

Under the embroidery tower, Shang Shaoyang sneezed a big sneeze.

No one outside knew that Young Master Shang actually had hay fever, which was an allergy to pollen.

It was just that Miss Gu liked to grow flowers since she was a child, so Shang Shaoyang had never told anyone about his problem.

Loving the house and its crow, in the face of this big happy day, hay fever didn't seem to be anything.

"Achoo—"

Shang Shaoyang was wiping his nose, but inadvertently saw a familiar figure standing in front of a row of peonies beside the embroidery tower.

"Brother Xu!"

On the embroidery tower, the bride was preparing to interact with the groom to welcome the bride, but the groom below ran to the side to greet a young man.

Miss Gu looked through the bead curtain and embroidery screen at the unreliable Shang Shaoyang below, and couldn't help but spit.

When she saw that the young man and the little girl led by the young man were both avoiding him in disgust, while Shang Shaoyang was shamelessly sticking to them, Miss Gu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Under the embroidery tower, Xu Qing said unhappily:

"Just welcome your bride, why run to find me? Have you forgotten my old profession?"

Shang Shaoyang said excitedly: "Those are things that only worldly people care about. On the contrary, Brother Xu traveled thousands of miles to watch the ceremony. If I didn't come to see you because of these things, that would be what people look down on!"

"Bai Fang! Quickly, take an invitation over!"

"No, take two!"

Shang Shaoyang looked sideways at the little girl with a cold and quiet temperament beside Xu Qing, and blinked: "This is..."

"My younger sister."

"Really? I thought it was Brother Xu's child bride, haha!"

"..."

This second-generation ancestor who couldn't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth.

If it weren't for the fact that today was the other party's big happy day, Xu Qing would definitely have to scold him a few times.

"This is a Qi-Gathering and Clearing Pill, which can relieve hay fever. Take it!"

Xu Qing took out a pill from his sleeve and threw it out without looking.

"Brother Xu still understands me!"

Shang Shaoyang was also big-hearted. Xu Qing dared to feed it, and he really dared to eat it!

After the pill entered his stomach, Shang Shaoyang felt refreshed, and the discomfort in his nose had dissipated without a trace.

Watching Shang Shaoyang return to the groom's position, Xu Qing smiled lightly.

Although he said he was going to the Shang family for the banquet, he hadn't really decided. His original plan was just to take Xuanyu to see what it was like for a big family to marry off a daughter.

In the past, when Xuanyu traveled far, it didn't leave any good memories. Now that it finally had another chance to travel far, Xu Qing had to take it to see the scenery along the way.

As for whether to attend Shang Shaoyang's wedding banquet, it didn't really matter.

But now that he had the wedding invitation, it didn't seem bad to go and eat at the banquet.

The marriage between the Shang family's direct son and the Gu family's most precious daughter was no longer just a grand event in Qianzhou. Even the dog emperor sitting high on the throne in the imperial palace, as well as major famous families and noble relatives, had sent congratulatory gifts.

When Xu Qing arrived at the Shang family mansion, the people he met were either nobles or prominent figures in the martial arts world.

He even saw the figure of Xie Yunyan, the young master of the Tai'an Escort Agency.

Besides that, what Xu Qing found most interesting were the brothers who accompanied Miss Gu.

The Gu family had been single-line for generations, but this generation had five sons, but only one daughter, which was Miss Gu who married Shang Shaoyang.

Xu Qing looked at those steel men from the military formation and knew how wonderful Young Master Shang's life would be in the future.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 228 =====