Chapter 15: Fantasizing in the Attic

A pot of white porridge, placed on a small stove, was still steaming, emitting an alluring fragrance in the mountain night.

Lin Jue lacked experience in staying overnight or staying at inns in this world, so he watched more and spoke less. After putting down his book satchel, he followed the people around him, each taking a coarse bowl in their hands, and lined up to receive porridge.

The one serving the porridge was still the monk who led the way; he held a long-handled small gourd ladle, and each time he only scooped half a ladle, which was just right for a bowl.

There was another younger monk standing by, and whenever the porridge was scooped, he was responsible for adding a few slices of pickled radish and a piece of fermented bean curd to everyone's bowl, which were immediately submerged by the porridge soup as soon as they entered the bowl.

"Thank you, Master."

Every merchant and traveler said this.

When it was Lin Jue's turn, he also stood in front of the pot with his bowl.

The monk smiled slightly, but sank the ladle to the bottom, moved it slowly, and scooped it up; it was clearly different from the previous clear porridge, with solid ingredients.

"Thank you, Master!"

Lin Jue was stunned and hurriedly thanked him.

"Amitabha..."

The monk performed a one-handed salute, smiling.

The same few slices of pickled radish and a piece of fermented bean curd stopped above the porridge.

Lin Jue continued to thank him, walked out with the bowl, and saw that many of the previous people were sitting on the stone steps under the eaves, so he walked over, and seeing someone make room for him, he sat down.

Many merchants and travelers obviously brought dry rations, and Lin Jue's book satchel also had a few cooked eggs and many *ta-guo* (flatbreads), and a few fruits given by the Third Aunt remained, but before he could take them out of the book satchel, a merchant decisively handed over meat jerky and *ta-guo*, politely saying he should try some.

"Thank you, thank you..."

"We should be the ones thanking the little master."

"You are too kind, you are too kind; I didn't do anything, just traveled together for a stretch... In this temple, we are eating meat; is that okay?"

"There's nothing wrong with that; it's always been like this, and besides, we are sitting outside," someone said.

"We are not monks, so we don't need to eat vegetarian; as long as there is no contempt for the Buddha in our hearts, we should eat what we should eat. Traveling every day, how can we do without meat?" another said.

"So that's it."

Lin Jue didn't say much more and lowered his head to eat.

It was a night in early summer, exactly the sixteenth, and it had cleared up after the rain. A full moon appeared overhead, illuminating the pale ink-like clouds and a ring of colorful light. The temperature became very cool, and the sound of eating in the courtyard made Lin Jue, who had been traveling for the past two days, feel settled in his heart.

Pickled radish, fermented bean curd, white rice porridge—although plain, compared to the dry rations on the road, whether entering the mouth or going down the stomach, it was undoubtedly much more comfortable.

For a moment, he actually enjoyed it somewhat.

Besides the food, the atmosphere was also good.

Having seen demons and ghosts, walked the night road, and arrived at a safe place, even those who didn't know each other originally seemed to have become much more familiar for no reason, chatting casually, and people often came to share food with Lin Jue.

"At this rate, a mule must cost more than ten *guan*?"

"More than that! That was last year's price; at the beginning of this year, it had already risen to more than twenty *guan*!"

"Why?"

"Transporting military rations to the west, there's a shortage of mules and horses!"

"..."

Just at this moment, the short middle-aged man with three strands of beard came over, looking left and right. A merchant traveler pointed out the direction for him, and he followed it to look over, only then seeing Lin Jue.

It wasn't anything else; he came to thank him and give a gift.

"Benefactor! Thanks to you, we saved our family's livelihood; please accept this small token, just consider it travel expenses for the journey!"

What he handed over was a string of copper coins.

Many merchant travelers saw it and knew there were about several hundred; they had traveled with Lin Jue and now counted as acquaintances. Although they had no objection to him returning the mule despite picking it up, they also hoped he could get more thanks, so someone immediately spoke up, joking:

"How much is a mule, and how much is this?"

"Brother, you are too good at saving money."

Hearing this, the man was immediately embarrassed.

Lin Jue didn't say anything and didn't decline; he smiled, reached out, and accepted the money, thanking him by the way.

It counted as a benefit.

It was truly as that person said—

What Lin Jue lacked now was travel expenses.

Then everyone clamored to request him to tell how he got the mule and how he shocked the monster. Lin Jue couldn't resist their questioning and answered truthfully.

Not long after, the monk who first opened the door for them came over, put his hands together in front of them, chanted a Buddhist name, and then said: "There are truly too many benefactors staying the night tonight; counting it up, a few people can't even sleep in one bed, so I have to ask everyone to squeeze in and make do for the night; it is truly a poor reception."

"It doesn't matter! As long as there's a place to sleep!"

"At least it can shelter us from the wind and rain."

"The weather isn't cold, so sleeping anywhere is fine; sorry to trouble you, Master."

While everyone was saying this, they reached into their pockets and took out some copper coins, each person giving ten or twenty, and handed them to the master.

"Incense oil money..."

Everyone said this.

Lin Jue watched from the side and roughly understood—

This is both a temple and a hostel; there is no reason not to pay for accommodation, but it is slightly covered up by calling it incense oil money, which sounds good and looks good.

Lin Jue hurriedly took out the string of copper coins given by the short middle-aged man, untied the rope, grabbed a dozen or so at random, and handed them out.

The monk also smiled and accepted them, thanked him, but stopped in front of him and bowed, saying: "This poor monk observes that the benefactor is a scholar, not very old, and I fear the benefactor might not be accustomed to squeezing together with these merchants who have been traveling for years. It just so happens that our temple has an attic that has been vacant for a long time; if the benefactor dares to stay there, this poor monk will go and clean it up for the benefactor."

As soon as the monk finished speaking, a merchant interrupted from the side:

"Hey, Master! Since there is an attic, why not let us stay there, and only let this little master stay there?"

"Amitabha." The monk still chanted the Buddhist name, polite and refined, "Benefactor, you don't know; the attic in our backyard is not for anyone but those with outstanding virtue and scholars."

"This master, why do you look down on people?"

The monk smiled without a word, and instead continued to lower his head and look at Lin Jue.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" Lin Jue was indeed not accustomed to squeezing together with strangers, especially a group of strangers, and he just wanted to find a place to read ancient books, so he agreed, "It's just that the attic has been dusty for a long time; if it is opened specifically for me, naturally I shouldn't let the master clean it for me; just give me a broom and a feather duster."

"The benefactor is a reasonable person."

The monk put his hands together and bowed to him.

Lin Jue also hurriedly stood up and returned the salute.

The moonlight became clearer and clearer. After everyone finished eating, they returned to their rooms one after another. Lin Jue also came to the attic under the monk's guidance.

Besides the book satchel on his back, he had a broom and a feather duster in his hand.

"Thank you."

After Lin Jue finished thanking him, he took the oil lamp and walked into the attic.

Under the light of the oil lamp, one side of the first floor of the attic was piled with many sundries, while the other side was a wooden ladder leading upstairs. It was indeed covered with a layer of dust and had some spider webs, looking like no one had been here for a while.

Lin Jue stayed in the attic.

However, since someone was kind enough to give you accommodation, how could you only sweep the few feet where you slept? So Lin Jue simply put down his book satchel and started sweeping from the very bottom.

All the way with the smell of dust, the oil lamp went up level by level.

Arriving on the second floor, Lin Jue first placed the oil lamp in a relatively high position, turned around, and was stunned—

Downstairs was still covered in dust and spider webs, let alone how much was swept out, he feared he had eaten several *qian* of it, but upstairs it was clean and spotless, the furnishings were also very neat, and there were even many pictures drawn on the walls and floors, mostly things like bamboo, lotus, pine, and willow.

There were even some poems inscribed.

"?"

Lin Jue looked around, not knowing the reason.

Did a monk sneak here to rest and play?

Or were there demons and ghosts in the temple?

Lin Jue didn't know why, so he went down temporarily, moved his book satchel up, and carefully checked upstairs again.

There wasn't much upstairs, just a long couch, about as long as two people, both ends reaching the walls, allowing people to sleep with their feet touching. A tea table was placed in the middle of the long couch.

Some wooden bookshelves were placed against the wall, but the bookshelves were very empty, only holding a few common Buddhist scriptures. One had traces of being flipped through, not only opening to that page as soon as it was opened, but also having a bamboo leaf tucked in as a bookmark.

Perhaps there were originally some sundries, but they were all cleaned up by someone and piled on the very top of the bookshelf, where they couldn't be seen.

Not to mention anything else, it was clean and quiet.

oCO

"Since I'm here, I'll settle in."

Lin Jue took a few books out of his book satchel, placed them on the wooden table in the middle of the long couch, took out his small knife, took two pieces of clothing to use as a pillowcase and quilt, and placed them at the very edge of the long couch.

He even measured it.

The long couch was about two or three feet wide; sleeping one person was definitely no problem, and its design function itself included sleeping. If he lay at one end of the couch, his feet could just be placed under the wooden table, and another person could lie at the other end—many scholars in these days, when entertaining guests, chatting at night in the study or attic, and not wanting to go back, would sleep on the long couch like this, with both parties' feet just touching. Over time, it became a dedicated description for friends chatting all night and sleeping together.

It was just that turning over wasn't that convenient.

But he couldn't be picky; no matter what, it was better than squeezing into a room with a group of people downstairs, possibly having to sleep on the floor or sitting against the wall.

Thus, Lin Jue took the oil lamp over and placed it on the wooden table, first looking around the room, flipping through a few books at random, and flipping through the wordless ancient book in the middle.

Sure enough, no new page appeared.

Lin Jue fell into thought.

It seems that was indeed the case—

That strange feeling he had was that this wordless ancient book was unusual, a sign that a page recording magic had appeared.

As for tonight...

Lin Jue recalled his previous two times.

Once, the smoke exhaled by the monster was inhaled by him; once, the fire exhaled by the old man singed his hair; and once, he clearly saw the old man absorbing and swallowing the fire breath. Does it require his body to come into contact with a certain magic, or for him to see the general operation of the magic, to trigger the ancient book's reaction?

The cases were too few to be certain.

Lin Jue sat here pondering.

"..."

Actually, it was just dry thinking, with no meaning.

Lin Jue shook his head, cast aside his thoughts, and simply took out his travel money from his book satchel, counting it carefully.

When a junior goes out to seek an education, the elders naturally have to prepare travel money.

The eldest aunt originally wanted Lin Jue to take all twenty taels of silver he got from the Wang Family Ancestral Hall in Heng Village, but his uncle had just recovered from a long illness, and the family also needed money to turn around. Lin Jue naturally couldn't take it, and after a long argument, he finally accepted a piece of silver about five taels given by the aunt, plus more than two hundred copper coins.

But he quietly put that piece of silver back.

Therefore, he actually only brought more than two hundred copper coins.

The gap between rich and poor in this world is extremely large; even in the village, there are prominent and wealthy families like the Wang family in Heng Village, and ordinary families like the Lin family who couldn't afford medicine when they got sick.

Specifically regarding money, most common people can't earn much money all year round, and naturally don't need much money, but when you go out and really need to spend money, money seems very insufficient.

What Lin Jue thought in his heart was that if it really didn't work, he would go to the city to perform the fire-breathing technique, which could earn some travel expenses. Coupled with the fact that it was early summer, the berries in the mountains were gradually ripening, and if he spent more effort looking, even if he were at his wit's end, it wouldn't be easy to starve himself; it would just be a bit bitter.

With a little more money at home, his uncle would have less pressure, and his cousin could marry a wife sooner and live his own life.

It was he who owed them, not they who owed him.

Therefore, Lin Jue was very frugal all the way.

Excluding expenses, he happened to save two hundred coins. Tonight, he got the thanks from the short middle-aged man, and after paying the incense oil money for staying the night, he had four hundred and thirty-five coins left, totaling six hundred and thirty-five coins.

The sound of counting money in the room late at night...

And the sound of sighing in the room...

Lin Jue carefully divided them into seven portions, strung them up with seven ropes, each string being one hundred coins, and one string being thirty-five coins, for convenience of use.

It must be said that the money in these days is heavy, and holding it in his hand really gives a sense of possession.

Although it was only a few hundred coins.

As for the mule he got tonight, Lin Jue absolutely never thought of leading it to the market to sell—

? Co

Even a dog knows to return it; how could he be inferior to a dog?

"Alas..."

The young scholar put away the money.

Outside the window were the temple lights, the mountain forest under the moon, and the winding government road like a jade belt. A wind came through the bamboo forest, blowing in a cold chill.

Gradually, the temple lights also dimmed.

The birds didn't call, and besides the sound of wind and insects, not even a single noise could be heard.

It was a familiar summer night.

At some point, Lin Jue had already looked out the window.

This was this world—

If there were no moonlight, this place would definitely be pitch black.

And there weren't many interesting things to play with.

Lin Jue gradually lay down. Perhaps because he encountered a monster halfway today, which was too stimulating, he didn't have any sleepiness at all, so he had to open his eyes and let his thoughts fly.

If he were in the past, he would mostly like such an environment, and sometimes would even specifically leave the place where he lived to seek such an environment, but once he really arrived here, after a long time, he naturally understood that the prosperous and dreamy world in his memory was the result of progress.

Winter is cold enough to make hands and feet ache, summer is full of mosquitoes, not enough to eat or wear, and a single illness could kill even princes and grandsons; everything is inconvenient, and not many people can endure such days.

Fortunately, there are demons, ghosts, cultivation, magic, and countless strange stories here.

This is a rare blessing.

Hearing Buddhism say that the universe has the theory of great thousand worlds, I don't know where my origin is?

I don't know when I can touch it.

Since I could come, can I return?

Legend stories often talk about immortal longevity; if this world is given thousands of years, I don't know what it will become.

Compared to taking exams for fame, these are what he wants to pursue at this moment.

Lin Jue had infinite fantasies in his mind.

He fell asleep without knowing it. ===== CHAPTER 16 =====