The immortal is beside me

Chapter 4 Today is also an ordinary day

The weather was just right around five o'clock, and since it had rained two days before, the air was especially fresh, making it a good time for life to move around.

Zhou Qing walked through the community along the green shade of the road, holding a thrush bird cage in one hand and turning two walnuts in the other. Coupled with his loose clothes, he looked "lazy" all over.

Pedestrians in the community passed him one by one, and from time to time someone would cast a glance at him, as if trying to confirm whether the person who just passed by was a young man in his twenties or a retired old man in his mid-life.

Bird walking may sound simple, but there is a lot of knowledge involved.

The time should be chosen in the early morning when the dew has not dried yet or in the evening when the sun is half set. The location should be in a natural place with flowers, plants and trees. For birds like the thrush, which are naturally timid and have poor adaptability, the cage should be covered with cloth at first. After it gets used to the sounds of the external environment, the cloth can be gradually uncovered to give the bird a period of adaptation to the environment.

After adapting to the wild, let the birds come into contact with other people to adapt to the group environment, and then gradually transition to places where people gather, changing the place every half an hour or so.

Only by doing this step-by-step and allowing the bird to fully come into contact with nature and human life can the bird's temperament be regulated - in the words of the circle, it is called "getting angry" - after such a walk, the caged bird will be excited, happy to sing, and at the same time more friendly.

This is the strategy Zhou Qing heard from those experienced bird walkers in the community two months ago.

When he first heard it, he was quite surprised: contact with nature, absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth; then return to the human world and undergo the refinement of worldly life, this is clearly a summary of the method of cultivation.

This method is a bit crude for cultivators, but for animals with weak spirits, this process can initially open up their spiritual intelligence. If they happen to have a trace of spirituality, they may be able to become spirits.

Ordinary people are not aware of the existence of the immortal way, but they have found the essence of the practice in such subtle details, and the wisdom contained therein is truly amazing.

He glanced at the thrush in the cage. The bird seemed to understand what he had just said. It folded its wings and curled up in a corner of the cage, lowering its head as if admitting its mistake.

Ordinary thrushes can't mimic speech. But this little creature, being by his side day and night, seemed to have acquired some spirituality, understanding human speech but occasionally uttering a few words. It was only a matter of time before it became a spirit.

It was just during those two days when the thrush became intelligent, Zhou Qing was playing cards with people in the yard, and he casually hung its cage among a bunch of starlings. The bird's first bit of intelligence was born in the mimicry of "Hello", "Congratulations on your wealth", and "Man is inherently good", and then it went down this path and never returned.

Originally, this was nothing, but a few days ago, Zhou Qing happened to hear those starlings breathing sweet air. To prevent his birds from being distracted by these will-o'-the-wisp black feathers, he decided to move the cage today.

After passing the low building where the street office is located, you will reach the green belt outside the community.

Since the area is full of old residential areas and the residents are generally older, many people come here every afternoon to exercise. Those who like to move around practice Tai Chi and square dance, while those who don’t like to move around move a folding chair under the shade of a tree to bask in the sun and take a nap, lying there for the entire afternoon.

Most of the time Zhou Qing belongs to the latter.

Just looking at the rows of folding chairs in the sun made him feel sleepy. But someone had an early appointment with him today, so he had to give up his precious sleep time.

"Hey! Xiao Zhou is here! Great, great, I've been waiting for you for so long!"

The voice came from an old man with white hair and beard. As he shouted, he patted the iron table in front of him, signaling Zhou Qing to come over. A chess set was already spread out on the table, with all the pieces in their places, waiting for the commander to take his seat.

The old man’s surname is Wu. He has been retired for more than ten years. His favorite thing in life is playing chess.

Previously, his chess skills were said to be unrivaled throughout the old city, but after Zhou Qing arrived, this reputation was shattered, and this old man has always been unwilling to accept it. After hearing that Zhou Qing worked nearby, he often challenged him to a game, but he was defeated every time, but he kept fighting.

Zhou Qing slowly put down the birdcage, put the walnut he was turning in his hand into his pocket, and leaned over to sit opposite Uncle Wu.

"Are you still gambling today?"

"No more gambling, no more gambling!" Uncle Wu waved his hands hastily. "The previous bet with you cost me half a month's pension. My son might be upset if he heard about it. This time, let's just have a simple exchange of ideas."

Halfway through his speech, as if feeling that his words were only boosting others' morale and diminishing his own prestige, he slammed the table again: "Although we don't want to gamble, I've been carefully studying several chess records these past two days. Today, I'm going to let you see my moves!"

"Okay, let's take a look." Zhou Qing picked up a chess piece and put it down seemingly casually.

Da da da.

The sounds of pieces falling were like raindrops hitting the ground.

Playing chess in the community is like farming. If you plant an old man here, soon a group of old men will grow around him.

Soon the chessboard was surrounded by people, old men tapping their crutches, turning their wheelchairs, all of them looking like they were in charge of the world.

"Wow! Xiao Zhou's move is so fierce!"

"Old Wu, what are you thinking? Why are you moving the cannon? Jump over the horse! Jump over the horse to block him!"

"What horse? If you don't move the chariot, he'll be checkmate in two more moves!"

"What the hell. What the hell? What the hell! This chess piece!"

A group of people gathered around Uncle Wu, their voices rising and falling with the rhythm of the chess moves. Zhou Qing faced them, feeling not as if he were sparring with an opponent, but as if he were facing a strategic general staff alone.

But it just so happened that using a small number of people to defeat a large number of enemies happened to be one of the tasks he was most familiar with.

The chess piece fell, and the situation was decided once again. The staff officers around sighed, and it was unclear whether they were sighing or lamenting.

"Stop arguing! Stop arguing! If I listen to you, I'll lose!"

Seeing that he was defeated by his opponent for the fourth time, Uncle Wu was obviously losing his patience.

"No one's going to argue this time. I'm going to do it myself!" He waved his arm with the air of a leader, dismissing the surrounding staff. "I've been playing chess for thirty years. I don't believe I can't win even one game."

For most people, talking about talent is too vague and illusory. The factor that determines the level of skill is nothing more than "nothing but experience" - at least when it comes to playing chess, Zhou Qing agrees with this statement.

Uncle Wu's confidence comes from thirty years of accumulation. He himself is not a chess master, but he has accumulated a few dozen times more time.

In the past, if he had the upper hand, he would have pressed on and annihilated his opponent. But now he was no longer like that. The chess pieces crossed once again, and it looked like another crushing victory.

But after a few rounds, the staff officers around him gradually fell silent, but Uncle Wu's expression gradually became lively, from frowning, to thinking, then to joy, and finally to jubilation.

"Check!"

As the move was made, the surrounding staff offices cheered, surrounding the beaming Mr. Wu in the center. "How's it going, Xiao Zhou? Is my new strategy any good?"

"You are really good, very impressive." Zhou Qing nodded and took his hands off the chessboard.

He had made a small mistake twenty steps earlier. The people around him could not see the significance of this concession at all. They all thought that this was a battle of back and forth, and that they would eventually break through successfully.

Just like the BOSS in the game, when you get stuck, you just think it is a dung monster designed by the planner with his toes. But once you defeat it, you will feel that it is a masterpiece in the gaming industry and an immortal work of art in the history of design.

Occasional encouragement like this kept Uncle Wu from becoming discouraged. He was the best chess player around here, and without this playmate, he'd have one less way to pass the time.

"Come on, come on! I haven't had such a good time playing in years. Come on again!"

It was a rare occasion for Uncle Wu to have such a hearty victory. He was so excited that his eyebrows danced. He rearranged the chessboard and was about to play again, but Zhou Qing said, "No more. It's getting late. I have to go home and sleep."

"Go home and sleep? What time is it now?"

This time, not only the surrounding staff, but even the commander started shouting, "It's not even eight o'clock yet and you're already sleepy? How come you're so young, but you can sleep better than an old man like me?"

"That's right, Xiao Zhou, your health is really not good. Don't just lie around all day. You need to exercise more." Staff Officer No. 1 next to him echoed, "Young people these days don't go out all day. They're already weak in their early twenties. What will they be like when they get older?"

"Old Xu is right. It's fine for you to be single now, but what about getting married in the future?" Staff Officer No. 2 joined the fray. "When I was your age, Xiao Zhou, I could seduce three girls a day and stay awake all night and still be full of energy!"

"Is there such a thing? I'll tell your old lady right now!"

"Hey, what do you mean? I'm just giving some advice to the young people."

The staff began to quarrel among themselves, and it seemed that they could no longer pay attention to the battle situation here. Zhou Qing smiled softly and said nothing more. He just picked up the birdcage beside him and turned to walk towards a small path.

By this time, most people who were leaving get off work had already left. Walking up the path, the crowds thinned out, and the world returned to silence, signaling the end of the day.

A sinecure with little pay and little work, a bunch of trivial daily work, and some unproductive hobbies and interests, this is the main composition of his current life.

According to today's terminology, this kind of life should be called "retirement", and he feels that this term is very appropriate.

On the way home, he bought an egg-filled pancake from a roadside snack bar and ate it as he walked towards the old building he rented. The evening breeze blew through the streets, sending yellow-green ginkgo leaves swaying. Looking up, he saw the setting sun on the horizon, its fiery colors just as they had been thousands of years ago.

When he came to this road in the past, it was still a dirt road covered with wheel tracks, connecting the grain market and material market in the town. Merchants often passed by in mule carts, replenishing their food in the streets and alleys and asking for a drink from the wine shop owner.

When he passed by Fansu, he sat at a wooden table outside the town, drinking and chatting with the shopkeeper, talking about this year's grain harvest and which talented person in the town had passed the imperial examination.

Back then, people on this road called him Immortal Master and Your Excellency. Now the dirt road has become asphalt, the neighborhoods on both sides have become concrete buildings, and people have changed their name to Zhou Qing.

Could it be that among those who passed by him, there were descendants of old friends?
A feeling of sleepiness suddenly came over him, and he yawned loudly. His five senses seemed to become distant and vague in an instant, but returned to normal after just one breath.

It's been more than seven years, but my soul still hasn't completely stabilized. He sighed in his heart.

Due to the burden of his spirit, his body would feel sleepy from time to time, which resulted in him never going to the night market in Liangzhou. Even if he wanted to play games, he couldn't join in the nighttime group games, which was really troublesome.

He raised his head and glanced at the sun in the sky again.

It is said that cultivating immortals is against the will of heaven. He used to not pay much attention to this statement, but now that it really happened to him, he felt the weight of heaven.

However, judging by the progress, this pressure will soon be over.

Ever since he'd given up his monkhood and returned to the mortal world to live as an ordinary person, he could clearly feel his sleepiness becoming shorter and shorter. The mundane world washed over him, gradually calming his unstable spirit. If this continued, in a year at most, he would be able to completely return to normal.

Birds need contact with human breath to awaken their spiritual intelligence. He relies on the worldly life to refine his mind and stabilize his soul, which in a sense can be regarded as a return to nature.

The phone in his pocket vibrated. He picked it up and saw a WeChat message from Qin Jiajia on the page.

Qin Jiajia, this is the first friend he met as an ordinary person.

He had just returned to the mortal world a few years ago and was not yet accustomed to this world hundreds of years later. He could not understand the Arabic numerals and English letters that were everywhere, and he was also confused about new gadgets like computers and smartphones that could not be scanned with spiritual sense. Concepts like "QR code", "mobile payment" and "Internet" were unheard of. There were too many fragmented common senses that he needed to learn from scratch.

Based on past experience, he knew that every dynasty would establish academies to impart knowledge. After some research, he learned that academies had been renamed schools, but their function of imparting knowledge remained largely unchanged.

Compared to investigating the changes in the school, it was actually a simple matter for him to disguise his identity and sneak into the school.

Facts have proven that this decision was the right one. After a few years of learning and buffering, although he can't say that he is familiar with modern society, he has basically adapted to this new world - and his friend Qin Jiajia has played an indispensable role in this.

The school taught him about the historical changes of the past few hundred years, but it didn't teach him how to use WeChat or scan code payments. If Qin Jiajia hadn't helped him, he probably would have mastered it with more time, but he would have encountered many inconveniences.

Although he had only known her for seven short years, compared to the length of his life, this period of time could only be considered as "just knowing each other for a short time", but he was still willing to classify this girl he had just met as a "friend".

He clicked on the WeChat message from Qin Jiajia, and a short white chat box appeared on the screen.

"I have some new information and I want to talk to you about it. Are you free to come out next Saturday?"

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(End of this chapter)