I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 64 Host

In today's world, transportation is not very convenient, and the transmission of information is inevitably delayed and blocked. In such an environment, if a good storyteller wants to improve, he cannot stick to one place, but must travel far and wide, visiting various prefectures and provinces to collect folk customs and ask questions about history. Only in this way can he learn a lot and accumulate a wealth of stories.

Guo Dongyang is over 50 years old and has been away from home all year round. Like a hardworking little bee, he often travels to various places to collect various anecdotes and interesting stories, which has made him a great storyteller.

If it were an ordinary person, it would be difficult to continue Guo Dongyang's words. Even a scholar who has read the classics and history books may not have such rich experience as him.

Fortunately, Xu Qing is not an ordinary person. He can quote various scientific theories from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, at will.

The two chatted about everything along the way, talking about the past and the present.

But as the conversation went on, it inevitably began to deviate into the topic of discussing heroes over a glass of wine.

This seems to be the dead end that men are most likely to turn into when chatting and gossiping.

After Guo Dongyang drank the fake wine made by the wine bugs, he became so excited that he seemed to be in heat.

He lashed out at those ancient and modern celebrities, almost saying that the only heroes in the world were Xu Jun and me...

Fortunately, there was only one living person in the carriage, so no matter how harsh Guo Dongyang's words were, they would not reach the ears of those who were interested.

Otherwise, his end would be even more miserable than Sima Gong's.

In short, this old man is quite interesting. Not only is he knowledgeable, he has also learned some self-defense skills. He always carries a sword with him when he goes out, and he has a very free and easy feeling.

He just talks too much and never stops talking along the way.

"Brother Xu, your wine is truly sweet and mellow, even comparable to the pear blossom wine from the capital..."

Guo Dongyang, who had drunk too much fake wine, muttered something, and the next moment he lay down in the carriage with his head tilted back and fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Qing shook his head helplessly, then urged the horse to speed up and head towards the provincial capital.

……

Tianjin is already a prosperous city, and now that the spring examinations are taking place, talented scholars from all over the country gather here, making Tianjin even more lively than usual.

When Guo Dongyang woke up, the carriage had already arrived at the city gate.

The soldiers guarding the city picked out suspicious people based on their intuition and checked their travel permits. Xu Qing thought he looked kind, but he was stopped by the soldiers and asked for his travel permit.

He felt that it must be Guo Dongyang's problem. The other person's face looked like a snuff bottle and he didn't look like a serious person at first glance.

And I was completely implicated!
After entering the city, Guo Dongyang warmly invited him, saying that he was very familiar with Tianjin and was a frequent guest in all major teahouses. Now that his brother had arrived, he had to treat him well.

Xu Qing knew full well that they had only just met by chance, so how could there be any friendship? The other party's enthusiasm was simply an attempt to pry out his stories.

When they arrived at a teahouse, it was just as Guo Dongyang had said. As soon as he showed up, the waiters in the teahouse came over to greet him as if they had met a long-lost relative.

Upon hearing the news, the teahouse owner ran down the teahouse and personally made tea and poured water for Guo Dongyang.

"Brother Dongyang and I haven't seen each other for half a year. I'm sure you've learned a lot during your trip to Jiangnan..."

While the few of them were chatting, an old tea drinker who was familiar with Guo Dongyang came forward to greet him.

Xu Qing was amazed. This storyteller was not exaggerating at all. Judging from his appearance, even the famous actors in the theater might not be as famous as him.

"Manager Wan, I have a favor to ask of you. Please help me withdraw fifty taels of silver from the counter. I will stay here for the next few days to give lectures. When I earn enough silver, I will return it to you."

"Easy to say, easy to say!"

After taking the silver, Guo Dongyang handed it to Xu Qing.

"Ten taels is for the ride, and the rest is for the wine you treat me to."

"My wine is not worth forty taels." Hearing this, Guo Dongyang approached Xu Qing, and with a slightly flattering smile on his not-so-serious old face, he said, "It's okay. The extra money can be regarded as my storytelling fee for asking you for advice. I don't have any other hobbies, I like this all my life."

Xu Qing remained silent.

He didn't know what happened recently, but he kept running into these people seeking to learn from his teachers. Yesterday, a boy of twelve or thirteen wanted to learn from him, and now, a veteran in his fifties also wanted to learn from him.

When did he become so popular?

Faced with Guo Dongyang's humble request for advice, Xu Qing did not refuse.

On the way to the capital, the other party told him a lot of interesting stories from all over the world. These news, which are not easy to come into contact with in daily life, instead gave this zombie, who was unfamiliar with the place, a general outline of the outside world.

In return, telling the other person a few stories and reciting a few scripts is not a big deal.

After making up his mind, Xu Qing asked the waiter for a bag of dried persimmon cakes and put them on Guo Dongyang's account. He then said, "When I have some free time, I will naturally write down those stories for you."

Then he left the teahouse without looking back.

On the spot, Guo Dongyang's old face was full of smiles. He pointed at the waiter and ordered: "Record it, the master wants to start the lecture now!"

The waiter asked curiously, "What story is Master Guo going to tell today?"

Guo Dongyang chuckled: "Today I'm going to tell you something new. The name is just two words - corpse transformation!"

Xu Qing left the teahouse and asked his way to the prefectural government office.

The day after tomorrow is the day when the provincial examination begins. According to convention, all students must produce proof of identity and a guarantee document written by a guarantor as required.

Only after going through multiple levels of review and confirming that one's background is clean and there is no suspicion of impersonation can one be given an invitation to take the provincial examination.

Xu Qing had no relatives, but fortunately he had Wang Lingyuan and Tang Zhou, the lawyer, who acted as his relatives and friends and issued a letter of guarantee for him.

Therefore, he is not afraid of failing the qualification review.

By the time I finished the exam, it was already getting dark.

Xu Qing walked along the bustling streets of the city for half an hour and felt that the scenery here was just so-so. Compared with Linhefang, it was no different except that it was bigger.

When they arrived at the Flower and Bird Street, it was already dark. Xu Qing caught the last flower and bird vendor closing his stall and bought dozens of fresh bird eggs.

This thing is good. I'm tired of eating raw eggs and it's a good time to change the taste.

Seeing that they had visited all the places they could visit, Xu Qing thought that the Wu brothers had set out half a day earlier than him and might be resting in some inn now.

The last time he tested the "throwing a shoe to ask for directions" technique, he arrived at the Book Phoenix Pavilion before the Wu brothers. He didn't know if the metaphysical magic had worked, or if the two groups simply ran into each other by chance.
There is no one around now, so I can verify it again.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing took off his shoes, walked barefoot, and started asking for directions.

You may want to ask him why he doesn't have an extra pair of shoes to use as a tool to ask for directions?

To be honest, it's not Xu Qing's fault for not thinking things through.

Some spells require rituals and various foreplay preparations, and the method of asking for directions is no exception.

The ritual of this spell lies in taking off shoes and throwing them. Every time asking for directions, the caster must put on his shoes and then take them off again, so that the thrown shoes will be most spiritual.

Xu Qing even suspected at one point that the mysterious driving force behind this shoe-throwing method of asking for directions was his own foot odor.
At this time, there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street. Xu Qing lost his shoes along the way and walked around for seven or eight miles before he arrived at the place where the shoes finally indicated.

There is still the well tower archway with two big red lanterns hanging high.

However, the plaque illuminated by the red lantern no longer reads "Shuhuang Pavilion", but "Yuyingxuan".

(End of this chapter)