As they chatted, dusk gradually fell, and snowflakes began to drift down from the hazy sky. The temperature plummeted. Even though Wan Yunting and his companions were martial artists, the cold of minus five to six degrees Celsius made Jiang Tingxia and Duan Yingying shiver uncontrollably.
There were a total of eleven small tents set up, but there were thirteen of them. Wan Yunting and Li Zihang had to give up their tents for Zhou Ruoxi and Jiang Tingxia and their fellow disciples.
Since they would be on guard duty at night, they planned to use sleeping bags and sleep by the campfire.
However, Zhou Ruoxi and Jiang Tingxia found that they could fit in one tent together, so they gave up another tent for Wan Yunting and Li Zihang, allowing them to take turns sleeping in the tent while on guard duty…
“The fire is lit. Everyone gather around to warm up.”
After setting up the tents, Wan Yunting lit the firewood that Li Zihang and the others had collected. The flames soared ten feet high, illuminating the surroundings. The sounds of animals fleeing could be clearly heard in the nearby woods, obviously scared away by the firelight.
“It’s so cold…”
Jiang Tingxia wrapped her arms around herself, her cloak held tightly in front of her. She sat by the campfire with Zhou Ruoxi, Xu Lingwei, and Duan Yingying. Her red, frozen hands were placed near the fire to warm up, and only then did she feel a sense of warmth.
“Everyone have some dry rations. Warm yourselves by the fire, and then go back to your tents to sleep, it’ll be warmer.”
Wan Yunting sat beside Wuweizi, opened his bag, took out dry rations, and handed them to him. He also spoke to Zhou Ruoxi and the others.
Everyone took out their dry rations and water. Li Zihang held a water bottle. Since it was snowing, there was no shortage of water, so they hadn’t brought much. They all carried multi-functional water bottles. If they ran out of water, they could just grab a handful of nearby snow, melt it, and refill their bottles.
“Uncle Wuwei, we rarely hear about the deeds of our ancestor Ren Dao Ren. Could you tell us about him?”
As everyone sat around the campfire eating dry rations, Li Zihang, feeling bored, said to Wuweizi.
Wan Yunting also turned to look at Wuweizi. He only knew about the ancestor Ren Dao Ren of the Wuliang Daoist Temple from his master, Gongsun Xiu Liang. He knew that Ren Dao Ren was a truly great doctor who saved lives.
“Your ancestor Ren Dao Ren, I can tell you about him.”
Wuweizi nodded, seeing it as an opportunity to recount the stories of the seniors from the older generation of the Daoist temple to these juniors. “Your ancestor Ren Dao Ren is a legendary figure of our Wuliang Daoist Temple.”
“According to my master, my Uncle-Master Ren went through the warlord era and even joined the army to fight against the Japanese devils. At that time, he was a medical orderly in the army and saved countless people on the battlefield.”
“After the establishment of New China, Uncle-Master Ren left without saying goodbye and returned directly to our sect. But he didn't rest; he would either go to the Kunlun Mountains to gather herbs or set up stalls to sell medicine and practice medicine in Baxida County town, earning a little money to cover the daily expenses of our Daoist temple.”
“Alas, you don’t know, our Wuliang Daoist Temple was just a small Daoist sect back then. I remember when there were less than twenty of us, including my fellow disciples, Uncle-Master Ren, and Uncle-Master Zong from other branches. Our uncles and brothers still had to go down the mountain to work and earn money to maintain the daily expenses of our Daoist temple.”
“Because in that era, the nation and its people had just found their footing, and there had been several famines. My parents also died in one of those famines. My master found me begging on the streets when he was traveling down the mountain, and that’s how he brought me back to the Daoist temple, and I finally had a home…”
As he spoke, Uncle-Master Wuwei’s old eyes welled up with tears. It seemed that the memories of those years were like old black and white film reels slowly flashing through his mind.
Wan Yunting, who was born in this new era and came from an extraordinary family, naturally could not truly understand the hardships and difficulties of people’s lives in that era.
But hearing Wuweizi’s account now, he felt a sense of empathy…
Wuweizi sighed and continued, “At that time, your ancestor Ren Dao Ren was practicing medicine at a stall in Baxida County town. Because his medical skills were superb, he quickly gained the recognition of the common people.”
“The reason why your ancestor Ren Dao Ren’s Daoist name has the character ‘Ren’ (benevolence)! I remember my master saying that their master, seeing Uncle-Master Ren’s kind heart, gave him the Daoist name ‘Ren,’ intending for him to be benevolent and do good deeds, and Uncle-Master Ren lived up to it.”
“His medical skills were remarkable. When he set up stalls in the county town, he charged fees based on the patient’s financial situation. For those from poor families, he treated them for free and even subsidized them. ”
“So, at that time, the people in the county town called him divine doctor, benevolent doctor, living immortal, and other such titles.”
“Ancestor Ren Dao Ren is truly amazing, truly a legendary figure…”
Listening to Wuweizi’s narration, Li Zihang, Lu Bao, and other disciples praised Ren Dao Ren one after another.
“Dispensing medicine to help the world, a true great healer!”
Wan Yunting also nodded, sighing with emotion.
No wonder his master, Gongsun Xiu Liang, was like that too. He had said that he was influenced by Ren Dao Ren to vow to be a true healer.
And the Ghost Hand Medical Saint Gongsun Xiu Liang had indeed achieved that. If it weren’t for Sima Boyong, perhaps he would be the number one person in China’s traditional Chinese medicine field today…
“Alright, I won’t say anymore. I’m going to rest. You all shouldn’t stay up too late and should get some rest early,” Wuweizi said, standing up. As he was older, he preferred to sleep early, and he couldn’t keep up with these youngsters, so he could only recount the stories of the old days for them.
“Alright, Uncle. I’ll help you to rest…”
Li Zihang got up and took Wuweizi to his tent to rest, teaching him how to use the tent and sleeping bag…
“Junior Brother Wan, how about we play a game?”
Jiang Tingxia, who was sitting by the campfire, saw that it was not yet eight o’clock in the evening and suggested playing a game.
“What game? That’s not my specialty,” Wan Yunting knew that they wouldn’t go to sleep so early.
“Hehe, that’s good. How about we play Truth or Dare?” Jiang Tingxia asked with a sly smile.
“Truth or Dare, what kind of game is that?”
However, Wan Yunting, like an old man, had spent seven years in prison and couldn’t keep up with the games that young people enjoyed nowadays.
But he wasn’t the only one who didn’t know; the two beautiful women, Zhou Ruoxi and Xu Lingwei, also didn’t know how to play.
“Junior Brother Wan, you don’t even know Truth or Dare? I’ll teach you…”
Li Zihang, who had returned, explained to Wan Yunting, Zhou Ruoxi, and Xu Lingwei in detail how to play Truth or Dare and its rules…
“Understood.”
Wan Yunting understood. Li Zihang looked at his senior sister Xu Lingwei, who was sitting next to him, and Zhou Ruoxi, who was sitting opposite him, and said, “Then let’s play together.”
Zhou Ruoxi shook her head slightly and smiled, “I’m not very good at it, so let’s not…”
“Don’t say that, Senior Sister. It’s just a few of us playing together. It won’t be fun with so few people,”
Jiang Tingxia immediately linked her arm through hers. However, the young girl’s big eyes were gleaming with mischief, clearly intending to tease her senior sister.
“In that case, we don’t have dice or playing cards, so let’s just do rock-paper-scissors,”
Li Zihang was also a lively character and said, “Let’s start with Junior Brother Wan and Senior Sister Jiang as a demonstration. After the loser completes their turn, they will then play rock-paper-scissors with someone else. We’ll rotate like this.”
“Okay, I think that’s a good idea.”
Jiang Tingxia naturally had no objections. She excitedly smiled at Wan Yunting and said, “Junior Brother Wan, let’s play rock-paper-scissors.”
Wan Yunting smiled and nodded, playing rock-paper-scissors with her… As a result, he had not washed his hands after urinating, and he lost.
“Hehe, I won. Junior Brother Wan, do you choose truth or dare?” the excited Jiang Tingxia asked.
Zhou Ruoxi, Xu Lingwei, Duan Yingying, and Li Zihang all looked at him. Lu Bao and Zhang Zixiu, who were not participating, watched them play with interest…
Only Lin Jie, Tao Zifu, and Peng Lei, the three young disciples, had returned to their tents to rest, unsure if they were genuinely sleeping or playing on their phones inside!
“Truth.”
Wan Yunting thought for a moment and chose truth.
“Alright.”
Seeing that he chose truth, Jiang Tingxia was a little disappointed. She immediately asked with a sly smile, “Do you think my Senior Sister Zhou is beautiful?”
As soon as she said this, Zhou Ruoxi, who was sitting next to her,’s pretty face darkened. She turned and glared at the mischievous girl, blaming Jiang Tingxia for playing a trick.
“Of course, she’s beautiful.”
Wan Yunting looked at Zhou Ruoxi, whose pretty face was slightly flushed and looking embarrassed, and said with a sincere smile, “Really, do I even need to ask? Before, disciples from various sects said that seeing Senior Sister Zhou was like seeing a celestial fairy.”
“Haha…”
Jiang Tingxia immediately burst into laughter, but Zhou Ruoxi’s pretty face was flushed with embarrassment. She lowered her head, feeling shy from Wan Yunting’s compliment. Her heart inexplicably quickened. She didn’t know why, but although she often heard others praise her, she felt a strange sense of happiness when praised by this man…
“Hmph, silver-tongued.”
Duan Yingying, sitting next to Xu Lingwei, cast a disgusted glance at Wan Yunting with her almond-shaped eyes and spoke sarcastically.
Wan Yunting gave her a look but couldn’t be bothered to speak to her. He turned to Li Zihang, who was sitting to his right, and said, “Your turn.”
“Come on.”
So they played rock-paper-scissors, and Li Zihang lost. Wan Yunting smiled and asked, “What do you choose?”
Li Zihang thought for a moment, his eyes gleaming, and said with a smile, “I choose dare!”
“Alright, then hug her!”
Wan Yunting immediately pointed with his hand, indicating Duan Yingying.
… Li Zihang was suddenly stunned, his whole body stiffened.