On the first night in Emei, Lin Xiaolu didn't sleep well. Although the room he and his sister stayed in looked rather magnificent and the beds were soft, much better than the environment in the village, he just couldn't fall asleep. Maybe it was because he was used to sleeping on the straw mats in the village.
Fortunately, his sister didn't seem to have any problem. She lay beside him and slept soundly, even giggling "heeheehee" in her dream. Lin Xiaolu, on the other hand, held his sister in his arms and kept his eyes open until late at night before gradually closing them.
Early the next morning, the melodious sound of bells rang out from somewhere, echoing through the peaks and spreading to every corner of Emei.
"Junior brother and junior sister, time to get up ~" Li Miaoxin, dressed in a blue long shirt, stepped into the room. But as soon as she entered the side chamber, she saw two little ones with their bare buttocks on the bed.
"Ah!" She screamed in shock and instinctively covered her eyes, blushing and jumping up and down.
"Good morning, senior sister ~" Xiao Yu'er rubbed her eyes and got up from the bed, and Lin Xiaolu also yawned and sat up.
"You, you, you two, get dressed quickly." Li Miaoxin, who didn't dare to open her eyes, hurriedly urged.
Xiao Yu'er put on the inner disciple's small Taoist robe in a daze. She didn't quite understand why the senior sister was like this and could only ask Lin Xiaolu beside her while putting on clothes: "Brother, what's wrong with senior sister?"
Lin Xiaolu, who was also getting dressed, curled his lips and said with great confidence: "Maybe she was intimidated by my masculine aura. Hahaha."
Li Miaoxin almost spat out a mouthful of old blood when she heard this. You're only seven years old. Where did you get the masculine aura from?
She blushed and urged: "You two get dressed quickly. Senior sister will take you to wash up and comb your hair."
Soon, the two little ones put on the navy-blue small Taoist robes and the cloth shoes that fit just right, and then rinsed their mouths with the Dust-Cleansing Pill.
The Dust-Cleansing Pill was very Magical. It looked like a transparent water ball. When gently put into the mouth and swallowed, the dust on the clothes would disperse by itself. Even the mud in the fingernails and the dirty things in the hair would disappear.
After they finished washing up, Li Miaoxin began to carefully comb their hair.
In front of the bronze mirror on the dressing table, Li Miaoxin was a little surprised when looking at Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yu'er in the mirror. She couldn't tell yesterday, but now that the two little ones had been cleaned with the Dust-Cleansing Pill, she realized that they actually looked quite nice.
Xiao Yu'er was extremely cute, like a pink and tender little ball. Her bright jade-like big eyes seemed to be able to speak. It was not hard to see from her every frown and smile that she would surely be a peerless beauty when she grew up.
Lin Xiaolu also had regular facial features. His lips were red and his teeth were white. At such a young age, his eyebrows already showed signs of sword eyebrows, giving people a sense of righteousness.
However, there was something strange in his eyes. Only three-tenths of childish innocence was there, while seven-tenths was unruly. As a result, there was a bit of wickedness in his righteousness. He might be a little naughty boy in the future.
The girl chatted and laughed with them while straightening their hair, coiling it into small buns and inserting two sapphire-colored hairpins. Thus, the two little Taoist attendants appeared completely.
"Come, see if senior sister has made you look nice?" The girl held Xiao Yu'er on her lap and smiled at the bronze mirror.
"Wow ~ Senior sister, I look so beautiful ~" Xiao Yu'er looked at herself in the mirror with shining eyes and boasted. Li Miaoxin couldn't help laughing heartily. This little beauty really didn't hold back when praising herself.
After putting down Xiao Yu'er, Li Miaoxin opened her arms towards Lin Xiaolu: "Come, senior sister wants a hug."
Lin Xiaolu, with his arms crossed, snorted disdainfully "Humph ~"
He opened his small mouth and said softly: "Is being good-looking useful? We, the children of the Jianghu, value loyalty when we are out. Being good-looking is something useless."
The boy's serious look made Li Miaoxin laugh so hard that her stomach ached. Ignoring the boy's objection, she pinched his face and then took them to the dining hall for breakfast.
It was just Mao Shi in the morning at this time. Just like yesterday, Li Miaoxin held one in each hand, as if afraid that they would get lost, and led them to the dining hall.
The breakfast was very light, a porcelain bowl of porridge of an unknown material and two plates of pickled side dishes.
It seemed that to nourish their bodies, Li Miaoxin paid out of her own pocket and asked Hou San'er to bring up two shiny white jade eggs.
"This is the egg of a spirit beast. It's very nourishing. Junior brother and junior sister, it's good for your health if you eat it."
Xiao Yu'er looked at the small white eggs in the plate and thought they were very pretty. She asked curiously: "Senior sister, what kind of spirit beast's egg is this?"
Lin Xiaolu also looked at the girl curiously.
Seeing that both siblings were interested, Li Miaoxin smiled proudly: "The egg of the Golden Armored King Turtle!"
Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yu'er fell silent. They lowered their heads and ate their meals quietly.
...
...
After breakfast, Li Miaoxin took the siblings out of the dining hall and led them to the Literacy Hall to learn characters.
The Literacy Hall was built on the main peak of Emei - Emei Peak.
There were nine branches and ten peaks in Emei. Each of the nine branches had its own peak, and the tenth Emei Peak was where the Emei Sect leader lived and practiced. It was also used for holding large-scale gatherings or receiving guests on weekdays.
Emei Peak was surrounded by the nine branch peaks in the middle. And in the middle section of each of the nine branch peaks, there was a blue jade-made Seeking-Tao Bridge connecting to Emei Peak for Emei disciples to travel.
At this moment, Li Miaoxin was leading the two siblings walking on the blue-lighted, white-jaded and crystal-clear Seeking-Tao Bridge.
The siblings were extremely astonished by this mysterious jade bridge. Especially Lin Xiaolu. He had heard from the adults in the village that jade was extremely valuable. It was a rare object favored by the landlords or officials in the city. A small piece of jade could be worth a year's harvest of a household. He didn't expect that Emei was so wealthy that it directly used jade to build bridges, and there were a total of nine bridges!
"Wow ~ Brother, come and look. It's so beautiful here."
Xiao Yu'er exclaimed excitedly. She lay on the jade railing of the bridge and looked at the sea of clouds with smoke curling below, her little face full of surprise.
Li Miaoxin, who was following behind them, had a gentle expression. Looking at the siblings running around on the bridge, for a moment, she seemed to see the scene when she first came to this Seeking-Tao Bridge.
At that time, she was about the same age as Xiao Yu'er. And the one accompanying her was her senior brother.
Soon, the three of them walked across the Seeking-Tao Bridge, reached the middle section of Emei Peak, passed a stony beach with a waterfall and a stream, and came to the so-called Literacy Hall.
"Li Miaoxin of the Star-Plucking Branch, bringing the new disciples of the Star-Plucking Branch, pays respects to Mr. Yang."
In front of the antique Literacy Hall, an old man who was sitting on a rocking chair drinking tea opened his eyes, looked at the respectful Li Miaoxin with a smile, and then at Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yu'er beside her, and chuckled: "I heard that after twenty years, the Star-Plucking Branch has finally recruited new disciples. Are you two little dolls?"