Jiefang Pool was not only found after Liberation. My grandfather said that it was called "Lao Yude" in the early years, and the business was even more popular than it is now. In the early 1990s, Chu Du had already started to have a more modern sauna, but Jiefang Pool was still unique, relying on the rich taste of the elderly and the skills of the masters in the hall.

As soon as I walked into the Jiefang Pool, I felt a smell of pre-Liberation coming to my face. The large copper pot burned on the charcoal stove, the hand towels with dew sprinkled in the iron basin at the door, the green radish that was cut better than flowers, and the old man who looked bare, not to mention how kind it was.

"Yo, Mr. Fan, are you back?"

As soon as Grandpa Fan walked into the bathhouse, he was discovered by a sharp-eyed handkerchief. This was awesome. A group of old men got up from the bed and greeted Grandpa Fan enthusiastically, all of whom were clamoring for him to open a book.

"Dear brothers, don't worry, let me take a shower first..." Seeing these old listeners so enthusiastic, Grandpa Fan smiled so much that he couldn't even open his eyes.

I followed Grandpa Fan to take a pleasant hot bath. When I came up, the service staff in the bathhouse had already put together a few beds, which was the bookstore. According to convention, Grandpa Fan earned money on books, and the service staff also had taps, so they were very active.

"Ye Fan, what book should I open this time? I'm tired of hearing about Water Margin of the Three Kingdoms, so I'd better open a martial arts book?" An old man shouted, and a group of old men next to me were also excited. Now is the hottest time for martial arts novels, and everyone is interested.

"I won't start martial arts this time, I will open a book called "The Legend of the Legend of the Heroes in the Qingcheng City of Shushan", which is guaranteed to be a hundred times more exciting than martial arts." Grandpa Fan smiled.

"Okay, just listen to Fan Ye's Legend of the Legend of Heroes." Dozens of old grandpas applauded at the same time.

"If you don't talk about the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, don't talk about Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. The young men in the world have old faces, and they will be over for a hundred years in a blink of an eye, but there is a swordsman Qing Ming who is traveling, laughing proudly in the universe!"

After a final poem was finished, Grandpa Fan began to talk about a strange book that I had never heard of.

Li Yingqiong, Zhou Qingyun, Xiao Monk, Qi Jinchan... The grand scene of the founding of Emei Mansion, the story of the nineteen heroes in Qingcheng, the ferocity of the demon corpse Gu Chen, and the cruelty of the green robe ancestor, I never thought that there would be such a magical story. In the story, both the decent and the evil sects have their own flying swords, and they can go to Qingming, live in Xianshan Cave and even the Antarctic and Arctic...

I was deeply attracted by the stories told by Grandpa Fan, and I am different from those old listeners. They only listen to them as stories, but the more I listened, the more excited I became. From this legend of heroes, I thought of the Book of Merits on the World, and the adventure in Hanshan last night. Perhaps, maybe, probably... One day I can fly and escape to the earth and live forever like the decent heroes in the book?

From this moment on, I developed a strong interest in practicing Taoism. I also want to be Li Yingqiong, and I also want to be Qi Jinchan!

This is probably the dream of all children in the world, and I am of course no exception.

Before I knew it, I listened to books in the bathhouse for a whole day. At noon, Grandpa Fan bought a piece of rice noodles to fill my stomach. My whole mind was immersed in these magical stories.

On the way home, I couldn't help but ask Grandpa Fan who the original author of these stories was. Grandpa Fan told me that this person was called Huanzhu Tower Master. In fact, the so-called "The Legend of the Strange Heroes of the Qingcheng" are two books, one is called "The Legend of the Sword Heroes of the Shushan" and the other is called "The Nineteen Heroes of the Qingcheng". Because the length is too long, he compiled the two books together to take the most essential paragraph to talk about it.

I remembered the titles of these two books in the next few weeks, and in the next few weeks, I gave all the pocket money I saved to the bookstore. I rented these two sets of books to read, but I actually saw it. Wang Zhan, a young listener, was also blessed because I told him after reading it, and both of us became fans of the Huanzhu Tower.

One night, Grandpa Fan and Dad finished drinking and just washed and were about to rest, I slipped into the south room where he lived and said with a smile: "Master Fan, I have something to ask you."

Grandpa Fan was slightly stunned and looked at me with a smile: "You guy is sneaky, I'm afraid there's nothing good about it, right?"

"Of course not." It would be better to be more straightforward with this old man. I said straight to the point: "I have rented Shushan and Qingcheng during this period. Do you think the master of Huanzhu Tower is a god?"

Grandpa Fan was stunned and laughed: "Are you crazy about reading books? Not to mention that the master Huanzhu Lou is a novelist, the stories in the book are all made up. Even if he wrote them real, it is not the right way to practice Taoism. The so-called flying sword into the Tao is still a bystander..." At this point, his face suddenly changed and he stopped talking.

He is the speaker who has no intention, but I am the listener who has no intention. My heart skipped a beat, staring at Grandpa Fan and asked, "Master Fan, do you know the authentic method of practicing Taoism?"

Grandpa Fan rolled his eyes: "What do you guys think? If I knew, I would still go to the bathhouse to talk about books and make a living? Didn't I become a god early, and I turned into gold? However, Grandpa Fan said that he had read more books than you after so many years of storytelling. How many of the serious gods in your book were entered into the Tao by flying swords? That's why he said that."

"So if you want to understand the ways to practice Taoism, what books should you read?"

Now I am like a rich man who has a lot of money but doesn't know how to spend it. Although I have such a magical thing as the merit book on earth, I don't know how to enter the temple of Taoism. I come to ask Grandpa Fan for advice, and I don't know if it's considered a rush to seek medical treatment.

"Well..."

Grandpa Fan thought about it with his gray beard: "The Tao Te Ching is a book, "The Supreme Demons" and "The Supreme Secrets"... too many. If you add Buddhist scriptures, you will never be able to read them in your life, let alone understand them. Moreover, these Buddhist scriptures are summarized by generations of practitioners. There are many contradictions in them. If you practice them all, you must be obsessed with them. It is really difficult..."

As he spoke, he suddenly looked at me blankly: "Xiaodong, don't you listen to books too much, and you suddenly become interested in practicing Taoism? This is not true. If your mother knows, I will blame me!"

In my heart, I recorded all the titles of Grandpa Fan’s books and said with a smile: “I am just interested in asking casually. How can I be interested in practicing Taoism? I also have to be a good student and get into college.”

"Well, that's fine..."

Grandpa Fan nodded, but there was obviously a trace of doubt in my eyes.
Chapter completed!