In a house in Taoye Lane, there was a kind-looking old man sitting on a rattan chair under the corridor. Next to him sat a cute maid, wearing goose yellow patterned trousers and a light green gauze skirt. She was fanning the wind while listening to the old man's story.
The old man suddenly asked, "Taoya, where is the wind? Is it taking a nap again? I'm not trying to scare you. If you were in a big house outside the town, you would be punished for being lazy like this."
There was no response. The old man, who had always been tolerant and lenient to his servants, was about to continue to tease him, but his face suddenly changed, and he looked up into the distance with a serious expression. It turned out that in the small courtyard, not only the fan held by the young maid was motionless, but in fact even the invisible breeze was still. The old man quickly held his breath and concentrated, silently reciting the formula, and entered into meditation, so as not to lose his cultivation in vain in this short countercurrent of the long river of time. The old man sighed softly, and Liu Chunshui, who was the most strict in observing the rules and etiquette, finally made an exception and took action. This really meant that a storm was about to come.
At the Tiesuo Well, a burly young man from another place squatted not far away, staring at the wheelbarrow. But from the corner of his eye, he secretly glanced at the silhouette of a plump village woman, who was bending over to pick up a bucket from the well. Her hips were amazingly curved, her chest was heavy, and her slightly exaggerated curves were exquisitely exposed. Her body exuded a wild breath of full wheat ears, which made the woman, who was originally just an average-looking woman, have some different charm. When the young man realized that the surrounding environment was strangely still, he did not move, but bravely looked at the beautiful picture of the woman drawing water. The young man secretly swallowed his saliva, quickly turned his body, and changed his squatting position.
No wonder the master said that the woman at the foot of the mountain was a tiger out of the forest. Her power was greatly reduced, but if she was taken to the mountain, she would become a tiger that dominated the mountain and would eat people. After drinking, the master always said that all the heroes in the world were defeated by the tigers in the mountain, without exception. But the young man felt that the tiger out of the forest was already very powerful. For example, the woman in front of him, although she looked ordinary, was so charming that he was itching. If she slapped him without saying a word, it would be completely unreasonable. The young man felt that he dared not fight back at all. If the woman smiled, he would laugh along.
The young man felt a little discouraged when he thought of this. He lowered his head and glanced at his crotch, cursing, "You have no bones, no wonder you have no bones!"
————
In Niping Alley, Ye Dan was flipping through a thick and old local county chronicle. Ye Dan found out many rules, such as that it was generally supplemented every sixty years, so Ye Dan privately named this book "Jia Zi Zhi". In addition, after the townspeople were taken away by distant relatives when they were young, almost no one returned to their hometown. It seems that they don't like to return to their roots. They are like flowers blooming inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall. Many family surnames have branches and leaves outside, and even grow into deep-rooted towering trees, so Ye Dan nicknamed it "Wall Book".
The boy was flipping through a page of biography, describing the life of a man named Cao Xi. The book was also characterized by its sparing use of words. Ye Dan had read it over and over again at least seven or eight times, and was already very familiar with it. So when he flipped through it in his spare time, he would only pick out some bizarre stories about the characters, treating them as the legends of a storyteller. The authenticity of the story could not be verified, and Ye Dan certainly did not care. He only remembered that the man in official uniform came here alone late at night before leaving the town to report on his work in Beijing. The man told the boy in an extremely serious manner to remember one thing, which was to recite and remember every name that appeared in the book, as well as the hundreds of thousands of people, and the roots of their ancestors in the town, especially the relationship with the four surnames and ten clans.
At this time, Ye Dan did not move at all, just like the broken clay statues in the southeast of the town, which fell randomly in the grass and mud, and remained motionless regardless of wind and rain. The light from the window spilled onto the desk, maintaining an abnormal state of stillness.
The only people and things that could move in this house were the maid Shi Hui and the inconspicuous four-legged snake. She noticed something was wrong very early, and the first thought that came to her mind was to go to the next yard, find the expressionless girl, and scold her, but when the maid realized the existence of the sword, she gave up this tempting idea. She first came to her young master's room, glanced at the content of the page, and was annoyed when she saw the two words "Cao Xi", so she helped the young master turn a few pages back, and smiled happily after seeing the section about "Xie Shi". But soon she turned the page back in dismay, so as not to reveal the secret and expose herself. Over the years, the shrewd and scheming young master was just curious and suspected her identity and origin, but never caught any real evidence. She didn't want to fail at the moment of great success. She often went to the village school with the young master, and felt that some of the words of scholars were hypocritical and stupid, such as "those who sacrifice their lives for justice", and some of them were not bad, such as "those who travel a hundred miles are halfway to the end", which really explained the truth.
The khaki four-legged snake was lying on the doorstep to bask in the sun. At this time, when it was still and silent, it restored its "true body". Under the light, it was shining and crystal clear, and its body was like a piece of glass.
In the house in the next yard, the black-clothed girl Ning He fell into a mysterious fetal breathing state, not breathing through her mouth and nose, as if the baby was still in the womb, and her spirit returned to her roots and stopped thinking.
In the snow-white scabbard, the flying sword was as if it had been pardoned. After slowly unsheathing, it flew lightly around its owner, with the gentleness and intimacy of a little bird, and the beauty of a girl's fluttering dress. It was not flying randomly, but like a telepathic talisman, creating the best Feng Shui place for the owner who was healing. Sure enough, the girl, who showed no signs of breathing, had the surrounding air rushing into her body. She was like a whale swallowing water, madly absorbing the original spiritual energy between the world. So at this moment, the dead silence of the town formed a sharp contrast with the prosperity of this house.
The southern stream outside the town.
There was a short man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, sharp and aggressive, bare chest and abdomen, holding a hammer and forging iron. When he hammered it down, sparks flew everywhere, and the room was full of brilliance.
Countless sparks of fire were running around in the empty room, magnificent and spectacular.
With one swing of the hammer, a picture could be created.
Opposite the man, stood a girl with a neat ponytail. She was petite and wore a yellow cow leather robe to prevent sparks from splashing on her body. Ordinary cotton clothes could easily be burned through with holes.
After one hammer, thousands of sparks suddenly stopped in the room.
The ponytail girl frowned and asked, "Dad?"
The man said in a deep voice, "It's your turn to hammer the sword blade. This is a good opportunity to temper your divine will."
The girl put down the old sword blade and pushed away the sparks on both sides of her body. The sparks were waved away by her, and the whole body was moved by a single move. The sparks that should have been still in the long river of time kept hitting the sparks, hitting each other again and again, making the light in the room look extremely chaotic.
Compared to the old seniors in the town who seemed to be lurking in the depths, each of them was concentrating and holding their breath to calm down, the girl's actions were really too overbearing.
Especially when she took over the swing, her force was heavy and her movements were swift, even more wild and unrestrained than those experienced men.
The sparks that splashed out from each blow would not disappear in the end, so after overlapping again and again, the dense sparks, like bright stars, clustered in the sky.
In the sword-making room, there were billions of sparks.
The man stared at the red sword embryo and ordered in a deep voice: "Recite the Dragon-shaking Chapter of the Sword-Forging Sutra in your heart!"
The girl's momentum suddenly dropped, and she whispered: "Dad?"
The man said angrily: "What are you doing?"
The girl's momentum dropped again, and she said timidly: "I didn't eat enough at noon, I'm hungry, and I can't beat it anymore."
The man was even more angry. If he wasn't forging a sword, he would almost scold her, "It's obvious that asking you to recite is like asking you to die. What excuses are you looking for... Damn it, my girl, with your appetite, it's normal to be hungry, it's really not an excuse..."
The girl smiled secretly, saying that she was hungry, but in fact, her hands did not slow down at all. In an instant, the girl shouted loudly, and then smashed down with all her strength, and said: "Come out!"
This time, the sparks that splashed out were extremely numerous and particularly dazzling.
The man kept silent, thinking, "It's done."
————
In the courtyard of Gu Can's house, the woman slowly woke up with a splitting headache. With the help of her child, she sat back on the bench. Liu Zhimao, the Master of Jiejiang, was resting with his eyes closed, and his thumb and index finger were slowly moving in his sleeves.
The woman, Gu, pressed her son to sit beside her and asked softly, "Master, what happened?"
The old man did not open his eyes and said, "I have accepted a good disciple, and you have a good son. Gu, you can rest assured and wait for the mother to be honored by the son."
The woman was overjoyed, tears welled up in her eyes, hugged the child, and whispered softly, "Dad, did you hear that? Our Gu Can will definitely have a great future..."
Liu Zhimao suddenly exclaimed in surprise, opened his eyes and looked down at the lines on his palm, as if a new road had branched out. He said to himself, "Why is this? It shouldn't be. The boy didn't die, but the son of the immortal family died inexplicably?"
The old man had to stand up and slowly paced in the yard, counting his fingers quickly, "Waste! Falling into the hands of a street boy, the thousand-year reputation of Yunxia Mountain that has been hard-earned has been destroyed in an instant."
The woman said anxiously, "Old Immortal, since our Can'er has become your disciple, why don't you let Wang Gu'an go?"
The old man shouted angrily, "Womanly kindness! If you really had a compassionate heart, you shouldn't have had the thought of killing me when we first met. You come to me now to pretend to be a female bodhisattva, do you have the shame?"
The woman's face turned pale after being scolded, and she stammered and dared not say a word.
The old man was still not satisfied, and pointed at the woman and scolded, "Countryside woman, short-sighted! After Gu Can returns to Shujian Lake with me, the number of times you and your son meet must not be too frequent, so as not to hinder his practice. Do you have any objections?"
The woman waved her hand quickly and said, "I dare not."
The old man's eyes were gloomy.
The woman was stunned for a moment, but soon came back to her senses, with a sad face, and said pitifully: "No objection, absolutely not!"
The old man waved his sleeves vigorously and snorted coldly: "I am so angry!"
I saw that the woman was quite charming and charming before, and just when I had the idea of taking her as a personal servant, she acted so vulgarly. She deserved to miss the blessing of entering the threshold of cultivation.
The old man suddenly felt as if he was facing a great enemy. He looked around and found that this world was indeed artificially stilled as "end". End is one of the many small caves in the world. The immortals and golden arhats on land can't open it up.
This kind of great supernatural power can be said to be the pinnacle. Although it is largely due to the great formation, it still makes people feel awe and awe.
Just imagine, as long as you are in this world, no matter you are an immortal, Buddha, god, demon or monster, you have to kowtow to me when you come here. What kind of feeling is that?
Liu Zhimao, the real lord of Jiejiang, dreams of reaching this height. Don't use it when you are high? Go to hell! Liu Zhimao wished that after having this little cave, he would bring in all the third-generation disciples of Buddha, Daoist ancestor, and Confucian master. He didn't dare to ask them to bow their heads, but at least they were all equal and of the same generation.
Liu Zhimao spat out a mouthful of blood without any warning, and blood splashed on his palm, as if someone had cut a blood groove with a sharp weapon.
The other hand also showed the white bowl involuntarily, the water surface was rippled, black lines were running around, and hitting the wall everywhere.
The old man did not hesitate at all, folding his palms on the back of his hands. As a Taoist, he bowed in the Confucian way, bowing to the bottom, extremely pious, and trembling: "Island owner Liu Zhimao of Qingxia Island in Shujian Lake, I beg Mr. Liu to pity the younger generation's sincere heart to seek the Tao. If there is any offense, I hope that Mr. Liu... The saint will not remember the villain's fault!"
After a long time,
"Leave quickly!"
The four words exploded in the ears of the True Lord like spring thunder.
Liu Zhimao said ecstatically: "Don't worry, sir. I will take Gu's mother and son out of the town right away."
The old man, who always regarded himself as a junior, remembered something and asked carefully: "May I ask, sir, what should I do with these two bags of gold and copper coins on me?"
The majestic voice sounded again, "One person and one thing, just two opportunities, just stay in the courtyard. You are not allowed to leave Shujian Lake for thirty years."
Liu Zhimao felt relieved. This time he was not so flattering and deliberately performed the Confucian bow. Instead, he made a solemn Taoist bow, "I dare not refuse the gift from the elder. Mr. Liu's great kindness and virtue, I will never forget it!"
After that, Liu Chunshui's voice did not appear, and Zhijing soon disappeared. Liu Zhimao didn't waste any words and immediately asked Gu to take Gu Can with him to leave the town. Gu was about to speak when she was glared at by Liu Zhimao with an extremely fierce look, which frightened the woman into silence. Liu Zhimao took out two bags. Although he was reluctant to leave, this Taoist who was determined to be a real master still put them on the bench without hesitation. Just as he walked into the courtyard, Liu Zhimao suddenly asked, "Do you have any old things left in your family?"
Gu was at a loss, and the sneaky Gu Can immediately reminded her: "Didn't Dad leave behind a Duobao Pavilion? It's the one hiding under the bed and gathering dust?"
Liu Zhimao's eyes lit up, and without saying a word, he asked the woman to lead the way to find out.
Since the saint recognized that Gu Can himself was an opportunity, it meant that this child could take away his own opportunity.
As for the final ownership of these opportunities, in a small town, even if the king of heaven came, he would have to listen to Liu Chunshui, but it was hard to say when he came to Shujian Lake.
Finally, Gu Can, who was left unattended, waited until the two entered the house, grabbed two bags with one hand, gently pulled out the bolt, and ran to the other end of Niping Lane.
Gu, the woman in the house, knelt on the ground and reached under the bed to move the box. The box was not big but very heavy, and it was a bit strenuous, and she was out of breath.
As a result, her plump buttocks were kicked hard by Master Jiejiang. The old man teased, "Gu, you are poor at postnatal maintenance, but with this, it is a bit of a stretch to be a second-class maid on Qingxia Island, but it is more than enough to be a third-class maid. I think you are not worthy of me, but there are a few guest officials on Qingxia Island who may be interested in you. You must strive for them when the time comes. Don't be shy and miss a good opportunity in vain."
The woman's body was slightly stiff. Most of her body was still under the bed at this time, and her expression could not be seen clearly.
————
When they reached the entrance of an alley, Liu Chunshui said to Wang Gu'an: "Let me deal with Cai Jinjian and Fu Nanhua. Now that you have this piece of ancestral locust leaf, you should not take life and death lightly. Living well is the greatest reward for your parents. As for the three forces of Yunxia Mountain, Laolong City and Jiejiang Zhenjun, I dare not say that they will never cause trouble for you, but they will definitely not cause trouble for you within ten years. If you are lucky, you will always be a commoner and can be safe and sound for thirty years."
Liu Chunshui smiled and said, "There is no need to be shy about the small town. In the future... soon, there will be no more calculations. If you want to live a stable life for 20 to 30 years, you might as well find a girl here to marry and start a family. If you want to go outside the town and see the real world, it is also a good thing. Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles are what we scholars must do. You will find that it is difficult to read in a small town, but it is easy to walk. Outside, many scholars find it easy to buy, read and collect books, but they just don't like to walk long distances and feel that it is hard. The so-called traveling with books is just a trip by car."
The boy was surprised and said, "Mr. Liu, walking is also considered hardship?"
Liu Chunshui laughed heartily, "Let's not talk about outside the town, just talk about the people around us. Have you seen a few peers in Fulu Street and Taoye Lane running around like you?"
The boy nodded and said, "It's true."
Liu Chunshui thought for a moment, reached out and pulled out a jade hairpin from his bun, bent down and handed it to the poor boy, "Just treat it as a parting gift. It's not a valuable item, let alone an item from the immortals, so feel free to accept it. In fact, I was once a boy from a shabby alley, like you, and I studied hard, experienced many hardships and setbacks, and of course, had all kinds of encounters. Only then did I enter the Shanya Academy and study under a master. That time was the happiest time in my life, Liu Chunshui. Later, when the master left the mountain, he gave me this hairpin, which was a kind of expectation and entrustment for me. It's a pity that looking back now, I haven't done well for so many years. I believe that if the master were alive, he would be disappointed."
How dare the boy accept this gift.
This jade hairpin seems to contain the friendship between Mr. Liu and his master. It goes without saying that the affection is heavy, not to mention that the gift is not light.
No matter how ignorant the boy was, he was a person who made imperial porcelain after all, and he still had some appreciation for the quality of an object.
Liu Chunshui said in a gentle voice: "If it stays with me, the relics of my mentor will be buried with me, so it is better to give it to you. Besides, you are not willing to accept the reward without merit. I have stayed in the town for nearly 60 years, and I have always had a small knot that I cannot untie. Unfortunately, my mentor has passed away. I thought I would never get the answer in this life. It was you who helped me solve the puzzle unintentionally, so I will give you this hairpin, which is very appropriate in terms of emotion, reason and etiquette. Wang Gu'an, I can only ask for a locust leaf for you, and I can't give you more opportunities."
The boy took the jade hairpin made of ordinary material with both hands, raised his head and said sincerely: "The master has done a lot."
Liu Chunshui smiled and saw that the boy was persuaded by him to accept the hairpin, so he felt relieved. The hairpin was indeed ordinary, but it was a relic of his mentor after all. It was good to be able to give it to a boy who lived up to the inscription on the jade hairpin.
So Liu Chunshui finally warned: "Wang Gu'an, remember, no matter what happens in the future, you must not lose hope in this world."