Wang Gu'an saw the girl in blue again. She was following a middle-aged man silently, lowering her head and eating a scallion pancake.
The man looked like he had lost all hope in life.
After seeing Wang Gu'an, the man stopped and asked, "Are you the guy I drove away last time?"
The man's back was hit hard, and the girl in blue who hit the "wall" looked up with a blank look on her face. Suddenly she saw Wang Gu'an. She was about to laugh, but suddenly turned her back to Wang Gu'an and wiped the corner of her mouth in a hurry.
Wang Gu'an held back his laughter and nodded to the man, "Hello, Master Ruan."
It seemed that the girl was probably Master Ruan's daughter.
But the father and daughter really don't look alike, and fortunately they don't.
The man Wang Gu'an called Master Ruan was the blacksmith who moved to the creek in the south not long after arriving in the town. He continued to ask: "Why didn't Ji Chenru go to forge iron these two days?"
Wang Gu'an was about to help Ji Chenru explain, but the man said coldly: "Go tell that kid, if he doesn't see this old man again today, he doesn't have to go to my shop tomorrow."
Wang Gu'an said hurriedly: "Master Ruan, there is something urgent at home..."
The man interrupted the boy and said rudely: "That's his business, what does it have to do with me?!"
Wang Gu'an was not a good talker. He was stunned on the spot, his face flushed with anxiety, and he didn't know how to start, for fear that he would make things worse. He had experienced Master Ruan's straightforward temper firsthand.
The girl in blue tried to say something good for Wang Gu'an, but the man who knew her daughter better than her father taught her a lesson in advance: "Eat your cake!"
The aggrieved girl suddenly quickened her pace, stepped hard on the man's instep, and then her feet were like the wind, and she disappeared in an instant.
The man sighed, left Wang Gu'an aside, and continued to move forward.
Wang Gu'an also sighed, ran to the breakfast shop to buy a basket of six buns, and rushed to Niping Lane.
When he arrived at his house, he saw Ji Chenru squatting on the wall, half of his body leaning towards Ye Dan's yard, eavesdropping very attentively.
Sometimes Wang Gu'an would feel that Ji Chenru really deserved a beating.
He had to remind her: "I just saw Master Ruan, who asked you to help out in the blacksmith shop today, and said that if I don't see you today, I will fire you."
Ji Chenru said absentmindedly: "Why are you in such a hurry? It's hard to find an apprentice like me who is both nimble and hardworking. Master Ruan is just saying something harsh. It doesn't matter if you go tomorrow."
Wang Gu'an shook his head and said: "I'm sure Master Ruan is definitely not joking."
Ji Chenru said irritably: "I'll go later, don't delay me from doing my work."
Wang Gu'an sent breakfast to the girl in black, and took three directly to Ji Chenru, and only bit one himself.
Ji Chenru finished all the meat buns in a few bites, wiping his mouth and whispering: "Just now, a guest came to Ye Dan's house. He looked like a big shot. If I'm not mistaken, it should be the current official kiln supervisor. When he wore his official uniform to our dragon kiln, Old Man He thought you, a bunch of useless apprentices, were an eyesore and didn't let you show up to learn more. I'm different. Old Man He even asked me to show that person what "jumping-knife" means."
Wang Gu'an smiled and said, "The new supervisor is more considerate of Ye Dan. Everyone in the town knows it. What are you suspicious about here?"
Ji Chenru said worriedly, "A pretty boy like Ye Dan will never be able to compete with me, but if Shi Hui falls in love with this extraordinary official, my chances of winning are slim! Your future sister-in-law will run away with someone, what should I do? What should you do?"
Wang Gu'an walked straight back to the house.
Ji Chenru was left squatting on the wall, complaining to herself.
The girl in black sat at the table, her back straight, holding the hilt of the knife in one hand, as if facing a great enemy.
Sweat oozed from her forehead.
This was the first time Wang Gu'an saw the girl in such an expression. Although her body was tense and full of vigilance, her eyes were shining and she was eager to try.
Wang Gu'an retreated to the threshold, and she asked: "Do you know the identity of the guest next door?"
Wang Gu'an replied: "I heard from Ji Chenru that he is the current kiln supervisor of our town. He is very friendly. Just now at the entrance of the alley, he made way for me."
The girl sneered: "This kind of person is terrible."
Wang Gu'an was puzzled.
She asked, "Will people walking on the road and seeing ants step on them?"
Wang Gu'an thought for a moment and replied, "Gu Can would definitely do that. He often uses water to water ant nests or blocks the exits of ant nests with stones. Ji Chenru would probably do that too when she's in a bad mood."
The girl in black was speechless.
Wang Gu'an grinned, "I actually understand what Miss Ning meant."
She was surprised and asked, "Is it true?"
Wang Gu'an nodded and said, "I think you said two things. One is that the common people in our town are just ants crawling around in the eyes of you outsiders. The second is that outsiders are divided into high and low. Fu Nanhua and Cai Jinjian are children like Gu Can, so they would think it would be interesting or annoying to control the life and death of ants. But the official who came to our Niping Lane is different. He speaks and acts in accordance with his status, so he seems to be very polite. Miss Ning, right?"
The girl asked, "How did you figure it out?"
The boy replied jokingly, "After saving my life, I seem to have a brighter mind."
The girl in black asked solemnly, "What did you see before you died?"
"I didn't see anything." Wang Gu'an was a little confused, but still answered honestly: "In fact, I didn't think much about it from beginning to end in that alley. It would be better for Miss Ning to ask Fu Nanhua and Cai Jinjian about this question. They might see something."
She snorted coldly: "Oh, you are so arrogant!"
After saying this, she stared at the boy in straw sandals for no reason.
Wang Gu'an was panicked, "What's wrong?"
The girl frowned, a little annoyed, and said to herself in her hometown dialect: "My family's swordsmanship, whether it is the sword tactics or the method used to temper the body and soul, are all unique and untold secrets. I haven't learned them all, so how dare I teach others. And I haven't learned those superficial things from other places, otherwise I can also show him a clear way, even if it is just to strengthen the body and prolong life. Now where can I find a secret book with the lowest threshold?"
The girl's eyes lit up, "Robbery? No, no, it's not robbery, it's looking for someone to borrow a secret book, there is a borrowing and a return."
Unfortunately, her face soon became gloomy, and she said angrily: "Damn old eunuch! Wait for me, I will turn your palace upside down."
She looked sad and said, "Do I really have to go find the swordsmith named Ruan? I'm okay at chopping people, I've learned a lot from my mother, but I'm really not good at asking for help."
The boy in straw sandals sat on the doorstep, looking at the girl named Ning He, who was talking to herself, her face changing like clouds in the sky.
————
The handsome man in a white robe and jade belt stood in Ye Dan's room, looked around, and frowned slightly, "He, the man named Ye, arranged such a shabby place for you?"
Ye Dan pursed his lips and said nothing.
The maid Shi Hui had already hidden in her side room.
According to the most widely spread rumor in the town, the former supervisor, Lord Ye, was not good at his job and failed to produce imperial tribute porcelain that satisfied the court. With his hard work, he left behind a covered bridge and returned to Beijing to take up his post. Of course, he also left behind his illegitimate son, Ye Dan, and only bought him a personal maid to take care of his daily life. Then he "entrusted" his son to his good friend, the new supervisor who replaced him. It is said that his surname is also Ye.
But the truth is that the authorities are confused and the bystanders may not be clear.
Ye Dan himself is not sure what kind of relationship this guy in front of him has with the man surnamed Ye. Is he a close colleague in the officialdom? A good friend who studied together in the past? Or an enemy of other factions in the capital? Before leaving, the man surnamed Ye mentioned a few words, saying that after the new supervisor arrived in the town, he would soon take them, the master and the servant, out of the town and rush to the capital. He asked Ye Dan to be extremely respectful to the master and not to be negligent in the slightest.
Ye Dan had no good feelings towards this domineering man from Beijing, probably because he hated the whole family.
The confidence he showed to his maid Shi Hui and the calmness he showed when leaving his hometown were just the result of his youthful self-esteem.
The man smiled and said, "Forget it. That sour scholar named Ye has always been cautious and prudent. He doesn't look like a man, but more like a woman. Otherwise, he wouldn't be allowed to come here to look after you."
Ye Dan's brows were gloomy.
The man casually glanced at the big box where the boy stored his belongings, curled his lips, and said slowly with a disdainful look: "Before coming here, I have seen Fu Nanhua from Laolong City. He is such a hapless person. He almost lost his heart here. You can continue your business with him as usual. You are responsible for your own losses and profits. I will not get involved in such trivial matters. But before leaving, you must go to the corridor bridge with me and kowtow a few times. After that, you will have nothing to do. Come home with me, do what you should do, sit in the seat you should sit, and do your duty. It's that simple. Do you understand?"
"Of course I understand. Lord Ye's words are not obscure."
The boy sneered: "But why?"
The man smiled, turned around and looked at the boy for the first time, and asked back: "The sissy surnamed Ye said that you are extremely talented. This evaluation is really not afraid of slipping your tongue. You might as well guess, what do you think I am based on?"
If you look closely, you will find that there is some resemblance between the two.
Ye Dan was even angrier, but he just kept it to himself.
The man stopped keeping the secret and said playfully: "Why? Of course, because I am a very unlucky person, but I am your uncle."
Ye Dan was shocked and his face turned pale.
The man in white robe ignored it, held the jade belt with both hands, looked at the sky outside the window, and smiled: "It is also because I am the number one martial artist in the Dali Dynasty."
In fact, this sentence would be more shocking if it was said in another way, but the man would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. He felt that as long as he was behind others, even if he was only one or two people behind, it was not worth promoting.
The man thought of the Confucian saint who was sitting here, and his mouth was full of contempt, and he snorted coldly.
He was thinking about it.
If I were not in this world, I could beat you, Liu Chunshui, a god of the three religions, to death with one hand.
————
In the thatched cottage of the school, Mr. Liu was listening to the sound of the children reading.
Sit upright.
Even Ye Dan and Zhao Yao, who are good readers, can hardly understand the essence of sitting upright in the true sense.
Confucianism has a classic book called "Da Li" which is the "founding of religion". In it, the "Self-cultivation Chapter" specifically talks about the gentleman sitting like a corpse, because the corpse is a divine image, and sitting like a corpse is solemn and dignified.
At this moment, Liu Chunshui seemed to have heard the white-robed man's silent thoughts in his heart. He smiled calmly and said, "It's amazing for a warrior to rule the country. But the white dragon fish costume is not a good omen."