After Ji Chenru and Wang Gu'an walked out of Niping Lane, they found two groups of people standing on the left and right. A little girl rode on the neck of a burly old man, and an arrogant boy in a bright red robe stood beside a graceful woman. When Ji Chenru walked through, he was calm and composed. In the eyes of the white-haired old man, he looked like a general. The cautiousness and restraint that the boy in straw sandals tried hard to hide was quite unsightly.
After Lu Zhengchun said goodbye to the two, he stayed where he was, trembling with fear, and reported carefully: "Ji Chenru suggested that the immortal masters give a suitable price, and next time he will reluctantly give up and sell the heirloom."
The woman looked at the white-haired old man from Zhengyang Mountain and asked with a smile: "What do you think, Senior Yuan?"
The old man thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "Third time is better than the third time. Before that, just follow what Ji Chenru said and give him a huge fortune. Zhengyang Mountain can give this boy the status of a true disciple of the mountain gate. In addition, I will privately lend him a magic weapon for a period of 100 years. As for your Xu family in Qingfeng City, you can do it yourself."
The woman was shocked and said: "The status of a true disciple of Zhengyang Mountain is already extremely noble, and Senior Yuan actually wants to take out a magic weapon? Could it be that this boy surnamed Liu is a cultivation genius who was leaked by the porcelain buyer when he was nine years old?"
The old man ignored her and just smiled at the young master, saying, "There are many shops in the town, each with its own history. You can go shopping and maybe you can find a bargain."
The little girl shouted "Jia Jia Jia" in a childish way, and the old man, the chief worshiper of Zhengyang Mountain, laughed and jogged, moving like a mountain.
The boy laughed and said, "Zhengyang Mountain is so majestic!"
The woman signaled Lu Zhengchun to go home first. She walked casually on the street with her son and explained the origin of the matter to him. "In addition to the ordinary main mountain climbing road, Zhengyang Mountain also has a special "Sword Road". It has been passed down to this day and has opened up six ways to the top. This means that Zhengyang Mountain has produced six genuine sword immortals who have achieved the Dao."
The boy sneered and said, "What's the use of the old almanac? How many years can you live on the old? The Qi Refiners from all sides who can come into the town are even richer than the ones who came after us. Whose ancestors didn't have wealth?"
The woman held the child's hand and smiled and said, "Then do you know that in the past hundred years, two new sword roads are about to reach the top of Zhengyang Mountain? The amazing thing about the little girl of your age is that she can move freely on the "Sword Top" where the sword energy is everywhere, and the length of time she stays there is not inferior to even the ancestors of Zhengyang Mountain."
The boy was stunned for a moment, then stopped and said angrily: "Since that stupid girl has such a good background, why didn't you tell me earlier, mother? I wouldn't confront her all the way and make her talk back to me. If I marry her as my wife in a few years, and then we can become Taoist couples, wouldn't it be a great benefit for our Qingfeng City?!"
The woman looked at the beautiful face that was still childish, furious like a young tiger. She laughed instead of being angry, "You and that little girl are both great talents who are expected to reach the 'upper five realms', so your marriage line will be more complicated and changeable. If you insist on doing it, it will not be beautiful. Do you really think that girl now just hates you wholeheartedly?"
The boy frowned and said, "What else?"
The woman said softly, "Let it be."
The boy suddenly said seriously: "Mom, I don't like the guy following Ji Chenru. I didn't like him at first sight!"
The woman asked curiously: "Why is that?"
The child thought carefully for a moment and replied: "This guy is a little strange. He is different from Lu Zhengchun who knows everything and Ji Chenru who knows nothing. And I especially hate his eyes!"
The woman thought that her son was just being childish again, so she advised: "You can't do whatever you want in the town, but you have to think about the fate of everyone here after the collapse of the world here, and you will feel much better."
The child nodded and subconsciously repeated the two words he said when he first saw the boy in straw sandals, "Ant!"
————
After leaving the town, Wang Gu'an and Ji Chenru soon saw the covered bridge. Ji Chenru asked casually, "Why did Ye Dan's father build this covered bridge? It's fine to build it, but why did he have to cover the old stone arch bridge? I heard that the stone bridge was not demolished. It's like wearing a piece of clothing. I wonder if it will be hot in summer, hahaha..."
At the end of the conversation, the tall boy was amused by himself.
At this end of the covered bridge hangs a plaque with golden characters. It is a plaque with four characters written by an unknown person. The characters are very large, "Feng Sheng Shui Qi."
When the two young men walked up the steps, Ji Chenru stamped his feet fiercely and said mysteriously: "Old man He once told me that there is something strange under the steps. He said that when the covered bridge was just built, one night, Ye Dan's father ordered people to dig a big pit here and buried a large porcelain jar as tall as a person. Are you afraid?"
Wang Gu'an said unhappily: "What's there to be afraid of?"
The two walked into the shaded covered bridge, and Ji Chenru whispered: "Do you think it is because of the deep pool under the bridge that drowned more than a few people, so we need to invite monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals to suppress evil?"
Wang Gu'an never talked nonsense about ghosts and gods.
Ji Chenru didn't get an answer, so he lost interest.
This newly built wooden covered bridge still has a faint wood fragrance and paint smell. The wood of the main beams and pillars was all cut from the deep mountains and old forests that had been closed for countless years. It was extremely difficult to transport out of the mountains. The water level of the stream around the mountain was not high at ordinary times, far from enough to float those huge woods. They had to choose the rainstorm time. The mountain road was muddy and slippery. If you were not careful, you would fall into the flood. It was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, no young and strong people fell into the water and died that time. Some people said that it was during the transportation of wood out of the mountain that the school teacher Liu Chunshui went to help in person and taught people how to operate it. So it was thanks to Mr. Liu that everything was safe.
When they reached the steps of the covered bridge on the north side, Ji Chenru suddenly sat down on the huge long bluestone, and Wang Gu'an had to squat beside him.
Ji Chenru asked with a smile: "If it weren't for me, would you and Ye Dan become very good friends?"
Wang Gu'an shook his head and said: "Maybe the relationship is better, but not much better."
Ji Chenru asked curiously: "Why? You two are neighbors and are about the same age. To be honest, Ye Dan likes to drop bookshelves and speaks harshly, but he doesn't seem to have done anything harmful. You are also easy to get along with, so why can't you?"
Wang Gu'an smiled and said: "Let's not talk about this. When we get to the blacksmith shop, you must not be careless. Whether you can keep your family's treasured armor depends on whether you can become Master Ruan's apprentice."
"I know, I know, Wang Gu'an, to be honest, you really need to change your nagging temper in the future, otherwise I will be annoyed to death by you."
Ji Chenru fell backwards, resting his head on the top step of the corridor bridge, looking at the blue sky, and said: "You followed Old Man He and walked a long way, climbed a high mountain, so how far can you see the scenery?"
Wang Gu'an pulled out a piece of licorice, dusted it off, and put it in his mouth to chew, and said vaguely: "The farthest time was probably the year before last. I went back and forth with Old Man He. It took about ten days. We went around more than ten forbidden mountains. Finally, we came to a very strange mountain. It was so high that it was scary. You may not believe it. When you climbed halfway up the mountain, you could see that it was all foggy. Finally, Old Man He and I finally reached the top of the mountain, but the result was..."
Ji Chenru waited for a long time, but there was no follow-up. He turned around and smiled: "No one like you pulls up his crotch when you are halfway through shitting!"
Wang Gu'an was a little sad, and said softly: "You know, old man He has a very bad impression of me. He almost never talked to me, and he was unwilling to teach me the real skills of firing porcelain. Every time I went into the mountains, old man He didn't like to talk. Often from entering the mountains to returning to the dragon kiln, in fact, there were not many words. But after reaching the top of the mountain, old man He was probably in a good mood, so he said a little more, saying that I should see the scenery over there, and forget it after seeing it. Don't talk too much after going down the mountain. People should focus on doing things. Just talking nonsense will be embarrassing even if you leave the town in the future."
Ji Chenru comforted: "It's not that I say good things to old man He. He doesn't like you, but he doesn't hate you. He has a bad temper to everyone, and he is a little better to me."
Wang Gu'an nodded and said: "So in fact, I have always been grateful to old man He in my heart."
Ji Chenru suddenly said angrily: "After talking so much, you haven't said what you saw!"
Wang Gu'an pointed to the east, "The mountain we climbed was already very high, but when I looked from the top, there was another mountain to the east, which was even higher. I couldn't even tell how high it was."
Ji Chenru cursed, "You just saw a high mountain, I fucking thought you saw a god riding on clouds!"
Wang Gu'an thought about it and said with longing: "Maybe there are gods on that mountain?"
Ji Chenru asked with a smile: "Wang Gu'an, do you think gods also need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate?"
Wang Gu'an rubbed his chin, "If gods also need to poop, it's not right."
Ji Chenru slapped Wang Gu'an on the head, then stood up and ran, "Isn't it that the gods are pooping on your head!"
Ji Chenru's attack was neither light nor heavy. Wang Gu'an was a little dizzy. He didn't think about chasing the tall boy. After getting up, he said to himself: "Thunder, are the gods snoring in their sleep? If it rains, it shouldn't be the gods peeing, then we are too miserable..."
Wang Gu'an quickened his pace and soon caught up with Ji Chenru.
After a lot of fighting and playing, they finally arrived at the blacksmith shop by the stream. Seven or eight buildings, including yellow mud houses and thatched cottages, had been built. In Wang Gu'an's eyes, these were all piles of copper coins.
There was also a large group of young and strong people in the town digging wells. Most of their peers were apprentices of dragon kilns like Ji Chenru. After losing the porcelain rice bowl rewarded by the emperor, they were lucky to continue to have an iron rice bowl in the blacksmith shop. However, according to Ji Chenru, most of these helpers were temporary workers who did odd jobs. Master Ruan said that he would only accept a few disciples at most, and the rest would become permanent workers at most.
Ji Chenru waved his hand and said, "Wait here, I'll go say hello to Master Ruan and see if I can take you to see the scene of blacksmithing. Tsk tsk, if you see his daughter swinging a hammer to forge iron, I guarantee that you will be scared to death!"
Wang Gu'an stood where he was and did not move around casually.
Looking around, there are already seven wells in shape, with wheel racks and fences at the wellheads. At some of the wellheads, people keep coming out with dustpans on their heads.
Looking at the busy people digging wells, Wang Gu'an squatted down habitually, picked up a handful of soil, and rubbed it slowly on his fingertips.
It feels moist, but it is not water-based soil. On the contrary, it is fire-based soil, but it belongs to the last type of fire-based soil. According to Old Man He, this is called "July Fire Soil". The soil will turn warm and cool by itself, not too dry, and has strong plasticity. This also means that when reinforcing the well wall, it is not easy to collapse, which is a good thing.
Obviously, even if the blacksmith Master Ruan is not an expert in digging wells, he is definitely not an amateur.
But Wang Gu'an doesn't quite understand why so many wells are dug in such a small place.
Wang Gu'an turned his head and looked in the direction of the stream, grinning.
Now, this nameless stream, in the eyes of the straw sandal boy, is a treasure house of gold, silver and copper coins.
However, after touching the snake gallstone tonight, Wang Gu'an will secretly go to Niping Lane and dig something under the big water tank in Gu Can's house according to Gu Can's whisper before leaving the town. Gu Can was in a hurry at the time and didn't say anything, just saying that it was his family's treasure, and even his mother didn't know that he hid the thing there.
Wang Gu'an wanted to laugh when he thought of that slug.
In the past, Wang Gu'an was a follower behind Ji Chenru, following Ji Chenru to catch fish, catch snakes and dig bird nests. After Wang Gu'an became a teenager, he also had a little follower behind him.
For the helpless straw sandal boy, one is his elder brother and the other is his younger brother.
One needs him to repay his gratitude, and the other needs him to take care of him.
So over the years, Wang Gu'an has lived a hard life, but not bitter.