Sword of Coming

Not long after Liu Xianyang arrived at Mu Ping Alley, another rare guest came to the alley, the elegant scholar Zhao Yao in a green shirt, who looked a bit like the teacher Qi Jingchun.

Zhao Yao is the eldest grandson of one of the four major surnames in the town. Compared with Lu Zhengchun's idle playboys, Zhao Yao, who was also born into a wealthy family, has a good reputation. Many lonely old people in the town have received favors from young people. If this is The so-called method of "a famous man raising his sights in the wild" in the book seems to be an overestimation of Zhao Yao's ambition and a bit of a villain's heart to judge a gentleman. After all, the young man has had such a kind-hearted nature since he was ten years old. One year without any slack. Even the old people in Fulu Street who watched the young man grow up would always give him a thumbs up. Every time he scolded his own children, he would always bring up Zhao Yao as the reason. This made Zhao Yao very few among his peers. A close friend.

Lu Zhengchun's group of people are free-spirited and don't like to deal with a nerd who spends his whole life. Just imagine that everyone was so excited to climb the wall to spy on the pretty widow, but someone next to them said "don't look at incest". Wouldn't it be a terrible sight? In short, young Zhao Yao likes to interact with people outside Fulu Street these years. He has walked through almost all alleys, big and small, except Mu Ping Alley, because Song Jixin lives in this alley, and a man named Zhao Yao Yao often feels ashamed of his peers.

But if you really want to talk about friends, Zhao Yao probably only recognizes Song Jixin as a chess friend. Although he has always lost to Song Jixin in chess for so many years, his desire to win is still his heart to win, and his obsession with winning is still obsession. Zhao Yao has always admired the talented Song Jixin from the bottom of his heart. However, Zhao Yao was a little disappointed because his intuition told him that although Song Jixin had a lot of fun with him and had close relationships with him, he never seemed to notice him. Be a true friend and confidant.

Although Zhao Yao had never visited Song Jixin's house before, when he saw a certain house, he knew that this house must be Song Jixin's house. This was because of the Spring Festival couplets posted at the door, which had many words and one. It looks like Song Jixin's calligraphy. The reason is very simple. It's because the style has changed too much. It can almost be said that every word is different. For example, the two characters "Yu Feng" are written in one go, as you want, and have a great sense of elegance. The word "Yuan", next to the word "water", has a particularly profound meaning. The word "qi", when mentioned in such a big way, is extremely powerful and thunderous! The word "country" is written in a fair and peaceful way, like a sage sitting upright, unable to find any flaws.

Zhao Yao stood at the door of the courtyard, almost forgetting to knock on the door. He leaned forward and stared at the words in despair. He felt that he was almost losing the courage to knock on the door. It is precisely because he practiced calligraphy diligently and wrote many posts that he became more aware of the power, weight and spirit of those words.

Zhao Yao felt sad, took out a money bag, bent down and placed it at the door, preparing to leave without saying goodbye.

At this time, the courtyard door suddenly opened. Zhao Yao looked up and saw that Song Jixin seemed to be about to go out with his maid Zhigui. The two were chatting and laughing.

Song Jixin pretended to be surprised and joked: "Zhao Yao, what do you want to do with this great gift?"

Zhao Yao picked up the money bag with some embarrassment and was about to explain the reason when Song Jixin took away the embroidery bag and said with a smile: "Hey, Zhao Yao is here to deliver a gift, please accept it. But I made it known in advance that I am from a poor family and I don’t have any gifts that can make Brother Zhao stand out, so I’ll just be disrespectful if I come or not.”

Zhao Yao smiled bitterly and said: "This bag is worth money, just think of it as my parting gift, there is no need to reciprocate."

Song Jixin turned to his maid with a knowing smile and handed her the money bag, "Look, I'll just say that Zhao Yao is the most etiquette scholar in the town. How about that?"

After the girl took the money bag, she held it in her chest. She smiled and narrowed her eyes. She was very happy. She turned slightly sideways and gave a blessing, "Thank you, Mr. Zhao. My young master said that a house that accumulates good deeds will be blessed, and those who do good deeds will have a blessed field." , I am here to wish Mr. Zhao great success and great success."

Zhao Yao quickly returned the gift and bowed: "Thank you Miss Zhigui for your kind words."

Song Jixin rubbed the back of his head and yawned, "Aren't you tired?"

Zhigui said with a smile: "If I can get a bag of money every time, I won't be tired even if I give ten thousand blessings."

Zhao Yao said with some shame, "I'm going to let Miss Zhigui down."

Song Jixin waved his hand, "Let's go have a drink!"

Zhao Yao looked embarrassed, and Song Jixin said to the general: "You are a fool! When you read, you can only read the rigid rules, but not the romance of famous people, how can you do that?"

Zhao Yao asked tentatively: "Have a drink to enjoy yourself?"

Song Jixin rolled his eyes and said, "I'm so drunk!"

Just as Zhao Yao was about to speak, Song Jixin grabbed his neck and dragged him away.

When the maid Zhigui locked the door, the four-legged snake tried to sneak out, but she kicked it back to the yard.

When she passed the house next door, she quietly stood on tiptoe and glanced sideways a few times. She saw Liu Xianyang's tall figure. The latter also noticed her and immediately smiled brightly. Just as Liu Xianyang was about to say hello to her, she had already looked away. Walk away quickly.

There is a restaurant in the town, but it is really not big, and the expenses are not small. However, Zhao Yao is a descendant of the Zhao family after all, and he has a good reputation. He is the restaurant manager who is famous as an iron rooster. I don’t know what is wrong today. He patted his chest and said that he would not charge a penny, but he could let two scholars come to the shop to enjoy themselves and drink. It was because his restaurant was prosperous that the two young men only accepted his money. Song Jixin immediately smiled and stretched out his hand, begging for money on the spot. The shopkeeper looked for him at the door angrily and said that if he owed it, he would have someone send several jars of good wine to Mr. Song tomorrow. Zhao Yao wanted to dig a hole in the ground at that time. The shopkeeper knew the weird temperament of Young Master Song in Mud Bottle Lane, but he was not really angry. He personally found a quiet window seat for the three of them on the second floor.

Song Jixin and Zhao Yao didn't talk much, and Song Jixin didn't persuade him to drink wine and deceive others. This made Zhao Yao, who originally regarded death as home, very strange.

Looking from the window on the second floor of the restaurant, I can just see a plaque on the Twelve-foot Archway, which is worthy of my honor.

Song Jixin asked: "Mr. Qi really won't leave the town with you?"

Zhao Yao nodded and said: "Sir, he changed his schedule temporarily and said he would stay in the school and teach the last and penultimate chapter, "Knowing Rituals"."

Song Jixin sighed with emotion: "Then Mr. Qi is going to teach a great truth, to teach the world the Confucian sage, telling us that in the beginning, there was no law in the world, and the sage transformed all living beings with etiquette. The monarchs at that time all respected Etiquette, it is believed that violating the rules will lead to punishment, so there is law, etiquette and etiquette, etiquette first and then law..."

Zhao Yao was already slightly drunk and his speech was a little slurred. He asked: "Do you think it is right? Why don't you just teach the last chapter, "Ke Li"?"

Song Jixin answered the question, "Before you leave the town, you are like mandrills, water ghosts, gods and spirits. If you believe it, there will be it. If you don't believe it, there will be none. As for how Mr. Qi teaches and how the students listen, let each of them accept their destiny."

The maid Zhigui also drank a glass of wine, looking dizzy and playful, and did not look at the towering archway from beginning to end.

The twelve-legged archway and the base of the stone pillars are respectively the nine kinds of beasts that gave birth to the nine sons of the dragon, and the others are the white tiger, the black basalt and the red bird.

The people in the small town have lived here for generations and have long been accustomed to it.

Zhao Yao couldn't help but let out a wine burp, stood up unsteadily, and said, "Farewell to you, I hope to see you again."

Song Jixin thought for a while, then stood up and said with a smile: "I'll definitely see you again, Zhao Yao, don't worry about being ignorant in the future."

Zhao Yao, whose eyes were dazzled, bit his tongue and said sincerely: "Song Jixin, you should also leave the town as soon as possible. No one in the world knows you, you can do it!"

Song Jixin obviously didn't take it seriously. He waved his hand and said: "Let's go, let's go. You talk drunkenly, which is insulting to gentlemen."

After Zhao Yao and Song Jixin left the restaurant, they parted ways. Before leaving, Zhao Yao, probably because of his drunkenness, asked, "Song Jixin, would you like to go to the kiln superintendent's official residence to take a look?" , I can convince the concierge..."

Song Jixin said one word from between his teeth with a cold face, "Get out!"

Zhao Yao left sadly.

The maid Zhigui looked at the back and whispered: "Master, I have good intentions."

Song Jixin sneered: "The good intentions of good people in the world end up doing bad things and bringing about bad consequences, isn't it rare?"

She thought for a while and realized that it was such a boring truth, so she stopped insisting.

Fulu Street, where Zhao Yao lives, is in the north of the town, and Mubo Alley is in the west where poor households gather. When Song Jixin and the maid walked past the archway side by side, she raised her head and glanced at the plaque "Angry Bullfighting", like an old man in his twilight years. .

The girl whose real name is Wang Zhu smiles without showing her teeth.

After Zhao Yao returned to his ancestral home on Fulu Street, his servants told him that his ancestor was waiting for him in the study and that he must go there immediately without stopping for a moment. The scholar in a green shirt who smelled of alcohol immediately felt dizzy and rushed to the study with all his strength. .

In a small town, the Zhao family is a quiet, wealthy and introverted family, unlike the Lu family, who likes to call themselves a scholarly family, and their study room is also very antique.

The old woman holding a cane was standing next to a desk, stroking the table. Her weathered face was full of sad memories.

After the old woman smelled the strong smell of alcohol from her eldest grandson outside the door, she was not angry. She smiled and waved: "Yao'er, come in, what are you doing at the door? It's nothing for a man to drink some wine. He's not drinking horse urine. It's not embarrassing." !”

Zhao Yao smiled bitterly and crossed the threshold, bowing respectfully to his ancestors. The old woman said impatiently: "I have read a lot, but this is my fault. The rules and regulations make the scholars spend their lives fighting against the wall. They are very tired of it, so I just say you Your grandpa, he’s the best at everything, but he only talks to me about big things and talks on and on. It’s really annoying, especially his arrogance and demeanor. Gee, he deserves a beating. I can’t talk to him. It’s really annoying. Hit it with a cane..."

The old woman was suddenly amused by herself and burst out laughing, "I almost forgot, I didn't need a cane at that time."

She asked with a smile: "Why, are you drinking with the little white-eyed wolf named Song?"

Zhao Yao said helplessly: "Grandma, how many times have I told you that Song Jixin is very talented and has a high level of understanding. He can learn everything one step ahead of others."

The old woman sneered and said: "He is the smartest among all, but your grandfather was already three years old when he was alive. He was so sick of that little thing. I want to know what your grandfather said?"

Zhao Yao quickly replied: "My grandson doesn't want to know!"

The old woman didn't care whether her precious grandson was willing to listen or not, so she said to herself: "Your grandfather said, 'You are so young and the city is so powerful, but it is a pity that this person is the one who will ruin the reputation of your ancestors.'"

Then she pointed at Zhao Yao, "Your grandfather also said, 'Being gentle, courteous and thrifty is not very surprising at first, but it is my grandson who can cultivate the vitality of his descendants!'"

After the old woman finished speaking, she smiled and said, "This old man has been so sad all his life, but he finally said something nice."

Zhao Yao, who was a little confused, was about to speak when his grandma sighed and sighed: "Old man, old man!"

The young man had no choice but to take back his words, smiled and stepped forward to hold the old woman's arm, "Grandma is as old as Nanshan, and she is still very young."

The old woman stretched out her withered palm and patted the back of her precious grandson's hand. "He's better than your grandpa. He knows how to talk nonsense when he studies, and he can also say good things to others."

The young man smiled and said: "Grandpa is really knowledgeable. Mr. Qi also said that grandpa is good at studying and has great experience in understanding the word 'righteousness'."

The old woman immediately revealed her fox tail. She couldn't hide her elation, but she pretended to snort coldly: "No, it doesn't matter who picked the man!"

Zhao Yao pursed his lips tightly to hold back his laughter.

The old woman took Zhao Yao to the chair behind the desk. The young man discovered that there was a lifelike wooden sculpture of a crouching dragon on the desk. However, for some reason, after careful observation, he found that this green wooden dragon had eyes but no beads.

The old woman picked up a brush that had already been dipped in ink. It was a brand-new small tapered pen with a wooden tube made from old locust branches. She held it in both hands and handed it to her eldest grandson with a trembling hand.

Zhao Yao took the brush without knowing it, and his shoulders sank. It turned out that his grandma put her hand on his shoulder, and he took the opportunity to sit in the seat that only the head of the Zhao family could sit.

The old woman took a step back and said with great solemnity: "Zhao Yao, take a seat! Today you will dot the dragon's eyes for the ancestors of the Zhao family!"

A series of dilapidated clay statues of gods, leaning horizontally and vertically on the grassy ground, no one cares about them.

This has been the case for thousands of years, and even more statues will continue to fall here. The people in the town are not only not surprised by many things, but actually don't have much respect for these statues.

The old man occasionally nags his children not to come here to play, but the children still like to come here to hide and seek, catch crickets, etc. Maybe when these children grow up, they become old people. The old people will also tell the children not to come here to play. Generation after generation, they just come here, without wind, rain, waves, and nothing special.

Here, the fallen head, broken torso, and separated palms seemed to have been pieced together by someone to maintain the approximate original appearance, but only this little bit of dignity was left.

A straw-shoe boy hurried here from the Mud Bottle Alley, holding three pieces of support money tightly in his palms. When he came here, he walked around all the way, thinking about it, and then said it very skillfully. He found a statue of a god, squatted down, looked around, and saw no one there, then quietly put the copper coins into the cracked gap of the statue.

After getting up, he went to the second and third deities, doing the same thing.

Before the boy left, he stood alone in the lush green grass, clasped his hands, lowered his head and muttered silently: "Peace to pieces, peace to pieces, I hope you will protect my parents from suffering in the next life... If you can, please tell me My parents, I'm living a good life now, don't worry..."