Qin Xiya put away his money bag and was thinking about what to eat in the evening and what to bring to the old blind man who was ruining the temple, when he heard a sudden sound.
"Hey! Blind man! How much money did you make from today's massage?! Lend me a few bucks to help you play with me? Why don't you give me some free massages? If you feel comfortable, Brother Long might give you some rewards."
The blind man listened carefully and identified three footsteps. Together with the man who called himself "Brother Long", he knew who the visitor was.
The three brothers Long, Tiger and Leopard are famous green-skinned gangsters in Lucheng.
The three of them are not real brothers. They just took different names for prestige and wandered around the market. They did not talk about robbing families, but they did a lot of making trouble for fun.
However, I didn't dare to provoke anyone who was strong and strong, and I didn't dare to attack anyone with more than three people. I did a lot of teasing with the older girls and younger wives, but I only dared to run away when I met the real master.
A few days ago, I hooked up with a lamb herder and became a money-collecting boy, so I became very arrogant, but my status was not that high.
A blind man like Qin Xiya, who has no relatives or friends, naturally becomes a perfect target for them to bully.
The blind man held his cane tightly and received a heavy blow to the head unexpectedly. He became angry and cursed.
"What's the point of bullying a blind man!"
"Hahaha!" The three people laughed unscrupulously, "If you weren't blind, we wouldn't provoke you. Who made you blind?!"
The blind man's face turned red with anger, and he raised his blind cane to hit him, but he was teased by the three people. He stretched out his legs and tripped, then punched and kicked the blind man.
No one saw him. The blind man was hunched over like a shrimp, curled up on the ground, looking miserable.
"A blind man, go ahead and eat shit, hahahaha."
Perhaps they were tired of beating and were afraid of killing someone, so the three gangsters vomited thick phlegm, fell on the blind man's face, and walked away.
It took a long time for the blind man to recover. Perhaps fortunately, the money bag was still there.
He struggled to get up, but he tried for a long time to no avail.
But he heard other footsteps and the sound of bells.
"Jingle Bell."
He felt a small hand pull him up with difficulty, writing words on his palm.
【are you OK? 】
Feeling the warmth in his hands, the blind man shook his head and said firmly: "It's okay, thank you."
Not speaking...do you think you are deaf, or is this person dumb?
He didn't know because he couldn't see anything.
The nails on the thin fingertips were slightly long but neatly trimmed, and he wrote words on the palms of his hands gently.
[As long as it’s okay, where is your home? Do you need me to take you home? 】
"My home is not here." He thought to himself.
However, what I think in my heart is different from what I say.
"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't have a home." Qin Xiya replied restrainedly.
It’s not that you reject good intentions, but that you have difficulty determining whether the other person’s intentions are good or bad.
Someone had offered to send him back before, which he thought was a kindness. Then that person took him to a deserted place, robbed him of his money, and was beaten and kicked for a while. Even his blind stick was broken.
So now he can't believe anyone's "good intentions."
There was a feeling of touch in the palm of my hand again.
[It’s freezing cold. If you’re not careful, you might get into trouble. I can ask my sister to lend you the woodshed for one night. 】
"No need." Qin Xiya took out his hand, indifferently but politely. Perhaps he was afraid of hurting the man's kindness, so he added, "Thank you for your kindness."
Turning around, he tapped his blind stick and disappeared into the snow.
The mute girl looked at the thin figure worriedly and shouted stop.
But he forgot that he was mute.
——
In the ruined temple.
"Yes, yes, this wine is good." Cheng Blind let out a long and hearty sigh, "Little Blind Qin, would you like to drink something to warm yourself up?"
"You are not allowed to drink until you are a weakling." The little blind man was stunned, and fumbled for some dry wood to add fuel to the fire.
"You're not allowed to drink until you're old enough? Old blind man, I secretly drank home-brewed sweet potato shaotou wine when I was eight years old, and I'm still fine now?" Cheng blind man disdainfully persuaded the drinker, "Here, take a sip."
"I can't help Uncle Cheng, forget it." Qin Xiya was on fire.
Then the wind and snow poured in, but the wooden door of the ruined temple was pushed open.
"Jingle Bell."
The little blind man shrank unconsciously, feeling cold.
Cheng Blind, uncharacteristically, grabbed the blind stick, but his posture was slightly different.
The left hand holds the stick body, and the right hand holds the stick handle upside down, as if drawing a sword, but it is drawn but not fired.
The old blind man said cautiously: "Who?!"
The man had no words, only the nasal sounds of "um" and "ah" were heard.
Blind Cheng did not let go of his vigilance, but his brows relaxed a little. He recognized that it was a young woman.
So he asked softly: "If the girl doesn't speak, is she disabled? If so, just say 'hmm'."
"Yeah." A soft and weak nasal voice sounded.
"Haha, this is strange. Why did the girl come here to ruin the temple? Could it be that she wants to spend the night sharing a fire with the two blind men?" Blind Cheng laughed.
But Qin Xiya felt the touch from his palm again. Yes, his hand was pulled over.
[My sister said there was some tofu left today, so I brought it to you specially. 】
Then, something was put aside, but the mute girl turned and left without stopping.
Qin Xiya reached around and touched it, feeling a touch of warmth.
"Old man Cheng." He spoke slowly.
"Huh?" Seemingly returning to his usual laziness, Cheng Xiazi responded with a nasal tone.
"Tonight's extra meal is in order."
Blind Cheng followed the sound, touched it, and was quite disappointed: "It's just tofu?"
"It's good to have Tofu, what else do you want for a bicycle?" Qin Xiya asked jokingly.
"What?" Blind Cheng didn't understand what "bicycle" meant.
Blind Qin smiled awkwardly: "It's nothing, let's eat together."
Putting aside two branches and making chopsticks, the two of them devoured the tofu.
Blind Cheng burped with satisfaction and kept talking: "Oh, it would be great if it was meat, but it's a pity that in winter, all the meat that can be beaten cannot be beaten. It's a shame."
"You'll get through it." Qin Xiya was hopeful.
"It's just you and me, the young and the old, who are blind, to survive this winter?" Cheng Cheng asked jokingly.
"Just bear with it, it will get over eventually." The little blind man added another handful of firewood.
After a long silence, the old blind man asked: "Little blind Qin, why are you so nice to me?"
Qin Xiya paused for a moment, as if thinking, and then replied: "We share the same problem."
The old blind man remained silent for a long time, and only the crackling of the fire punctuated the silence.
Then Cheng Blind laughed loudly: "Hahaha, what a good person to have sympathy for, hahahaha."
He smiled, tired of laughing, and sighed for no reason.
Qin Xiya didn't understand why he sighed.
Just as he was about to ask, the old blind man spoke first.
"Little blind man, come here."
"ah?"
"Come over if I ask you to." The old blind man said exactly.
Qin Xiya was confused: "Oh, okay."
But he followed the sound honestly.
As soon as he left, his hand was grabbed by the old blind man, and a stream of warm air flowed along the six meridians of the hand and went straight to the eight extraordinary meridians of the body, leaving all the limbs and bones.
"This "Winter Skill" is what I once learned from the old blind man. I clearly remember the route of the internal energy. Tomorrow, the old blind man will teach you other things."
Although he couldn't see it, Qin Xiya could hear the old blind man's extreme seriousness and seriousness at this moment.
But he also saw a line of writing on the panel.
What "winter skills"? Clearly not.
[You are receiving Cheng Bing’s Chuan Gong "Ba Duan Jin" and you are studying "Ba Duan Jin"...]
Qin Xiya asked.
"Old man Cheng, why are you so nice to me? Teach me this?"
Blind Cheng smiled, but it was inexplicably desolate.
He replied quietly.
"Let's take pity on each other."
In the ruined temple, there are two blind men who share the same disease and share the warmth of the fire.
The next day, Qin Xiya discovered that the touch of his blind stick was not right.
"Just take my blind cane and cane sword. Today, old blind man, I will teach you the backhand sword. If you have the opportunity in the future, you must learn more skills to use it. You are a little blind man, and you will inevitably be bullied. It’s not a bad thing to learn something;
So the gossip ends here. The old blind man will teach you both skills. I don’t expect you to get ahead in the future, as long as you have enough to eat.
But if you commit adultery, I will climb up from the ground to kill you. Do you understand? "
The old blind man's first words were gentle, but the last sentence revealed his fierceness.
Qin Xiya happened to wake up from his dream, heard the last sentence, and spoke sincerely.
"I will definitely not commit any crime."
"Oh, that's strange. In today's world, there are many criminals, rich people, and wealthy people. How can you, the boy, endure such lewdness?"
After hearing this, the little blind man smiled warmly: "My grandfather is a criminal policeman..."
As if he sensed something was wrong, he suddenly changed his voice: "My grandfather is a head catcher. His old man taught me since I was a child that the world is big, conscience is the biggest, morality is the biggest, and the law is the biggest."
"Oh? It sounds like your grandfather is a good catcher. Let me ask you, what if your closest relatives and friends do evil things? Do you want to kill your relatives out of justice? Or..."
"Of course it's a matter of justice to kill relatives and then atone for their sins." The little blind man said firmly.
"Well, you can. Although it's easier said than done, I won't say much about your temper towards me. It's your own fault. It's your own business.
Listen carefully, you are going to kill me quickly with a backhand knife. If you don’t seize the opportunity first, you will be the one who will die from now on... Come on, raise your knife to chop at me now, use your ears, use your mind, Use everything you can use except your eyes to chop at me. "
"Ah?" Little Blind Qin was stunned and confused.
Cheng Bing was not slow in his words, but he was also quick in his hands. He pressed forward and bullied him, and punched the little blind Qin right on the bridge of his nose.
The little blind man covered his nose and fell to the ground.
"Don't think of me as your master, think of me as your enemy. If it's a life-and-death fight, a hundred lives won't be enough for you. Get up and start over."
The old blind man was extremely stern, while the little blind man rushed to the shelves, but he also learned bit by bit in the process of putting them on the shelves.
[Cheng Bingzheng teaches you 'Backhand Sword', and you are learning 'Backhand Sword'...]
That night.
The little blind man and the old blind man were hungry.
"Old man Cheng, I didn't go to give you a massage today. Our dinner is really in trouble." The little blind man smiled bitterly.
"It's true that I didn't think carefully about this matter." The old blind man was rarely embarrassed.
but.
The door of the ruined temple was pushed open again.
"Jingle Bell."
The old blind man whispered: "Hey, food is delivered to your door."
Qin Xiya felt his hand being pulled over again.
The feeling of touch arises again in the palm of the hand, and strokes horizontally and vertically, stroke by stroke, create writing.
"This is the extra tofu today. I'm afraid you won't have anything to eat, so I brought it to you specially."
After the mute girl finished writing, she clapped her hands and left, leaving only the warmth in the lunch box.
"Today's meal is a lot richer." The old blind man smelled carefully and smelled the smell of meat. "Eat quickly, eat quickly, and continue practicing tomorrow when you are full."
"Huh?" the little blind man said bitterly.
"Practicing martial arts is like sailing against the current. If you don't practice for one day, you will retreat. What? This is just the beginning." The old blind man said sternly.
He picked up a piece of meat, but then let go of his chopsticks and picked up another piece of vegetables.
···
Winter goes to spring, spring goes to winter.
The mute girl gave him food for two winters, and until spring, the old blind man made no sound.
This day.
Qin Xiya shoveled the soil, wrapped the old blind man in a bamboo mat, and gently placed him in the pit.
Then he jumped out lightly and filled in the soil with shovelfuls until the end.
Qin Xiya murmured in a low voice: "Master, let's go."
"Girl Bell." Then he called softly.
"Jingle Bell."
"Yeah." She seemed to say "I'm here."
Just a simple syllable filled him with a sense of peace of mind.
A wooden board was also stuffed into his hand.
This is the tombstone he asked the mute girl to write.
The mute girl is called Li Lingdang. Her parents died young and she lives with her elder sister. Her elder sister is a well-known Tofu Xishi who is beautiful and kind-hearted.
It's just that her sister's husband doesn't seem like a good guy...
But it has nothing to do with Qin Xiya at this moment. As the saying goes, it is difficult for an upright official to deal with household affairs. As an outsider, it is difficult for him to intervene, let alone to uphold justice.
Not to mention, Qin Xiya was also very sad today and had no intention of dealing with other things.
The master passed away this morning. He was obviously talented in martial arts, but he still died of illness.
After inserting the wooden sign that read "Tomb of Mentor Cheng Bing", Qin Xiya spilled the wine.
Cheng Bing was a person he got to know when he first entered this world. It was just because he had the same problem as him. After all, he was blind, and Cheng Bing was an old blind man. With good intentions, he couldn't help but take more care of Cheng Bing.
But who knows, in the end, it will be him who is taken care of.
"Ba Duan Jin" also includes the backhand sword. Although I haven't become a master, I have learned a lot about it.
In this world, these two things can be said not only to protect one's body and life, but also to protect one's body and life.
Such kindness is not over yet,
But now, I can’t pay it back.
Although Cheng Bing tried his best to prevent Qin Xiya from becoming his master, Qin Xiya had already regarded him as his master.
After silently practicing the backhand sword in front of Cheng Bing's tomb, Qin Xiya knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times.
Then, he left the ruined temple.
Go on to make a living.
Blind Cheng is dead.
But he still has to live.
alive,
Until going home.
——
"Jingle Bell."
"Girl Bell, please take me down the mountain."
There was a touch in the palm of my hand.
【It doesn’t matter. 】
Qin Xiya tasted it silently, and then asked again.
"Girl Bell Ding, why are you so nice to me?"
The girl stopped and wrote seriously under Qin Xiya's palm.
"You are blind, I am mute, we..."
After a pause, she wrote again.
"We are all sick of each other."
