At noon, the drizzle gradually stopped.
The tavern courtyard is still wet, and the four or five stone tables and stools in the courtyard have been wiped dry.
The thin leaves on the old locust tree have washed away the dust and look particularly beautiful. Together with the few hanging locust tassels with a slightly floral look on the edges, they add a bit of spring.
In the tavern's thatched shed, an old man and a young man sat opposite each other, two pairs of chopsticks flicking through several bowls.
On the table were a plate of peanuts, a plate of chopped peppers and green bamboo shoots, a bowl of cold spring sprouts, and a wooden steamer filled with fragrant rice on one side.
Uncle Six chewed a bite of tuna sprouts, planed a few mouthfuls of rice, raised his chopsticks and pointed to a corner of the wine shed.
Next to the wooden table in the corner, the water stains leaking from the roof after a drizzle are very dazzling.
Uncle Liu looked at Xiaoyu and muttered: "Xiaoyu, when it clears up tomorrow, you can go find a few bundles of hay on the haystacks in the backyard and patch the leaks in the roof."
Xiaoyu swallowed the rice he was chewing and nodded sharply.
"Store! Hit the tip!!"
There was an urgent sound of horse hooves, and a group of monks broke into the courtyard.
"Coming, coming!" Xiao Yuxin picked up the rag at hand, waved it, put it on his shoulder and went out.
There are several horses tied under the locust tree at the entrance of the courtyard. The rammed earth floor beside the courtyard has been covered with a lot of mud by the horses' hooves.
In the courtyard, seven young commoner monks, wearing coir raincoats, were sitting around two nearby stone tables.
Uncle Six took a look from the shed, and saw that they were just a few young monks who had come down from the Huatan Temple on the bank of Xiyun Lake. They seemed to be on their way. It was lunch time and they were just having a light meal.
The monk doesn't eat wine, it's not as good as eating meat. After sitting down from the table, he can't eat for a few dollars, so he gets up lazily and goes to say hello, as long as there is a light rain.
Xiao Yu neatly wiped the two stone tables that had already been wiped clean.
"Little masters, what do you want to eat?"
One of the monks replied: "Brother, let's eat seven bowls of plain noodles and hurry up."
"Okay, little masters, please sit down for a moment." After Xiao Yu finished speaking, he shouted to Uncle Liu who was still collecting bowls in the shed:
"Uncle Six, seven bowls of plain noodles, hurry up and prepare them."
Uncle Liu heard the words inside, nodded, curled his lips, and took the vegetable bowl to the backyard kitchen to cook noodles.
Xiaoyu cleverly put seven thick bowls in the cupboard, picked up the old teapot on one side, and turned back to the yard with a smile.
There are seven tea bowls in the shop, and they are poured out one by one.
The tea was white-haired coarse tea that Uncle Liu got from Widow Li at the entrance of the village. It was just for serving guests. There was no good tea in the whole shop.
Widow Li is a widow in her forties, and she has been flirting with Uncle Liu many times. Anyway, she brings all the tea in the shop without interruption.
As soon as the tea was served, Xiao Yu was fine, just waiting for Uncle Six to summon the noodles.
He found a spot in the wine shed and sat down, leaning against the railing, waiting for Uncle Six to shout.
But I heard the young monks whispering while drinking tea.
'You all know the way, right? 'The leading monk asked the others.
Everyone else nodded, and the monk told one of the young monks: "I heard that the master of Wuxi Anning Temple has a bad temper and attaches great importance to etiquette. When you go, you must be polite and considerate."
The young monk who called Zuiyin clasped his hands and nodded, and replied: "Thank you, senior brother, for the tip."
They whispered some more words, but they were just words about sending letters to various places in the south of the Yangtze River. Xiaoyu didn't care much.
Xiao Yu thought:
This group of monks is probably going to various sects in the south of the Yangtze River to inform the sects that the devil Ji Ruge is coming. The elder of the Luohan Hall who just killed them in the morning can see that these bald donkeys don't take care of the funeral properly and don't care about anything else. The sect has arrived.
He has been out of the world three times, all because he made too much noise in the first two times. This time, as soon as they took action, the group spread like frightened birds.
Xiaoyu frowned, shook his head, and said silently again:
I'm afraid that the few orders from Jiangnan I took this time won't be so easy to win.
...
Who is Ji Ruge?
He is a murderer who is famous all over the world, and is also the leader of the world-famous killer organization-Seven Floors. He comes out every three years and kills the top masters of many major sects in the world.
He debuted at the age of fifteen and moved every three years.
When he first entered the world of martial arts at the age of fifteen, he went straight to the top of the seven-story building of Muyun Mountain, took six of the most difficult orders, and then killed six elders of the four major sects before disappearing.
Three years later, when he re-entered the world at the age of eighteen, another bloody storm broke out, which frightened all the masters of famous schools and sects in the world.
This time, at the age of twenty-one, I entered Muyun Mountain again and took on some of the most expensive deals in the south of the Yangtze River. I am afraid that this world will be stormy again.
As for the reason why he took action, it was very simple.
There was a flood in Yunzhou, South Road, and hungry people were everywhere. People were in dire straits. He just wanted to save the people in that area.
Xiaoyu is Ji Ruge, and Ji Ruge is Xiaoyu.
Xiao Yu, who changed his appearance and changed his appearance, became Ji Ruge, known as the "murderer" in the world.
He never explains why he kills, he only finds out the truth. He kills those who deserve to be killed, and those who deserve to die must die.
He didn't care about his reputation when he saved people. He covered the bamboo hat with a straw, sailed around the rivers and lakes in a small boat, packed loose money in bags, and threw it at will, but it also ended up under the eaves of the poor and in the vegetable baskets of the hungry.
The old man said that they survived as beggars, and the people in the world are their food, clothing, and parents. People in the world can help each one. I hope they can accumulate more virtue and live a long life in the next life.
The murderous devil rumored in the world is actually a world-saving hero among countless poor villagers.
Ji Ruge never cared about reputation, but he could be sure that he would not kill the wrong bad guy every time.
He never explained it once.
All he knew in his heart was:
I have never been a hero, I only know that they support me and I have to pay them back.
And they are the people of the world, naturally excluding those - bad people.
...
After the monks who delivered the message left, the sky cleared up and the sun put aside the dark clouds, leaving a lingering glow all over the place.
However, there were not many guests coming out for a drink all afternoon. As evening approached, the sky gradually became dark.
Xiaoyu had nothing to do, so he moved out the old wooden bamboo ladder and set it up on the old locust tree on the side of the wine shed.
Several bundles of dry straw were brought out from the backyard. He raised his hand to pick up a stack and climbed up.
He threw the haystack on the roof, pulled a handful of it onto his buttocks, and then began to repair the leak that Uncle Six mentioned.
The weather in early spring was still cold, but the sunset was warm and the light rain was repairing the leaking roof comfortably.
Not far away, an old man in commoner clothes walked slowly over from the broad stone road on one side, carrying a fishing basket and a fishing rod about ten feet long.
The shadow of his person and the shadow of his fishing rod were all stretched out in the twilight.
It was none other than Uncle Liu, the old fisherman who teased Xiao Yu about visiting the brothel this morning.
Uncle Liu walked slowly, like an old man.
They all have one characteristic, they don't walk very fast.
The afterglow was setting, and the breeze was shaking the locust leaves. The old fisherman slowly walked into the yard and saw the light rain that was still mending the leak.
"Boy, is my room ready?" Liu Burton paused on the spot, looked up at Xiaoyu who was slowly picking up the straw, and asked with a smile, his tone was very calm.
Because Uncle Liu occupied his room, Xiao Yu was very unhappy. She frowned and glanced at Uncle Liu unhappily.
"Okay." When Xiaoyu said 'yes', she deliberately emphasized and lengthened her tone, expressing her strong dissatisfaction with Uncle Liu.
Uncle Liu put the fish basket in his hand on the ground, placed the fishing rod and bamboo hat on the stone table on one side, raised his sleeves and swept away the dust on the stool.
In fact, stools are clean. Regardless of whether they are dusty or not, many people are accustomed to wiping them before sitting on them.
"Haha, I'm quite unhappy to hear your tone. It seems like you were scolded by dad for coming back late, right?"
Uncle Liu sat down with a smile and looked at the light rain that had just been laid on the roof.
Xiao Yu curled her lips and frowned, "I've told you, he's not my father, my sixth uncle is my sixth uncle."
Uncle Six walked out of the inner room with a bowl of tea and said with a smile, "Uncle Liu, here, let's quench our thirst with a bowl of tea."
After Uncle Liu finished speaking, he pointed at Xiao Yu and said, "Little bastard, come down as soon as you're done laying out, and go cook a bowl of noodles for Uncle Liu."
Xiaoyu frowned and looked at Uncle Six's snobbish eyes, and shook his head helplessly.
"This boy is indeed not my son. Uncle Liu, you can just call him Xiaoyu. This boy has no money and is just doing some odd jobs here to earn some money for traveling home."
Uncle Six sat on the stone stool opposite Uncle Liu, "The room has been prepared for you, it's the one in the back room."
Xiaoyu got off the bamboo ladder. He leaned the ladder to one side angrily, shook his hands on the railing of the wine shed, and turned over to go to the kitchen.
Uncle Liu pointed at Xiao Yu's angry back and asked, "Is this child okay?"
"Hi!" Uncle Liu waved his hand and replied with a smile: "It's okay. This guy is complaining about giving you his room for old age. He is just being sulky. He will be fine in a few days. Don't worry about him."
Uncle Liu smiled slightly and said, "I occupied his house? What about him? Where does he live?"
"Where else can you live? You can share a room with me. It's not like you have no place to sleep. I'll be fine in a few days. Please pay attention to him." Uncle Liu replied, "You always drink tea, drink tea... ..”
Uncle Liu knew the reason, smiled helplessly, picked up the tea handed over by Uncle Liu, brought it to his mouth, and took a sip.
"How many fish can you catch today?" In the evening, the business of the tavern was almost non-existent. Uncle Liu had no time to talk to Uncle Liu, lazily leaning on the stone table and watching the sunset from the old locust tree on one side. Go down.
Uncle Liu smiled and said, "I put all the little fish back."
The two of them were chatting away the time. Not long after, Xiao Yu came out with a bowl of hot noodle soup and placed it in front of Uncle Liu.
Seeing Xiao Yu's unkind expression, Uncle Liu smiled and took out a few taels of silver from his arms and put them on the table.
"Brother, could you please help me buy a donkey tomorrow? I am old and my legs and feet are not working well. I am tired from going fishing every day. It would be easier if I have a donkey to help my legs."
Uncle Liu handed it to Xiao Yu, "I'll leave this extra money to you to make up for my mistake of occupying your house. What do you think?"
Xiao Yu glanced at the silver on the table, which was about five taels, and thought to herself that it was equivalent to a poor family's income for several months. A good donkey only cost four taels, so the extra money was a full one tael. This old man is rich.
Uncle Six glanced at Xiao Yu, a little jealous of the money, and muttered reluctantly on one side: "I won't accept it yet, thank you Uncle Liu."
Xiaoyu pouted, stretched out her hand to collect the silver, put it in her arms, reluctantly clasped her fists, and said to Uncle Liu, "Thank you."
After saying that, he turned around and went into the house to clean up his floor.
It's not that he is being pretentious. He is alone in a room so that he can go out at night to find out news. Now that he is in the same room as Uncle Six, Xiao Yu's actions are all in Uncle Six's eyes, so many actions are inconvenient, but that's all. .
After all, this is the intersection of all major roads, and it would be best to get information on the incoming and outgoing routes.
Uncle Liu looked at Uncle Liu and said with an apologetic smile: "This boy is young and ignorant. Please forgive me."
Uncle Liu grabbed his chopsticks and took a mouthful of noodles, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."
Xiaoyu naturally knew in her heart that after receiving the money, she had to sell someone a favor. She tidied the bed by herself, then went back to the yard to tidy up the tables and chairs, and prepared to close the house.
Uncle Six and Uncle Liu exchanged pleasantries, saying that they were going to the market to buy vegetables in the morning and had to go to bed early, so they went back to the house to sleep.
Uncle Liu packed up his fishing gear and sat in the yard admiring the moon.
Xiao Yu saw Uncle Liu sitting quietly with his eyes closed, so he said, "Old man, the courtyard door is closed. If you are tired, go back to the house to sleep. I will go back to sleep first."
Xiaoyu took money from others and softened her tone a little.
Uncle Liu was leaning on his arms, closing his eyes to calm himself. Hearing this, he nodded and sighed softly: "Go, go..."
Xiaoyu didn't bother to disturb him. She wished that the old man would get cold after sitting for a long time and move out as soon as possible, so she didn't say much and went back to her sixth uncle's house.
In the room, Uncle Six had fallen asleep soundly, snoring slightly.
