When I was fifteen years old, I had grown much taller, and sometimes I would go to the woods outside the village to practice swordplay. Of course, I didn’t have a real sword. My uncle said that I was still weak, so I was only given a wooden sword to draw with. There are always fighting games among boys, not to mention that sometimes the winner always gets the benefits of the loser, whether it is delicious snacks or the pride of support from my friends, which often makes me want to be the winner. Moreover, my nature makes me afraid that others will see my skills, so I often sneak into the woods outside to practice swordsmanship. Hu Haisan thought the same thing, but as I grew taller and with my uncle's sword skills, Hu Haisan gradually became no match for me. He has always been unconvinced and always comes to me when he has nothing to do. But I have started to read medical books, my level has improved again, and then I practice swordsmanship, and I found that many places are similar.
It's just that I don't know when Hu Haisan's swordsmanship suddenly became very mysterious, in line with the past, more elegant, but his moves were magical, but he didn't have very good strength. My family swordsmanship was no match for me, so I had to learn his swordsmanship secretly again. Although I also have no rules, the skills taught by my uncle have allowed me to figure out some moves and practice them, especially if I secretly learn Hu Haisan's sword skills, it will be more than enough to deal with him. Often he was very unconvinced and said that I used the same moves as him, and I laughed at him for not knowing how to use a sword. He often left angrily and came up with a few new moves the next day. But he, but if I study carefully and imitate cats and tigers, I can still beat him.
As time went by, I speculated that there must be an expert in Hu Haisan's family, but every time I competed with him, I tried to see his tricks clearly, and even deliberately lost to him a few times, and then tried to beat him. After I understood his tricks, I practiced them secretly. In this way, I learned seven tricks.
At that time, there was a serious dispute between the people and the government in Baoding Prefecture due to the dispute over horse breeding. People who came to my home for medical treatment often heard that the imperial court sent people to the place to supervise the handling of the matter. The adults inevitably focused their energy on this matter and discussed it a lot. As for us children, we were naturally neglected. We had plenty of free time, playing and making trouble, and the wind started to rise again. I went to practice as usual, trying to defeat Hu Haisan the next day, until one evening, at the end of the day, I heard someone ask: "Little brother, who did you learn your swordsmanship from?" I was shocked. When I heard the sound, I saw a middle-aged man standing in the bushes not far away. It seemed that he had been standing for a long time. Although it was getting late, the man looked gentle and elegant, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He spoke in a nice voice. Although I was a little Surprised, I just learned it from my friends and just made random gestures. The man sighed and said, "If you plant flowers intentionally, they won't bloom, but if you don't intend to plant willows, they will create shade. It seems that this sentence makes sense, whatever! My child, let me teach you." Then he gave me some pointers on how to use the sword. When I made mistakes, he told me some key points. I somewhat understood his good intentions and practiced it seriously. He was surprised. I guess my swordsmanship has indeed improved a lot. He smiled and said, "You can be taught, kid! You are indeed much better than your friends." For three days in a row, he asked me to learn from him at a fixed time. It turned out that it was just seven moves, so he taught me additional ones. Six postures, a total of thirteen postures, thirty-nine moves, let me remember the key points. The more familiar I am, the better. When I am stronger, I will use it better. He sometimes asked me to practice family swordsmanship, but he kept shaking his head, saying how could such good skills be so ruined. I asked him why, but he refused to tell me. He just took my pulse and sighed. , saying that my internal strength is too weak now, but it doesn’t matter, these skills are enough for me to defend myself.
I was curious and asked him why he taught me his skills? He thought for a while and said: "I came here from thousands of miles away, so meeting me can be regarded as fate. There are too many unfair things in the world, and sometimes you may not be able to get it even if you force yourself to do it, but there are still opportunities, and they can be given to those who are talented. Man." I didn't quite understand, and he didn't say anything more. He just wouldn't let me tell others that I learned martial arts from him, especially my grandfather. I didn't dare to ask why. I guess they knew each other. On the fourth night, after he finished teaching, he said to me calmly: "I have been here for a long time. I have finished what I need to do. I will leave tomorrow morning. Maybe we will not meet again. I will teach you some more ideas." , you have to practice hard in the future, these are all internal skills, you can learn them when you are eighteen years old!" I think he has taught you the swordsmanship, and I think of what the old uncle said, the person who teaches you the skills is you If you have a master, you should have the status of master and disciple, and propose to worship him as your master. He looked at me silently, then refused, saying: "I am a wandering cloud and wild crane, traveling all over the world. I never accept apprentices. If I am interested, I can teach it to anyone." The implication is that he taught me skills on a whim.
I nodded helplessly, but still said: "Sir, can you tell me your name? At least I still have one thought in my mind." He smiled and said, "I don't like the clichés of the world, I just don't want to Others taught you wrongly." I repeatedly asked for his name, and he sighed and said, "Everyone in the world calls me Sisanren. Just know that I have many enemies. Don't mention me easily. If you are destined, We will meet again, but if we don't meet by chance, we'll see each other again today." I didn't understand what he meant, and he didn't say anything.
That night, the official road suddenly became bustling with people. My family almost didn't sleep all night and didn't light the lights. I secretly looked at the door with the adults. There were torches and people on the official road. It was noisy and quiet until dawn. The next day, I heard from the old farmer who was seeing a doctor that something big had happened to the government, and a eunuch who was catching thieves had been killed. The government sent people to set up roadblocks and inspect pedestrians. After the old farmer left, my grandfather asked his father and uncle to pack up the important things in the house, saying that the government would definitely come to visit. Sure enough, at noon, the county government sent people to search every house, causing a panic. A group of police officers came to my house, and since my grandfather was familiar with them, they were very polite. While my grandfather asked Uncle Chen to arrange tea, he asked my father to lead them around. Naturally, there was nothing wrong. Grandfather also treated several police officers in person. He talked a lot that day, and during the conversation, he roughly understood the situation. At the beginning, in order to resist the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court began to identify a group of horse farmers in Beizhili to raise horses for the imperial court. This year, for some reason, there is a horse shortage in Baoding Prefecture. New Year's foals are always dying, and horse breeders cannot hand over horses. However, the court still collects horses indiscriminately, or collects horses according to the customary rules. The price required money, which caused many families to lose their lives, and then forced the people in the area to take risks and began to resist. When the matter got serious, officials who knew about the situation naturally reported it to the court. Emperor Hongzhi sent someone to investigate and exempted Ma Hu from the corvee. This was fine and the matter calmed down. Unexpectedly, a few days ago, the Chief Eunuch sent a eunuch to lead the people in Dongchang. Instead of appeasing him, he continued to collect taxes. Mahu naturally resisted, and the eunuch did not show any resistance at all. He suppressed them mercilessly, killed many horse households, occupied the land and property, and turned it into an imperial village. People with a discerning eye have already seen that this is a way to seize land and build an imperial village in the name of collecting horses. Unexpectedly, someone broke into the heavily guarded government office last night and killed the eunuch. It is said that it was done by a very capable man. He took the eunuch's head and hung it on the city gate to warn the government not to act recklessly.
The police officers left quickly, and the whole family gathered in front of the hall. Grandpa didn't say much, indicating that everyone should just do what they should do. Everyone dispersed, and I stood behind him, listening to my grandfather sigh: "People are not afraid of death, so why should they be afraid of death!" Seeing me beside him, he patted my head and said, "Just watch, this kind of thing It will happen again in the future, and you must learn skills. Although it is a peaceful age, it is always good to have more skills." Indeed, as my grandfather expected, the Mahu Rebellion started in the Hongzhi Dynasty and continued intermittently until now. In fact, I have always suspected whether it was done by someone scattered around, but I couldn't ask. I could only keep it deep in my heart, hoping to see him again one day!
Soon, the imperial court issued a decree not to pursue Mahu's case anymore. At the same time, local officials were asked to provide disaster relief to Mahu, and the situation calmed down. In the past few days, on the official road not far from my home, people who had fled had begun to return one after another. Seeing the vicissitudes of life on their faces and the endless flow of people as far as the eye could see, I was full of curiosity. I had never known the pain of being displaced, let alone starving. But when my grandfather saw it, he felt extremely sad. He asked his family to arrange tables and chairs on the roadside, put out tea and even cook porridge, distribute dry food, and provide free medical treatment to pedestrians. This move undoubtedly made many people very grateful to my family. Even the government wanted to send a plaque to my family, but my grandfather refused.
The days began to calm down. When I was twelve years old, my grandfather began to teach us to learn medicine. After all, it was the family's livelihood. There are many medical classics in the family, such as "Huangdi Neijing", Sun Simiao's "Qian Jin Prescription", and the famous Ming Dynasty doctor Dai Suzhai's "Keys to Syndrome and Treatment", etc., there are many, many, and ancestral prescriptions, there are several thick volumes. The one that my grandfather recommended us to read the most was Song Ci's "Resolution of Wrongs" from the Song Dynasty. He said that this book is based on reality and has good experience in dealing with various injuries. As doctors, we should fully understand the root causes of patients. First love, first love is not more important than testing." At that time, I really didn’t understand the meaning of my grandfather’s words. It wasn’t until I became a guard and came into contact with too many prisoners that I gradually understood.
At the same time, my grandfather urged my uncle to teach me martial arts and practice medicine. The risks we encounter are often beyond our imagination, so we should learn some kung fu to be prepared for unexpected events. After several years of cold and hot weather, I am now considered capable of both literary and martial arts. I know many herbal medicines and can prescribe prescriptions for headaches and fever. Although I am often naughty, I don't dare to make mistakes. After all, it is a matter of life and death, so I don't dare to be careless at all. My grandfather often stared at me. At first I thought he was worried because the Zhang family had such an unknown son. But later, I often heard from several uncles that my grandfather said that I must be the most promising member of the Zhang family. Although I didn't understand it, I felt happy to be praised by my grandfather, but my father couldn't see me being naughty and often taught me a lesson as always.
I never dared to mention Si Sanren, and I never showed the kung fu he taught me in front of my family. It's just that the martial arts skills of scattered people slowly penetrated into me, like piercing a layer of window paper, and everything became smooth, so that when my old uncle taught me kung fu, he would often marvel at how fast I progressed.
