It's getting hotter in Jiangbei in May, and it's raining again, which makes people feel particularly depressed. Sanmen Village, an ancient village name that I don’t know how to pass down, is an ordinary small village like Zhangjiacun and Lijiacun.
There are several green brick houses in the north of the village. It is almost midnight, and there are lights faintly leaking through the rain curtain, and there are words coming from them: "The Master said: Learn and practice from time to time..."
There was a family of three in the room. A woman who had just passed her 10th birthday was spinning a spinning wheel in the corner of the room, looking at the two men walking back and forth in the room with a gentle look on her face.
The person walking in front was a scholar in a long gown, who was also in his twenties. He was pacing and chanting softly: "I will examine myself three times every day, and I will be disloyal to others..."
Behind him was a six or seven-year-old child, who was also imitating his father's example of pacing with his hands behind his back. He would copy every sentence his father recited, which was really cute.
Maybe he was tired during the day, so the child opened his mouth and yawned after carrying it for a while. Seeing this, the woman smiled, patted her clothes and stood up, "Husband, Ning'er is sleepy, stop carrying it and rest."
"Well," the man stopped when he heard this, turned his head to look at the child and couldn't help but laugh, and returned his hand to hold his son in his arms, "I'll let you play wildly during the day. You must be tired." As he said, the little guy A light slap on the butt.
"Okay, let's get some rest early. We have to take Ning'er to Gongshe in the county tomorrow. It's raining so heavily outside, I don't know if it will stop tomorrow morning." After saying that, the man looked out the window again and frowned.
"As long as you insist that your son learn all the 'six arts' and go to the bow club to learn 'shooting', you are not afraid that he will not come back to miss him for such a long time." The woman shook her head and walked towards the back room.
The man also shook his head, glanced sideways at the child who was already lying on his shoulder and couldn't open his eyes, and slapped him on the butt again.
It rained all night and stopped when it got daylight. The woman got up early to make breakfast and prepared dry food for the two of them. The man also hitched up the ox cart at home and then went to wake up his son. After the meal, the father and son walked toward each other. Rush to the county seat.
Sanmen Village is not far from Qingshi County, more than sixty miles away, but most of it is rural dirt roads. It is very difficult to travel when the rain soaks in, and it is difficult for an ox cart to go fast.
People in the village got up early, and many people had opened their doors before the man left the village.
"Chang Ling, let's go out." An old man with gray hair was opening the door and greeted the man with a smile when he saw him going out.
"Uncle Zhang, it's good morning. Let's go to the county seat."
"Uncle Xiao, when will you come back? There won't be any lectures today." A teenage boy also jumped out and asked.
"I'm going to the county town. I'm going to memorize "The Analects" at home today. Don't be lazy. I'll come back tomorrow to check."
"Uncle Xiao is busy, why are you causing trouble?" A middle-aged man at the door shouted to the child, "It's not easy to walk on the road for a long time, so slow down."
"Okay, Brother Zhang."
As Xiao Changling walked, he greeted the villagers who were going out. After leaving the village, Xiao Ning's sleepiness gradually disappeared in the car. He sat up and asked his father who was driving the car: "Dad, will you send me to the city to learn martial arts?"
"It's not about learning martial arts, it's about learning 'shooting', one of the six arts. A gentleman should be proficient in the six arts, and I can enlighten you on the others. I have never studied the word 'shooting'. Recently, I heard that there is a king outside Qingshi County." We have opened a bow club, and there are several instructors from the army working here, so I would like to go over with you and see how it goes."
"Oh." Xiao Ning responded listlessly.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Changling didn't look back. He only heard something wrong in his son's voice and asked.
"Dad, I want to learn martial arts."
"Nonsense!" Xiao Changling tightened the whip in his hand and scolded, "Although our Xiao family is not a scholarly family, we have poems and books passed down for generations. How can we be that reckless man who wields swords and guns? Military offender ban, do you want to be Huang Chao or Zhu Wen!"
"But after learning from Wu Daniu, they can't bully me," Xiao Ning pouted and whispered.
"Damn it, if you have this intention, I won't let you learn martial arts!" Xiao Changling's eyebrows almost stood up after hearing this.
Listening to his father's scolding, Xiao Ning curled his lips in disapproval behind his back. In his opinion, the strong body of the Orion-born Daniel was what he envied most.
The two of them walked without incident for more than 40 miles along the muddy dirt road. When they saw that they were reaching the Qingshui River, an officer suddenly blocked the way. Many people gathered around the road and were unable to pass for a while. Xiao Changling had no choice but to stop the bullock cart and told his son to stay calm while he got off the car and went to find out what was going on.
At this moment, from a distance, I saw several police officers standing around the river muttering about something. I heard from people next to me that it turned out that someone passed by the Qingshui River this morning and found several corpses floating down the river. , was so frightened that he hurried to the Yamen to report the case. The people who came from the Yamen blocked the road. There was only one bridge that could cross the Qingshui River more than ten miles up and down the river. Once the road was closed, everyone was blocked here.
Xiao Changling understood what he heard and couldn't help but frown. He looked up and looked at the sun which was almost noon. He glanced left and right and saw a simple tea shed beside the road. He had to turn around and lead the ox cart over and asked for two bowls of crude tea. He took out the dry food and handed it to his son, and drank a few mouthfuls of tea himself.
Xiao Ning was a child after all. He couldn't sit still for a while. After eating the dry food in a few mouthfuls, he clamored to go out to play. Xiao Changling had no choice but to agree to him, but he was not allowed to go far away. This time he happily agreed and jumped out.
Not far from the main road was a forest, which grew along the river. It was not dense but could hide people's shadows. The cicadas chirping happily on the trees attracted him to dive straight in. Looking for the sound, he looked left and right, but there was no tool in his hand. He scratched his head and scratched his head anxiously, but there was nothing he could do for the moment.
As he was walking, he suddenly felt something grabbing his ankle. Xiao Ning looked down and was so frightened that he let out an "ouch", but before he could cry out, he was pulled down by a hand. On the ground. It was only when he was lying on the ground that he could see clearly. Next to him was an old man with a withered face, in his fifties, with a pale face, two eyebrows, and yellow teeth. There were traces of blood, and he stared at Xiao Ning with a sinister smile. Before he could speak, Xiao Ning burst into tears with a "Wow." The old man was stunned, covered his mouth, and listened quietly for a while before shouting in a low voice: "Why are you crying!" At this time, little Xiao Ning was also frightened, and actually stared and dared not make a sound. .
"Little baby, you're lucky, cough, cough, cough." Without finishing the sentence, the old man coughed violently and even coughed up blood. "I'm not in the mood to kill anyone today, or I would have pinched you to death."
"Who are you?" After all, he was a child who had read and learned to read. He calmed down a little and asked tremblingly, "Why are you scratching my feet?"
"Baby, has the official in front left?"
"No," Xiao Ning shook his head, "I heard that someone died and the road was closed. My father and I can't enter the city."
"That's what I killed."
"Ah..." Xiao Ning screamed for a while, but luckily the old man was quick and covered his mouth again.
"What's there to shout about, little doll? Let me ask you, do you want to learn martial arts?"
"Yeah." Xiao Ning nodded desperately, but after a while his eyes dimmed again, "But dad won't let me learn. This time when I went to the city, he only let me learn archery, and didn't let me learn martial arts. He said it would be a reckless man."
"Tsk", the old man sneered, "poor and pedantic." He lowered his head and looked at Xiao Ning, "You're lucky, I won't live long, and this thing won't be cheap for others." After saying that, it was difficult to get out of his arms. He took out a deerskin bag, shook off the water drops on it, and opened it to find that it was still dry inside.
"Boy, I've been a thief all my life, and I got the advantage of you in the end." Before he finished speaking, he reached out and took out a silk map from his bag, "This is a treasure map, it says it was some kind of martial arts map three or four hundred years ago. I can't find the secrets of martial arts left by the Four Saints. You should hide them well. Those people are fighting for this and me. Today I just give you an ignorant little baby, which is better than After you die, let your enemies search for it." After saying this, he folded up the silk picture and stuffed it back, and threw it to Xiao Ning together with the skin bag.
"There are a lot of people grabbing this picture. If you have the life to take it, you don't know if you have the life to find it."
Xiao Ning was still stunned while holding the bag. He saw the old man gasping for a few breaths and standing up holding on to the tree. Another mouthful of blood overflowed. He covered his chest with one hand and murmured: "The big monument-breaking hand" ', It's really amazing! But my true identity, Cui Qianmian, has never been known to anyone in my life, and you won't even think of recognizing me until you die!" As he said that, he staggered towards the river and jumped into the river with a "plop" .
The sound of water shocked Xiao Ning and shivered, and then he really came to his senses, got up and ran to the tea shed. When he ran to the side of the bullock cart, he suddenly stopped again. He looked at the bag in his hand and did not dare to take it in. Instead, he stuffed it into the bundled quilt.
When Xiao Changling returned to the tea shed and hadn't spoken yet, he saw that his son was fine when he went out, but when he came back he was covered in mud and water, with a few grass clippings hanging on his head. He suddenly lost his temper and shouted angrily: "Where are you going again?" Crazy, let’s see how you will become a disciple!”
As he spoke, he grabbed his son and stretched out his hand to hit him but couldn't bear to do so. He looked at the clothes on his son's body with distress. The Xiao family was not a wealthy family. His wife had just made new clothes for his son to go to the city, and it turned out like this after a while. How could he not feel distressed.
Xiao Ning originally wanted to talk to his father about the matter, but now that his father was scolding him and making him cry from fear and grievance, how could he still be in the mood to talk about this? Xiao Changling pushed his son down on the bench and said angrily: "Wait here, I'll go take a look!"
Xiao Ning curled her lips and looked at her father's back, then turned around and looked inside the tea shed. Beside them were a dozen porters, who seemed to be selling vegetables in the city. There were also a few businessmen who also occupied a table and were muttering. What was he talking about, and he glanced at the autopsy operators and policemen on the roadside from time to time. When I was bored, the people watching the excitement on the street suddenly dispersed with a roar, and two gangsters and a few policemen walked towards the tea shed.
"Boss, look," a messenger said to the head catcher who was sitting in the shed.
"Well," the catcher glanced at him and motioned for him to continue. The man took a look at one of the gangsters.
"Sir, the body was washed down from upstream and soaked in water for about three hours. It happened at the end of the year." The man took a step forward. "There were poisoning, hidden weapons, and injuries from weapons, like a fight in the rivers and lakes to death. .”
"Yeah," the catcher nodded, "Can you find the scene?"
"It's difficult," the messenger frowned, "the rain all night has washed away everything."
The catcher also frowned, thought for a while and said, "Forget it, take the body back to the yamen and see if anyone recognizes it. Leave the road open, it won't work if it goes on like this."
"Okay." The policeman picked up a bowl of herbal tea and drank it in one gulp. Then he went out and said hello, and he and a group of people removed the roadblock and let people pass.
At this time, Xiao Changling also came back, hitched the ox cart, and called his son to cross the bridge and hurry up. The father and son were walking on the bridge when they suddenly heard someone shouting from the lower reaches of the river: "Boss, there is another body here!" Xiao Ning suddenly turned around and saw that the river under the bridge was surging, with a faint layer of red reflecting the sunlight. , a golden carp jumped into the air, as if leaping out of the sea of blood.
