In the morning after a long night, the sky is still filled with snowflakes.
Before midnight, Xia Wutong opened the door. The drink she had last night made her dizzy.
Although he wasn't drunk, he slept heavily all night and still has a headache.
"I actually got drunk and missed the vigil." He sighed softly and pushed open the wooden door of the living room.
As I approached the table, my eyes suddenly lit up. I saw a pale yellow Hu Xuan spread on the table, and a new poem jumped out on the paper.
Who can ask about the empty mountain? The cold lamp is only friendly.
The year is about to end, and no one has returned from thousands of miles away.
...
At first glance, it was Li Ye's handwriting. She had read the scriptures copied by Li Ye many times and was very familiar with his every stroke.
While humming softly, he reached out to touch the ink on the paper, wanting to touch the sword intention in it.
"We were all drunk. Only my junior brother was keeping watch alone. He was the only one who knew what it was like. I really don't know how he felt at that time."
He sighed quietly again, feeling secretly sad in his heart.
She has been far away from the Central Realm since she was a child, so she can understand a little of the sentimentality in Li Ye's poems.
However, how could such a round and neat handwriting contain the meaning of a sword? I stared at it with my wonderful eyes and thought about it again and again.
After sitting for a long time, he went to the bookshelf behind the desk and took down a stack of paper. He poured some warm water from the kettle on the stove and rubbed out the half-frozen ink.
Since you don't understand it, why not try it on the post.
...
After a while, all the hungover people got up and went to the living room to look for water.
Li Hongxiu picked up the empty pot on the stove and shook it, then took out the fire stick and lit the pine branches in the red clay stove.
"Sister Wutong, why did you come here to write so early in the morning?" Mu Mu, rubbing her eyes, walked up to Xia Wutong and yelled.
Xia Wutong put down his pen, looked at her, smiled, and replied: "I didn't write this, I just wanted to try it out."
Mu Mu took a closer look and said "oh". She turned around and looked at Li Hongxiu and said, "Master's wife, my brother has written another poem. Come and see how much gold coins this one is worth?"
Li Hongxiu took a closer look and couldn't help but admire: "This guy's handwriting is getting more and more beautiful. I think it's worth five gold coins."
Mu Mu was stunned, tilted her head and said, "It's impossible. I heard from my brother that you spent a lot of gold coins to buy his poems."
Li Hongxiu was furious, pulled her over, took out the wooden comb and prepared to comb her hair.
He laughed angrily and said: "He was an outsider at that time, but now he is a family member. Five gold coins for a family is already a lot of money."
Mu Mu nodded, looked at Xia Wutong, and said thoughtfully: "It turns out that our own people are not valuable, but outsiders are!"
As soon as these words came out, Tang Qiuyu and Xia Wutong couldn't help laughing.
Even Ouyang Dongli, who walked to the door, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "What Mu Mu said is really wonderful. In the eyes of your wife, I am worthless."
Li Hongxiu was angry, pinched Mu Mu's face gently, and said angrily: "Little rascal, are you trying to make me angry?"
During the commotion, Mr. walked into the living room, looked at the chaotic crowd, and said with a smile: "Drink two cups of tea, and let's go to the temple together to pay New Year's greetings to the temple owner and Chief Qingxu."
"Okay! Mu Mu got the new year's money again! Mu Mu likes it so much!" When Mu Mu heard that she was going to watch, she clapped her hands and smiled.
Li Hongxiu glared at her: "After a while, you are not allowed to talk nonsense. You cannot embarrass your husband, you know?"
Looking at the two's appearance, the gentleman couldn't help but shake his head and continued: "This year has caused them a lot of trouble. It just so happened that Mr. Ouyang brought roe deer meat yesterday, and he will bring a leg to send it over later."
Mu Mu shouted: "Brother hasn't gotten up yet, Mu Mu will wake him up later."
The gentleman glanced at Hu Xuan on the table, took a closer look, and couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Ye'er's skill has improved again!" After thinking about it, he looked at Mu Mu and said, "No need, he practices every day and rarely sleeps in, so we can just go."
Mu Mu snorted, Tang Qiuyu and Li Hongxiu nodded, and even Ouyang Dongli said: "We were so drunk yesterday that we forgot to keep vigil. I thought my disciple was keeping watch here alone... .Just let him sleep more."
...
After the tea was over, the gentleman greeted everyone and pushed the door open.
Before going out, Xia Wutong took Tang Qiuyu's hand and said, "Master, I want to stay in the room and see if I can understand some sword meaning from the words of my junior brother.
Tang Qiuyu was stunned, looking at Xia Wutong, whose face was a little red, thoughtfully.
He nodded and said, "It's okay if you don't go. Learn more from Li Ye. Maybe you can realize your own sword intention earlier." After saying that, he followed Li Hongxiu and walked out.
"Sister Wutong, Mu Mu will be back soon to bring you delicious food." Mu Mu ran in front of Li Hongxiu, jumping on the snow on the ground.
After everyone went out, Xia Wutong gently closed the courtyard door, turned around and walked back.
When I approached the living room, I looked up and saw carvings on the door frames on both sides of the living room door:
The mountain wind blows snow and the fourth watch begins,
Jiarui Tianjiao and Sui Shu.
Xia Wutong covered her mouth and held back her screams.
Looking at the knife marks between the lines, it was clear that they were carved last night, but no one noticed it.
Xia Wutong was deeply shocked and stayed in front of the door.
The same handwriting, under Li Ye's pen and under Li Ye's knife, gave Xia Wutong two completely different feelings.
For the first time, she felt that there was an artistic conception of rocks in a mountain stream in the penetrating handwriting.
Upon closer inspection, each stroke is round and smooth, just like the water flowing in the stream...the water covers the rocks and flows without leaving a trace.
She suddenly remembered what Li Ye said to her and her master: The best is like water. Water is good for all things without fighting... Therefore, softness overcomes hardness, and weakness overcomes strongness...
"The best is like water. It turns out that this is what the master calls the sword intention like water!"
Surprised, I fell into an epiphany in an instant.
At this time, Xia Wutong seemed to have arrived at the legendary mountain stream in the Tianshan Mountains.
At your feet is the glacier water falling from the sky.
There are countless rocks in the river that have been washed away by the river for thousands of years.
Looking at the rolling glacier, feeling the sword meaning between the lines, I couldn't help but use my hand as a sword and swing it slowly.
Standing in front of the living room door, every time she waved her little hand, it seemed as if she was powerless and like she was carrying a heavy weight... Gradually, the sword intention in her hand gradually became smoother and smoother...
"It turns out that the master really saw the sword's intention from the scriptures written by my junior brother!"
Xia Wutong opened her eyes with infinite joy in her heart.
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, she got up early and realized a trace of Ruoshui Sword Intention from the lines on Li Yemen's couplet.
"Hehe, the early bird gets food!"
With this insight, she can interpret her own sword intent. Once she has entered the door, success will only be a matter of time.
After she came back to her senses, she took a deep breath, carefully read the two lines on the door, walked into the room, sat at the table, and continued to write.
She still needs to read between the lines on this paper to understand the hint of sword meaning that the master said.
...
Li Ye slept in late today, sleeping in again since he was injured in the cold pool.
The difference is that this time it was because of staying up late.
Pushing open the door, he felt a little hungry, so he went into the kitchen to light a fire to cook porridge, and cut a section of winter bamboo shoots and threw them in.
Li Hongxiu and others washed themselves with the warm water left before, and then sat in front of the fire in a daze.
Smelling the aroma gradually rising from the iron pot, I added two more sticks of firewood to the stove. Feeling that it would take a while before I could eat it, I lifted my feet and walked out.
He walked to the snow outside the kitchen, took out the purple bamboo sword, and chuckled softly.
Snowy days are suitable for sword practice.
While the snowflakes were falling, he would hurry up and practice.
The difference was that because he got up late today, he didn't practice the sword with his left hand for half an hour. He only swung the sword with his right hand for a quarter of an hour.
"Wait until next year, can you kill ten snowflakes with one sword?"
He muttered in his mouth, but knew in his heart that this was impossible. The further back he went, the slower the entry speed would be. This was a natural law and would not change because of him.
"So what, you can't give yourself an excuse to be lazy."
While muttering, the sword in his hand did not stop, but became faster and faster, and gradually rolled up a ball of snow.
...
Xia Wutong, who was sitting in the room, heard the movement outside the room and knew that Li Ye got up and went out, so he put down the brush in his hand, got up and walked out of the living room.
When I got out of the door, I saw a circle of snowflakes in the snow outside the kitchen door, and there was a sword intent spreading.
Standing under the eaves and looking at the man in the snow, she wanted to walk over, rush into the swirling nest of snow and swords, rush to the man's side, and then invite him to fight with his sword.
If she dared to try it yesterday, she saw the sword meaning in the word and gave up the impulse.
She knew she was no match for the boy in front of her.
"How on earth did you realize the sword's intention from the mountain stream?" She was a little crazy as she murmured.
...
Just like yesterday, with a "bang" sound, Li Ye slashed the ball of snowflakes into the air and put away the bamboo sword.
"Junior brother, you slept in late today. Your husband and master took Mu Mu to Xuantian Temple to pay New Year greetings. Do you want to take a look?"
Looking at Li Ye in the snow, she said softly.
"Wait until they all go to Xuantian Temple?" Li Ye was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "As long as Mr. and Mistress go, I will wait here for them to come back. I cooked porridge, do you want to eat some?"
After patting the snowflakes on his body, Li Ye raised his feet and planned to walk to the kitchen.
"Well... don't worry, I want to try..." Xia Wutong's little mouth moved.
"Senior Sister Wutong, what do you want to try?" Li Ye asked nervously, looking at the girl in front of him.
Xia Wutong didn't expect Li Ye's reaction to be so nervous, so he couldn't help but smile and said, "Well... I want to test my junior brother's sword power."
"How to test the sword intention?" Li Ye was stunned.
"Can't you try the sword intention? Then you can just talk to me."
"The sword's intention can only be understood, not expressed in words." Li Ye murmured.
"Then, junior brother, how about you give me a few moves and let me feel it?" Xia Wutong couldn't wait any longer.
"I can't use my true energy to defeat Senior Sister."
"How about I don't use my true energy and just compete with sword moves?"
"Um...Oh! Okay, as you wish, you have to be gentler later. I haven't tried it with anyone for a long time..." Li Ye took out the piece that the teacher had cut for him. He handed the black wooden sword to Xia Wutong.
"It's another wooden sword. It's so beautiful. Junior brother, can you give it to me?"
"Well... this is the first sword that my husband cut for me. It's not easy to give it away." Li Ye thought for a while and rejected Xia Wutong.
"Then when you have free time in the future, junior brother, please forge a sword for me."
"That... let's talk about it later."
"Come, let's try under the pear tree. It's spacious there." Xia Wutong walked under the pear tree with his wooden sword in hand.
Two sets of footprints gradually appeared in the snow in the small bluestone courtyard.
