In the 341st year of the Han calendar, on October 29th, an inconspicuous tombstone was erected in the western suburbs of Lingyuan County!
On the tombstone, the eight characters "Zhang Wen, the best assassin in the world" are very eye-catching.
...
Wandering around, facing swords and swords, Master Shichen still failed to transcend the fate of life and death in the world, and finally disappeared into the dust and smoke like a shooting star.
Heroes and righteous men have existed since ancient times, but it is hard to live forever even if they are generous in their righteousness!
Master Chen died without a wife or children for most of his life. Having been his apprentice for a year, I naturally wanted to bid farewell to him and say goodbye properly.
I chose the tomb site in the most inconspicuous place in the western suburbs of Lingyuan City. Master, you have traveled around the world for most of your life and been busy for half your life. After you leave, don't be disturbed by others anymore.
Boss Xia, who is said to be 'always rich', is usually very stingy, but this time he found thirty-five taels of gold for me. Although he couldn't afford a good gold nanmu coffin with this money. , buying a good coffin with medium material is more than enough.
On the day I bought the tombstone and coffin, I sat at the door of the coffin shop and thought about it. Finally, I did not let the craftsmen carve any of the master's life story and character on the tombstone. Only Zhang Jiang in the north of the city was asked to carve the eight characters "Zhang Wen, the best assassin in the world".
Hey! Master, you can have such a considerate apprentice like me, so you can enjoy yourself while you are down there!
In fact, the master's people have been buried long ago. However, it should be known that the master is grateful for the contribution made by the master in eradicating the Liu family and insists on letting the hero of Lingyuan go away in glory after handling the important business. So until A monument was erected today and a grand funeral was held.
The tombstones and cemeteries are plain and simple, but there are huge crowds of people.
Today is a perfect day, with fine snow falling in the sky and mist like smoke. It should be known that the Lord specially sent someone to find an auspicious time, saying that the funeral would be held at this time. When the time came, he immediately led all the Huaxing officials to pay tribute first. After hearing the news, the folks from Lingyuan came like a long river. Absolutely, there are also many tiger-blaming disciples who came to express their condolences quietly. The western suburbs where cats don't come and dogs don't love them on weekdays became agitated today.
After Mr. Ying finished reading the memorial text, the people began to worship on their own. For a while, yellow paper was all over the sky and white silk was all over the ground. People were crying bitterly. It was a magnificent scene.
Looking at the colorful people, I smiled and did not cry. All the tears that should have been shed have been shed in the past twenty days. Besides, there is nothing to cry about today. Father said: Grandpa Dongfang and Master both died for righteousness.
They died a worthy and heroic death, and they should be happy and celebrated.
I was dressed in linen mourning clothes, and when I was kneeling beside the monument to pay my respects, I accidentally glanced at the lonely graves of my Boliang grandfather and uncle in the distance, and then I thought for a long time: an assassin who is honest, loyal and brave, although he does not conform to the Assassin's Creed, But he is worthy of the term knight. Although the master's funeral did not conform to traditional funeral customs, the grand scene still managed to fit the true meaning of "the best in the world". Thinking about the past and present, when an assassin dies, but there are people from the county to see him off, it is not considered to have passed away in the world.
Master, you have not waited in vain for the past month!
In winter in the north, the days are extremely short, and dusk has already set in the southwest in the blink of an eye. When the western suburbs return to peace, I prepare to pack things with Wang Sanbao, Huangfu Lu, and Ying Cheng, hoping to return to the city at the end of Youshi. .
As the mass graves in the western suburbs became darker and darker, the four of us became more and more worried. It was really creepy to stay in this place with quarrelsome people and dark wind and moonlight at night. We began to be cautious, for fear of which grave. I accidentally moved, and a lonely ghost appeared and took away the lives of the four of us.
Suddenly, Wang Sanbao heard a sharp cry and fell to the ground. The three of us hurriedly went forward to check. It turned out that it was a wild rabbit hidden in the white silk. When Wang Sanbao was cleaning up the white silk, the wild rabbit moved. The movement made the already timid Wang Sanbao shout so frightened that he almost peed.
Ying Cheng was more courageous. When he saw it was a wild mountain rabbit, he couldn't help laughing. He ran over in three or two steps. He stretched out his hand, hugged the rabbit's ears, picked up the rabbit, and said to it fiercely, "You This guy is so brave, he dares to bully my brother. Tonight, I will use you to give my brothers alcohol to relieve their shock!"
The four of us breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I raised my eyebrows and said immediately, "Brothers, the city gate is about to close. Don't clean it up any more! Grab what you can and hurry up! You can't take it. Yes, just come back and get it during the day tomorrow. How can anyone in this wilderness come to make such ill-gotten gains? Let’s go!”
When I said the second half, I felt a little guilty.
For children like us who grew up in ordinary people's parents, some of the white silk fabrics and tools rented from the Ming shop are really expensive, but then again, how can these things be valuable?
The four of us teenagers did not hesitate and immediately retreated. As we approached the official road, the cedar forest on the other side of the road began to rustle, and two figures were approaching. The four of us were all shocked.
Could it be that it's haunted?
The wind roared loudly for a while, and figures moved around, making it eerie and strange.
The four of us, surrounded by grass and trees, stayed where we were, not knowing what to do.
Last year, it was in this cedar forest that I accidentally rescued Grandpa Dongfang and Sister Yu from Liu Bu's violence. Could it be that there is no chance of another adventure happening today?
At my greeting, the four of us gathered around and prepared to stop in silence.
The figures on the opposite side were blurry. One person was slightly taller, another person was hunched over, one person was wrapped in a big robe, and the other person was holding a cane. It could be judged that the people coming from the opposite side were a middle-aged man and an old man.
Wang Sanbao's legs couldn't stop trembling, and he said tremblingly, "Big, big brother...Mo..., could it be that the ghosts of the dead senior Shichen and Grandpa Dongfang have come to find us? I think our brother A few of you are not taking good care of us, are you going to take us away?"
Ying Cheng snorted coldly and leaned forward to draw his sword. He said sternly, "Shut up, Sanbao. There are so many ghosts and gods. I want to see who dares to pretend to be a ghost here. Just in time, Master. Sword, I will slay the demon tonight!"
I have never studied the affairs of ghosts and gods, and I have always stayed away from them. But when I saw Ying Cheng standing up with his sword drawn, I quickly grabbed his sleeves and shouted to stop, "Ying Cheng, please don't act rashly. The person who came here is not here." If you reveal your evil deeds, and with the little urine we have, we can't even touch them, put away your sword quickly, we can strike first."
"Pfft, hahaha, what a sentence 'I can't touch it on others', so vivid, so vivid! Hahaha!"
In the blink of an eye, the two people coming towards me had already walked through the official road and stood six feet away from me. The tall and thin middle-aged man wore a cloak and his face could not be seen clearly. He was holding a handful of "flowered" frozen sand fruits in his hand and eating them with gusto.
Next to me, an old man with long eyebrows and a mahogany stick in his hand was looking at me with a smile. The words just now came from the old man's mouth.
The yellow-skinned Huangfu Lu was very vigilant. When he saw the two of them approaching step by step, he immediately stood in front of me, but was pulled back by me. I stood in front of the three of them and looked directly at them. He looked at the two people in front of him without saying a word, and the scene suddenly became a little subtle.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man opposite laughed and threw me a frozen fruit. He tilted his head and said to the old man beside him, "Teacher, look, look. The spirit of young people in this country can last forever. Good! It’s much better than those of us who live to become spirits. Hey, people, the more we live, the more useless we become. Now that we have lived, we don’t even have the courage to act bravely for justice! Haha.”
The old man with the stick smiled and said nothing when he heard this, and the middle-aged man stopped talking. He spit out the sand core casually, raised his head at me, and looked at me with some amusement.
I gritted my teeth and ate all the fruit in my hand like a gulp. I took a step forward and said, "Thank you, senior, for the fruit. It's getting late and my family is worried about me. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave!"
After saying that, I turned around and winked. The three brothers behind me understood and walked with me along the official road, cautiously and quickly towards Lingyuan City.
After walking a few steps, the middle-aged man shouted out of thin air, "Wait a minute." The four of us tensed up at the same time and stood there dumbly. The middle-aged man laughed, and then said, "Little friend, don't be afraid. My teacher and I had some interactions with a knight-errant named Death Shichen. I heard that my old friend was going to be buried today, so I came here to express my condolences. I was delayed for some time on the way, so I arrived late. My friend, do you know where Death Shichen’s tomb is? Where are you? The teacher and I can talk about how we miss our old friend."
As soon as I said these words, I was convinced. Judging from what they had just done, the two of them were not malicious or lying. I straightened my clothes, looked back and handed over to the middle-aged man, and said carefully, "Senior, I was just rude. Please forgive me. I am a disciple of my master who died, Chen Guanmen, and I am willing to lead the way for the two seniors."
"Oh, the days are getting more and more unruly. In a blink of an eye, Zhang Wen, a young boy, has a baby!" The old man with the stick finally spoke, and saw his long eyebrows swaying back and forth in accordance with his words, He said to me with a smile, "Little friend, please lead the way!"
I asked Ying Cheng and three others to wait for me at the official road, and then led the way. As soon as they entered the cemetery, Ying Cheng and three others chased after me with great strides. I felt warm in my heart: How can we have so many good brothers after so many years? Not in vain.
Arriving at the master's tomb, Ying Cheng and Wang Sanbao found some fine pieces of dead wood and lit fires around them with flints and flints. Huangfu Lu found cotton and cloth strips and wrapped them around thicker dead branches to make a torch for the return journey. , I arranged the copper basin, handed the yellow paper to the middle-aged man who was standing with his hands behind his back, and then knelt down next to the tomb, waiting for a reply.
The middle-aged man was not polite, nodded to me, took the yellow paper, squatted in front of the copper basin, and burned it bit by bit. The pungent smell of burning yellow paper gradually filled the surroundings, and the middle-aged man was He choked and coughed a few times, then smiled helplessly and sighed slightly, "Zhang Wen, Zhang Wen, when you were young, you listened to one good play after another on the beam of my house. Today, you have also become a star in the play." Human. Alas, everything in this world is so difficult!"
Hearing this sentence, I couldn't help but feel refreshed.
The master once served in the Changshui Guards when he was young, and his job was to protect high-ranking officials and loyal ministers in the dark. The person who came to speak like this today must not be an ordinary person.
I reasoned: The person in front of me must be a big shot from the capital.
