Nanyi City.
Hu Lu couldn't remember why he suddenly fell asleep on the table in Erchi's pavilion.
When I woke up, I saw that the stove I was carrying was almost extinguished.
With such heavy snow, naturally no senior fellow apprentices were practicing swordplay. They were probably all playing cards in the gatehouse or in the disciples' quarters.
Hu Lu sat up straight, rubbed his eyes, and moved his arms that were numb from lying down. Then he squatted down, pulled the small stove, pushed aside the ashes, and took it from the corner of the pavilion. I got some charcoal and covered it.
When the black charcoal burns cracklingly, it has a very unique aroma. I don't know what kind of wood it is made of.
Hu Lu squatted there and sniffed for a while, then stood up dizzy, carrying the stove and wandering towards the concierge.
Because she was so dizzy, Hu Lu couldn't even remember what day it was in December.
But in short, the Chinese New Year should be coming soon.
Hu Lu walked to the concierge. Surprisingly, there were no senior brothers playing cards, only a brazier there.
Mei Quming and the others should be at the disciple's residence. Zhang Xiaoyu might have gone out to play cards or watch the snow. Didn't he say he wanted to walk around last time?
Chen Huaifeng.
Chen Huaifeng was probably hiding in the room with his wife, whispering with the snowy window half closed.
Hu Lu was holding the stove at the door of Jianzong, warming himself up, thinking, and then looked at Nanyi City.
There are already many red lanterns hanging in the snow by the river, like persimmons covered with frost. Although Nanyi City will have such a scene on weekdays, the lanterns that are about to celebrate the New Year are always redder.
The wind and snow blowing by the river whined, and I don't know if it hit someone's open window. Hu Lu shrank his head, retracted his other hand into his sleeve, then turned around and walked back to the concierge, sitting down in front of the table that the senior brothers had not cleared away after playing cards.
The fire under the table was much warmer than the small stove I was carrying.
In this warmth, Hu Lu felt a little sleepy again, so he pushed the messy cards in front of him forward and lay down again.
He drifted off to sleep.
In the middle, it seemed that Zhang Xiaoyu came back, bringing some snacks that smelled delicious.
"Huluwa, do you want to eat it?"
It seemed like something was approaching Hu Lu's nose, maybe a skewer of grilled pork belly.
Hu Lu sniffed hazily, feeling that he must be stretching his head and shaking his head along with the string of pork belly.
I just don’t know why, Hu Lu felt very sleepy, so she said in a daze: "...Well...Senior brother, remember...leave some for me..."
Zhang Xiaoyu's laughter was very wanton.
"Hahahaha...I'm sorry, I ate them all and didn't leave any for you."
Zhang Xiaoyu's laughter gradually faded away.
The aroma stayed for a while and gradually faded away, leaving only the aroma of charcoal lingering in the room.
After a while, Hu Lu seemed to hear some mahjong sounds again.
It's like playing mahjong out of boredom and then throwing it back into the pile.
Hu Lu listened for a long time, and after sleeping for a long time, he finally felt a little awake, so he yawned and raised his head, murmuring: "Which senior brother is so unethical? Didn't you see that I was sleeping?"
Then the boy who was staring at Guapitou tilted his head and stood there in a daze.
There was a man in white sitting across from him, with two swords on his back and a peach blossom on his chest. He was leaning back on his chair, touching the red cards in front of him and looking at himself with a smile.
Hu Lu was stunned for a long time, then he straightened his body and leaned over again in surprise.
"Master! Are you back too?"
Cong Ren said with a smile: "The Chinese New Year will be here in two days. If I don't come back, will I still stay outside?"
Hu Lu giggled.
His eyes fell on the peach blossom in Cong Ren's heart again.
"Master, what are you doing?"
Hu Lu remembered that when Cong Ren left, he said he was going to Mojian Cliff because he had a sword stuck in his heart.
But now the sword was carried behind his back - this was the first time Hu Lu saw Cong Blade carrying a sword.
In the past, this sword cultivator would lazily throw his sword under the peach tree and lie down there to sleep.
Cong Ren lowered his head and glanced at the peach blossoms on his heart, leaned back on the chair and said with a lazy smile: "Some wounds have not healed yet, so some peach blossoms will look better."
Hu Lu looked at the sword cultivator in white clothes in front of him who seemed to never grow old. He laughed and said, "Yes, you really need to look better, Master."
Cong Ren looked around, looked at Hu Lu and asked: "Where are your senior brothers and the others? Why are you left here alone to guard the door? What if a thief comes in and wants to steal the Sword Sect's things?"
Hulu said: "Probably playing cards in Sanchi. Senior Brother Xiaoyu just came back from playing outside not long ago. Senior Brother Huaifeng should be accompanying his wife. By the way, is there anything good in the Sword Sect that others will care about?"
Cong Ren thought for a while, and it seemed that there was indeed no such thing. The most valuable thing for the Sword Sect in the world is this piece of land. Could anyone come and move this piece of land away?
The sword cultivator in white was smiling there, probably feeling that he might be a little suspicious.
Hu Lu said again: "Let me go and call the senior brothers over."
Cong Ren chuckled softly and said, "Forget it. I just saw you sleeping here, and I got addicted to sleeping. I was just about to go back and take a nap before talking."
As Cong Ren said that, he stood up and walked towards the pool.
Hu Lu quickly followed with his own small stove.
In the heavy snow in December in the Jianzong Garden, two sword cultivators, one large and one small, were walking on the path against the snow.
"Have you brothers been slacking off during the time I was away?"
Hu Lu was walking aside with the stove in hand, wondering who could be as lazy as you, old man, so he shook his head and said, "No, Master, you see I have become enlightened."
Cong Ren walked in the snow with his sword on his back and said with a smile: "That's true."
Hu Lu always felt that the words had a strange meaning, as if - also, your talent would not reach this level if you were lazy.
But Hu Lu didn't care.
After all, I am only fifteen years old, still just a teenager. I have to let myself go in this world. Why should I care about so much?
The two masters and apprentices chatted all the way, and walked to a pond under a head of snow. There was no wind and snow in the pond, and it still looked like spring inside. The peach blossoms were in full bloom and falling in abundance.
Cong Ren yawned, as if he was getting sleepier as he walked. He took off the two swords behind him and threw them into the peach blossoms. Then he became the same Cong Ren who lay on the bridge and fell asleep all day long.
Hu Lu placed the stove next to the peach tree and sat down under the tree again, sweeping the snow off her head and looking at Cong Ren, who was adjusting his sleeping position on the bridge.
There was a very slight sound of footsteps behind him.
Hu Lu turned around and saw Cong Xin, who was living in a tree house outside the pool, walking over despite some wind and snow. He looked at the sword cultivator in white on the bridge with a complicated expression.
"You are still willing to come back!"
When Cong Xin said this, there was already a smile on his face.
Perhaps because she was too happy, the little girl's big eyes contained a lot of sparkles that could be seen at a glance.
Cong Ren, who was already lying down, raised his head and looked at Cong Xin with a smile.
"Of course I'm coming back. When it snows outside, I can't see the peach blossoms and I can't even sleep well."
Cong Xin smiled with tears in her eyes.
"You are such a bastard, just like that old bastard who laughed in the bush."
Cong Ren just smiled slightly.
"Okay, I'm going to sleep with the light on."
Cong Xin raised her hand to wipe her tears, glared at Cong Ren probably unhappily, then turned and left Yichi.
Cong Ren looked at the melon-skinned young man Hu Lu who had been watching the two of them.
Hu Lu thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll sleep here too."
Cong Ren said with a smile: "Then help me blow out the lamp."
Hu Lu scratched his head in confusion.
"How to blow?"
Cong Ren raised his head and looked at the snow-colored world outside a pool, and then blew out in one breath.
The young man felt that he must not have slept well.
Otherwise, when my master blew a breath, the world turned into night, and even the pool was dark. Only the stove he carried was still there with a faint red light.
But soon, the stone lantern at the end of the bridge lit up, shining a warm light in the darkness.
Only then did Hu Lu discover that snow had begun to fall in a pool that was not allowed to enter due to wind and snow.
Everything is quiet and comfortable.
Such an environment is indeed suitable for a comfortable sleep.
Hu Lu began to yawn.
I thought I had slept three times in a row.
He glanced toward the bridge in a daze.
Cong Ren was already lying quietly on the bridge and snoring.
...
When Hu Lu woke up again, it was already the second day.
The sky was bright and the pool was covered with snow. The water in the pool was not frozen, which made Hu Lu a little regretful. In his dream, he dreamed that the pool was frozen, and the peach blossoms in it were like frozen pink fish. .
After staring blankly at the pool for a while, the young man turned around and found that Cong Ren had woken up and was sitting in the snow on the creek bridge, watching the cold water of the cold stream under the bridge go away with the peach blossoms and snowflakes.
This is a very incredible thing.
Although Hu Lu has not been in Jianzong for a long time, he has never seen his master get up earlier than anyone else.
Sometimes I even sleep for more than half a month.
I heard from my brothers that in the past, Master slept at most for several years.
At that time, the senior brothers would guard outside the pool every day to see when the master would wake up.
For people of hundreds of years, sleeping for several years is undoubtedly an extremely luxurious thing.
He would sleep from a boy to a young man, from a young man to a mature man, and then to an old age, so he would do it all at once, leaning directly on the bamboo chair to look at the world.
Hu Lu was just thinking about it when the voices of his senior brothers came from outside the pond.
"Hulu!"
"Hulu!"
He sounded a little anxious, as if he was afraid that he would get lost.
Hu Lu felt a little weird when he heard the meaning in that cry.
I just took a nap, why are my senior brothers so anxious?
Cong Ren turned around, looked at Hu Lu, and then looked outside a pond.
Hu Lu stood up and responded outside.
"I'm here, what's wrong, senior brother?"
"It's nothing. I wanted to ask you if you would come and play cards. Since you are practicing in the same pool, forget it."
Then the footsteps of the senior brothers gradually faded away again.
Hu Lu thought to herself, couldn’t I be sleeping in the pool?
And the master is back, haven't the senior brothers noticed?
Hu Lu sat down again.
"Why don't you go play cards?"
Cong Ren looked at Hu Lu and asked.
The melon-skinned boy tilted his head and thought for a while.
"It's almost the Chinese New Year. I've been playing cards for a year and I'm tired. Let's take a rest."
Cong Ren smiled slightly and said, "It's better not to play cards. Play cards every day. That's something only gamblers do."
Hu Lu looked at Cong Ren in confusion and said, "But isn't the culture of playing cards in the south only because of you, Master?"
Cong Ren stood up from the bridge and walked towards the peach tree.
"That's what your uncle and the others did, and it has nothing to do with me. How many times have you seen me play cards in the past thousand years?"
Hulu said silently: "I am only fifteen years old."
Cong Ren was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
Yes, a fifteen-year-old boy can naturally not see a thousand-year story.
The swordsman in white sat down under the peach tree and pushed the gourd away from the stove with his butt.
"Master, what are you doing?"
"Nothing, just keep warm by the fire."
"..."
"Fifteen years old!" Cong Ren sighed with emotion. "I can't even remember what it was like when I was fifteen."
Hu Lu thought for a while and said: "Maybe like me? Sitting under the tree and watching Master Xiaoxiao in the bush teach the way of swordsmanship?"
Cong Ren said with a smile: "That's not true. I guess he must have been sitting on a small boat at that time - your master's favorite thing to do was not to sleep, but to sit in a boat and float on the Nanyi River while grilling He was drinking wine by the stove, while looking at the world in March and April, whether any girls were washing their feet by the river. Those white and tender toes would probably make him intoxicated like strong wine. Sometimes people wash their feet by the bridge. When there were many girls, your master would smile and say, Cong Ren, look, the mountain flowers are blooming in the world. He felt that those white little feet were like large blooming white mountain flowers, so when the mountain flowers were in full bloom, he looked at Cong Ren. Laughing."
Hu Lu opened her eyes wide, and after a long time, she slowly said: "I can't understand, but I am greatly shocked. So this is what Cong Zhongxiao means?"
Cong Ren smiled and said: "That's not true. I misinterpreted it and used it to slander him."
"..." Hu Lu was speechless, and then looked at Cong Ren sitting next to him under Tao Xue. "Master, you look like a naughty boy."
"A man is a boy until he dies, little Hulu."
Cong Ren looked up at the sky, where peach blossoms and snowflakes were flying in the wind.
"Master, didn't you say that back then, how could you become the Laughing Master in the bush?"
Hu Lu suddenly remembered this question.
Cong Ren said melancholy: "Because I was pouring wine for that lazy old bastard in the boat."
Hu Lu didn’t understand why she felt so melancholy even after pouring a glass of wine.
Could it be that by pouring the wine, you will miss a lot of scenery?
Hu Lu didn't know that he was actually right.
Cong Ren did not continue speaking, but took out the two swords he was sitting on from under his buttocks.
One handle is called square inch, the other handle is called, oh, the other handle has no name.
Cong Ren looked back and forth at the two swords for a long time, then threw them both to Hu Lu and sat there holding his knees.
"Which one looks better?"
Naturally, the square inch looks better.
This sword has been sharpened for more than a thousand years and has been sharpened by Yaya masters for several generations. It cannot be said to be very gorgeous, but as long as it is placed there, the world will know that it is a good sword.
One point more is too heavy, one point less is slightly light, one inch long is thin, and one inch short is clumsy.
Hu Lu didn't know what Cong Ren meant, but after a long comparison, he chose Fang Cun.
Although the sound of Mojian Cliff has become smaller and smaller, just like Hangu Temple back then.
But after all, with such a famous sword in the world placed here, it is difficult for people to choose other swords.
"The square inch looks better."
Hu Lu said honestly.
Cong Ren smiled, reached out and took Fang Cun over, leaving behind the sword made by a blacksmith in the East China Sea.
"Okay, then this one belongs to me, and that one belongs to you."
"..." Hu Lu was speechless. "So Master wants me to help you choose?"
Cong Ren nodded sincerely and said: "Of course, I will help you choose for yourself."
Hu Lu said angrily: "But I chose the good-looking one."
Cong Ren said with a smile: "Is it yours if you choose it?"
"..." Hulu wilted.
Cong Ren looked at the dejected young man and patted him on the shoulder.
"Go sit on the bridge."
Hu Lu said listlessly: "Why are you sitting there?"
"Aren't you thinking about how to be a sect leader? You don't sit on it, but you are just thinking about how to do it well?"
Cong Ren said, pushing the boy away from the stove, occupying the stove himself, and warming himself up comfortably.
The young man walked up helplessly holding the ugly sword, and then sat down there imitating Cong Ren's appearance.
Cong Ren looked at the young man sitting there with a smile.
"How about it?"
The young man's expression gradually calmed down, and he seemed to be silent. He quietly looked at Cong Ren who was sitting under the peach tree warming himself by the fire.
"I'm so jealous."
"What are you jealous of?"
"You have a fire, but I don't."
Cong Ren smiled slightly and said, "So have you learned how to be the leader of the Human Sword Sect?"
The look on the young man's face faded, as if he was a little confused and a little clear. The two emotions were intertwined on his face, just like peach blossoms and snowflakes flying together under the same sky.
"I seem to understand a little bit. And sitting is very uncomfortable, as if there are burrs on my butt."
"The burr isn't in your butt, it's in your heart."
Cong Ren said softly.
Hu Lu sat on the bridge as if on pins and needles, looking at Cong Ren eagerly.
Cong Ren smiled and said: "Of course, in fact you also have your own sword, it doesn't have to be square or that ugly sword."
The sword cultivator in white clothes who was sitting under the peach tree warming himself by the fire stood up and looked up at the peach tree. He didn't speak for a long time, as if he was recalling things in ancient times.
"Back then, Cong Zhongxiao didn't give me a choice and pressed me on this needle felt." Cong Ren said, smiling slightly and lowering his head, looking at the young man on the bridge.
"But I can give you the freedom to choose."
"If you feel good, sit on it. If you feel bad, just walk out."
"Hulu, you can choose for yourself."
