A hundred miles south of Xibo City, in the mountains, there is a village called Feng'ao.
No one knows whether Chufeng'ao actually had Chufeng, but the village looks a bit different from the outside with this classy-sounding name. The entire village was in ruins, as if it had just been looted by bandits. There were broken walls and ruins everywhere, and several old houses were crumbling. It is estimated that if the wind was strong, they might collapse.
However, according to local records, hundreds of years ago this village was the largest village within a few hundred miles, with no less than a hundred households, and there was a vague plan to establish a county government. Moreover, it is said that a hundred years ago, Feng'ao was not called Feng'ao. The reason why it was changed to this name was because at that time, the emperor was choosing a concubine among the people. It happened to be here that I don't know how many lifetimes of blessings he had accumulated to have such a great opportunity. The village selected a girl from a family who thought she was the smoke coming out of the ancestral grave. From then on, one person was as glorious as a chicken or a dog ascending to heaven for a long time. The whole village was a high-minded existence at that time. But later on, things changed, and the concubine lost her favor or died. In short, the village slowly became unpopular, and in the end it became the dilapidated land it is today.
Most of the farmers in the village have moved to the outskirts of Xibo City, which is not too far away as long as they climb over the mountain in front of the village. Those left behind are old people who are obsessed with their ancestral roots and are reluctant to leave.
The only seven or eight households left are filled with old people who are over seventy years old and have limited mobility. The only difference is the stupid young man from the old Feng family in the east end of the village. He is about 20 years old, stupid and not very talkative. , smiles when seeing people, giving people the impression of being short-sighted. It is said that this stupid young man was met by the childless old man Feng when he went to chop wood in the mountains three years ago. At that time, the silly young man was seriously injured and lay in a pool of blood, unconscious. It was old man Feng who dragged him back with his rickets and took care of him. It was only through care that this little life was saved. At that time, the young man was injured so much that all the blood on his clothes was condensed with his body. He had to wait until all the injuries were healed before removing them piece by piece. This giggling young man has never been very talkative. He didn't know anything when asked, and only said that his name was Song Li.
After that, old man Feng, who had been kind-hearted all his life, left him in his home. The young man was obedient. He chopped wood, carried water, plowed the fields, and occasionally went to the mountains to catch some game. As a young man, he supported about a dozen elderly people in the village, so he was considered self-sufficient and contented.
At sunset and dusk, the foolish young man squatted at the door of the courtyard and gnawed on a black-faced nest. It was said to be a courtyard, but it was just a fence serving as a simple partition. There are only a few people in the village, and they are all old people with old arms and legs. It's not that they are guarding against anyone, but only by installing such a thing can it be regarded as a home, and it will give them peace of mind.
Old man Feng stumbled out of the house carrying a black pottery bowl with a piece missing, calling "Song Li".
Just like the name of the village, the silly young man with a nice name but extremely inconsistent with his actual appearance turned his head and looked at Old Man Feng with messy silver hair on his head, and giggled.
"Drink porridge." Old Man Feng stretched out his black pottery bowl and opened his mouth wide with few teeth left. This is called kindness.
There is always a feeling that cannot be expressed in words or words, but you can understand it by looking at it.
The silly young man with a nice name stood up, put the half of the nest in his hand into his mouth, took the bowl and took a sip.
Old Man Feng looked at the silly young man two steps away from him, and warned him fondly, "Slow down, don't choke."
Song Li was eating the porridge in her mouth, grinning like a fool but not daring to open her mouth wide, looking funny.
"There are two more nests in the house. Let's get some porridge before we get it." Old man Feng was afraid that this silly boy wouldn't have enough to eat, so he had to save most of the rations from his mouth at every meal. In his words, the old man's stomach and intestines It’s not good. If you eat too much, you won’t be able to digest it. Young people have fossilized gallbladder, and half of it will break down even if they eat a weight.
The silly young man just smiled innocently, raised his head and drank the last mouthful of porridge. He handed the bowl back to Old Man Feng, wiped his mouth with his hand, rubbed his hands on the patched old cotton-padded jacket, and turned back to the courtyard gate. Squat there.
Old Man Feng was also happy to see him. No matter if he had a boy at his age to be his savior, or if he had a coffin bearer a hundred years later, it would be a good thing.
He should be happy.
"Song Li, take two bundles of firewood and go to the city tomorrow to exchange for some meat." Old man Feng didn't care whether the silly young man turned his back to him or listened to what he said, "I left late last morning and it wasn't even dark. Come back and walk a little earlier this time. Climbing that mountain, no matter how strong your legs are, it will take you two or three hours to go back and forth."
In the past, the two of them would go into the city together, walking on the first day and returning the next day. If they were not in a hurry, they would just walk and play. Later, Old Man Feng sprained his ankle while walking on a mountain road. Song Li never let Old Man Feng go to the city again, and she only made it back and forth in one day in a hurry.
Song Li didn't speak, but Old Man Feng knew what he was thinking.
Regardless of whether Song Li answered or not, Old Man Feng turned around and walked back into the house.
The sun was completely hidden behind the mountains. It shouldn't get dark so quickly when Shenshi passes in this season, but the whole mountain looked pitch black.
Song Li watched the moon climb up into the sky, and circled around the small courtyards of several households. After seeing that all the lights were turned off, she walked back with peace of mind. Before she reached the door of her courtyard, she saw the road outside the village. A person was walking on the path extending from the back of the mountain.
They were far away and it was dark again. Song Li, who shouldn't have been able to see who was coming, suddenly contracted her pupils.
The nervousness was invisible, and the shrinking pupils did not clearly reflect his inner emotions. Instead, the slowly clenching hands betrayed his thoughts that he wanted to hide but could not.
"Ah Li, is it convenient for us to chat for a few words?" The visitor was covered in a precious brocade robe that no one in this small village had ever seen before, with a pale hand holding a round-headed crutch. The black bumps on the palms are smooth and shiny, obviously stained by time.
The person who was coming was speaking from a distance away, and his voice was as thin as a mosquito or a fly, humming, and strange. You couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman just by listening to the voice. It was so weird.
This sentence must have been said to Song Li, and indeed only to Song Li. The sentence fell clearly on Song Li's ears and did not disturb anyone else in this quiet night.
At least the big yellow dog in the village, which could hear rabbits kicking its legs dozens of feet away, was silent at this time and lay quietly in its den.
Song Li, the foolish young boy who was rescued by Old Man Feng on the mountain three years ago, had eyes as clear as the clear spring at the entrance of the village. There was no trace of stupidity in him. He slowly released his fists and looked at the houses behind him. , after making sure not to disturb them, take one step forward.
One step at a time, he landed right in front of the visitor.
The person's head was also hidden in a hat connected to the brocade robe. It was indeed difficult for outsiders to tell the person's gender, but Song Li could clearly understand the person's identity.
"Follow me." Song Li, who had changed from his usual silly look, now had no confusion in his eyes, and his words and deeds were all capable. Before he finished speaking, he took a step forward, another ten feet away.
The visitor used a cane to turn around and also raised his feet to take steps. He came first and walked side by side through the mountains with Song Li. It used to take an ordinary person an hour or two to climb over the hill in front of the village. Now this person walked over the mountain at night. The two of them reached the top of the mountain in just a quarter of an hour. Looking southwest, they saw the behemoth of the Zhou Dynasty, Xibo.
This hilltop is nameless, and it should really belong to the winding mountain series. However, compared with the nominal winding mountain to the west, it is less lush and more jagged with strange rocks.
When we go up the mountain, the sky is not as dark as in the mountain col. It is as gray as dyed with diluted ink. Song Li did not look at the brightly lit Xibo like the man in brocade robes who had not moved since going up the mountain. Instead, he squatted back and straightened his arms on his knees, looking at the blurry building at the bottom of the mountain. A small mountain village with an outline.
He was worried that if Old Man Feng came looking for him, he could go down the mountain as soon as possible.
"Do you want to go back to Knife Catcher?"
The visitor's confused question made Song Li visibly tremble. It seemed that the name was so old that he had no memory of it. This young man, who had completely lost his usual silly look, picked up a piece of weed that had not yet turned green and held it in the corner of his mouth, chewing the green content inside.
"Where are the knife catchers now?"
The Sword Catcher, after the Zhou Dynasty unified the north and the south, everything was in ruins and waiting to be revived. The late Emperor Tian Wen secretly summoned a group of martial arts masters from the martial arts world to protect him, and they were called "The Sword Catcher". After the death of Emperor Wen the day after tomorrow, Emperor Wu Jian ascended the throne and arranged the knife-catchers to the palace to personally protect the royal children.
Seven years ago, something happened in the capital and border areas that was kept secret by everyone in the imperial court. After that, the imperial court spared no effort to forcibly ban all information related to this incident.
Naturally, it is not something that ordinary people can handle for something that is so taboo for the authorities. As a knife hunter so close to the center of power and directly taking orders from the royal family's organization, Song Li secretly participated in it without permission.
Although even the people involved at the time were evasive about the ins and outs of that incident and did not know the whole story, but where did Song Li, with such a sensitive identity, blatantly defy the holy order to put the royal family?
Not long after that, this knife hunter who made no distinction between public and private affairs was exempted from the death penalty under the full protection of an internal prison guard, but he was also demoted to a commoner and was never allowed to be employed.
After that, Song Li wandered around the world, and the knife-catcher was replaced by the current embroiderer in the palace in the following years, and he had nothing to do with him anymore.
Returning to his thoughts, Song Li looked at this person who was both a teacher and a friend to him, and laughed at himself: "How can it be so easy to go back once the sage opens his mouth? You don't seem to have that much power now, do you?" .”
The person standing next to Song Li and facing away from him chuckled and said: "Now we have a great opportunity. If we do it well, we can naturally go back."
Song Li scoffed and refused to comment, "Tell me about it and do it if you can."
"Kill someone."
"who?"
"have no idea."
Song Li spit out the grass branch and looked up at the person coming, "Old Jie, are you teasing me?"
The visitor also turned to face Song Li. No expression could be seen in the hat, and his tone was still calm, "If you do this, someone will naturally come to you when you go to the capital and tell you everything."
After thinking about it, Song Li still couldn't figure it out and asked, "Does this have something to do with the higher ups?"
"I don't know." The visitor named Jie shook his hat. "Anyway, that person told me that he is 100% sure that you can become the swordsman in front of the emperor again."
Regarding this explanation, Song Li remained silent. He felt that no one in the world could make a saint who was the most respected person take back his life for such a dispensable role.
After all, after seven years, a person like me has probably been forgotten by the emperor who has been busy with national affairs all day long.
"Do you really believe that that person can do it?" Based on Song Li's understanding of the person, he has been young for 20 years now, and even the horse-faced boy who has been with this person day and night did not say that it was Really believe it.
A sigh came from the brocade robe, "Believe it or not, you have to give it a try. If you continue to act like this, how can you be worthy of your mother?"
Song Li was silent again.
"Do you want to do it or not?" Another question came from the brocade robe.
Song Li pondered and asked, "Who sent you the letter?"
"Don't think about this." Apparently guessing Song Li's meaning, the visitor immediately gave up his idea, "The person who sent me the letter was very careful. I asked someone to follow him, but he lost him."
"How about I give it a try?" Song Li turned her head and looked at the face hidden in the darkness. "Let's talk about it first. If we don't force this matter, it would be nice for me to stay in Chufeng'ao."
The pale hand outside the brocade robe was holding a cane and poked the young man who always wore a naive smile, snorted coldly: "Come on."
