The night before the decisive battle with Shi Song, Han Ling had a dream.
He dreamed that he was flying in the sky, with the sky above his head azure and cotton-like white clouds floating leisurely by. His body was lifted lightly by the wind, with the heavy earth beneath him, and many leaves falling rustlingly beside his hands. It turns out that he is also a leaf.
This leaf was spinning in the wind, sometimes flying to the top of the green tree, and sometimes flying past the ears of pedestrians. The autumn wind was bleak, but the sunshine was just right, keeping him warm all over. Han Ling was flying in the wind, listening to the gossips of his employer and looking at the stalls of the west family. Unknowingly, he was carried up the high city wall by the wind.
Han Ling looked down: It was noon, and the Meichuan city gate had not yet opened. Many people were busy waiting in front of the city wall. Some people put down their poles and sat in the shade at the base of the wall to rest; some people had already set up stalls and hung hanging With a familiar smile on his face, he started doing business at the gate of the city. He got a little tired of watching and yawned, almost blowing himself down the tower. Han Ling quickly stabilized his body and lowered his head again, just in time to see three children running towards the city gate.
The leader was a girl, wearing a well-tailored white Hufu with small sleeves, which made her look heroic and handsome. Two boys followed closely behind her, wearing the same style of Hufu with lapels and narrow sleeves, one blue and one black, trying to snatch the white cloth package from the girl's back. The girl's body was flexible, she took a few steps to avoid the attack of the boy in black on the side, and then she lowered her body, allowing the boy in blue behind her to grab his hand. Before the two of them could stand still, she grabbed the boy in black and slapped him backwards. She turned around and swept his legs. The two boys were unable to stand still and they were both knocked to the ground by her.
"No fight, no fight!" The boy in blue got up from the ground and slapped his thigh bitterly, "Zhu Chen's movements are too fast. Last time I was able to keep up with a few moves, but this time I can't even see them clearly. The movements are even difficult. Next time we compete with hidden weapons, I will definitely not lose to you."
The boy in black rubbed his sore buttocks and stepped forward: "Zhuchen, how did you practice? Han Ling and I haven't been lazy in the past few months. Why have you made such great progress?"
Xu Zhuchen looked at the two of them with a cheerful smile: "I went to Zhennan a few months ago and met a friend. She taught me the footwork just now. Do you want to learn it?"
The boy in black nodded vigorously, and the boy in blue gave him an elbow to tell him not to be so spineless. The boy in black turned his head and stared at him for no apparent reason, making him feel a little hairy.
"Okay Shi Song, if you want to learn, you can go find Zhu Chen and learn by yourself." Han Ling turned his head aside, "As for me... I'll learn it if I watch you practice more."
Shi Song looked at Han Ling, then at the smiling Xu Zhuchen, and quickly gave Han Ling a hand: "Old Han, don't be like this. Zhuchen has such a close relationship with us, so he won't ask for high prices, right? Zhuchen Chen?"
Xu Zhuchen smiled and held out three fingers: "This price."
Shi Song's eyes widened. Han Ling took an exaggerated breath and said, "Zhuchen, we have been friends for so many years, and I will teach you my newly learned disguise technique -" He walked up to Xu Zhuchen, bent one of her fingers, and "One price, okay?"
Xu Zhuchen glanced at Shi Song, then looked at Han Ling, and said with a smile: "Deal."
Han Ling turned around and patted Shi Song on the shoulder and said, "Okay! I've made the deal for you. I'll help Zhu Chen clean the practice room for two months and she will teach you. Is it a good deal?"
Just as Shi Song's smile was about to appear, it froze on his face: "Help me? Old Han, good brother, you, don't you learn? I'll be sweeping alone for two months?"
Han Ling gave a bright smile: "Didn't I tell you that I'll be able to figure it out if I just look more. Shi Song, come on!"
The three of them laughed for a while and continued walking towards the city gate. There were constant noises along the way. The Zhang family and the Li family were short-lived, and the little girl of the Wang family accidentally dropped the candied haws on the ground and was crying loudly. In order to stop Shi Song from talking about "cleaning the practice room for two months", Han Ling offered to treat him to eat candied haws. Naturally, Xu Zhuchen couldn't miss this friendship, so he pushed forward and asked Han Ling to treat him equally. A few people quarreled for a while, pushed and pushed around the city gate, and finally found a stall selling candied haws in the woods in front of the city gate.
The stall owner is a gray-haired lady with a kind face and a smile on her face. Han Ling went over with the money, and was praised a few times by the landlady as "a handsome young master." He was so happy that he felt dizzy and confused as to how many more coins he had been given.
The three of them huddled on a bench to eat candied haws, while watching the various life scenes at the gate of the city. Shisong concentrated on chewing the sweet and sour hawthorn, carefully picking out the hawthorn seeds with his teeth and holding them in his mouth. He was about to spit out the seeds when Han Ling suddenly pulled his sleeves and asked him to raise his head. Shi Song became nervous and swallowed all the hawthorn seeds in his mouth with a "gurgling" sound.
"Han Ling, what are you doing-"
"Shh," Xu Zhuchen also grabbed one of his sleeves and pointed to the front, "Shi Song, look over there."
Shi Song kept silent and looked along her finger - what he saw was a majestic caravan in front of him. The leader of the caravan looked like a foreigner. He was tall and strong. He wore a short coat made of luxurious fabrics and was dark-skinned. Wearing an agate ring on his right hand, he is holding a strong camel in his hand. There was a group of people behind him, including adult men and women wearing three-color turbans and holding pack animals, while children had their hair loose and wore colorful tunics. A group of barbarians, each looking like a god, made people afraid to get close and could only watch from a distance. This is the famous "Bodhisattva Man" in Meichuan.
Han Ling and the three of them huddled together, expressing their excitement with winks, pushing each other to come forward and communicate with each other in their newly learned "nonsense", but they couldn't figure out the reason. Xu Zhuchen is thirteen years old this year and is the oldest among the three. At this time, he is also a little timid and does not dare to step forward.
The caravan was still pushing and fighting, and the caravan was almost in front of them. The people at the gate of the city automatically gave way to a road, as if the barbarian caravan had its own barriers. Just as the leader was about to reach the candied haws stand, a skinny arm stretched out from the crowd and grabbed the hem of the leader's clothes.
The three people hurriedly looked over and saw that the person holding the caravan leader was an old man in ragged clothes. The old man's white hair was disheveled and his body was still stained with some dirt and fallen leaves. He touched the leader's hand with one hand and held a worn-out empty bowl in the other. It looked like he had no income for a long time. Han Ling saw the old man raise his face. The old face shrank like an old tree bark. His cheeks were dry and his eyes were covered with a layer of white mist. But the words he spoke definitely did not sound like they were spoken by a blind man:
"The noble man's forehead is bulging, his courtyard is square, and his palms are strong and strong. He is surrounded by the aura of dragon and tiger. If you go west here, you will have great wealth."
The leader raised his thick eyebrows and let out several vigorous laughs. He turned his head and said something to the person behind him. The person took the order and took out a few taels of small silver from his pocket and handed it over.
"Old man," - his Chinese dialect was quite standard, which surprised Xu Zhuchen - "you can use this money to eat well, and I will lend you a good word."
The broken silver fell into the old man's empty bowl, and the caravan quickly left the shade of the woods and walked under the city wall. The people watching the excitement dispersed, still talking to each other about what they had just witnessed. Han Ling saw the old man holding a broken bowl in his hand and still mumbling something.
"However, if we go north... not only will our wealth be lost... I'm afraid our family will be destroyed, and there will never be peace..."
Han Ling couldn't restrain his curiosity, so he grabbed Xu Zhuchen and Shi Song and walked towards the old man. A circle of people had gathered around the old man, most of whom were begging him for help in fortune telling. The old man just lowered his head and murmured, ignoring them. However, Han Ling and the other three squeezed into the crowd, and the old man suddenly raised his head in their direction.
"Ah...little friends, you are finally here."
The old man's hands covered with black mud stretched out towards them without any explanation. Even though Han Ling was in high spirits, he still couldn't bear to be covered in dirt. He nimbly stepped aside, and the old man's hand grabbed Shi Song's sleeve.
The onlookers looked at the old man mumbling to Shi Song and couldn't help but take a few steps back. Even though Shi Song had always been stoic and informal, he still frowned because of the dirt all over the old man's body. The old man didn't mind. He held Shi Song with one hand and greeted Han Ling and Xu Zhuchen with the other hand. He looked familiar and harmonious and led the three of them deeper into the woods without any explanation.
Seeing the old man's eager look, Xu Zhuchen couldn't help but flinch. Han Ling nudged her with his elbow and whispered: "Go, just avoid those people. I just touched his back, this old man Without internal strength, we will definitely be able to defeat three against one when the time comes.”
Xu Zhuchen thought for a while, took out the knife from his waist and carved the word "bamboo" on the trees beside the road, and said: "Okay, I will mark the route at the end. You should follow closely and don't let anything happen to Shi Song."
When they reached a secluded place, the old man stopped. Thinking of the old man's appearance just now, Xu Zhuchen couldn't help but put his hand away and hide the knife.
The old man didn't look at her much, he just grabbed Shi Song's palm, rubbed it from the palm to the fingertips, and then back to the wrist in sequence, he couldn't help but marvel at it. Shi Song stared at his face and felt his hair standing on end.
But I heard the old man say: "My little friend has wonderful bones and a righteous spirit. In the future...he will be the leader of the martial arts alliance!"
As soon as these words came out, whatever worries Shi Song had were thrown out of the sky. He held the old man's hand and said in surprise: "Old man, is what you said true? I am the leader of the martial arts alliance?"
The old man stroked his dirty beard and nodded. Shi Song looked at Xu Zhuchen in surprise, then turned to Han Ling: "Zhuchen, Old Han, did you hear? I will be the leader of the martial arts alliance in the future!"
Xu Zhuchen reached out and patted Shi Song on the shoulder, indicating that he would put a few coins into the old man's bowl. Shi Song was still untying the brocade bag on his waist when the old man's bowl clattered. It was Han Ling who threw five copper coins into it.
"Old man," Han Ling took the initiative to put his hand into the old man's hand, "do you want to see my future?"
Xu Zhuchen raised his eyebrows - the three of them had practiced martial arts together since they were young, and their martial arts were on par. However, Han Ling was obsessed with winning and always loved to compete. However, she and Shi Song could also understand him. Han Ling's father was Han Boli, the current leader of the martial arts alliance. With such a bright and stalwart role model in front of him, it was no wonder that he would be dissatisfied with Shi Song's "leader of the martial arts alliance".
But the old man took Han Ling's hand, rubbed it for a while, and asked, "How old is my little friend this year?"
Han Ling tilted his head, stared into the old man's eyes, frowned slightly and said, "Twelve years old, what's wrong?"
The old man didn't say anything, but turned Han Ling's hand over, pondered for a long time, and said, "My little friend, please remember that good things come in hard times...but my future will be extremely valuable. My future, I will be the leader of the martial arts alliance!"
Han Ling turned his head proudly and saw Xu Zhuchen and Shi Song laughing together. He was stunned for a moment, and then he figured it out - people who practiced martial arts all year round had calluses on their hands, and the old man just saw that they were young and easy to trick, so he gave away the title of "Martial Arts Leader" lightly.
Thinking of this, and thinking that he, who had always prided himself on being smart, would be overjoyed because of this tall hat, Han Ling blushed for a moment. But he saw Xu Zhuchen also put the copper plate into the broken bowl, stretched out his hand and said: "Old man, will I also be the leader of the martial arts alliance in the future?"
The old man grabbed Xu Zhuchen's hand and touched it carefully for a long time, but frowned: "This little friend is very skilled in martial arts and has a bright future, but there is a vacancy in the husband and wife palace... According to the old man's opinion, my future wife may be..." Kev’s life.”
Before Xu Zhuchen could react, Han Ling and Shi Song burst into laughter. When she thought carefully about the fate of her future "wife", her cheeks were so red that they almost bled.
In this room, Xu Zhuchen still wanted to pester the old man to explain something. Han Ling and Shi Song were having a fight when there was a buzz in the other room and the city gate opened. The three of them stopped fighting and walked out of the city laughing and joking.
Tired of looking at the leaves on the city wall, they were also picked up by the wind and fell on the dusty ground, where they were trampled into the dirt by countless pairs of shoes.
This was the beginning of everything, and from this point on, they knew the ending of everything.
