There is heavy snow and the north wind is full of bows and knives.
When he woke up, Qiu Shui saw through the window that the firewood pile outside the house was wrapped in thick snow. The sky was dark and he couldn't guess what time it was. Sure enough, he couldn't sleep well because he had something on his mind. He straightened the mattress, Qiu Shui tied the cloth bag under the pillow into a tight knot, which contained the steamed buns that had been cooked on the stove for a long time last night, and then stared at the wall with solemn eyes. That movable brick contains a year's hard work and a total of sixteen taels of silver. When I was delivering sheep to the members last year, I passed by the Damo Iron Shop and asked about the price. A good-quality wrought iron knife costs twenty. Two, a cheap knife with a thinner blade is enough. Thirteen taels are enough. Use the remaining three taels for forty yuan to get a bowl of braised lamb tripe at "Po's Lamb Soup" with half a bottle of braised rice and the steamed buns baked last night. That's it. Too gluttonous. With the rest, I bought two bottles of Xiaoshao, with the rest I bought a pound of glutinous rice and osmanthus cake, and with the rest I bought a few pounds of red peanuts...
But Qiu Shui had seen a sword worth thirteen taels of silver, and it was far different from the one carried by the Jianghu man in the inn. The sword of twenty taels had a much wider blade and black lines on the handle, which was very beautiful. If you buy a good one, don't expect not only the braised lamb tripe, but also the shortfall of four taels that cannot be made up. Qiu Shui thought that since he wanted to be a "man in the world", he had to carry that good knife. Taking a deep breath, it seemed that As if he had made a lot of determination, Qiu Shui put the cloth bag on his back, took out the silver from the cracks in the bricks, went out and led a half-grown sheep, and set off towards the larger town in the dust.
When we arrived at the town, the snow had stopped, and the sun shone brightly on the snow, and bursts of smoke came out of a big pot at Po Li's stall of mutton soup. The fragrance had already drifted around the market, and the autumn water led the sheep straight to the east. Arriving at Damo's iron shop, the old blacksmith smiled half-heartedly when he saw Qiu Shui.
"Hey, have you decided to buy it?"
"Bought"!
"Twenty taels, I'll give you a black donkey-skin sharpening cloth."
"Uncle, I'm only sixteen taels. Can I hitch a ride on this sheep?"
The old man was silent for a moment and said casually: "Okay, we just opened today, I'll give you a cheap deal."
Qiu Shui had an indescribable feeling at this moment. On the one hand, he was happy to finally get the knife he had longed for. On the other hand, the smell of Granny Li's haggis soup suddenly amplified a hundred times and poured into Qiu Shui after Qiu Shui took out all his money. of the nasal cavity. There is also the aroma of soju in the middle. Our Qiu Shui is a young man with a lot of backbone and a bit of pretentiousness, so he turned his face and swallowed hard, not wanting others to see through his mind.
At the same time, there were some people at the market who had been looking at our idle young man with great interest from the very beginning. Please imagine that our Qiu Shui's behavior is actually very unreasonable, because the people who come to the iron shop to buy weapons are real "jianghu people". These people are similar to our sheep herding Qiu Shui in terms of appearance and temperament. The difference is so huge that I really can’t imagine what a young sheepherder would do with an expensive knife.
The knife had to wait three days to be ready. Qiu Shui only brought one day's rations, and he didn't have a place to stay at night. The mood of looking forward to becoming a Jianghu man couldn't fill his stomach. Now he had to find some odd jobs to meet the needs of food and clothing. This was Qiu Shui's insistence. One of the reasons why I want to be a Jianghu person is because I have heard from people who have seen the world that Jianghu people have a place to live wherever they go, have endless amounts of wine to drink, and are surrounded by women wearing silk ribbons. Thinking of this, Qiu Shui became motivated again.
Let’s deal with the immediate problem first. You can live in the woodshed of Yuan Wai’s house. Qiu Shui is familiar with the housekeeper of Ma Yuan’s house because he sends sheep to Yuan Wai all year round. No, I can’t say anything to ask for help. But there are no other contacts here. Although most of the people in the town look familiar, they are just ordinary business relationships. It costs money to stay in an inn or a hotel. At this time, Qiu Shui realized the importance of money for the first time. In this town, it's not a problem to stay in anyone's house for a night, but here, the bustling market has no room for Qiu Shui. Just when the air mixed with the smell of mutton soup filled Qiu Shui's body and made his thinking slow, a middle-aged man walked out of the crowd. Qiu Shui could tell at a glance that he was the one carrying the knife. "Humans", aha, things are different now, Qiu Shui thought to himself, now I am just like him, and we happened to meet here, why not follow him from afar, and understand in advance the schedule status of us "Juniors" outside. . So Qiu Shui tightened the blue-gray soft couch towel on her head and followed closely behind the "Jianghu people"...
