On the outskirts of Nancheng District, Nanshan County, near the private school, under the hazy moonlight, dotted with seven or eight stars, the breeze is gentle, accompanied by a little drizzle that has no effect, there are one or two cicadas and frogs chirping in the field;

"The bright moon is not frightening, and the breeze is chirping cicadas in the middle of the night. The fragrance of rice flowers says that there is a good year, and the sound of frogs is heard. ”

After crossing the small bridge, there is the entrance of the private school, and it comes from the private school

"Seven or eight stars in the sky, two or three points of rain in front of the mountain. In the old days, at the edge of the forest of the Maodian Society, the road turned to the river bridge and suddenly saw it. ”

Immediately after that, the door of the private school opened at the sound of the last sentence, and I saw a white-bearded old man, who else could this white-bearded old man have besides Mr. Qi? He saw the person who came and said with some disdain: "Who is my Tao? It turns out to be you, a stinky old Taoist!"

As soon as these words came out, it instantly made people understand that the two knew each other and were very familiar, but this relationship didn't seem to deal with each other.

The old Taoist priest was not angry, he bypassed him and entered the private school, sat down on the table and chair in the pavilion in the courtyard, picked up the wine jug and poured it into the cup, drank two or three glasses, the pot was empty, looked at Mr. Qi who closed the door and turned back, and said: "Old Qi, you are too uninteresting, right? ”

Mr. Qi also said angrily: "I didn't call you here, you came uninvited." He added: "And I'm a 100-year-old wine, and I don't even want to drink it, so you ······."

This Mr. Qi looked in pain, as if he wanted his life.

Blowing his beard and staring at the old Taoist priest, he thought that it would be no good to see this old Taoist priest coming, and he was still feeling sorry for his little bit of a hundred years of aging;

The old Taoist priest said with relief: "Okay, old man, isn't it just a little bit of wine!

Mr. Qi wanted to say something, but he felt that he had forgotten it, in other words: "What are you doing with me today?"

The old Taoist priest got serious and said, "Old man, my task is complete, I have to go first." ”

Mr. Qi looked at the old Taoist priest and asked, "You told him?"

The old Taoist priest smiled: "Yes, it is not. ”

Mr. Qi didn't understand what he meant, so he asked, "What do you mean by being considered or not?"

The old Taoist priest said: "Didn't you always want him to be involved? Do you want to help him change his life? But I also want to complete my task, no, I just gave him a hexagram, as for the back, whether you can stop him or not, it's up to you." He added: "As for how he chooses, I still believe that his fate has been decided, and it is not for you and me to change." I advise you to do what you can, so as not to cause karma here. Hearing this, Mr. Qi was silent, as if he had acquiesced.

I saw that Mr. Qi got up and entered the room and took out a jar of wine. With a reluctant face, he put it in front of the old Taoist priest and said, "Well, that's all there is left, it's all for you." ”

Mr. Qi finally got a generous time, obviously not for no reason, this is to see off the old Taoist.

The old Taoist priest said, "Okay, okay, isn't it just a jar of wine? ”

Mr. Qi pursed his mouth, obviously in pain, and said, "I don't want to see you again." ”

The old Taoist priest knew that if they could meet again, it would not be so simple here, so this old man Qi said this. After all, their tasks are different, and this old man Qi can not complete it, but when this life is counted, he can't help but not complete it. The old Taoist priest drank all of Mr. Qi's wine, left the private school, and said to himself:

"Count death, live Hades, a hexagram of yin and yang determines life and death, but the dust is at ease. After today, there will be no more 'death counting' in the world. ”

After saying that, the old Taoist priest disappeared into the moonlight.

The next day, early in the morning, at the gate near Shenjia Hutong, a group of people gathered around, as if they were watching something lively, and a few people from the government checked it, but they didn't find any fatal injuries, and there were no signs of poisoning, so it's hard to say what the reason is.

Shen Wenqiu, who had originally brought two pots of wine and wanted to consult the old Taoist priest again, saw this scene and told the official that since this person did not die unexpectedly, let him be buried! The official felt that someone had kindly buried him, and the yamen had saved a sum of money for the burial, so of course he was extremely happy.

At this time, in front of the grave in the wilderness, Shen Wenqiu sprinkled the wine in front of the grave, and muttered to himself: "I wanted Mr. to explain the hexagram for me, but I never thought of seeing you again today, it is already a separation between heaven and man, yesterday, seeing that Mr. ate wine and ate so happily, and thought that he was also a good wine person, these two bottles of wine should be regarded as seeing off Mr. "If you are "fatal" here, you will definitely scold Shen Wenqiu, you are a loser.

In the afternoon, in the private school, there were two bottles of good wine on the desk, an old man and a young man sat opposite each other, and Mr. Qi muttered in his mouth:

"The champion is a son of the world, but it is troubled and far away;

The name of Sun Mountain is seen through, and the Yue Nu Lake meets the red face;

Hongyan has become a lonely widow, so that the king has mercy and fate;

Isn't it a good time to love the mountains and rivers, and a leisurely year;

The wife was not a thing in the pool, and she almost wanted the king's life;

The sword starts from the slaughter of Rong, and it is not my intention to bring disaster to the people;

However, heaven and earth are not benevolent and righteous, and they change their lives against the sky;

is the most proud and angry, full of beautiful women;

I am not afraid of the gains and losses of floating life, and I am most afraid of burning my heart. ”

The young man said: "Sir, I have obtained this hexagram, and I have never solved it, and Mr. Fortune has already driven west." ”

Mr. Qi said: "He just said this and nothing else. ”

Shen Wenqiu said: "There is nothing else, I don't know if Mr. can unravel it, the student is stupid, and only half of the hexagram is solved." ”

Mr. Qi said, "Oh, let's hear it. ”

Shen Wenqiu said: "This 'champion is the son of the world, but it is too troubled to go far from the Yellow Gate' means that I could have been admitted to the champion Guangzong Yaozu when I entered Beijing this time, but because I offended people who should not be offended, I lost the opportunity to be an official." ”

Mr. Qi stroked his gray beard, nodded and said, "Yes, continue." ”

"'The name of the Sun Mountain is seen through, and the red face in the Yue Nu Lake' means that I don't care so much about fame at all, and I will meet the person I like on the shore of the Yue Nu Lake;' The red face has become a lonely person, so that the king has mercy and the dust is fate' means that the person I like has become a lonely person, and I sympathize with her and bring her home and even get married; 'Isn't it a good time to love the mountains and rivers, a good time to relax for a year' is to say that I have no real ambition to travel in the mountains and rivers, and I wasted a year's time in vain. Shen Wenqiu analyzed in an orderly manner;

Mr. Qi nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, you go on." ”

Shen Wenqiu said: "Sir, the students don't understand the second half of the hexagram, why my wife is not an ordinary person, why she almost killed me, and what does the sword in the back have to do with me as a scholar, and the others are even more incomprehensible." ”

Mr. Qi said: "It's normal that you don't understand, even if it's hard for me to say a thing or two, after all, this metaphysical trick is not something you and I can guess." ”

Shen Wenqiu asked, "Since this hexagram can't be solved, how can I crack it?" ”

Mr. Qi said: "There are two ways to do this, one is to avoid the hexagram, since the 'fortune of death' has told you, I think it is to pull you, just like he said, 'the dying person gets a hexagram, wait for the person who has not yet died'; ”

Shen Wenqiu asked, "How do students avoid hexagrams?"

Mr. Qi said: "Give up this opportunity to enter Beijing to catch the exam, and the hexagram will naturally be broken." ”

Of course, Shen Wenqiu knew that he could avoid the hexagram by giving up the exam, but he was inevitably a little unwilling, and at the same time a little resolute, and said, "Student, today is to resign to Mr. What this means is that I don't want to give up this opportunity to catch the exam, because if I give up, it means that I will have to wait for another three years;

Mr. Qi didn't want him to answer the hexagram, so he persuaded him: "You are only sixteen years old, what does it matter if you wait for another three years, this kind of thing is a fate, I would rather believe it than believe it!"

Shen Wenqiu smiled and said, "Sir, do you believe in fate?"

Mr. Qi was stunned by his question, remembering that last night, he also refuted the old Taoist priest's matter in this way, and said: "Believe it, and don't believe it." ”

"In that case, how can Mr. keep me, and how can I make students believe in fate?" Shen Wenqiu asked one after another;

Mr. Qi was speechless for a while, and he didn't know how to persuade him, so he asked rhetorically: "Then how do you make me not believe that my fate is determined for a few days, and how can you let me go to Kyoto to take the exam with peace of mind." ”

Shen Wenqiu said: "Since you and I can't convince each other, it's better to do this, this way of Go was taught to me by Mr., and I have never won against Mr., why don't I make a bet, if I win, Mr. will let me enter Beijing; if I lose, how about listening to Mr.?"

Mr. Qi thought for a while, and said in his heart, "It seems that this old Taoist priest also miscalculated, today, I will break your fate, and see how you blow it in the future." I saw Mr. Qi say quietly: "It's okay." ”

Shen Wenqiu said with joy in his heart: "Old man, you have been fooled, you really think that I can't win against you, I just don't believe in this fate, I want to break it in response to the hexagram." Of course, these words, he will definitely not say.

At this time, Mr. Qi's brows were tightly locked, thinking why the young man's play today was so aggressive, and he didn't seem to think about it, did he decide to avoid the hexagram and deliberately admit defeat? Is it still necessary for him to be cautious? But is this really the case?

Originally, Shen Wenqiu had become a dead end, but as soon as he went down, this chess game was all alive again; this Mr. Qi was stunned, what was going on, his brain couldn't turn for a while, Shen Wenqiu said: "Sir, I don't know how about the student breaking the hexagram like this?"

Mr. Qi suddenly realized and said with a smile: "It is wonderful to put it in the place of death and then live." I lost, maybe you're right, even if there is a fate, there will be a catastrophe. ”

The two talked about some university questions about governing the world, and Shen Wenqiu resigned to Mr. Qi.

A few days later, a carriage was parked in front of Shen's house, and a family was standing at the door, and Mrs. Shen touched her tears and said, "How long will it take to come back and leave again." Otherwise, don't go, wait another three years. There was some reluctance in the tone, and there was also some resentment;

Shen Wenqiu wanted to say something comforting, but he heard Shen Facai say: "What do women and Taoists know, this is a big matter for the glory of the ancestors, how can you say that if you don't go, you won't go?"

Mrs. Shen argued: "What do you know, the mother of the son is worried, not to mention that the saint has said that his parents are not far away." ”

Shen Facai didn't have much culture, so he said something according to his own thoughts: "How should the husband be in the world." Words.

Shen Wenqiu saw that the two were arguing, and thought to himself, "Do I go out or you go out!" Okay, you are true love, I'm just an accident, I'll go, okay!" A headache said: "Dad, mother, you are arguing slowly, I'll go first." ”

The two were still arguing about whether to enter Beijing to take the exam, and the servant Fu Bo had already driven Shen Wenqiu away in a carriage.