In the early morning of March, a layer of dew on the grass and leaves is full and crystalline, like the Milky Way stars falling into the mortal world last night.

Wisps of morning light pierced through the clouds on the horizon, shooting out thousands of golden rays to the earth, and the dew embedded in the leaves and grass suddenly shimmered with colorful colors, crumbling in the mountain wind.

A fast horse galloped north like an arrow off the string on the ancient road in the south of the Yangtze River, and the sound of the horse's hooves was like the sound of war drums on the battlefield, which was extremely incongruous with the birds and flowers in the spring.

On the horse was a young man who looked to be twenty-five or sixteen years old, his eyes were blazing ahead, his expression was a little stern and anxious, he was dressed lightly, and he was dressed in fresh clothes, and he knew at a glance that he was not an ordinary person.

At this time, although the spring is cold and the cold is still there, the young man on the horse is sweating and a little tired, and it can be seen that he has gone through a long journey and did not rest last night.

"Brother, where is this place?"

When the young man came to a fork in the road, he did not know which way to go, and as he was hesitating, a few peasants who had come out early in the morning came not far ahead, so they stopped to inquire about the path.

"This is the boundary of Jingzhou, where is the strong man going?" A few peasants looked up at the dusty young man and replied.

"How can you still be in Jingzhou after running for a few days? It seems that March 15 will not be able to catch up with Luoyang. The young man did not immediately answer the elder brother's words, but immediately muttered to himself, with a look of embarrassment on his face, after which he dismounted, walked to several peasants and saluted respectfully, and asked, "May I ask the elder brother, which road leads to Yuzhou?" ”

The old brother looked the young man up and down, and replied: "Both roads can lead to Yuzhou, and the direction is not wrong, but the right is the main road, and the itinerary may take a few more days, and the left is a short road that can save a few days of fatigue." But the path is difficult, and there are tigers on the way, robbers blocking the way, and the strong man should take the road alone! ”

"Thank you brother for your advice, I will say goodbye!"

The young man stepped on horseback and looked up into the distance, the sun had climbed to the top of the mountain, and the mountains in the distance were hazy and mysterious, as if revealing a murderous aura.

The young man on the horse hesitated for a moment, as the old brother said just now, there are often fierce tigers in the distant mountains and forests, robbers are rampant, and it is bound to be dangerous and abnormal if you take the path. There must be a lot of pedestrians on the main road, and it is relatively much safer.

"Drive!"

The young man waved his whip and headed in the direction of the road, but he didn't go far when he suddenly remembered the summoning order in his arms, which clearly stated the date and the order that he must arrive in Luoyang before the fifteenth.

Today is the fifth day of the third month, which means that he must rush to Luoyang within ten days, otherwise the saint will be angry, and his life may be lost.

The holy decree is greater than the sky, even if he dies in the mouth of a tiger and under the knife of a bandit, then he will not fail in his mission and live up to his holy grace.

I think that when I studied under the head of the Wudang faction, I practiced in the mountains for ten years with my master, learned a good kung fu, was proficient in the subtlety of Wudang swordsmanship and Tai Chi exercises, and experienced no less than 100 battles of life and death.

When the young man thought of this, he turned the horse's head and struck it hard on the horse's buttocks, and the horse spread its hooves and went away on the path.

The spring sun was warm, but the young man's mouth was dry, and he was already sleepy and hungry from the run.

He reached out and touched the baggage, which had nothing to satisfy his hunger except for a few changes of clothes, and he felt a little depressed.

The sun was gradually turning west, and there were no people in front of and behind him, which made the young man regret a little, although he could save a lot of time by walking the path, but he did not have enough food with him, wouldn't he starve to death in the mountains?

There was no turning back from the bow, so the young man had no choice but to continue to pat his horse and move forward, and as he was marching, there was a flag faintly fluttering at the foot of the mountain in front of him, on which was written the word "wine".

The flag with the word "wine" written on it fluttered in the wind and stood out in the sun. For the hungry, this banner is full of irresistible temptations.

This temptation is no less than the sight of a candle in the darkness of a man walking in darkness; It's no less than seeing an oasis while crawling through the desert.

"How can there be a restaurant in such a remote place?"

The young man muttered to himself, his heart doubtful but his eyes lit up with joy. Don't care about him, go there and have a full meal first. The young man galloped towards the restaurant......

The sound of horses' hooves echoed in the valley, and the rhythmic percussion was particularly loud, like a song that lingered in the valley. A guy in the restaurant had already heard the sound.

"Is the guest officer sharpening or staying in the hotel?"

"It's still early in the morning, I'm hungry, I'm here to eat."

The young man turned over and dismounted, handed the horse rope to the man, looked up at the inn in front of him, and secretly wondered in his heart, such a remote place, since there is such a large inn, it can almost be compared with the inns on the streets of the city.

When I entered the inn, the hall was already full of people, but the strange thing was that none of them were old or young or women, almost all of them were young men of the same color, and these people were dressed in different ways, some were dressed as merchants, some were dressed as scholars, and of course some were dressed as peasants.

There are gorgeously dressed people, there are also people in ragged clothes, there are oily powdery faces and yellow muscles, you can't talk about them all.

The young man subconsciously looked around and chuckled in his heart. When the people in the living room saw someone coming in, they all looked at the young man who had come in.

The young man remained silent, rested his right hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, walked to a deserted table and sat down.

"What does the guest want?"

A shopkeeper walked over, removed a rag from his shoulder, wiped it on the table, and wiped his sweat on his head. The shopkeeper's series of actions made the young man seem to smell a greasy smell and the smell of sweat.

"A plate of beef, a side dish, and a bucket of rice."

"Okay!" The guy at the shop agreed, and then asked, "Don't you want to drink?" The wine in the small shop is famous for its 10-year pure wine. ”

"No, that's all!" The young man replied casually, his eyes not looking at the shopkeeper, but placing his baggage and a sword on the table. The guy seemed a little bored, and he didn't say much and walked away.

"Hey! Little two, another bowl of boiling water. The young man shouted again at the departing fellow.

Before the food was served, the young man glanced around to see if there was anything unusual about the people in the living room, the guests were all bowing their heads to eat, drink, or chat, and everything seemed to be normal, which made the young man breathe a sigh of relief, perhaps too sensitive when he first came in.

Suddenly, the young man spotted a table diagonally across from him, as if a gaze was watching him, and the young man pretended to look at it unintentionally, just opposite the gaze that was looking at him.

The man sitting diagonally across from him, when he saw the young man looking at him, did not look away, but hooked the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a seemingly smiling but not smiling expression.

There are several plates of dishes on his table, and what is even more striking is a wine jar on the table, which can hold about five catties of liquor. At this time, the man's face was already flushed, and his face was peachy, and he could see that he had drunk a lot.

"It turned out to be a drunken drunkard." The young man muttered to himself, and then withdrew his gaze from the man.

After a while, the shopkeeper finished the meal, and the young man picked up his chopsticks and began to eat them. For the past two days, I have been on the road non-stop, eating dry food, and I have long been hungry.

"This brother, why don't you drink? I've got some wine here, would you like some of it? ”

A voice was like dew dropping bamboo leaves, and it came like a trickle of water, and the young man turned his head to look, only to see that the person who was looking at him just now was already holding a jar of old wine, and came to the young man's table without saying anything, put the wine jar on the table, and the person sat down unceremoniously, looking at the young man with a smile.

The young man thought to himself: This man is indeed drunk, so leave him alone for now. So he replied lightly: "I'm sorry, I don't drink in the next place, please go away!" ”

The man was not annoyed when he heard this, but he was a little embarrassed, he paused slightly, and said softly: "Hey, I just saw you for a long time, and I found that you are a good person, I see people quite accurately, don't drive me away." ”

The young man heard that the man was speaking clearly and eloquently, and that he did not look like a drunken person, so he raised his eyebrows and carefully examined the uninvited guest sitting opposite.

I saw that his eyebrows were clear and beautiful, a pair of big eyes that were a little red from drinking, bright and bright, and his white and red face seemed to be in full bloom. Dressed as a boy, although he looks like a man on the surface, his beautiful appearance reveals a bit of a skirt.

What was even more suspicious was that his voice was as clear as a woman's voice, which made the young man puzzled.

"Are you male or female?"

The man smiled and replied, "Brother Ren saw which woman traveling alone?" Brother, of course I'm a man. ”

The young man saw that the person who came was not malicious, but on the contrary, he had the intention of getting closer, so it was not easy to keep the person thousands of miles away. He likes to make friends in his life, but there are conditions for making friends, that is, he never makes friends with mediocre and incompetent people, he likes heroes and heroes, at least he should be a chivalrous man.

Originally, I am not those incompetent, as the saying goes, things gather by like, people are divided by groups, and heroes only cherish heroes.

The person in front of him looks refreshing and capable, although he doesn't know who he is, but his appearance is not annoying, on the contrary, it is a little pleasing to the eye.

The young man smiled at the man, and welcomed him, and when the man saw the young man smiling, he was immediately overjoyed, and picked up the jar and was about to pour wine for the young man.

"Brother Ren, let's drink a bowl, even if we know each other, can we?"

The young man smiled again, and did not refuse but did not take the wine handed by the man, he would drink, but the principle was not to drink with strangers, and not to mention that he did not want to drink and make a mistake while he was in a hurry.

"Brother Tai, why do you have to know each other when we meet, brother, can I poison the wine?"

The people who came called "Brother Ren" for a while, and "Brother Tai" for a while, which made the young man laugh and stretched out his hand to take the wine. He didn't suspect that the wine was poisoned, and he was the same as the man just said, he was very accurate in seeing people, and the person sitting opposite him was not the bad guy that people often say. What's more, they have never been ignorant in their lives, and they have no grievances, so why should he harm him?

"Okay, it's better to be respectful than to obey your fate, and I'll accompany my brother to drink a bowl in the future."

"That's right."

The man laughed: "Brother, I don't like men cowering and twisting like a girl!" ”

After three bowls of wine, the man talked more, and the topic was opened, although he was a little suspicious of talking, but he did not have half a sentence of wine and out-of-the-ordinary words, he was still gentle and polite.

"After talking for a long time, dare to ask Brother Ren's name!"