On the second day after Duan Zhenghao set off to the royal city, Duan Jiu slept until Nalan Moyu lifted his quilt and said, "Heng'er, get up for breakfast, and practice martial arts with Master Li after breakfast." ”

Duan Jiu replied reluctantly and got up lazily. Duan Jiu was very distressed at first because he was born without a spirit element, but after a long time, he had to accept the fact that his son was an ordinary person. However, Duan Zhenghao did not let Duan Jiu give up his heart to become stronger, he invited the most famous martial arts master in Kaiyang City to teach Duan Jiu martial arts every morning, hoping that Duan Jiu would not be accomplished in martial arts, and he could also learn something in martial arts, at least he could have the ability to protect himself.

Duan Jiu is not averse to practicing martial arts, he is willing to learn the content handed over by Master Li every day, although he can't talk about love, but he won't deal with it perfunctorily, so Duan Jiu's physical fitness is stronger than ordinary people.

After practicing martial arts in the morning, the afternoon will be arranged to learn Yashu, that is, to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and other skills that literati and ink writers considered extremely elegant. Duan Jiu felt really bored with this part, and fell asleep every time he listened to the invited gentleman teach him. If someone else teaches him to draw bamboo, he paints cats, someone else teaches him to practice the piano, he breaks the piano, someone else teaches him to recite poems and make a pair, he ...... He was speechless.

Sometimes, Duan Jiu really slept enough, and when he got tired of practicing, he secretly fled to the city lord's mansion to play under the pretext of going to the toilet. It's not secretive, after all, there are many family members who watched him walk out of the mansion with their eyes, but they didn't dare to intercept him.

Duan Jiu escaped again on this day, he liked to go to the most prosperous Shengming Street in Kaiyang City to play, where there were stalls selling snacks, toys, jewelry, antiques, all kinds of stalls, and there were people performing acrobatics, illusions, storytelling, and singing on the street, which was extremely lively. Duan Jiu sometimes climbed onto the roof of someone else on the street, lying quietly in the sun, and listening to all kinds of shouts under the eaves was quite interesting.

"Hey, little brother, the secret treasure of mastery, a must-have manual for learning mastery, with this book, your cultivation of Lingyuan will definitely get twice the result with half the effort, grow rapidly, and the eight-rank master is just around the corner!" An old man who sold books grabbed Duan Jiu, picked up a blue cover in his hand, and wrote the four big characters of "Secret Treasure of Harness" with an ink pen, and sold it to him.

Duan Jiu shook his head, he looked at the word "mastery" on the writing and longed for it, but he touched his spirit yuan, the spirit yuan was in his lower abdomen, and he didn't feel the slightest bit of aura. This is really a disappointed old man, Duan Jiu walked away coldly.

"Hey, little brother, little brother, do you want to buy a bow and arrow? The wooden table in front of him was full of bows and arrows, but they were all small bamboo bows, which could only shoot a small rabbit and a pheasant.

Since Duan Jiu was seven years old, Duan Zhenghao would take Duan Jiu to hunt in the nearby mountains and forests every year, so that Duan Jiu could feel nature and the struggle between humans and animals, and increase his manhood.

When Duan Jiu saw this bow and arrow at this time, he remembered that at this time last year, it should have been the day when Duan Zhenghao took him to hunt. He was a little moved, he thought that his father had completely abandoned me and gone to the royal city alone, and this year he would also leave him and go hunting by himself.

Duan Jiu had made up his mind and asked, "Then how much is this bow and arrow?"

The man rubbed his hands and smiled, and said, "One silver tael is enough." ”

How did Duan Jiu know that this person clearly saw that he was a child, and wanted to cheat him out of money, and if he wanted to sell this bow and arrow to others, it would only cost five hundred yuan. Of course, Duan Jiu had no worries about food and clothing since he was a child, and he would not understand that money was not easy to come by, and one or two was only a small amount for him.

"Okay, one or two. Duan Jiu readily agreed. But when he touched the sleeves on both sides, he realized that he had no money at all. Duan Zhenghao and Nalan Moyu knew that Duan Jiuhao was going out, so in order to prevent him from buying and eating indiscriminately, they didn't give him a penny of silver.

Duan Jiu was suddenly angry, he smiled at the boss embarrassedly, and the boss had already waved his hand when he saw that Duan Jiu was overstretched, "Go, go, go, I don't have money and I still want to buy it." ”

Duan Jiu turned around helplessly, and said angrily in his heart: "Hmph, I can't make one by myself yet, what's so rare!"

Duan Jiu was about to leave, when suddenly a gentle and beautiful voice came, saying, "Boss, I want two bows and arrows, and two arrows, this is ten taels of silver, no need to look for it." ”

Duan Jiu heard that this person was so arrogant, and he was even more envious in his heart, obviously he also had such capital, but he couldn't show off like this, "You don't need to look for it". He raised his head and saw that the person in front of him was as high or low as him, and although his voice was good, the man's face was miserable. I saw that one side of her face was burned by the fire, and her face was hideous, and the other side of her face was covered with dust, and her hair was scattered, and she looked dirty. But the dress is particularly decent, although it is not brocade clothes and jade silk, but it is also a little better than ordinary people's fabric, a gray dress.

Duan Jiu's envy just now suddenly turned into sympathy, thinking that if I grew up like her, I would rather not have this generous freedom.

The man took the bow and arrow, and suddenly pushed a bow and arrow to Duan Jiu, and when he smiled, he showed his neat but black teeth, and said, "Now, here you go, let's go hunting together!"

Duan Jiu was shocked, it turned out that this person had bought two bows and arrows, and one was actually bought for him. But he didn't know this person at all, why was he so enthusiastic and bought a bow and arrow for himself? Duan Jiu didn't dare to take it.

Seeing Duan Jiu shaking her head, the girl said unhappily: "How can a big man be a mother-in-law, I will send you to you, do you want to play together." ”

Duan Jiu was told by a girl that her mother-in-law was not convinced, and she was looking forward to this hunting, so she accepted the bow and arrow, but her face was reluctant.

The girl didn't say much, walked in front and said, "Quick, come along, we have to go to the forest on the outskirts of Kaiyang City, and if we finish a little more, it will be dark until we go." ”

Duan Jiu hurriedly followed and asked, "What's your name?" My name is Duan Yiheng, thank you for your bow and arrow." ”

The girl thought for a moment and said, "You can call me whatever you want." ”

Duan Jiu felt that this girl was really funny when she spoke, so he asked, "Don't you have a name? Everyone gives their children a name after they are born, don't you have parents?"

The girl said unhappily: "Your mouth is so poisonous, you don't have parents." I just didn't want to tell you my name, so I said you could call it whatever you want, can't you hear it?"

Duan Jiu touched his head and said with a smile: "It's me who is wrong, don't be angry." Well, how about you give me a bow and arrows, and I call you a little bow?"

"Little bow? Well, don't, it's hard to hear, you can call me Xiao Yu. The girl said.

"Xiao Yu, why is this?" Duan Jiu asked.

"Well, you have to learn to look at your surroundings and guess what other people are thinking. Just like you should see this arrow on my back, with feathers on the tail of the arrow, you should guess that a girl should have seen the feathers and think that Xiao Yu is good, so call yourself Xiao Yu. The girl explained.

Duan Jiu was thoughtful, he himself did not think that the little girl's words would affect his life, in his three years of caution, he would often recall the little girl's words - to learn to observe the surrounding environment, guess the other party's thoughts and intentions.

Duan Jiu and the little girl who called herself Xiao Yu trotted all the way to the mountains and forests outside Kaiyang City, and when they arrived at the mountain forest, it was almost sunset. But Duan Jiu chatted and played so happily with the little girl that he neglected the time.

It wasn't until nightfall, when they could no longer see their prey and couldn't hunt, that Duan Jiu knew that it was not too early and that it was time for him to go back.

But when Duan Jiu was about to leave, Xiao Yu reminded him that the prey he had just caught was suitable for roasting and eating immediately. When Duan Jiu heard that Xiao Yu was going to roast his prey in the forest, he instantly salivated, and said, "Then I'll stay and roast with you, after roasting, how about you go back to Duan Mansion with me?"

Xiao Yu shook his head and said, "I don't want to go with you, I'll sleep on the mountain tonight." ”

Duan Jiu was rejected and felt a little lost. But when Xiao Yu took out the fire in his sleeve and lit a fire, Duan Jiu saw the raging fire and became excited again.

They skewered a rabbit and a pheasant from wood and roasted them on the fire. At first, the smell of burnt feathers filled the air, but it soon changed to the smell of meat.

After the two of them divided the rabbit and the pheasant in half and finished eating, Duan Jiu reluctantly said goodbye to Xiao Yu and asked, "Can I still look for you on Shengming Street or here tomorrow?"

Xiao Yu shook his head and said, "No, tomorrow I may not be here or in Kaiyang City." ”

"Then when are you coming back?" Duan Jiu asked.

"I don't know. Xiao Yu replied.

"Then if you come to Kaiyang City, you must go to Duan Mansion to find me. If you don't know the way, you can call a carriage and I'll pay for you when it arrives. Duan Jiu said.

Xiao Yu smiled, and the yellow firelight hit her face with indistinguishable facial features, which looked particularly terrifying. But Duan Jiu didn't realize it at all, because he thought Xiao Yu was an interesting person.

That night, Duan Jiu entered Kaiyang City and ran all the way back to Duan's mansion.

Far away, he saw the direction of Duan Mansion blazing into the sky, and the yellow light was the same as the fire that had just been lit.

Duan Jiuyou had an ominous premonition, and he ran faster and faster. As he got closer to the sky-high fire, he felt his chest become more and more depressed, as if a huge hand had reached out from heaven to hold him down.

"No, it won't, it can't ......"

Duan Jiu kept telling himself in his heart that the place where the fire caught fire could not be the Duan Mansion, the mother could not have an accident, and the Duan family could not have an accident, but the closer the distance became, the reality was getting closer and closer.

When he stopped in front of the Duan Mansion, he saw the raging fire and lost his mind. While crying "Mother", he wanted to rush into the fire, but with a "whoosh!", the fire suddenly burst out, and the flames gushed out, rushing him away and falling to the ground.

The fire became more and more rapid, and in an instant, with a loud "boom!", the entire Duan Mansion collapsed......

Duan Jiu completely knelt on the ground, hammering the ground and screaming at the fire, "Mother! mother!"

This voice "Niang" was heartbreaking, as if she wanted to turn the world upside down. This sound "Niang" pierced the night sky, rushed into the sky, and rushed towards the relentless fire.

"Mother-"