Chapter II

Since childhood, Dang Feidao has not had to suffer from the fatigue of doing business under the protection of the party, but because of this, he lacks practical experience, and all knowledge and experience are only obtained from books and lectures by ordinary elders. The farthest gate is only the provincial capital of this province, and everything is unknown.

It's been a month since I left the village, wandering around aimlessly, and unconsciously came to the land of Sichuan and Shu. On the way to the mountain, I found a small inn to stay in for a while, the inn was small with only a few rooms, and it was full of old scenes, the moth-eaten wood was old to gray, there were worn furniture everywhere, and the bed was also supported by a few mud bricks with broken feet.

The shopkeeper was a dry old man, who walked slowly and staggeringly, as if a light wind could blow him down, and his feet trembled as he walked. Dang Feidao stood up and wanted to support the old man, for fear that he would not be able to stand on his feet and fall, but the old man did not appreciate it and deliberately avoided signaling that he did not need to be supported, and the dry old man said in a dry voice: "What do you want to eat, young man? Although there are no delicacies from the mountains and seas here, there are still many kinds of things that can fill your stomach." ”

"Then just have something to fill your stomach" Dang Feidao didn't dare to order any more dishes, looking at this weak old man, I was afraid that cooking would be a big problem. In this small inn in the middle of the mountains, there is only one old man running it, which makes Dang Feidao feel very strange, and he can't help but ask curiously: "Old shop, are you alone in this shop?"

During the questioning, the old man had tried his best to pick up the kitchen knife with both hands, and just wanted to chop vegetables and was out of breath, his weak hands could not hold the kitchen knife and fell on the cutting board. Dang Feidao said worriedly: "Why don't you let me do it......?"

"Shut up, little ghost, you're underestimating me. Without waiting for Dang Feidao to finish speaking, the old man scolded angrily: "Look at it, little ghost, don't underestimate me." The old man took out a piece of dried bacon, and cut it all at once, neatly and neatly, each slice was the same size, and he couldn't even see the knife technique.

Dang Feidao stared blankly, unable to think of how the old man who couldn't walk steadily just now finished cutting this bacon neatly. The old man looked at Dang Feidao's dull gaze, Dang Feidao smirked embarrassedly, and the old man asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Dang Feidao replied ashamedly: "I still want to help you, but I didn't expect the old shopkeeper to be a master of the world, but it's a pity that I didn't see your amazing knife skills." ”

"Hahaha" The old man laughed a few times and said: "Young man, even if you see it clearly, you can't learn it, this is the old man's original hand shaking knife skill, and you can't learn it if you don't shake your hands." ”

"Hand shaking?" Dang Feidao suddenly realized, it turned out that he used hand shaking to cut vegetables, so that even if he didn't have too much strength, he could use his skill to cut them perfectly. Dang Feidao admired: "The old shopkeeper is really a god. ”

"I don't dare to be a god, practice makes perfect. The old man replied to the previous question: "There are actually two people in our shop, I am a bad old man, no matter how great my ability, it is impossible to live alone, my disobedient granddaughter, these days I insist on going to the provincial capital to see what five envoys and thirteen monarchs talk about? It is said that this is the capital for the current emperor to see, the little girl does not know the height of the sky and the thickness of the earth and goes to mix blindly, there are many officials and nobles everywhere, who accidentally offends someone, what should I do?"

Dang Fei Dao absolutely forbade Shinto Buddhism since he was a child because of his father's factors, and said that Dangjia Village has always only believed in power, fame and utilitarianism, and did not believe in gods, Buddhas, immortals and ghosts. In fact, there is also a great desire for knowledge in the heart of the Dang Fei Dao, some of whom are curious and interested in unknown things because of absolute prohibition, and some of them are because of their father's unswerving dedication to this until death, and more because they want to understand what the Tao is and whether the Tao can bring true love to people as my father said. Thinking that the people who participated in the discussion were all big officials and wealthy people, and there must be a lot of business opportunities among them, it was better than wandering around aimlessly these days, and the party decided to participate in the discussion.

Dang Feidao asked, "What does this argument mean?"

"Don't you know this?" the old man explained: "On the Tao is to debate and explain the teachings of the Tao in order to spread Taoist culture, and at the same time to show the cultivation and Taoism of the Daoist masters. To put it simply, the gods and sticks are everywhere to promote their skills and make themselves more and more famous, so as to improve their identity value. ”

"In this way, the Taoist arguments are quite similar to the business practices of our party's villages, and the Taoist arguments are more sophisticated, is this the true way?" asked Dang Feidao thoughtfully.

"I don't know, I haven't seen the true gods and false ghosts. I only know these things, and every time I come to talk about them, those officials will find all kinds of reasons to come to our door to collect our hard-earned money. The old man said angrily.

Seeing that the old man was so angry, Dang Feidao didn't want to say any more. The search for the Tao in my heart has deepened, what is the Tao? Is the way of the Tao the truth? The way of the Tao is not the true way, then what is the true way? The meaning of asking the question in the heart is even more profound in the heart.

The next day, after Dang Feidao said goodbye to the old man in the store, he hired a small carriage in front of the store and set off for the provincial capital of Sichuan and Shu. The old man of the dry shopkeeper was shocked when he saw Dang Feidao obediently sitting in the carriage in front of the store: "Carriage! Those evil bandits who eat people and don't spit out bones in Tieniu Village have come out to plunder the goods again, young man, you are so good, you actually fell into the hands of this group of villains, young man, you ask for more blessings, may God bless good people." The old man felt guilty that he had not been reminded before and that he did not dare to tell now, and the fear of the Iron Bull Village made him dare not think anything. Iron Bull Village is the overlord of this area, and they have a rule that as long as the locals don't meddle in their affairs, they are not allowed to infringe on the locals. For those outsiders who have to do coolies after paying the money, if they encounter a person who resists, they will kill them directly, killing them will not waste the flesh and skin of that person, peeling them, separating bones and meat, or stewing soup or dried meat, they prefer to roast a large piece of meat under wine. However, they never ask for ransom like their families, and it is said that these people never leave the area.

From the avenue to the trail, and then from the trail to the mountain, the driver looked at such a quiet customer, and his face was full of sinister and proud. Dang Feidao bought a copy of the Tao Te Ching from the old store and read it for a morning, and the absolute banned books in Dangjia Village were even more forbidden books for themselves, and now they are still seen by Dang Feidao. Dang Feidao found that not only did there be no scriptures and immortals and Buddhas in this book, but most of them were the principles of how to behave in the world, and there were some classic stories. Legend has it that this book is the work of Lao Tzu, who was respected as the Taoist ancestor Taishang Lao Jun in the Spring and Autumn Period, and someone wrote such a great work thousands of years ago, lamenting the profundity of Taoist culture, and at the same time revering Lao Tzu.

Dang Feidao poked his head out and took a breath, and found that the surrounding area was surrounded by mountain paths deep in the mountains and mountains, and the carriage was still running. Dang Feidao asked suspiciously: "Coachman, why is this road so strange?

The coachman replied skillfully: "Don't worry, you outsiders don't know this road, and it is the closest to go to the provincial capital, so you can save a lot of distance, so that you can spend less money, fast and economical." ”

Dang Feidao has never been far away, so he naturally doesn't know the danger, and he doesn't think much about it, so he takes out the "Tao Te Ching" and reads it carefully. Seeing that he didn't ask much, the coachman was afraid that something would happen and he hurried his horse, so the carriage sped up and galloped towards a mountain that resembled a bull's head in the distance.

After a bump, Dang Feidao probed again, and found that the carriage was heading towards the mountain, and there was no sign of entering the provincial capital, and the more he looked, the more wrong it became. Dang Feidao hurriedly called the coachman a few times, but there was no answer, and he hurriedly stopped loudly. The coachman didn't mean to stop, but sped up with another whip, and heard the coachman's voice: "Accept your fate, pig, you have entered our territory." Hahaha, earn another meat ticket. ”

Dang Feidao had never stepped on such a thing, and he was extremely flustered, but he still forced his fear so that he had to calm down and find a way to survive.

In the panic, he couldn't think of a good way, Dang Feidao grabbed the coachman's neck with both hands, the coachman hurriedly drew a knife and waved, and Dang Feidao was so frightened that he hurriedly hid back in the carriage. The big knife actually made a hole in the horse's buttocks, and the horse's blood gushed out and struggled frantically, and the carriage staggered from side to side. The coachman tried to stabilize the horse, and on the other hand, he wanted to hack the party to death, but the carriage was shaky and could not even sit steadily, let alone do other things.

Dang Feidao didn't care about taking advantage of the situation to kick the coachman violently, the coachman was a practitioner and didn't fall after being kicked, and his hands tightly grasped the frame of the carriage and he stood up again. The coachman was so angry that he grabbed the frame with one hand and pulled out his big knife with the other, his face full of anger and his eyes were red, and he was about to slash at him. The horses broke free from their reins and galloped away, and the carriage rolled on its side down the hill. The coachman was pierced through the heart by his own knife in the tumble, and Dang Feidao hid in the carriage and successfully escaped death by protecting his head with clothes and luggage.

Climbed out of the carriage and looked at the tragic death of the coachman, glad that he did not die, but at the same time felt afraid of the sinister world, and his whole body was soft and lay directly on the weeds to rest. In a blink of an eye, it was night, and suddenly the surrounding noise was getting closer and closer, and Dang Feidao suddenly remembered that this was their territory, and couldn't help but secretly curse himself for not running away quickly and thinking about resting, panicking and scurrying into the mountains and forests.

"Report, the owner of the village, Bingqi died by the side of the carriage. "A little bandit on foot reported to the big man who was leading the horse.

"It's dead, it's a fucking waste, and one less good foot strength, drag it down and cook it" The leader of the village scolded: "That damn pig must not have run far, everyone will search for me." ”

The bandits searched all around, Dang Feidao ran wildly to the foot of the mountain, and the torches held by the bandits in the distance were getting closer and closer, and they got into the mess of dead grass and rotten leaves in a hurry. A fat and bear-like bandit chased after him, ran past Dang Feidao, crushed by hundreds of catties of weight, and the pain spread throughout his body so that he almost screamed, and the strong desire to survive made him absolutely unable to make a sound. The bandit looked around and searched again, and repeatedly pressed over Dang Feidao's body three times, Dang Feidao gritted his teeth and didn't move, seeing that the search here was fruitless, the bandit left in a huff.

The bandits searched until midnight and finally gave up returning to the village, they left Dang Feidao for a long time and lay there still did not dare to move, until the early morning Dang Feidao carefully got up and looked around, carefully left, the body was full of pain, and the heart was even more afraid, and he did not dare to stop, afraid that the bandits would catch up again. After walking for nearly four hours, I finally walked to the avenue, my legs and feet were tired and weak, and I fell down in a hurry due to lack of physical strength, so I simply lay down on the ground to rest, thinking that I should be safe on the avenue. At this time, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in the distance, and the frightened Dang Feidao's face was pale and frightened, but his physical strength had already been exhausted, and the sound of horses' hooves was getting closer and closer.

Dang Feidao still tried his best to stand up and run away, the sound of horses' hooves still kept chasing, his footsteps began to disobey the call, and his breathing became heavier and heavier, Dang Feidao ran desperately, trying his best not to stop. However, the human feet are still inferior to the horse's legs, not to mention the Dang Fei Dao, which has been running for several hours, and the sound of the horse's hooves finally catches up.