Chen Ping'an came to the east gate and saw the man sitting cross-legged on the tree stump at the gate of the fence, lazily basking in the early spring sun, closing his eyes, humming a small song, and clapping his knees with both hands.

Chen Ping'an squatted beside him, for the young man, it was really difficult to talk about debt collection.

The boy had no choice but to look quietly at the wide road to the east, winding and long, like a long and stout yellow snake.

He habitually grabbed a handful of dirt, held it in the palm of his hand, and rubbed it slowly.

He once followed Old Man Yao over the mountains and mountains around the town, carrying a heavy bag full of various items including firewood knives and hoes. Under the leadership of the old man, he would stop and go everywhere, Chen Ping'an often needed to "eat soil", grab a handful of soil and put it directly into his mouth, chew the soil, and taste the taste. Over time, practice makes perfect, and Chen Ping'an knows the texture of the soil even if he just grinds his fingers. So much so that later, Chen Ping'an weighed the broken porcelain pieces of some old kilns on the market, and he could know that it was the kiln and even which master burned it.

Although the old man Yao was withdrawn and unkind, he often beat and scolded Chen Ping'an, once the old man Yao disliked Chen Ping'an's poor understanding, and he was simply an unenlightened idiot, so he left him in the wilderness in a fit of anger, and the old man returned to the kiln alone. When the boy walked sixty miles of mountain road and approached the dragon kiln, it was already late at night, and it was pouring rain that day, when the boy who was staggering in the mud finally saw a little light in the distance, the stubborn boy had the urge to cry for the first time after trying to make a living alone.

But the young man never complained about the old man, let alone held a grudge.

The young man has a poor family background and has never read a book, but he understands a truth outside of books, except for his father and mother, no one in the world should be good to you.

And his father and mother left early.

Chen Ping'an could endure his daze, and the sloppy man seemed to feel that most of the time he couldn't get by, so he opened his eyes and smiled: "Isn't it just five cents, a man is so stingy, he won't have a big future in the future." ”

Chen Ping'an's face was full of helplessness, "Aren't you just care?"

The man grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven yellow teeth, and said with a smile: "So, if you don't want to become a bachelor like me in the future, don't worry about those five cents." ”

Chen Ping'an sighed, raised his head, and said seriously: "If you are tight on money, forget about the five cents, but say in advance, a letter and a copper coin in the future can no longer be relied upon." ”

The man with a sour smell turned his head and said with a smile: "Little guy, with your temper of stinky stones, it will be easy to suffer a big loss in the future." Haven't you heard the old saying that suffering a loss is a blessing? If you have a small loss, you don't want to suffer ......?"

He caught a glimpse of the soil in the young man's hand, paused slightly, and said, "It's the fate of facing the loess with his back to the sky." ”

Chen Ping'an retorted: "Didn't I just say that I don't want five cents? Isn't it a small loss?"

The man was a little deflated, looked annoyed, and waved his hand to drive people away: ", it's really hard to chat with you kid." ”

Chen Ping'an let go of his fingers, threw away the soil, got up and said, "The tree stump is damp and ......."

The man raised his head and scolded with a smile: "Lao Tzu still needs you to teach you a lesson? The young man is strong and strong, and he can pancakes on his buttocks!"

The man turned his head and glanced at the young man's back, crooked his mouth, and muttered, as if he was scolding God for his frustration.

————

For some reason, Mr. Qi ended his teaching early for the first time today.

There is a courtyard at the back of the school, and a low wooden gate opens to the north, which leads to the bamboo forest.

When Song Jixin and the maidservant girl listened to the story under the old locust tree, they were called to play chess, Song Jixin was reluctant, but the man said that it was Mr. Qi's meaning, and he wanted to see if their chess strength had grown. The young man in the green shirt who helped Mr. pass the word, had to go home first, and did not forget to tell Song Jixin not to be too late, chattering, or playing the same old tune, what is my husband who is the most disciplined, he doesn't like others to be untrustworthy, and so on.

Song Jixin was digging his ears at the time, and he didn't get tired of it, saying that he knew it.

When Song Jixin took Zhigui to the backyard of the school, the cool breeze was blowing, and the well-mannered young man in green shirts was already sitting on the stool on the south side, with his waist straight and sitting upright.

Song Jixin sat opposite the young man in the green shirt, sitting north and facing south.

Mr. Qi sat on the west side, watching the chess without saying a word.

Whenever her young master plays chess with someone, she will go for a walk in the bamboo forest, so as not to disturb the three "scholars", and today is no exception.

In a small town in a remote corner, there is no so-called scholarly family, so reading people are rare.

According to the old rules set by Mr. Qi, Song Jixin and Qingshanlang should guess and go first.

Song Jixin and his peers on the opposite side began to learn chess almost at the same time, but Song Jixin was talented and intelligent, and his chess strength was improving rapidly, so Mr. Qi, who was taught the chess skills of the two, was regarded as a high-level person. The young man in the green shirt then draws out one or two black pieces, and after guessing the odd and even white chess correctly, he can take black first, which has the advantage of being the first. In the first two years of the game, Song Jixin did not lose a single game, whether it was white and second, or black first.

However, Song Jixin is not very interested in playing chess, three days of fishing and two days of drying nets, on the other hand, the young man in green shirt with inferior qualifications is not only a student of the township school, but also a scholar, and Mr. Qi gets along day and night, even if it is just to watch Mr. sit and play music, he also benefits a lot, so the young man in green shirt can win occasionally from holding black, and now as long as he holds black, the victory and defeat can be between five and five with Song Jixin, and the progress of chess strength and tendon is obvious. For this kind of trade-off, Mr. Qi did not say a word and just stood by and watched.

Song Jixin was just about to catch the chess pieces, but Mr. Qi suddenly said: "Today, you will play a game of chess, and you will go first." ”

The two teenagers were confused, and they didn't know what "chess" was.

Mr. Qi did not speak in a hurry, and after carefully explaining the rules, it was not cumbersome, but he just put down the black and white in the four-star position.

The middle-aged man's twist and fall are skillful and smooth, which is pleasing to the eye.

The young man in green shirt, who usually likes to abide by the rules the most, was stunned when he heard the "bad news", looked at the chessboard stupidly, and finally said cautiously: "Sir, in this way, it seems that many stereotypes are not used." ”

Song Jixin frowned and thought for a moment, and soon his eyes lit up, and his brows stretched: "It's that the chessboard pattern has become smaller." ”

Then Song Ji asked with a smile, "Right, Mr. Qi?"

The middle-aged Confucian nodded, "That's true." ”

Song Jixin raised his eyebrows at his peers opposite, and asked with a smile: "Do you want to let the first two moves, otherwise this guy will definitely lose." ”

The young man on the opposite side suddenly blushed and snorted, because he knew that he had won more and more times, in addition to the growth of chess power, in fact, the real main reason was Song Jixin, who had become more and more absent-minded in playing chess in the past two years, and even a little tired, many winners and losers, Song Jixin even deliberately released water, or after the first hand layout was obviously superior, chess to the middle game, Song Jixin would deliberately take risks in order to slay the big dragon.

For playing chess, the talented Song Jixin, whether it is fun or not, whether it is interesting or not, is the first choice.

For the young man in the green shirt, from the first time the twist fell on the chessboard, he was obsessed with the word victory or defeat.

Mr. Qi looked at his academy disciples, "You can take the white first." ”

Next, the young man in the green shirt fell slowly, cautiously, and step by step. Song Jixin is still like flying, opening and closing, and the antelope is hanging its horns.

The temperaments of the two sides are very different.

But with more than eighty hands, the young man in the green shirt lost a mess, hung his head and said nothing, pursing his lips.

Song Jixin rested his elbows on the table, supported his cheeks, twisted his hands and two fingers, lightly tapped the stone table, and stared at the chess game.

According to Mr. Qi's rules, the two sides play against each other, and the pitcher can admit defeat silently, and it is absolutely impossible to say the word "I lost".

No matter how unwilling the young man in the green shirt was, he still threw himself slowly.

Mr. Qi instructed his disciples: "Go and practice calligraphy, you don't need to clean up the mess, write 300 'yong' characters." ”

The young man in Tsing Yi hurriedly got up and said goodbye respectfully.

Song Jixin asked softly when the young man's figure disappeared, "Mr. is also leaving here?"

The elegant scribe with frost-white temples nodded and said, "Within ten years, I will leave." ”

Song Jixin smiled: "That's just right, I can still see off my husband." ”

The teacher hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "There is no need to see me off. Song Jixin, when you go outside the town in the future, remember not to be too public. I have nothing else to do, three Mongolian books, "Primary School", "Lile", "Guanzhi", you can take them together, review them often, you need to know how to read them a hundred times, and the meaning is self-evident. If you can read more than 10,000 books, you will write like a god, and the true meaning here...... You'll find out later. As for the three miscellaneous books, "Subtlety", "Taoli", and "Shanhaice", you may wish to read them in your spare time, and you can also cultivate your temperament. ”

Song Jixin's face was full of surprise and embarrassment, and he said boldly: "Mr. seems to be 'supporting the orphan', which makes me feel uncomfortable." ”

Mr. Qi smiled with a smile on his face and said softly: "It's not as exaggerated as you said, where do you not meet in life, there will always be a day when we meet again in the future." ”

When this gentleman smiles, it makes people feel like a spring breeze.

He said suddenly: "If you go to Zhao Xuan's side to have a look, you should say goodbye in advance." ”

Song Jixin got up and smiled: "Okay." Then this chess game will be bothered to be cleaned up. ”

The boy ran happily.

The middle-aged Confucian leaned over to clean up the chess pieces, seemingly one in the east and one in the west, chaotic, but in fact, black and then white, starting from the black piece that Song Jixin finally fell on, and the order was pushed backwards, and one son was not bad.

I don't know when, the maidservant girl Zhigui has returned from the bamboo forest, just standing outside the wood gate, and does not set foot in the courtyard.

He didn't turn his head, and said in a deep voice: "It's good to do it yourself." ”

The girl who grew up in Mud Bottle Lane was full of ignorance at this time, soft, weak, cowardly, and pitiful.

The gentle Confucian showed a faint look of anger and slowly turned his head to look.

The eyes are cold.

The girl was still confused.

Innocent.

The middle-aged scholar stood up, the jade tree was in the wind, looked at the girl, and sneered: "Evil obstacles and reverse seeds!"

The girl slowly restrained the innocent look on her face, her eyes gradually became cold, and a sarcastic smile hung on the corner of her mouth.

She seemed to be saying, what can you do with me?

She just looked at the Confucian scholar in the eye.

Inside and outside the small courtyard, there seemed to be a pair of pythons confronting each other.

Between the two, they look at each other as enemies.

In the distance, Song Jixin shouted loudly: "Zhigui, go home." ”

The girl immediately stood on tiptoe and replied obediently, "Hey, okay, Childe." ”

She pushed open the chai door, trotted past Mr. Teach, and after running a few steps, she did not forget to turn around, and cast a blessing on the back, and her voice was graceful and pleasant, "Sir, Zhigui will go first." ”

After a long time, the Confucian sighed.

The spring breeze is warm, and the bamboo leaves are swaying, like the sound of turning a book.

————

The young Taoist wearing a lotus crown cleaned up the stall, sighed, and the people of the town who knew each other asked the reason, but they just shook their heads and did not answer.

The last newlywed woman who had been married here, passing by here, saw that the young Taoist was so abnormal, shy and shy, stopped, her voice was soft and glutinous, her mouth was asking questions, and her moist eyes that could talk lingered vigorously on the handsome face of the young Taoist.

The young Taoist glanced at the woman silently, his gaze was slightly downward, it was a bulging landscape, and then the Taoist priest swallowed his saliva and said a hexagram that was chattering, "Today, the poor Taoist has calculated a sign for himself, and he will sign it, and he will be a big murderer." ”