On the second day of February, the dragon raised its head.

In the twilight, in a secluded place called Mud Bottle Lane in the town, there is a lonely and thin young man, at this time, he is according to the custom, holding a candle in one hand and a peach branch in the other, shining on the beams, walls, wooden beds and other places, beating with peach branches, trying to drive away snakes, scorpions, centipedes, etc., and there are words in his mouth, which is an old saying handed down from the ancestors of this town: February 2, candles shine on the beams, peaches hit the wall, and there is nowhere to hide snakes and insects in the world.

The young man's surname is Chen, his name is Ping'an, and his father and mother died early. The porcelain of the town is very prestigious, since the founding of the dynasty, it has taken on the important task of "serving the edict to supervise the burning of the tomb sacrifice vessels", and there are court officials stationed here all the year round to supervise the affairs of the official kiln. The helpless teenager, very early as a porcelain potter, at first can only do some chores and rough work, followed by a bad temper halfway master, hard work for a few years, just pondered a little porcelain doorway, the result of the impermanence, the town suddenly lost the official kiln to make this talisman, the town around the dozens of kilns shaped like a dragon, overnight all ordered by the government to close the flame.

Chen Ping'an put down the newly folded peach branch, blew out the candle, walked out of the house, sat on the steps, looked up, and the starry sky was shining.

The boy still clearly remembers that the old master, surnamed Yao, who was only willing to recognize himself as a half-apprentice, was found sitting on a small bamboo chair in the early morning of late autumn last year, facing the direction of the kiln, and closed his eyes.

However, there are only a few people like Old Man Yao.

The craftsmen of the small town who have only burned porcelain for generations did not dare to fire the official kiln of tribute, nor did they dare to sell the porcelain in the treasury to the people privately, so they had to find another way out, and the fourteen-year-old Chen Ping'an was also swept away, and after returning to the mud bottle lane, he continued to guard the old mansion that had long been dilapidated, almost a bleak scene of the four walls of the family, that is, Chen Ping'an wanted to be a loser, and he had no way to start.

A few days ago, I heard that a few streets away in the Dragon Riding Alley, an old blacksmith surnamed Ruan came, and announced that he would accept seven or eight apprentices who struck iron, and did not pay them, but he took care of the rice, Chen Ping'an hurriedly ran to try his luck, and never thought that the old man just glanced at him obliquely, and turned him away.

You must know that although Chen Ping'an looks weak, his strength should not be underestimated, this is the physical foundation of the young man who burned porcelain and drew blanks in those years, in addition, Chen Ping'an also followed the old man surnamed Yao, ran all over the mountains and rivers within a radius of 100 miles of the town, tasted all kinds of soil around him, worked hard, and was willing to do any dirty work, without dragging mud and water. It's a pity that Lao Yao has always disliked Chen Ping'an, dislikes the young man for not having understanding, is elm pimple and does not open his mind, far inferior to the big apprentice Liu Xianyang, it is no wonder that the old man is eccentric, the master leads the door, and the practice is personal, for example, it is also boring and boring, Liu Xianyang's skills in just half a year are worthy of Chen Ping'an's hard work for three years.

Although he may not be able to use this craft in his life, Chen Ping'an still closes his eyes as before, imagines that there are bluestone slabs and wheels in front of him, and begins to practice drawing blanks, practice makes perfect.

About every quarter of an hour, the young man would rest for a while, shake his wrist, and repeat the cycle until the whole person was completely exhausted, Chen Ping'an got up, and slowly stretched his muscles while walking in the courtyard. No one has ever taught Chen Ping'an this, it is the way he has figured out blindly.

There was originally silence between heaven and earth, Chen Ping'an heard a piercing laugh, stopped, and sure enough, saw that peer squatting on the wall, grinning, and did not hide his disdainful look.

This person is Chen Ping'an's old neighbor, and it is said that he is the illegitimate son of the former supervisor, who was afraid of Qingliu criticism and impeachment, and finally returned to the capital alone to report on his work, and handed over the child to a successor official who had a personal friendship to help take care of him. Now the town has inexplicably lost the qualification of the official kiln firing, and the superintendent who is responsible for supervising the kiln affairs for the imperial court is unable to protect himself by crossing the river with mud bodhisattvas, where can he take care of the illegitimate children of his colleagues in the officialdom, throw away some money, and rush to the capital to make some connections.

Unconsciously the neighbor boy who has become an outcast, he still lives a good life, taking his personal maid all day long, wandering around the town and beyond, idle all year round, and never worried about the silver.

The walls of the loess courtyards of every house in Mud Bottle Lane are very low, in fact, the neighbor boy doesn't have to stand on his heels at all to see the scene of the yard here, but every time he talks to Chen Ping'an, he likes to squat on the wall.

Compared with the vulgarity of Chen Ping'an's name, the neighbor boy is much more elegant, called Song Jixin, and even the maid who depends on him also has a literary crepe title, Zhigui.

The girl was standing on the other side of the courtyard wall at this time, she had a pair of almond eyes, and she was timid and weak.

On the other side of the courtyard gate, a voice sounded, "Do you sell this maidservant?"

Song Jixin was stunned, followed the voice and turned his head to look, it was a young man in brocade with a smile on his eyebrows, standing outside the courtyard, with a completely unfamiliar face.

Next to the young man in brocade stood a tall old man, with a fair face and a kind face, squinting lightly at the young man and girl in the two adjacent courtyards.

The old man's gaze swept over Chen Ping'an, and it did not stagnate, but on Song Jixin and the maidservant, there were many stops, and the smile gradually became stronger.

Song Jixin squinted his eyes and said, "Sell! Why don't you sell it!"

The young man smiled and said, "Then you tell me a price." ”

The girl's eyes widened, and her face was full of bewilderment, like a panicked young elk.

Song Jixin rolled his eyes, stretched out a finger, and shook it, "Ten thousand taels of silver!"

The young man in brocade had the same face as usual, and nodded, "Okay." ”

Song Jixin saw that the young man didn't look like he was joking, so he quickly changed his words: "It's ten thousand taels of gold!"

The corners of the brocade-clothed boy's mouth curled up and said, "I'm playing with you." ”

Song Jixin's face was gloomy.

The young man in brocade no longer paid attention to Song Jixin, shifted his gaze, and looked at Chen Ping'an, "Thanks to you today, I was able to buy that carp, and after I bought it back, the more I looked at it, the happier I became, and I thought that I must thank you in person, so I asked Grandpa Wu to take me to you overnight." ”

He threw out a heavy embroidered bag, threw it to Chen Ping'an, and said with a bright smile: "This is a reward, you and I will be clear." ”

Chen Ping'an just wanted to speak, but the young man in brocade had already turned around and left.

Chen Ping'an frowned.

During the day, I accidentally saw a middle-aged man, walking on the street with a fish basket, catching a golden carp with a tail of palm length, it jumped very much in the bamboo basket, Chen Ping'an only glanced at it, and felt very festive, so he asked if he could buy it with ten yuan, the middle-aged man originally just wanted to treat his own five internal organs temple, seeing that it was profitable, he sat on the ground and raised the price, and the lion opened his mouth, and he was willing to sell it for thirty yuan. Where does Chen Ping'an, who is shy in his pocket, have so much spare money, and he is really reluctant to let go of the golden carp, so he follows the middle-aged man greedily, grinding and soaking, thinking about cutting the price to fifteen wen, even if it is twenty wen, just when the middle-aged man showed signs of loosening, the young man in brocade clothes and the tall old man happened to pass by, they didn't say a word, and bought the carp and fish basket with fifty wen, Chen Ping'an could only watch them go away, helpless.

Staring at the backs of the pair of grandchildren who were getting farther and farther away, Song Jixin retracted his vicious eyes, jumped off the wall, seemed to remember something, and said to Chen Ping'an: "Do you remember the four feet in the first month?"

Chen Ping'an nodded.

How can you not remember, it is simply a fresh memory.

According to the centuries-old custom of this town, if a snake burrows into one's house, it is a good sign, and the owner should never expel or kill it. On the first day of the first lunar month, Song Jixin sat on the threshold to bask in the sun, and then there was a gadget commonly known as a four-legged snake, which rushed into the house under his nose, Song Jixin grabbed it and threw it out of the yard, never thought that the four-legged snake that had fallen to the ground, the more frustrated and braver, again and again, Song Jixin, who had never believed in ghosts and gods, was so angry that he threw it to Chen Ping'an's yard.

Song Jixin noticed that the girl tugged at her sleeve.

The young man had a heart for her, and subconsciously swallowed the words that had reached his mouth back into his stomach.

What he wanted to say was that the ugly four-legged snake had recently had a bulge on its forehead, like horns on the top of its head.

Song Jixin changed his sentence and said, "Zhigui and I may have to leave here next month." ”

Chen Ping'an sighed, "Be careful on the road." ”

Song Jixin said half-truthfully: "There are some things that I definitely can't move, don't steal things recklessly while there is no one in my house." ”

Chen Ping'an shook his head.

Song Jixin suddenly laughed, pointed at Chen Ping'an with his finger, and said with a hippie smile: "Cowardly as a mouse, no wonder there is no noble son in the poor family, don't say that he is poor and cheap in this life, and he may not be able to escape in the next life." ”

Chen Ping'an was silent.

Returning to the house, Chen Ping'an closed the door and lay on the hard wooden bed, the poor boy closed his eyes and whispered: "Broken and flat, broken and peaceful, broken and peaceful, and peaceful ...... and so on."

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ps1: A nearly 200,000-word fan in the snow has been updated in WeChat, and the WeChat public account is: fenghuo1985

PS2: There are more than 100 alliance leaders before uploading, you are mighty...

PS3: Long time no see, here comes the sword!