Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and it has been the seventeenth year of Yongle (1419). On the shore of Chaohu Lake, there were two young men standing at this time, one was dressed in white, his eyebrows were thick and black and neat, and his eyes were as bright as stars. The other was dressed in a blue shirt, born with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, especially his eyes were blazing, and there seemed to be lightning flashing between Zhang He, obviously with profound internal strength, it was Zhu Zhi's son Zhu Ziping.

Zhu Ziping is 22 years old this year, and Wang Hou is half a year younger than him. Zhu Ziping said: "Wang Hou, after the New Year, you will take the children's exam in April, I am not interested in reading and chanting when I am a child, I hope you can take a good ranking." Wang Hou said with a smile: "Big brother likes to dance with guns and sticks, and he will be a figure in the world in the future." ”

Wang Hou's words are indeed true. When they were eight years old, they were sent to the private school run by the third uncle, in front of the portrait of the old master Confucius, the third uncle asked the two to kowtow to the portrait, Xiao Wang Hou knelt down according to his words, but Xiao Ziping stood still. The third uncle was stunned and asked, "Ping'er, why don't you kneel?" ”

Xiao Ziping straightened his neck: "Third uncle, I don't know this person." My father said that men should stand up to the sky and the earth, and they should not kneel easily. "This is the Sage of Confucius, the Sage has been poor since he was a child, but he can strive for self-improvement and become a master ......of all ages," the third uncle sighed, and said, "That's it, if you don't want to kneel, then do it." Zhu Ziping made a gesture according to his words.

But when he entered a private school, Xiao Ziping didn't like to study at all, and his father Zhu Zhi had no way to take him. One night, my father carefully closed the door, bent down and dragged out a wooden box from under the bed, opened the lid, turned out four or five layers of straw, and pulled out a package, which was the same thing that had been wrapped tightly with strips of blue cloth seven years ago.

Father said in a deep voice: "Ping'er, this package is related to your life and mine, you must not say it to anyone, remember?" Xiao Ziping nodded sensibly. Zhu Zhi untied the blue cloth strip, but it was an object about three feet long, quadrangular, slightly smaller at the upper end, with a round handle at the lower end, and the upper and lower parts were made in one, emitting a dark luster. Since the touch of the flat little hand, there is a trace of warmth.

"Ping'er, this thing is made of meteorite iron, called Meteoric Sun. You don't have to ask where you got your things, and when you grow up, your father will naturally tell you. Now you lie down. ”

Xiao Ziping took off his shoes and socks as he said, went to bed and lay down, Zhu Zhi put the sunset at his feet, and felt that a stream of heat flowed into the heart of his feet, along the calf to the thigh to the lower abdomen.

"Ping'er, you use this hot air as hot water, swirling and flowing in your abdomen." Zhu Zhi said as he stretched out his fingers and pointed at the mounds on the outside of his son's legs, the hanging bell, the light, the yangjiao, the Yangling spring, the middle desecration, and the five hubs, and then changed his fingers into palms, and landed on Ziping's lower abdomen and gently stroked them, making a circular rotation.

Under the guidance of my father, the heat in my abdomen gradually increased, and slowly flowed in my abdomen, and I only felt that my lower abdomen and legs were very comfortable, as if I had climbed the mountain behind the village, and then stepped on the soft and shallow grass on the path to go down the mountain, and came to the edge of the pool, where the water in the pool shone golden under the sun. Xiao Ziping felt tired of walking, and his whole body was weak, so he soaked his legs in the water, the water was not only shining, but also flowing warmly, this warmth went down the legs to the stomach and then to the chest, and a wave of tiredness slowly hit.

"Sleep." Zhu Zhi said softly, pulled the quilt to cover his son, and fell asleep peacefully. Under the light, I saw the child's brows stretched, his smile was absent, and his hair stood up, as if something was pulling on his head.

Zhu Zhi looked at it and smiled bitterly: "This kid, he can settle down so quickly, but he is good material for martial arts...... But I wish he had lived in peace and security in this village. The sunset has caused so much trouble...... Alas! Good or bad, this is fate......"

Since then, for 14 years, Zhu Ziping has been very obsessed with practice, in addition to practicing internal skills, he has practiced all the way to the stick method taught by his father.

At the end of the year, on the second day of the lunar month, although the sky was gloomy, there was no snowfall. In the evening, Zhu Zhi and his son sat in front of the stove, there was a pot on the stove, the pot was steaming, Zhu Zhi held a wine cup in his hand, a mouthful of wine and a mouthful of food.

After three glasses of wine, Zhu Zhi put down his chopsticks: "Ping'er, are you twenty-two this year?" Seeing Ziping nodded, he sighed, "It's been more than 20 years, and time flies so fast." Come, you take a sip of wine too. Zhu Ziping took a big sip of the wine cup, choking and coughing.

"Dad never told you that on the second day of the winter month twenty-two years ago, I will never forget this day for the rest of my life. That day, I went up to the mountain to catch hares, and the mountain was called West Kowloon Huashan, just behind my house. At noon, I accidentally saw snow all around in the valley of the Liumeng River, and the ice and snow on the lake were very thick, but in the middle of the river, there was a two-zhang square water surface that did not freeze. I guess the following must be weird, and I don't care about the cold and jump into the river, the river is really strange, not cold at all, I sank to the bottom of the river and touched something, came up to look, and saw the word "sun" on it, the golden light was shining, and I couldn't feel the cold in my hand. ”

Only then did Zhu Ziping know that the sunset that had accompanied him for so many years was fished out of the river by his father. Zhu Zhi continued: "I knew that this trick was magical, so I hid it in my arms and fled home. But the monks of the Jiuhua Western Sect on the mountain didn't know where to get the news, and they came to ask for it, but I was willing to hand it over to them, and the result was ...... Your mother still has your ...... Brothers, sisters, three, three died at the hands of those bald donkeys in Jiuhua Xizong. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhi burst into tears, took a sip of wine, and continued: "Dad carried you behind him, relying on the strength of the falling sun, desperately rushed out, killing and injuring more than 20 people along the way, but I myself was seriously injured, and finally got rid of them in Luzhou." I had no intention of gaining this sunset, but I lost the person closest to me...... If I had known this was the result, I shouldn't have gone down to the river to fish......

"That night, the snow fell so heavily, I carried you along the shore of Chaohu Lake, over the mountains and mountains, but the further down, the more difficult the mountain road became, and the village was not seen for dozens of miles. I can't walk anymore, and you're cheating in your arms. Dad knew that he couldn't stop, so he hurried on, vaguely saw a village in front of him, and finally collapsed at the door of the most lit house. ”

Zhu Zhi was silent for a moment, and asked sharply: "That's Uncle Wang's home, it was Uncle Wang who saved me and took us in." Ping'er, you know what? ”

Zhu Ziping nodded. The father said again: "Ping'er, I'll go to Uncle Wang's house, and you can sleep first." You're old enough to learn to take care of yourself...... Remember the box under my bed. Zhu Ziping listened to his father's words just now, imagining the scene back then, and couldn't help but be stunned, and he didn't even know when his father pushed the door out.

In the early morning of the second day, Zhu Ziping woke up at dawn, the door was still open, and he couldn't help but be stunned: "Why hasn't Dad come back yet?" It's going to be such a cold day, so nothing will happen. After getting dressed, I arrived at Wang Hou's house, but Uncle Wang said that he didn't see Zhu Zhi and didn't come over last night. This made Zhu Ziping even more uneasy, and until noon, he still didn't see his father, so he couldn't help but get anxious.

“…… Remember the box under my bed. Zhu Ziping remembered his father's last words last night, hurriedly turned out a large pile of firewood from under the bed, saw the familiar dilapidated box, dragged it out and opened it, uncovering layers of straw, and below was the package. took out the package, but found that there was a letter underneath, and when I opened it, it was my father's handwriting:

"Ping'er: For 22 years, my father has been thinking about the tragedy all the time, and he can't be at peace. If it weren't for your young age and your father couldn't rest assured, you should have gone back to your hometown a long time ago. After all these years, I may have been wronged and unpaid, but I have to go back and see. I don't know what will happen on this trip, I really have no face to say goodbye to Uncle Wang, leave you here, you have to do your filial piety for Uncle Wang's old age.

"Dad never knew whether it was right or wrong to teach you to practice, I just hoped that you could live a peaceful life in this village, but the world is unpredictable, just like I didn't know that there would be that disaster back then. I have painted it many times with leaf juice, and I guess no one can recognize it. But this thing is too strange to be careful not to cause trouble. Remember! ”

Tears slowly flowed down Zhu Ziping's face. For several days he sat by the lake and looked at the sky, silent. Wang Hou knew that Uncle Zhu had traveled far away, so he could only accompany Brother Ziping silently.

There was a basin-sized turtle lying next to the two of them, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival ten years ago, Zhu Ziping and Wang Hou saw it on the shore with its head shrunk, lying on the sand and not moving, and tried their best to carry it to their home. Zhu Zhi looked carefully, and saw that the turtle's hind legs were swollen and the wound was black, which should have been bitten by a poisonous snake, so he immediately opened the cupboard, took out a piece of alum, put it in the pot to dissolve, and dripped the alum juice on the tortoise's wounded and swollen legs.

Zhu Zhi asked Xiao Ziping to pick two handfuls of pear leaves from the village, mash them in a bowl, apply the leaves with juice to the wound, and wrap them properly with a soft cloth. After a few days, the turtle was able to crawl, sticking its head out of its body and looking around with bulging eyes. Wang Hou smiled: "What a fool looking around, big brother, let's call it dumb?" The third uncle's daughter, Wang Changzhi, said on the side: "You still call it dumb, I think you two are more stupid than it." ”

This day is the twelfth day of the Lunar New Year, and most of the villagers gather at Carpenter Wang's house to play Pai Gow. The card was carved from bamboo by the carpenter of Wang, and the thirty-two cards were washed and crackled. Everyone surrounded the table, and Carpenter Wang shouted: "To the sky, eat all three!" ”

At this time, Wang Hou accompanied Zhu Ziping to the lake, and Zhu Ziping suddenly said softly: "Wang Hou, my father asked me to do my filial piety here for my uncle's retirement, but I want to go to my father and see where I was born." ”

Wang Houying said: "Big brother, you often say that men are ambitious in all directions, I know that you will definitely not stay here for a lifetime, you don't have to worry about my father." It's just that...... Be careful on your way. The two young hands clasped tightly together, and Dumb, who had been lying beside them, suddenly stood up on all fours, stretched his head straight, and looked at the sky.