The bright moon rises from the surface of the lake, emitting a faint yellow. Mid-Autumn Festival is a very joyous festival for children, not only with delicious mooncakes, but also with torches. The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Torch Festival here, legend has it that on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Liu Futong's Red Turban Army rebelled, and torches were raised in response from all over the country, and the habit of playing with torches on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival was also handed down here.

A few days ago, Wang Hou and others tied up clusters of hemp straw more than three feet long and prepared to be used as torches. Zhu Ziping found a piece of broken cotton wool, wrapped it tightly around a branch, and soaked it in kerosene.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the adults were still drinking and eating, but the children hastily drew two mouthfuls of rice, and more than ten people gathered at the entrance of the village, lined up in a team, each lit hemp straw, and ran towards the lake at the head of the village like a fire dragon.

Everyone laughed and shouted happily, and when one bunch of hemp straw was burned, it was replaced with another. Zhu Ziping's torch burned more vigorously than others, running left and right in the team, smiling very happily.

Girls rarely play with torches, but tonight Wang Changzhi dragged Wang Changmei and joined the team, both of whom were under nine years old, and did not understand the difference between men and women, so they happily followed the team.

The children were jumping around the lake, and some of them were beating each other's torches with torches, and a "torch fight" also started by the lake, and the laughter was even more joyful.

The full moon gradually rose and rose, and most of the torches he brought were burned out, only Zhu Ziping's torch was still proudly held, but he suddenly stopped jumping and stood still. Everyone was stunned, and when they looked around, they saw a black thing lying on the shore of the lake, and the black was very conspicuous in the bright moonlight.

Zhu Ziping tiptoed forward, but it was a turtle, the size of the turtle's footbasin, with its head shrunk and lying on the sand without moving. He touched it with his hand, but still didn't move, and hurriedly shouted: "Wang Hou, come and help, this turtle seems to be injured, let's carry it back." ”

Zhu Zhi came back from drinking at Wang Yuanwai's house, and every year in the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wang Yuanwai would call him to drink and admire the moon. At this time, he squatted down, looked at the turtle carefully, and said to Zhu Ziping: "The turtle's hind leg is injured, the wound is red and swollen, probably from a poisonous snake bite. ”

"What then?" Wang Changzhi said hurriedly.

"There's no need to rush." Zhu Zhi flattened the cupboard, turned out a piece of alum from it, dissolved it in the pot, and dripped the alum liquid on the tortoise's swollen leg. He said, "Ping'er, you go to the village to pick two handfuls of pear leaves."

The effort is not big, Zhu Ziping picked the pear leaves, Zhu Zhi took them and put them in a bowl and mashed them, applied the leaves with juice to the wound, and bandaged them properly with a soft cloth.

In the next few days, as soon as Changmei and Changzhi came out of the private school, they would run to Zhu Ziping's house, stroking the turtle with their hands from time to time. After a few days, the turtle can gradually crawl, sticking its head out of its body, and looking around with bulging eyes, which is extremely cute.

Changzhi often goes to the lake to catch some small fish and shrimp, remove the head and tail of the shrimp, and feed it carefully: "Dumb, eat more, eat more."

Zhu Ziping teased on the side: "Changzhi, you are just staying, you talk to it, and it doesn't understand." ”

Changzhi pouted: "I'll call it dumb, but you're even more dumb than it." ”

Dumb stretched his neck, looked at Zhu Ziping, and then looked at the long branches, and slowly picked up the small shrimp.

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Another fourteen years passed, in the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420), Zhu Ziping was twenty-two years old, Wang Hou was half a year younger than him, and the two were commensurate with brothers when they were young, and they grew up even more intimate at this time. It's just that Zhu Ziping never wanted to go to a private school in the fifth year, and Zhu Zhi didn't force it. During the day, he went out of the lake with his father, and insisted on practicing martial arts at night, but he didn't know where his father was hiding it. Zhu Zhizeng said: "Ping'er, your internal strength has been small, you don't need to rely on the Falling Sun, and you still have to be diligent in your internal strength." ”

Wang Hou and Wang Changbo have completed enlightenment education, reading, lectures and essays, and the completion of Bagu essays. Changmei and Changzhi didn't go to private school again in the third year because they were girls. Changzhi often went to see Dumb, and Dumb sometimes followed her with his head held high, pacing around the village. Sometimes Changzhi will climb to Changzhi's house for a few days in a row. The people in the village love this turtle, and they all caress it when they see it, and they are not afraid.

On the day Zhu Ziping was thirteen years old, Zhu Zhi found an iron rod like a rolling pin and handed it to Ziping: "From tonight, Dad will teach you a set of stick methods, which are divided into splitting, sweeping, and stabbing in three ways, a total of 27 styles, Ping'er, you see it." I saw Zhu Zhi dancing the iron rod vigorously, and Zhu Ziping was dumbfounded. Since then, under Zhu Zhi's careful teaching, Zhu Ziping has practiced hard every day. Wang Hou doesn't come every night, sometimes he comes, and when he sees Zhu Ziping's stick method getting more and more mature, he likes it very much, and sometimes he dances next to him.

On the second day of the lunar month, although the sky was gloomy, there was no snowfall. In the evening, Zhu Zhi and Zhu Ziping sat in front of the stove, and there was a pot on the stove, and the pot was steaming. Zhu Zhi held the wine cup in his hand, taking a sip 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 twenty-one years, and time flies so fast." Come, you take a sip of wine too. ”

Zhu Ziping took a big sip of the wine cup, but choked and coughed.

"Dad never told you that twenty-one years ago on the second day of the winter month, 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 inadvertently saw the snow all around in the valley of the Liumeng River, and the lake was covered with thick ice and snow, but in the middle of the river, there was a unique two-zhang square water surface that was not frozen, I guessed that the following must be strange, and I didn't care about the cold and jumped into the river, the river water was really strange, not cold at all, I sank to the bottom of the river and touched a thing, with the word "sun" on it, and the whole body was warm and shining with golden light in my hand.

"I know that this is strange and I am ready to leave quietly, but Jiuhua Xizong got the news from somewhere, and I chased it all the way, and I didn't want to hand it over to them, and the result was ...... Your mother still has your ...... Brothers and sisters, three people, three people died at the hands of those bald donkeys in Jiuhua Xizong. Dad carried you behind his back and fought desperately, killing and injuring more than 20 people along the way, but I myself was seriously injured, and finally got rid of them in Luzhou. This sunset, providence let me get it, but it made me lose the dearest person...... Knowing this result, I really shouldn't have fished for it......

"That night, the snow fell so heavily, I carried you south along the shore of Chaohu Lake, but the further down I went, the more difficult the road became, and I didn't see the village for dozens of miles. I can't walk anymore, and you're cheating in your arms. I knew in my heart that I couldn't stop, and I didn't know how long I walked, and I vaguely saw a village, and finally at the door of the house with the brightest lights, my father didn't know anything. Zhu Zhi rubbed his hands, was silent for a moment, but said sharply: "That is Uncle Wang's home, it was Uncle Wang who saved me and took us in." Ping'er, you know what? Zhu Ziping nodded.

"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. ”

Ziping listened to his father's memories, similar to those scenes 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?" On such a cold day, nothing will happen. ”

After getting dressed, he arrived at Wang Hou's house, but Uncle Wang said that he hadn't seen Zhu Zhi and hadn't come to the house last night, which made him even more uneasy.

“…… Remember the box under my bed. Zhu Ziping remembered his father's last words last night, hurried to his father's bed, and after turning out a large pile of firewood, he saw the familiar dilapidated box, dragged it out and opened it, uncovering layers of straw, and below was the package.

Zhu Ziping took out the package, but found that there was a letter underneath, and when he opened it, it was his father's handwriting:

"Ping'er: For 21 years, my father has been thinking about that tragedy all the time, which makes me feel uneasy. If it weren't for your young age and your father couldn't rest assured, you would have to go back to your hometown a long time ago. Now, after so many years, I may have been wronged and have no debt, but I have to go back, and I have made my wish. I don't know what the future of this trip is, 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've painted it with leaf juice many times, and no one can recognize it. You can take a drop of blood from the center of the eyebrows and drop it on the head of the wedge, and a drop of blood from the center of the foot on the tail of the wedge, if you have a relationship with it, you can communicate with your heart. The greatest power of this thing is that it can fly back at will once the meteorite and the owner's mind correspond. 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 Ziping to sit silently. Dumb crouched beside the two of them and shrunk his head.

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 Wang, and the thirty-two cards were shuffled and crackled, which was very good. 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 for my uncle here, but I want to go to my father and see where I was born." ”

Wang Hou stared for a moment: "Big brother, you often say that men are ambitious in all directions, I know that this is definitely not where you will be all your life, my father, you don't have to worry." It's just that...... Be careful on your way. Two young hands clasped tightly. At this time, Dumb stood up on all fours, stretched his head straight, and looked at the sky.

On this day, the third uncle called Wang Hou and Wang Changbo to his front and said: "Hou'er, Bo'er, as the saying goes, ten years of good kung fu, it is not difficult to show talents, you two have been literate and read with me for 14 years, and you should take the children's test to seek fame." The children's exam is in April, and time is running out at the moment, so you should work hard to get a good place. Especially Hou'er, the third uncle knows that you are concerned about Ping'er, I think he is not a premature death, this trip should be no big problem, you must pay attention to your fame, and you must not waste your studies. Wang Hou hurriedly said yes.