In autumn and winter, the night came early, and after a while, it was already dark.

The old woodcutter put the remaining firewood from the stove in the brazier, and then picked up two bowls of chowder porridge before walking out of the kitchen.

"Shi Lan, move a bench to the courtyard."

"Oh."

There is no moonlight today, the starlight is sparse, and the sky is shrouded in layers of clouds, no matter how the firelight swayes, it only illuminates a small corner of the dark mountain forest.

In front of the brazier, an old man and a young man sat and drank porridge, and drank this simple food again, Shi Lan did not dislike it at all, but ate it with relish, and the two calves shook rhythmically with the firelight, as if they had returned to their usual carefree life.

The old woodcutter saw Shi Lan eating so happily, and the corners of his mouth smiled.

As the saying goes, suffering will always pass, and life must go on.

This sorrow of life and death should not linger around a child of the age of the rising sun all day long, she still has a long way to go, there are still many things waiting for her to experience, her life should be happy.

The old woodcutter looked at the dark sky and had an idea in his mind.

"Grandpa, are you looking at Grandma?"

The old woodcutter was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately, and touched Shi Lan's head with a smile.

"Yes, Grandpa is talking to your grandma, saying that Shi Lan is very well-behaved, let her not worry."

In fact, he can't see the starlight, and the world far away from the firelight is endless darkness for him, once in the barracks, the medical officer said, this is night blindness, and a long-term lack of meat will be like this.

The old woodcutter felt that it was no big deal, and there was no need to waste money on meat just to occasionally look at the untouchable star.

In this era, you just don't have to starve to death.

"Well, Shi Lan will be very well-behaved, but how does Grandpa talk to Grandma, I also want to talk to Grandma."

"As long as Shi Lan has been thinking about your grandma in her heart, and has been thinking about it for a long, long time, one day, you will be able to talk to her. I've been thinking about it every day, but it's been twenty-six years. ”

The old woodcutter patted his heart, and the picture of that year appeared in front of his eyes again.

That year, the first victory was infinitely beautiful, he followed the general as an escort, and returned to this Dalin City together, at that time, the general's mansion did not have the plaque given by the emperor, it was only the Li Mansion, the old man of the Li family greeted the general with a group of people, and he was happy.

In the crowd, the old woodcutter saw the delicate and lovely maid beside the eldest lady at a glance, and was stunned for a moment, and the general teased him a few words, and casually made a marriage contract.

It is also because of this incident that even if he loses the battle in the end, the five brothers in the Tiger Roar Battalion are almost all wiped out, and he only has no grudge against the general.

"Ah, grandpa is so cunning, grandma and grandma have become children again after eighteen years, Shi Lan can talk to them directly without thinking about it."

"Wouldn't that be better?"

"Oh yes."

The firelight swayed, stretching the shadows of the two, but no matter how long it was, it couldn't grow to the lonely grave in the back mountain.

The old woodcutter put away the dishes and chopsticks, and said to Shi Lan, who was still sitting on the bench looking at the starry sky: "Okay, let's go to bed after eating, there are still many things to do tomorrow." ”

……

The next morning, the two woke up early.

Shi Lan followed the old woodcutter to the courtyard.

The pitch-black coffin in the courtyard was particularly eye-catching, and Shi Lan recognized at a glance that it was the same thing as the one that the grandmother was lying on that day, and before she could ask, the old woodcutter called her.

"Shi Lan, Grandpa taught you martial arts today, and in the future, if you walk alone in this river and lake, you will have the ability to protect yourself."

"Grandpa, what is martial arts?"

"To practice martial arts is to learn how to fight."

"Shi Lan doesn't want to fight."

"Silly girl, many things in this world are involuntary, there are many bad people under the mountain, do you know the bad guys? Well, it's good that the eldest lady has taught you, grandpa taught you martial arts, not so that you can fight, but so that you can protect yourself when the bad guys want to bully you. ”

"Like that day when Grandpa rode a horse to protect Shi Lan?"

"Yes, this world is very big, and you will have to walk alone in the future, you will meet all kinds of people and all kinds of things, and Grandpa is not at ease, so you have to learn how to protect yourself."

"Oh."

"Okay, let's start, the most important thing in practicing martial arts is to lay a solid foundation, when Grandpa was a child, he often helped his family do farm work, and his health was very good, so he was better able to fight than others after joining the army. You are different now, the work comes too slowly, and Grandpa taught you how to train soldiers in the barracks. Come, first of all, Zamabu, look at me like this. ”

As he spoke, the old woodcutter half-squatted down, although he was old, his movements were still standard, his waist was straight, and there was no trembling.

"With your feet open, your thighs flat after squatting, and your hands stretched forward to keep your balance."

Shi Lan did the same, but as soon as she squatted down, she fell backwards, and the back of her head hit the ground directly but she didn't care.

"Ouch, Shi Lan didn't break it." The old woodcutter hurriedly came over and helped Shi Lan up.

"It's okay, Shi Lan doesn't hurt, it's just that Shi Lan fell backwards as soon as he sat down, and he can't be the same as Grandpa."

"It's not sitting, it's squatting, you come again, Grandpa supports you. Okay, slowly go down, stop! It's time to straighten your waist, exert your feet, and hold the soles of your feet firmly on the ground, well, hold on. ”

"Shi Lan did it!" Before she could be happy for a while, her body fell backwards again, but fortunately the old woodcutter held on in time.

"Don't get distracted, hold on. Very good, Grandpa went to cook first, if Shi Lan was tired, relax and continue. ”

"Oh." Shi Lan promised, and heard the footsteps of the old woodcutter slowly moving away.

Shi Lan didn't look back, his eyes kept looking ahead, the sky was very quiet, and there was not a trace of cloud in the gray sky.

She squatted quietly like this, as if returning to the time when she stood by the river.

Standing still is an instinct for trees, like people breathing, and lying by the window is standing still, and Zama step is also standing still, the posture is different, and Shi Lan is like a fish in water.

"Shi Lan, it's time to eat."

The old woodcutter came out with two bowls, and when he saw Shi Lan still squatting without moving, as if he was rooted here, he couldn't help but praise it repeatedly.

After the meal, the old woodcutter asked Shi Lan to continue squatting, and did not tell Shi Lan to pay attention to rest, and went to the back mountain alone with a wine gourd.

The sky was shining, the sun was slowly rising, Shi Lan was bathed in the sun, the original rigid posture became a little smart, and the body began to swing slightly with the breathing, no longer like a fish in water, but naturally.

At noon, the old woodcutter came back with a bundle of firewood, and was a little surprised to see Shi Lan's standing posture.

"Grandpa, you're back."

The old woodcutter responded, walked over and pressed his hand on Shi Lan's shoulder, his shoulder sank slightly, and then no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't press down for half a minute, and then quickly retracted his hand and pulled his hand, Shi Lan only returned to his previous posture.

Seeing this, the old woodcutter couldn't help but nodded, he already knew it in his chest, according to the words in the book, it was the bones Qingqi, and it was a piece of material for martial arts.

"Let's eat and rest for a while, and then start teaching Lan to practice martial arts in the afternoon." The old woodcutter touched Shi Lan's head.

Just after seeing Shi Lan's steps, the old woodcutter already knew that Shi Lan didn't need to lay a foundation anymore, and since he was different from ordinary people, he didn't need to look at it with ordinary people's opinions.

Besides, he felt that his time was running out, and he should not waste it.

After a brief lunch, the old woodcutter handed the wooden sword to Shi Lan.

It was cut by him when he was talking to the old woman in front of the grave in the back mountain, but he didn't expect to use it so quickly.

"As I said earlier, practicing martial arts is to learn how to fight, what moves to use, and what strength to deal with the opponent's attack. Therefore, the first thing to learn is the moves. Take the sword as an example, the basic move is to stab and slash and sweep the grid, the general said, everything changes will not deviate from its origin, this is the principle, come, Shi Lan, you learn from me. ”

The old woodcutter demonstrated the basic five styles in turn, Shi Lan learned from him and waved it randomly, the movements were a little stiff at first, but these movements were very simple, and they quickly got started.

The old woodcutter nodded after seeing it and said, "Okay, Shi Lan will practice these movements in the future, and when you can practice it, you will be considered to have learned it well." Start with a move every day, and start with chopping today. ”

So the old woodcutter went down the hill with the gourd.

As the coughing sound faded away, Shi Lan regained his mind, took a deep breath, raised the wooden sword with one hand, stepped forward, exhaled, and slashed it with a swing.

The wooden sword broke through the air, breaking through the oncoming wind, and the slightest coolness swept through the hair on both sideburns.

Shi Lan's eyes lit up, and she remembered that Senior Brother and Little Flower Basket had practiced like this on the treehouse platform, but at that time, her mind was weak, and her memory was very hazy, and she never remembered those actions.

But thinking that he was doing the same thing as them, Shi Lan became happy, and his swinging movements were a little faster.

The whirring sound of breaking the air continued, rising and falling like a storm, sweeping away the surrounding dust.

Although Shi Lan played vigorously, the homework assigned by the old woodcutter did not slacken, and the movements became more and more standard between the continuous swings.

It was dusk when the old woodcutter came back from drinking, and when he saw Shi Lan still waving like the wind, he couldn't help but nod his head in praise.

If he hadn't been lazy during the period, he had been doing his best with such a big effort, he could be called a god, even if he was put into his tiger roaring camp at the beginning, he would be the existence of a hundred enemies.

But this kind of courage should not appear in a little girl, fortunately, the mountains and forests here are remote and inaccessible, otherwise people will think that Shi Lan is a monster.

But it is.

Seeing Shi Lanlian's happiness, the last trace of worry in the old woodcutter's heart disappeared.

In this way, Shi Lan practiced these five movements, from being familiar to being like an arm and fingers, sending and receiving freely, and it took more than half a month.

Now she is no longer as dusty as she was at the beginning, but can blow the fallen leaves a few meters away in the air, or she can slash down without damaging it.

But even with such an effect, the old woodcutter still let her keep waving these movements every day.

In ancient times, the male ploughing and the female weaving metaphor symbolized a peaceful and peaceful life, the life of the old and the young is not the slightest worse, the girl dances the sword, and the old man does the carpenter's work, day after day, unchanged, the so-called ordinary is true.

Everything was fine, except for the worsening cough of the old man.