Tang Shan really became an apprentice with the old man.

It's not that the old man really has any magic that can keep Tangshan without much effort; It's not that Tang Shan's brain has a problem, and he has to abide by the rules of the rivers and lakes of "willing to gamble and lose". It's because Tangshan has nowhere to go for a while.

Another reason is that the old man is actually a vulnerable group compared to Tangshan. Although the old guy has rich experience in life and can see through the truth of a woman's breasts at a glance, his advantages in other aspects are really lackluster; In front of Tang Shan, if you can't fight, you can't beat it, and you may not be able to win it.

In other words, Tangshan's human body is free. Whenever he wanted to leave, the old man couldn't stop him.

In the end, Tang Shan still has a little ridiculous selfishness: since the old man is so generous, he invited him to eat rice noodles when he saw him for the first time, so it was better to take the opportunity to give him a few more meals. Mix the rivers and lakes, who are you messing with or not? Where are you not a bird? Besides, once you are unhappy, you can change your door at any time, so why not?

The word "apprentice", in Tang Shan's view, is a pretense of eating people and not being soft-mouthed.

Of course, the old man changed his tricks to accept Tangshan as an apprentice, and his purpose was not so simple, let alone a joke; Instead, with his eyes that have gone through vicissitudes, he took a fancy to a rare characteristic of Tangshan; This trait may be able to take on a secret that transcends time and space. That's for later.

At this time, Tangshan could not understand the sinister rivers and lakes. He looked at the world with an empty-eyed and condescending attitude, looked at the rivers and lakes, and even looked at the ordinary old man sitting in front of him. Little did he know that since he met this old man, his life had been quietly changing.

Fearlessness is more of a manifestation of incompetence. The so-called newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, this is what it means.

Tang Shan sat at the table at this time, waiting for the old man to finish his cigarette, and his heart had completely given up the plan to escape. He looked at the old man's serious appearance and wanted to laugh a little, but he didn't laugh out loud out of a minimum of politeness. But the tone of his voice was completely cynical:

"According to the rules of willing to gamble and lose, I owe you ten yuan at most, why should I be an apprentice with you?"

Old man: "If you can come up with ten dollars to pay for gambling now, we will pay it off." If you can't take it out, it will be your apprenticeship, and you will be an apprentice. ”

Tang Shan smiled: "It's very interesting. What if I don't agree? Or, halfway through the apprenticeship, I want to betray the master? ”

The old man replied simply: "Everything is up to you." This door comes and goes freely. ”

Tang Shan leaned over from the side of the table, winked and smiled evilly: "Hearing you say that, I'm done with my apprentice." ”

The old man smoked the pipe in his mouth, and also winked and smiled: "I knew you were a person who understood. ”

Tang Shan spread his hands: "Then I am your apprentice now." You don't need to be so old-fashioned, right? ”

The old man shook his pipe: "No. Even the title of master and apprentice is saved. The only condition is that you have to get the game you lost completely. ”

Tang Shan said nonchalantly: "That's simple. I can't wait. Let's start talking chess, how about we set the situation right here, or go back to your base bridge? ”

The old man still shook his pipe: "No hurry. Set aside the game in advance. Let's solve the problem of eating first. ”

Tang Shan was stunned: "Didn't you just eat it?" I haven't finished the table yet. Are you a dog's belly and intestines, and your stomach is empty when you eat it? ”

The old man took a big puff of cigarette, spit it out slowly, half-closed his eyes, and said, "After eating this meal, you have to think about the next meal." Our first problem now is to earn the money back for the next meal first. You can't go hungry and play chess, can you? ”

Tang Shan clapped his hands and laughed: "Makes sense." Or are you far-sighted. But how do you make this money? Tang Shan looked around and lowered his voice, "You won't let me steal it, will you?" You don't have any clever stealing techniques to teach me. ”

The old man knocked the ashes from his pipe under his shoe, stood up, packed up his belongings, pointed out the door and said, "The world is full of money, see if you have the ability to get it." Let's go, let's go back to the bridge. ”

Tang Shan was very disdainful in his heart, the bad old man is really talking nonsense, the world is full of cement and bricks, where does it come from any gold? Even if the world is really full of gold, it seems that you don't have the ability to get it, otherwise you won't be reduced to the end of the bridge, and you can only afford to eat two bowls of rice noodles.

When I went out, it was already dark, and all kinds of lights shone on the road and buildings, which really gave the illusion of gold all over the ground. Tang Shan couldn't help but glance at the old man's back a few more times, and for the first time, he felt that this old guy seemed to be a little unusual and mysterious from his image to his language.

Immediately, Tang Shan's attention was attracted by the flow of people on the street, to be precise, he was fascinated by the various women walking on the street. Once the stomach is full, another desire in the body begins to kick in, and it becomes stronger and stronger.

At this moment, on the street just after nightfall, in Tang Shan's eyes, every young woman who walked in front of him, no matter fat or thin, tall or short, looked so charming. If you are convex and backward, it is no longer a steamed bun or dough, but a variety of styles.

When he came to the bridge, Tang Shan withdrew his gaze from the pile of women on the street, and asked the old man politely:

"Since you are not commensurate with master and apprentice, what should I call you?"

The old man smiled strangely: "When you first saw me, you called me an old rascal." Between people, the first impression is usually the most important, so let's continue to call it that way in the future. It doesn't matter what the name is. ”

Tang Shan sneered: "Just now, I just didn't hold back my mouth, and I talked nonsense, so I didn't have any first impressions." After a pause, he introduced himself, "My surname is Tang, and my name is ......."

The old man immediately interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "Don't introduce yourself. It doesn't matter to me what your name is. My name is the old rascal, so you can call it the little rascal. ”

Tang Shan realized that the old guy was not holding a grudge, but really didn't want to reveal his real name. Since this is the case, there is no need to inquire again, and besides, not knowing each other, it is more beneficial for Tangshan to get out at any time. So he made a fuss and screamed:

"Damn, it's just that after eating your two bowls of rice noodles, you will become a little rascal, is there any heavenly reason?"

The old man smiled: "There are too many things in the world that are unreasonable. A nickname that doesn't sound very decent, what do you feel wronged about? Besides, what's so bad about being a hooligan? How many people on the streets, do you know who want to be hooligans but can't get them? ”

Tang Shan's mouth pouted and scolded: "Fallacy and heresy. Just because you want to be a hooligan doesn't mean everyone wants to be a hooligan. I was as innocent as paper, but I was blackened by you as soon as I debuted. ”

The old man snorted: "Boy, if you cling to the fantasy of black and white, you will get depression sooner or later." Then he waved his hand: "Forget it, it's too early to tell you this." Let's get down to business. Follow me. ”

With that, the old man walked around the railing of the bridge and went under the bridge.

Tang Shan felt strange, how to do serious things and go under the bridge? Do you have to go to the river to wash yourself before you can get down to business? In order to appear mature and steady, he didn't ask random questions, but just silently followed behind.

The old man did not go directly to the water's edge, but turned into the first bridge halfway. Tang Shan followed in, only to find that this place was a wonderful shelter from the wind and rain, at least ten square meters square. On one side is the pier of the bridge, and on the other side is the slope of the river, and on the slope is a little mottled rock; On the other side, sandwiched between the piers and the slope, a stone wall has been artificially built. In a word, this bridge hole on the shore is simply a room. It's just not more luxuriously decorated.

The old man walked to the center of the room, took a flashlight from his bag and turned it on, and suddenly crouched down, and scraped the dirt with both hands on the ground, and the faster he planed. Tang Shan was taken aback, thinking that he had suddenly gone crazy, so he quickly took a step back and stammered tentatively and asked:

"You, what are you doing?"

The old man raised his head, his face was covered with sweat, but he didn't look like he was sick, but a little angry, and ordered to Tang Shan:

"Without further ado, come over and help."

Tang Shan didn't dare to go over to help. Still standing in the cave and watching the old man busy, he thought in his heart that if there was any accident, he would pull his legs and run to the bridge. With the current distance between the two of them, coupled with Tang Shan's young physical strength, the old man will definitely not be able to catch up with him.

The old man dug for a while, dug out a piece of root, and carefully set it aside; Dig out another piece, or carefully put it aside. Tang Shan was young in the end, and couldn't help but be curious, and asked tentatively again:

"Old rascal, what is this?"

The old guy didn't raise his head: "Gold." ”

This time, Tangshan was really ready to leave, not to flee in fright, but to evacuate in disappointment. Judging from the old man's performance, if not physically ill, he is mentally ill. It was just a few strange-shaped roots, and he was sure that it was gold, what could be more ridiculous than that? What are you messing around with this bad old man? If a third party sees it at this time, the person who is digging the soil on the ground over there is an old madman, and the person who stands here and looks at it is a little madman.

Tang Shan took two or three steps back, and was about to turn around and get out of the hole, when the old man suddenly raised his head and shouted:

"Stupid to make money? Hurry over here and move these things to the bridgehead. ”

Tang Shan originally planned to ignore him, but after thinking about it, he ate two bowls of rice noodles from other people, so he helped him move these strange tree roots to Qiaotou, which can be regarded as a favor, and it is not too late to leave when the time comes. Anyway, the feet grow under him, and no one can stop them.

At this time, the old man finished his work of digging the earth, and pushed the earth back to its place, piling up a dozen roots of different lengths and strange shapes under his feet. Tang Shan walked over silently, stretched out his arms, hugged most of the roots, and walked towards the bridge. The old man put away his flashlight, put a cloth bag on his back, and took out all the remaining roots.

The two returned to the bridge in disgrace, put down the roots of the tree, and the old rascal instructed Tang Shan: "You go to the river below to wash your face, pat off the dust on your body, and make people more energetic before you come up and talk." ”

Tang Shan didn't say a word and walked down. I thought to myself, of course, I have to clean myself up a little bit, so that I can be considered a normal person, as for whether I speak or not, it depends on how I feel. I couldn't get the next sentence "There will be no date later", and I disappeared into the distant light.

Tang Shan cleaned himself up below, and went up to the bridge again, where he saw the old rascal sitting under a street lamp, not a chess endgame, but a dark blue coarse cloth one meter square, on which were the roots of the trees that had been dug out of the dirt were placed in turn. Behind him, there was a banner with a few big characters embroidered on it:

Ancestral Chinese medicine. The secret recipe of the court.

There are a few more lines of small print below:

Dredging yin and yang, reconciling men and women. All it takes is a dose of miracle medicine to give you back the joy of the world.

Tang Shan looked at all this, and was stunned for a long time before asking:

"Damn, aren't you putting on the endgame? How did you become a doctor again? Or is it an ancestral one? ”