In the autumn ploughing season, on the scattered miscellaneous houses and fields outside the city, the sound of the people's husbands and women plowing is constantly heard, and occasionally a few loud scolds are also aimed at the birds and sparrows that take the opportunity to take a few seeds.

Li Badi walked down the dry path with a pot of strong soju, humming an unknown song and walking towards a dilapidated house, shouting loudly before anyone entered: "Brother Ruan, I'm here to see you!"

Ruan Dachong, who had just come back from farming in the field and was washing his hands, suddenly shook his hands casually with a smile, walked out of the yard, looked at Li Bad and said, "Li Gongzi is here, come in quickly, the sun is so big, you should come later." ”

Li Bad strode towards the soft big chong, and said with a smile: "How can it be so expensive, the teachers say that it is good to bask in the sun more!"

Soft Dachong smiled and welcomed Li Bad into the room, sat on the small bench, but squatted on the ground, and said, "Why did you come to the old man today?

Li Bad said: "I took a break early today, I have nothing to do, so I came to see Brother Ruan." As he spoke, he opened the wine bottle and said with a smile: "Look, I specially brought a burning knife for my brother to open meat!"

Soft Dachong swallowed his saliva suddenly, and couldn't wait to take the soju, "Goo!" It's two big mouthfuls, "Ah, I haven't drunk for a long time, I'm really greedy, hehe!" After speaking, he looked at Li Bad embarrassedly.

Li Bad took it without disgust, and took a sip: "Brother Li's amount of wine, the kid doesn't dare to compare, haha." ”

Soft Dachong burped, then simply sat on the ground and said, "Eh~! Li Gongzi is a scholar, how can he compare with a man like Lao Han!" Li said with a bad smile: "Then what kind of reader is not a reader, how high is a reader, don't you also have to eat grains?"

Soft Da Chong said with a solemn face: "A scholar is a scholar, then in the future, he will be a person who will gain fame and become an official, Li Gongzi will study hard, and he will become a big official in the future, and the old man can also brag to the people in the village, but the old man is a person who has drunk and burned knives with a scholar!"

Li Bad laughed and said: "How can you study and study and be an official, besides, no matter how much the kid reads, don't everyone outside the north call us barbarians!"

Soft Dachong suddenly glared: "Nonsense, the barbarian is obviously in the North Court, how can we become barbarians!" After speaking, he blushed and looked at Li Bad, and Li Bad said with a smile: "Let's know if we are in the north!"

Soft Da Chong could only mutter: "So we can say that we are barbarians! This is not right, we are obviously the ones who stopped the barbarians, how did we become barbarians?"

Li Bad didn't bother with this question: "Why hasn't Brother Ruan started a family yet, is the widow Zhang at the head of the village disagreeing, or does he dislike his brother for being poor?"

Soft Dachong waved his hand and said embarrassedly: "No, no, that mother-in-law is easy to raise at first glance, but the old man is afraid that he will suffer like this if he has a child in the future, he has an extra mouth, and there are still so many fields at home, I am afraid that I can't afford to raise them!"

Li Bad said strangely: "I remember that Uncle Ruan was not the army of the Li family's cavalry before? Although he was sacrificed, the government didn't have a pension every year, although the money was not much, but it was enough to feed a family of three or four, wasn't it the government that withheld it? Or did the Li family cavalry refuse to give it? Hasn't this martial king checked the pension money in various places over the years?"

Soft Dachong hurriedly took Li Bad's hand: "Little Brother Li, you can't say that the prince is not, the pension money given by Beizhou City has not been less than half a cent over the years, but every time the elder brother sees the private school at the end of the village, the children in it are all yellow, and they are in a hurry to study, thinking that there will be more scholars in our Beidi in the future." Saying this, he half-squatted up: "This is how we live in this life, isn't there still hope for the next generation, I heard that every household in the south has let their children go to school and read and write, so there are so many scholars, so many officials, so I will donate money to the pension, why can't I be bitter The child is not." ”

Looking at Soft Dachong's honest face, Li Bad was silent for a long time, poured a mouthful of burning knives sullenly, and said, "Brother Ruan, there will really be many scholars in the north in the future, really!"

Soft Dachong looked at this young man with a firm face and full of confidence with a smile, and said: "God is not sure what will happen in the future, let's do it well, then God is happy to see it, maybe he will help us!"

Li Bad took another sip of strong wine: "Brother Ruan, don't mention it in the future, if you get the silver next year, let's marry Widow Zhang first, otherwise we will be old in the future, but there will be no one to support the elderly." ”

Soft Dachong just smiled and said: "In addition to farming these years, the old man has not lost his martial arts, if the barbarians make trouble again in the future, the old brother will go to cast this skin, kill him a few barbarians, and he will not harm the widow of Zhang, in case this body is lost on the grassland, isn't this a harm to the family to be a widow again?"

Li Bad was speechless for a moment, but just poured a mouthful of burning knives again.

Why the hell is the burning knife so strong today?

......

Coming out of the soft big chong's house, Li Bad walked alone in the countryside, and walked to the private school at the end of the village, looking from the open door from a distance, only to see a middle-aged scholar wearing a torn patch and a gray color gown, standing in the middle of the lobby, and there were many children sitting scattered on both sides, the older one was twelve or thirteen years old, and the younger one was only five or six years old.

The scholar is holding a yellowed thread-bound secretary in his hand, and is leading the children to read it sentence by sentence, and the children are also babbling and reading, and after reading, the scholar will explain the meaning of the words.

Looking at this scene, Li Bad split his lips and smirked, and then an old but angry voice drank: "Hey, that stupid boy, what are you doing stupidly looking at the school?" After drinking, he said vigilantly: "Isn't that human tooth dealer?" immediately put on a posture, and the standard Li family foot soldier raised the knife style, but what he was holding in his hand was a cane.

Li Bad came back to his senses and looked at the old man with a smile: "Uncle don't blame, don't blame, boy, I heard that there is a private school in the village, so I came to take a look." As he spoke, he clasped his fists and saluted the old man.

The old man looked up and down, then put away his crutches and said, "You don't look like a tooth dealer, you're a scholar?"

Li Bad hurriedly replied: "The kid has read a few books, and he can't be a real reader, no better than a scholar in the school!"

The old man said with a smile: "A scholar is a scholar, how can he not deserve it." Then he said triumphantly:

"This gentleman is a scholar invited by the village to raise some food to teach the children to read and write! If you want to say that a scholar is a reader, this gentleman heard that he taught the children to read, and the food was gone, so he immediately promised to come once every other day, and the big man of the Ruan family in the village took his father's pension money and donated it to the children to take care of breakfast.

Li Bad heard the words and looked at the middle-aged scholar from afar, the scholar seemed to have a sense, and also looked here, Li Bad suddenly opened his mouth: "It's a gentleman!" After speaking, he bowed from afar, although the scholar saw this inexplicably, but he also hurriedly held the book and returned the salute, and when he heard the call of the child in his ear, he came back to his senses and continued to explain, but when he turned around, he disappeared the young man.

The old man listened to the voice, turned his head and said inexplicably: "Isn't the one who teaches the school?" Turning his head, he saw the young man striding away, leaving only a staggering back, and muttered at the moment: "Why is this scholar so strange...."

As he spoke, he walked in the opposite direction on crutches.

Under the sunset, two backs, one young but shaky, the other old but steady, walked away from each other.

.............