Anan looked at the old gentleman with a kind smile on his face, very puzzled, as far as he knew, this gentleman was just an ordinary person, where would he know what to practice, let alone help her choose a path.

The old gentleman couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion when he stood in this Xu Mansion that he had re-entered after many years, but he still understood the reason why he came here, so he put away his thoughts and said softly: " In fact, no matter which road it is, it is not much different, and the final point is still the saint, just like going to the imperial capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, starting from Jing'an Town, you can ride a horse, you can walk, you can take a boat, they are all different roads, but the last one you arrive at is that place, you don't know what road to choose now, you just don't know which one is faster, so you are confused, which is why the old man came here. ”

Anan looked at the old gentleman who was getting serious, and stuck out his tongue playfully, before he said, "Then which way can be faster?"

The old gentleman laughed and said very seriously: " Riding a horse may encounter difficulties on the road, walking may encounter robbers, and taking a boat may encounter floods, which road is faster, this question has been debated since the establishment of the three religions, but now, no one can convince anyone, and there are even many people who fight for this, everyone has a different answer, but since you have asked me now, then I will tell you, Confucianism is faster, as for why, then I can tell you only one sentence, because the old man is a disciple of Confucianism, and you are my student, and you are learning the words of Confucian sages。 ”

Speaking of this, the old gentleman was already full of interest, and his face was flushed.

In his opinion, Anan is studying with him, and he is his disciple and student, and he is a Confucian student.

As for the other two, don't go.

Anan was silent for a long time after hearing these words, and she made a choice in silence, and finally picked up the white practice book.

It's Confucianism.

As Mr. Tong said, she has been learning Confucianism these days, and naturally she wants to follow the path of Confucianism.

After choosing a path of cultivation, the next thing to do is naturally to practice, and generally speaking, the first practice requires a famous guide, so that you can avoid many detours.

Xu Baichuan practiced the way of the sword, which was another rugged path that did not intersect with the three sects, so the path he knew could not teach Anan.

And the old gentleman is just an ordinary scholar, although he has some understanding of the Confucian way, but he is only on the theory of cultivation, and has not experienced it personally, so he can't teach Anan, all he can do is to explain some reasoning, hoping that Anan can become enlightened.

It's just that how can it be so easy to practice, it took Xu Baichuan a few months when he stepped into the first realm, and this was still with the help of the autumn wind with the remnant soul of the sword immortal at that time, he would go so fast, compared to him, although Anan is not bad, and his cultivation will be faster, but it will not be too fast, at least in April and May, if he really sees it today and enters the realm tomorrow, then he has to wonder if he is the reincarnation of a saint and has the name of the first day, otherwise how could he practice so quickly.

So in the following days, Anan was meditating and practicing hard every day with the practice book, so he didn't even go to the school, so the old man knew what the reason was, so he offered to come to the door to teach.

Xu Baichuan agreed, so the old gentleman spent the rest of his time here, thinking that Anan, as his disciple, could become a cultivator, which could be regarded as satisfying his wish that he had not embarked on the path of cultivation.

And so the days went on.

Soon it was the beginning of winter.

Coincidentally, it was said that it was the beginning of winter, and it really snowed a lot, not too cold, and it was indeed very appropriate.

So taking advantage of this rare good season, Anan gave himself a half-day off, anyway, cultivation is not something that can be achieved in a moment and a half, and it is not a big deal to miss half a day.

Xu Baichuan and the old gentleman sat opposite at a table placed in the corridor, looking at Anan, who was having a good time taking advantage of the snow, and the two of them had a smile on their faces.

Xu Baichuan held a bowl of warm rice wine in his hand, drank it in one gulp, and soon the heat flow spread from the lower abdomen to the limbs, and he sighed softly, feeling very comfortable.

The old gentleman was also holding warm rice wine in his hand, but he was not as bold as Xu Baichuan, but drank it slowly one by one, and from time to time he had to chant two lines of poetry, which was called the right time.

It's really like a reader.

Speaking of readers, the two have a conversation.

The old gentleman was talking about the people he had met since he was studying, and he was interested, and he opened his mouth to read out a few articles, saying that they were pleasing works.

Xu Baichuan said that the readers were a little different from him, not talking about articles, but about life and death, when he said that there were more than a dozen readers who died in his hands, the old gentleman was obviously startled, and the rice wine that was originally held smoothly in his hand was also spilled a lot.

The old gentleman naturally knew that Xu Baichuan was a sword cultivator, and the scholar who came out of his mouth should also be a monk, and the old gentleman felt a little heartache when he thought of so many deaths in the hands of Xu Baichuan.

If those scholars did not die, but survived to continue to spread the truth, wouldn't there be more scholars in the world?

It's just that now the dead are all dead, maybe even the bones are rotten, and the heartache is useless.

So the old gentleman decided not to talk about this topic anymore, but looked at Anan and asked, "Young Master Xu, the old man remembers that when Anan was a student, he said that he was going to change his name, why hasn't he changed it after so long." ”

Xu Baichuan smiled leisurely: "She is just talking, but she is not happy when she wants to change it, saying that this name has been with her for sixteen years, although it is not very good, a little vulgar, but it does accompany her from childhood to adulthood, after justifying herself, so she decided not to change." ”

The old gentleman tugged at the corners of his mouth, a little speechless, if he waited until Anan became a monk and reported his name to others, others had a name, a surname and a word, and she was just two words, Anan, wouldn't this be a little weaker than others for no reason? After thinking about it, he decided not to care about this matter anymore, the name is willing to be called this by others, and it is okay for him to care, is it difficult or let Anan change it?

Xu Baichuan suddenly asked: "Old man, I've known each other for more than two months, can I tell my name, it's not good to keep calling you old man, right?"

The old gentleman was stunned, sighed heavily, drank the cold rice wine in the bowl in one gulp, and was silent for a long time before he said: "The old man's surname is Du, and as for any more, I can't say it again." ”

Xu Baichuan nodded, and didn't ask why, the old gentleman obviously didn't want to say more, so he wouldn't ask more.

During the time when Xu Baichuan and the old gentleman were chatting, Anan had made a lot of things out of snow, although they were not very big, but they were also vivid, and there was even a small snowman holding a branch in it, and Xu Baichuan's appearance could be vaguely seen from his eyebrows.

Anan was very satisfied with this little snowman, so he took the little snowman in his hand and ran to Xu Baichuan to show him.

Xu Baichuan's face was full of amusement, looked at Anan who was begging for praise, thought about it, stretched out his hand, and gently flicked her head in Anan's incomprehension.

Anan looked incredulous, touched his head, pursed his lips, and quickly ran away in a huff.

This girl, after leaving the tiger's den, regained the innocent romance that should have been at this age.

And Xu Baichuan played her brain, just a little fun.

Who asked her to make the snowman so ugly, not like him at all.

......

On the hillside not far from Jing'an Town, a group of vicious men wearing fur coats and carrying a variety of weapons were surrounding a man dressed as a middle-aged scribe, discussing things happily together, and from time to time they looked at Jing'an Town with a fierce light, carrying deep malice.

It is clear that, according to their dress, this is a bunch of bandits.

There's a reason why they're gathered here.

The middle-aged scribe was dressed very thinly, only a satin gown, and held a feather fan in his hand, which shook it a few times from time to time, which was very strange when it snowed.

The middle-aged scribe shook the feather fan, and the corners of his mouth hooked a faint smile, although it was very gentle, but for some reason it always had an inexplicable coldness, which made people look at the panic, and when he spoke, the fierce men were all respectful, as if they didn't dare to make any sound.

"Today is the beginning of winter, then you should eat dumplings, there is no food on the mountain, it is not good to make you hungry, then we will come here to borrow some, it shouldn't be a difficult thing, this dumpling has to be eaten." ”

One of the ferocious men, who was particularly majestic, stepped out in front of him, bent down and clenched his fists, and said loudly: "The small one has been explored, there are only three hundred guards in it, and the rest are sheep with no power to tie the chickens. ”

The middle-aged scribe chuckled and said, "Since you are prepared, it's good, it's not early, let's do it early, it's time to go back and eat dumplings." ”

His words were orders, so soon, the bandits gathered here arrived at the gate of Jing'an Town, and they didn't speak, but just looked at the frightened guards with fierce faces, looking up and down, as if they wanted to consider where to start.

Jing'an Town has been peaceful for a long time, and almost no one would have thought that there would be bandits to intrude, so there are not many guards, and the town gate is often opened, and the arrival of the bandits is unexpected, so these bandits can easily enter Jing'an Town.

For a while, the town, which had been peaceful not long ago, became chaotic almost instantly, and the cries of men and women spilled with the blood, making this ordinary beginning of winter very unusual.

Although the guards were quickly organized, after all, the time was still short, and they couldn't help but be like bandits who had been fighting for a long time, and they were all experienced in combat, and all they could do was to resist hard, but even so, there were still many people under the bandits' knives.

Soon, there were only 200 guards left, and although they still seemed to be numerous, they couldn't stop retreating in fear in the face of the bandits, who only had 100 people.

Surrounded by bandits, the middle-aged scribe hugged a plump and panicked woman, and from time to time went deep into her arms and put her hands up, and in the face of such excessive movements of the middle-aged scribe, the woman just lowered her head tightly, gritted her teeth, and did not dare to make the slightest resistance.

Behind her, her family was hijacked by the bandits' knives.

She didn't dare to move.

The middle-aged scribe felt the softness in his hand, and praised it: "It's so heavy, but it's just the right amount of softness, it's really good, and even I have the heart to accept you as Mrs. Zhai, do you say you are willing or unwilling?"

The woman lowered her head and was silent for a long time before she said in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "The folk girl is willing to serve my husband, and I ask him to spare my family's life." ”

Perhaps because of that sir, the middle-aged scribe was interested, rubbed it vigorously, and then stretched out his hand from his arms, first put it on the tip of his nose and smelled it, said a good word, and then touched the woman's face, and said with a smile: "One life?" Okay, then as you wish, just release one, then the remaining two will be sent to see the king of Hades, what do you think?"

The woman suddenly raised her head, her face full of panic, "Sir, the folk girl said the wrong thing before, it is a way to live and not a life, please be accommodating." ”

The middle-aged scribe smiled, noncommittal.

"Say put one and put one, how can you change it, a gentleman is hard to chase after a horse, I'm a gentleman. ”

The woman's face turned pale, and she was silent for a moment, as if she had made up her mind, and said in a tone that bordered on grief and indignation: "Then please let my son go." ”

The middle-aged scribe laughed when he heard this, "Okay! ”