People don't sleep at night, and the gentleman who was asked by his teacher to return to the capital has been delayed for a lot of time in the small city of Sifang City.

The chimney has long been repaired, but the people who are going to leave can't hold the people who want to stay.

If the monk knew that the gentleman who didn't want to stop for a moment along the way, and didn't even wait for someone, was still in the mood to wait for a dinner at this time, it should be that his brain was pumping.

The rain was not heavy, but it never stopped.

Zhang insisted on staying, and the gentleman left after dinner.

Regarding the living conditions in the barracks that the Zhang family wanted to ask, such as how often he could go home to visit relatives, and whether he could eat enough for each meal, Yang Hejiu was naturally unclear. But everyone knows that entering the barracks is bound to endure hardships.

When you come to this city, you often think that he is from a big city and has seen a lot of things. However, he has only gone far this time, and even Xu Chang'an's knowledge of some fish and shrimp in the ditch is not even comparable to Xu Chang'an.

Even the fish that was in the estuary before, if it weren't for Xu Changan's explanation, he still didn't know why freshwater fish could survive in the sea.

Closing the courtyard door, even if there is the interference of the rain, you can still hear the sound of convulsions coming from inside the house, and through the dim light, you can clearly see the peach charms on both sides of the courtyard gate that are wet by the rain.

The upper link is written with the spring rain silk silk all things, and the lower link is the red plum dotted embroidered with thousands of mountains.

Like Xu Changan, he also doesn't understand the words, but he can see the good and the bad, and he also thinks that these words are very good.

Traveling at night was a last resort, and he needed to get back to the capital as soon as possible.

In one of the most remote shops in the south of Beiyang City, an outsider moved a few days ago, and the man barely paid a month's rent with copper plates.

The inside and outside of the originally messy shop had been cleaned by the young man and was unusually clean and clean.

A dilapidated wooden board was erected by the man as a signboard outside the shop, and the door was opened to do business.

How bleak business is.

And tonight, this bookstore finally welcomed his first guest.

An old man in a gray robe held a gray umbrella and stopped in the rain to look at the shabby sign.

Because the wooden board is worn out and the font on it is very simple, it not only looks shabby, but even reveals a bit of time-honored meaning.

The old man looked at the four big characters written on it and nodded slightly, and read softly: "You Fish Shop." Swimming fish, squid, well, squid is better. ”

......

The lights in the shop were still on, and the old man gently closed the gray umbrella and walked in.

The owner of the bookstore, dressed in a turquoise robe and with a pair of gentle willow eyes, was writing a word on the table in the dim light.

The old man didn't bother him, and watched casually in the shop.

After a moment, the man put away his pen and frowned slightly as he looked at the written words.

When I looked up, I saw that an old man was already in his shop, so he hurriedly got up and greeted him and saluted, "I've seen the old man." ”

The old man was quite dissatisfied when he heard this, and said, "Sir, sir, why do you deliberately want to add an old word?"

The man smiled bitterly, he didn't expect the other party to be so serious in this regard, so he had to bow again and said, "I've seen Mr., I hope Mr. will forgive me." ”

The old man stroked his beard, nodded slightly, and asked, "You wrote the words outside the door?"

The man smiled and nodded, "It was written by me, I don't know if Mr. can advise." ”

"This swimming fish doesn't sound very good, I thought it was a fishing tackle shop, and I thought I would come in and buy a hook. ”

The young man was slightly stunned, and he was not dissatisfied with the old man's ridicule, and said with a smile: "It's really the fault of the juniors to let Mr. run for nothing." ”

The old man couldn't help but look at the young man with a puzzled look on his face, and the young man was also very puzzled.

That look was curious why I didn't scold him?

The old man coughed lightly twice and asked, "Why do you explain the word swimming fish?" ”

The young man shook his head and replied respectfully: "It's just a casual writing, and it has no deep meaning, which makes Mr. laugh." ”

The old man shook his head slightly, looking at a book hanging on the wall and saying nothing.

The man was silent, but he was surprised in his heart, he thought that this old gentleman was definitely not simple.

had to open his mouth to explain: "The word "swimming fish" is just a life. ”

The old man pondered for a moment, stroked his beard, and said, "Interesting, very interesting." Have you ever seen a word or even written it?"

The young man's heart was shocked to the extreme, he didn't know how the old man knew that he had seen a word.

The word had been written, but it could never be written again. So in the face of the old man's question, he just nodded slightly and did not reply.

Seeing this, the old man didn't ask anymore, "That word is too important for you people, and it's normal not to explain." ”

The man shook his head and explained, "Mr. misunderstood, and the junior didn't explain because the word couldn't be written anymore." ”

The old man's eyes narrowed slightly, and there was a rare hint of regret in his eyes.

After a moment, he sighed, pointed to the newly written character and asked, "What is written in that painting?"

The man's brows frowned slightly, and after a while, a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he replied with some embarrassment: "That handwriting is not very satisfactory." ”

Having said that, he still picked up the old man and looked at it, and it was written with seven small words: 'The gentleman lives in peace and lives in peace'.

The old man glanced down, then looked up at the young man in front of him with a strange look on his face, and hurriedly restrained himself before the other party showed the eyes of the old rascal, and continued to look at the words in front of him and exclaimed: "The gentleman lives in peace and takes his life." Good word. ”

The man waved his hands and saluted respectfully, "Thank you, sir, for the compliment." ”

As he spoke, the old man had already rolled it up, as casually as if he were taking something of his own.

After a long time, I remembered and asked tentatively, "How much does this piece cost?"

The young man pondered for a moment and shook his head slightly, "The price has not been set yet." ”

The old man was a little speechless, and swayed up and down a few times with the book, and said angrily: "If you don't set the price first to do business, then what kind of business are you going to do?"

The young man thought for a while and explained seriously: "In our city, three or two steamed buns only need a copper plate, a bowl of dumplings filled with osmanthus and fish is only about seven or eight, and only five are charged for helping people write a peach charm during the New Year, and I can probably earn two or three after removing paper and ink." But when I arrived in the capital, I realized that the price was not calculated like this. ”

A smile appeared on the corner of the old man's mouth, and he looked left and right as if he wanted to find something to sit down, and the young man hurriedly moved a chair in the corner when he saw this.

The old man sat down slowly and asked, "Let's talk about it, what's the difference?" ”

The man poured a glass of water for the old man, turned around and looked at the surrounding arrangement, and then said: "Here you can only buy one steamed bun with a copper plate, and you need sixty dumplings with osmanthus and fish filling. This shop is the most inconspicuous in the south of the city, but the monthly rent also requires 800 copper plates, which means that I need to earn at least 30 a day to avoid living on the streets of this city. ”

The old man looked down at the words in his hand, and said indifferently: "Osmanthus fish? Besides, how can this painting be sold for just 30 copper plates?"

The man shook his head slightly, "That painting is worth three or five copper plates on our side." ”

The old man understood what the man meant by these words, and laughed.

"Readers just have too many rules and regulations in their hearts. You want to make money, but you don't want to make what you think is black money. Write a peach charm to earn three or two copper plates, but when you get to the capital, you find that you can only buy two or three steamed buns to barely satisfy your hunger, and it is not enough to buy a piece of Zhengdan paper in this city, a wolf hair, and you can't touch a good lacquered sand inkstone. In that case, why did you come to the capital?"

The man bowed solemnly to the old man and smiled, "No one in our city has ever been able to say that my words can be sold for thirty copper plates, and this is the purpose of my visit to the capital." ”

The old man shook his head, "Only those who are not confident want to be affirmed by others. I think of a reader, even if everyone thinks that he writes a pile of garbage, he can hold his head high and point to that pile of garbage and say these words. ”

The man was slightly stunned, obviously feeling that it was no longer self-confidence, but arrogance.

With a wry smile, he shook his head and said, "My words are not worth a thousand gold." After thinking about it, he added, "At least, it's not worth it now." ”

The old man got up and laughed, "At least, for now." Interesting, very interesting. ”

Then he looked at the painting he was still holding in his hand, frowned slightly and said, "I took this letter, not because I didn't want to give you money, but because I forgot to bring money when I went out." You can understand the difference between forgetting to bring money and not wanting to give it, right?"

......

I didn't bring any money when I went out, and I said that your words are worth money, this person... It seems to be a little underwhelming.

The corners of the young man's mouth twitched slightly, and he smiled: "The younger generation understands, if Mr. likes to give this character to Mr., dare to ask Mr. What is the use of taking this handwriting?"

The old man said in an atmospheric manner: "The words of the book are nothing more than viewing and gifts." ”

The young man smiled and asked, "Dare to ask who the gentleman wants to give." ”

The old man turned around in surprise and wondered, "How do you know that I am going to give it away?"

The young man shook his head, "It's just a guess, and I hope Mr. won't blame." ”

The old man shook his head, "Do you think this painting is worth seeing?"

The young man laughed but did not speak.

Coarse rice paper and cheap ink, such things can't stand up to being placed at home for careful appreciation, so they have to give them away.

The old man didn't ask, but smiled and replied, "I want to give this to one of my students." ”

"Sir's student must be a great man. ”

The old man nodded, stroked his sleeves and walked out of the shop, picked up his gray umbrella at the door of the shop and stepped into the rain.

From the rain came the old man's old voice.

"The man who dies. ”

The young man was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a smile.