More than 1,000 years ago, there was a sage who said, "Zai Yu sleeps during the day, and rotten wood cannot be carved!" means that Zai Yu sleeps during the day, wastes a lot of time, and is as useless as rotten wood.

Xiao Yat understands this as follows, for thousands of years, the lighting in the evening of all dynasties has been extremely monotonous. Even candles are also a luxury, and the lighting equipment that can be popularized is oil lamps, and some civilians can't even light oil lamps at night, so there is an allusion to "chiseling the wall to borrow light".

Therefore, since ancient times, people have the habit of going to bed early and getting up early, in the early spring, it will be dark at the beginning of the evening (about 19 o'clock), and the next day will be at the end of the day (about 5 o'clock).

Bell is a diligent maid, and she is also a lucky maid, at least Bell himself thinks so. Lingdang's family is poor, and last year there was a big flood in his hometown, and he couldn't live anymore. In desperation, he fled to the mountain city with his parents and younger siblings, not to mention the hard work along the way, and even a younger brother died of illness, leaving a younger brother and a sister and his parents plus five of them finally settled in the suburbs outside the mountain city, but how can the family live without food and land.

Eventually, Daddy took himself to a bazaar and planted a straw in his head. Soon a person came to talk to Daddy, the man's eyes were terrible, and his voice was not good, but he was very rich, and he took out ten taels of silver to Daddy, and he saw that the bell was so big and he had never seen so much money, but Daddy said that he didn't want anything.

The man was so bad that he beat his father, and the bell hated that person to death, so he cried. At this moment, I met the person who changed his fate, an elder in his forties and fifties, listening to the people next to him, what kind of chief manager of the Xiao family is this, the chief manager is very angry, raised his leg and kicked the bad guy down, the bad guy didn't dare to squeak, and ran away. Then the chief manager gave his father a piece of silver, and then he was taken to the Xiao family, and he never starved or froze again, but he couldn't go back to see his younger brothers and sisters from time to time.

After a few months, the bell is no longer a girl who doesn't know anything, and she is becoming more and more proficient in laundry, cooking, mopping and sweeping, and the bell's biggest wish is to be able to change from a third-class maid to a second-class maid like Sister Xiaolian in three or five years, and finally it would be too happy if she became a first-class maid like Mr. Xiao, I heard that the clothes of the first-class maid and the first-class maid are made of silk, and a dress costs more than one or two silver miles.

Sister Xiaolian talked to herself last night, saying that she was pitiful, and she had a good errand to do by herself, and said that as long as she did it well, she would be a second-class maid from next month, and the bell was happy. So listening to Sister Xiaolian's words, she came to this small courtyard as soon as the sky was bright.

After working for a few months, the bell knew that the master would get up and wash after a while, so he first boiled water diligently, and then began to clean the courtyard, and then cleaned the courtyard, looked at the sky, it was almost two quarters of an hour, and the bell estimated that the master should get up soon, and most of the masters of the Xiao family got up at this hour, so they went to the kitchen to pour hot water into the basin, took a towel, walked to the small courtyard and stood up, waiting for the master to come out and call him in.

It's just that I've waited for almost two quarters of an hour, and I haven't seen any movement in the room, and standing for two quarters of an hour is just a small meaning for the little bell, but seeing that the hot water is already cold, I'm afraid I have to change it again.

Just when the little bell walked out with the cold basin, a beautiful sister came out of the side room, and it should have been up for a while, but it was definitely not as early as the bell, after all, the bell was the most diligent.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" said my sister's voice.

"My name is Bell, I am a third-grade maid, Sister Xiaolian arranged for me to serve the eldest young master Xiao Yi, the eldest young master has not gotten up yet, I will pour some water to wash my face. ”

"Well, put the basin here first, you follow me today to see how I serve the young master, and if I don't have you in the future, I will serve the young master like me. ”

"Okay Sister"

"My name is Qin'er, and the young master has given me the surname Xiao, you can call me Sister Qin. ”

"Yes, Sister Jean"

Seeing the bell standing quietly aside, Qin'er didn't care about her, holding a short sword and walking to the middle of the courtyard to practice the sword, Qin'er's swordsmanship and the sword are all Liuyun swordsmanship, but the sword is learned from Xiao Yi's mother, and Qin'er learned from Xiao Yi himself, Xiao Yi's thinking is active, and teaching people swordsmanship is never rigid, so Qin'er's Liuyun swordsmanship is still a little incompatible with the sword. I practiced swordsmanship for half an hour, and then practiced a set of palm techniques and a set of boxing techniques before finishing work.

Qin'er knows that the higher her martial arts, the more she can help the young master, so in the past few years, Qin'er practiced fists and swords for an hour in the morning before the young master didn't get up and in the afternoon when the young master didn't need himself, and at night after serving the young master to rest, she had to meditate for an hour to practice internal skills.

Qin'er looked at the time, called the bell who had been waiting for a long time to change the hot water, and then knocked on Xiao Yi's door. After introducing the bell to the young master, and asked the bell to serve the young master to wash, while the young master was washing, Qin'er went to the kitchen to fry two vegetarian dishes, and brought a few fried sticks and three bowls of soy milk. By the time Xiao Yi finished breakfast in the house, Qin'er and the bell had also finished eating on the stone table outside. At this time, it was already past the morning (more than 9 o'clock)

Xiao Yi took out the longitudinal technique in the three martial arts cheats given by Xiao Qian yesterday, and after studying it carefully, he knew that it was similar to what he thought, and the longitudinal technique was a fairly good light body kung fu, but he had Qingluo step in his body, and the longitudinal technique was of little use. Then open the flame palm, the flame palm is a fierce and domineering palm, a set of hundreds of changes, but the main idea is "to suppress people, to clumsy clever" eight words, only in terms of the power of the palm is still on their own Bagua palm, but the two focus is different, and it is not good to say that the use is greater, after all, the Bagua palm is to be flexible to become the main point.

While thinking about the hundreds of changes to write down, wait for a book to read all, and close your eyes in your mind to practice, and finally get up and start practicing, the first time there is still rusty, between the move and the move is a little sluggish, the second time it will become more and more fluent, to the third time, not only no sense of stagnation, but also the move change is extremely fast, obviously has mastered the essence of the palm, and this time is only less than two hours have passed.

Put down the palm method, the last practice is the splitting sword technique, the splitting sword technique is obviously more difficult, the sword technique is divided into three layers, the first layer of practice can master hundreds of changes of the entire sword technique, at this time it can be used to resist the enemy, as for the second layer is an extension of the first layer, by the extreme change of the sword technique, misleading the enemy's visual senses, thus producing sword light, in other words, the person who came out of the sword is obviously swinging a sword, but the enemy's eyes are a piece of sword light, taking the lead, making people unguardable. As for the third layer, it is the use of specific techniques to master the uncertain rhythm of the moves, and the change from extremely quiet to extremely fast between the moves of the sword technique is often only between breaths, and the change from swift thunder to abrupt stop is only the work of the blink of an eye. The so-called sword is not fixed, what should be done, when it must not stop, the use of idealism, so as to disrupt the rhythm of the enemy, at this time it has been practiced to the third layer, this kind of fast and slow switching can not have the slightest mistake, at this time it is considered a masterpiece.

Xiao Yi, who understood the sword technique of splitting light, actually remembered the picture of himself and a group of classmates going crazy before the sea changed, and the "parkour" was very avant-garde and energetic.

I also inexplicably remembered that when writing articles, we should "write articles with natural literature and science, and have a strong posture", so that we can reach the highest level of "writing to carry the Tao".

Countless thoughts flowed, and the new cognitive concept of martial arts and the huge amount of knowledge collided with each other. For a while, Xiao Yi forgot the time, stood in the courtyard, and after a while, the corners of his clothes were windless, and the internal force of his body flowed wildly, and finally stopped at a shackle, as if his vision looked at the world outside the window through the frosted glass, and a new world had become clearer and clearer.

Although one is a sword move, one is an article, and one is just a half-grown child's game, but the inexplicable touch flows through the bottom of my heart, maybe I can one day jump out of the limitations of time and space, touch the new realm of martial arts, and with the enhancement of my strength, the most urgent desire buried in my heart will eventually come true!

Thinking of this, Xiao Yi raised his eyes and looked at the clear sky, the same depth of the universe, it seemed to be eternal, but it was a little different.

After a long time, he took the towel in the bell's hand, wiped his face, packed up his things and strode away with Qin'er.

On the main street of Shancheng, Xiao Yi was shopping with Qin'er, and suddenly the flow of people in front was divided, and the two of them automatically leaned towards the left side of the street with the flow of people, and a group of people walked on the main road in the middle, about more than ten people. All of them were dressed in dark clothes, with a long sword on their backs, their faces were grim, and their faces were hurried. The first one was about his early twenties, with a slender figure, a slightly dark complexion, bright eyes, and bulging temples.

"Young Master, looking at the dress and sword, it may be the Shushan Sect or the Ten Thousand Swords Academy among the Six Great Sects. ”

"This girl has insight, that's right, this is the disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Academy among the six major sects, and the leader is the third-ranked disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Academy, Jian San" It was not Xiao Yi who answered Qin'er, but another young man standing next to Qin'er, about the age of his early twenties, with a handsome face, fair complexion, and a bookish atmosphere.

"Under the surname Lin, his name is Lin Wan, and he is from Haoran Academy in Beijing. ”

"In Xia Xiao Yi, this is Qin'er, Brother Lin knows why this Ten Thousand Swords Academy suddenly came to the mountain city, I heard that the Ten Thousand Swords Academy is on the Taixuan Mountain thousands of miles away from here. ”

"I heard that it was to track down a person, but it was a bit tricky to alarm Jian San of the Ten Thousand Swords Academy. ”

"Jian San, this name is weird!" Qin'er said.

"The Ten Thousand Swords Academy is the head of the six major sects, and the head is the first master of the six major sects, known as the Sword Immortal. Its disciples take the sword as their surname, specializing in kendo, ranked by strength, Jian San ranks third among the disciples, making a heavy sword, and the younger generation has few opponents!" Lin Wan seemed to be very enthusiastic, and the introduction was very detailed.

"Oh, I wonder why Brother Lin is here?"

"I came to Qingzhou to study, passing through the mountain city, one to increase some knowledge, and the other to visit a few Confucians, in preparation for the autumn season. Lin Wan replied

"It's better to travel thousands of miles than to read 10,000 books, and if you want to come to Brother Lin, you will be in high school this year. ”

"Don't dare, if Brother Xiao has leisure, why don't we have a drink together?"

"It's okay, Brother Lin is from the capital, but he also has something to ask for advice!"

The largest restaurant in the mountain city welcomes guests, and there are only three or four tables on the second floor at this time, and there are not many people.

"I see that Brother Lin seems to know a lot about martial arts?"

"I've been traveling for a long time, so I naturally know more, I see that the two of you are quite unfamiliar with this place, I'm afraid that they will not be here for a long time, right?

"Brother Lin has good eyesight, the two of us have indeed just arrived, and they can be regarded as coming to join the Xiao family. ”

"Hehe, then Brother Xiao should be careful, I heard that there will be a battle between the Xiao family and the Tang family in the near future, Brother Xiao should be careful. And I got the news that the Tang family will make a big move!"

"Thank you, Brother Lin, for reminding me. Xiao Yi's mind turned sharply, this Lin Wan has been extremely enthusiastic since he met, but he doesn't know if it's his nature or if he can make friends with himself.

The two chatted while drinking, but Qin'er didn't speak, just listened. At this moment, there was a commotion outside the window, which attracted the attention of the three people.

I saw that the two of them were fighting on the street near the window, and if I looked closely, one of them was the Jian San of the Ten Thousand Swords Academy that I had seen before, at this time Jian San was holding a long sword, and was suppressing a bald monk, the monk was about thirty years old, short and fat in stature, holding a paulownia stick, and he was playing with a tiger, but there was already blood flowing out of his shoulder, and his face was slightly pale, obviously losing the upper hand in the battle with Jian San.

I saw that the monk ignored the straight stab of the sword three long swords, and pressed the head stick towards the sword three, the sword three had the upper hand at this time, and there was the same door around him, so he naturally did not want to fight with the monk, so he crossed the sword to hold the tong stick, the monk was powerful, the sword three skills were profound, and the sword stick touched, and the two were separated by the power of a drum of anti-shock.

"Don't quit the monk, you have been chased and killed by me for thousands of miles, and you can't escape by saying anything today, where is that person, say it and leave your whole body. ”

"I said, it's just to go to the foot of Taixuan Mountain to pick a few herbs, you shouldn't be so stingy, you actually chased and killed me for so long, it turned out to be to find out the whereabouts of my master, don't dream!"

"Hmph, I'll see if you can still be hard when I catch you!" Jian San finished speaking, and rushed forward to fight with the monk.

The two fought for dozens of rounds, and seeing that the monk was getting more and more exhausted, he was afraid that it would be sooner or later when he was captured.

"Brother Xiao, it's very pleasant to talk today, I still have something to take care of, and there will be a period later!" After speaking, Lin Wan jumped down, took out several iron pills the size of dragon rock with both hands and threw them at Jian San and the non-precepted monk.

The two dodged away, only to see that after the iron pill cracked, they quickly became angry and a large amount of smoke, and everyone coughed, and when the smoke dissipated, the undisciplined monk was no longer in the field. Kensan looked into the distance and faintly saw two figures disappearing into a private house.

"You have some skills to be able to take me with a heavy sword!" Jian San glanced in Xiao Yi's direction, and met Xiao Yi's gaze, Xiao Yi calmly looked at him.

"Tell me to go down and guard the city gate in pairs, and the rest of the people will continue to track down with me, these two people are injured, and they will definitely not be able to run far. ”

"Yes, Third Senior Brother"

Xiao Yi looked at the back of Jian San's departure, his brows furrowed slightly, whether it was Jian San, whether it was a monk who did not quit, or Lin Wan, who was a little mysterious, appeared in the mountain city at the same time, and he didn't know whether it was good or bad for himself and the Xiao family. Anyway, whether it's the Demon Sect, the Ten Thousand Swords Academy, or the Haoran Academy, I'm afraid it's not something I can provoke now. With a hint of worry, Xiao Yi returned to Xiao's Mansion with Qin'er.

The next morning, I woke up at the knock on the door of Qin'er, got up nearly an hour earlier than yesterday, washed under Qin'er's service, and brushed my teeth with salt.

After cleaning up, he hurriedly walked to the side hall of Xiao's house, and his father asked the family to inform Qin'er that he was going to have breakfast with Xiao Yi this morning, Xiao Yi didn't have the habit of getting up early, so he was still late in the morning after a while.

When Xiao Yi came in, his father Xiao Qian was already sitting in the right position in the side hall, next to Liu was in the first place on the left hand, and Xiao Zhan was sitting next to him. Xiao Yat said goodbye and went over to the right to make it, and then a maid and a cook brought breakfast.

"Xiaoyi, I'm going to go far away, the 50,000 stone grain and rice purchased near the mountain city have been prepared, I will personally take someone to escort it, and I will set off today." ”

"Master, why don't you send a few grain shop keepers and guards, why do you have to go there in person. "It was Liu who spoke.

"This time the stakes are very high, many counties are in the spring famine, I heard that some states and counties in the south even have hungry people rioting to attack the county seat, Qingzhou Thorn Shi Zhao gave Huangfu County a death order, this time the 50,000 stone grain raised must be transported to the affected counties in Qingzhou within three days.

Lord Whampoa attaches great importance to it, and has sent a battalion of officers and soldiers to escort it, but this matter is very involved, and the county guard asks me to personally bring someone over to help. ”

"Then my father wants to bring more capable people, I don't think the Tang family will sit idly by and watch my father cooperate with Lord Huang Fu, the disaster relief has long been known to everyone, if the Tang family doesn't want to sit still, then there should be action next." ”

"I also thought about it, all this time I will bring dozens of good hands, including Xiao Jian's nephew and Xiao Quan, to act together, plus a battalion of fully armed officers and soldiers, even a ninth-layer master is afraid that he will not be able to get any benefits. The stakes are high, and sometimes some risks have to be taken after all. ”

"In addition, although it is said that the Xiao Mansion is safe, you should also be more careful. ”

"Xiaoyi, from today onwards, you will go to Old Man Hong, just say what I said, Xiao Jian and I went out together, and from today onwards, you will take over the affairs of Xiao Jian's nephew, and Old Man Hong will arrange it. So that you have something to do. ”

"Yes, Father"

After breakfast, after Xiao Qian left, Xiao Yi was led by the old man Xiao Hong to the other side of the Xiao Mansion, the Xiao Mansion is the largest mansion in the mountain city, and it takes about a quarter of an hour to walk from the side hall to here.

This place is close to the wall of the Xiao Mansion, and the wall is more than a foot high, and you can't see the outside. Facing the wall is a large square, there are dozens of swords of all kinds in the square, as well as stone locks and other equipment for exercising strength, and there are several large spacious rooms nearby, and there are chaotic sounds in the room, obviously there are a lot of people.

"Young Master Yi, since the eldest master of the Xiao family was founded here by your uncle more than ten years ago, this is the most important place of the Xiao family, all the children of the core members of the shopkeeper, steward, and guard of the family in the mountain city, as well as the children of the relatives of the main family will study here, this is the place to cultivate the talents of the Xiao family, since the death of the old lady and the eldest master two years ago, this place has been managed by the old man me and the young master Jian, and in the future, the young master of the sword is afraid that he will follow the second master, and the young master Yi will be managed by you. While saying that, Old Man Hong led Xiao Yi around again.

"There are two stages for children here, with children between the ages of seven and 10 focusing on literacy, understanding meridian acupuncture points, and then exercising introductory fists and feet. Children from 11 to 13 are mainly engaged in various boxing techniques, and when they have time, they will also learn to count and keep accounts, detoxify and heal injuries. Since the age of fourteen, the government will assign various positions to the Xiao family according to their personal situation and ability, and it can be said that the Xiao family's standing for decades has a lot to do with the talents cultivated here. ”

Xiao Yat turned around and saw that all the children were divided into two transmission rooms according to their age, the one between seven and ten years old had about thirty people, and the eleven to thirteen room had about twenty people. The smaller room on one side of the transmission room is a temporary resting place for the transmission masters.

"I've seen Young Master Yi", obviously, several masters knew that Xiao Yi was going to preside over here.

Several people introduced themselves one by one, in addition to Yang Lao, a teacher who taught arithmetic, and Wen Xiucai, who was teaching literature, there were Hua Lao, who was responsible for teaching detoxification and trauma, and Liu Lao, Song Lao, Wang Lao, and Hong Lao, who were teaching fists and feet, swords and bow horses, a total of seven always present Chuan Gong masters.

It is worth mentioning that these masters are all old men who fight the world with Mrs. Xiao, and their martial arts skills are not necessarily high, but they are all absolutely loyal. It's all because of age, it's not good to compete on the front line, so I concentrate on teaching the younger generations and passing on their experience.

"After Young Master Yi is in charge of the Transmission Hall, if you have time, you can choose a few disciples to teach, or you can not accept disciples like Young Master Jian, just practice martial arts with peace of mind. We regularly report to you on the situation here, there are not many things here, and Liu Lao and they can handle it themselves. "Hong Lao Dao, "Since the younger disciples are learning simple fists and kicks, all the thirty or so disciples are taught introductory martial arts by a martial arts teacher. After a few years, according to the specific situation of each disciple, each teacher will teach individually, and other teachers will not be allowed to teach again. Only the teachers of medicine and literature teach for one hour every two days. ”

"Well, that's good, so please bother the seniors. ”

"Please command, Young Master Yi"

"In the future, I will be assessed once a month according to the enrollment time, and the results of the assessment will be ranked, and I will have my own rewards according to the ranking. Once a year, a big competition is conducted, and the ranking is ranked according to the martial arts cultivation, and the top is rewarded with grain, rice and even silver, and the teachers and even parents are also rewarded, and the latter will be punished. ”

"Yes, Master Yi"

"In addition, in addition to the children of the core members in the future, some family members, maids, men, and even the children of rural tenants can also be sent over, as long as they pay attention to screening and verifying their identities. ”

The subordinates of the Xiao family have the best status of the shopkeepers in various places and several positive and negative guards in the Xiao Mansion, they are all famous existences in various places, living a rich life, and worry-free about food and clothing.

The second is the general guards and stewards, and then there are the housekeepers and maids and some errand boys, as for the tenants in the countryside, strictly speaking, they are not the people of the Xiao family, but they just farm the Xiao family's 10,000 acres of fertile land, pointing to the Xiao family's land to live. In the entire Xiao family, there are only a few shopkeepers and the like, and the most family, maids and tenants.

Xiao Yi realized better than anyone the importance of this Chuangong Hall with the rudimentary form of the school to the Xiao family, and expanding the scale of the school would help cultivate the strength of the Xiao family's lineage, and it would also help to enhance the cohesion of the lower class personnel to the Xiao family. Of course, there is another point, as the person in charge of the Chuan Gong Hall, he will also be the leader of these future forces.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yi was shocked, he could think that his father had no ideals, and the uncle was in charge of the Gongtang before, and he must have cultivated a lot of strength for more than ten years, and later after the uncle's death, his son Xiao Jian was in charge. Is it true that my father took the risk this time just for the sake of the partnership with the county guard? Is it really just a coincidence to transfer Xiao Jian and arrange for him to take over!

After discussing the future development direction with several teachers in the Chuangong Hall, it was already past noon after everything was discussed, Xiao Yi returned to his small courtyard, first continued to practice the splitting sword technique and the Flame Palm for a while, and then sat down on the stone bench under the jujube tree, took out the chessboard that he bought yesterday, and placed dozens of black and white pieces on it, which was an endgame, and then one black and one white, and he began to play chess with himself.

I saw that two completely different chess styles between black and white were displayed in the small chessboard, and the sunspots opened and closed widely, aggressively, as if they were going to choose someone to devour in the next moment. White, on the other hand, is tepid and doesn't care about the battle between a city and a place, but it is gradually gaining momentum, and the more you play, the thicker it becomes.

Time flies, two hours have passed, and before a game of chess has been played, the bell waiting next to him has already been called by Qin'er to learn how to stir-fry, and Xiao Yi is the only one left in the courtyard.

In the dark corner, a figure that seemed to be there gradually became clear, the person was not very old, and his face was fair, it was Lin Wan, who had just met yesterday and called himself Haoran Academy.