On this day, I saw him sighing under the lamp again, and finally couldn't help but walk in, but this time he didn't find me, I called him softly, and I didn't see him answer, I walked closer, only to find that he was holding a pen on a white paper covered with a table was painting a strange landscape painting, and the tears in his eyes kept falling on the paper, and the landscape in the painting was also a big mess. ”

At that time, I saw that he seemed to have great sorrow and confusion in his heart, and my heart was like a knife, so I immediately knelt in front of him, kowtowed heavily and asked him not to be so sad. ”

"Master pulled me up and said to me, 'It's useless, I saved you on the street that day, and my heart was always terrified, and I was afraid that my children would be like you back then, on the streets, ...... on the streets.'"

"Master choked up several times, but he couldn't say anything, I knew he was going to say, but I was afraid that his children would be like me that day, fighting with dogs for food, and they were being devastated. Master was heartbroken, but I suddenly envied my junior brother whom I had never met, and I thought to myself, if my father of life and death also looked for me like Master, I would be comforted, but I didn't know who my parents were. ”

"That night, after the master finished the picture, he called for some wine and food, and the two of us drank each other. He also said something about his past that night, but I also drank some wine at that time, and I don't remember much anymore, but I remember that the master seemed to say that he had been an official in the court, and after saying that, he came from sorrow and cried bitterly, I knew that he must have missed his children and his wife, but he only knew that he was accompanied by a bitter cry, and he didn't know how to comfort him. ”

"Since that night, the master did not know where to go, the next morning, I saw that he left this painting in his room, I knew that he went out again, but I was afraid that it would be another half a year and a few months to come back, I also looked forward to the day when he suddenly came back with his brother and sister, who knew that he was gone, until today, it has been thirty-three years, and he has never returned. ”

When Liu Hao came to this, although he didn't want to be too moved in front of everyone, the corners of his eyes were already crimson. Gu Hongming looked at the painting on the north side of the hall and said: "The sharp mountains on the cloud side are like swords, and the autumn is full of sorrow, and the bitterness in Nanpu's heart has already jumped on the paper. ”

Wang Xinghui, Lu Deming, and Yang Xi looked at the painting, and only then did they know that this painting was actually Liu Nanpu's posthumous work. Wang Xing would stare at the peaks in the painting, and he could vaguely feel some sadness. The mountain is high and deep, like splitting and ripping, which is not a common landscape appearance, and is naturally a reflection of the painter's state of mind.

Wang Xinghui lowered his head and didn't think about it. The white fat old man Wen Daoxi took over the conversation and said, "Yes, he went out to find his wife and children that day. His wife is my younger sister. My junior sister and I studied under Chen Li, the master of the Southern School of Science during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, my junior sister has a very high vision in my door, she is noble, beautiful face, many people of my senior brother love her, but she does not pay attention to it. An old man, half-lying in a chair, slowly and methodically recounted the past engraved in his heart, he did not hurry to say a break for a while, and everyone did not interrupt, just looked at his face in unison, hoping that from the expression on his face could see some of the trajectory and direction of the story, but what he saw was only the vicissitudes of life in his wandering and empty eyes.

"In the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, my sister and I accompanied the master to return to the hometown from Gyeonggi Province to the south, and the master knew that my family lived in Yuanzhou Mansion, so he agreed to visit my family by the way. ”

"At that time, along the Yangtze River, the land of fish and rice, commerce and trade has been very developed, the three of us saw the scene of Jiangbei villagers living and working in peace and contentment, and we couldn't help but feel gratified, how do we know that after crossing the river, it is another scene, refugees continue to come from the west, we have finally come to the Shizhongshan ferry, from this crossing the river, you can go to the west bank of Pengli Ze, and then go south along Lushan and De'an, and you can go to Yuanzhou in a few days. ”

However, seeing that there were still a large number of refugees stranded on the other side of the ferry, the boatman sent people to the east bank in a steady stream, and then immediately swayed and let go to the west, refusing to take people back. The refugees who came down dragged their families and mouths, all of them had dishes on their faces, and they were all talking about it. I listened to all the discussions about the Liangguang mutiny, I was anxious, although my parents had long lived with me in Beijing, but in the land of Sangzi, there were still many relatives and friends, I hurriedly inquired, yes, that year was the Liangguang Jintian Uprising, I suddenly heard a hometown accent, hurriedly stepped forward to listen, under a question, the fleeing couple said to me, Changmao all the way from Liangguang to the north, in the blink of an eye, I am afraid that it is going to sweep in. When the man saw that I was still thinking about crossing the river, he said with concern: 'Young man, is there anyone at home? ’”

"I was so worried that when I saw that the wharf on the other side was blocked, I had to turn my horse's head and drive along the east bank of Poyang Lake. At that time, it was the end of the snowstorm, and it was about to be dusk, and I saw that I was going farther and farther, and my heart became heavier, and I thought: My hometown is in the midst of war, and I can't wait to go to my hometown overnight. ”

"We turned back to the east for two miles, and saw that we walked into a village called Sushan Village, but the wheels were stuck in the mud, and we could no longer pull them out, and my teacher was bumping in the car, and I was already exhausted, and my sister had to take care of my teacher, and I thought that I was also a scholar, and I had to push the carriage out of the mud several times, and I was all in the mud, but where could I push it in the slightest? ”

At this moment, a white horse came by the lake, and immediately a young man, with sword eyebrows and sideburns, heroic and compelling, but he was not worried. He looked at us, and without speaking, suddenly he grabbed his legs, rushed to the left side of my carriage, pulled on the handlebars, and with a great deal of force on his hands, he gently and skillfully pushed the carriage out of the quagmire, and was about to ride away. ”

I didn't dare to slack off, so I hurriedly jumped off the horse, told him to stop, met him, thanked him for his hand, and asked him his name. I only heard the young man generously bow his hand and say: 'When you meet in Pingshui, you can do it with your hands, and you don't ask for your name without labor.' He bowed slightly, and then turned away. ”

Later, my junior sister told me that she was attracted by the grace of this young man on a white horse from that time, she said, among our senior brothers, although most of them came from the family of the eunuchs, but when it came to extraordinary energy, there was no one who could compare to him, so when she saw the man in the car in a hurry to leave, she couldn't help but thank her, hoping that the young man could stop for a moment. ”

When the man saw his sister thanking him, he reined in the horse's head. At that time, it was nearly the middle of winter, the north wind was very strong on the shore of Poyang Lake, I saw that the young man was eternal, with a strong bones, wearing only a tattered shirt, but he didn't care at all in the cold wind, his face was full of heroic spirit, and I saw that he was not arrogant or humble in his words, and his heart was also secretly admired, and the junior sister invited him to the small shop in front of the village to drink three cups to ward off the cold. ”

"The boy didn't refuse this time, but said, 'It's okay.'" My sister and I supported our teacher, and the four of us walked into the small fishing village called Sushan, sat down in front of a winery, and drank each other. ”

"The village is close to the water, only to see that the river is clear and cold, the river is full of white storks, the weeping willows in front of every house, and a few buffaloes are fat and strong, and they are leisurely basking in the sun, but there are no boats moored. After a little thought in my heart, I guessed that there must have been a lot of refugees passing through the Shizhongshan ferry in the past few days, and the ferrymen had gone there. ”

"The younger sister was chattering and looking for something to talk about, and when I saw that the young man didn't speak much, I immediately said: 'The scenery here is excellent, and when he is young, he will definitely come here again.' He came back to his senses in a daze, and when he saw me and my sister staring at him, he immediately reacted to his gaffe, and then he cheered up and started talking with me. ”

"We exchanged names, he was Mr. Nanpu, and later he also told me about the reason for his indifference that day, he had just come down from the mountain that day, and he was not willing to get too close to the Qing court officials, and it was indeed because of my sister's kind invitation that he stopped to sit at the table. ”

"When I asked him where he was going, I didn't expect him to be my fellow villager, and he was about to visit his parents in Yuanzhou Mansion, and I asked him how his hometown pronunciation had changed, and he told me that he had been away from home for several years. With this relationship with fellow villagers, we are a little closer. The teacher suddenly proposed, "Now that the army is in chaos, we are in a lot of battles, and there are many inconveniences, so it is better to ask Mr. Nanpu to return to his hometown to visit relatives and friends on my behalf, and we will no longer cross the lake, but continue to go south by the road in Nanchang." ”

As soon as I heard this, I thought it was feasible, and the young man immediately agreed, so I borrowed a pen and paper in front of the village, wrote a letter to the elders of several families who remained in my hometown, explained the reason to them, and asked them to go to Beijing to meet my parents if they were in difficulty.

Before leaving, my sister finally couldn't help but write our address on another piece of paper, handed it to Mr. Nanpu, and said that since it was a letter, it was natural to know the address of the reply, Mr. Nanpu nodded and took it, and said goodbye. ”

"Everything talks about some karma, maybe Mr. Nanpu is finally attracted by his sister, in fact, my sister is beautiful, how can Mr. Nanpu not be moved, he is also a talented man and a woman, an excellent spouse. The next time we saw Mr. Nanpu was in Gu Yu the following year. After visiting our relatives in Guangdong with Master, we had already returned to Beijing to serve as a Chinese prisoner, and on this day someone knocked on the door, and when I opened the door, I found that it was Mr. Nanpu. He was completely different from the description a few months ago, he looked like a withered tree, and the cheekbones on his face also came out, we helped him into the house, and he gritted his teeth under careful questioning, it turned out that when he returned to his hometown, he found that his parents had died in the process of long-haired northward march, and several elders in my clan had already moved their addresses. ”

"The Long-haired Army was the contemptuous name of the northerners for the Taiping Army back then, and I never liked Longhair, so I immediately comforted him and asked him to stay and raise the generals. My sister knew that he had gone through the pain of bereavement, so she was naturally very considerate and warm, and wanted Mr. Nanpu to stay by her side for a long time. He and my sister were grinding their ears and temples, and slowly, the two of them were also in love. However, Mr. Nanpu is not willing to be subordinate, he is very smart and alert, and his temperament is also steady and ruthless, and he is revengeful. He had the heart to study, and a few years later, a young master came out of the Huaijun Qizi Battalion, who was brave and good at fighting, and made great contributions to the imperial court, and later won the emperor's appreciation, and since then it can be said that he has been on a steady journey......"

Wen Daoxi muttered, his voice abruptly stopped, and suddenly he didn't see him continue to speak. Everyone looked at him again, only to see him pick up a tea jar beside him, finish the tea, take the tea leaves down with his fingers, put them in his mouth, chew slowly, chew slowly, staring blankly in front of him, panting heavily.

Gu Hongming took a deep breath and said, "Mr. Nanpu is talented, but after all, he can't escape a love word. He is a wise and courageous person, and naturally he is also a person of great affection and nature, as the little brother said in Fang Caihaolai, Mr. Nanpu often became depressed later, and I am convinced of this. Since the disappearance of Mr. Nampo's wife, Mr. Nampo has been searching for several years, only to return to retrieve it after the entanglement has run out. He took a fancy to our friendship, and he once came to my house to get the silver, and I also comforted him at that time, and the whereabouts of his wife and children were unknown, so he had to inquire slowly, but Mr. Nanpu shook his head and said to me: ' How can a husband one day not know the whereabouts of his wife, how can a father bear to have his young son drift away one day, I know that they must still be waiting for me to find him, how can I slack off for a day, I don't care what the result is, whether I can find their whereabouts or not, but as long as I live, I will look for a day,' he said emotionally, and said to me: 'Brother, do you know that as soon as I stop, my heart is like a knife, and I feel that I am not worthy of being a human being, even a pig and a dog, I can only keep searching, keep searching!'"

Gu Hongming relayed these words, which sounded to everyone as if they were Liu Nanpu's dictation. Yang Xi was moved by these words, and cried in a low voice, although she was the same as Wang Xinghui and Lu Deming, she didn't know how Mr. Nanpu's wife and children were separated, but her daughter's mind was softer and more delicate.

In the hearts of Wang Xinghui, Yang Xi, and Lu Deming, there was a question at this time, that is, how did Mr. Nanpu's wife and children get lost, and Yang Xi even asked: "What happened later? Did Uncle Liu find his wife and children later? Uncle Gu, go on!"

Gu Hongming did not speak.

However, the boss Sheng Xuanhuai, who had not spoken, slowly said one sentence at a time: "Mr. Nanpu's feelings are pitiful, but he is not human. That woman, alas, has suffered a lot of suffering in the world, and has also caused a great evil in the world, which is indescribable. ”

Yang Xi was startled, turned his head to look at Sheng Xuanhuai blankly, and said in his mouth: "...... After suffering a lot in the world and creating a great evil in the world, what did this lady of Uncle Nanpu do, and she got a few such evaluations......"

Chen Lisan, Wang Zhaoyong, Yang Du, Deng Haishan and other old people who had not yet spoken naturally knew the details, but none of them could answer Yang Xi, and they all sat on the ground blankly with empty eyes.

Sheng Xuanhuai called two workers and arranged some things to go down, and after a while, a few people brought a small crucible and put it in the middle of the hall, put three or four catties of charcoal in the hearth, and pulled up the bellows. Since Han Yeping Company has a smelting word, this iron-making furnace is the beginning of the industry, and it is natural to find a small crucible furnace. Only this time, even a few old people didn't know what Sheng Xuanhuai's intentions were.

After a while, another worker carefully handed a small pale yellow gooseneck pot to Sheng Xuanhuai. Sheng Xuanhuai followed with one hand, supported the worker with the other, and slowly stood up and said: "Mr. Nanpu and I are very close to each other, and I will show you a thing, this is a glass gooseneck pot." A few decades ago, glass was a rare object, and it was rare for people to find a piece in their homes, and only the emperor's relatives could use glass products. At that time, the glazed products were not as delicate and gorgeous as this one, this glazed gooseneck pot was smelted by Mr. Nanpu using the manufacturing technology of Western glass products, and was intended to be given to Empress Cixi. As he spoke, he walked away, and saw that the crucible furnace had burned red, and as soon as his hand was released, there was a snap, and the exquisite glazed gooseneck pot fell into the crucible and fell to pieces. The worker pulled the bellows violently, and the flames at the bottom of the furnace rose high, and after a while, the crucible slowly sizzled, and the glass pot turned into a furnace of pale yellow juice.

Gu Hongming's heart was itching, and he stepped forward to watch the crucible. Sheng Xuanhuai didn't speak, and when he saw the yellow juice tumbling a few times, he called for someone to fetch a big iron bucket, filled it with cold water, and put it in the middle of the hall, which made the worker retreat. He picked up the crucible with his own hands, looked around at everyone, and said, "Everyone is optimistic." As he spoke, he tilted the glass water in the furnace down, and bursts of heat rose in the water, filling the room, and there was no movement for a long time.

Everyone didn't understand the meaning, Sheng Xuanhuai rolled up his sleeves, reached out and fished it out of the iron bucket, and held a round droplet-shaped glass ball that the glass juice had re-condensed in his hand. The ball tail has a long tail, similar to a rat's tail.

Sheng Xuanhuai spoke: "The glass is cooled by water, but the heart is a little slower, Mr. Nanpu is an important technician of our company, once showed me this experiment, he said, glass products but where this treatment, the appearance will become stronger than the gold stone, although there are 10,000 tons of pressure resistance and not broken, today we will demonstrate again." As he spoke, he laid the glass ball flat on a large iron felt, gently pinched the rat tail with his hand, and nodded to the two workers standing next to him.

The two workers each picked up a sledgehammer and smashed it into the glass ball. I could only hear the sound of a rustle, like gold and steel colliding. The two workers only made a dozen strokes, and their arms became sore, their palms were numb, and they stopped panting. Sheng Xuanhuai gently lifted the glass ball, the glass ball was still crystal clear, undamaged, and there was no trace at all.

Everyone present looked at each other and was shocked, thinking that a small piece of glass would be broken into slag even if it was thrown on the ground, but today was an eye-opener, even Chen, Wang, Yang, and Deng The four old men and Sheng Xuanhuai and Liu Nanpu have been friends for a long time, and it is the first time they have heard of and seen such a miracle.

Lai Dascoo of the Hongjiang Association walked out of Sheng Xuanhuai's entourage and took the sledgehammer and said, "I'll come." Sheng Xuanhuai nodded, and gently placed the glass ball on top of the iron felt, and gently clamped it with two fingers. Lai Dasco said: "Master, don't clamp it, be careful not to hurt you." "His identity at the moment is a miner under the Anyuan Coal Mine, the Anyuan Coal Mine is subordinate to the Coal Mining Bureau, according to the old system, Lai Dasco respectfully called Sheng Xuanhuai the master. Sheng Xuanhuai smiled slightly and said, "It's okay, you just smash it hard." ”

Lai Dasco has a strong self-holding force, and he tried his best to smash it down, and the roof tiles also shook loudly. Sheng Xuanhuai pinched the rat tail of the glass ball tightly, and couldn't help but see if the glass ball was going to break. Lai Da Spoon hammered down three times, he had already riveted all his strength, and the hammer was also smashed into a groove, and then looked at the glass ball, but it was still intact.

Although it was not the first time Sheng Xuanhuai had seen this scene, he couldn't help but be amazed, he shook his head and said: "I can't imagine that there is such a novel food in the world, please take a closer look." I saw him pinching the rat tail of the glass ball and showing it to everyone, and he raised a finger in his right hand and flicked it on the rat tail. I heard a crackling sound, and the stars flew in front of me under the sunlight, and the glass ball instantly shattered into powder and shone in the air.

Everyone was amazed and amazed, and after everyone discussed, Sheng Xuanhuai said again: " This experiment was learned by Mr. Nanpu from overseas, and when it was demonstrated to me for the first time that day, I, like all of you, was also amazed and incredible, but Mr. Nanpu said that this thing has such an aura, and it is somewhat similar to people, and in the face of adversity, it can actually practice a body of gold and steel, sincerity, no desire is strong, enough to stand up to the sky and the earth, not afraid of any thing, but there is a weakness of human nature, once it is attacked by the door, it will be fatal with one blow! There is no power to fight back, and it is secretly in line with the principle of the creation of all things in heaven and earth!

"What Mr. Nanpu said that day, if this characteristic is used in the heavenly creation, it will definitely be of great use, but Mr. Nanpu didn't expect that he himself would be like that rat-tail glass ball, let him be eight buckets high, profound martial arts, and inviolable to all kinds of poisons, but he can't withstand the heavy blow of the soft underbelly!"

Only then did everyone know his intention to demonstrate this experiment. Wang Xinghui also felt novel, thinking: all things in the world, the hard ones have diamonds, meteoric iron, etc., the soft ones are more than water, and the brittle ones are like porcelain, jade, agate, this small glass bead, it actually contains these three characteristics at the same time, it is really incredible, eye-opening. I heard Yang Xi gently recite the words relayed by Sheng Xuanhuai: "...... It is a little similar to a person, sincere, enough to stand up to the sky, once it is attacked, it will be fatal with one blow! There is no way to fight back...... , Mr. Nanpu's life......"

"Yes, Mr. Nanpu's destiny is his wife, that is, Mr. Dawhi's younger sister. A sturdy old man stood up and said aloud.

Everyone followed the sound and recognized that the old man who spoke was Yang Du.

Yang Du paced to the front of Mr. Nanpu's mourning hall, looked at the tablet for a while, prayed silently in his heart, turned around and said: "I first met Mr. Nanpu after his fame gradually rose. It is said that Emperor Xianfeng has a short life. Emperor Tongzhi died of smallpox, in fact, there have been rumors among the people that Emperor Tongzhi died of the disease of the willows, this is true, the Emperor of Tongzhi was miserable all his life, not allowed to vent, and finally sank in the willow lane of the smoke street, no different from the drunkards in the market, his indulgence is like a pinch of salt into the fire, pouring oil on the fire, is committing the taboo of mutual life and restraint, it did not take long for him to hollow out his body, the evil poison invaded the kidney veins, and his life was whined, and so on until the Guangxu Emperor ascended the throne, all this is counted, and it is only a matter of ten years in the blink of an eye. ”

After Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne, he was eager to cultivate his own power and get rid of the control of the Empress Dowager Cixi. ...... Yes, it was the one who was edicted to summon Mr. Nanpu into the palace that day. ”

"Because of this, I also have a good relationship with Mr. Nanpu, Emperor Guangxu and Mr. Nanpu hated to see each other late, and wanted to entrust him wholeheartedly, and planned to appoint him as the champion of martial arts in the second year's imperial examination. Who would have thought that in this year, the Qing Dynasty had something that made the whole country lose face. ”