As the sun waned, the yellowing afterglow struggled to release the last trace of heat. On the bluestone road, a thin donkey walked slowly with an old man, and a young man walked ahead with the reins.

The old man sat leisurely on the back of the donkey, with a big black pipe hanging from his waist, and from time to time he took two sips of the wine gourd in his hand, and then smacked his lips pleasantly. Squinted his eyes, shook his head and hummed an unknown tune, and unconsciously lit himself a beat on his thigh with his right hand, so comfortable.

The young man on the leash glanced back at the old man, and his head hurt from the excitement of his enjoyment.

He threw away the reins in his hand and shouted angrily: "Hey, the old immortal, is it time to change me?" After speaking, he went up and pulled the old man's arm, and pulled it hard, but the old man did not move at all, steady as a rock. Finding that he couldn't pull it, the young man had to grin and circle around the thin donkey: "Hurry down!

The old man opened his eyes, grinned, showed a mouthful of big yellow teeth, and took out a big pipe and knocked it on the young man's head, but the young man dodged and avoided it, and caused the young man to roll his eyes. didn't hit the target, the old man gave up, put the wine gourd into the burden on the donkey's back, felt out the flint tobacco leaves, lit it, Meimei took a sip, and then took care of the angry young man on the side: "Little rabbit cub, you don't have a big or small old man to call Lao Tzu immortal, today Lao Tzu will definitely beat you down." ”

The young man sat on the ground with a disdainful face, and his hands were wrapped around a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water: "Come on, I just can't walk, it's just my liking to lie down and rest for a while." ”

The old man sneered, didn't look at him, took a puff of his pipe, then exhaled a thick puff of smoke, and said, "You scoundrel you boy is still tender, get up quickly, walk three miles again, and you will be seated." With that, his legs tightened, and the donkey walked forward.

"Phew!" the young man got up from the ground and kicked a pebble away, "You have deceived me for a few three miles this afternoon? Let me tell you, this is the last three miles, if you don't come down later, I will smash your wine gourd and pipe!" The young man saw that the thin donkey was walking away leisurely, and hurriedly grabbed it, pulled the reins and waved his fist at the old man strongly. The old man smiled and continued to squint, "Don't worry, I won't fool you this time." ”

The young man carefully calculated the distance with his steps, and immediately turned around and stared at the old man when he was just three miles. The old man kept his word this time, and really slid down neatly, helped the boy onto the donkey's back, and then took over the warm reins that the boy was holding. "Young master, I'm happy now. The old man said in a teasing tone as he tapped his pipe on his arm and hung it back on his waist.

"Hmph, it's okay. The young man raised his head, his mouth was full, his heart was refreshed, patted the donkey's back, and still sat comfortably.

Just as the sky was getting dark, the outline of a city wall appeared in the distance. There is the destination of an old man and a young man, the buttress city.

The old man looked at the brightly lit city in the distance, pulled the rope and stopped, and breathed a sigh of relief: "You still get what you deserve." ”

The old man turned his back to him, and the young man couldn't see his expression, but his heart was choked by his relieved tone. He rolled over and slid down and walked to the old man's side, his irritability made his voice tremble slightly: "The old man is not dead, can't he not fight?" Along the way, the old man quarreled with him, and never said who he wanted to fight, whether he was a young and powerful strong man, or an old man with loess legs like him, and never said how to fight, whether to use pots and pans, or stones and mud bricks.

The young man only felt that the free and easy energy of the old immortal to die generously made him feel as if there were ants crawling in his heart, and he was uncomfortable when he climbed.

He didn't dare to look at the old man, and he didn't have the strength to grab the mount with the old man before, so he unconsciously grabbed the corner of the old man's clothes, "Why don't we go back, go back to our little broken house." In the future, I will never mix water with your five-flower brew, nor will I put leaves in your tobacco leaves, so that you will be a hundred times more comfortable than before!

The more the boy spoke, the more uncomfortable he became, and he couldn't help but choke up when he said the back.

For as long as he can remember, he has been dependent on the old man. The old man said that he picked him up in a broken Taoist temple, and the broken Taoist temple had a broken plaque called Nian Yiguan, so the old man took the opportunity to name him Nian Yi. Bai Nianyi, with the old man's surname. Bai Nian knew that the old immortal surname was Bai, but he never knew what his name was, and he never asked.

Do you know what it matters? Anyway, we've been living together.

When he had grown to the height of the Eight Immortals' Table with the missing horns in his family, the old man gave him a branch for him to draw with. The old man said that he would have to compare every day in the future, and if he was good at the game, he would have a lot of chicken, duck and fish in the future, and a lot of female dolls would come up to make him his daughter-in-law.

Bai Nianyi didn't know what his daughter-in-law could do with it at that time, but the chicken, duck and fish meat made him energetic. Every day is the food of wild vegetable gruel, which makes him particularly energetic in contrasting the branches, spring, summer, autumn and winter, sunny and rainy, and it has never been broken.

The old man loves to drink, and when he gets drunk, he lies on a bamboo chair and closes his eyes to tell a story: "My old white head used to be amazing, a long sword can pick the sun, moon and stars, and the bottom can stir up the big river, whoever sees me, has to bend down and shout a white sword fairy!" After speaking, he glanced at the little fart next to him who was listening attentively with his head on his head, smiled contentedly, took a sip of wine, and continued: "Nian Yi, do you know what a sword fairy is?"

Bai Nianyi shook his head.

The old man hiccuped and smiled proudly: "Let me tell you, the Sword Immortal is the most powerful person in this world. I'll give you an analogy, if I tell Widow Zhang, who sells pork belly brew, that I am a sword fairy, I don't have to pay for the wine. ”

It turns out that the name of the Sword Immortal doesn't have to pay for wine, but it's really a bit powerful. Bai Nianyi raised his little head to look at the wild vegetables drying in the yard, and asked, "Then why don't you tell Butcher Wang that you are a sword immortal? ”

The old man was stunned by the child's question, squinted and thought for a while, then glared at him, and said angrily: "What do you know, can the sword fairy be taken out casually to show off?" After speaking, he put the wine gourd in Bai Nianyi's arms, turned around, and muttered: "Go and go, there is no wine, go and get a gourd and come back." ”

Bai Nianyi took out a few pennies from selling firewood from his sleeve, kneaded it around, and thought of using it to buy some meat to change the food, but couldn't help but sigh and said, "Can I tell Aunt Zhang that you are a sword immortal?" As soon as the words fell, the old man slapped his head: "Get out." ”

When he was a little older, the old man talked about the allusion of the sword immortal again, and Bai Nianyi was too lazy to listen to it anymore. In addition to teaching him to draw branches, the old man drank his big black pipe. What a sword immortal, is an old immortal drunkard, an old immortal smoking gun.

Until one day, Bai Nianyi danced with branches in the courtyard and split the broken corner of the Eight Immortals Table in half, the old man looked at the cracked table and was stunned for a long time, and after a long time, he looked at him with a look of relief and said, "Clean up, it's time to go." ”

"Where are you going?" Bai Nianyi was inexplicable.

"I've got to get into a fight with someone. The old man looked into the distance.

"Just you, who can you beat?" Bai Nianyi poked the old man with a branch, and said with a look of disdain: "You old bones, a small wind can shake you apart, and you still want to fight with people?" ”

Listening to Bai Nianyi's ridicule, it was rare for the old man not to beat him. He opened the table on the ground with his feet, glanced at Bai Nianyi, and smiled: "Go clean up, before I fight, I will sell you to a good family, and you will not worry about chicken, duck and fish in the future, you will eat as much as you want." After speaking, he slowly walked to the bamboo chair and drank wine again without taking a sip.

Bai Nianyi looked at the old man who was shaking with his eyes closed, and his heart tightened for no reason. He was a little overwhelmed by the old man's inexplicable words and actions, and after living with the old man for so many years, he felt a sense of urgency for the first time. The sudden pressure made his throat dry and his nose pantothenic.

His instinct told him that once he left this little broken house, what was about to happen must be too much for him to bear.

Now that the old man said that the good family is in the city in front of him, Bai Nianyi can't wait to take root in this ground under his feet, and he doesn't want to move a bit. Tears welled up in his eyes and slid to the corners of his mouth, and then into his mouth, the salty taste made him more and more unable to control himself.

The old man's heart was turbulent by the boy's crying, but fortunately, the night gradually shrouded him, and his expression could not be seen. He tried his best to soothe his tone and said softly: "Nian Yi, there is no feast in the world that will not be dispersed. You're a guy who can stand up to the sky now, and you can't cry. ”

The old man stretched out his hand to stroke Bai Nianyi's head, but he felt that his hands were trembling so much, and he quietly put them down and clasped his hands behind his back. "The awakening dragon in this buttress city will definitely treat you well in the future, which is much better than eating wild vegetables and drinking gruel with me. After speaking, he smiled lightly and bumped Bai Nianyi with his arm, "Don't you like to eat meat?" The Su family is a big family, and there is no shortage of money, so I will ask them to buy you meat to eat every day in the future." What's the matter, aren't you happy?"

Bai Nian turned his head, still sobbing uncontrollably. The old man looked at him and sighed lightly: "Nian Yi, it's fate for the two of us to get together." If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to fight. But in life, there are too many things that can't be controlled by your own will, watching you grow up slowly, sometimes I forget my agreement to fight with Old Man Li. It was really a blessing for me to pick you up twelve years ago, so that I have a companion to relieve my boredom all these years. Don't you pay too much attention to this gathering and dispersing thing, a manly man has to be a little free, wiping tears is what girls do, is it possible that I haven't raised a man for more than ten years, a girl?"

"Bah, you old immortal, you're a. Bai Nianyi was upset by what the old man said, wiped away the tears on his face with his sleeve, and strode towards the buttress city without looking back. The old man looked at Bai Nianyi's back, laughed and sighed, and followed with the reins of the thin donkey.

When he arrived at the city gate, Bai Nian stopped his steps, his heart was depressed, but he still mustered up the courage to look at the old man: "Old immortal, can you come back to pick me up after the fight?"

The old man was stunned for a moment, hesitated for a long time before spitting out three words: "I don't know." ”

Bai Nian gritted his teeth and turned around, asked no more questions, and walked towards the city gate with dull steps.