The summer is scorching, and the mountain flowers are burning.

There was a burst of children's laughter and the sound of rushing water from the pond not far away, and most of the children in Gutang Village spend their summer in the water.

"Brother Ran is so powerful, and he is the first one. ”

"yes, every time you play with water, you have to crush me. ”

"If you want me to say, Brother Ran was a fish in the water nine times out of ten before he was reincarnated. ”

"Hmph, my swimming skills are not bad, but my luck is not as good as his. A child named Duanmu Jin shouted unconvinced, and rolled his eyes at the children with envy on their faces.

"Haha, I know that bragging, once is luck, can it be said that eight times out of ten times also depends on luck?" The other child glared at him disdainfully, and looked at Zhang Ran with a happy expression.

Zhang Ran is an extremely ordinary-looking child, in terms of appearance, Duanmu Jin is undoubtedly the most handsome of them, with thin lips and a high nose, his skin doesn't seem to be tanned. Zhang Ran is like a dog's tail grass growing on a barren slope in Gutang Village, a small stubborn stone on the side of the road in the field, no matter where it is placed, it will not be eye-catching. His **** body was lean and lean, and the sun and rust smeared the skin on his body into a shiny black. People who are not familiar with Zhang Ran must think that he is a pawn who can be ignored at will.

"Let's go, go home," the children are afraid that they will go back late, and their parents will twist their ears and palms and smack their buttocks, who is not afraid of pain.

", who slammed my pants," Duanmu Jin on the side cried out angrily. Everyone couldn't help but look at Zhang Ran secretly, this kid is too sassy, doesn't he just rely on the father of the village chief, if he offends Brother Ran, there is no good fruit to eat. In the past, Zhang Ran led them to do a lot of bad things, and in those unknown traps on the road to the entrance of the village, animal traps, thorns, and beast feces made many people in the village suffer.

Zhang Ran's face was calm, and he looked leisurely at the pool of Qingbo in front of him, with a detached posture that had nothing to do with himself, but if he paid careful attention, in those two pitch-black pupils, he was afraid that he was already smiling and couldn't help laughing.

Everyone was not too embarrassed by Duanmu Jin, and at Zhang Ran's suggestion, one of them took out his pants from the grass not far away, kneaded them into a ball and smashed them into Duanmu Jin's head. Duanmu Jin scolded hatefully, causing everyone to laugh again.

"Zhang Ran, you are better at playing water than me, I admit it, do you dare to make a bet?" Duanmu Jin looked directly at Zhang Ran with a provocative expression.

"Bet, bet on what?" Zhang Ran said in surprise. In Zhang Ran's opinion, what can Duanmu Jin rely on, climb mountains, go up trees, go down rivers, and trap beasts, he is not better than him, why does he dare to bet with himself.

Duanmujin quickly ran to a tree, broke a branch, smoothed out the crunchy clay with his feet, and drew it on the ground horizontally and vertically. After finishing the painting, he straightened up his small chest and said proudly to Zhang Ran: "What words did I just write, you say." Zhang Ran was dumbfounded all of a sudden, this seemed to be beyond his cognition. He awkwardly touched the back of his head with his hand, his eyes looking around, as if he was evading, as if hoping to find the answer he wanted from someone else's face. Zhang Ran smiled, looking like he didn't admit defeat, and said that this was just a way to draw, but his eyes gradually became gloomy. Except for Duanmu Jin, other people's eyes kept shuttling between the two of them, and more often they looked at Zhang Ran, as if to say, Brother Ran, can you do it.

Admit it, hahaha, that piercing voice is getting farther and farther away. Zhang Ran is 10 years old this year, compared with other children, he has a far more intelligent and sensitive than his peers, he is a child with a strong sense of self-esteem, this stubborn and strong sense of self-esteem, on the one hand, due to the embarrassment of the family and the cowardice of his parents, on the other hand, he may not be able to say clearly, maybe it is some kind of inexplicable ambition hidden in the blood.

Zhang Ran was shocked to find that he was the only one left around. He lifted his head, his eyes wide open, and looked into the distance as best he could. The Hengshan Mountain Range, which stretches for thousands of miles like a giant dragon, lies quietly between this heaven and earth, and the white clouds have been flowing for thousands of years, ups and downs, all of which have melted into this vast and sparse silhouette. Could there be a bird that would carry him over the barely crossable mountain, he thought.

He squatted down, and felt more and more that Duanmu Jin's paintings were very interesting, these horizontal and vertical lines connected up and down, as if there was something special to combine them, and he faintly felt that if he mastered them, it was likely to bring unexpected benefits to himself, and he didn't know what kind of benefits it was. However, his mind was also activated by something all of a sudden, the humiliation brought to him by Duanmu Jin has long been gone, and there is a seed planted deep in his heart from then on, which will have a far-reaching impact on him in the future, in the face of the situation that he does not know and can not fully control, he must not intervene rashly, otherwise it will bring huge trouble and even disaster to himself, many years later, until he walked in the world of cultivating immortals, Zhang Ran relied on this to avoid countless times of death.

It's not early, you have to go back quickly, otherwise grandpa will nag again. Zhang Ran's father is timid and easy to talk, every time the village organizes hunting, Zhang Ran's family gets much less prey than others, and he doesn't fight; his mother usually doesn't talk much, but he is busy without complaint, washing and cooking, collecting firewood and planting grain, and rarely has spare time. The person in charge of the family is grandpa, don't look at grandpa is almost 70 this year, but his body is not ambiguous, his muscles and bones are tough, and his voice is like a bell. It's a pity that grandpa's leg is not good, he traveled south and north when he was young, and his disability was calculated and left behind at that time. Half a lifetime of wandering has made grandpa quite knowledgeable in talking and doing things, and whatever is going on at home, grandpa has the idea. Don't look at Zhang Ran, who seems to have a lot of prestige in this group of hairy children, but in front of his grandfather, he is respectful and respectful, and he never dares to play with children's temper.

"Ah Bao, Ah Hui, brother is back," Zhang Ran shouted from afar when he almost arrived at an old forest in front of his house. Why is there no movement, this is in the past, the 5-year-old second brother Ah Bao will fly out screaming, and the little sister Ah Hui, who is less than 3 years old, also twisted her two short calves, and followed behind with a milky voice to call her brother, the loose pigtails on her head, crooked and falling, very cute.

Zhang Ran ran to the door and was confused by the scene in front of him, Ah Bao and Ah Hui were sitting on the mud floor, the two were playing with the mud very tacitly, Ah Bao's chest was full of wet mud ideas, and Ah Hui's little face also plowed out mud ditches. Seeing Zhang Ran coming, Ah Hui immediately stretched out his arms, pouted, and wanted to cry. Zhang Ran's heart tightened, and he hurriedly picked up Ah Hui. There was the sound of my mother's intermittent sobbing in the house, and my father's hissing and painful breathing, Zhang Ran couldn't help but move towards the room in a daze.

Ah Hui obediently climbed down from her brother's body and held his brother's hand tightly. Dad was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, his body was covered in blood, his skin was tattered, and there was no good one. The mother took the cloth and wiped it constantly, and then replaced it with a clean one. Grandpa looked worried, his resolute and weather-covered face frowned, and he sighed when he saw Zhang Ran, who was biting his lip.

Zhang Ran turned to his grandfather and asked, "Grandpa, who injured my father?"

"I heard from the person who brought back your father, it was a wild boar that had not yet breathed and hit your father coldly, and your father fell into the pit dug in advance, fortunately this beast is dying, and has no strength, or ......."

Zhang Ran thought for a while and said, "No, my father is timid and afraid, how can he be so close to the wild boar." ”

"Come to think of it, they said that the village chief's younger brother was behind your father at that time, yes," Grandpa shuddered, and suddenly remembered something.

"Understood, Dad was used as a shield," I don't have to think about it, the scene at that time was indeed like this, in the face of the dying and struggling but extremely fierce wild boar, at a critical moment, Dad was pushed under the paws of the wild boar by the younger brother of the village chief, it must be like this.

Go to the village chief's younger brother to take revenge? But there is no conclusive evidence, will other people speak for their father, if they can't bear it, Zhang Ran will feel extremely aggrieved and resentful, and it is hard to guarantee that there will be no next time. The eyes of the grandfather and grandson exchanged silently. Dad was not lightly injured this time, but fortunately he didn't hurt the vital place.

At night, it was getting deeper, my mother fell asleep while serving my father, and my grandfather went back to the house to rest, but my grandfather was too old to stay up. Zhang Ran pulled Ah Bao and Ah Hui back to his room, listening to the slight snoring sound of his younger brothers and sisters, he kept turning over, reproducing that thrilling moment in his mind over and over again, he seemed to see the bloody tip of wood suddenly piercing his heart. I'm really useless, I can't help my parents.

Summer goes to autumn, autumn insects groan, autumn coolness replaces anxiety. Dad's health gradually improved, and the laughter in the house gradually increased.

On this day, Zhang Ran just wanted to go out, and two teenagers walked towards him, who turned out to be Sheng Hua and Sheng Yong brothers.

Sheng Yong saw Zhang Ran and said with a smile: "Brother Ran, it doesn't matter to your father, but it's scared us to death, I can't see you these days." ”

Zhang Ran nodded, looked at the brothers with a smile, and asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Sheng Hua grabbed the conversation, stared at Zhang Ran, and hurriedly said, "Brother Ran, that's the case, in a few days, my father will send us to Qingluo Ji." ”

Zhang Ran was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why?"

Sheng Yong looked excited, but he still looked at Zhang Ran's expression, and said slowly: "My father is a man and went to Qingluoji Blacksmith Shop to be an apprentice. Sheng Yong said helplessly, but Zhang Ran still noticed the joy in his voice. Zhang Ran knows that Gutang Village has a population of hundreds, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and water, in addition to heavy farm work, they also have to go up the mountain to hunt to supplement the family, and there will be worries about their lives at any time, and the adults are thinking of finding a good way out for their children.

"Brother Ran, if you also go to Qingluo Ji in the future, remember to come to us. They waved goodbye.

"Yes. ”

"Will it?"

It's like a pool of spring water, an unexpected pebble, which caused the waves to splash in all directions.

That night, Zhang Ran was forcibly suppressing the pounding heartbeat.

"Grandpa, I haven't slept yet. ”

"Xiao Ran, what do you want to say. ”

"I, I want to go to the academy to read and write. ”

"Duanmu Jin has recognized a lot," Zhang Ran hurriedly explained, muttering weakly.

"We're afraid we can't afford the cost of the school. ”

Speechless, frightened, guilty, dazed......

Grandpa's withered fingers twisted his white beard repeatedly. It seemed that he couldn't count on it, Zhang Ran sighed in his heart, and planned to gently exit his grandfather's house.

"Tomorrow, grandpa will go to the village chief to talk about it, maybe it will be of some use. ”

"You don't believe me?"

"Letter?"

"I'll find out after all, hehe. ”