The sky was gray, light rain was dripping, and the roads were muddy. The eaves of a porridge shop on the side of the road are lit with horse lanterns, and the pale yellow light reflects on the original white, but now it has been washed away by the wind and rain into a gray-white exterior wall, which makes this small porridge shop even more dilapidated.

A figure walked slowly from the end of the road, stood on a broken bluestone slab at the door of the store for a moment, reached out and picked up the rather thick and dilapidated felt curtain on the door, and flashed into the porridge shop.

Inside the porridge shop, there is only a half-foot-wide wooden board on each of the three walls, which is considered a table. There is also a bench in front of the table. Wooden tables and benches are polished to a shiny finish. The empty space in the middle of the porridge shop is where the owner cooks the porridge - if there is not a curtain in the whole shop, you can stand outside the door and have a panoramic view of the inside of the shop.

There were no guests in the house, only the shopkeeper was cooking porridge, and the pot was steaming on the stove. The rain outside felt damp and cold, and the shopkeeper was close to the stove. For the guests who came in, the shopkeeper just raised his head to look at it, and then lowered his eyes again, and devoted all his attention to boiling porridge.

The visitor did not speak, but took the umbrella, put it aside, picked a bench and sat down, picked up a rag on the wooden table, and began to wipe his boots that had been splashed with mud. The shopkeeper opened his mouth and asked, "The guest officer drinks a bowl of porridge?"

"Drink it yourself, and after a while you won't have a chance to drink it again." ”

The shopkeeper put down the spoon in his hand and looked at the customer carefully. I saw that the visitor was only about forty years old, seven feet tall, with wide eyebrows, his hair combed in a knot on the top of his head, and a jade hairpin pinned. He was dressed in a plain muslin shirt, blue trousers, cloth boots, and held a Longquan sword in his hand. The shopkeeper looked at the sword and said, "It's a very ordinary Longquan sword, it's just a second-class product." ”

"I use a sword to divide people, and I only need this second-class sword for you." ”

The shopkeeper looked at the person carefully and said, "I really don't know Your Excellency, could it be that you are a rising generation in the rivers and lakes?"

Lai said: "I became famous in martial arts more than ten years ago, but you have never had the opportunity to see my true face." ”

The shopkeeper pondered for a moment and said, "Then I really can't remember what kind of bond I have had with Your Excellency in the past ten years, which made Your Excellency want to take my life." ”

Lai Dao: "You have been incognito for ten years, and we have been looking for you very hard. But if you die, no one will be surprised, after all, being chased and killed by both black and white at the same time, it is already a miracle to be able to live for so long. You must think so, right, Master Guo?"

The title seemed to be placed in the deepest part of the shopkeeper's mind, covered in a thick layer of dust. He hesitated slightly, as if he was wiping the dust from the depths of his memory very hard, then stood up, swept away his old state, and said, "What is your surname? Can you tell me about someone Guo?"

Lai Dao: "You don't pretend anymore, it seems that you have been mentally prepared for the arrival of such a day." He also looked at the shopkeeper, who was dressed in old clothes, lean, not tall, and had a lot of crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, and continued: "People say that you are shrewd all your life, and I guess you must be prepared for such a situation, right?"

"Your Excellency's empty mouth and white teeth seem to be in your chest. ”

"Where is it, you are the owner of Guo Lou of the Remnant Ju Building, you are shrewd, and you have also been crisscrossing the rivers and lakes, so I naturally have to be careful. However, in order to keep you from making those unnecessary resistances, I have decided to tell you who I am so that you can dispel those unrealistic thoughts. ”

Guo Lou said sharply: "Who are you?"

The visitor was about to speak, but suddenly stopped and turned his gaze to the door. The owner of the building Guo also moved his gaze to the door along him. After waiting for a while, I saw that the curtain of the door was lifted, and another person came in from outside.

The one who came in later wore a hat and a robe, and when he came in, he took off his coat first, revealing a black coat inside, but his hat was not taken off, so he didn't have the opportunity to see his true face. didn't wait for the two people in the room to speak, he spoke first: "I want the life of Lord Guo, don't interfere." ”

The person who came in first said: "It seems that Your Excellency is as confident as me, do you need me to remind you that the owner of Guo Lou has also swept most of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions with a pair of electric and light judge pens, and he is invincible." ”

The owner of Guo Lou on the side subconsciously tightened his sleeves.

Later, the man in black moved the scabbard he was carrying to his waist, which immediately attracted the eyes of the two of them. I saw that the scabbard was simple in shape, about four inches wide and half a foot long. The person who came first looked at the knife, and then looked at the owner of Guo Lou, and said: "It seems that the underworld also wants to get rid of you first and then quickly, otherwise you won't spend such a big money." A lot of sweat broke out on the forehead of the owner of the building, and he slowly retreated to the corner of the wall.

The man in black looked at the person who came in first and said, "Your Excellency is not afraid, it seems that this matter is a little tricky today." ”

The one who came first said: "Wuxing knife, the life of the owner of Guo Lou is handed over to me, and you can also go back to your employer to get your life." So you take your money, I want his life, and we will each take what we need. ”

This later man in black was one of the top ten masters, and the "knife" who was hired to kill people as his profession - Wuxing Knife. I saw him say coldly: "Why should I accept your suggestion?"

The person who came first put the second-class sword in his hand on the table and said, "Because I, like you, have also been ranked among the top ten masters by the Jianghu people." ”-

It was nearly evening, and although the rain had stopped, the clouds had not yet dispersed. The air inside the porridge shop had frozen, and if it hadn't been for the sound of a horse-drawn carriage coming from a distance to break the frozen air, the small porridge shop would have been wiped out and ceased to exist.

Wuxing Dao and the plain-clothed man stood solemnly, and for a long time, Wuxing Dao said: "This second-class sword in your hand has dragged you down, and you will still lose." The plain-clothed man said, "I estimate that this is almost the result." Guo Lou saw that the two of them didn't move from beginning to end, just standing face to face, but he knew that the two of them had already completed one or countless battles in their hearts. Although he couldn't tell which of the two of them would win, listening to the conversation between the two, he still knew the result.

The plain man said, "You know who I am." Wu Xingdao said: "I know, but do you know who is coming?" At this time, the carriage that came from afar had already arrived at the door of the porridge shop, and the man in plain clothes looked outside, although it was through the thick felt curtain, but he seemed to have seen the carriage.