Sword comes

On February [-], the dragon looked up.

In the twilight, in a secluded place in the town called Mud Ping Alley, there was a thin and lonely young man. At this time, according to the custom, he held a candle in one hand and a peach branch in the other, illuminating the beams, walls, wooden beds, etc., and knocking with peach branches. Beating, trying to drive away snakes, scorpions, centipedes, etc., is an old saying passed down from generation to generation in this small town: on February [-], the candle shines on the beam, the peach hits the wall, and there is nowhere for snakes and insects to hide in the world.

The boy's surname is Chen, his name is Ping An, and his parents died young.The town's porcelain is very famous. Since the founding of the dynasty, it has taken on the important task of "supervising the burning of sacrificial utensils for mausoleums". There are court officials stationed here all year round to supervise the affairs of official kilns.A helpless young man, he became a porcelain kiln maker very early. At first, he could only do some chores and rough work. After working hard for a few years with a bad-tempered half-way master, he just figured out a little way to make porcelain. As a result, things were fickle, and the town suddenly lost the amulet made by the official kiln. Dozens of kilns around the town that looked like crouching dragons were all shut down overnight by the government.

Chen Pingan put down the newly folded peach branch, blew out the candle, walked out of the room, sat on the steps, looked up, and the starry sky was shining brightly.

The young man still clearly remembers that the old master, surnamed Yao, who only accepted himself as a half-apprentice, was found sitting on a small bamboo chair facing the kiln head in the early morning in the late autumn last year, with his eyes closed. .

However, there are very few people who are as sharp as Yao old man.

The small-town artisans who have only been able to burn porcelain for generations, neither dared to presume to burn official tribute kilns, nor dared to sell the stored porcelain to the people privately, had to find another way out, and 14-year-old Chen Pingan was also kicked out. After returning to Niping Lane, he continued to guard the dilapidated old house. It was almost a bleak scene with four walls.

After being a lonely ghost wandering around for a while, the young man really couldn't find a way to earn money. With that little savings, the young man could barely fill his stomach. A few days ago, I heard about the Qilong Lane a few streets away. , an old blacksmith surnamed Ruan came, and announced that he would recruit seven or eight blacksmith apprentices without any wages, but he would take care of the food. Chen Pingan hurried to try his luck. Rejecting him, Chen Pingan wondered at the time, is it possible that blacksmithing is not based on the strength of the arm, but on the quality of the face?

You must know that although Chen Ping'an looks weak, his strength should not be underestimated. This is the physical foundation trained by the young people in those years of burning porcelain. In addition, Chen Ping'an also followed the old man surnamed Yao and ran all over the town. A hundred miles of mountains, rivers, and rivers, I have tasted the taste of various soils around me.It's a pity that Lao Yao never liked Chen Ping'an, and disliked the lack of comprehension of the young man. It was because the elm wood was not enlightened, and he was far inferior to the eldest apprentice Liu Xianyang. It was no wonder that the old man was biased. , Liu Xianyang's skill in just half a year is equivalent to the level of Chen Ping'an's three years of hard work.

Although he may not need this skill in his life, Chen Ping'an still closed his eyes as usual, imagining that there were bluestone slabs and a reel in front of him, and began to practice drawing, practice makes perfect.

About every quarter of an hour, the teenager would rest for a while, shaking his wrists, and repeating the cycle until he was completely exhausted.No one has ever taught Chen Ping'an these things, it's a way he figured out blindly.

The heaven and the earth were originally quiet, but Chen Ping'an heard a harsh sarcastic laughter and stopped, and sure enough, he saw the same age squatting on the wall, grinning, and did not hide his contempt.

This person is Chen Pingan's old neighbor, and it is said that he is the illegitimate son of the former superintendent. The adult was afraid of clear criticism and impeachment by officials. Finally, he returned to the capital alone to report his duties, and handed the child over to a successor official who had a lot of personal friendship. watch over.Nowadays, the town has somehow lost the qualification of official kiln firing, and the supervisor who is in charge of supervising the kiln affairs for the imperial court has no way of protecting himself. Go to the capital to make some connections.

Unconsciously, the neighbor boy who has become an abandoned child still lives a leisurely life. He takes his personal maid all day long, wandering around the town inside and outside the town.

The walls of the loess courtyards in every household in Mupin Alley are very low. In fact, the neighbor boy can see the scene of the courtyard here without standing on tiptoe, but every time he talks to Chen Ping'an, he prefers to squat on the wall.

Compared with the vulgar and vulgar name of Chen Ping'an, the neighbor boy is much more elegant, called Song Jixin, and even his maid, who lives with him, also has the name of Wenxuanxuan, Zhigui.

The girl was standing on the other side of the courtyard wall at this moment. She had a pair of almond eyes and was timid and weak.

There was a voice from the courtyard gate, "Do you sell this maid?"

Song Jixin was stunned for a while, then turned his head to look at the voice. It was a smiling young man in brocade, standing outside the courtyard with a completely unfamiliar face.

&n

bsp;Beside the young man in brocade clothes stood a tall old man with a fair face and kind expression, squinting his eyes slightly to look at the two young men and women in the adjacent courtyard.

The old man's eyes swept across Chen Ping'an without stagnation, but on Song Jixin and the maid, there were many stops, and the smile gradually became stronger.

Song Jixin squinted: "Sell! Why don't you sell!"

The boy smiled and said, "Then tell me a price."

The girl's eyes widened, her face full of incredible, like a panicked young elk.

Song Jixin rolled his eyes, stretched out a finger, and shook it, "1 taels of silver!"

The brocade-clothed young man's face was as usual, he nodded and said, "Okay."

Seeing that the young man didn't seem to be joking, Song Jixin quickly changed his tune and said, "It's gold!"

The corners of the brocade-clothed youth's mouth curled up and said, "I'm just kidding you."

Song Jixin's face was gloomy.

The brocade-clothed boy ignored Song Jixin, shifted his gaze and looked at Chen Ping'an, "Thanks to you today, I was able to buy that carp. After I bought it back, the more I looked at it, the happier I became, thinking that I must tell you in person. Thank you, so I asked Grandpa Wu to take me to find you overnight."

He threw a heavy embroidered bag to Chen Ping'an, and said with a bright smile, "This is a reward, you and I will be settled."

Just as Chen Ping'an was about to speak, the brocade-clothed boy turned and left.

Chen Pingan frowned.

During the day, I accidentally saw a middle-aged man walking on the street with a fish basket and caught a golden carp with a tail and a short palm. It was very festive, so he asked if he could buy it for ten cents. The middle-aged man was just thinking of rewarding his own temple. Seeing that it was profitable, he sat on the ground and raised the price. The lion opened his mouth and insisted on asking for thirty cents. Willing to sell.Chen Ping'an, who is shy in his pocket, has so much spare money, and he really can't bear the golden carp, so he follows the middle-aged man, and thinks about cutting the price to fifteen cents, even twenty cents. Just when the middle-aged man showed signs of letting go, the young man in brocade clothes and the tall old man happened to pass by. They bought the carp and the fish basket with fifty cents without saying a word. Chen Ping'an could only watch them go away, helpless. .

Staring at the backs of the pair of grandfathers and grandsons that were walking farther and farther, Song Jixin withdrew his fierce eyes, jumped off the wall, seemed to remember something, and said to Chen Ping'an, "Do you remember the four feet in the first month?"

Chen Pingan nodded.

How can I not remember, it is just fresh in my memory.

According to the customs that have been passed down in this town for hundreds of years, if there are snakes digging into their house, it is a good sign, and the owner must not expel them and kill them.On the first day of the first lunar month, Song Jixin sat on the threshold to bask in the sun, and then a small thing commonly known as a four-legged snake scurried into the house under his nose. Song Jixin grabbed it and went into the yard When I fell out, I never thought that the four-legged snake, which had already fallen into all kinds of meat, became more and more courageous. Time and time again, Song Jixin, who never believed in ghosts and gods, was so angry that he threw it away in a fit of anger. When he arrived at Chen Ping'an's yard, where did he expect that Song Jixin would see the four-legged snake curled up under his bed the next day.

Song Jixin noticed that the girl was pulling her sleeve.

The boy and her had a good heart, and subconsciously swallowed the words that had already reached his mouth.

What he wanted to say was that the extremely ugly four-legged snake had a bulge on its forehead recently, like a horn on the top of its head.

Song Jixin changed his words and said, "Zhigui and I may be leaving here next month."

Chen Pingan sighed, "Be careful on the road."

Song Jixin said half-truth and half-truth: "I definitely won't be able to move some things, but don't steal things recklessly when there is no one in my house."

Chen Pingan shook his head.

Song Jixin laughed suddenly, pointed at Chen Ping'an with his finger, and said with a hilarious smile: "Cowardly like a mouse, no wonder there are no noble sons in the poor family, not to mention the poor and humble in this life and being bullied by others, maybe they will not escape in the next life."

Chen Pingan remained silent.

They went back to their houses. Chen Ping'an closed the door and lay on the hard wooden bed. The poor boy closed his eyes and whispered, "Sui Suiping, Sui Sui An, Sui Sui Ping, Sui Sui Ping..."

-------------

ps1: A nearly 20-character episode in Xuezhong has been updated on WeChat. The WeChat official account is: fenghuo1985

ps2: There are more than 100 leaders before uploading, you are mighty...

ps3: Long time no see, Sword Comes!