Sword comes

The town is not big or small, with more than 600 households. Most of the poor families in the town can be recognized by Chen Pingan. As for the wealthy families with well-to-do families, the threshold is high, and mud-legged teenagers can't step in. There are some spacious alleys where big families gather together. Alley, Chen Pingan has never even set foot there, the streets over there are mostly paved with large bluestone slabs, and on rainy days, he will never step on it and splash mud.Those excellent bluestone slabs have been trampled and crushed by people, horses and vehicles for thousands of years, and they have long been rubbed as smooth as a mirror.

The four surnames, Lu, Li, Zhao, and Song, are common surnames in the small town. The rural school is the money paid by these families. Most of them have two or three large dragon kilns outside the city.The official residence of the successive kiln supervisors was on the same street as these families.

Unfortunately, the ten letters that Chen Pingan will send today are almost all well-known wealthy households in the small town. This is also very reasonable. , the family background must not be bad, otherwise he would not have the confidence to travel far.Among the nine letters, Chen Pingan actually went to two places, Fulu Street and Taoye Lane. When he stepped on the bluestone board as big as a bed for the first time, the young man was a little apprehensive, slowed down his pace, and felt a little ashamed , I can't help but feel that my straw sandals are dirty on the street.

The first letter sent by Chen Ping'an was from the Lu family whose ancestors had received a jade Ruyi from the emperor. When the young man stood at the door, he became more and more uneasy.

Wealthy people are very particular about it. Not to mention the Lu family's house, there are also two stone lions placed at the door, waiting for others to be high and imposing.Song Jixin said that this thing can ward off evil and suppress evil. Chen Ping'an doesn't know what evil is at all, but he is just curious that the mouth of the tall lion seems to contain a round stone ball. How is it carved out? of?Chen Pingan resisted the urge to touch the stone ball, walked up the steps, and knocked the bronze lion door. He twisted the corner of the envelope with his fingers, and after taking the letter from home, he turned around and walked quickly into the house, closing the door with the painted statue of the God of Wealth.

After that, the young man's letter delivery process was so bland and unremarkable. On the corner of Taoye Alley, there was an unreputable family. The door was opened by a small old man with a kind-hearted face. Would you like to come in and take a break and drink some hot water?"

The teenager smiled shyly, shook his head, and ran away.

The old man put the letter from the family lightly into his sleeve, did not rush back to the house, looked up into the distance, his vision was cloudy.

In the end, the line of sight, from high to low, from far to near, stared at the peach trees on both sides of the street, looking like an old man who was old and faint, and only then squeezed out a smile.

The old man turned and left.

Not long after, a cute little oriole stopped on the top of a peach branch, its beak was still tender, and it neighed softly.

In the last letter, Chen Ping'an needed to send it to the teacher who taught the village school. During this period, he passed a fortune-telling booth. He was a young Taoist priest in an old Taoist robe. The crown is high, like a blooming lotus flower.

When the young Taoist saw the young man who was running fast, he quickly said hello: "Young man, don't miss it when you pass by. Come and draw a lottery. Pindao can help you calculate a hexagram, which can help you predict good and bad luck."

Chen Ping'an didn't stop, but turned his head and waved his hand.

The Taoist still didn't give up, leaned forward and raised his voice, "Young man, in the past, a poor Taoist would charge ten cents for unscrambling for someone, but today I will make an exception and only charge you three cents! Of course, if you take out one If you sign up, you might as well add an extra penny, if luck is in your hand, and the sign is up, then the poor road will only charge you five penny, how about it?"

In the distance, Chen Ping'an's footsteps clearly paused. The young Taoist had already got up quickly, struck while the iron was hot, and said loudly: "You are the first guest in the early morning, young man, and the poor Taoist will just do it to the end, as long as you sit down and draw lots. , To be honest, the poor Dao will write some runes on yellow paper, which can help you pray for the ancestors, accumulate Yin virtue, and with the ability of the poor Dao, I dare not say that people will definitely make people a good child of the rich and noble, but I have to say One or two extra points of blessing, after all, it’s a try.”

Chen Ping'an was stunned for a while, then turned back suspiciously, and sat on the bench in front of the stall.

A simple Taoist priest, a shabby boy, and two paupers, big and small, sat opposite each other.

The Taoist smiled and stretched out his hand, motioning the young man to pick up the lottery.

Chen Ping'an hesitated, and suddenly said, "I won't draw lots, you just help me write a rune on yellow paper, will you?"

In Chen Ping'an's memory, it seems that this young Taoist who has wandered here has been in the town for at least five or six years, but his appearance has not changed. , fortune-telling draws lots, and occasionally can write family letters on behalf of others. What’s interesting is that there is a lottery tube with [-] bamboo sticks on the table. Over the years, men and women in the town have drawn lots, and no one has ever drawn the lottery. , and no one shook out a sign from the lottery tube, as if there were a total of [-] signs, and there were no bad signs in the lottery.

Therefore, if it is a holiday, just to get a good fortune, the townspeople can accept it if they spend ten cents.If this Taoist priest is a complete liar, he would be wronged. The town is so big. If he really only knows how to play tricks and cheat, he would have been kicked out a long time ago.So this year

Qing Taoist's skill is definitely not in physiognomy and lottery.However, there were some minor illnesses and disasters. Many people were able to recover quickly after drinking a bowl of talisman water from the Taoist, which was quite effective.

The young Taoist shook his head and said, "Being a poor Taoist, the old man is not deceived. He agreed to sign and write a talisman together and charge you five cents."

Chen Ping'an retorted in a low voice, "It's three cents of money."

The Taoist laughed and said, "If I draw out the sign, it will be five cents."

Chen Pingan made up his mind, stretched out his hand to get the lottery, and suddenly raised his head and asked, "How does the Taoist know that I have five cents on me?"

The Taoist sat upright and said, "The poor Taoist has always been very accurate when looking at people's good fortune and wealth."

Chen Pingan thought about it and picked up the lottery.

The Taoist smiled and said, "Young people, don't be nervous. There are times in your life that you must have it eventually, and you should never force it in your life. Seeing impermanence with a normal mind is the first-class all-around law."

Chen Pingan put the lottery back on the table, looked solemn, and asked: "Daoist, I will give you all the five cents of money, and I will not draw lots, just ask the Taoist to write the rune on the yellow paper more than usual. Better, okay?"

The Taoist smiled as usual, thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Yes."

On the desk, the ink, ink, ink, and paper were already prepared. The Taoist carefully asked Chen Pingan's parents' names, birthplace, and birthdate. He took out a piece of yellow talisman paper, and quickly finished writing it in one go.

As for what was written, Chen Pingan was at a loss.

Putting down the pen and picking up the talisman paper, the young Taoist blew the ink, "After taking it home, stand inside the threshold and burn the yellow paper outside the threshold, that's all."

The young man solemnly took the talisman paper, and after carefully storing it, he did not forget to put the five copper coins on the table and bowed his thanks.

The young Taoist waved his hand, indicating that the young man was busy with his own affairs.

Chen Pingan spread his legs and ran to deliver the last letter.

The Taoist leaned lazily on the chair, glanced at the coins, bent down and stretched out his arms to hug them in front of him.

At this moment, a small and exquisite oriole flew from the sky onto the table, lightly pecked at a certain copper coin, and soon lost interest and fluttered away.

"The oriole is about to bring flowers, but the peach blossoms that Jun's family planted have not yet bloomed."

After the Taoist read this poem leisurely, he waved his sleeves in a pretentious manner, and sighed: "Eight feet in your life, don't ask for one."

With this wave of sleeves, two bamboo sticks slipped from the sleeves and fell to the ground. The Taoist sighed and quickly picked them up. Then he looked around furtively and found that no one was paying attention to this side for the time being. The two bamboo sticks were tucked into the loose cuffs.

The young Taoist coughed, raised his face, and continued to wait for the next guest.

He sighed a little, and sure enough, it was easier to make money from women.

In fact, there are two bamboo sticks hidden in the sleeves of the young Taoist, one is the top lottery and the other is the bottom lottery, both of which are used to make big money.

Not enough for outsiders.

Naturally, the young man did not know these mysteries, so he walked lightly all the way to the outside of the village school building, where the nearby bamboo forest was lush and green.

Chen Ping'an slowed down, and a middle-aged voice resounded in the house, "Sunrise is bright, and lamb's fur is like wet."

Then there was a neat and crisp immature voice, "The sunrise is bright, and the lamb's fur is like wet."

Chen Ping'an looked up, the sun was rising in the east, and it was shining brightly.

The young man was taken aback.

When he came back to his senses, the Mengxue boy was shaking his head, and according to the request of the master, he recited a passage proficiently: "At the time of zhejing, the heaven and the earth grow, and all things begin to prosper. Lying at night and walking early, walking widely in the courtyard, the gentleman walks slowly, so as to develop his aspirations... "

Chen Ping'an stood at the entrance of the school, hesitating to speak.

The middle-aged scholar with slightly frosted temples turned his head to look and walked out of the room gently.

Chen Pingan handed out the letter with both hands and said respectfully, "This is a letter from Mr.

After the tall man in the blue shirt took the envelope, he said warmly, "When you have nothing to do in the future, you can come here to listen more often."

Chen Ping'an was a little embarrassed, after all, he might not really have time to come here to listen to this gentleman's teaching, and the young man did not want to deceive him.

The man smiled and said understandingly: "It doesn't matter, the truth is all in the book, but being a man is outside the book. Go and get busy."

Chen Pingan breathed a sigh of relief and left.

After the young man ran out a long way, he turned his head to look back.

I saw the gentleman standing at the door all the time, his figure bathed in sunlight, looking from a distance, like a god.