Drunk King and Minister

AD 544, the year of Jiazi in the lunar calendar, the tenth year of Liang Datong in the Southern Dynasty.

In the Southern Dynasties Liang, Gaochang, Eastern Wei, and Western Wei stood at one another's feet, and there were other princes and small states scattered across the borders of the Central Plains. The situation in all countries was turbulent and peaceful.

Nanliang, Kuaiji, Shanyin.

The cold wind howled, and on the mountain road, a young figure walked forward slowly against the cold wind.His hair is black but disheveled, and he hastily pulled it behind his head with a wooden branch. His childish face looks to be about six years old, his cheeks are flushed with cold, and his small body under the thin and worn clothes is shivering in the wind. A bundle of firewood taller than him.

The boy slowly descended the mountain path and followed the trail into the village.

"Bang bang." The boy knocked on the door of a house.

The red-painted door was half opened, and a white-haired old man poked his head out.

"The savage is here."

"Here we come, Uncle." The boy's voice was soft and sweet, but there was a hint of trembling clearly due to the cold.As he spoke, he put down the firewood behind his back, pulled out most of it, tied it up carefully, and handed it to the old man.

"Here, here is today's firewood money." The old man put a few copper coins on the barbarian's dirty little hand full of cracks.

"Thank you, Uncle." After taking the copper coin, Manzi carefully kept it in his hands, lifted his feet that were already cracked by the cold in worn-out straw sandals, thanked him, and turned to leave.

"Wait, Manzi, this is for you." The old man turned back to the house, and came out after a while, with a half-new gray-blue double-breasted gown in his hand, "The weather is getting colder, and this dress is for my grandson. The ones you have worn are no longer fit for you, just take them." "Thank you, Uncle." Manzi showed gratitude in his eyes, took the clothes and put them on his arms, taking care not to let his hands get dirty, he said repeatedly to the old man Thanks.

The old man looked at the small figure that was getting further and further away, and sighed, a trace of pity flashed in his eyes.

The child lost both his mother and father when he was young, and grew up eating a lot of rice.Speaking of the name Manzi, one thing must be mentioned.A few years ago, when the child was three years old, a monk with a scarlet head came from the village, grabbed the child by the hand and shouted, "Barbarian...a disaster for the country...".The villagers thought he was a lunatic, but they didn't care. After a few days, the skinny monk disappeared, but the barbarian's name survived.At first the child had no name, but the name was pronounced smoothly, and gradually, people from all over the world called him that.

I don't know if this child can grow up safely. Although he sympathizes with this child in his heart, at most, he will only give him an old clothes that can no longer be worn.The world is hot and cold, people, it's better to just guard your own home.What's more, the child can live to this age, and he can't do without the occasional charity from the villagers.They can be regarded as being benevolent and righteous.

The old man shook his head and closed the door.

dirt road.

The small figure turned to a dilapidated temple, folded the pair of shirts and put them behind a half-shattered Buddha statue, and bowed to the Buddha statue twice, digging out a small porcelain from nowhere. Can, put the few copper plates in, and hide them again in a blink of an eye.

After Manzi finished everything, he bowed to the Buddha statue again.

"Bodhisattva bless." After he finished speaking, he walked out of the ruined temple, looked around, and walked into a small path in the forest.At the end of the path is a cottage.

Manzi carefully observed his surroundings, stooped his waist, sneaked outside the wall of the thatched house, and squatted under the corner.

"I reflect on myself three times a day, I am not loyal to others, I am not trustworthy when I make friends, and I am not used to passing on the word." A slightly old voice came from the house.

"I reflect on my life three times a day. I am not loyal to others, I am not trustworthy when I make friends, and I am not used to passing them on." A group of immature voices came and went.

"You, tell me your understanding of this sentence."

"Master, disciple, disciple" a faltering childish voice sounded, "disciple won't."

"Stand. What about you?" "Disciple... Please punish Master."

There was a silence in the thatched cottage, "Who can explain my own understanding." The old voice asked again.

A childish voice suddenly came from the cottage.

"Master, there is someone outside!"

The barbarian squatting in the corner was startled, jumped up and was about to run, but it was too late.

"Stop!" The majestic voice made Manzi tremble uncontrollably.

He turned around slowly, not daring to look up.

"Come in!" The master at the door of the cottage looked at the dirty boy in front of him, feeling puzzled.

Manzi didn't dare to resist, he came in obediently, and stood in front of the crowd with his head bowed.

The children below all chattered.

"who is he……"

"His face is so dirty..."

"His shoe is broken, his thumb is sticking out, hehe..."

There were voices of ridicule or doubt one after another below, and Manzi stood with his head bowed, silent as if he hadn't heard a word.

Mrs. Wang glanced at the children, without getting angry.In the thatched cottage, it gradually became quiet.

"Head up."

The child seemed to hesitate for a moment, then slowly raised his head to look at him, his eyes were clearly full of anxiety, but he looked straight at him, pretending to be calm.

interesting.

"What are you doing squatting outside?"

"Listen, listen to your lecture..."

"Can you understand?"

The child's eyes flicker. "Understand a little..."

Master Wang knocked on the table with interest.

"Then can you explain the other party's understanding of that sentence?" He looked at the child in front of him, who was dressed in shabby clothes but had extremely bright eyes, and felt a little anticipation.

"My disciple thinks that this sentence means that we should reflect on our own behavior more. We should do things for others with all our heart and treat our friends with sincerity. Well, it's not easy to pass it on, it's not good to pass it on..." The barbarian blinked his eyes, a little He lowered his head again in embarrassment, "I don't understand." This sentence means whether the master's teaching has been reviewed. "Master Wang stretched out his hand and touched Manzi's head, feeling surprised and happy, "How long have you been listening outside? gone?"

"About a month."

A smile floated on Mrs. Wang's face: "If you want to attend a class in the future, you don't need to squat in the corner, just come in directly." Manzi looked at Mrs. Wang in a daze, as if he didn't understand.

"Did you see it?" Master Wang pointed to an empty table behind the cottage, "You can sit there."

It was only then that Manzi understood what Master meant, and his eyes sparkled suddenly, making his dirty little face look very cute.

He plopped on the ground and bowed to Master Wang: "The barbarian will never forget the kindness of Master."

Mrs. Wang was taken aback for a moment, and responded with a smile.

This kid is a malleable talent.

"But..." Master Wang said, his voice turned a few times.

He saw a trace of nervousness on the face of the child in front of him, and felt amused in his heart.

"However, although your clothes don't need to be neat, they must be neat, understand?"

"Understood! The barbarian wrote it down!"

From then on, a tattered but neat child would appear in the hut from time to time, sitting at the back of the school, listening carefully to the teacher's explanation, with unusually focused eyes.

545 AD.

Manzi is seven years old.

It's still a cold and windy winter.One day, Manzi hurried to school after finishing lighting firewood. When he came back from school, it was already dark.

Manzi was walking on the road, weighing the firewood behind him, thinking about the Chinese New Year, and one day he would go up the mountain to catch a rabbit and give it to his master.The master has taken me to study in the cottage for the past year, taught me carefully, and never disliked me because he couldn't afford a penny of tuition.This kindness and virtue will be unforgettable for a lifetime.

He suddenly heard a faint voice coming from the forest.

Manzi froze for a moment, stopped, and listened carefully to the faint voice.

"Ouch..."

"Ouch..."

The intermittent voices were depressing and dull.Manzi followed the sound and turned behind a section of the mound.

"Uncle Han!" Manzi exclaimed, and hurriedly ran to the old man who was lying on the ground a few meters away.

This person is the old man Han who repairs shoes at the head of the village.

"Han Bo, what's wrong with you?" Manzi put down the firewood and looked at the old man Han in the faint moonlight.

"Oh, savage, my foot..." The old man gasped, and slowly rolled up the leg of his trousers, only to see that the ankle was swollen a lot, "Oh, I'm old, it's useless, it's useless I can see that the road is sprained..."

Seeing the swollen old Gao's injury clearly, Manzi also took a breath, and went to help the old man.

The barbarian didn't want the firewood any more, and carried the old man on his back to the old man's house in the village, and ran all the way back to the mound, picked up the firewood, made some hot water, and applied the old man's cold cracked feet.In the cold winter, his face was covered with sweat.

The old man Han was nearly sixty years old, and he had been a bachelor all his life. He had already stepped into the palace of Hades with one leg, but he was still alone.

Manzi couldn't bear to abandon him, so he took care of the old man for ten days.

When the old man was finally able to go to the ground by himself, Manzi planned to leave. He didn't want the old man to stop him and said, "Manzi, I don't have any children. You are kind and sensible. My luck is that I don't know if this old man has this blessing?"

Manzi had no father or mother since he was a child, so he was naturally willing. Moreover, during the past ten days of getting along with each other, the two of them actually developed a little affection.

Since then, Manzi is no longer an orphan.The old man not only adopted Manzi as his son, but also treated him very well, and passed on all the skills of repairing shoes to Manzi.The father and son repaired shoes to survive, and the barbarian occasionally went to the mountains to collect firewood to subsidize the family. When he was lucky, he could even catch a rabbit or something. Although the childhood was poor, he lived a peaceful and beautiful life and enjoyed his family.

But the peaceful days did not last long.

After all, the flames of war reached this relatively peaceful mountain village.

549 AD.

Liang Taiqing three years in the Southern Dynasty.Hou Jing's chaos began, and Liang was uneasy inside and outside.

Manzi himself didn't know how his father died.

It's just a day, he just left for a day and went into the mountains to cut some firewood.What catches the eye is no longer the peaceful village amidst the noise, what catches the ear is no longer the laughter of children playing, no longer the loud voice of Aunt Ma next door scolding her man... only the fire that has not been extinguished, the messy Henhouses, women and children weeping or crying heart-piercingly.

The firewood in his arms fell to the ground, and a few dead trees broke free from the hemp rope unwillingly, and jumped out. Call.

Father's body was lying there horizontally, his eyes were wide open, frozen in fear and anger.

"Father, father, father." Manzi knelt in front of the already cold corpse, shaking unwillingly, tears streaming down his face.

"Father!!!!!!!" A shrill cry echoed in the sky above the village.

……

The passing army captured the strong men in the village and looted all the food.Aunt Ma lost her husband, Ergou lost her father, Aunt Chun lost her son, and he lost his father.

He escaped this catastrophe, but he also fell from the clouds to the bottom of the valley. If he had never been accompanied by his relatives, he would not have known that he was so fragile.

There was still a fresh smell of soil on the new mound, and the white cloth on the bamboo pole squeaked against the wind. The barbarian knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to the mound.

"Father, forgive me for being unfilial. I want to go north to join the army and kill all these wicked people. I am afraid that I will have less chance to offer incense to my father in the future. I beg my father to bless my son so that I can come back alive to be my filial piety."

On the day Manzi left, he went to Beicun to bid farewell to Master Wang.

"Are you really going to abandon literature and pursue martial arts?" The master stroked his beard, looked at the tall young man in front of him, and vaguely recalled the young figure squatting in the corner of the wall five years ago.

"Disciple is unfilial!" Han Manzi knelt on the ground and looked up at his master.

"You have a lot of talent. If you go to high school one day and have a bright future, why do you have to..." The master kept his mouth shut as he spoke. He has always known that although this child looks frail, he is very stubborn and stubborn. match.

He sighed, and finally only said two words.

"Go..."

"Take care, master!" Manzi kowtowed respectfully to the master three times, stood up, and walked away without looking back.

The 11-year-old boy has a tall and straight figure, and his unopened eyebrows are clear and clean. His slightly squinted eyes are fixed on the north, and in that instant, the surrounding things are overshadowed.

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