Realistic Longevity

In October of 229 A.D., the beginning of the Wei Dynasty.

Cheng Chuhua stood in front of the city gate carrying a burden, and lined up with other people who also wanted to enter the city.

He got up early today and got into the bullock cart of the uncle next door, so he was at the front of the line.Although several carriages and more than a dozen people jumped in line because they paid extra fees for entering the city, he still managed to enter the city before it rained, and occupied a good spot on the bluestone ground below the second-to-last bridge opening of the Baili Bridge on the moat. stall location.

Spread out the straw mat and put another layer of oilcloth on it. Cheng Chuhua took out bamboo ornaments, simple wood carvings of animals and other gadgets from the bamboo basket and put them on. Do two businesses together without delaying each other.

The rain was falling heavily, crackling on the bridge deck, and it sounded like thunder under the bridge hole, which was very real.The torrential rain blocked the footsteps of some literati who often went to the Baili Bridge to recite poems and discuss their opinions. However, those who lived around the bridge, or those who needed to pass the Baili Bridge on the way to discuss life, walked under the bridge in a hurry as always.

Occasionally, a few people in the hurrying crowd would stop by the roadside stalls, or buy some food for brunch, or buy some small items with a few pennies to please their wives and children.What Cheng Chuhua did was the business of these people.

"Brother, take it well, come back next time." Wrapped the youth group and two wooden hairpins in oiled paper and handed them to a hulking hunter, Cheng Chuhua said a few words skillfully, and lowered his head to sort out the messy things on the oiled cloth.

The Orion didn't leave, and sat down next to his booth, and dug out the green balls, one for three.

"Brother, it's not easy to do business during this time, right?"

"Ah?" Cheng Chuhua was stunned for a moment when he was approached unexpectedly, "It's not easy to do, but ordinary people like us who earn a small amount of money and live hard, it doesn't matter whether it's easy or not. Life is always going to happen."

Orion turned to look at him, with a rough but hearty smile on his bearded face: "That's right, brother, you understand. These days I go to restaurants and restaurants to deliver prey, and I always hear those big merchants complaining The situation is not good, the business can’t go on, and the real money can’t even get back the money. It’s hard to live. They don’t think about how much oil and water they usually get from us ordinary people. If they can’t live If we go down, we will be gone long ago.”

Cheng Chuhua did not go to school, but he has lived for more than 1000 years and has all the knowledge he should have. He just smiled when he heard this: "People think differently from us. What we want is food and clothing, but what those big merchants want is money , It’s a family fortune of ten thousand, and if they earn less, it’s a loss for them, and if they lose money, they feel uncomfortable, don’t they feel that they can’t live on?”

"Hey, brother has a lot of ideas. Have you read a book before?" Orion raised his eyebrows with interest, "Then do you think the current year is good?"

Cheng Chuhua thought about it not too distractingly: "I would say it's good, at least it can make ordinary people like us survive."

"You have such a low standard for a good year?" Orion shook his head disapprovingly, "I don't know if you have ever heard about the lives of those big merchants and high-ranking officials. It is inlaid with gold and jade, and the leftovers used to feed the dogs are also richer than our New Year’s Eve dinner. Compared with us, we must not be able to compare with them, but our life must be [-]% better than theirs, so that we can call it New Year’s Eve Good scene!"

Cheng Chuhua heard something wrong from his seemingly normal complaints, and did not express his opinion: "I can't see it, brother, you have ideas."

"Hey, I just watched it a lot, and I felt it." Orion ate the remaining half of the green ball in one bite, and patted the crumbs on his body, "Okay, I have something to do today, so let's talk here first. Brother, your Youth League is doing well, and I will come to buy from you tomorrow."

Cheng Chuhua smiled back: "You are always welcome."

Orion waved his hand, put the two wooden hairpins he bought into his arms, strode forward, and soon disappeared into the shadow of the weeping willows by the river bank.

The next day, what Cheng Chuhua waited for was not Orion who wanted to be promoted as a repeat customer, but a dozen or so government agents.

The young headhunter in red grabbed Cheng Chuhua from the ground, held a portrait in front of his eyes, and asked, "You! Did you see this person yesterday?"

Before Cheng Chuhua could react, he nodded in a daze: "Yes, I have seen it."

Hearing this, the head catcher threw him back without saying a word: "Take him away!"

For several months afterwards, Cheng Chuhua was imprisoned with rats and cockroaches.What he ate was rotten leftovers, what he drank was water with a strange smell, and there was only a narrow window that was opened high enough to let in some light, so that he would not be confused between day and night.

About three months, maybe five months later, he saw officers and soldiers dragging a bloody man through the gap in the cell door to the depths of the cell.The man didn't struggle, and the messy hair on his face made him unable to see his face clearly.

When the officers and soldiers dragged this man past the gate of Cheng Chuhua's prison, half of the wooden hairpin suddenly fell out of his sleeve.The log-colored hairpin was stained dark red by blood, but on the contrary, it highlighted the deliberately carved lines, and these lines were coiled around the head of the winter jasmine hairpin, childish and cute.

The wooden hairpin was the one that Cheng Chuhua sold to Orion, and he remembered it very clearly. The pattern on the hairpin was carved in the shape of a cloud he saw in the sky when he was lying on the roof basking in the sun one afternoon. This one is unique.Orion originally wanted to buy two identical wooden hairpins, but after grinding with him for a long time, he was sure that there was no second one, so he reluctantly chose another similar one.

Cheng Chuhua was in a daze for a moment, and the next moment, the cell door was pulled open forcefully.

"It has been found out that you have nothing to do with the assassin, you can go out."

The one who spoke was the red-clothed headhunter who personally arrested him before. After speaking, he hurried towards the depths of the cell, and the flapping corners of his clothes disappeared into the darkness.

Cheng Chuhua walked out of the cell in a daze.

After that day, Cheng Chuhua did not go to Baili Bridge again, but changed to another place to set up a stall. He only heard about some unknown Assassin thing.

From their mouths, Cheng Chuhua knew that the assassin was assassinated by the young prince Chen Wang, His Majesty's favorite younger brother; that the assassin was finally sentenced to exile, but he seemed to have died before reaching the place of exile; that the assassin had two younger sisters. Before the assassination, she was the concubine of the little prince. Because of her low status, she was bullied in the palace. The day after the assassination failed, he took medicine together and committed suicide...

Because of this incident, His Majesty was furious and reorganized the guards of the capital, kicked out the children of aristocratic families who only enjoyed extravagance, and selected talents to fill the vacancies.

Another year, the appearance of the defenders in Kyoto has changed drastically, and they seem to be the sharpest spears in His Majesty's hands.

Later, in the year when the enemy soldiers approached the city, the entire defenders of Kyoto died in battle.The former red-clothed policeman was wearing blood-stained general armor, holding a flag and standing on the city wall until he died.

"Emperor Wei's reorganization of the guards was known in history as 'Di Liang's Three Assassins'. Di Liang was the assassin's name. He assassinated King Chen three times in total. He was arrested the third time and exiled after three months of interrogation." Tang Ran used historical records to summarize Cheng Chuhua's narration, his tone was flat, but his eyes were very complicated, "The reason for Di Liang's assassination is not recorded in the official history, but there are different opinions in the unofficial history. Originally, he was going to be executed, but because King Chen personally interceded , so in the end he was only sentenced to exile, as for his final outcome, no one knows."

Having said this, he paused unconsciously, and then continued: "The incident of 'Di Liang's Three Stabs' had a profound impact on the Wei Dynasty. It was precisely because of these three assassinations that Emperor Wei was determined to reorganize the Kyoto Guard. It was because of the existence of the guards in the capital that the Wei Dynasty lasted for two more years. If the guards had not protected the capital for two years at that time, the first Fu of the Wei Dynasty and the first Fu of China, "Jianghe Fu" would not have been successful. Even if we were born, it is impossible for us to see the shocking works written by those astonishingly talented literati when the country was ruined and their families were destroyed."

Cheng Chuhua said indifferently: "I have also seen these from the records of later generations. For later generations, the 'Three Stings of Di Liang' is an important historical event worthy of special mention, but for me who experienced it personally In other words, it was an unbearable past. When the government pursued the assassin, they accidentally injured many people including me. I probably stayed in prison for three to five months. That was a past that I would never want to recall in my life. After Di Liang was punished, those of us who were wronged could not wait for any apology and compensation, and of course we didn’t like this at the time, but it didn’t prevent me from being bitter, and I still hate all the people involved in this matter.”

"Including that policeman in red?" Tang Ran's tone suddenly became a little subtle.

Cheng Chuhua thought for a while, hesitated a little, but still nodded.

Tang Ran raised the corner of his mouth, his smile was as subtle as his tone.

Just as he was about to say something more, the phone rang suddenly.After saying sorry to Cheng Chuhua, he put on the earphones and picked up the phone. The calm voice from the earphones instantly changed his face drastically.

"Tang Ran, a person with a special ability who was detained by the Jianghai City Special Branch has escaped. His ability is 'Time Backward', and he may still be dormant in the urban area. All personnel in the branch have been severely injured. The influence of "backtracking" is still there, and the time in this area is chaotic. You don't come back for the time being, just track the criminals outside, the second task, the most important thing is to try to ensure your own safety."

"Where is Sister Yun and someone?" Tang Ran asked coldly.

"They're fine, they're just injured by the ability to go back in time. Their bodies and memories have returned to before they were ten years old. We're trying to cure them." The voice was still calm, "Someone will come to meet you in half an hour, you Take care of yourself."

After speaking, the other side hung up the phone.

Cheng Chuhua finished the last bite of fried rice, and when he looked up, he saw Tang Ran's icy expression: "What's wrong?"

"It's okay." Tang Ran shook his head, not intending to tell him the truth, not for the sake of keeping it secret, but for fear of causing panic to him, "Let's eat, I finally invited a guest, don't waste it."

Cheng Chuhua was fairly good at observing his words and expressions, so he didn't ask any more questions when he saw that his expression was wrong.

Tang Ran lowered his head and ate a few cakes, suddenly remembered something, quickly took out a small golden pendant from his bosom, and said to Cheng Chuhua, "Give me a hand."

Cheng Chuhua stretched out his free left hand for no apparent reason, Tang Ran held it, and rolled up a small half of his cuff to expose his wrist.

He wore a red rope bracelet on his hand, with several irregular shaped jade stones inlaid between the complicated knots, which looked very nice against his fair skin.He also wore a rotatable ring on his index finger, and the original text of the "Tao Te Ching" was engraved on the outside of the ring, which matched his bracelet surprisingly.

Tang Ran glanced at it, opened the living ring on the top of the small golden pendant, and buckled it to Cheng Chuhua's bracelet.The pendant is a peach blossom with a clear and bright color, and it doesn't look awkward when it is buckled on the bracelet.

Cheng Chuhua was stunned for a moment.

"You have no other special abilities. You wear this amulet. It can block two attacks for you in a critical moment. Don't take it off until I tell you that you can take it off." Patting the bracelet, Tang Ran let go of his hand and said casually He explained, "By the way, you can write down my number later, and call me if you need anything."

His unusual attitude made Cheng Chuhua smell the danger, and hurriedly nodded and agreed: "I see, thank you."

"You're welcome."

After eating the steak, Tang Ran didn't even ask the other prepared questions about Wei Chao. After exchanging mobile phone numbers with Cheng Chuhua, he called the waiter to pay and left in a hurry.

Cheng Chuhua sat on the seat, looked at the newly added numbers in the address book, and suddenly remembered Tang Ran's address book with only a few people that he accidentally saw when they exchanged numbers just now. For some reason, he couldn't help but smile .

I thought that only a long-lived person like him who didn't want to get involved too much with others would have an address book with a total of no more than 20 people. I didn't expect Tang Ran, a modern person, to have simpler interpersonal relationships than him.Adding him to the address book, there are only six people in total. What kind of social horror and otaku is this?