Fragments of Tales of Central Continent

In March in the world, flowers bloom in the south of the city, and the fragrance begins.

Jiyang City has been a military fortress in Zhongzhou since ancient times, and it is a place that military strategists must contend for.There is an old saying: The world must be united for a long time, and it must be united for a long time.Today, 50 years have passed since the end of the last chaotic world. 50 years of peace and quiet, 50 years of rest and recuperation, today's Jiyang City, the government is well-organized and the people are harmonious, and the people are prosperous.

In the south of Jiyang City, there is a Qiyunxuan, a teahouse and storytelling place. There lives a storyteller in it, and everyone in Jiyang City calls him Mr. Duanzhang.As for his exact name, no one knows.Just because he always only talked about half of the books, the joys and sorrows, the four emotions, always only talked about joys but not the later sorrows, only talked about reunions but not the subsequent separations, and the chapters were broken halfway, so everyone took this title for him. .However, I heard from the old man that Mr. Duanzhang was not like this when he first came here to tell the story, but it suddenly changed later. When asked why, Mr. Duanzhang just smiled and replied that he wanted to stop the story at the best place.

What is the best part of the story?He didn't answer.

Today, Mr. Duanzhang is in his seventies. In the past two years, his health has been declining, and the number and time of setting up stage performances have gradually decreased.A few months ago, Mr. Duanzhang suddenly became seriously ill. He hadn’t been on stage for the past few months. Today, he will set up a stage to perform a book again. He said it will be the last time, and it is said that this time it will be a complete story.

As a result, all the book lovers on weekdays rushed over, and for a while, Qiyunxuan was very lively.

"Today, everyone is willing to come to Qiyunxuan to join us, I would like to thank you." Amidst the noise of the crowd, Mr. Duanzhang walked out with weak steps, thanking the visitors.Although the voice is a bit hoarse, it can't hide its true gentleness, which makes the listeners sigh, old age, suffering from illness, can't wear away Mr. Duanzhang's natural clear, handsome and gentle voice.

"Today, I'm going to tell a story about a storyteller. It was 45 years ago, in a border town in Central Continent, there was a young storyteller named He Gu..."

On that day, He Gu was performing a book and discussing in his small room, seeing that there was no one in the seat, he couldn't help letting out a soft sigh.

In fact, due to many years of war, and when the world was first established, not many people had the leisure and money to listen to books.To put it more bluntly, storytelling at that time was a job of starving to death.However, this is also for ordinary storytellers.Facing the bleak reality, He Gu has an idea.

He went to the government, went to the government office, and said to the servant in front of the door, "I want to see your lord."When the yamen servant heard this, he thought to himself: Who is this? Your Excellency also meets casually?to drive him away.But before they could make a sound to drive him away, he yelled at them fiercely, and stood at the gate of the yamen with a dignified and dignified manner, reprimanding him: "I have a good plan to offer! If it affects the governor's political affairs Official career, can you take care of it?"

The yamen servant was taken aback by his attitude, and looked him up and down again. The crown and belt are neat, the white clothes are clean, the manner of life is gentle, and the eyebrows are handsome.The yamen servants guessed that this person should be unusual, after discussing it, they let one person in to report.

After a while, the yamen servant brought him in.

When he saw the magistrate, the magistrate asked him what kind of proposal he wanted to make here.He replied: The world has been settled for the first time, but the hearts of the people have not yet been settled; the dynasty has been established, but the government has not yet been established.If you want to do something, you need to gather people's hearts and strengths, and if you want to make people's hearts and strengths together, you need to know each other from top to bottom, and the government and executive orders are clear. "

The magistrate asked again, "Although this is the case, it is just that the people's hearts are uncertain, so how can the government implement orders?"

"Naturally, we must take the initiative to promote it from top to bottom. The grassroots are not talented, and we are here today for this purpose."

"Oh?"

"Caominben is a storyteller. He is best at telling stories of ancient and modern times. So, if there is a government order, go to the Caomin first, and the Caomin will quote interesting stories from ancient and modern times for everyone to know and understand, and then implement it. Wouldn't it be easier? ?”

The magistrate pondered for a moment, nodded, and felt that this method was feasible.

"However..." He Guhu suddenly changed the subject and hesitated.

"But what?"

"In the current situation, there are not many people who listen to the book. Let everyone go to listen to me, and we need an appeal."

The magistrate pondered for a while, and said, "This is not difficult, I will ask the servants to help you."

okay.He Gu thought to himself.

In this way, the storyteller's small place is full of people every day.

And He Gu, as he said, explained the decree in an interesting way for some people who could not read at all.

However, a few days later, He Gu approached the magistrate again.This time he said: "My lord, the grass people can't hold on anymore."

When the magistrate heard this, he panicked. It just took effect, so he couldn't hold it anymore.

He Gu had a bitter face, full of helplessness, and explained aggrievedly: "Oh, the magistrate understands, I also want to eat, and there are many people who go to listen to books every day, but they don't have money. And It was all ordered by you, and it is not easy for me to ask them for money, Xiaomin really can't hold on if this continues."

When the prefect heard this, he thought the same thing, thought for a while, and comforted him: "The government still needs you, why don't you continue to work, and the government will take care of your food and clothing. After all, you are also working for the government."

"Thank you, my lord!" He Gu thanked him happily.

In this way, in difficult times, He Gu not only won customers, but also earned money.

The days went on like this day by day, and then one day, he greeted guests as usual to tell a story, and in the middle of the talk, suddenly a strange smell of wine attracted his attention, looking for the fragrance, he saw a strange face, Sit in the last seat and drink your own drink.

Strangers... Jiyang City is located in a frontier fortress, so few outsiders come here.This aroused his curiosity, and what made him even more interesting was that the state of this person was different from others when he was listening to the book. It didn't attract him, but he was very patient and never left the meeting.If it is said that he came to seek trouble, he remained quiet until the end of the chapter of the day, and when he went to see it again, he did not know when he had left.

strange stranger.

The next day, He Gu opened the door early.Today the magistrate will come here to listen to his storytelling.In fact, it is to supervise and check.During this period of time, a new decree of Jiyang City was released.The magistrate attaches great importance to this government decree and measures, and he told He Gu to explain it well and help the government to promote it, and this time he was present in person.

But before that, there was a small episode, which was covered up by He Gu Yingying.

Afterwards, the day passed smoothly, and it started to rain lightly at dusk. He Gu stood in front of the hall, looking at the gloomy sky, with something on his mind.

One night of wind and rain, the thatched cottage does not stay in the south wind, the leisurely pavilion knows the time, and the half-hanging morning colors hang down together.

Early the next morning, He Guru cleaned the front of the courtyard and continued to open.Half a quarter later, the listeners came one after another, and the main board sounded, and the story changed again.

On this day, he heard another news: something happened last night at the Wang Family Racecourse in the northern suburbs outside the city.

"Have you heard? Last night, at the newly occupied Wang's Racecourse in the northern suburbs, those thugs were beaten and kicked out."

There were people discussing in low voices.

"Is there such a thing? Who has such a great ability to dare to fight against the Wang family?"

"Then who knows. And it is said that the other party was only one person, so he pissed off the ass of the group of thugs.

"Then can the Wang family stop here?"

"Of course not. No, this morning, the Wang family gathered another group of people to go there. When they went there, they found that the land had returned to the original farmers. After the farmers got the land again, they all held their things there Watch it!"

"A fight?"

"No, I heard it was quite a disturbance. It has alarmed the government."

"Hey. This is troublesome. The government just ordered that the farmland be converted to pasture. This is an open disobedience. Those farmers will suffer."

"It was a disadvantage. What did you say about changing farming to animal husbandry? How could those farmers afford horse breeds? In the end, all the land was taken by the Wang family."

"Ugh."

It smells like a sigh.

On the other side, He Gu thought about it again. He didn't know who the person who attacked the racecourse was, but he knew that the conversion of farming to animal husbandry had a turning point.

That night, the prefect looked for him.As expected.

Nothing happened the next day.

On the third day, the government posted a notice withdrawing the order to convert farming to pasture, and the Wang family returned the farmer's land.

On the evening of the third day, He Gu saw the stranger from the previous few days again.When the guests were all gone, outside the door, in the back of leaving, a person stood quietly facing the door, holding a jug of wine in his hand.After all the listeners were gone, facing the open door and the empty lobby, he walked in unhurriedly, sat down at the place closest to He Gu, opened the wine jar, and the mellow wine smelled fragrant. He opened the mouth and said, "Boss, add more games."

Feeling the lingering aroma of the wine, He Gu walked out from behind the table with a smile, and asked, "Which one do you want to hear?"

"The Royal Racecourse."

The expression in He Gu's eyes changed, but there was still a calm and gentle smile on his face.

"Yesterday morning. Some things can be hidden from others, but not from me."

Facing the stranger who came suddenly and the strange words, He Gu was not surprised, he sat in front of the other person, leaned forward and asked directly: "Then tell me what you saw first, and what is it?" How do you think?"

The other party didn't expect He Gu to react like this, so he backed away unconsciously, looked at He Gu again, and then said slowly, "I saw you drag the farmer who wanted to complain into the house. And Afterwards, the thugs of the Wang family came here on patrol. So, you protected the farmer. But what I don't understand is, why did you help the government to publicize it? Given your friendship with the prefect, why didn't you directly explain this matter ?”

"Two questions. The answer to the first question is very simple, because it is an order from the magistrate. As for the second question..." He paused, looked at the person in front of him, and said helplessly, "You have put me Thinking too high. What kind of friendship do I have with the magistrate? At best, it’s nothing more than an appointment and obedience. And there is such a thing that he personally decides, how can I speak? What’s more, this order is just about to be implemented, and the magistrate is still there. In the midst of excitement, trying to speak out at this time will definitely backfire and ask for trouble. What do you think?"

The other party nodded and said, "It makes sense, so what are you going to do?"

"The magistrate itself is not cruel, on the contrary, he is extremely honest, that's why he was deceived by the Wang family. I planned to arrange for those farmers to have an effective grievance after a while. However..." He Gu suddenly smiled again, "No wait I acted, but things took a surprising turn. There was a commotion at the racecourse that night, and the commotion became huge. The Wang family did not suppress it, which alarmed the magistrate, and then the magistrate began to look for me. Speaking of which, it should have been done. ?”

The other party didn't answer, took a rough porcelain bowl from the table, filled it with wine, and said to He Gu, "This cup, please."

"Oh?"

"It's a thank you to those farmers."

He Gu smiled, picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp. The aroma of the wine wafted in his mouth, throat and chest cavity.

"It seems that sir is also a wine lover."

"Ha, people in the world, who doesn't love wine?"

The sentence "people in the rivers and lakes" is short and four-character, but it has narrowed the distance between the two.People in the rivers and lakes are like this: each sticks to his own body and wanders, to the place where they meet by chance, a sentence of the rivers and lakes is the common origin and destination.The same mind is already sympathetic to each other.What's more, those who coincide with each other do the same thing, and those who complement each other lead to the same goal.

The man's face, which is used to being cold, showed a momentary thaw of ice and snow, and flashed a smile.He poured down two bowls of wine, picked them up and pushed them forward slightly.He Gu knew it, and picked up another bowl in return.

For a moment, the two people who looked at each other showed more joyful smiles, raised their hands and drank the wine in one gulp.

"I don't know your honorable name yet."

"Prodigal son, you are not affectionate."

After that day, He Gu and the prodigal son Feiqing went back and forth several times.Every time he came, Feiqing would bring a jar of wine, and the two chatted happily.But later, after a few times, He Gu never saw Feiqing again.He was puzzled, and even more worried. Could it be that something unexpected happened because of the Wang family racecourse?

It just so happened that one day He Gu went to the east of the city on business, passing by Quan's restaurant, and saw Feiqing drinking.His heart was relieved, he was also happy, he went up to say hello, he didn't want the other party to ignore him when he saw him, and walked around in a detour.

"Friend." He Gu was surprised and called out to him.

A good friend is ordinary, but the reaction is huge when you don't want the other party.The figure that was walking in a hurry suddenly froze, as if stimulated by something.The originally cold face became even more ugly, "You and I are not friends."

"This..." This really embarrassed He Gu, who was always eloquent, but couldn't say a word at this time.

"The prodigal son is not affectionate all his life, and he does not have close friendships with others. You and I just met by chance, not good friends." After saying this, Feiqing left on his own.

He Gu, who was left behind, didn't realize the situation for a long time, and just stayed where he was.

"……What?"

And that night, He Gu met another person, and it was an old friend.