Sword of Coming

On February 2, the dragon raised its head.

In the twilight, in a secluded place in the small town called Mud Bottle Lane, there was a lonely and thin young man. 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. Beating and beating, trying to drive away snakes, scorpions, centipedes, etc., muttering words, which is an old saying passed down from generation to generation in this small town: February 2, candles shine on beams, peaches hit walls, 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 porcelain in the town is very famous. Since the founding of the dynasty, it has taken on the important task of "supervising the burning and offering sacrifices to the mausoleum". There are court officials stationed here all the year round to supervise the affairs of official kilns. A helpless young man, he became a porcelain potter very early on. At first, he could only do some chores. He worked hard for several years with a half-way master with a bad temper. As a result, the world is erratic, and the town suddenly lost the amulet of the official kiln. Dozens of crouching dragon-shaped kilns around the town were all ordered to shut down overnight by the government.

Chen Pingan put down the newly folded peach branch, blew out the candle, walked out of the house, sat on the steps, looked up at the starry sky.

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 in the early morning of late autumn last year, facing the direction of the kiln head, with his eyes closed. .

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

The small-town craftsmen who have only been able to burn porcelain for generations, neither dared to presume to burn official kilns for tribute, nor dared to sell the stored porcelain to the common people privately, had to find another way out, and the fourteen-year-old Chen Ping'an was also kicked out , After returning to Niping Lane, he continued to guard the dilapidated old house. It was almost a bleak scene of utter desolation.

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. , a foreign blacksmith surnamed Ruan came, and announced to the outside world that he would recruit seven or eight blacksmith apprentices, without wages, but in charge of food, Chen Pingan hurried to try his luck, never thinking that the middle-aged man just glanced at him sideways At that time, Chen Ping'an wondered, could it be that blacksmithing is not based on the strength of the arm, but on the quality of the face?

You must know that although Chen Pingan looks weak, his strength should not be underestimated. This is the physical foundation of the young man who burned porcelain and cast blanks in those years. With hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers, I have tasted the taste of all kinds of soil around me. I am willing to do any dirty work without complaint. It’s a pity that Lao Yao never liked Chen Ping’an. He disliked the young man’s lack of understanding. It’s because of the elm lumps that he didn’t understand. He was far inferior to his big apprentice Liu Xianyang. It’s no wonder that the old man was partial. In fact, Liu Xianyang's skill in just half a year is equal to Chen Pingan's three years of hard work.

Although he may not be able to use this skill in his life, Chen Pingan still closes his eyes as before, imagining that there are bluestone slabs and wheel carts in front of him, and starts to practice casting, practice makes perfect.

About every quarter of an hour, the young man would rest for a while, shake his wrists, and repeat this cycle until he was completely exhausted. Then Chen Ping got up, and while walking in the courtyard, he slowly stretched his muscles and bones. No one has ever taught Chen Pingan these things, it was a way he figured out by himself.

The world was originally silent, but Chen Pingan stopped when he heard a piercing sarcasm laugh, and as expected, he saw that peer squatting on the wall, grinning, not hiding his look of contempt.

This person is Chen Pingan's old neighbor, and it is said that he is the illegitimate son of the former supervisor. That adult was afraid of being criticized by the officials and impeached by officials, and finally returned to the capital alone to report on his work, and handed over the child to a successor official who was quite personal and friendly. Take care of them. Now the town has somehow lost the qualification to make official kilns, and the superintendent who is in charge of supervising the kiln affairs for the imperial court has no way of protecting himself. How can he care about the illegitimate son of a colleague in the officialdom? Rush to the capital to make connections.

The neighbor boy who has become an abandoned child unknowingly, still lives a leisurely life. He takes his personal maid and wanders in and out of the town all day long. He idles around all year round and never worries about money.

The loess courtyard walls of every household in Niping Lane are very low. In fact, the neighbor teenager does not need to stand on tiptoes to see the scene of the courtyard here, but every time he talks to Chen Pingan, he just likes to squat on the top of the wall.

Compared with the crude and vulgar name of Chen Pingan, the boy next door is much more elegant. His name is Song Jixin, and even the maid who lives with him has a polite name, Zhigui.

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

At the gate of the courtyard, a voice sounded, "Are you a maidservant?"

Song Jixin froze for a moment, followed the voice and turned his head to look. It was a young man in brocade clothes with a smile on his face, standing outside the courtyard with a completely unfamiliar face.

Standing beside the young man in brocade clothes was 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 over Chen Pingan without stopping, but he stopped at Song Jixin and the maid, and his smile gradually became stronger.

Song Jixin squinted and said, "Sell it! Why don't you sell it!"

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

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

Song Jixin rolled his eyes, stretched out a finger, and shook it, "10,000 taels of silver!"

The young man in brocade clothes looked normal, nodded and said, "Okay."

Song Jixin saw that the young man didn't seem to be joking, so he quickly changed his words: "It's ten thousand taels of gold!"

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

Song Jixin's face was gloomy.

The young man in Jinyi ignored Song Jixin, shifted his gaze, and looked at Chen Pingan, "Thanks to you, I was able to buy that carp today. After I bought it back, the more I looked at it, the happier I was. I thought I must tell you in person. Thank you, so I asked Grandpa Wu to bring me to look for you overnight."

He threw out a heavy embroidered bag to Chen Pingan, and said with a bright smile, "This is a reward, you and I will settle the matter."

Just as Chen Pingan was about to speak, the young man in brocade had already turned and left.

Chen Ping 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 palm-length tail. It was very festive, so I asked if I could buy it with ten renminbi. The middle-aged man originally wanted to reward his own Wu Zang Temple. only willing to sell. The shy Chen Pingan didn't have so much spare money, and he couldn't bear to part with that golden carp, so he followed the middle-aged man, trying to cut the price down 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. Without saying a word, they bought the carp and the fish basket with fifty cents. Chen Pingan could only watch them walk away helplessly. .

Staring at the back of the grandfather and grandson who were walking further and further away, Song Jixin withdrew his fierce eyes, jumped off the wall, seemed to remember something, and said to Chen Pingan: "Do you still remember the four legs in the first month?"

Chen Pingan nodded.

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

According to the custom of this small town that has been passed down for hundreds of years, if there are snakes drilling into one's house, it is a good omen, and the owner must never expel and kill them. On the first day of the first lunar month, Song Jixin was sitting on the threshold basking in the sun, and then a little thing commonly known as a four-legged snake ran into the house under his nose, and Song Jixin grabbed it and went into the yard When I fell out, I never thought that the four-legged snake, which had already been thrown into a mess, became more and more courageous, time and time again, and Song Jixin, who never believed in ghosts and gods, was so angry that he threw it away in a fit of anger When they arrived at Chen Ping'an's courtyard, Song Jixin saw the four-legged snake curled up under his bed the next day.

Song Jixin noticed that the girl tugged on his sleeve.

The young man had a tacit understanding with her, and subconsciously swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

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

Song Jixin changed his sentence and said, "Zhigui and I may leave here next month."

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

Song Jixin half-truthfully said: "I'm sure I can't move some things, so don't steal things recklessly while my house is empty."

Chen Ping shook his head.

Song Jixin laughed suddenly, pointed Chen Pingan with his finger, and said with a playful smile: "As timid as a mouse, no wonder there are no noble children from poor families. Don't say that you are poor and humble in this life, and you may not be able to escape in the next life."

Chen Pingan remained silent.

They all went back to the house, Chen Pingan closed the door, lay on the hard wooden bed, the poor boy closed his eyes, and whispered softly: "Sui Suiping, Sui Sui An, Su Sui Ping, Su Sui Ping, Sui Sui safe..."