Sword of Coming

No matter how chaotic the world is, there will always be a day when it becomes less chaotic.

The dog meat shop in the back alley was still full of customers tonight, and the business was quite good. In the midsummer of last year, although the Dali barbarians destroyed the city, there were actually not many casualties at all. The army continued to move south, leaving only a few Dali barbarians who were said to be extremely proficient in the Mandarin of Shihao country, guarding the governor's residence. It was too public, and this was also due to the fact that the local county magistrate was afraid of death, so he rolled up his gold and silver and ran away. It is said that he didn't even take away his official seal, and changed into a blue Confucian shirt. Late at night, under the escort of his personal retinue, he quietly left the city and headed south. Obviously, he had no intention of returning to the imperial court to serve as an official.

There is a dark-skinned mute young boy in the shop, who is skinny and is responsible for welcoming people, serving food, and serving tea and water. He is not smart at all.

I heard that he was a refugee who had escaped from the border area. The old shopkeeper was kind-hearted and took the boy as a shop assistant. More than half a year later, he was still an unpleasant boy. Regular customers of the shop did not like to deal with the boy.

In the dusk that day, the number of customers was getting thinner, and the smell of dog meat still lingered in the shop.

Chen Pingan ordered a pot of local wine from the county town and sat near the gate. The old shopkeeper was drinking with a group of regular customers. He was very drunk and his face was red. He told everyone about his precious grandson, which really made only The old man who could drink one pound had enough to drink two or three pounds. As he drank, he did not forget to tell himself silently in his heart that he could not be charged less if he drank too much. The world is not peaceful now, whether it is a county or a city. In the nearby villages, it is difficult to go out and buy a dog. The number of customers is not as good as before, and the money in the pockets of the guests is far less than before. So now we have to be more careful with our calculations. My grandson’s education is a big expense, so we can’t be too busy with everything. If you are in a pinch, you will be looked down upon by your child's classmates in vain.

Reading gentlemen all have that kind of face.

The thin and tan boy was still busy cleaning up the mess of food and wine on a table, with his back to Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an finished the dishes and two bowls of rice, and ordered a few more plates of wine and side dishes. He didn't drink much and kept using his chopsticks, so the dishes were almost empty.

Chen Ping'an suddenly called out the boy's name, and then asked: "I'm going to entertain a guest later. In addition to native chickens, are there any freshly caught river carp in the water tank in the backyard of the shop?"

The young man nodded indifferently.

Chen Pingan smiled and said: "Then go tell the cook that the dishes are ready. When the dishes are ready, my friend can serve them. By the way, add a side of roasted pork with spring bamboo shoots."

The young man still nodded, went to the backyard, and made gestures with the man who was sitting in the kitchen to rest. The man who had just been able to catch his breath smiled and cursed, shook his head, stood up, and went to kill chickens and carve up fish. He had to be busy again. , They are just doing business, who wants to feel sorry for money? The young man looked at the back of the man looking at the water tank with complicated eyes. He finally left the kitchen silently and went to the chicken coop to catch the biggest one. As a result, he laughed and scolded the man, saying that it was reserved for his son to replenish his health. One goes. The boy went to the chicken coop to get another one, and simply picked the smallest one. The man was still dissatisfied. He said that for the same price, the guests could not taste the portions of the dishes. However, businessmen should be more kind, so the man simply He went to the chicken coop to pick out a larger one and gave it to the young man. The young man was quite familiar with killing chickens, while the man went to fish for a lively river carp.

The young man glanced at the dog cage in the corner and quickly looked away.

The first pot of braised river carp was served on the table.

The young man discovered that the friend the guest mentioned had not arrived yet.

Chen Ping'an just said to wait until the second dish was served.

When the roasted pork with spring bamboo shoots and chicken nuggets with onion and ginger were served, the boy found that the guest's friend still hadn't come.

The boy is leaving.

The sickly man in cotton robe suddenly smiled and said: "The dishes are ready, waiting for you to sit down."

The young man looked confused.

There was only one table of customers left in the dog meat shop. The old shopkeeper was already slurring his words and was still trying to persuade him to drink. Of course, he drank a lot. Judging from the situation, the idea of ​​not giving a discount on this meal was probably forgotten. .

Chen Pingan said to the young man: "You must already know that I guessed your identity, and you also guessed that I am a practitioner, otherwise you wouldn't have intentionally or unintentionally bypassed me last time except serving wine and food to the table. I also deliberately did not look at me. In this case, it is not a big deal for me to invite you to have a meal. You have brought the food and drinks, so I should be afraid and worried. What are you afraid of? "

The young man hesitated.

Chen Pingan glanced at the table in the distance and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the old shopkeeper is already drunk. The guests at that table are ordinary people and can't hear the words between you and me."

The young man sat opposite Chen Pingan, but did not pick up chopsticks.

Chen Pingan picked up a chopstick of river carp meat, leaned forward, and placed it in the rice bowl in front of the boy. He also picked up dried bamboo shoots and braised chicken nuggets, and placed them in the boy's bowl.

The young man frowned and stared at this strange foreign guest.

Chen Ping'an then picked up a chopstick dish for himself, took a mouthful of rice, chewed it carefully, and then asked: "How many people are you planning to kill? The man in charge of the spoon will definitely die. The old shopkeeper has the unique skill of 'touching dogs' , I don’t know how many dogs I have bought from shops or stolen from the countryside in my life, and they will even die. What about the ignorant child, do you want to kill them? These familiar customers who are used to eating dog meat in this dog meat shop , how much do you remember, do you want to kill too?"

The young man put his hands on his knees and clenched his fists. His eyes were cold, he lowered his voice and said hoarsely, "You want to stop me?"

Chen Pingan asked back: "What will happen if I stop you, and what will happen if I don't stop you?"

The young man said solemnly: "If you dare to stop me, I will kill you!"

Chen Pingan picked up the vegetables with chopsticks in one hand, smiled and stretched out his free palm, indicating to the young man to eat the vegetables first, "Not to mention your incompetence, can you kill me too? Why don't we eat the food and wine first?" Now that I'm full, let's try it again to see whether we live or die. According to today's market price, this table of dishes should cost seven or eight yuan. This is a reasonable price in this dog meat shop. If it were replaced by the restaurants in the downtown area in the county, I guess it costs only one, two or five cents, and I dare to ask for it. If you like it or not, get out if you don’t have money."

The young man stared into the young man's eyes, and after a while, he began to immerse himself in eating, including picking up vegetables. He really wanted to slay the demons of the cultivator in front of him today, so he had a full meal at least!

The young man started to eat, but Chen Pingan stopped his chopsticks, poured the last bit of wine in the flask, sipped the wine, and directly picked up the few peanuts left on the plate with his fingers.

Chen Ping'an finished his wine and food, and sat there with his hands in his sleeves.

The young man wiped his mouth and put down the bowl and chopsticks.

Chen Ping'an said slowly: "You see the shop killing dogs and the customers eating meat, so you want to kill people. I can understand it, but I don't accept it."

The young man sneered.

Chen Pingan continued: "Because you have your reasons and principles, and you are even willing to pay the price of your life for it. But I hope you know more about the world. For example, you have eaten river carp and native chicken in this meal. and pork. In the future, when you embark on the path of spiritual practice, you will eat more delicacies from the mountains. As a half-god on the mountain, as long as you don’t die, you will have such and such banquets, maybe as a guest, maybe as a guest. You are the master, and you will have nothing to worry about except dog meat for the rest of your life. Right?"

The young man looked dull.

Chen Pingan said slowly: "As long as you take this step today, even if I don't stop you, you will be hunted down by the Dali monks who monitor the whole city, and you will die. Even if you successfully escape from this county. , how many people who kill dogs and eat meat will you kill next, ten or dozens tonight, and a hundred or a thousand in the future? Anyway, you will die, you will not regret it, right?"

The young man lowered his head.

Chen Pingan said: "Since I have seen it, I will not let you kill people here. Maybe you will think that I am unreasonable and just bullying others. It doesn't matter. In this world, being reasonable is a very complicated and unpleasant thing." . In fact, in your eyes, in the eyes of the dog meat shop that kills dogs for meat, the old shopkeeper and his son, the customers who died inexplicably, and the children who may have survived in the end but can no longer study, they will all think you are not good. Reasonable, too unreasonable. You should know this little bit of truth before killing someone."

The young man raised his head.

The man seemed to really feel sorry for the little money. Seeing that he didn't want to eat, he picked up his chopsticks and picked up a piece of fried pork with spring bamboo shoots. After eating, he picked up a piece of braised river carp and said, "The reason why I do this and tell you this because I see hesitation and struggle in you. The old shopkeeper and the cook who you think deserve death actually have a good side. You know, I have met many, many people. , even humans are less human than you, the Taoist spirits who have worked so hard to become humans. They are even inferior to you, far inferior. So I am willing to treat you to this meal, and..."

Chen Ping'an smiled, took out a piece of broken silver and put it on the table, then took out a small summer coin and put it on the table, flicked it with his fingers, and just slipped it near the boy's rice bowl, "I'll tell you a possibility. I lent you this summer money. If you don’t want to pay it back, it’s up to you to pay it back to me in ten or a hundred years. And if you don’t kill anyone first and endure the inner torment you are feeling right now, I know it will be very difficult. It’s hard, but as long as you don’t kill people, you can spend money to save more of the same kind. There are many ways to do this. For example, relying on your cultivation, you can first become a mountain god in the eyes of the county magistrate of a small county and help him deal with some ghosts. Small things like ghosts and ghosts, after all, in a small place, you won't meet an 'unreasonable' monk like me. You can deal with all the ghosts and ghosts that cause trouble, so you can take the opportunity to tell the county magistrate that dog meat is not allowed to be sold in the territory. ... You can also become a wealthy gentry and buy all the dogs in a county or a state at a high price, causing many dog ​​meat shops to have to change careers... You can also practice diligently and create your own mountains, and the territory is thousands of miles away. Within, you decide the rules, and one of them is to be kind to dogs..."

The boy asked: "Why did you do this?"

Chen Ping'an thought for a while and smiled: "Although I am very disappointed with the world and myself, I have only recently suddenly realized that no matter how high the cost of being reasonable, I still have to speak out."

The young man asked again, "Sir, are you a disciple of Confucianism?"

Chen Pingan was silent for a moment, shook his head and said: "Not yet. But I am a swordsman."

The young man was slightly stunned.

"If you don't have enough money, you can borrow it from me again, but after that, we will have to settle the accounts."

Chen Pingan slowly stood up and said, "Think more about it, I don't want you to pay me back a small sum of money so soon. Even if you are smarter, you can find a faraway county. As long as I can't hear or see, That’s it. But if you can go another way, I will be happy to treat you to this meal, and it will not be in vain."

Chen Pingan walked out of the dog meat shop and walked alone in the alley.

The young man suddenly ran out of the shop, followed Chen Pingan, and asked: "Sir, you said that I can borrow money from you in the future, but you didn't tell me your name or your place of origin. How can I find you when I have no money?" "

"That's it."

Chen Ping'an stood there, scratching his head, "I'm just being polite to you, saying some polite words that don't cost any money."

The young man smiled brightly.

This is the first time it has ever laughed so heartily by chance and since it transformed into a human form.

Chen Ping'an stretched out his hand and rubbed the young man's head, "My name is Chen Ping'an. I am wandering in Shihao Kingdom now, and will return to Qingxia Island in Shujian Lake later. Practice well in the future."

Chen Pingan continued to move forward.

The young man shouted loudly: "Mr. Chen, the old shopkeeper and his family are actually good people, so I will first offer a very high price that they can't refuse, and sell the shop to me. Their grandson and son, Then I can study hard, have my own private school and library, and hire a good teacher! After that, I will return to the mountains and practice hard!"

The man in cotton robe, who neither wore a sword nor carried a sword on his back, but claimed to be a swordsman, just turned his back to the boy, raised his arms high and raised his thumb.

The young man finally shouted and asked: "Sir, where is your sword?"

The man just strode forward, "In my heart."

After a brief pause, the young swordsman laughed and left, adding something more.

In the night, only three words echoed gently in the alley.

"Very fast!"