Chapter 047 – Speaking with the king of Beilang about Beilang
Tao Manwu heartily rode on the neck of a certain bad guy, high up in the sky, leisurely touring the temple fair, coldly noticed the guy with the fake face and fake name stopping, followed the line of sight, it was a slim young lady standing in front of the eyes, timidly handing out a slim becket. Xu Fengyen froze for a moment, from the hands of this skinny little girl took the beckoning, this kind of beckoning is Mr. storyteller to solicit business small means, roughly written with a few sentences about the content of the synopsis, whether it is said that the Iron Rider or the fireworks or ghosts and ghosts of the period, the wine is still afraid of the deep alley, in addition to the main stay in the wine shop tea house, so let the stage to go to the street to pass the customers to listen to the audience, the size of the platoon is linked with the fame of the height of a number of famous Storyteller, often can hang out in the downtown restaurant outside the gold account, now this is quite shabby, only to banner paper with scarlet post end, but let Xu Fengyen surprised to recognize this little girl, it is out of the northern Liang before the city in a quiet teahouse to see that the grandparents and grandchildren, old blind storyteller discretionary wine and talk, the little girl holding a poor quality lute.
Xu Fengyen saw what was written on the becket, and was even more shocked, even dared to tell the story of Beiliang Shizi’s thousands of miles of travel within the city of Beimang? Looking around the week, quietly looking at the little girl handed out more than a dozen copies of the trick, it was carrying Tao Manwu tailed her into a relatively cold business tea house, seated, asked for a pot of tea, really see the center of the tea house location empty a piece of the blind old man habitually in the small bench resting on a bamboo board with a bowl of cloudy wine, his granddaughter handed out the simple trick, ran to the old man, carefully holding up the lute, with the dependence of the Grandpa whispered a few words, about what the old man said the Prince of Northern Liang, too fresh to shock the world, handing out most of the tricks attracted the willingness to pay the tea money of the real guests, so that the owner of the tea house smiling, very satisfied with their own vision and vigor. Blind storyteller end bowl small drink a mouthful of wine, moistened his throat, did not step into the main topic, but said aloud: “Today, the old man does not say that the men and women entangled in the smoke and powder, but also do not say that outside the world of the spirit of monsters, only to say that this Northern Liang Shizi waist hanging double knife thousands of miles of travel, to get a few laughs of the watchers, is enough.”
After the old storyteller’s words, the little girl obediently wiped the lute, crisp and clear sound.
The old man and then hold the bowl to drink a mouthful of tea house boss rewarded spirits, gently put down, pick up the bamboo board, according to the rules read white: “smart and clever this natural, ignorant playboy may not be true. Ridiculous only because of the times, jingo ronma talk and laugh deep. Nine curved river than the heart shallow, ten heavy iron horsemen like thunder shock. I will not forget the rivers and mountains with wine and color, and only then will I know that poetry and books are a mistake for the world.”
The sound of pipa is gradually rising, but it is still a small bridge with flowing water, not heard clanging.
Sitting in the corner of Xu Fengyen will smile, no longer look at the master and grandson partner skillful two, just look out the window to the traffic, some admiration for this old storyteller, even dare to say good things about His Highness the son of the world in the territory of the North Mang, but the good thing is that the North Mang culture is rough and enlightened, do not promote what the prison of the written word, rarely convicted of speech, even if the attack on the imperial government, but also no big deal. What the old man said is of course hearsay, and the truth is very different, but the gimmick is not small, the listeners also feel very interesting, especially when it comes to Xiangfan City outside the son of His Highness single-handedly face that Jing’an King Zhao Heng and the whole thousand horsemen iron armor, some of the initially unconcerned tea customers are into the God, a few thought to lift their feet to go away the listeners are also seated back to the position, and the shopkeeper to ask for a pot of tea. And the blind old man also at this point in time to stop, the tea guests know that this is to collect money, but also a few tables threw some coins to a large white porcelain bowl, ding dong dong, very pleasing to the ear.
The old man is no longer selling, continue to narrate, when he said that the son of Northern Liang held a spear stabbed to death a primus cavalry general, the tea guests immediately hold a gasp tsk sound, first looked at each other, and then began to discuss, probably do not believe that this son of His Highness can have such a horse fighting skills, for the King of Jing’an, Zhao Heng, the people of Northern Mang because of Mr. storytellers told more than one year away from the sun dynasty, the Prince of the wonderful play, but also heard, know that the vassal king is just a bad luck. This Vassal King just had bad luck and failed to become the Nine to Five. Xu Fengyen saw Tao Manwu listening to the staggering, wide-eyed, a hate to run to urge the old man quickly say quickly say the playful expression, Xu Fengyen then pricked his finger under the table, dripping blood to raise the sword, and after income in the sleeve, poured a cup of tea, closed his eyes and stared. Blind old man skillful, when the audience again some impatience, finally said the world of Taoism ancestor of the Longhu Mountain, inserted a section of the great general Xu Snapdragon horse trekking in the past, the audience immediately gave again to whet their appetites. Xu Fengyin dumbfounded, Daxueping battle, survived not a few, these few will never give away the secret, the old man said it will be metaphysical and metaphysical, speaking of that Huishan bullock down purple thunder array, only said to be the sword god Li Chungang’s supreme power, the audience mostly scoffed at the situation, the old man of this sheepskin fur shall not be better than the North Mang army god Tuoba Bodhisattva is still powerful? How come there is no such old swordsman among the top ten in the Martial Arts Ranking? I’ve only heard of Deng Tai’a who carries peach branches. The old man heard the booing and countless applauding, not anxious, at this time the pipa sound is getting stronger and stronger, like a silver bottle is broken at the first burst of water, people worry about whether the young girl’s weak hands can support.
The old man in the pipa sound to create a magnificent atmosphere, talking about the grand finale of the general flying swords in the world, said the old sword God to the sword to the word, teach Hui Mountain and Longhu Mountain thousands of swords flying to the sky, covering the sky. Listeners jaw-dropping, boy, is it really under the sky a handful of land immortals? When the old man said to the Longhu Mountain Zhao Tianshi voice to the old sword God to return the sword Tianshifu, the old man at a time, word by word, said: “Watchers know how the following?”
Well, out of money out of money, this time the tea drinkers to the copper very fast, clattering very quickly will be a big bowl full, eager to run to the end of the copper, sit back in the seat on the rush to say: “old man, quickly say quickly say!”
Blind storyteller drank a mouthful of wine, laughed: “That sword immortal realm of Li old-timers aloud message to a huge Longhu Mountain, His Highness said also a fart!”
The entire tea house was dead silent, then roared with applause, and many of the tea drinkers who only felt relieved started slamming the table. Xu Fengnian side of Tao Manwu snorted a laugh, Xu Fengnian pulled out a few cents weight of small silver, skimming the head, the little girl would have felt the old man said the book is wonderful, see this cheap guy actually unprecedented broad back, finally gave a smile, grabbed the silver ran to the center of the tea house, red face gently into the bowl, and then ran back to Xu Fengnian side, snuggled up next to him do not dare to see people. The crowd also just think this young man in all likelihood is bored rich children, more money to no place to spend, but also no more thought.
Blind storyteller, said to the East China Sea Wudi City, only said that His Highness the son of the end of the bowl on the head of the city, but did not say the original story, the tea drinkers listened to the thrilling, coincidentally thinking that the hereditary succession of the Northern Liang son is really bold, but also do not explore the bottom of the details, listening to storytellers to tell the story, more serious to do what. When the old man said about the veritable world’s first Wang Xianzhi swept to the East China Sea water, the sword god sword open the door to heaven, Wang Xianzhi let the East China Sea rise, the tea house suddenly all silent, the North Mang people are tough, Flying Fox City and then soft, that is relative to other towns and cities, the bones ultimately flowed with the blood of the martial arts, they can look down on the Liyang dynasty’s emperors and princes, look down on the soft celebrities and heroes, but will never look down on the list of the Spring and Autumn celebrities. They can look down on the famous general Gu Jiantang who is on the list, and even more so, they dare not look down on the lord of Wudi City who has dominated the jianghu for one year. The whole of Beimang will only regret that this old martial artist is not a character of the dynasty, but they will not question that Wang Xianzhi is able to be ranked in front of Tuo Bao Bodhisattva, and become the world’s No. 1! Even for that North Mang mortal enemy of the human butcher Xu Snapdragon, they are also in awe of the heart of the heart, North Mang, whether under the city or the temple, there is no lack of people confessed to Xu Snapdragon’s admiration. Rumor has it that His Majesty the Emperor is willing to “wife Xu”, they scolded the crazy talk of Xu cripple do not know what is good and bad, but there are few people to scold Xu Snapdragon is not worthy of sharing the world with the female emperor! In Beimang’s opinion, who else in the world is more worthy of his dynasty’s empress than Ren Tu? The Emperor of Liyang Dynasty? Get lost! Fuck you!
In the epilogue, on the banks of the Guangling River, the tide rises and His Highness cuts the flesh. Li Chun Gang’s sword cuts down 2,600 armor.
A tea house is silent.
Only the sound of the pipa exploded the spring thunder.
Even the tea shop shopkeeper is dumbfounded, slowly touch out a few pieces of broken silver that have not yet warmed up, so that the fellows sent to the bowl, not at all distressed. Today, thanks to this pair of grandparents and grandchildren storytelling, earned a lot of extra money, made up his mind to let them continue to talk for a few days, to ensure that business is booming and wealth. After the storytelling, some of the richer tea customers have added some money, Xu Fengyen patted Tao Manwu’s little head and laughed: “Go, tell that pipa-playing sister that I invited them to have tea.”
Tao Manwu cheerfully ran to the master and grandchildren two originally do not go to these entertainment over the scene, perhaps to see the little girl naive and innocent look good, the window sitting in the gentleman is not like a villain, agreed to, Xu Fengyen beckoned to shout to the fellows, asked for a pot of tea and a pot of good wine, Tao Manwu sat next to Xu Fengyen, admiringly looking across the sister, she only learned the zither, the pipa know nothing about it, only think that the young lady sister great! very. The blind old man drank a mouthful of wine, hissed, slowly reminiscing, his vicissitude face revealed a touch of heartfelt smile, “Thank you for this gentleman rewarding the money and wine, but unfortunately the old man will only be able to tell some stories, there is no way to return the favor.”
Xu Fengyen laughed: “This is to feel the story is good to listen to, some small money on the body, it is not easy to pass the time, it is an unexpected pleasure, the old man does not need to be concerned about, as if he meets the old friend in his hometown, the one who has more coins in his pocket, it is only human nature to ask for some wine.”
The old man laughed brightly: “This is the reason, son belly big, the old man can’t be pretentious, come on, touch a bowl. Although this wine is not as authentic as the green ants from our Northern Liang side, it is also a good wine.”
The two of them drank it all in one go, as for the big and little girls, they drank tea, the shopkeeper gave some pastries and fruits that didn’t cost much money by the way, they were also in a relaxed and idle mood.
Xu Fengyen asked with a smile, “Old gentleman in Beimang saying good things about Beiliang Shizi, not afraid of getting into trouble?”
The old man storyteller who was past his prime shook his head and said, “What is there to be afraid of, in this world today, if you want to earn more money than your peers, you are always afraid of trouble.”
Xu Fengyen saw that the old man’s hand was scarred on the back of his hand, and asked, “The old gentleman was a soldier of Northern Liang? The back of his hand was not a light knife wound back then.”
The old man estimated that when young is also hot temper, now speak is still half no scruples, straight laughs: “Yes, that moment of pain just short of crying father and mother, only then enlisted in the Beiliang army, was the old chief of jokes can not be, and then a few times the injury to be heavier, but instead of gritting their teeth and endure, but also endured, the old look back and think again, but also really quite admired themselves, but the Prince! may not be clear at that time Beiliang army, hey, if you do not have some scars, where is good to go with shoulder to shoulder to kill the gowns to say hello, is to be treated as a little pussy, it’s funny, a few years after joining the army, can not wait to be more than a couple of knives to be good, our old chief of the army before he died, said, who the fuck want to usurp the old man’s position, line, stripped naked, who has more scars than the old man, who go to be the chief of this, in a word, who cut off the head than Laozi more, the rabbit child peeing have to Laozi to unzip his pants, all the problem!”
Xu Fengnian muttered, “Why did the old gentleman say it was the Northern Liang Army at that time?”
The storyteller drank a mouthful of wine, hesitated, and then drank a big mouthful of it, slowly said with a bitter smile, “These words can only be said with outsiders like your son, and it’s not something that can’t be disclosed, not to mention the family scandal. When our great general won the west base wall, destroyed almost with the then Liyang evenly rivaled the West Chu dynasty, the northern Liang army up and down are holding a mouth of grievances, thinking that the capital of the bunch of civil servants standing talking not waist pain, even the emperor old man are all jealous of the great general, or we simply against it! Let the general himself as the emperor to go, the general sitting in the dragon chair wearing a dragon robe, who is not convinced? Unfortunately, the general refused to ah, in fact, this is nothing, for those of us as pawns of Liaodong old man, as long as the general saddle horse back into, not to be the emperor, not to be the emperor, and then the old man I followed to the north of the Liang, the flavor changed, the general is still the general, no one has half a complaint, but the general is not a four-headed six-armed man ah, some of the generals underneath the estimate is that the world is at peace, the silver back to the capital, and the general is not a man. The silver back to the capital, and then many have not fought the civil officials also climbed up, the old man and some of the old brothers will be disillusioned, especially me, blind, not to occupy the latrine not shit for nothing to waste the rations of the Beiliang army, can give the border of the new pawns to save a mouth is a mouth, the Beiliang a few states, I’ve walked through the eyes of the king’s law of the playboys have not been fewer, the old man does not read a lot, only know a few words, and also want to not understand the fight for the Zhao family to fight the world, and the fight for the Zhao family to fight the world. I don’t understand whether it’s worth it to fight for the Zhao family.”
See the opposite son did not speak, the storyteller laughed: “son don’t because the old man nagged a few sentences, thought we Beiliang 300,000 iron horsemen good to deal with, some of the officials are not like that, the general can always be the general, to say a few words in the ears of the son may be difficult to listen to the truth, there is a great general when the king of Beiliang one day, you North Mang na, don’t want to go south step! If the Great General doesn’t hit the royal court of North Mang, just burn incense and worship Buddha!”
Xu Fengnian smiled and said, “Drink.”
The blind storyteller raised his bowl, “Drink!”
The old man drank to his heart’s content and muttered to himself, “The reason why I’m resistant to death is that I have this bitter little granddaughter around me to take care of, and then I’m really afraid that the hearts of the people of Beiliang will be scattered, and in case, in case there’s an incident with the Great General, what should we do with 300,000 iron cavalrymen? Four or five years ago, the old man heard that the son of His Highness is idle, do anything is a throw of money, defeat is very, really hate to go to the king of Beilang Palace to beat, and then realized that it is not this thing, this is not thinking of their own anyway not a few years of good life, can go to the North Reckless walk a few towns are a few, and you North Reckless talk about our future king of Beilang, so you North barbarians do not sleep soundly, haha. The big deal for me is that I will be scolded and beaten a few times, but I won’t die. Truly dying in Northern Mang, compared to those old brothers who were wrapped in horse leather back then, it’s not bad at all.”
The old man came back to his senses and laughed guiltily, “This Flying Fox City Duke Brother, the old man is talking nonsense for a while, don’t mind, this drink has gone to his head.”
Xu Fengnian shook his head and smiled in a Northern Liang accent, “Old sir, how do you know I’m not from Northern Liang?”
The storyteller was stunned, his mind turned a hundred times, guessing that he was the son or grandson of a Northern Liang merchant who had come to Northern Mang to do business, but being careful and cautious, he also lowered his voice, his smile came from the bottom of his heart and said, “No wonder, no wonder the gentleman said that he met his old friend in his hometown. Don’t worry, the old man knows the importance of lightness, today is only considered to be with a Flying Fox City gentry rubbing a pot of good wine.”
Xu Fengyen laughed, “If the storytelling in the future annoys the small-minded Beimang people, old sir can scold the King of Beiliang and the Prince of Beiliang a few times, it doesn’t matter, the sky is as big as the earth and the living is the biggest. Your granddaughter has not yet found a good man, but also rely on the old gentleman storyteller to earn money.”
The storyteller shook his head and said, “Cursing what, the great general has never done a single thing wrong in his life, the old man cursing the great general, to the ground will not be the old military chiefs they give the white eye to die. His Highness the World Prince also does not want to scold, before blind, scolded so much, and then scolded one more, the old man died not at ease. The old man’s granddaughter, since she was born in the old Song family, is this life, nothing to complain about.”
The little girl holding the pipa smiled softly.
Resigned and frank.
Xu Fengyen put down his glass and said softly, “Old sir, if you can trust me, can you lend me the pipa in your granddaughter’s hand to try out the strings? My second sister is especially good at martial pipa, my talent is not as good as hers, but I have been exposed to it, I still know a little bit about it, so maybe I can talk to the little girl about some shallow insights.”
The old man laughed: “What is there to be ashamed of. Er Yu, hand it to the gentleman.”
Xu Fengnian smiled, “Please trouble the girl to give me the zither wiping cloth along with it.”
The little girl blushed, stood up and carefully handed out the beloved lute.
Xu Fengyen meticulously wiped the lute, sat upright, thought for a moment, four fingers of his right hand lined up, from the sub-string to the winding strings to the right rapidly skimming in like a sound. Then pull back three fingers, only with the right index finger from the winding string since the old center son three strings played in turn.
A skimming and a hanging.
The young girl who had been playing the pipa for many years had a flash of light in her eyes.
This lute is only the lowest grade white wood backed lute, and those made of rosewood mahogany pear wood top quality lute is too much difference, far from the strong sound can be up to two or three miles away from the realm of the state player, Xu Fengyen in turn, the sweeping offerings subhook hit gently demonstrated once, only then raised his head to the little girl standing beside him and smiled and said: ”As far as the white wood lute is concerned, the quality of the sound is considered to be good, if the silver money permits, you can A little bit of glue, the old gentleman said that the content of the book is especially demanding pipa brittle burst two items, and the first string is not far from the broken string, but in my opinion, since the pipa is played to the audience to enjoy, playing the pipa strings is also a pile of all people will be happy to see the beauty of the story, there is no need to be busy to change the first string. I will talk to you some more techniques of the Southern School of the great masters of the Cao family pipa, and you can memorize as much as you …… can.”
One speaks, one listens.
The blind old man drank shallowly and slowly, leisurely.
There are gatherings that end in separation, Xu Fengyen finished teaching the Cao family techniques that were recognized to be nearly extinct, he got up to say goodbye, holding Tao Manwu’s little hand to leave the tea house.
The little girl held back her pipa and murmured, “Grandpa, who is this gentleman?”
The old man drank the last sip of wine, his face flushed, and laughed, “Probably considered a good person who met in passing.”
The aged storyteller probably would never know in his life that he had once come face to face, talking about Northern Liang with the King of Northern Liang.