Chapter 268 – Chivalry (IV)

North Liang Road, Lingzhou, is a well-deserved Jiangnan, rich, but also has a few rare northwest of the book atmosphere, so Lingzhou in the face of the two states of LiangYue a few years ago, are a bit proud, garrison strength is far less than your brave and tough, but we have a lot of people here readers ah. Unfortunately, with the Yuzhou out of a young scholar called Chen Wang, Lingshou Lin will be a bit sickly, although Sun Yin is considered two days ago from the Lingshou side out of the readers, the highest official position also did the capital of the State Children’s Prison right altar, but compared to the center of the Chen Shao Bao, that is obviously still a long way off. Only this kind of strife, the noise can not Raccoon County Huanghua County such a small place, Huanghua County is under the county, located in the westernmost part of Lingzhou, Huanghua poor is notorious, and because in Lingzhou, Huanghua County appears to be even poorer, Huanghua County magistrates every time to the state to meet the rank of the same colleagues, that is suffering. However, here poor to poor, compared to the state of Youzhou do not like poetry and books good sword and spear, Huanghua County within the territory of dozens of small and large villages, in addition to the official school, almost every village has a private school, the wealthier villages of the family, and even the Zongjiao sit, so this side of the children’s voice of the reading, not less than the rest of the Greenland State.

Li Xian in Li Village is the most learned readers, is into the capital city of Liyang, but it is said to have failed, thousands of miles to go, and thousands of miles back, according to the reasoning that the examination in the lift, to the Raccoon County government offices over to seek an errand is not difficult, but unfortunately and coincidentally, the Central Plains side of the influx of scholars into the state of Lingzhou, some people will be his position of the oracle to squeeze out of the Li Xian is the poor characters, not to point out the door, but to the other side, the other side of the village is the most learned readers. I do not know whether the heart of the cause of resentment, it simply went back to his home village to set up a private school, there are seven or eight of the village of Montessori children to learn, barely making ends meet, if you say that the silver money to save the purchase of books that is not to be extravagant, not to mention that Lee Hsien has taken the initiative to recruit a few foreign children into the private school, not to mention the retainer bundles of repairs, but also to manage their two meals a day, so that, the neighboring villages of some of the age of the good woman, the original heart of the Li Hsien, also in the The first time I saw this, I was in the middle of it.

Today, Li Xian carried a small pot of wine to the neighboring villages, villages and no official road, only a more than ten feet wide dirt and sand path, those villagers village women met Li Xian will respectfully shout a Mr. Li, Li Xian will smile and answer, will chat a few words. Li Xian arrived at a creekside cottage, surrounded by a circle of fence, an old hen with a group of small chickens in the foraging, point peck peck. When Li Xian just pushed open the wood door, he saw a familiar figure walking in the distance, and smiled, and stood in the doorway and waited. The old man hunchbacked slow walking, but hale and hearty, hand in addition to carrying altar mud sealed yellow wine, but also some oil paper wrapped food. The old man and Li Xian the same, are the village private school teacher, but compared to Li Xian, has been teaching literacy twenty years, in the surrounding native villages those old people, have board said that the guy surnamed Liu, outsiders, ancestry is the Central Plains side of the ancestors, the ancestors of the noble it, just to this side of the time, a big spender very much, that time the style is also enough, just so many years down, about the again solid family background also The first time I saw the movie, it was a very good one, but it was a very good one, and it was a very good one.

Compared to fellow villagers, Li Xian to know more things, Mr. Liu is the Spring and Autumn relics, there is no doubt about it, Hongjia north run when passing through the northern Liang, should continue to the north, followed by those of the Central Plains clan into the North Mangnan dynasty, but wait until Mr. Liu to go to the north of the Liang, the family is in pieces, the death of the disease of the death of the death of the disease, lost lost, crazy madness, the results seem to be left with only Mr. Liu one person, threw himself in the water did not die into the still! What is going on, on the muddled living down, how the truth, Li Xian is not clear, Mr. Liu is not happy to say that those old sesame rotten grain, in short, in Beiliang set up roots, ran a private school, because of the odd temperament, stereotypical and harsh, coupled with the God chatter, the private school has been in a cold situation, if not for some of the earth Langzhong can not feel the pulse of the odd medical skills, I’m afraid that the old man would have starved to death.

As for the two carry wine to visit the person, but also in the Huanghua County is a well-known teacher, Li Xian’s enlightenment of three hundred thousand is that the old man taught, Li Xian first kowtow in this life, is to Confucianism Zhang saint’s tablet and as Mr. kowtow to the old man, now that I think about it, this Mr. Knowledge, really is not high or deep, compared to the hidden Mr. Liu certainly can not be compared to the only in the eyes of Li Xian has already been in the body of the reputation! The first thing I want to say is that I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get the job done, but I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get the job done. The villagers of the village origin of this poor private school teacher, did not believe in one day for the teacher for life as the father of Li Xian so much respect, like to shout the nickname of the king old bald, incidentally, some of the naughty children, in the neighboring fields, or Mr. borrowed money from their parents on credit, but also dare to playfully shouted a king old bald, as for the aftermath of the will not be beaten, a different story, the village children, each with thick skin, bare feet can be all over the mountains, the village children, the village children are all the way to the village. The village children are all thick-skinned, barefoot and can run all over the mountain, what’s the point of getting a few strokes?

Li Xian’s enlightenment teacher Wang Changqing, and Mr. Liu’s not deal with that is known far and wide, two similar age but the world of mud old man, from the middle age has been arguing to the twilight, as long as the meeting is a fight, in general, Mr. Liu quarrels with the words of the more cloudy and foggy, can be made to let a person a few years before coming back to the taste of the moment is not to see ruthless, Wang Changqing’s folk slang always exported to the natural world, not so crepe, the lethality of the natural is not comparable to Mr. Liu, the village children are all thick skin, bare feet can fly in the mountains. Naturally, not Mr. Liu can be comparable, but the latter is always cloudy and undefeated posture, the two quarrel often quarrel into a chicken and duck talk, each other to a cow, happy, more than twenty years.

This time Li Xian from the savings of silver money to buy a pot of good green ants wine, is due to his Mr. just gave people turtledove squeezed out of the private school business, in a fit of pique, bedridden, the new young Mr., younger than nearly thirty Li Xian, Li Xian saw a side of the talk is not bad, is a foreign scholar, and most of the Liang scholar into the size of the Yamen is different, the scholar seems to dislike to do the official, only The only thing he likes to do is to preach and teach, as to why he came to Northern Liang to teach, God knows. However, there are rumors that the scholar earlier in the Huanghua County Fair, the village of a young lady fell in love at first sight, ran all the way to the village to settle down, Li Xian before studying and now teaching, are two ears do not hear things outside the window of a person, on this matter is not willing to explore, think it is really so, but also counted as a talented woman, of course, also willing to bless in the bottom of the heart of the sentence of a lover to be happy together.

Li Xian out of the corner of his eye had already glimpsed the gentleman who wanted to go out in the sun, found the figure of the two of them immediately returned to the house, legs and feet very clever, presumably to go back to bed to pretend to be sick.

Li Xian and Mr. Liu walked into the slightly gloomy inner room together, the latter slapped the yellow wine and food heavily on the small table and said in a bad mood, “There is wine and meat today, if you can get up, then you and I will eat and drink cleanly, if you don’t get up, then I’ll eat and drink for you in front of your face!”

Lying on the bed, Wang Changqing snorted coldly, “Yellow wine?”

Mr. Liu said angrily, “If it’s not yellow wine can it still be your Northern Liang’s green ant wine? If you want me to drink green ant wine, unless the sun comes out of the west! I don’t want to drink it!”

Li Xian had to be a peacemaker and smiled, “Sir, I carry a jug of green ants and Mr. Liu has soy meat, how about it?”

Only then did Wang Changqing slowly get up and straightened his shirt after rising.

Mr. Liu laughed coldly, “Mu monkey and crown.”

Mr. Liu laughed coldly, “The monkey is wearing a crown.” Wang Changqing squinted and said, “Look at this one on me, it’s brand new! This year’s New Year, will also add a new coat. And then look at your body that year after year sewing and mending of clothes, the gentleman to lose face!”

Mr. Liu said blandly: “to nothing as noble, to no early bedtime as rich, to walk in a car, to late food as meat, to rags as fur, this is the road of peace and poverty, the whole of his life does not change the original intention, that is, the road of peace and poverty is carried on.”

Wang Changqing white eyes: “Poor on poor, but also poor out of reason?”

Mr. Liu snickered: “Not compared to some frogs in the bottom of the well, I have traveled 10,000 miles in this life, in the personnel to see the reason of heaven, and read 10,000 volumes of books in this life, in the reason of heaven to see the personnel. Hey, to this poor countryside of northern Liang, every time I see the old scholar obsessed with piles of paper for decades, once out of the door will not know the southeast and northwest, really ridiculous, ridiculous. Especially that pile of old paper, put in the cultivation of the family of the Central Plains, ordinary children can also recite backwards and forwards.”

Lazy to pay attention to the surname Liu, Wang Changqing sat on a small stool, took the already opened pot of green ant wine from Li Xian’s hand, lowered his head and sniffed vigorously, full of intoxication and said, “Just this smell alone can be worth seven or eight silver coins!”

By the light through the broken window, Wang Changqing and his student Li Xian drank green ant wine, while Mr. Liu drank yellow wine alone. The thinning hair of Wang Changqing one stepped on the bench, compared to Mr. Liu, who was sitting upright, is indeed less like a gentleman. On the contrary, Wang Laodu taught Li Xian, elegant temperament does not lose Mr. Liu too much.

Wang Changqing poured two bowls of wine, Li Xian smiled and shook his head, Wang Changqing reached out and pointed at this favorite student, lamented: “Do not drink, how to make a good poem that will be famous for ages.”

Mr. Liu sneered, “Old Baldy Wang, you’ve drank at least a few hundred pounds of wine in your life, and have you ever made one and a half smooth essays? Although Li Xian can barely be considered as half of your student, but he is a serious lifer, in my opinion, only because of the identity of Beilang, he failed to enter the bachelor’s degree, and is also you, Wang Old Baldy, can teach a lesson?”

Wang Changqing drank a mouthful of green ant wine, wiped his mouth, argued: “I can’t teach? But you, Liu Shubai, can teach me a lesson? Because your family is better and you have memorized a few more books, what’s the big deal!”

Mr. Liu wanted to speak again and again, finally did not say certain words, just angrily said: “Unbelievable!”

Wang Changqing poured another mouthful of wine fiercely, then hiccuped, two fingers picked up a piece of soy sauce meat and threw it into his mouth, and was instantly relieved.

Li Xian was ultimately unable to resist the gentleman’s persuasion to drink, and his face turned red after drinking a small half bowl.

The two old men silently drank and ate their meat, except that one used his hands and the other used chopsticks.

Mr. Liu rarely drank high, some embarrassment, and some pride, trance eyes full of reminiscence, muttering to himself, “I hate not marrying a woman of ten surnames, I hate not being a man of the Great Chu ah …….”

Wang Laodu took his elbow and gently poked a slightly drunken student, asked in a low voice: “What are the ten surnames of women?”

Li Xian smiled and said, “In the Spring and Autumn in the past, there were ten great valves, probably from the allusion.”

Wang Laodu was happy, “not all to our great general to pick up into the tortoise son.”

Wang Changqing voice is not small, Mr. Liu immediately angry eyes.

Wang Changqing drank most of the pot of green ants wine, is already drunk seven or eight points, horizontal neck, “What, not convinced? Don’t think that your old boy is that what spring and autumn relics, just despise our northern Liang, really think they are superior? Hmph, I’ve put up with you Liu Mao for many years! In the past, you always take our son His Highness is a playboy, that time I was blind, only think His Highness is not as big as the general, may not be able to hold up the burden of the North Liang, only followed you to scold a few words, today you again with the old son of the yin and yang, to see I do not clean up you! I can’t clean you up, there’s Li Xian, my student!”

Mr. Liu’s eyes were bloodshot and he said softly, “If you can kill people, you’re no better? How in the world can that be true? The history books have recorded time and time again that a general’s success is not enough? It’s not a bookish reasoning.”

Wang Changqing suddenly slapped the bowl of wine, a small half of the green ants wine were splashed out of the big white bowl, usually go to the marketplace restaurant to drink a bowl of loose wine, can drink to the drop of wine, this time not to worry about the heartache, to Mr. Liu on the angry: “The great general kills people like a man, so that you in the Central Plains sinking, is not the reasoning, I don’t know! I only know from the great general to the new Liang Wang, two generations of Xu family, the first to die in the northwest pass, for you in the Central Plains blocked the North Mang millions of iron cavalry! Let’s take a step back and say that even if the Great General owes you the Spring and Autumn legacy, the King of Xinliang and the Northern Liang Border Army, in this year, the second year of this damn Xiangfu, have paid it back for his old man on behalf of their Xu family! Our village Zhao Shunzi, Li Xian’s village Li Erwa, and your Liu Mao village’s two young students, four people outside the Northern Liang Pass, only one survived, one died in Hutou City, two died in Hulukou! Zhao Shunzi, early twenties, like me Wang Changqing, are in your eyes, Liu Mao, a lifetime of study can not read a half of the character, the result? The result is that I, Wang Changqing, and you, Liu Mao, the old son of a bitch, are here leisurely drinking wine!”

Wang Changqing slammed his fist on the desktop, “The two of us who deserved to die didn’t die, and those who didn’t, died! What’s the figure? Yes, Zhao Shunzi and the others didn’t die for you, Liu Mao, nor for me, Wang Baldy, but can’t we read him a good deed? Can’t you, Mr. Liu, remember the 300,000 soldiers of Northern Liang?”

Mr. Liu tilted his head and poured a mouthful of wine, his face was calm, but his lips were iron blue as he slowly said, “How difficult is it for me to remember the good of those who died in battle at the border? But to ask me to honor the Xu family, on what grounds? My Da Chu Liu family a family up and down more than three hundred mouths, a Hong Jia north run, died only I a Liu Mao, there is a sentence you are right, deserve to die did not die, do not deserve to die, are dead!”

Wang Changqing roared: “Roll your eggs! Liu Mao, I don’t care how many people died in your year!”

Mr. Liu got up violently, smashed the jar of yellow wine, and left with great strides.

Li Xian hesitated and ran out after him.

Mr. Liu stumbled and Li Xian tried to assist him, but was waved away.

Li Xian’s voice was hoarse as he said, “Mr. Liu, unless it’s an old man in this village, perhaps they don’t even know that my husband’s two sons, died in battle long ago outside the Liangzhou Pass, and that the Master’s Mother died because of it.”

Liu Mao stopped at the bank of the stream.

Li Xian looked towards that creek, “When I went to the capital to catch the examination back then, my husband gave me all his savings, saying that you, Mr. Liu, liked a set of Window Crawl Series of Words, and explaining that I must help you to bring a set of them back in Tai’an City, only that at that time, one of the several people that we had gone to the capital together, was going to stay in the continuing capital to participate in the examination for the meeting, and on impulse, I gave all my silver to him in the hope that he would be able to stay in the capital which was so hostile to I gave him all the money on impulse, hoping that he would be able to study as much as possible in that capital, which is full of hostility towards us Northern Liang, without being troubled by life. This matter, I didn’t even dare to confess to sir, because at that time when I was resigning, sir told me that no matter what, Mr. Liu is truly learned, a true scholar that he is far from being able to compare to, yet he was able to teach in Beiliang for twenty years, therefore Beiliang is indebted to Mr. Liu, so he, Wang Changqing, should do something anyways.”

Li Xian said softly, “Mr. Liu is burdened with national hatred, my husband never dared to let you forget anything.”

Li Xian looked around, “But we in Beiliang, the poor countryside in Mr. Liu’s eyes, never forget a favor! Never forget righteousness!”

Li Xian smiled, “I have not seen the great general, nor have I seen the new Liang King, but I have seen Mr. Wang Changqing, I have seen that Li Erwa who went down the river to touch the fish with me in the early years of my life, I have seen that Zhao Shunzi, who even scolded me as a child for being a nerd and also beat me up, and even more, I have seen Mr. Two sons, and I have seen the master’s wife …… then I think, since we were born in Beilang, then also deserve to die in Beilang it, need to face the North Mang iron cavalry of our Beilang people, as long as the border war a day without stopping, then every day every year to die, in fact, is a very common thing. Maybe one day it will really be on your head, and you will be just as upset, but fear is fear.”

“Death is death! Because North Mang can’t let us live in North Liang. And we don’t want to live either!”

“Mr. Liu, you said that in the early years of the Central Plains Spring and Autumn, it is hate not to marry a woman with ten surnames, hate not to be a man of Chu. Today’s Liyang, is hate not born in Jiangnan, is hate not live in Tai’an.”

Li Xian spilled out laughing: “As for me Li Xian, a weak scholar, only hate not die Liangzhou!”

The hunchbacked old man of Western Chu looked at the distant back of this young scholar of Northern Liang in a daze.

The old man suddenly plopped down by the stream, stuck his head into the stream, and drank hard.

Then he just sat down on his knees and laughed, “Good wine!”

The old man turned his head to look at the young man who ran back quickly, surely mistaking him for Liu Mao who couldn’t think straight.

The old man laughed out loud.

On the contrary, Liu Mao finally thought about it today.

Compared to the Central Plains, whether it is the Central Plains of Spring and Autumn or the Central Plains of Liyang, there are not many readers in Beiliang, and there are even fewer books.

However, who says that there is no chivalry between the lines here?