It was the beginning of spring in February.
The lingering cold had not dissipated, and the pedestrians on the street had not yet taken off their thick clothes. The water of the Lan River had already thawed and flowed gently into the distance.
There were two small stalls by the river, and only Jiang He was sitting there with a fishing rod in his hand, waiting for the fish to take the bait.
Xu Qing was standing not far away, waving his hands and kicking his feet. From time to time, he would roar loudly and stomp down heavily.
Stomping could increase the strength of the legs, and after a long period of practice, it would increase the lethality of the legs. On the other hand, making noises could train one's lung capacity and scare the enemy.
Inner Qi was trained, and outer Qi was trained.
"You scared my fish away."
Jiang He was dissatisfied with him being so close to him, so he waved his hand to drive him away.
"Go further away."
"I'm almost done … Ha!"
Xu Qing roared and continued to swing his fists.
Practicing outside was much more comfortable than practicing at home, and the effect was also better — he felt that he could kill a cow with one punch.
But he couldn't hold down the little cow, Jiang He.
"… Hey!"
"… Humph!"
A spring breeze blew past, causing ripples to form on the surface of the river. The fishing float suddenly swayed, and Jiang He, who was about to continue speaking, turned his head. He grabbed the fishing rod and pulled it up, pulling out a fish the size of a palm.
"There will be soup for lunch."
Hearing this, Xu Qing glanced at it, but didn't reply. He continued to practice martial arts.
There was no one by the river, so the two of them deliberately found a remote place to avoid people thinking that he was sick.
The new buds on the trees had just sprouted, and there was not much green color yet. They could only be seen when they got closer. The tender yellow color indicated the beginning of a new year.
"The most powerful thing about martial arts is not to defeat others, but to restrain your desire to win. No matter what, you can't lose your morality. Practicing martial arts is to strengthen your body and to help others, not to hold them down and force them.
Do you understand? "
Xu Qing finally finished a set of practice, stood in the same place, and exhaled. The weather was getting warmer, and the air he exhaled was not condensed into white fog like in the cold winter. The faint air disappeared as soon as it left his mouth.
"I understand." Jiang He looked at the fishing rod and answered.
She had always been protecting herself, not forcing him. If this person hadn't moved, these things wouldn't have happened.
In the past, if a pig trotter dared to touch her body, he would definitely break it in half and spin it around a few times.
Her gaze fell on Xu Qing, who was wiping his sweat and sitting on a small stool to the side. He picked up the fishing rod to see if the bait had been eaten by the sly fish.
"What are you looking at?"
Jiang He's gaze gave Xu Qing an inexplicable feeling that something was wrong.
"It's nothing." Jiang He looked away as if nothing had happened. One of his hands that was hanging down quietly moved a few times.
It was not until noon, when the sun rose high in the sky and the temperature rose again that they put away their fishing rods and prepared to return home.
The harvest was not big, just a few palm-sized fishes, enough to make a soup, and they were all caught by Jiang He.
After cleaning the fish, they threw it into the pot and cooked it with a tomato. It tasted very fresh, and the two had eaten it a few days ago.
They walked along the path, stepping over the dead branches and leaves on the ground. After about ten minutes, they came to the main road. Xu Qing carried the small red bucket and fishing rod, and Jiang He held the small stool. They walked home one after another.
"Which one do you want to drink?"
Passing by the vending machine on the side of the road, Xu Qing stopped and pressed a bottle of Coke. Then he took out his phone and asked Jiang He.
"Assam."
"You have to tell it that there is a person hiding in the machine. Tell the person inside, and then it will push you out and fall into this mouth," Xu Qing said.
Jiang He looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. "Are you going to say that there is someone hiding in the ATM, counting the money, and then helping to push it out?"
"You even know about this?"
"Humph!"
If he could still be fooled by him now, there was no need to do anything else. He might as well just lie at home and give birth.
"If I buy one at home, can I spend my own money and put it in my pocket, which is equivalent to not spending money?" Jiang He looked at him scanning the QR code and could not help but make a stupid sound again.
"In theory, yes, but you have to put the drink in and let it fall out."
Xu Qing did not look back. He pressed the payment button, and with a clang, a bottle of Coke fell out. "That's it."
After a moment of silence, he finally turned his head. "Why don't you drink Coke too?"
The bottle that fell out was stuck in the middle of the machine, neither up nor down. It was just right.
Xu Qing pointed at it and gestured. "I need to smash it down."
"… Okay."
Jiang He had no other choice. Assam was on the other side. If he insisted, Xu Qing's bottle could only be stuck inside.
"Did you just think of moving one back to the Tang Dynasty? You can have a lot of drinks without spending money, and it can keep falling out?"
Xu Qing asked as he operated. At the same time, he tried to shake the machine to see if he could shake it off.
The most stupid thing about this machine was that it would sometimes get the drink stuck. Every time this happened, he would regret using it, but the next time, he would hope that he would not be so unlucky and continue to use it.
"I didn't think about it."
"I think you must have thought about it."
Jiang He ignored him and changed the topic. "What if my bottle is also stuck?"
"Generally speaking, it won't. Because it is so high up, the impact of falling is enough to smash my bottle. My bottle just happened to fall horizontally. Look."
Xu Qing looked like he was doing some physics experiment. He solemnly pressed the QR code to complete the payment, and then there was a clang.
The two of them were silent.
"Jinx." Xu Qing pressed the machine and shook it twice, trying to shake it out.
"What do we do now?"
Jiang He felt that it was very interesting. She looked around with the small stool, put it on the ground, and sat down to wait for him to operate.
"Go?"
Xu Qing was in a dilemma. If there was only five RMB in it, he might let it go, but two cans of coke weighed more than five RMB. He was reluctant to let it go.
"How about you press one more bottle to smash them down, and we can put the rest in the fridge." Jiang He came up with a very reliable idea.
"Try it?" Xu Qing asked.
"Try it."
"What if it gets stuck again?"
"Hmm …" Jiang He fell into deep thought. She was from the Tang Dynasty, and she had never encountered such a thing.
She stared at the two bottles of coke for a moment, and suddenly said, "If we leave and the next person smashes it down, can we spend 2.5 RMB to get three cans of coke?"
"… Yes."
It was even more uncomfortable to think about it this way.
"If the next person also gets stuck, he won't have any coke to drink, and it will continue to accumulate to the next person," Xu Qing tried to put his hand into the machine through the opening and said, "This will form a prize pool."
"Why don't you call the trouble phone?" Jiang He asked.
"This phone can't solve our current problem, unless we are willing to wait here … But I want to go back and wait for you to make fresh fish soup."
Xu Qing stood up and pressed the button again. He decided to try Jiang He's original idea.
The result was obvious, the third bottle also failed.
"Now there is 7.50 RMB in it." Jiang He couldn't sit still anymore, and stood up from the small stool.
She looked at the machine in front of her for a moment, and then looked around, "Is this very sturdy?"
"It should be … very sturdy?" Xu Qing vaguely guessed what she was going to do, and couldn't help looking around.
Bang!
Jiang He slapped the machine, and it shook violently.
Then, clang clang clang …
"Let's go!"
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