When Hsu Fengnian woke up, he had a splitting headache. He sat up shakily and picked up the bamboo flask from the bedside to drink some spring water. He went to the table to pick up the celadon bottle and poured in the last two pills. He drank the cold water from the bamboo flask in one gulp. The headache lessened and he immediately felt refreshed. He caught a glimpse of the Embroidered Winter Saber lying on top of a pile of secret manuals. He reached out to grab it and heard the saber vibrate with the sound of metal and stone. Only then did he realize that the zhenqi in his body was circulating and nourishing his bones, as if he had endless strength. Hsu Fengnian subconsciously wanted to pull out the saber, but he suppressed this impulse. When he arrived outside the hut, he saw the bull-rider making a fire in front of the stove and cooking a pot of winter bamboo shoots.
Hsu Fengnian asked, "Did you steal those chess pieces of mine?"
The young Shishuzu pretended to be stupid and said, "I don't know."
Hsu Fengnian frowned. Before he even pulled out his saber to threaten him, the bull-rider ran away with a guilty conscience. He had dug out two to three catties of winter bamboo shoots with great difficulty, but running for his life was more important. He did not have time to care about the delicious winter bamboo shoots. Hsu Fengnian walked to the stove and cooked the winter bamboo shoots. He picked up a pair of chopsticks and slowly ate it clean. Only then did he go to the cave under the Immortal Hanging Peak and found a small pile of uncarved pebbles. He must have been the bull-rider to make up for his mistake. He smiled and sat down against the wall. Following the superior sword style described in the "Green Water Pavilion Sword Practice Record of Jia Zi", he used the Embroidered Winter Saber to carve the chess pieces. However, the first strike was too fast and the hard pebbles were cut in half. Hsu Fengnian was stunned for a moment. He was no longer in a hurry to use the saber. He sat down cross-legged and meditated, breathing in and out. Along the way, Hsu Fengnian had already noticed that his five senses were unusually sensitive. At this moment, he felt that the divine qi in his body was abundant and clear. He felt a bit of a mysterious empathy for the Daoist chant of "Breathing in and out is Embryonic Breathing". Hsu Fengnian opened his eyes and said to himself, "This is the Great Yellow Courtyard?"
The bull-rider cautiously appeared at the entrance of the cave and smiled. "This is the Great Yellow Courtyard. His Royal Highness can't be wasted. "
Hsu Fengnian mocked himself, "What a waste."
The one riding the bull shook his head and laughed, "You said that too early."
Hsu Fengnian calmly said, "There are several hundred books in the thatched cottage. If I give them all to Wudang, will you accept them?"
The young Grandmaster laughed foolishly. "Keep!"
Hsu Fengnian laughed and said, "From now on, I will give Wudang Mountain a thousand taels of gold as incense money every year. Do you dare to accept it?"
The one riding the bull thought for a moment and smiled bitterly, "I wouldn't dare."
Hsu Fengnian laughed it off and waved his hand, indicating that the bull-rider could disappear. Hong Xixiang left the room and walked back in. He said softly, "His Royal Highness, don't hold a grudge against me for stealing your chess piece."
Hsu Fengnian said softly, "Get lost."
Hsu Fengnian spent half a day getting used to the strength of the knife. Then he went to carve the chess pieces. The shape was round and smooth. Looking at the two piles of black and white chess pieces, he let out a long sigh of relief. He accidentally blew the chess pieces into a mess and the black and white pieces mixed together. Hsu Fengnian scolded him in the Western Shu dialect. He packed up again and went to the Purple Bamboo Forest. He chopped two Luohan Purple Bamboo and carried them back to the thatched cottage. After splitting them, he spent a day weaving two chess boxes. To be able to do this, he had honed his mediocre skills from three years of traveling and weaving straw sandals. After putting the three hundred and sixty-one chess pieces into the boxes, Hsu Fengnian looked at the thatched cottage where the secret manuals had not been moved. He then hung the knife on his waist and carried the chess boxes out of the cottage. He looked at the deserted vegetable garden. The two maids Sweet Potato and Blue Bird were waiting quietly by the side. There was only Hong Xixiang in Wudang to send him off. It was almost the same as the welcoming party of only two people in the beginning.
As expected, Hong Xixiang sent him to the memorial archway with the words "Xuanwu Dang Xing".
Hsu Fengnian had already seen the two hundred Beiliang cavalry in their armor. He looked back at Lianhua Peak and asked without rhyme or reason, "What's the saying again?"
Sweet Potato smiled sweetly and said, "Sixty years in the mountain is a thousand years in the world."
Hsu Fengnian smiled and said, "Has that White Fox face in the Tide-listening Pavilion reached the third floor yet?"
Sweet Potato shook her head and said softly, "Not yet. Everyone in Wutong Garden is betting on this. I bet there's still a year and a half left. I bet six taels of silver. Green Ant and the others think it will be later. "
Hsu Fengnian sat in the carriage and said, "Then I bet ten taels of silver that White Fox face will reach the third floor in a year."
Sweet Potato massaged His Royal Highness' shoulders while Hsu Fengnian leaned against her chest. He opened the chess box and rubbed a chess piece with two fingers. He closed his eyes and said softly, "More important."
Sweet Potato, whose natural body fragrance would fade in the winter, made a sound of agreement. Her eyes glanced at Blue Bird in Wutong Garden, who did not get along with her the most.
Blue Bird did not say anything. She only looked at His Royal Highness's forehead. Her eyes were bright and full of spirit.
The thoughts of her two personal maidservants were unspoken.
The two hundred cavalrymen entered Liangzhou. The people on the main road consciously dispersed. Hsu Fengnian stopped the carriage halfway and asked Sweet Potato to buy some soy sauce beef to satisfy her appetite. The cooked meat here was the most delicious. The beef was the best in Beiliang. The secret sauce was second to none. The amount of ingredients such as yellow sauce, cinnamon, ginger, star anise and other ingredients was just right. Not to mention the other ingredients, just the old soy sauce on the table alone was enough to make many diners want to steal it after eating the soy sauce, but they never succeeded. In the past, Hsu Fengnian, Li Hanlin, Yan Chiji and a few other bad friends would come here to eat to their heart's content after committing crimes. Li Hanlin was even more tyrannical and cruel. He almost moved the entire century-old shop back. If it were not for Hsu Fengnian's pleading with the old shopkeeper, whose face was covered in tears and snot, the people in the city would not be able to eat this authentic dish. Of course, it was mainly to take care of their own picky tastes.
The most interesting thing was not the soy sauce beef, but the delicate little girl in the shop. It was said that she was the daughter of a distant relative of the shop owner. In short, their relationship could be thousands of miles away. Surprisingly, the girl returned to the city for the first time five or six years ago with a rope in her hand. It was led by a big black and white cat that looked like a bear, but it was not a cat. Later, the learned scholars of Liangzhou cited the classics and discovered that it was the "Bi Beast" that only existed in Western Shu. Its nickname was the panda. The ancient books recorded that the Bi Beast liked to eat copper and iron. However, in recent years, no one had heard of it stealing the ironware in the neighborhood. Instead, they often saw the girl holding bamboo sticks and bamboo leaves in her hand. After returning from his travels, Hsu Fengnian never saw the girl and the big cat again. When he went to the shop to eat beef during his travels, he loved to tease the girl. Li Hanlin tried to steal soy sauce several times, but she would hit his hand with a bamboo stick. If it were not for His Royal Highness stopping him, the little girl would have been thrown into the animal cage together with her pet.
When Hsu Fengnian was waiting for the beef, he saw an old beggar leaning against the wall in the distance, shivering. His face was ashen, and he was hungry and cold. He was not far from death. The rich all liked winter. Even if their homes could not afford the charcoal-consuming earth heating, they could wear comfortable and luxurious mink coats, which gave them more face when they went out. However, all the poor people in the world were most afraid of this season.
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