My father asked, how about reading the books of sages and understanding the past and present, and then passing the exam in one fell swoop for ten years?
He said, not good.
My father asked, how about relying on family property, traveling to and from the capital of Jiangdu, working as a businessman, and becoming rich?
He said, not good.
Father asked, what do you want to do?
He said: I want to learn riding, shooting, swords and guns, go into battle to kill the enemy, and serve the motherland.
My father didn’t say anything and left.
The next day, my father took an old man home and said to him: From now on, this will be your master.
He practiced martial arts with his master for ten years and developed good martial arts skills. He also studied military books diligently and became proficient in raising and training soldiers.
Before his death, the master held his hand and said, "When the birds are gone, the slingshot is hidden. If one day you succeed in painting Lin Pavilion, you should retreat bravely from the rapids and stay away from the government, so that the body will be intact.
The day after Master's death, war reports came from the north. The barbarians moved southward with overwhelming force. Most of Hexi fell, and the capital was in danger.
He got his wish and became a soldier. He was promoted to centurion for his bravery in battle. He quickly became a general and led five thousand cavalry to block the main force of the Hu people. He went all the way to the north to drive the Hu people out of the Central Plains.
After winning the first battle, he went to the court to pursue the victory and wipe out the main force of the Hu people in one fell swoop.
The imperial envoy quickly rushed to the army, bringing him a letter of appointment and a pair of armor given by the emperor. He was made a general and led the army northward.
Three years later, he stood in front of the Khan and looked at the Central Plains.
Three years later, the remnants of the Hu people were completely wiped out, and no new khans were born.
He sent his troops south and received an edict - ordering General Yu Lin to return to the court immediately and accept the reward.
In the palace, the emperor personally poured wine for him and named him the Duke of Hu and the Great General of Zhenyuan, the only one like him since the founding of the country.
But he was used to sleeping on the saddle, and always stayed up all night on warm cloth; those delicacies on the jade plate were not to his liking, and he missed the nights where he and his brothers ate barbecue around the campfire even more.
He couldn't sit still, so he just practiced riding, shooting, and shooting at home, dreaming of being drafted again one day.
However, the eunuch literati in the court had long disliked him. When they heard that he was practicing martial arts at home, they immediately jointly reported that the Duke of Hu was raising troops to garrison troops and intended to rebel. They also took him into account for repeatedly disobeying the king's orders outside the pass.
After speaking out, the emperor was growing older and more suspicious, and he actually believed the slander.
He dragged his old body at home and practiced day and night. He didn't wait for orders, but only waited for a poisonous wine.
When the news reached the border, 100,000 border troops cried out for injustice, shaking the capital.
Generals only want to be generals, but peace and prosperity cannot accommodate generals or heroes.
The poisonous wine filled with Fang Zun looks like the edict that made him a general, gorgeous, cold, and deadly.
Fang Zun became a burial object of Duke Hu and slept in the tomb for hundreds of years.
Until a man entered his tomb and picked up Fang Zun.
"Haha, the birds are gone and the bows are hidden, the rabbits are dead and the dogs are cooked. If you had listened to your master, why would you have done this? Your grievances can also be used by me..."
The man took out an iron abacus from behind.
"Hiss——"
Zhou Shi pressed his temples to escape from the strong resentment.
"This is Duke Hu's memory... No, the last paragraph is obviously from Fang Zun's perspective! Who is that man?
"Grave robber? That's for sure, but he said 'for my use'...and he holds an iron abacus! Is he the owner of this iron abacus?"
Zhou Shi rubbed his chin and thought:
No, Mr. Mo said that the shopkeepers of Yinhun Inn all have iron abacus, and that man’s iron abacus may not be mine.
But there is only one Duke Hu!
This iron abacus was given to shopkeeper Zhou Da by the old owner of Fengde Building, without explaining its origin.
Using an iron abacus to calculate living accounts will shorten your lifespan. My old boss must have used it before, but he also lived to be over sixty years old... It means that my old boss didn't use it much. He probably got this iron abacus from somewhere else...
"This one in my hand belongs to that man? Did he steal Fang Zun from the Hu Cemetery and put it into the beads of the iron abacus? What does he want with Fang Zun..."
Zhou Shi's eyes returned to the Fang Zun in his hand.
Although Mr. Hu has been buried in the tomb for hundreds of years, he is still shiny and has no rust at all.
When he looked carefully, he found that Fang Zun was actually half full of wine!
"Poisoned wine? It's impossible. It's been buried for hundreds of years, how can there be any residue?"
To be cautious, Zhou Shi took off a rice straw from the broom placed in the corner of the room, put it into Fang Zun, dipped it in some wine, and sprinkled it on the ground.
"There is really something, but it may not be wine, it has no fragrance at all..."
Suddenly, the liquid spilled on the ground quickly evaporated, and several ferocious human faces appeared in the evaporating gas!
Zhou Shi was so frightened that he jumped up from his chair.
"What the hell!"
Those translucent faces quickly dissipated, but he clearly felt that the temperature in the room had dropped a lot, and it was bitingly cold - the same feeling he felt when the ghost came in last night!
"It's Yin Qi!"
Zhou Shi put Fang Zun down, rubbed his arms, and thought: It seems that the liquid in Fang Zun—let’s call it Yin Bar—is the aggregation of Hu Guogong’s resentment. The Yin energy is extremely heavy, and once it is spilled, it will
This way.
"You only spill a few drops, and you feel like you're surrounded by ghosts. It's really powerful. If you use it against a living person..."
Zhou Shi is very satisfied. I am afraid that Duke Hu will be of great use in the future.
He also discovered that the Yin wine was rippled in the quiet Duke Hu.
"Yin qi and yang qi are incompatible. Just like I ate the beans given by Mr. Mo last night to see the ghosts clearly. This yin wine will make waves once it feels that a living person is around..."
Yes, this can be used as a bioradar!
Zhou Shi found the bead on the iron abacus and took out Lord Hu's bead. He gently turned it twice, and Lord Hu was immediately sucked into the bead.
“It’s quite convenient.”
This was the first reward he got from the iron abacus, but it was a pity that it couldn't save his life...
Speaking of rewards, Zhou Shi decided to re-examine this iron abacus. In any case, this thing is not a reward system that can be manipulated at will.
You should pay more attention to that man's affairs in the future - when you are settling the accounts of the dead and getting rewards from the abacus beads.
So tired——
He didn't sleep for a whole night. He just watched a general's revolving door again. He felt a little top-heavy and quickly climbed onto the kang to sleep.
In his opinion, it was just a matter of time before he was woken up by Mr. Mo.
"Woo-ha-what time is it?"
"It opens in two hours."
Then why are you calling me... Zhou Shi only dared to complain in his heart, and never dared to express his dissatisfaction to that terrifying face.
"You are the shopkeeper I managed to get, so you can't just be in charge of settling accounts."
...You just said "kidnapped", right?
The strange old man's two legs, one long and one short, were surprisingly flexible, and he led Zhou Shi behind the counter.
He jumped on the floor twice and said: "Lift this board."
Zhou Shi complied, bent down and groped around the edge of the board, stuck his fingers into the grooves on the edge, and lifted up the entire floor, feeling a blast of cold air.
"This is the cellar."
Normally, such a small inn does not need a cellar. Mr. Mo then explained:
"Wine is food. The ghosts cannot drink wine that is too yang-y. They can only put the lees bought on the market into raw rice, seal the altar, and leave it in the cellar for more than a month before giving it to them to drink. This is what we
's wine cellar."
Zhou Shi carefully kept a distance from Mr. Mo and challenged the cellar entrance - How can I get down to such a small cellar...
Mo Lao opened his mouth with only half of his mouth open and said with a smile: "Only I can squeeze in at the entrance of this cellar. All you need to know is that there are goods here. There is also some raw meat at the bottom of the cellar, which is also specially for the dead."
Zhou Shi recalled the plates of meat served last night. They were all messy, but there was no peculiar smell.
"You have too much yang energy, so you don't have to worry about the stove for now, just serve the food."
Zhou Shi closed the wooden board and sat down again to listen to Mr. Mo telling many rules about jockeys and silently wrote them down in his mind.
When I looked up, it was midnight again.
Just like last night, about twenty ghosts poured into the inn and stood at the Eight Immortals table.
Zhou Shi had already eaten the shopkeeper's black beans, and those ghosts were no longer scary in his eyes.
He followed the shopkeeper's instructions, served wine and food on the table, and listened carefully to the conversations of the ghosts.
"Hey, where is Lao Ma?"
"I didn't look at it...it's probably gone."
"Oh, he is gone too... He is a real person. I hope he will be born into a good family."
Humans have three souls and seven souls. After a person dies, the heavenly soul reincarnates and the human soul dissipates. Only the earth soul may stay in the world for various reasons, plus the remaining souls to form these ghost souls. This is what Mr. Mo told him.
"When they say 'dispersed', they probably mean entering reincarnation. It seems that the ghosts themselves don't know when they will be able to resolve their cause and effect."
Most of the ghosts stranded in the human world are just reluctant to leave the world. As long as they drink at the Yinhun Inn for a few nights and talk to the old and young dead people, they can be seen away. The veteran last night is just an exception.
Zhou Shi also saw the three old men pulling carts from last night. They seemed much more open-minded and even invited Zhou Shi to drink together, but the latter - the only two living people in the inn - declined.
He shuttled between tables to serve. With last night's experience and the use of memory in his body, he became much more proficient in talking to guests and serving dishes.
"Fortunately, Shopkeeper Zhou started his career as a waiter and has accumulated a lot of valuable experience."
After a few hours, Mr. Mo, who was sitting behind the counter, suddenly shouted:
"At three o'clock, check out and send guests off!"
The ghosts immediately stood up and said: "Shopkeeper, settle the accounts!"
The customers paid their bills and left one after another. Zhou Shi finally relaxed and lay on the counter panting.
This job of serving people is really laborious and exhausting...
At this time, he saw Mr. Mo extending his shorter index finger and pointing behind Zhou Shi.
He turned around and saw a young man still standing at the table, feeling lost.
The shopkeeper's night is far from over.
Zhou Shiguan Mo Lao ordered a bowl of wine, brought it to the young man, and asked in a soft tone:
"This little brother, do you still have any unresolved grievances?"
When the young man saw Zhou Shi approaching, he was first surprised, then stunned, and shook his head.