After getting the hero knife, Zheng Ming must have been working hard to collect star weaving grass. He would bring Ding Meng a bowl of brown rice and a basin of water every evening. With this little food and water, Ding Meng
It took me more than half a month to recover.
After walking out of the shack, he discovered that this place was in a narrow and quiet valley. Blue starweed was planted all over the mountains and plains. Zheng Ming made a living by picking it hard every day.
Next to the shed is a dilapidated cowshed made of wood. There are no cows in the cowshed, but the cowboy lives there.
Because Zheng Ming didn’t know Uncle Niu’s name, he called him Uncle Niu anyway. Uncle Niu was also an elderly refugee in ragged clothes. According to Zheng Ming, Uncle Niu was already living here when he came.
He could not leave the house all day long, and only came out in the evening to curl up at the door and play soft music with green bone leaves to the vast sky.
The reason for crouching down is because Uncle Niu's left leg has been completely broken off and he cannot stand normally. As for how the leg was broken, Uncle Niu never said, and Ding Meng and the others never dared to ask, because Uncle Niu had a very bad temper.
eccentric.
He never pays attention to Ding Meng and Zheng Ming. No matter how hard Ding Meng and the others have had a hard day, no matter how exhausted they are, he will always go out on time in the evening and only do one thing, and that is to ask Zheng Ming for a drink.
Wine is an extremely luxurious thing for poor people like them at the border. Even the poorest quality wine sold in the market requires Zheng Ming to collect star weaving grass for two more hours every day and then carry it to the town.
You can get a small bottle in exchange for it.
It was just such a small bottle that Zheng Ming never hesitated to exchange it for Uncle Niu every day no matter it was windy, rainy, cold or hot, and he never complained.
Uncle Niu was a very light drinker. Every time he finished drinking, he would slowly play a tune to the sky. The tune was very beautiful. The more Ding Meng listened to it, the more he could play it.
He played better than Uncle Niu, but he never knew the name of the tune. So one time while Uncle Niu was drinking, Ding Meng mustered up the courage to step forward and said, "Uncle Niu, you play this tune every day.
What’s your name?”
Uncle Niu usually never speaks, but this time he made an exception: "Why do you want to ask for the name?"
Ding Meng thought deeply: "I always feel that this song is very sad, but also full of nostalgia, just like... just like returning to my hometown."
Uncle Niu glanced at him and said calmly: "The name of this song is "Original Scenery of Hometown"."
Ding Meng suddenly realized: "No wonder!"
Niu Bo said: "Where is your hometown?"
Ding Meng scratched his head and said: "The colorful clouds on the southern border."
"Oh!" Uncle Niu asked no more questions. After drinking the wine, he played a song as usual and then went back to the shed to rest.
But after this time, he no longer played "Original Scenery of Hometown", but played a variety of tunes, cheerful, heroic, sad, elegant... including the moving and elegant tunes of Dasheng Kingdom,
There are also war songs of herdsmen from foreign demonic countries... Anyway, no matter what he plays, Ding Meng always learns it very quickly.
"Uncle Niu, you know so many songs, you must have been to many places, right?" Ding Meng asked again.
Uncle Niu still ignored him. He still went his own way. He went out on time in the evening, curled up with his crippled body and drank slowly. After playing, he climbed back into the shed to rest.
This man was really weird, so weird that it was downright terrifying, but Ding Meng was not afraid of him. Ding Meng even felt a bit close to Uncle Niu.
Winter slowly passed, and the bright spring finally came. One evening with lingering spring rain, Uncle Niu played for a long time after drinking. The music this night was particularly sad, and there was an indescribable sadness in the music.
People cannot help themselves for a long time.
Ding Meng, who was lying on the straw pile and listened for most of the night, suddenly felt that Uncle Niu must have experienced some particularly painful things in his life, so he was willing to stay in this deserted place and spend his days drinking and singing.
time.
He can live without eating, but perhaps he lives because of this small bottle of bad wine every evening.
"What do you live for?" Uncle Niu would occasionally ask this question suddenly.
Zheng Ming was coming back carrying rice and noodles. He always had a positive attitude: "Uncle Niu, if we don't work hard, your next meal of wine will be missing."
Uncle Niu ignored him and turned around: "Ding Meng, where are you?"
Ding Meng showed a wry smile: "I must live and live well to be worthy of those people!"
He thought of the little girl, the tribune, Ding Wenhe, and the friends who froze to death one after another in the ice and snow. Without the generosity and righteousness of these people, there would be no Ding Meng in this world.
Uncle Niu picked up the wine bottle: "Would you like to take a sip?"
Ding Meng shook his head: "I don't know how to drink!"
Uncle Niu snorted: "A man who can't even drink wine, how can he live?"
Zheng Ming rushed up, grabbed the bottle and took a sip, then he coughed violently.
Uncle Niu glanced at the two little guys, stopped talking, slowly drank the rest of the wine, played a fishing song, and then climbed back into the shed.
Ding Meng looked at his stooped body with sympathy in his eyes. He finally understood why Zheng Ming worked so hard every day and insisted on buying a small bottle of wine for Uncle Niu.
If you are old and have no relatives or friends, and can only spend the rest of your life alone, I don’t know what you will think? I don’t know if you can survive?
The days went on day by day, and summer soon came. Midsummer was the most suitable season for the growth of starweed. Zheng Ming bought a new batch of seeds from the town. Because Ding Meng helped with the work, he decided to expand
The star weaving grass is then sold in the town and replaced with a batch of grain for storage to prepare for the most difficult winter.
This grassland of starweed grass is the basis for their livelihood, and Zheng Ming has been cultivating the grassland very well.
"Uncle Niu, you only drink and don't eat anything every day, are you an energy user?" Ding Meng finally asked this question.
Uncle Niu was a little surprised: "Do you know the Source Energy One?"
"I don't know!" Ding Meng shook his head, "When I was very young, I heard others talk about the source of energy in the village of Caiyunchi."
When he mentioned the words Caiyun Plating, a complicated look flashed in Niu Bo's eyes: "Have you never seen a source of energy?"
Ding Meng was still shaking his head: "We are too poor. I heard that the soldiers at the border are unwilling to go, so we have never seen what the Source Energyrs look like."
Uncle Niu looked a little dazed, and after a long time he sighed in a rare way: "It's actually good to be an ordinary person, but it may not be a good thing to become an energy user!"
"Why?" Ding Meng obviously didn't understand.
Niu Bo said: "If you really become a warrior in the future, you will find that no matter how strong you are, there will always be more powerful people above you. The higher you climb, the harder you will fall in the future."
This time Ding Meng understood that Uncle Niu was definitely an energy user, and his leg must have been broken by someone. He didn't know whether it was because he was frustrated or because he was avoiding his enemies, so he came to this place and ended up like this.
situation.
Uncle Niu added: "But ordinary people will not be like this. They work hard all their lives and work hard without complaining. They feel satisfied if they can have food to eat..."
When he said this, his eyes fell on the haystack in the distance, where Zheng Ming was tying star weaving grass. Although Zheng Ming worked hard, he seemed very happy.
Uncle Niu sighed: "So, it's good to be an ordinary person. At least you won't do those stupid things that make eggs hit rocks."
Ding Meng said: "Why do you say that it is stupid to hit an egg against a stone?"
Only a child like him could ask this kind of question. Uncle Niu glared at him: "Then if you smash an egg on a stone, do you think the stone will be smashed or the egg will break?"
Ding Meng pondered and said: "No matter how hard the stone is, it is still dead. Although the egg is fragile, it is alive. The stone can only lie on the ground forever, but the egg can give birth to a chick. Sooner or later, the chick will be born."
When it grows up, one day it will fly into the sky and trample rocks under its feet. I think eggs are stronger."
Uncle Niu looked at him and said nothing for a long time.
From that day on, Uncle Niu suddenly stopped drinking and simply played music for a while in the evening.
Zheng Ming was surprised by this. Uncle Niu didn't explain anything. He just called Ding Meng: "Look at it and see if you can understand it?"
He slowly raised his right hand to form a hand knife, and then cut it out at a very slow speed.
Ding Meng definitely couldn't understand, but Zheng Ming on the side seemed to have some understanding, and he also raised his knife and struck a blow.
Uncle Niu nodded, but also shook his head, and then crawled back.
This sword move seemed to have some kind of magic power. Zheng Ming would make gestures whenever he had something to do, and he would even chop trees during his work breaks. After doing so for a long time, even Ding Meng learned how to do it.
Only then did Ding Meng understand that Niu Bo's demonstration was actually a simple yet profound martial arts skill. This was exactly what he was doing when he leaped over the dragon's gate and struck out with a sword.
So the two children waited for Uncle Niu to come out every evening and take advantage of this short time to humbly ask questions that arise during cultivation. Only at this time would Uncle Niu teach patiently and talk more:
"First of all, you need to exert force in the lower body, followed by force in the waist, and superimpose the force on your elbows, so as to enhance the attack. Zheng Ming did this action very well. Ding Meng, you are not skilled enough..."
"You must be decisive when you strike with this sword. If you miss the blow, immediately attack the opponent's shoulder and chest, from top to bottom to the feet. If the enemy is still not knocked down by you after landing, then you have to escape at this time..."
"Brother Zheng Ming, let's practice..."
"Okay, brother Ding Meng, you have made great progress..."
…
Seeing Zheng Ming and Ding Meng competing in martial arts with great interest, Uncle Niu had a complicated look in his eyes. He didn't know whether his secretly teaching martial arts was a blessing or a curse for the two children.
He just saw the continuation of his life from these two children. He was once so innocent and happy, and he worked hard. He didn't want these two children to be reduced to his situation when they grow old.
