Time passes, and thirty years have passed since Sun De's story about Luo and Gu's fight for immortality ended.
Thirty years is basically half a mortal's life. Too many changes and transitions can occur. But for this small county, batches of children are born, grow up, get married, and have children.
But there are also groups of people who decline, become frustrated, grow old, and eventually die.
But what hasn't changed is the county town itself, whether it's the buildings, the city walls, the Yamen compound, or... the teahouse from back then.
It still maintains the same appearance as before, even if there are some damages, but overall, it seems that there are not many changes, except that the houses are missing some tiles, the city walls are missing some bricks, the Yamen compound is missing some plaques, and...
…In the teahouse, the storyteller of yesteryear is missing.
But in this county, there are also more people and things, more shops, more towers on the city walls, more drums in the Yamen Courtyard, more waiters in the teahouses, and...under the Dongcheng Bridge, there is more beggars.
.
The beggar has white hair, dirty clothes, and his hands are like dirt growing on his skin. He is half leaning on the wall behind him. There is a broken wooden table in front of him, and there is a black board on it. At this moment, the old man
The beggar was looking at the sky, as if in a daze, his eyes were cloudy, as if he was about to go blind, and his whole body was dirty, but his wrinkled face... was very, very clean.
It seems that this is his only dignity.
It's just that this clean face is incompatible with the other beggars around, and it's also incompatible with the crowds and bustling sounds around.
He didn't seem to care. After a while, under the cloudy sky, the old beggar made a gurgling sound in his throat. He seemed to be laughing or crying. He lowered his head, picked up the black wooden board on the table, and moved towards the table.
As soon as I put it on, it made that clear and crisp sound.
"It was mentioned last time that before the destruction of the vast Dao Realm, 90 million infinite kalpas ago, outside the black and yellow sky and earth, in the endless and unfamiliar depths of the distant starry sky, two great powers who had existed since the beginning of the original
Generations compete with each other for the immortal position!"
"But I saw that Ming Luo was so powerful, he raised his right hand, grabbed the way of heaven, and was about to crush it..."
"But Gu is even better, turning back time..." The old beggar's voice was mellow, and he was shaking his head, as if he was immersed in the story, as if what he saw in his dim eyes was not people passing by in a hurry.
The people who are interested are the mesmerized eyes in the teahouse back then.
Even though his opening aroused the dissatisfaction of other beggars around him, he still banged the black board on the table, shook his head, and continued to read.
"Old man, you've been telling this story for thirty years, can you change it?"
"Sun, please shut up. You've disturbed my sweet dream. Do you deserve another beating?" The voice of dissatisfaction became stronger and stronger. Finally, a fierce-looking middle-aged beggar next to him stepped forward and grabbed the old man.
The beggar's clothes stared at him fiercely.
"Old Suntou, you still think you are the original Mr. Sun. I warn you, if you disturb my dream again, you will move out of this place..."
Although the old beggar's eyes were dim, he still stared, glaring at the middle-aged beggar who was grabbing his collar.
"Bold, I am Mr. Sun, I am a Juren, I am famous all over the world, I..."
"You lunatic!" The middle-aged beggar raised his right hand and was about to slap him when a low shout came from the distance.
"stop!"
As the sound came, I saw an old man holding a five or six-year-old child walking slowly from the overpass.
Seeing the arrival of the old man, the middle-aged beggar quickly let go, the ferocity on his face turned into flattery and flattery, and he spoke quickly.
"It turns out it's Zhou Yuanwai, I'm here to say hello to you, old man."
"Step back." The member of the Zhou family frowned, took out some copper coins from his arms and threw them over. The middle-aged beggar quickly picked them up, his smile became more flattering, and he quickly stepped back.
Ignoring the other party, Member Zhou looked at the old beggar with emotion and complexity in his eyes. After tidying up his clothes, he continued to sit there and raised his hand to knock the black board on the table again.
"Mr. Sun, if you have time, please tell me a paragraph. I would like to listen again to the part about Luo Zhi's ninety million infinite calamities and his final battle with Gu." Zhou Yuanwai said softly.
The old beggar rolled his eyelids, glanced outside the room, looked at it, and smiled faintly.
"It turns out to be the waiter, are everyone here?"
Zhou Yuanwai laughed when he heard this, as if he was lost in memories, and spoke after a while.
"Mr. Sun, everyone is here. I'm just waiting for you, old man." As he said that, he put down the curious child in his arms, stepped forward and wiped the table with his sleeves.
The old beggar suddenly smiled proudly, picked up the black wooden board, and knocked it on the table, making a snapping sound.
"Speaking of last time..." The old beggar's voice echoed in the bustling crowd, seeming to take him back to the past, and the person opposite him, Zhou Yuanwai, seemed to be the same way. One of them spoke, the other listened, until
After dusk, as the old beggar fell asleep, Zhou Yuanwai took a deep breath, looked at the gloomy sky, took off his coat and covered the old beggar, then bowed deeply, leaving some money and taking it with him
The child leaves.
In the distance, you can hear the curious voices of children.
"Grandpa, who is that old beggar?"
"He is Mr. Sun. When grandpa was still working as a waiter in the teahouse, he was the gentleman he admired most."
"But why is he here? Why doesn't he go home?"
"Mr. Sun's dream is to travel thousands of mountains and rivers to see the lives of the people. Maybe he is tired, so he takes a rest here." The old man's sighing voice blended with the clear voice of the child, and they walked farther and farther.
He couldn't see the old beggar who seemed to be sleeping behind him. His body was shaking at the moment. In his closed eyes, tears could not be blocked. They flowed down on his decent face. As the tears fell, the gloomy sky also
There was a muffled thunder, and drops of cold rain fell on the world.
The raindrops were so cold that the old beggar slowly opened his dim eyes while trembling. He picked up the black board on the table and stroked it in his hands. It was the only thing that accompanied him from beginning to end.
Touching the black wooden board, the old beggar raised his head and stared at the sky. He remembered the rain at the end of the story.
The rain thirty years ago was cold and without warmth, just like fate. After Gu Yuluo finished telling his story, he had no more dreams, and the one he created was about demons, monsters, eternity, and demigods.
Because the story of Xian was not exciting enough, everyone was looking forward to it from the beginning, until they were full of impatience, and in the end no one cared about it.
He tried many versions, but all failed without exception. The failure of storytelling also made him humbler at home. His father-in-law's dissatisfaction and his wife's contempt and disgust all made him bitter and at the same time, he could only hope.
In the imperial examination.
But...he still failed.
The repeated blows brought Sun De to a dead end. In desperation, he could only tell the story about Gu Hexian again. This allowed him to return to his original life in a short period of time, but as the days passed by
, Seven years later, no matter how wonderful the story was, it could not overcome the repetition. Gradually, when everyone had heard it, and when more people imitated it in other places, Sun De's path was cut off.
He had no source of income, and gradually lost his reputation and dignity. At this time, after being disgusted countless times, his wife also started to have sex with others in front of him, and even more so when he was angry.
She ended her marriage to him directly and remarried someone else with the support of her original father-in-law.
And Sun De also suffered the pain of being deceived in the first place. He was beaten severely, his legs were broken, and he was thrown out of the house. It was also raining that day, and it was just as cold.
He lost his family, his career, his dignity, everything, and his legs. He was lying in the rain wailing. Finally he couldn't bear such a blow and he went crazy.
In other words, he had to go crazy, because how famous he was when he was most popular, and how much he feels now that he has nothing, and how much he feels now that he has nothing. This gap is not something ordinary people can bear.
He went crazy, relying on the charity from his former listeners who occasionally lamented in their memories, and gradually he became a beggar, a beggar who lived in his own world and still told stories.
Many times, he thought he was going to die, but it seemed that he was unwilling to give up. He struggled to survive, even though... the only thing accompanying him was the black wooden board.
Touching the black wooden board at this moment, Sun De looked at the rain. He felt that today was colder than usual, as if he was the only one left in the world, and everything in his eyes became blurry, and he seemed to
I heard many voices and saw many figures.
"Mr. Sun, let's do some."
"Yes, Mr. Sun, we are all scratching our hearts after hearing this, please don't be so pretentious."
"Mr. Sun, our Mr. Sun, you just made us wait, but it's worth it!"
Listening to the sounds around him and looking at the enthusiastic figures, Sun De smiled, but his smile was slowly turning into eternity as his body cooled.
But at this moment... he suddenly saw the figures of two people in the crowd, which were particularly clear. They were a middle-aged man with white hair. There seemed to be sadness in his eyes. There was also a little girl in red clothes beside him.
Although the child's clothes are happy, his face is pale and his figure is a bit illusory, as if he may disappear at any time.
The two of them were sitting there, staring at themselves.
"Senior, please save my daughter. Wang is willing to pay any price for this!" When Sun De looked at him, the white-haired middle-aged man stood up and bowed deeply to Sun De.