Chapter 54: Books Hanging on Horns

“Ahem.”

A violent cough caught Zhou Yi's attention. The ox cart on the road shook, and the man on it seemed to have lost the strength to pull the ox. He covered his chest and coughed violently.

It looks very painful.

Zhou Yixi stopped and walked towards the ox cart.

Seeing the rope leading the ox falling from the cart, the man on the cart seemed unable to reach it, so he reached out and pulled it, and the ox stopped in pain.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Zhou Yi looked at the middle-aged man's face clearly. He had straight brows and should have looked heroic.

But his face was full of vicissitudes, his eyes were tired and lifeless, his beard and hair were disheveled, and he looked too down and out.

If he takes good care of himself and matches his physique, he shouldn't look too bad.

"Thank you very much, young man. I'm fine, cough cough."

As he spoke, he covered his chest and coughed twice.

The coughing was just smaller than before, and it seemed that he had finally taken a breath.

Huh?

Zhou Yi looked at him carefully, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

He had an excellent memory, and a scene on the top of Shangcai City emerged in his mind. At that time, there was a group of people gathered in front of the Li Si stele, and it seemed that this person was among them.

"Brother, did you go to Shangcai not long ago?"

The middle-aged man took a long breath and finally stopped coughing.

"To be honest, young man, I came from Shangcai. My cough is an old problem. Whenever it strikes, I feel weak all over."

His tired eyes were filled with gratitude. "If you hadn't helped me just now, I would have fallen and been seriously injured."

"I guess you saw me at the East Gate."

Zhou Yi nodded.

I heard him say self-deprecatingly, "For someone as down and out as me, it would be enough to admire the extraordinary people of Shangcai and to have some far-fetched dreams at night."

"I thought I had great ambitions in my early years, but decades have passed, and now, alas."

He heaved a long sigh, overcome with sorrow, and chanted to himself:

"The green sunflowers in the garden wait for the morning dew to dry in the sun, but they always fear the coming of autumn, when their petals will turn yellow and their leaves will wither."

“Sorry, sorry.”

The middle-aged man sighed again. "My old habit has come back. Seeing a young man like you always makes me feel sad about the past. I feel that my ambitions have been unfulfilled. I have missed so much. So much."

His sadness was so strong that even Zhou Yi was infected.

Seeing how sad he was, I couldn't help but say something to comfort him:

"Man, failure and setbacks are always present in life. That's life."

"but."

Zhou Yi recited in a deep voice: "Walk to the end of the water, sit and watch the clouds rise."

“Life is not over yet, how can we know the end?”

The down-and-out middle-aged man was slightly startled: "When you reach the end of the water, it's so nice to sit and watch the clouds rise. It's so nice."

"Liu has learned his lesson."

He looked up at the sky and said, "Young man, I saw you running on the road just now. Are you looking for a place to stay?"

"Exactly. I wonder how far the next village is?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu said, "There was originally a village three miles away, but unfortunately it was burned down by a group of vicious bandits who came from Huaiyang County."

"Further ahead is a barren mountain. It's said that there are giant beasts there. It's very dangerous."

Zhou Yi looked in the direction the middle-aged man pointed and frowned slightly.

"Where are you going to rest, Mr. Liu, driving this ox cart?"

The middle-aged man said, "I was originally going back to the border town of Ciqiu, but I was delayed by a cough and couldn't make the journey."

"It's getting dark now, so we can only go to Cixijian."

"Some time ago, someone opened a tea stall there, catering to travelers and traders. Unexpectedly, it was scared away by thieves, leaving behind an empty stall. It's convenient for people stranded on the road, as they can find a place to rest at night."

"Is it far?"

"Not far."

The middle-aged man said, "If you don't mind, get in Liu's car and I'll take you there."

Zhou Yi thought about it and sat on the ox cart.

The middle-aged man pulled the rope and started on his way again.

Cows walk slowly, so as long as you don't run like crazy, the car won't be so bumpy.

"What's your name, young man?"

"No need to mention your surname Zhou."

The middle-aged man said while driving:

"Young Master Zhou is truly insightful. What you just said really struck a chord with me. If I had met you earlier, I might have been more courageous."

He seems like a very talkative person.

In other words, it is not easy to find a listener like Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi just smiled and hummed, then listened to him talk about the Li Si stone carvings in Shangcai:

"There are many down-and-out people like me in Shangcai who deeply admire this legend among the common people."

"It's funny, when Li Si went to the toilet, he saw a mouse. The mouse in the toilet was so thin and small, and when it saw people coming, it ran away in all directions. It looked weak, helpless and pitiful."

"And the mouse in the rice barn"

He paused, and Zhou Yi continued, "The mice in the rice warehouse have grown big and fat from eating so much. They frolic leisurely among the grain piles, and sometimes they don't even get scared when they see people coming."

The middle-aged man sighed, "Yes."

"Li Si understood this principle very well. It doesn't matter if a person is capable or not. Intelligence and talent are basically the same. Wealth and poverty all depend on whether one can seize opportunities."

"That's what I thought back then."

“But it was all in vain.”

Zhou Yi couldn't help but take another look at this down-and-out scholar. He had thought that he was the kind of person who complained without any reason, but unexpectedly, he actually had a great ambition.

If one really has great talent but hides himself in the market, then earning money for the Taoist temple is not bad.

"What does Mr. Liu do for a living now?"

He couldn't help but ask.

The middle-aged man said, "Teaching a few children to read and write is not worth mentioning."

Amidst the increasingly dark night, the look Zhou Yi gave the middle-aged man and the middle-aged man occasionally gave Zhou Yi were surprisingly similar.

Each of them hides the word "earn".

The two talked more about Shangcai Li Si.

However, there were finally some points of disagreement.

That is what Li Si said to his son, who was being tortured alongside him, before he was executed: "I want to take the yellow dog with you and go out of the east gate of Shangcai to chase the cunning rabbit. Is it possible?"

It means, "Son, I wanted to take Da Huang with me and go back to our hometown to hunt rabbits, but unfortunately, we don't have the chance anymore!"

The middle-aged man said, "Li Si's heart was filled with sorrow. He had reached the highest position in the government, but in the end he could not escape such a fate. His fate was still in the hands of others, and his life and death depended on the words of others."

"This is a kind of sadness, a sadness that you don't understand until you die."

Zhou Yi shook his head. "He chased power, but was eventually swallowed up by it. Everything was in vain. He must be tired at this moment."

“If he had the chance again, perhaps he would pick chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and leisurely gaze at the southern mountains.”

The two people interpreted it in two extremes.

The middle-aged man did not refute at all. Instead, he followed Zhou Yi's meaning and smiled, "Young Master Zhou is right."

He laughed at himself:

"I am the broken bubble you mentioned. Now I am a teacher."

At this time, he turned the ox cart and arrived at the Cixijian Tea Stall he mentioned.

As dusk fell, the fire in the teahouse was very bright.

There were sporadic voices coming from inside again.

Zhou Yi was very cautious and listened attentively before reaching the tea stall.

There were some gangsters chatting about this and that, and the sound of clinking glasses and drinking.

This messy appearance actually makes people feel at ease.

The tea shed here was quite strange, being built on a mountain stream. He had good eyesight and could see gullies and traces of silt caused by the impact of water in the dim light.

But now there is only a small stream.

If you open a tea shop here, you can just go to the stream to get water.

No wonder the previous owner chose such a place.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu tied up the yellow cow and then walked into the tea shed. There were mud walls and thatched sheds around it, forming a large courtyard.

There was a bonfire in the yard, with more than a dozen large pieces of firewood burning brightly.

The firewood was a little wet and made a crackling sound.

Someone roasted a pheasant, but it was emitting a fragrant aroma. There were also several iron kettles boiling water nearby, bubbling.

When the two came in, those people from the martial arts world glanced at them and then looked away.

I don't care much.

Zhou Yi took a quick look and found that dozens of people were staying overnight here.

Although these people looked normal, he was still wary of them.

Look around and find the way out.

"Young Master Zhou, this way."

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu found a seat in the back that was not very conspicuous.

He also pulled a handful of straw and spread it on the ground. There was a bonfire in the yard for warmth, so there was no problem for the two of them to spend the night there.

Zhou Yichao sat down on the thatch and suddenly felt something was wrong.

He looked around and noticed nothing unusual.

Those people in the underworld have different accents and are not from the same place.

Leave a gap between each other and guard against each other.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu came close to him and carefully added some straw for him.

Zhou Yi's eyes widened slightly.

His eyes passed through the campfire and saw the rope that tied the yellow cow.

The cow was tied outside the door.

There was a half-rolled book hanging on the ox's horn.

Zhou Yi rubbed his eyes and said inadvertently in a gentle voice:

"I'll be watching the tide next week. I don't know what Brother Liu's name is yet."

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Not worth mentioning."

"My name is Liu Zhiyuan."

…

Thank you book friends for your valuable monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~! ('-'*ゞ

Monday, early post, tomorrow will be normal~~~

(End of this chapter)