Yang Jian and Sun Wukong

No matter how long it is, winter will eventually pass.

After a brutal winter, spring has come quietly.

The mountains and rivers have been sleeping for a whole winter, and gradually wake up in the gentle wind. The green grass pops out, tender and beautiful, trying to stretch every leaf.The river has been frozen for a whole winter, flowing joyfully under the warm sunshine, running forward with all its strength.People came out of the house and changed into light clothes. The big girl wore a ponytail with a golden step on her head, the man wore a small jacket, or had his shoulders bare. People on the street brushed shoulders and sold vegetables. Yes, storytellers, and performers, decorate the long street with bustle and bustle.

In the busiest restaurant "Chunfenglou" in the middle of the long street, a man in rough clothes patted the gavel, and the restaurant immediately fell silent.He smiled with satisfaction, pursed his chapped lips, held the sword in his left hand, patted the bottom of the drum in his arms with his right hand, and sang: "The chaos is not divided, the sky and the earth are chaotic, and the vastness is so vast that no one sees it." The sound resounded through the sky.

"Since Pangu broke through Hongmeng, he has opened up the distinction between clear and turbid." ①

The spectators in the restaurant roared loudly, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic.A spectator shouted the most: "Brother Sheyang, stop singing and tell the story directly!" This remark caused a burst of laughter, so Sheyang put down his sword, board and drum, and said, "I feel that Pangu opened up, and the three emperors ruled the world!" , the Five Emperors established the Lun, and the world was divided into four major continents: Dongsheng Shenzhou, Xiniuhezhou, Nanfangbuzhou, and North Juluzhou. Today we will only talk about Dongsheng Shenzhou. Dongsheng There is an Aolai country outside Shenzhou, and there is a mountain in the country called Huaguo Mountain. This mountain is the ancestral line of the ten continents, and the dragon from the three islands. After saying a few words at the beginning, the spectators sitting in the first row all applauded.

After Sheyang finished speaking for a while, he held the copper plate in his hand to collect money.In a blink of an eye, the sun was setting and the day's work was done. Sheyang packed his things and walked out of the restaurant.Find a secluded place, put down the sword, fishing drum, and stand against the wall, as if waiting for someone.

After a while, several people flashed out from the restaurant, and they were the ones who shouted the loudest just now.Sheyang took out the copper coin from his pocket and shared it with the crowd, and only then did he really set out on his way home.Counting the remaining copper coins, he frowned, looking for people to applaud him, and sure enough, there was not much money left, and if this continued, he would not be able to support the beggar at home who ate and drank.But Sheyang was optimistic by nature, so he didn't think too much about it at the moment, humming a little song, walking back in square steps, and bought some food at the roadside stalls to take back.Passing by the wine shop, thinking that today is my birthday and I need to celebrate, I went in and brought out two altars of fine flower carvings.There are sugar figurines at the entrance of the liquor store, and one of them was pinched so lifelike, it was really pretty, a bit like the beggar at home, he gritted his teeth and bought it, and hid it in his bosom, planning to find an opportunity to give it to him.After buying these things, there are only three copper coins left in my pocket.

Sheyang itself is not much richer than a beggar. He only has the clothes that can be seen when he is a storyteller. He changes every day before going to tell a story, and lives in an abandoned earth temple on weekdays.A year ago, there was a plague of locusts in Sheyang's hometown, and he came here after fleeing from famine. When he entered the Earth Temple, he saw a beggar lying in a corner, covered in filth, his clothes were so worn that he couldn't tell his original color, his beard and hair were messed up, and he couldn't see his original face. , only a pair of eyes are very bright, showing the person's anger.

This beggar is really the laziest person Sheyang has ever seen in his life. He can sit and never stand, and he can lie down and never sit. He shrinks in a corner every day, lying down for a day. Sheyang has never seen him go out to beg for work. live.When it was time to eat, Sheyang was embarrassed to eat alone, so he brought the food to him, and the man didn't say thank you, just grabbed it and ate it.If Sheyang was not given, he would not eat and became skinny.Seeing him pitiful, Sheyang looked after him to eat and drink on time, like raising a puppy.Sometimes Sheyang was wronged in the restaurant, and he came back to complain to him, but he didn't respond, and looked at him with eyes that were made bigger by his thin cheeks. Lonely and lonely, the two get along well.

When Sheyang came back today, the beggar was still lying on the straw mat in the corner as before, with his back to him, his hands around his knees, and his whole body shrunk into a small ball, as if he had been abandoned by the whole world, exuding a A silent sadness.Sheyang put down the wine and food, took out two broken bowls with notches, put the better one on the opposite side, filled the wine, and poured himself another bowl.The beggar smelled the aroma of wine, slowly got up from the straw mat, walked over with his waist bent, and sat cross-legged on the ground.

Sheyang picked up the wine bowl and was about to speak when the man drank it all in one gulp, drinking in a very bold manner, reminding Sheyang of those Jianghu heroes who drank heavily and ate meat in large bowls in story books.

Sheyang smiled and filled him up again.

He raised his hand, and the bowl bottomed out again.

Sheyang's pouring speed is not as fast as his drinking.

After drinking four bowls in a row, he didn't say a word, and his expression didn't change.

About to drink the fifth bowl, Sheyang stretched out his hand to stop it, "Today is my birthday, drink slowly! I don't see how you can drink so well."

The beggar raised his head, his eyes were clear, without the slightest hint of drunkenness, his eyes seemed to be covered with ice, and he could not see the true emotions in his heart.The whole face is too thin, and the most beautiful thing is his eyes. His eyes give people a sense of purity, because they are pure and empty, and because of the emptyness, it is impossible to speculate on his sorrows and joys.

"I used to... three cups must be poured."

His voice is very flat, flat like the sky after the storm, but the sky is full of dark clouds, it seems that there is going to be a heavy rain soon, the dark clouds are gathering, brewing, suppressing, but they just don't want the rain to have a good time.

"You and I have known each other for a year, and I have never heard you mention the past." Everyone has their own sad things, walk alone on the road of life, meet strangers at the corner, and get to know each other. The beggar never asked about Sheyang's past, so Sheyang didn't ask him, but this time he heard him bring it up, and said by the way: "There is something, it seems that it is a bit late to ask at this time."

She Yang stood up, gave a solemn salute, clasped his fists and said with a smile: "Dare to ask your name, brother?"

The beggar was sitting with his head held high, squinting at him, his eyes still had no sorrow or joy, but his expression was a little cold and arrogant. "It's been years since anyone asked my name."

"Oh, why is that? Hasn't it been a long time since you met a stranger?"

"Because they know who I am without asking, and because they are not qualified to ask."

What he said was not ordinary arrogance, Sheyang laughed loudly, "Then is brother qualified for this?"

The beggar said coldly: "How old are you, do you dare to call yourself 'brother'? My elder brother is not something ordinary people can do."

Knowing his temper, Sheyang didn't get angry when he heard this, he just said: "I will be 35 years old after today, how old are you?"

This question made the beggar startled for a moment, showing a confused expression. "I... I don't remember, every day repeats yesterday, and I forget the passage of time." She asked Sheyang, "How old do I look like?"

Sheyang found out a cracked old bronze mirror and handed it over.

The beggar took it, and in the mirror was a man's face, with regular contours, thin cheeks, sunken eye sockets, protruding cheekbones, and beard and hair covering his face, making Lushan's true face impossible to see.

The beggar held the bronze mirror in his left hand, and brushed back the messy hair hanging from his forehead with his right hand, revealing a pair of bright black eyes.

It was the first time for Sheyang to discover that the extreme handsomeness in this life is a wild and heroic handsomeness. The fine lines at the corners of his eyes not only do not damage his heroism, but also add a bit of vicissitudes of masculine charm.It's just that she's too thin. It's clearly a round face, but it shows a pointed chin. The cheeks are deeply sunken, making the nasolabial folds deeper.So he thought about it and said: "If you are being rude, Xiongtai looks like he is nearly 40 years old. You only look at Xiongtai's eyes on weekdays, but he is very young."

The beggar didn't say a word, he stared blankly at his appearance, fascinated.

It made Sheyang puzzled and said: "What's the matter, brother?"

The beggar brought the bronze mirror close to his face, reached out and pulled out a white hair from his head, his expression was even more surprised.

Sheyang said: "Brother?"

A smile suddenly appeared on the beggar's face, he looked at the white hair in a daze, and muttered to himself: "So..."

"How did it turn out?"

The beggar held his white hair tightly and laughed loudly: "It turns out that I will really grow old. It turns out that this way I can grow white hair. It turns out that this is how he grew all white hair back then!"

Throwing away the bronze mirror, standing up holding his white hair, looking up to the sky and laughing. "Hahaha!"

After laughing for a while, he sat down again, picked up the wine jar, "Boom, boom, boom..." After a while of drinking, he drank it to the last mouthful, and he poured it so hard that he fell off the wine jar and coughed so hard that his heart was piercing. It's like coughing up all the viscera in the chest cavity before giving up.Seeing that, Sheyang was terrified, and wanted to go forward to help him stroke his back, but for some reason, his feet stuck to the ground and he couldn't move, as if there was an invisible air around this person preventing him from passing.From the day I met him, I felt that there was a strong suppressed sadness in him, and now this sadness is released, filling the whole room, almost destroying the world.

When the cough stopped, he covered his mouth and rushed to the basin, and spit up.Ben didn't eat anything, vomited for a while, then stopped, and coughed again.

Sheyang handed him a bowl of water.

He took it, rinsed his mouth, returned the bowl, and said, "My name is Yang, and my name is Qi Tian."

At this moment, there was a loud commotion outside the Earth Temple, and a group of hooligans entered the Earth Temple aggressively with wooden sticks in their hands.

She Yang rushed to greet him, and said with a flattering smile: "Uncle Tang, what brought you here? It's such a good day today, the guests are here, and the plants are shining. Come and have a drink!"

The leader, Poppi surnamed Tang, pointed at the tip of Sheyang's nose rudely with a wooden stick, and said, "What kind of wine are you eating? The Lord is here to collect the rent, and you are allowed to live here. Are you living here for nothing? Hurry up and hand over the money. Grandpa is too lazy to dawdle with you."

The Earth Temple is not owned by this group of hooligans, but if you want to find an excuse to collect money, you can say that the black is white.Sheyang lived here, and was often bullied by them. He had to pay rent to live in the land temple, and to go to a restaurant to tell stories. Even if he went out to beg, he had to give money to the beggars. Said: "Didn't you hand it in just yesterday?"

Poppi grabbed Sheyang by the neck and lifted him up like a chicken, "Yesterday was yesterday, you ate yesterday, don't you want to eat today?" Pushing Sheyang to the ground , "Take out the money!" As he said, he stepped on it.The beggar who was sitting on the side bumped into him and hugged Poppy's leg, but Poppi was furious and kicked him over.The beggar was kicked until he rolled to the corner of the wall before stopping, his face was scratched and bleeding.

All the rogues shouted together: "Take the money! Take the money!"

The beggar wiped the blood from his forehead, stood up, and said calmly, "No money."

Maybe it was his indifferent attitude that angered Poppi, and Poppi shouted: "If you don't have money, hit me!" Everyone shouted, rushed over, and beat him with sticks and sticks.Sheyang wanted to help, but was stopped by Poppi for a body search, unable to pass, so he had to yell and beg for mercy, but no one paid any attention.By the time the only three copper coins on Sheyang's body were found, the beggar had already been beaten black and blue.

After a year of getting along with Sheyang, she thought that this person was temporarily reduced to a beggar, but in fact he possessed special skills. He didn't expect him to be such an idiot, and he was beaten so helplessly by a group of hooligans.In the end, he just lay there with a big face and was kicked and beaten. No matter how the fists rained down, he remained motionless.

Poppi found three coins from Sheyang, but Sheyang didn't get punched.

When they were tired from beating, the poppiers left cursing.Before leaving, a rogue passed by the beggar and spat on his face, and the other rogues followed suit, spitting one by one, then raised their feet and passed over his head, proudly, and walked out of the earth temple one by one.

From the beginning to the end, during the whole process of being beaten, the expression of the beggar was very calm and expressionless. He looked like a dilapidated clay Buddha enshrined in the earth temple. No joy, no desire, no desire.

The author has something to say: ① Selected from "Journey to the West".