Undying Body

During the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, Yangzhou City.

There has been a poem since ancient times: Fireworks go down to Yangzhou in March.In March, Yangzhou City is full of flowers, catkins like smoke, and heavy traffic, creating a prosperous scene.

The Chang Mansion in Yangzhou City is considered a dignified family. It is said that the ancestors of the Chang family and the founding general Chang Yuchun had a ancestral relationship. Therefore, the full moon banquet for the grandchildren of the Chang family attracted officials and relatives of all sizes in the city. Crowded.

The front hall is full of wine, and the back hall separated by a large garden is much quieter. A young man passed through the garden path in March, and he walked into the inner room of the back hall, and said to the woman in the room: "Dad I just ordered, take the child over."

The woman was carrying him on her back, and she looked tenderly at the baby in the cradle: "This will pass."

The man nodded and said: "Hang up the longevity lock that my uncle gave you."

"It's been hanging all the time," the woman said softly, stroking the uneven and auspicious patterns on the silver lock with her fingers, "I hope this child will live a long and safe life."

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More than 600 years later.

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Every summer, Du Shaoyan would go back to his grandmother's house to spend the summer. His grandmother's house was in the countryside. It was an old-fashioned Chinese-style house. The area was more than ten times larger than the house in the city. There was a large pond in the yard, half of which bloomed with lotus in summer. 12 years old Du Shaoyan likes to break off the lotus in full bloom and throw it on the water. Grandma is too old to see the flowers. When she sees the lotus floating on the water, she always thinks that it grows there. Young master, Du Shaoyan can do whatever he wants here, he doesn't have to listen to his father's lessons, he doesn't have to quarrel with his brother, he doesn't have to listen to the tutor's endless nagging, although there are no modern facilities such as TV, computer and game consoles, the life of the Du family boy is not boring at all .

The lotus was almost finished by him, so he came up with the idea of ​​small lotus pods again. He sat on a small board boat to catch the small and tender lotus pods, peeled them and threw them into the water to feed the red carp. The small boat swayed from side to side.

Xiaoxia, who was punting the boat, was so frightened that she held onto the side of the boat tightly: "Young Master, don't move! It will capsize!"

Xiao Xia is two years younger than Du Shaoyan, and he is the only boy in this house who is about the same age as Young Master Du, but Xiao Xia is much shorter than Young Master Du, thin and thin like a little girl. to go together.

Du Shaoyan deliberately shook the boat even more, and Xiao Xia screamed in fright. Du Shaoyan was very satisfied with the effect, and jumped into the pond when he was happy.

Xiao Xia yelled on the boat: "Master! Master!!"

Du Shaoyan purposely didn't show his head, he saw Xiao Xia on the boat through the water and was about to cry.

"I can swim." Du Shaoyan emerged from the water: "I swim in the swimming pool at home for two hours every day."

Xiao Xia's face turned pale with fright: "I'm about to jump off..."

Speaking of looking like he was about to cry, Du Shaoyan laughed at him: "It's really worthless, even if you jump off, can you save me?"

"But... mother-in-law will be in a hurry if something happens to you..."

"Grandmother is being used to oppress me again."

Du Shaoyan swam in the water for a while, and climbed back to the shore. The servants brought watermelon and soda, and he leaned under the willow tree on the bank to suck on the soda straw. Xiaoxia sat beside him, leaning on the other side of the willow.

It's so happy, it's much more fun than at home... Du Shaoyan fully enjoys the leisure and contentment of summer vacation in the countryside.

The sun in the west is gradually setting, and the heat of the scorching heat is gradually dissipating.

Du Shaoyan suddenly heard a noise of beating gongs and drums, which is very rare in the quiet countryside, he immediately stood up: "What is this?"

"It's an acrobatic troupe." Xiao Xia also stood up: "Sometimes there is an acrobatic troupe to perform."

Du Shaoyan looked at him: "Is it fun?"

"It's quite fun," Xiao Xia rubbed her head, "But the young master is used to seeing fun things in the city, so he probably won't think it's fun."

Du Shaoyan issued an order: "I haven't seen this kind of country acrobatic troupe yet. I'm going!"

"Ah?" Xiao Xia didn't dare to refuse: "It's fine to go, why don't you talk to your mother-in-law first..."

Before he finished speaking, Du Shaoyan had already run out to the sound of gongs and drums, Xiao Xia had to follow him, the two ran out from the side door of the yard, the acrobatic troupe's car had already driven away, only the sound of music could be heard from a distance.

The undeveloped land in the countryside is overgrown with wild grass. Du Shaoyan put his hands on his eyes and looked around, complaining to Xiaoxia: "Where did they go? It's you, running so slowly."

Xiao Xia flattered him and said: "I know where to perform, I will take the young master there."

Du Shaoyan glared at him: "Say it sooner."

After bypassing the barren grassland, there is a large rice field. In summer, the rice is still green in color. When the evening wind blows the rice, the rice falls and stands up again. The green waves bring a faint fragrance of rice. At this time, the fragrance of rice is more like the fragrance of green grass. , It smells refreshing and refreshing.

It was getting dark slowly, and there were children running on the road, all in the direction of the acrobatic troupe.

Xiao Xia was weak and gasped from exhaustion after running a few steps. Du Shaoyan opened his mouth to scold him, but seeing his pale face, he couldn't scold him, so he had to run a few steps to rest. crawling.

As a result, it was already dark when the two arrived, and the performance had already started.

The acrobatic troupe set up a stage in the open space at the entrance of the village, surrounded by people on three floors and three floors outside. Behind the densely packed heads, a man was vaguely seen in the middle of the field, talking and joking with a small gong.

Being late is better than not seeing at all, Du Shaoyan comforted himself, stretched his head to look, he was only 12 years old but he was already very tall, he could barely see, Xiao Xia couldn't see at all, hurry up He asked anxiously, "What are you playing?"

Du Shaoyan took Xiao Xia's hand and squeezed forward, and finally found a place where he could see it.

The man in the middle of the field should be the leader of the acrobatic troupe. He is about 30 years old, wearing a funny flip-flop hat and clothes similar to a clown.

"There's also stepping on the steel wire." Du Shaoyan didn't see anyone stepping on the steel wire with his own eyes, and he complained to Xiao Xia: "It's all you, I didn't even see it."

Xiao Xia lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry, young master."

"Forget it, forget it," Du Shaoyan didn't bother to argue with him, and continued to watch.

The class leader knocked on the small gong: "Don't be sorry for those who didn't see it just now, the next one will be more exciting, please watch the flying knife show."

As he spoke, a large wooden disc was pushed aside, and a man walked to the side of the disc and leaned on it.

The diameter of the disk is more than two meters. The man is not tall, very thin, looks a little sluggish, and his face is not very good. His eyes are lowered and he only looks at the ground. Two handles, hold the disc with your body.

Du Shaoyan has seen acrobatic throwing knife performances on TV. Could it be that this country acrobatic troupe also has this kind of ability?He looks serious.

After a while, a girl in her early twenties came out from the simple backstage, wearing a tube top and a long red dress. She pushed a movable trolley to the side of the stage, and saw that the man on the disc pushed the trolley farther until The crowd didn't stop until the crowd was approaching. At this time, she and the man were already close to 15 meters away.

The girl picked up the flying knife on the trolley with her hand, which reflected the light of the lights on the stage brightly. She held the corner of her skirt and spun around, shaking the flying knife in her hand, which meant that everyone saw that it was a real knife.

This girl is here to dance, it's not the girl who threw the throwing knife, she doesn't at all... Just as Du Shaoyan was thinking about this, he saw a silver light, and the throwing knife had already been thrown from the girl's hand.

At the same time, there was only a bang, the sound of a flying knife being nailed into the wood. Du Shaoyan looked intently, and saw that a flying knife had already been inserted into the hand of the man who was being targeted.

The man still lowered his head, as if it had nothing to do with him.

The class leader said from the side: "This is the flying knife show. Everyone says it's wonderful or not, and if it's not wonderful, there are more exciting ones! Xiaohong blindfolded her eyes."

The girl named Xiaohong nodded, took out a red silk scarf from the trolley, and tied it up as if dancing. Then she touched the table with her hand and found a flying knife in her hand.

Du Shaoyan sweated for her, although she just shot on the disk, but now she is blindfolded, he looked at the man on the disk again, the lights of the acrobatic troupe shone on his thin face, his face turned yellow, as if is malnourished.

It's so pitiful, Du Shaoyan thought sympathetically, it's forced by life to do such a dangerous job in poor health.

Xiao Hong compares the flying knife to her eyes. In fact, she can't see anything now. She suddenly raised her hand and shot the flying knife.

The speed of the flying knife was too fast, and people had no time to see its flight path clearly, but to be sure, there was no sound of metal being nailed into the wood after a moment.

Du Shaoyan looked intently, and couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, only to see that the throwing knife was stuck in the man's waist, half of the blade was penetrated.

"It's so stupid..." Du Shaoyan muttered to himself: "It's not a stupid question," he reacted: "Someone was injured!"

The crowd started to commotion, Du Shaoyan squeezed over: "Someone is injured! Hurry to the hospital!"

The class leader immediately stopped him: "Everyone, don't panic, don't panic, this is a program specially arranged by us, and it is also a preview of the next program..."

Du Shaoyan grabbed his arm: "Get out of the way! Don't lie! He's injured!"

The head teacher was still grinning, and pointed behind his back: "It's all right, it's all right, if you don't believe me, please watch."

Du Shaoyan followed his gestures and looked over. The injured man still looked a little tired. He slowly stretched out his right hand to grab the handle of the knife, and inserted the throwing knife carefully. The strange thing was that there was no blood overflowing as imagined. There wasn't much blood from the cut on the clothes.

"Impossible." Du Shaoyan shook his head, he suddenly bent down and slipped under the leader's arm, ran to the man in a few steps, and grabbed the man's wrist.

He carefully looked at the flying knife in the man's hand. There was a little bit of blood on the blade of more than three inches, but only a little. for a moment.He stretched out his fingers to pinch the blade. The blade was cold. It was indeed made of steel, not a prop. He pulled the blade again, but it didn't move.

Du Shaoyan never believed that someone could be stabbed by a knife without responding. He looked up at the man, who was also looking at him, and their eyes collided.

The man explained in a low voice: "This is a performance."

When did he exchange the prop knife for a real knife?Du Shaoyan has always been very confident in his eyesight, he doesn't think this man can move fast enough to hide from everyone's eyes.

"Little brother, give us a bowl of rice." The man whispered again.

His appearance was very sincere, as if he was begging, but it made people feel very polite, neither humble nor overbearing.

Du Shaoyan let go of his hand. Although he is only 12 years old, he also understands some principles of life. Now that he has guessed the tricks of acrobatics, he must forgive others.Moreover, this man was able to hide the fact that the prop knife was replaced by a real knife so quickly, which is somewhat skillful.

Du Shaoyan retreated to the crowd, and the man nodded gratefully to him.

In fact, this man looks very plain, belonging to the unremarkable type, he looks only 30 years old, and there are no wrinkles on his face, but I don't know why Du Shaoyan thinks he is very old.

The class leader cleared his throat: "This is our next show. Everyone has seen it just now. It doesn't matter why the knife stabbed our performer?" He dragged his voice and looked around the crowd, waiting for someone to cooperate with him to answer.

Sure enough, someone shouted: "Fake!"

"Eh? That's not right," the class leader walked up to the man, "Because he knows qigong, even though he is so thin, he is a practitioner. He practiced martial arts at the age of eight, and he has trained like the legendary iron cloth shirt!" said Clapping and clapping hands: "Maimai, bring the next prop up."

"Come on!" A young man pushed a flatbed cart to the stage. There was a large bluestone and a hammer on the flatbed cart.

Little Shala pulled Du Shaoyan's hand: "I know, he's going to act as a boulder-breaking chest."

Du Shaoyan didn't say a word, he didn't believe that the sluggish-looking man could do qigong. People who practice martial arts at least have bright eyes, how could they look dull and lifeless? That bluestone and hammer must be It is also a special prop.

The class leader pushed the man's shoulder, and the man obediently walked over, lying on the flatbed cart, and he lifted up his shirt.

Du Shaoyan clearly saw that the man's thin body was smooth, without the stab wound just now.

Sure enough, it was a prop knife just now, Du Shaoyan heaved a sigh of relief, only to hear someone beside him say: "It's really not hurt, it's really a kung fu master!"

So the country people are simple and easy to deceive, Du Shaoyan turned to look at Xiao Xia: "Let's go, go home for dinner."

Xiao Xia still wants to see: "There is a big boulder in the chest!"

"Anyway, it must be fake!" Du Shaoyan turned and left.

Xiao Xia had no choice but to follow him. As soon as the two of them walked out of the crowd, they heard the sound of a heavy stone cracking behind them, which was clearly heard.

"It sounds real." Du Shaoyan said as he walked.

Xiao Xia turned her head to think about it: "Of course it's true, he knows qigong..."

"How is it possible." Du Shaoyan said disdainfully, "Look at that man, does he seem to know qigong?"

"You can't judge people by their appearance."

Du Shaoyan didn't bother to explain to him: "You foolishly like to watch or not, I'm leaving, I don't care if grandma scolds you when I get home late."

Xiao Xia quickly ran a few steps to follow him: "No, mother-in-law, don't scold me, I won't watch it." She completely forgot that she was dragged by Young Master Du to watch the acrobatics.

The two children were walking by the wheat field, the moon was rising, half of the moon was hanging in the dark blue night sky, and the road to the wheat field could be clearly seen.

Du Shaoyan casually pulled up the long straw on the side of the road, and shook it back and forth in his hands: "Do you think that man is very old?"

"Which man?"

"The one who was stabbed by the flying knife."

"Oh," Xiao Xia thought about it, "I didn't pay attention."

"Hey, why didn't you pay attention?" Du Shaoyan was a little disappointed that he didn't have to discuss it: "You didn't even watch the big movement of being stabbed by a knife?"

"I started to look at that sister, and then you ran over...to see you..."

Du Shaoyan was thoughtful: "Everyone is like this so no one noticed when that person changed his knife."

Xiao Xia said, "Change the knife? Isn't it Qigong?"

"It is impossible to have qigong that is invulnerable to swords and guns. If you are making a movie, you must take the opportunity to change to a switchblade. You only believe in everything and think it is qigong." Du Shaoyan seemed to have forgotten that he just wanted to see the performance. Throwing away the straw: Said in a tone full of contempt, "What kind of country acrobatic troupe, it's really boring."