red cliff top

Before I worked for my boss, I was a cowherd boy in Wangjia Village at the foot of the mountain without a father or a mother. Because my brain was not very bright, the villagers called me a "second pole".My daily job is to drive two or three old scalpers with sparse coats to climb up the hillside. The cattle eat grass, and I look at the sky, play the bamboo flute and hum a little tune, from morning to dusk, day by day That's it.

Speaking of the master of the host family, no one knows his name, where he came from, and when he came to a sunny house in the middle of the bamboo forest.I just remember that it was the spring of the first year of Taihe, when the new emperor was enthroned, and the mansion was completed, and the master held a few tables of banquets to thank the masons who hired him to work. I and some children in the village also ran away. Join in the fun, and ask for some cheap drinks to play the tooth festival.

Good guy, the master's house is really magnificent, with tall doors, big windows and towering old trees, the courtyard is paved with green bricks, carved with various flowers and birds, and the tiles on the walls are shining golden, all curled up Even the stables at the back of the yard are spacious enough to run a large carriage!

Just as I was drooling over my snacks, I was suddenly patted lightly on the shoulder, and when I looked back, it was the master of the host family.The master of the owner smiled and asked me: "Little brother, I'm new here, and I just need a good way to raise horses. Food and housing are included, and there is a monthly salary of two cents. Are you willing to take this job?"

I was flattered and stunned for a while, and then looked at his stable: "But my lord, you don't have any horses at home?"

The master shook his head nonchalantly: "Don't worry, there will always be one in the future."

I looked at the sick and listless old scalpers tied to the hillside again: "To tell you the truth, master, I don't really have any skills in tending animals..."

The old man shook his head nonchalantly again: "How well the cows and horses are raised is second to none. My master, I like your bamboo flute and melodious singing, which makes people happy."

That's it, I stayed and became a stable boy in the host's yard without a horse.

The owner’s family is full of weirdos, let’s just say the owner, he manages such a large family business, but he seems to have nothing to worry about all day long, he doesn’t care about his daily income or expenses, the outside world is in chaos. No question about the change of dynasty, when a flood on Xiashan Mountain washed away a corner of the courtyard wall, he just smiled and waved his hands, "Small things, small things". "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter", and when he heard that a young man came down from the mountain and ransacked several rich households, causing panic in ten villages and eight shops, he just smiled and waved his hands "No fear, no fear", if it weren't for seeing that he would still eat, drink, sleep and be respectful, It's really a fairy.

To say that the master's greatest pastime is the young master, the master's eyes seem to have hooks, hanging on the young master from morning to night, watching the young master eat, watch the young master take a walk, watch the young master practice sword, watch the young master be silly, Seeing the young master squatting by the stove and grabbing crispy candy from me, watching the young master lying on the roof with a wine jar and dozing, even sleeping in the same room to watch the young master.If I were stared at like this, I would definitely be unable to eat and sleep soundly, but the young master can always sleep until dawn, and even eat two more bowls of rice than me every day.

The young master of the host family was seriously injured, so his brain is not as good as mine, and he can't remember things, and he can't remember my name. Today he calls me Hulu, tomorrow he calls me Liuli, and later he calls me Niuhuang , I don't know which way the monsters and ghosts are.After a long time, I got used to it, and I happily agreed to whatever his name was.

The young master called me mostly because he had something to ask. For example, when he woke up, he would ask me in a daze if today is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.He replied that it was because yesterday was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.I asked him why yesterday was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month?He said that he remembered it very clearly. Yesterday was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. He was watching lanterns in the city. There were people coming and going by the stone arch bridge, but he accidentally got lost. He said he still had something very important to say to someone. , but forgot.He asked me what to say, where would I know?So when he was free, the young master climbed up to the roof with the wine jar in his arms, thinking about it while drinking, and I also helped him drink and think for him. , I can’t remember anything.

The master and the young master of this family are all hands-off shopkeepers, and the big and small affairs are all handled by the white-faced butler. The white-faced butler has two goatee beards. I always have to shake it a few times, and then read two lines of sour poems, but I can't understand them.

Contrary to the white-faced butler, the black-faced nurse of the host always hides quietly in the corner, his hair hangs down to cover most of his face, he walks quietly and elusively, and he has not seen him clearly in the years of eating and living together What does it look like.Everyone in the family is afraid of him, but the white-faced butler is not afraid of him, not only is he not afraid, but he likes to talk to him the most.

In fact, the black-faced nurse is a mute and can't speak. The white-faced butler will say something for himself, and then say something for the other party, regardless of whether the other party responds, agrees with it or not, anyway, it's just me. Yes, we had a lively chat.

In addition to the white-faced butler and the black-faced nursing home, the host's mansion also raised a blue-faced doctor. The blue-faced doctor was thin and skinny, and he looked like a consumptive ghost.Seeing that he has prepared prescriptions, boiled medicine, acupuncture and massage for many years, but the young master's mind is still confused, and he still can't remember things that he can't remember, and his knees still can't stand the slightest cold. The only thing that benefits him under his treatment is probably his appetite up.

Regardless of the medical skills of the blue-faced doctor, he is really good at making crispy candy.Slowly boil the caramel, mix it with milk, mix it with sesame, walnut, peanut, almond and various dried fruits, then cool it and cut it into strips half an inch wide and long. It smells fragrant and is crispy to the bite. The young master and I squatted by the stove and ate. We took out a pot and ate a pot. We could eat for half a day at a time. In the end, our mouths and hands were sticky and sweet. It was really pleasant.

The master of the host family has no relatives, and he doesn't see any friends coming to visit. It's just that during the festivals, there will always be a handsome young man in red clothes who will come to live for three or five days with big bags and small bags of gifts.Every time that handsome young man appeared, he rode a tall horse, and all the attendants behind him had red lips, white eyebrows, and clear eyes, and their smiles were as crisp and transparent as silver bells.

When the handsome son saw me for the first time, he hooked my chin with a riding whip and looked at me for a long time, and finally said with a smile: "What a stupid goose, just like a golden gourd."

I think this handsome young man is probably the same as the young master of the host family. He has suffered a brain injury, so he didn't care too much about her. No matter what gold gourds, silver gourds, copper gourds, and iron gourds, the most important thing is, the more he looks at this young man, the better he looks...

The gifts that the handsome young master sent were also various, sometimes fresh melons and fruits, some rare treasures, some expensive animal skins, and the most outrageous time, he even sent a human head.The head was so ferocious that I lost interest in snatching crispy candies with the young master. As a result, the young master accidentally ate too much and had a stomachache for two days. After the master knew about it, he asked the black-faced guard to throw the head into the opposite side In the wild boar nest on the top of the mountain.

Later, when I went down the mountain to buy wine for the young master, I heard some people say that Xu, the ancestor of the famous Gu family in the capital, committed so many crimes that the two most promising brothers in this generation died with their heads separated. The older one was at home. After sleeping well, a rebel surnamed Shen broke into the house, cut off his head and hung it on the cross street to show the public. The younger one was ordered to go to Jindi to patrol the border. As soon as the big team arrived, the back foot was looted by the boy Jiang Yang from the sky. , even the head surnamed Gu was looted, and the whereabouts of the corpse are unknown.That group of robbers come and go like the wind, and their whereabouts are uncertain. Because they rob the rich and help the poor, they only kill corrupt officials. They are famous in the Jinyuan area. The title of Golden Lady.

There is one head on the left and the other on the right, which made people feel chills. At night, I quietly asked the young master if he knew who the golden lady was. The young master said that the golden lady was the wife of a person named Jin.I asked him who is the person surnamed Jin?He didn't answer me, but took out a crumpled piece of paper with two lines of small characters written on it from his pocket, climbed up to the roof alone with the wine jar in his arms, and rubbed it there for a long time.

In the winter of the third year of Taihe, Tatar Khan Haliba was assassinated and died. His elder brother Buxian took the opportunity to seize the Khan throne. Haliba's youngest son Hu Helu refused to accept it, and led a group of big nobles to fight with his uncle.Taking advantage of the Tatar civil strife, the imperial court quickly sent troops to the Northern Expedition, driving the Tatar forces to Qingyang Mansion in one fell swoop.Da Zhou had been riding on the head of the Tatars for many years, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The villagers at the foot of the mountain were beating gongs and drums to celebrate the death of a Tartar dog. When I asked the master if he wanted to buy wine for the young master, he also bought some firecrackers for the occasion. The master waved his hand and said no, just buy some incense candles and come back.I asked the master what use he wanted to use, and the master said that the old man had a new funeral and wanted to pay a memorial service to express his heart.

I have been working for my boss all these years, but I have never heard the old man mention the past, so I can't help being curious: "Is that man a friend of the old man? Could it be that he is also a handsome young man?"

"It's not a friend, it's an enemy, and there's nothing handsome about it." The old man shook his head, "When life and death were at stake, I once let him live and didn't do it for him. When I was in a desperate situation, he also saved me once My life is not for me. I thought that if we had the chance to meet again in the future, we would decide to fight to the death, but now there is no chance."

I really can't understand the master's words going around, but it's okay, after the person is dead, there is no need to decide whether to live or die.

Occasionally the master gets tired of watching the young master, and he will find other fun, like drawing a portrait of the young master that is uglier than me when the blue-faced doctor is giving the young master a needle to make a hedgehog unable to move around, or like competing with the young master When eating noodles, he secretly poured the noodles into the young master's pot, causing the young master to eat more and more noodles. In short, there are endless tricks to play tricks on the young master.

The young master's knees became sore and swollen as soon as autumn came. The blue-faced doctor suggested that he should bathe in hot water to drive away the cold air. After hearing this, the master took the young master to a hot spring pool in the back valley, saying that a rich man in the city paid for it. It was newly built, but because of the long distance, the owner's family didn't come often, so they could enjoy it secretly.The young master has a solid eye, he is unwilling to take advantage of others for nothing, and he is afraid that it will be difficult to explain the sudden appearance of the master, so taking advantage of his awkwardness, the master directly pulls him off.The young master was afraid of the water, so he huddled by the pool and grabbed the master's lapel, trembling and not daring to move. The master's treacherous scheme succeeded, and his mouth was tilted to one side in joy.

Seeing the young master's anxious, annoyed and helpless appearance, I really wanted to tell him that the hot spring was actually repaired by the master. In order to find out where the spring is, he really spent a lot of money and invited many experts.

It didn't take long for the master to come up with a new trick, telling the young master that the family's savings were almost exhausted, and he and the white-faced butler planned to sell some calligraphy and paintings of famous masters in the city, and use the money they got to subsidize the family.The young master also wanted to contribute, but it was a pity that he was illiterate, but fortunately he had a good arrow technique, so the young master started to go out early and return to the mountains every night to hunt, and said that if he got a fur, he would give it to me to exchange for silver in the market. The meat that was ordered was handed over to the cook to cook for everyone to have a hearty meal.

Seeing the pitiful appearance of the young master working so hard for his livelihood, I really want to tell him that the master's cellar is actually full of gold and silver treasures in large and small boxes, from the floor to the ceiling. According to the white-faced housekeeper, just The cup that the master usually uses to drink tea is enough for ordinary people to eat for several years.

Of course, no matter how stupid the young master is, occasionally when he is clever and witty, the young master will get angry when he finds out that he has been cheated. Usually go farther.Anyway, the young master's brain is not working well, and when he wakes up, he won't remember anything.He told the young master that the biggest trouble in life was what he forgot to say after he got lost on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Before thinking of this, the young master had no time to think about other things.What are you in a hurry for?Anyway, there is plenty of time, if you can’t think of it, just think about it slowly.

Later, the master finally found a pony that the young master liked from the market. I thought I finally had an errand to do, but the master and the young master rushed to lead my little pony to graze on the top of the cliff, which made me Can't even touch the reins.I thought, I'm a little stable boy, it's not easy to compete with my master, so I had to hold the wine jar in my left hand, and the sugar bag in my right hand, drink a sip of rice wine and eat a piece of crispy candy, and follow from a distance to see how the master teases the young master , How long will it take for the young master to realize that he has been teased.

When I climbed to the top of the cliff, my stomach was full, so I went to the ground comfortably, the horse ate grass, I looked at the sky, played the bamboo flute and hummed a little tune, from morning to dusk, day by day up.

On this day, even a god will not change it.