On how to turn a kind protagonist into a black lotus

"I started looking for work when I was very young, but the old man always wanted to make trouble and drag me back. Later, when I grew up and became smarter, I secretly found work without telling him. Once I helped wash the dishes in the inn, and I don’t know how he found out, so he smashed all the dishes I washed when he came. In this way, I offended many places, and no one dared to recruit me.”

Shan Shi looked at the person in front of him, and then at the distant horizon, with an inexplicable light in his eyes, "Now you know, are you satisfied? I will go back first when I am satisfied."

"I'll go back with you." Chu Wen got up and followed.

Shan Shi didn't speak, just walked straight forward.

When they arrived at the ruined temple, both of them noticed something was wrong, it was too quiet, and usually they would hear the old man coughing, but today there was nothing.

Shan Shi ran into the house in a few steps, then frowned.Chu Wen also followed in, seeing him like this, "What's wrong?"

He followed Shan Shi's gaze, and saw that the place where the old man was sitting was now empty—Grandpa Shan Shi was gone!

"Don't panic." Seeing that he was about to run out, Chu Wen stretched out his hand to hold his arm, "There is no sign of struggle or fighting here. Your grandfather should have left by himself."

"He's so sick that he has to cough for a long time before he can recover..." Shan Shi looked at Chu Wen in a daze, "Where can he go?"

"He is not in good health, so he shouldn't be able to go far." Chu Wen calmly analyzed, "Think about where he usually likes to go, maybe he wants to see again? Let's go to those places first."

"He loves to go... loves to go..." Shanshi forced himself to calm down, as if he suddenly remembered, "He loves to go and listen to books."

Although he was far away from the old man every time, he saw the serious expression of the old man.

The old man's favorite thing to listen to was the part where the Sword Spirit Sect defeated Qiu'an Palace, and he stopped listening to it after that.

Once Shan Shi sneaked in to listen to a game, but it wasn't that the Sword Spirit Sect defeated Qiu'an Palace, but that Qiu'an Palace counterattacked the Sword Spirit Sect, and the Sword Spirit Sect was wiped out.

The two ran towards the storyteller.

The storytelling teahouse was still very lively, with applause and applause one after another.The waiter saw the rocks coming and was about to drive them away, but seeing Chu Wen behind him in rich clothes, he immediately changed his smile, "I don't know if the young master is here to drink tea or buy cakes?"

"Come to find someone." Chu Wen handed an ingot of broken silver to Xiaoer, "Have you ever seen this boy's grandfather come today?"

"I have all the impressions of the guests who came today, but this little beggar... I haven't seen the little boy's grandfather." Xiao Er smiled and collected the money, and thought about it again, "But he came here yesterday."

"What did you come to hear?" Chu Wen asked.

"He used to come to hear the scene where the Sword Spirit Sect defeated Qiu'an Palace, but for some reason yesterday, he came to listen to the scene where Qiu'an Palace defeated the Sword Spirit Sect." Xiaoer said, "After listening, I didn't say anything." Leaving on crutches without saying a word."

"Thank you brother for letting me know." Chu Wen took Shanshi out of the tea house, "Is there any place your grandfather likes to go?"

"No more." Shan Shi shook his head, "In the past, he only came here to talk about books, except for begging and returning to the ruined temple, there is nothing else.

"Then let's go back and have a look." The two searched along the road to the ruined temple again, and they searched like this for a day.

It was dark and night fell.

"Let's rest for a while!" Seeing that he had been worried for a day, Chu Wen advised him gently, "Save your energy and keep your spirits up. We'll look for it tomorrow. It's okay."

"Yeah." Shan Shi leaned against the straw pile, with his head down, quietly, as if he had fallen asleep.

Chu Wen was adding firewood to keep the fire from going out.

A tiny thank you came to his ears along the wind, Chu Wen smiled softly, and continued to guard the fire.

Early the next morning, Shan Shi opened his eyes, and after a moment of haziness, he felt that his right shoulder was a little heavy. When he saw it, it turned out that Chu Wen had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.

Chu Wen's sleep has always been shallow, and when Shan Shi woke up, he opened his eyes, "It's dawn... let's go, find someone."

The two simply cleaned up and went out. Just as they were walking on the mountain road, they saw a man in coarse cloth running towards them.

Seeing the two of them, he stopped immediately, "You..." He looked at Shan Shi, "Are you Shan Shi?"

"I am." Shan Shi nodded.

"I've inquired all the way, and finally I know you. Follow me quickly! Your grandfather has gone, but the coffin is still there." The man breathed a sigh of relief and said hastily.

"What? My grandpa... has gone? He was fine yesterday..." Shan Shi didn't recover for a moment, and stared at the man blankly.

"Oh!" the man sighed.

"I drove past here yesterday, and your grandpa wanted to ride in my donkey cart. I gave him the money and I drove him away. Later, I sent him to the foot of the back mountain, and he gave me money again. Please, if I come to see you tomorrow morning When I found his body, I followed this road to find a beggar boy in his teens, named Shanshi. I drove by there this morning, and I saw a coffin. I opened it and it was really your grandpa, who had passed away. gone."

Shan Shi was stunned for a moment, then ran towards the back mountain.

Chu Wen gave the man a piece of silver, thanked him, and left.

Weeds are overgrown at the foot of the back mountain, and there is only one road.The two walked along, and indeed saw a thin coffin on the side of the road, a few boards were bound together, it was very simple.

"Grandpa..." Shan Shi walked over and opened the lid of the coffin. The old man seemed to have expected that his time had come, and he closed his eyes with a peaceful expression.

Chu Wen looked at the person who was still talking to him yesterday, and today he became a lifeless body. It was a lie to say that he was not uncomfortable, but he still persuaded, "Grandpa has already left, we will let him go to the ground." Be safe."

Shan Shi didn't speak, and Chu Wen also helped him bury him silently.

The two of them didn't order stone tablets in advance, and now there are no good planks in the barren mountains and mountains, so they can only put a piece of wood on the ground first.

"Shanshi, I'm sorry for the change." Chu Wen saw the young man kneeling straight on the ground, without saying a word, he could only comfort him.

"He thought he did a good job," Shanshi looked at the tomb in front of him, and suddenly said, "He thought I was stupid. He said that every time he ate outside and then came back, he thought that every time he used The mud covered the scars on his face, he thought he was hiding it well, but I saw it, I saw it..."

Every time he carefully left the best food and brought it back to the ruined temple, he only drank some water at will, or ate the dusty food, but he lied to him that he was already full.

Every time he begged for food, he was chased and beaten by other beggars, his body was covered with wounds, and sometimes the scars remained on his face, so he used wet mud mixed with water to cover his face, but he lied to himself that he had won those beggars.

After kneeling every time, he was carefully treated while he was asleep, but every time he was threatened, "I won't cure you if you kneel again next time, and I will let your legs be crippled."

But who knows how long he begged for the money for the medicine and how many beatings he received?

Shanshi didn't shed a single tear, just quietly looking at the standing piece of wood.

Someone came from behind, Chu Wen looked back, it was that man.

"Brother, what's the matter?" Chu Wen stood up and asked.

"You guys are running too fast, I haven't given you anything yet!" The man took a few breaths, and then handed a small square box in his arms to Chu Wen, "This is what the old man gave me yesterday." , Said to let me hand it over to Shanshi."

"Thank you, brother." Chu Wen quickly thanked.

"It's okay, it's just a matter of raising your hands." The man waved his hand indifferently, and drove the donkey cart away.

"This is from your grandfather, keep it." Chu Wen handed the wooden box to Shan Shi.

This wooden box is a bit strange, although it looks square, but there is no place to open it.The body of the box is plated, smooth and hard.And this wooden box is made of a very rare black sandalwood.

Strange, the old man is a beggar, how could there be such a thing?

"This box..." Shanshi came back to his senses, and took the wooden box. He had never seen this box before, but the old man took him to open a box with this structure.

Follow the movement of the old man in the memory, follow the rotation and stitch together.In a daze, it seemed that he had returned to his childhood. The old man was still young at that time, and he was also very good-looking. He taught him how to open such a wooden box by hand.

With a "click", one side of the originally boxy wooden box was loosened. When I opened it, there was a blood-colored cloud pattern jade pendant inside.

"It seems to have words." Chu Wen took a closer look, "Luo Pingchuan."

Luo Pingchuan... Chu Wen suddenly remembered, wasn't he the head of the Sword Spirit Sect who had long since been exterminated?

He glanced at the rocks next to him, and finally closed his mouth, forget it, let's not talk about it.

It's just that how could the old man have Luo Pingchuan's jade pendant, and the wooden box was exquisitely crafted and used countless mechanism techniques, so it was not something that ordinary people could have.

"Where do you want to go in the future?" Chu Wen asked Xiang Shanshi, "What are your plans?"

"I'm alone now, so what's the difference where I go?" Shan Shi held the jade pendant with calm eyes.

"Who said, your talent is too inferior to be a dishwasher in an inn." Chu Wen said with a slight smile.

"What do you mean?" Shan Shi looked at him.

"You have such a talent, why not just follow me!" Chu Wen said.

"Follow you." Shan Shi looked at him quietly, staring at him until Chu Wen felt a little hairy, and then said, "Okay."

"From then on, I will be your elder brother, and you will be my younger brother! Don't worry, I will definitely take you to eat and drink." Chu Wen hooked Shan Shi's neck, and smiled secretly in his heart, this kid was shorter than him.But he forgot that he was more than ten years old when he was less than ten years old.

Shan Shi didn't speak, just took his arm off his neck and walked straight ahead.

"Hey, I'm your boss now! How can you do this?" Chu Wen hurriedly chased after him. At the corner of the road, he couldn't help but look back at the short grave.

"This is the key to take out that book, and please keep your promise."

"Don't worry, I will definitely raise the mountain stone."