Chapter 25 0025

Grandpa Dai, the Taibao of Shenquan, is nearly eighty years old. His left half of his body seems to be suffering from wind paralysis, and his movements are numb and difficult; There were a few patches on his face, a waistband made of a broken scarf was stretched across his waist, and a black tobacco rod was fastened; his face was so thin that it was almost out of shape, with sunken eyes and nose and two His cheeks were sunken into black holes, and his burned goatee was curled at the roots, showing a more miserable old condition. Except for the eyes hidden in the folds of saggy flesh, he still retained the shrewd brilliance of a martial artist In addition, his legendary early deeds seem to have been buried by the ruthless years.

Holding the wine cup tremblingly, he slowly led the three apprentices over, and announced his name in a hoarse voice. Guan Baye immediately pushed the back of his chair and stepped over as if struck by lightning, ready to go. He landed on one knee and gave a big gift, but was stopped by Mr. Dai's right elbow. "Baye," he said in a low voice, "I can't move, Baye, the former Shenquan Taibao has died in my heart! Now I am just a miserable old man, relying on a few apprentices to make money to support me.  … Zhang Erhua Xie worked as a foreman in the rope mat factory. Tang Liuzao relied on his strength to push the train on the Baxi Railway. The concierge. Because I had friendship with the older generation on the dam in the early years, I was only allowed to step in on such occasions."

What the old man said was true, and his apprentices were all middle-aged in their forties or fifties. There were many scattered reed flowers and grass thorns nailed to the shoulders and sleeves of Zhang Erhua's shoes. Salted, Fang Sheng was dressed a bit more decently, but compared with the gorgeously dressed salt merchants, he was pathetic enough. "Baye, please drink this glass of wine. Let's talk about it later." After Mr. Dai finished speaking, he took his leave, and let the rest of the toasting guests crowded over noisily, talking gossip around Guan Baye.Guan Baye also knew that this was not the place to talk, but his heart was always in suspense and he couldn't settle down. ... Before the old Liuhe gang was wiped out, on the lonely long distance, the leader of Shuangqiang Luo often told some legends in the martial arts. They leaned against the corner of the earthen wall, hugging a quilt together. Boss Luo once told the story of Mr. Dai under the faint oil lamp in the wall hole.

The story is vivid, but it always has a bit of absurdity. I doubted it more than once. Are there really martial arts like Nie Yin and Hongxian in the world?Boss Luo once sighed: "There are martial arts, Dongshan. But now no matter how good martial arts are, they can't get away with a single shot; now that there are strong beams everywhere, martial arts are also forced to go! - neither want to follow others, Going to the commander-in-chief's mansion to find a personal bodyguard, and not wanting to rely on martial arts to block the way and rob, life is hard."...Unless those rumors are false, otherwise, Boss Luo is right! ——With the heart and skills of Mr. Dai as a master and apprentice, now he is living on the dam, living such a difficult life? !There is a doubt waiting to be solved!Why do these officials and businessmen in the salt market praise themselves so much, but ignore senior figures like Mr. Dai, and only arrange them in the corner seats by the hall?

After drinking for three rounds, under the urging of all the guests, Hua Yubao, a red girl in Sanhetang, took the huqin from the attendant, untied the red velvet from the sleeve, and with the bright qin in her hand, bowed to Baye Guan; Someone sent me a song book, and asked Guan Baye to sing.Guan Baye is playing with the wine cup, and he is concentrating on thinking about the legendary stories left by Master Dai and his apprentices in the Jianghu. How can he have the heart to appreciate the string songs of prostitutes?Open the song book casually, what's on it, "Firework Girl Sighs Ten Sounds", "December Playing Plum Blossoms", "Five Watches"... and other vulgar songs, among which there is a more unique song , called "Kangfengsha", which aroused his interest, so he said to Hua Yubao, "I'll bother you to sing this song 'Kangfengsha'!"

"Thank you, Ba Ye," Hua Yubao said, "Huqin can't play this song. Change to the three-stringed zither, and let me sing this passage well to serve you." The servants were busy changing the three strings for Hua Yubao, so Guan Baye took the opportunity to say to Wang Shaodong, "Young Master Wang, how long has that Old Master Dai been here?" "You mean that weird old man Dai Wangguan?" Wang Shaodong was stunned and said, "He led his disciples to Yanshi five years ago. I heard that he was quite famous in the early days on the North Road, and he was full of people. Refreshing, but now that people are old and sick, the old conditions are miserable enough."

"Officer Dai Wang has no real name," said the chief auditor, "Renquan said that he practiced martial arts all his life, and that several of his apprentices were all skilled, and that was all a lie; -- some time ago, Mr. Ma didn't know who told him how their masters and apprentices were. How? I plan to recruit Zhang Erhua Xie and Tang Liu to serve as followers, and ask my brothers to test them, but who knows that the private has a martial arts coach, and they are frightened. No one dares to join hands with this coach. He slapped Zhang Erhua's shoes on both ears, and made Tang Liu turn over a few somersaults...the job that they could have done, was ruined! I can't recommend this litter of idiots to the teacher."

Guan Baye sighed deeply, but he couldn't express the sadness in his heart. According to his own guess, even if the old man could not possess the incomparable martial arts skills as the legend says, his apprentices would definitely not be inferior to one of the more A martial arts coach who almost makes a fool of himself? !What is a division commander in the Beiyang Army?Actually planning to recruit famous figures in the martial arts as followers? ! ... Boss Luo is right. It is really sad enough for people in the world to be born in such troubled times. "Baye, listen to Hua Yubao," Wang Dashao said, "Her three-stringed strings and voice are not as good as the little lotus in the early days, but in today's salt market, she is not satisfactory enough!"

"Pour the wine for Master Ba!" said the head of the Audit Office, the girl from the North Gang who was standing behind Master Guan Guan, "Don't be so shy, why don't you wait for Master Ba to turn around and serve you?!" "It's all nothing to do with human affairs." Young Master Wang took the girl's hand holding the pot and helped her pour the wine in front of Guan Baye, and said to Guan Baye, "Guan Baye, I'll leave her to wait on you tonight, don't look at her blushing little face, once you comb it, she will be kissing, loving and docile in the morning!"

The three-stringed qin sound played by Hua Yubao over there replaced Guan Baye's answer. It is strange to say that in a huge flower hall, hundreds of drunken and noisy guests were all overwhelmed by the first sound of the qin and became silent.Hua Yubao is holding the qin in a fluffy bun, with her fragrant pink scarf tied on one end of the qin handle, twisting her slender waist like a weak willow in the wind, stepping on the broken The flower steps made the pleated dress under her drag purple waves, and a pair of her little red shoes like mandarin ducks would float out of the waves from time to time; With one hand moving gracefully between the strings, the sanxian burst out a series of melodious ding-dongs with a hint of desolation.

The strong wind is whistling between the eaves of the hall, the snowflakes are dancing drunk like a madman, it seems that the endless heaven and earth are wrapping up the prosperity of this corner, the endless distant waves are hitting the wind and moon this night, the sound of the piano played by Hua Yubao's fingertips The coldness and sadness of the outside world have been revealed. "Wear...stars...wear...moon, take the road as home..." The sound of the piano stopped, and she sang with a strange sharp voice, as if tearing something apart: "One man and one horse, he... traveled all over the sea... the corners and the sky... the sky... the sky rose to yellow clouds... When there is no rain, the fields are full of wind and sand blowing, sand smoke whipping horses, wild roads are endless, and in a blink of an eye...the sun sets..." After singing this passage, the sound of the qin began to ding-dong again, Hua Yubao was about to continue singing, but asked Guan Baye to stop it with a gesture. "If you think you can't sing well, I'll change another song to serve Ba Ye." Hua Yubao said. "Okay, great!" Guan Baye stood up and said, "It's just that I've been through the wind and snow and drank too much wine, so I'm a little sleepy." "Since the eighth master is tired, let's take a break and drink tea." When the banquet was over, many guests came to say goodbye, but they didn't see Mr. Dai, the master of Shenquan Taibao, who must have left. Guan Baye still regretted that he could not have a deep talk with Mr. Dai.A group of people were drinking, and helped the red and green Yingyan back to the suite, and then the director of auditing turned the topic to serious matters. "The situation on the dam is not very stable, Eighth Lord," said the head of the audit department: "In the county town, since the Thirteenth Association (Qing Dynasty military system.) bombed the camp (mutiny.) many years ago, it has been relatively calm, but the bandits in the four townships There is a lot of chaos, and most of the gangsters do not rob salt smuggling, but only use government-run salt boats. You have led the anti-smuggling team, and you know the situation on the dam. If you buy salt, it’s over. This autumn, four salt boats were robbed, and the transporters were so anxious that the warehouse merchants had no goods to store, and the shore merchants had nothing to do. The yamen can't pay salaries, and there are complaints in the private sector, and we are guarding against fleeing bravely every day... We have few guns, we are lonely, and we can't protect the salt along the way, it's really a dilemma." "Sir, I don't quite understand what you mean?!" Guan Baye said, "It stands to reason that there are a lot of defense troops along the road, and they have the responsibility to protect the salt ship!" "Hey, don't mention those defense troops!" The owner of the Sansheng Inn said: "These defense troops in Beiyang are all vicious. If they have nothing to do, they will knock people unconscious first! If you want salary, we will give it to you." Salary, gun fee, we give gun fee, gun fee, we add gun fee, ship guard fee, we pay ship guard fee, tens of thousands of silver are paid, and the master is left to bet on the game His three thousand oceans and three fasts! (Gambling Pai Gow terminology, betting on seven, eight, and nine three ideas.)... Think about it, they used to pay the people's tax and eat the people's food when they were stationed , turned around to abuse the people and indulge the bandits, how can the bandits not be mad?!" "I still don't understand," Guan Baye said, "What do you mean by telling me—?"