Chapter 26 Chapter 26 The Stranger in the Shop

In autumn, the leaves are rustling. At the end of the street, there is a huge house, which seems to be about to wither like the yellow leaves on the branches. The two vermilion lacquer gates had not been opened for almost a year, the vermilion lacquer on the doors had long since peeled off, and the copper rings were already rusted. No human voice has been heard inside the high walls for a long time, and only in early autumn and late summer, there are occasional autumn insects whispering and birds chirping, which further accentuates the loneliness and desolation of this house. But this mansion also had its glorious times, because it was here that seven Jinshi and three Tanhua were born, and among them was an amazingly talented and unparalleled martial arts hero.

Even just two years ago, when the house had changed owners, there were still many major events that caused a sensation in the martial arts world, and it is unknown how many powerful Jianghu masters were buried here. After that, the house suddenly fell silent, and its two generations of owners suddenly became silent and disappeared. So there is a terrible legend among the rivers and lakes, saying that this place is a haunted house! Anyone who has been here, no matter if he is an eminent monk, a rare scholar, or a stunning beauty, as long as they walk through this gate, they will not have good results in their lives.

Now, there is no longer any laughter during the day, and no more brilliant lights at night, only a single lamp on the small building in the back garden that stays on all night long. There seems to be someone waiting day and night in the small building, but no one knows what she is waiting for... Outside the back wall, there is a small alley. It is dusty when the wind blows, and muddy when it rains. The high walls block the sun, and there is almost no sunshine in the alley all year round. But no matter how humble and dark the place is, there are people living silently! Maybe it's because they have nowhere else to go, maybe it's because they're tired of life and would rather hide in a place like this and be forgotten.

There is a small chicken feather shop in the alley, which sells some rough food in the front, and there are three or five simple guest rooms in the back. The owner of the shop, Sun Tuozi, is a disabled dwarf. Although he knew that there would never be any noble customers in this alley, he would rather wait here for some lowly passers-by to come in and exchange for room and board at a low price. He would rather live his poor and humble life here than go out and listen to people's ridicule, because he has learned that no amount of wealth can bring peace of mind. Of course he was lonely.

Sometimes he would look at the solitary lamp on the small building of the huge house, and meditate to himself: "The people in the small building, even though they are well-clothed and well-fed, may live a more painful and lonely life than mine!" More than a year ago, at dusk, an unusual customer came to this small shop. In fact, he was not wearing very expensive clothes, and he was not special in appearance. Although he is tall and handsome, he looks very haggard. He has a sick appearance all year round, and he bends down and coughs from time to time. He is really an ordinary person.

But when Sun Tuozi saw him for the first time, he felt that there were many differences in him. He didn't laugh at Sun Tuozi's disability, nor did he pay attention to it, nor did he pretend to be particularly sympathetic. This kind of pity and sympathy is sometimes more unbearable than ridicule. He is neither picky nor praiseful of food and drink.He hardly spoke at all. The strangest thing was that since he first entered this small shop, he hadn't gone out. When he came for the first time, he chose a table in the corner to sit down, and ordered a plate of dried tofu, a plate of beef, two steamed buns and seven jugs of wine.

When the seven jugs of wine were finished, he asked Sun Tuozi to refill them, and then went to rest in the last room, and did not come out until dusk the next day. When he came out, the seven jugs of wine had already been drunk. Now, more than a year has passed, every night he still sits at the table in the corner, still asking for a plate of dried tofu, a plate of beef, two steamed buns and seven jugs of wine. He coughed and drank while drinking, and when the seven jugs of wine were finished, he returned to the back room with the other seven jugs, and did not show up until the evening of the next day.

Sun Tuozi was also an alcoholic, so he admired this man's capacity for drinking. He had never seen a person who could drink fourteen pots of wine without getting drunk in his life. Sometimes he couldn't help but want to ask the origin of the person's name, but he held back because he knew that even if he asked, he would not get an answer. Sun Tuozi is not a talkative person. As long as the guests don't default on the wine money, he is unwilling to speak. After several months like this, there was a period when the weather was extremely cold and rained for more than ten days in a row. At night, Sun Tuozi went to the back and found the door of the room was open. The strange guest had coughed and fell to the ground. His face was terribly red, almost as red as blood.

Sun Tuozi helped him up, and went to fetch and decoct medicine for him in the middle of the night, and took care of him for three days. Three days later, as soon as he woke up, he started asking for wine again. Only then did Sun Tuozi realize that this man was looking for his own death, so he couldn't help but persuade him: "If you drink like this, no one will live long." The man just smiled faintly, and asked him back: "Do you think I can live a long life without drinking?" Sun Tuozi stopped talking. But since that day, the two seem to have become friends. When there were no guests, he would ask Sun Tuozi to drink with him, chatting nonsense, and Sun Tuozi found that this person knew a lot.

There was only one thing he refused to say, and that was the origin of his name. Once Sun Tuozi couldn't help asking him: "We are friends, what should I call you?" After hesitating for a while, he replied with a smile: "I'm a drunkard, an out-and-out drunkard, why don't you call me a drunkard?" So Sun Tuozi discovered that this man must have had a very sad past, so he didn't even want to mention his own name, preferring to bury his life in the flagon. Besides drinking, he also has a strange hobby. That is carving. He was always carving wood with a knife in his hand, but Sun Tuozi never knew what he was carving because he had never finished the statue he was carving.

This is really a strange guest, a terrible strange one. But sometimes Sun Tuozi wished that he would never leave. This morning, when Sun Tuozi got up, he found that the weather was getting colder and colder. He took out an old cotton jacket from the box and put it on before walking to the front. This morning was no different from other mornings, the business was still very light. After a few cart drivers left, Sun Tuozi moved a bamboo chair and sat at the door to grind tofu. As soon as he sat down, he saw two people riding around on horseback. There were not many people riding horses in the alley, so Sun Tuozi couldn't help but take a second look. I saw that these two people were both wearing apricot yellow long gowns, the one in front had thick eyebrows and big eyes, the one in the back had a hooked nose, and the two had short mustaches on their chins. They seemed to be only in their thirties. The two men were not outstanding in appearance, but the apricot yellow gowns they were wearing were extremely dazzling. Neither of them paid attention to Sun Tuozi, but raised their heads to visit the high wall from time to time. Sun Tuozi continued to grind his tofu. He knew that these two would never be his customers. I saw the two of them walking through the alley, and sure enough they went around to the front again, but not long after, the two of them came back from the other end. This time the two actually dismounted in front of the shop. Although Sun Tuozi had a weird temper, he was a businessman after all, so he immediately stopped and asked, "What do you two want to eat and drink?" The man in the yellow shirt with thick eyebrows and big eyes said: "We don't want anything, I just want to ask you a few words." Sun Tuozi started grinding tofu again, he was not interested in talking. The hawk-nosed man in the yellow shirt suddenly smiled and said, "If we want to buy you, how about a penny for a word?" Sun Tuozi's interest came again, he nodded and said: "Okay." As he spoke, he stretched out a finger. The man in the yellow shirt with thick eyebrows and big eyes laughed and said: "Is this a sentence? Your threshold for doing business is really good." Sun Tuozi said, "Of course it counts as a sentence." He held up two fingers. Hawk-nosed man said: "How long have you lived here?" Sun Tuozi said, "Twenty or thirty years." Hawk-nosed man said: "Who owns the house opposite you? Do you know?" Sun Tuozi said, "It belongs to the Li family." Hawk-nosed man said: "Where is the master later?" Sun Tuozi said: "My surname is Long, and my name is Long Xiaoyun." Hawk-nosed man said: "Have you seen him?" Sun Tuozi said: "No." Hawk-nosed man said: "Where are his people?" Sun Tuozi said: "Let's go out." Hawk-nosed man said: "When did you go out?" Sun Tuozi said, "More than a year ago." Hawk-nosed man said: "Have you come back in the future?" Sun Tuozi said: "No." Hawk-nosed man said: "Since you have never met him, how can you know him in such detail?" Sun Tuozi said: "The cook of their family often buys wine here." The eagle-nosed man pondered for a while, and said, "Did any stranger come to ask you something in the past two days?" Sun Tuozi said: "No... If there was, I'm afraid I'd already be rich." The man in the yellow shirt with thick eyebrows and big eyes said with a smile, "I'll let you make a small fortune today." He tossed out the ingot of silver, and the two of them mounted their horses and drove off together without asking any other questions. They still kept looking into the high wall on the road. Sun Tuozi looked at the money in his hand and murmured, "It turns out that sometimes making money is easy..." He turned his head, and suddenly found that the "drunkard" had come out at some time, and was standing there staring at the way of the man in yellow shirt, with a thoughtful expression on his face, and he didn't know what he was thinking. Sun Tuozi smiled and said, "You are early today." The "drunkard" also smiled, and said: "I drank too much last night, and I ran out of food early this morning." He lowered his head, coughed for a while, and suddenly asked, "What day is today?" Sun Tuozi said, "September 14th." The pale face of the "drunkard" suddenly had a strange blush again, his eyes stared blankly into the distance, and after a long silence, he asked slowly: "Is tomorrow the fifteenth day of September?" This question is really too much to ask, Sun Tuozi couldn't help laughing and said: "After fourteen, it will naturally be fifteen." The "drunkard" seemed to want to say something, but he bent down again and coughed continuously. While coughing, he pointed to the empty jug on the table. Sun Tuozi sighed, shook his head and said, "If everyone drank like you, the wine sellers would have gotten rich long ago." At dusk, there are lights on the small building in the back garden. The "drunkard" had already sat in his old place and started drinking.