Sword from the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 54 Book Hanging on Ox Horns
"Cough cough."

A violent cough caught Zhou Yi's attention. The oxcart on the road shook violently, and the man on it seemed to have lost the strength to lead the ox, clutching his chest and coughing loudly.

He looks like he's in a lot of pain.

Zhou Yi stopped channeling his inner energy and headed towards the oxcart.

Seeing the rope leading the ox fall from the cart, and the person on the cart seemingly unable to reach it, he reached out and pulled, causing the ox to stop in pain.

"Hey buddy, are you alright?"

Zhou Yi looked closely at the middle-aged man's face; his eyebrows were square, and he should have possessed a heroic air.

But his face was weathered, his eyes were tired and lifeless, his beard and hair were disheveled, and he looked very down on his luck.

If groomed properly, and considering his physique, his appearance shouldn't be too bad.

"Thank you very much, young hero. I...I'm alright, cough cough."

As he spoke, he coughed twice, clutching his chest.

It was just that the coughing was less severe than before, so it seems that he has caught his breath.

Huh?
Zhou Yi looked at him carefully, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

He had an excellent memory, and the image of the city wall of Shangcai flashed through his mind. At that time, there was a group of people gathered in front of Li Si's stele, and it seemed that this person was among them.

"Brother, did you visit Shangcai not long ago?"

The middle-aged man let out a long sigh of relief, finally stopping his cough.

"To be honest, young hero, I come from Shangcai. This cough is an old problem of mine. When it flares up, I feel weak all over."

His tired eyes were filled with gratitude. "If it weren't for your help just now, I, Liu, would have definitely been seriously injured."

"Young hero, you must have seen me from the east gate."

Zhou Yi nodded.

He said self-deprecatingly, "Someone as down-and-out and poor as me, admiring the extraordinary man of Shangcai, would be content if I could have some unrealistic and beautiful dreams at night."

"I had great ambitions in my youth, but decades have passed, alas."

He sighed deeply, overwhelmed with sorrow, and recited to himself:
"The sunflowers in the green garden, waiting for the morning dew to dry in the sun, always fearing the arrival of autumn, when their leaves turn yellow and wither."

“Sorry, sorry.”

The middle-aged man sighed again: "My old habit has resurfaced. Seeing a young man like you always makes me nostalgic, reminding me of my unfulfilled ambitions. How much I, Liu, have missed out on, how much..."

His grief was so intense that it even affected Zhou Yi.

Seeing his deep sorrow, I couldn't help but offer a word of comfort:
"My friend, failure and setbacks are always part of life; that's just life."

"but."

Zhou Yi recited in a deep voice: "When you reach the end of the watercourse, sit and watch the clouds rise."

"Life is not over yet, how can we know the end?"

The down-on-his-luck middle-aged man paused slightly: "It's truly wonderful to reach the end of the road and sit down to watch the clouds rise."

"Liu has learned a lot."

He looked up at the sky: "Young hero, I just saw you hurrying along the road, are you looking for a place to stay?"

"Indeed, I wonder how far the next village is?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu said, "There used to be a village about three miles away, but unfortunately it was burned down by a group of wicked bandits who came from Huaiyang County."

"Further ahead lies a desolate mountain, where large insects are said to roam, making it extremely dangerous."

Zhou Yi looked in the direction the middle-aged man was pointing, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Where does Brother Liu intend to rest in this oxcart?"

The middle-aged man said, "I was originally going back to the border town of Ciqiu, but I was delayed by coughing and couldn't continue my journey."

"It's getting dark, so we can only go to Cixijian."

"Some time ago, someone opened a teahouse there, catering to travelers and merchants. Unexpectedly, it was scared away by thieves, leaving behind an empty shed. It is convenient for travelers who are stranded on the road to find a place to rest at night."

"Is it far?"

"It's not far."

The middle-aged man said, "If you don't mind, get in Liu's car, and I'll give you a ride."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and then got on the oxcart.

The middle-aged man grabbed the ox rope and started walking again.

The ox walks slowly, so as long as it doesn't run wildly, the ride isn't too bumpy.

"May I ask your surname, young hero?"

"My surname is Zhou."

The middle-aged man said while driving:

"Young Master Zhou is truly insightful. Your words just now really struck a chord with me. If I had met you years ago, I might have been able to pull myself together."

He seemed to be an extremely talkative person.

Or rather, they finally found a listener like Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi simply smiled and hummed in agreement, then listened as he spoke of the Li Si stone carvings in Shangcai:
"Many down-on-their-luck people like me in the vicinity of Shangcai deeply admire this legend among the common folk."

"It's funny to say, but when Li Si went to the outhouse, he saw a rat. The rat in the outhouse was thin and small, and it would run away when it saw people. It was weak, helpless and pitiful."

"And the rats in the rice granary"

He paused, and Zhou Yi continued, "The rats in the granary are big and fat, playing leisurely in the grain piles, and sometimes they are not afraid when they see people coming."

The middle-aged man sighed, "Yes."

"Li Si understood this principle well. It's not a matter of whether a person is capable or not; their intelligence and talent are roughly the same. Whether one is rich or poor depends entirely on whether one can seize opportunities." "Back then, I thought the same way."

But it all came to nothing.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but take another look at the down-on-his-luck scholar. He had thought the scholar was the kind of person who was just making a fuss over nothing, but unexpectedly, he was actually a man of great ambition.

If someone truly possesses great talent but remains hidden in the marketplace, then earning a place to cultivate oneself is not a bad thing.

What kind of business is Mr. Liu currently engaged in?

He couldn't help but inquire.

The middle-aged man said, "Teaching a few children to read and write is nothing to mention."

As the night grew darker, Zhou Yi noticed a striking resemblance between the way the middle-aged man looked at him and the way he occasionally looked back at Zhou Yi.

Each one contains the character "赚" (zhuàn, meaning "earn").

The two talked more about Cai Lisi.

However, disagreements finally arose.

That was what Li Si said to his son, who was also being executed, before his execution: "I wish we could go out together with you, leading our yellow dog, to chase rabbits at the east gate of Shangcai. How can that be possible!"

It means, 'Son, I wanted to go back to our hometown with you and Big Yellow to hunt rabbits, but unfortunately, we don't have the chance anymore!'

The middle-aged man said, "Li Si was filled with sorrow. He held the highest position in the court, but in the end he could not escape such a fate, because his fate was still in the hands of others, and his life and death depended on the words of others."

"It's a kind of sadness, a sadness that you only understand when you're about to die."

Zhou Yi shook his head: "He chased after power, but was eventually swallowed up by it, and everything turned to nothing. At this moment, he must be tired."

"If he could do it all over again, perhaps he would pick chrysanthemums by the eastern fence and leisurely gaze at the southern mountains."

The two interpreted it in two extreme ways.

The middle-aged man didn't refute Zhou Yi at all; instead, he smiled and agreed with Zhou Yi, saying, "Young Master Zhou is right."

He started to laugh at himself:
“I am the shattered bubble you spoke of, now I am a schoolteacher.”

Then, he turned the oxcart around and arrived at the Cixijian Tea House he had mentioned.

As dusk settled, the firelight inside the teahouse shone brightly.

Then, scattered voices could be heard coming from inside.

Zhou Yi was very cautious, and listened attentively until they reached the tea stall.

It was all just a bunch of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) people chatting about this and that, and the sound of clinking glasses and drinking.

The chaotic state of things is actually reassuring.

The teahouse here was quite peculiar, as it was built on a mountain stream. His eyesight was good enough that he could see the ravine with the help of the dim light, and there were traces of siltation caused by the flow of water.

However, there is only a small stream now.

If we were to open a teahouse here, we could easily fetch water from the stream.

No wonder the previous shop owner chose such a location.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu tied up the yellow ox and then walked into the teahouse. There were mud walls all around and thatched sheds, enclosing a fairly large courtyard.

A bonfire was set up in the courtyard, with more than a dozen large pieces of firewood burning brightly.

The firewood was a little damp, making a crackling sound.

Someone had roasted a pheasant, and it was emitting a wonderful aroma. There were also several iron kettles boiling water nearby, bubbling away.

When the two entered, the martial arts figures glanced at them and then looked away.

I didn't pay much attention to it.

Zhou Yi glanced around and found that dozens of people had spent the night there.

Although these people seemed normal, he kept a close eye on them.

Look around and find a way out.

"Young Master Zhou, this way."

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu found a spot that was tucked away inside and not very noticeable.

He also pulled up some straw and spread it on the ground. There was a campfire in the yard for warmth, so the two of them could make do there for the night without any problem.

Zhou Yichao sat down on the thatched roof and suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He looked around but didn't notice anything unusual.

Those江湖人 (jianghu people) spoke with different accents; they weren't from the same place.

They maintained a distance from each other, keeping a distance and being wary of one another.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liu moved closer to him and carefully added some straw for him.

Zhou Yi's eyes widened slightly.

His gaze passed through the campfire and landed on the rope leading the yellow ox.

The cow was tied up outside the door.

Half a tattered scroll of a book still hung on the ox's horn.

Zhou Yi rubbed his eyes and said softly without thinking:
"I'll be watching the tide next week. I don't know Brother Liu's name yet?"

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "It's nothing to mention."

"My name is Liu Zhiyuan."

……

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(End of this chapter)