Chapter 241 The Moon is Beautiful Tonight

At the beginning of the morning hour, the drizzle stopped, and the wind in the second half of the night, with its unique frosty chill, blew across the entire Pingyang City.

"Wow..."

On the bank of Liujin River, a dark shadow squatted under the bridge, scooping water to wash away the blood stains on the sword.

If early risers saw this at this time, they would probably think that there was a water ghost in the river, and it would float to the shore to play in the water when no one was around.

"Boom!"

Zhang Yu sheathed the Ziwei Sword, stood up and looked at the reflection of the full moon in the river. Some things were far away in the sky, while some things were close at hand. He threw another stone, hitting the center of the moon, and circles of green waves rippled uncontrollably.

Some people like to wake up early.

Because in the early morning you can see another side of the world, see it more carefully, and using the heaven and earth as a mirror, you can see your own heart.

He stood there for a moment, then turned and left.

On the stone bridge, the little girl exhaled a puff of mist. She wore a half-worn mink hat to block the night wind. She was unsteadily carrying a load of wontons on her shoulder, which was almost as high as her shoulders. She had to walk some distance before stopping to rest.

It’s okay on flat ground, but the stone bridge is difficult to climb.

"one two Three!"

When my grandfather was seriously ill, he once said, "Don't look too far ahead at one time. Every time you climb three floors, think of it as completing a goal. If you accumulate small steps, you will be able to complete the journey no matter how difficult it is."

"One or two..."

The burden on my shoulders suddenly disappeared.

The little girl thought that her grandfather had appeared in spirit, and was about to turn around, but a hand pressed down on the back of her head.

"Keep walking and don't look back!"

"Once you are on the stone bridge, you must not turn back, otherwise you will mess up the cause and effect."

The hands were broad and strong, and the little girl had no way of resisting. She could only be pushed forward. She glanced to both sides and saw the wonton basket following steadily behind her, which made her feel a little relieved.

"who are you?"

The voice chuckled: "Go over the stone bridge and you will know."

She felt that the voice was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember who it was. She guessed it was a kind neighbor who knew her grandpa and grandma.

It was not until we got off the stone bridge that the palm that was so warm that it seemed to be carrying heat loosened.

The little girl couldn't wait to turn around, but saw a familiar face. Her eyes suddenly curved and she asked in surprise, "Benefactor?"

"Don't call me benefactor, it's too vulgar! Besides, it was just a small favor last night."

He chuckled and lifted the wonton stand with one hand, indeed effortlessly.

“That’s what they say in operas.”

"How does it go in the opera?"

The little girl glanced at him and whispered, "In the play...when you meet a handsome man who has helped you, you call him a benefactor."

Zhang Yu laughed so hard that the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, who had never experienced the world and had only a vague understanding of what was beautiful, felt a little embarrassed.

She thought about it and changed the name.

"That's called...uncle?"

"Is it that old?"

Zhang Yu touched the stubble that had grown on him over the past few nights. He had forgotten to shave when he washed his sword just now.

He smiled and said, "It's up to you. Do you want to go to Liu's Wonton Shop? I'll take you there."

"Thank you, uncle, but the business before dawn is not in the upstream stalls."

"Where is that?"

The little girl narrowed her crescent eyes and smiled with a hint of pride, "It's at Jubao Wharf in the lower reaches of Liujin River!"

Zhang Yu was surprised and looked at the single clothes she was wearing. Her shoulders were rubbed white and her bangs were sticking to her forehead with sweat. "That must be five miles. Do you usually carry it like this?"

The little girl nodded and smiled: "In two months, I can change to a stroller."

Zhang Yu held the wonton carrying pole and followed silently behind. He did not ask the little girl why she had to shoulder the burden of life at such an age.

"Does the uncle know martial arts?"

"Is that a little bit?"

"So what do you do?" "What do you think I do?"

"A singer?"

"No, I was... supposed to be your colleague before."

"A snack food business?"

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "Ride a horse to deliver snacks to people."

She nodded and said, "Oh, that's called Suohuan. Rich families will call, but they don't send on horseback very often."

The two walked two miles and the girl felt a little embarrassed. She had never felt so relaxed before. She looked up and saw the man with phoenix eyes, crescent-shaped eyebrows, and some stubble under his chin, which made him look a little weathered.

She felt for no reason that this person, whom she had only met for the second time, was inexplicably familiar.

"Uncle, are you tired? Can you give me back the burden?"

"it is good!"

Zhang Yu gently placed the wonton basket on her shoulders. It was not too heavy, only about fifty kilograms. If she hadn't said anything, she would have almost forgotten about it.

"Uncle, my name is Xuan Zi, Liu Xuan Zi, what's your name?"

Liu Xuanzi's voice sounded a little hurried. She held the basket rope with both hands, trying to keep both ends balanced.

"Zhang Liyu."

With the full moon as a lamp, the two continued to walk downstream of the Liujin River. After two hundred steps, Liu Xuanzi's steps gradually slowed down. Normally, when she was alone, she would stop to take a breath after about every one hundred and fifty steps, but now it had far exceeded her limit.

Zhang Yu naturally knew.

"Uncle..."

"do not speak."

"To take a breath is to lose your temper."

Zhang Yu reached out and continued to press the wonton basket on her shoulder.

Liu Xuanzi had no choice but to keep moving forward.

Zhang Yu's hand was still on her shoulder. He followed slowly and said, "Try to take a deep breath. Don't exhale. Sink it into your Dantian. The Dantian is three inches below your belly button..."

"Have you felt the location of Dantian?"

Liu Xuanzi said, "There is a place that is a little warm, like a fire... and then it turns into ice. Uncle, am I sick?"

Liu Xuanzi was very worried. The reaction in his body was very similar to what his neighbor Grandpa Ma called the "malaria cold syndrome". However, the situation at home only allowed one person to get sick, and he absolutely could not get sick!

"It's not a disease, it's Dantian. Try to communicate and mobilize that internal energy..."

"…passing through Tanzhong, which is between the two breasts… and finally spitting it out."

Liu Xuanzi exhaled like an arrow and ran five or six feet away, scaring himself.

She had just mastered the key to breathing in and out internal energy, so naturally she did not have such a high level of cultivation. The strand of Beiming Qi that Zhang Yu injected into her body magnified the appearance of the exhaled breath.

"Xuan Zi, if you have time on weekdays, follow the method I taught you to breathe."

What he taught Liu Xuanzi was just a simple method of exhaling, which implicitly contained the Taoist ability to make the body light and healthy.

"It won't have much effect at first, but as long as you can persist, later on... it should be much easier to shoulder this burden."

"Thank you, uncle..."

Liu Xuanzi felt it was magical and was about to say something when he suddenly found that they had arrived at Jubao Wharf.

She could hardly believe that she had walked two miles in one breath.
Three quarters past the hour of Mao, under the starry night.

People gradually appeared at Jubao Wharf, including boat drivers, oarsmen, and cargo movers. They were all very happy to see Xuan Zi coming, and it was obvious that they were familiar with him. They took out firewood and helped to light the stove. Soon, the aroma of wontons wafted throughout the entire wharf.

The little girl brought a bowl full of wontons, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and the aroma was fragrant.

"Uncle, this bowl is for you."

Zhang Yu bowed and said, "Thank you, Xuanzi."

A boat captain laughed and said, "We make a living on the water. We go out early and come back late, so we need hot food. If Xuanzi hadn't come here every day with his load on his shoulders, we would have missed this bowl of Liu's wontons, which are famous in Pingyang."

Liu Xuanzi narrowed his eyes and smiled modestly, "It's not that the guests missed the wontons, but that the wontons missed the guests."

After listening to this, Zhang Yu seemed to be thinking about something.

Before he left, he quietly put a dime into the coin box while the girl wasn't paying attention.

(End of this chapter)

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