Go to the shop early.

The old man forgot to put down his chopsticks, and walked straight to the pretty girl holding blue paper butterfly flowers. He lowered his head and asked suddenly:

"What's this?"

Ah Qing was stunned, looked up at the old man in front of her who had not spoken more than three sentences to her, and said timidly: "Is that what you're asking?"

The old swordsmith stared at this special blue butterfly flower without moving, pointed at it, and asked repeatedly:

"What's this?"

Ah Qing whispered: "Butterfly flowers, origami."

"Of course I know it's a butterfly flower...how did you come up with the idea of ​​using a Pythagorean shape to make an arc like this?"

Ah Qing shook his head: "I didn't fold this, it was a gift from the master. He said it was called iris folding."

"Is the iris folded..."

The old swordsmith murmured, suddenly raised his hand and took out a handful of copper coins from his arms:

"Let me see if I can give you some money. How much do you want?"

Ah Qing immediately shook his head.

The old swordsmith frowned and wanted to increase the price, but the delicate girl handed him the blue butterfly flower origami directly: "Ah Qing doesn't need any money, I will take it to see, just remember to pay Ah Qing back... This is a gift from a very important person to Ah Qing."

of."

The old swordsmith took it without saying a word and silently returned to his original seat.

The old man's rough, blackened withered hands held a clean origami blue butterfly flower. He lowered his head and raised his eyebrows. He stretched out a withered finger and slowly traced along the arc of the petals of the butterfly flower, as if outlining it. His face fell into a certain kind of confusion.

meditation.

Regarding this impolite and eccentric old man, many of the female workers around A Qing shook their heads. A Qing seemed to be accustomed to his character, and there was no reproach on his face.

The pretty girl in a sarong picked up the half-braided sword spike and lowered her head to work.

The sun gradually rose in the morning, approaching Chenzheng, and the number of diners in the open-air shops gradually decreased.

In front of the table in the corner, the weird old man was still immersed in a childish origami flower that only children were interested in.

Ah Qing and his fellow workers packed their bags and prepared to go to the workshop.

At this moment, a female ear worker with thin lips came belatedly. As soon as she arrived at the shop, she walked directly to Ah Qing and stretched out her hand:

"Where's the stuff?"

Ah Qing lowered his head and took out one of the two exquisite sword tassels that he had knitted in the morning and handed it to her.

However, the thin-lipped female ear worker grabbed both of them from Ah Qing's hand and looked down, as if to choose the better-looking one.

Ah Qing lowered his head and said nothing.

Every day when the sword ear workshop starts work, the female workers have to hand in a sword ear, and Ah Qing has to prepare two pieces every day, one for the thin-lipped female ear worker in front of her who is much older than her.

The thin-lipped female worker suddenly asked: "Where did you go yesterday afternoon? Are you too lazy to work?"

Ah Qing waved his hand: "No... no, I asked for leave from the workshop and celebrated my birthday at home yesterday..."

The thin-lipped female tassel worker turned over her hands, put away all the two sword tassels, and left without looking back. She coldly said:

"It's all mine. You didn't pay tribute yesterday, so don't try to find excuses to be lazy and spend a shitty birthday like this for a poor girl."

Ah Qing stood there dumbly, at a loss.

The female escorts nearby all looked away, pretending not to notice, packed up their things and left.

This thin-lipped female earring worker who bullied others by charging protection money had some background in the workshop. She was not someone ordinary female earring workers like them could mess with. If she meddles in other people's business, she would be punished.

As for this companion named Ah Qing, it can only be said that he is unlucky. When he first came to work in the workshop, he was looked down upon and bullied... Sometimes it is not good for a girl from a poor family to be pretty and pretty, as she is easily jealous of the same sex.

, not to mention being weak-tempered.

The delicate girl twisted her fingers together and looked around anxiously. It was obvious that she was unable to hand in the sword tassel this morning and should be punished by the workshop steward.

But no one helped her.

Ah Qing hurriedly grabbed the cloth bag that fell on the ground and trotted away from the breakfast shop. Before leaving, she thought of something and glanced at her father-in-law who was studying blue butterfly flower origami not far away. She hesitated for a moment and shouted, "Weirdo"

Her father-in-law ignored him, so she reluctantly warned him again and left first.

The old swordsmith turned a deaf ear to all the commotion outside. He was in a busy city, but his mind was far away.

After the female workers left, no customers came for a long time, and the early shop was about to close, and someone urged him on, the old man could not bear to move his eyes.

After he regained his senses, he silently raised his head. He didn't see the figure of the delicate girl, and didn't care. The old man carried the wine bottle, lightly held the origami paper, left the morning market, and returned to the sword furnace.

The old swordsmith was completely exhausted at this moment.

The steps on the mountain road are fast.

He seemed to be in a hurry to go back and jot down some fleeting thought.

Soon, the old man came to Jiayi Sword Furnace halfway up the mountain.

"Old sir, how's the sword in the Jiasan Sword Furnace?"

In front of the hut, a sickly-looking young man in brocade clothes seemed to have been waiting for a long time, and he immediately came forward to say hello.

He looked at the strange combination of the old man carrying a wine flask and holding paper flowers with great curiosity.

The old swordsmith didn't even look at him, he just pushed the door open and disappeared inside. However, before the door closed heavily, the old man's hoarse voice still came out:

"That little thing of the Jia San Sword Furnace is ready. I will be in seclusion for the next few days. Don't bother me."

Liu Zian was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, and immediately responded: "Yes!"

But the old man behind the door probably couldn't hear this reply.

Liu Zian didn't care about this, as he seemed to have been used to the old swordsmith's weird temperament.

He, who had often looked gloomy recently, breathed a sigh of relief. The young man in the golden uniform wandered back and forth twice, as if thinking about something, then turned his head and waved to the distance.

A steward in green clothes walked quietly to Liu Zian's side.

The latter pondered: "Didn't the old gentleman go to get a drink? Why did he bring back... a paper flower?"

The steward in green clothes immediately told what he had learned.

Not long after.

"Okay, I understand, thank you for your hard work, let's get down."

Liu Zian waved his hand, and the steward in Qingyi respectfully stepped down.

"The blue butterfly paper flower...did this bring back some memories for the old gentleman, or...is it related to the sword..."

He stood there with a thoughtful expression on his face.

After a while, the young man in Jinfu shook his head, gave up exploring, and turned around to leave.

However, he did not go down the mountain immediately.

Liu Zian turned a corner and walked up the mountain along a deserted mountain road.

The mountain where the Jiayi sword furnace is located is called Xiaogushan, which is similar to the name of Dagushan with Donglin Temple on the outskirts of the city. It is located on the west bank of Butterfly Creek, opposite Penglangdu.

The Liu family's mansion was also built on this mountain, but it was located at the center of the mountain, near the foot of the mountain, and to the west.

The east side of Xiaogushan is occupied by the sword furnaces of Guyue Jianpu.

Liu Zian followed the path along the ridge, staring at the howling wind, all the way to the top of the mountain.

There is a solitary temple on the top of the mountain.

Looking at the dilapidated plaque at the door, this is the Dragon King Temple.

However, it does not belong to any of the officially included sacrificial gods in the Zhou Dynasty.

In other words, this is an obscene sacrifice in the eyes of the government.

However, if there are old people who have lived in Longcheng County for a long time, they will definitely have a fight with each other.

This Dragon King Temple was located in Longcheng County back then, but no one knew about it.

That was before Confucius Di was demoted to Longcheng County Magistrate.

As we all know, in the land of Wu and Yue, obscene worship was practiced, diseases were not cured, people were listened to witchcraft, and even worse, people were killed as sacrifices to ghosts.

Many villages and towns in remote prefectures and counties in Jiangnan Province have such obscene rituals.

The same is true for Longcheng County, which used to suffer from frequent floods. According to the records of Longcheng County, the name of Longcheng County came from this. In the past, people believed that the floods in Longcheng every year were the wrath of the Dragon King and required regular sacrifices and offerings.

.

So in Longcheng County, the people believed in the Dragon King, so a group of priests took the name of the Dragon King, gained the trust of the people, and established the Dragon King Temple.

Moreover, no matter how big or small the matter is in the city, orders need to be issued from the mouth of the priest in the name of the Dragon King. Even if the officials in the city, big or small, take office, they have to condescend to pay homage to the Dragon King and the priest before they can take office and convince the people.

All this happened until Master Di took office as the magistrate of Longcheng County. After a wonderful battle, he finally eradicated the group of demagogue priests, burned all the obscene rituals in Longcheng, and swept away the evil customs.

But not many people remember what happened back then.
To be continued...