Recently, a new storyteller came to Sanqi Teahouse. He held a folding fan with "Eighty-five Years" written on the front and "Don't Know Joy" written on the back.
This storyteller is in his early twenties. He is not only a smooth talker, but also good at telling fortunes and reading fortunes.
The person who said he was slippery was Mr. Ji, the shopkeeper of the Sanqi Tea House. Once, Mr. Ji heard him telling interesting stories from the Southern Dynasties and specifically asked him to speak more slowly. Don't finish it in two or three days like before. Mr. Ji has a young apprentice who comes to Bolu every spring. He likes to listen to books and read the poetry and unofficial history of the Southern Dynasties. Therefore, he asked the storyteller to speak more slowly and wait for his little apprentice. The apprentice comes. The storyteller also took it seriously. A story was repeated over and over for hundreds of years, and it lasted for half a month, but the listeners didn't even notice the flaws.
As for fortune telling, he is also an expert in fortune telling. According to his own words, he used to be a magician who specialized in telling people's fortunes, but... none of the marriages he calculated were good ones. He came less and less, and he had no choice but to start telling people nonsense for the sake of food.
On this day, the storyteller folded his fan and touched his hand, and there was a "pop" sound. Everyone was silent, and everyone listened to his words.
"Speaking of which, there is a family where the couple took a mountain of tonics when they were young. They drank several large pots of tonics every day in order to induce a child, but it didn't work. It was only when they were in their forties that they had a beautiful little girl. The child, the couple is as precious as their eyes, but the child is a little weirder than the other children."
Someone below asked, "What's weird?"
The storyteller continued, "This child has never cried since he was born, no matter how many times the midwife beat him. Dear guests, tell me, is it strange or not? If I only talk about this, it is nothing. This child , when I was five years old, I didn’t even know how to smile, which is exactly what I said, ‘I don’t know joy’.”
He unfolded the fan and showed the four characters to everyone.
The listeners said, "That's not a fool. This girl will be in danger from now on..."
The storyteller couldn't help but shake his head, "This is a bit biased. This girl is not stupid, but she is extremely smart. She has read many books at the age of twelve and is very good at all poems and songs."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud thunder from the sky, and it suddenly rained on a sunny day.
The storyteller stopped talking and apologized to all the guests with a smile, "It seems that I can't talk about this part today. I will tell you some other jokes."
Mr. Ji put down his wine glass and heard a hoarse voice from the second floor, "Why can't you tell me?"
The storyteller said, "This paragraph can only be told at this time." He showed the "eighty-five years" on the fan to everyone.
"Hahahahahahaha..." The guests were amused by him, "In eighty-five years, we will be buried in the earth to meet Bodhisattva Yama, so can we still hear you say this?"
The storyteller closed the fan and moved away from the topic, "I wonder if you all know the Duke of Lin'an from decades ago?"
Someone got excited and said, "Of course I have heard that his son is now the lord of Bolu. I think it has been more than ten years since he was buried."
There was a lot of discussion in the crowd below. They talked about how he refused to close his eyes when he was about to die, and asked people to dig a grave in Li'er. He didn't know whose grave he was digging, but he insisted on waiting until the person's bones were buried with him before he was willing to let go. go.
"I heard from relatives in the county government that the bones brought back from Li'er were that of a man. The bones were black. It looked like he had died of poison, and the poison had penetrated into the bones."
"So, the late Duke Baili was actually such a person?!"
…
While everyone was talking, the rain outside became heavier and heavier. The storyteller stared at the old woman hurriedly passing by with an umbrella outside the window until she disappeared from sight.
This is a novel composed of many short stories connected together. The previous chapter "Ninety Days of Spring" and this "Eighty-Five Years of No Joy" can be read separately without affecting each other. That being said, I haven't tried this way of writing so far. What prompted me to make this decision was the arrival of the contract site...
(End of chapter)