Time passes, and thirty years have passed since Sun De's story about Luo and Gu's fight for immortality ended.
Thirty years is basically half a mortal's life. Too many changes and transitions can occur. But for this small county, batches of children are born, grow up, get married, and have children.
But there are also groups of people who decline, become frustrated, grow old, and eventually die.
But what hasn't changed is the county town itself, whether it's the buildings, the city walls, the Yamen compound, or... the teahouse from back then.
It still maintains the same appearance as before, even if there are some damages, but overall, it seems that there are not many changes, except that the houses are missing some broken tiles, the city walls are missing some bricks, the Yamen compound is missing some plaques, and... In the teahouse, the storyteller of yesteryear is missing.
But in this county town, there are also more people and things, more shops, more towers on the city walls, more drums in the Yamen Courtyard, more waiters in the teahouses, and... under the Dongcheng Bridge, there is more than one beggar.
The beggar has white hair, dirty clothes, and his hands are like dirt on his skin. He is half leaning on the wall behind him. There is a broken wooden table in front of him with a black board on it. At this moment, the old man has The beggar was looking at the sky, as if in a daze, his eyes were cloudy, as if he was about to go blind, and his whole body was dirty, but his wrinkled face... was very, very clean.
It seems that this is his only dignity.
It's just that this clean face is incompatible with the other beggars around, and it is also incompatible with the crowds and bustling sounds around.
He didn't seem to care. After a while, under the cloudy sky, the old beggar made a cooing sound in his throat. He seemed to be laughing or crying. He lowered his head, picked up the black wooden board on the table, and moved towards the table. As soon as it was released, it made that clear sound.
"It was mentioned last time that before the destruction of the vast Dao realm, 90 million infinite kalpas ago, outside the black and yellow sky and earth, in the endless and unfamiliar depths of the distant starry sky, there were two great powers who had existed since the beginning of the original creation. Generations compete with each other for the immortal position!"
"But I saw that Ming Luo was so powerful, he raised his right hand, grabbed the way of heaven, and was about to crush it..."
"But Gu is even better, turning back time..." The old beggar's voice was mellow, and he shook his head, as if he was immersed in the story, as if what he saw in his dim eyes was not something passing by in a hurry, and no one cared about it. not the crowd, but those mesmerizing eyes in the teahouse back then.
Even though his opening aroused dissatisfaction from the other beggars around him, he still knocked the black board on the table, shook his head, and continued to read.
"Old man, you've been telling this story for thirty years, can you change it?"
"Sun, please shut up. You've disturbed my sweet dream. Do you deserve another beating?" The voice of dissatisfaction became stronger and stronger. Finally, a middle-aged beggar with a fierce appearance stepped forward and grabbed the old man. The beggar's clothes glared fiercely.
"Old Suntou, you still think you are the original Mr. Sun, I warn you, if you disturb my dream again, you will move out of this place..."
Although the old beggar's eyes were dim, he still glared at the middle-aged beggar who was grabbing his collar.
"Bold, I am Mr. Sun, I am a Juren, I am famous all over the world, I..."
"You lunatic!" The middle-aged beggar raised his right hand and was about to slap him when a low shout came from the distance.
"stop!"
As the sound came, I saw an old man holding a five or six-year-old child walking slowly from the overpass.
Seeing the arrival of the old man, the middle-aged beggar quickly let go, the ferocity on his face turned into flattery and flattery, and he spoke quickly.
"It turns out to be Member Zhou. I'm here to say hello to you, old man."
"Back off." Member Zhou frowned, took out some copper coins from his arms and threw them over. The middle-aged beggar quickly picked them up, his smile became more flattering, and he quickly stepped back.
Ignoring the other party, Member Zhou looked at the old beggar with emotion and complexity in his eyes, who continued to sit there after arranging his clothes, and raised his hand to knock the black board on the table again.
"Mr. Sun, if you have time, please tell me a paragraph. I want to listen again to the part where Luo laid out ninety million eons and had his final battle with Gu." Zhou Yuanwai said softly.
The old beggar rolled his eyelids, glanced outside the room, looked at it, and smiled faintly.
"It turns out to be the waiter, are everyone here?"
Zhou Yuanwai laughed when he heard this, as if he was lost in memories, and spoke after a while.
"Mr. Sun, everyone is here. I'm just waiting for you, old man." As he said that, he put down the curious child in his arms, stepped forward and wiped the table with his sleeves.
The old beggar suddenly smiled proudly, picked up the black wooden board, and knocked it on the table, making a snapping sound.
"Speaking of last time..." The old beggar's voice echoed in the bustling crowd, seeming to take him back to the past. The person opposite him, Zhou Yuanwai, seemed to be the same way. One of them spoke and the other listened until they arrived. After dusk, as the old beggar fell asleep, Zhou Yuanwai took a deep breath, looked at the gloomy sky, took off his coat and covered the old beggar, then bowed deeply, left some money, and took the child with him. leave.
In the distance, one can hear the curious voice of a child.
"Grandpa, who is that old beggar?"
"He is Mr. Sun. When grandpa was still working as a waiter in the teahouse, he was the gentleman he admired most."
"But why is he here? Why isn't he going home?"
"Mr. Sun's dream is to travel thousands of mountains and rivers to see the lives of the people. Maybe he is tired, so he takes a rest here." The old man's sighing voice blended with the clear voice of the child, and they walked farther and farther.
He couldn't see the old beggar who seemed to be sleeping behind him. His body was trembling at the moment. In his closed eyes, tears could not be blocked. They flowed down on his decent face. As the tears fell, the gloomy sky also fell. There was a muffled thunder, and drops of cold rain fell on the world.
The raindrops were very cold, and the old beggar slowly opened his dim eyes while trembling. He picked up the black wooden board on the table and stroked it in his hands. This was the only thing that accompanied him from beginning to end.
Touching the black wooden board, the old beggar raised his head and stared at the sky. He remembered the rain at the end of the story.
The rain thirty years ago was cold and without warmth. Just like fate, after Gu Yuluo finished telling his story, he had no more dreams, and the one he created was about demons, monsters, eternity, and demigods. Because the story of Xian was not exciting enough, everyone was looking forward to it from the beginning, until they were full of impatience, and no one cared about it in the end.
He tried many versions, but all failed without exception. The failure of storytelling also made him humbler at home. His father-in-law's dissatisfaction and his wife's contempt and disgust all made him bitter and could only hope. In the imperial examination.
But...he still failed.
The repeated blows brought Sun De to a dead end. In desperation, he could only tell the story about Gu Hexian again. This allowed him to return to his original life in a short period of time, but as the days passed by , seven years later, no matter how wonderful the story is, it cannot overcome repetition. Gradually, when everyone has heard it, and when more people have imitated it in other places, Sun De's path has been cut off.
He had no source of income, and gradually lost his reputation and dignity. At this time, his wife, after being disgusted countless times, started to have sex with others in front of him, and even more so when he was angry. She ended her marriage to him and remarried someone else with the support of her original father-in-law.
And Sun De also suffered the pain of being deceived in the first place. He was beaten violently, his legs were broken, and he was thrown out of the house. It was also raining that day, and it was just as cold.
After losing his family, career, dignity, everything, and his legs, he lay wailing in the rain. Finally he couldn't bear the blow and he went crazy.
In other words, he had to go crazy, because how famous he was when he was most popular, and how much he feels now that he has nothing, and how much he feels now that he has nothing. This gap is not something ordinary people can bear.
Crazy, he relied on the charity of his former listeners who occasionally lamented and recalled them, and gradually he became a beggar, a beggar who lived in his own world and still told stories.
Many times, he thought he was going to die, but he seemed unwilling to give in. He struggled to live, even if... the only thing accompanying him was the black wooden board.
Touching the black wooden board at this moment, Sun De looked at the rain. He felt that today was colder than usual, as if he was the only one left in the world, and everything in his eyes became blurry. Faintly, he seemed I heard many voices and saw many figures.
"Mr. Sun, let's have a while."
"Yes, Mr. Sun, we are all scratching our hearts after hearing this, please don't be so pretentious."
"Mr. Sun, our Mr. Sun, you just made us wait, but it's worth it!"
Listening to the sounds around him and looking at the enthusiastic figures, Sun De smiled, but his smile was slowly turning into eternity as his body cooled.
But at this moment... He suddenly saw two figures in the crowd, which were particularly clear. They were a middle-aged man with white hair. There seemed to be sadness in his eyes. There was a little girl wearing red clothes next to him. Although the child's clothes are happy, his face is pale and his figure is a bit illusory, as if he may disappear at any time.
The two of them sat there, staring at themselves.
"Senior, please save my daughter. Wang is willing to pay any price for this!" When Sun De looked at him, the white-haired middle-aged man stood up and bowed deeply to Sun De.
(End of chapter)