This is a small book shop with humble appearance. It is located at the deep corner of a busy street. It is quite remote, and its business is naturally deserted.
The shopkeeper, surnamed Li, is an old man who has entered his twilight years. At this time, he is holding his forehead with his hands behind the counter and sleepy.
In the bookstore, there was only one boy in front of the bookshelf to choose books, and the atmosphere was quiet.
The boy is about thirteen or fourteen years old, but he is thin and slender, has a beautiful and warm face, and looks fresh and clean in a coarse gray clothes.
This is Lintian.
Before long, Lintian picked up four books, came to the counter and whispered, "uncle."
The old man woke up and said with a smile, "well, let me see the records of imperial mountains and rivers, the official history of the Empire, basic records of cultivation, collection of holy stripe atlas..."
The old man raised his head and said in surprise, "nowadays, young people are rarely interested in these knowledge. It's rare to like reading like you."
Lintian smiled: "uncle, how much are these four books?"
"If you want twenty coins, please follow me."
After Lintian paid, he picked up the book and hurried out of the bookstore.
The night outside is like ink, but the rows of buildings in the distance are brightly lit, beautiful like stars falling to the earth.
It was windy at night. Lintian hurried down the street. Before long, he turned into a shop called AHU fruit pulp, found five copper coins and bought a large cup of sour, sweet and delicious "Yunxiang fruit pulp".
This is the signature drink of AHU fruit pulp store. It is made of several kinds of spiritual materials such as "Poria cocos leaf", "Purple floating Luo" and "cloud fragrant fruit" mixed with some spiritual vegetables. It tastes sweet and delicious. The key is that there are not many impurities. It is extremely suitable for practitioners to drink.
Holding the books and fruit pulp, Lintian kept shuttling through the streets with crisscross paths for a moment. Soon, he came to an extremely prosperous and spacious street.
The streets are full of people and traffic. Colorful lights are dotted on the buildings on both sides, which are colorful and bright.
Many passers-by are dressed in gorgeous clothes. They shuttle back and forth from treasure chariots. From time to time, practitioners gallop past on scaly horses, horned deer and other mounts.
Some vendors set up stalls and shouted frequently, and the noise of excitement was fermenting over this busy street.
This is the most famous street in donglincheng, 800 feet long, so it is also called "800 Street".
In the middle of this street, there are all kinds of top shops, restaurants, inns, pill shops and lingcai shops in the East Lincheng.
Each shop is adjacent to the famous gold selling Grottoes in the city in the East, and there are cities of major forces behind it. Therefore, almost all the guests received are valuable practitioners, and most people can't afford to spend at all.
At the east end of the "800 Street", there is a college called "east facing college", which is undertaken by the imperial government. It recruits students and preaches and teaches every year. It is very famous. As long as you pass the examination, you can practice in it by paying a tuition fee.
Among all the people who are interested in practicing in donglincheng, it is glorious to be able to enter the "donglincheng College" to study.
Lintian happened to pass by the "east facing college". He couldn't help looking at it more. He saw that the college covered a very wide area, and its buildings were dotted with ups and downs, and students appeared and disappeared from time to time.
After standing still for a moment, Lintian turned away.
At this time, a group of young girls came from the opposite side, one by one dressed in mink fur, looking very different.
"In another month, I can take part in the government test. I have the triple cultivation of Zhenwu and can easily pass the examination!"
"Hahaha, which of us is not under the age of 15 and which has no cultivation above Zhenwu triple level? This government test is easy for us."
"Yes, this government test is not worth worrying about at all. What is really worth considering is whether to pass the government test and go directly to Qingfeng County to participate in the state test in March of the next year!"
"I can't say that. This time, there are 3000 people in Donglin college who want to take part in the government examination, and the admission quota of the government examination is only 1000. In this way, 2000 people will be eliminated directly. Don't be careless."
"Well, I'm worried about that, too."
These young girls chattered while walking, and the topics they talked about were all focused on the "government examination" assessment.
Lin Xun is going to pay more attention. Unfortunately, those young girls have all entered the "Donglin College". Obviously, they are all students of Donglin college.
Lintian could not catch up with this.
"I didn't expect that so many people will participate in the government examination this time, and 2000 people will be eliminated. That is to say, even if they meet the conditions for passing the examination, they may not be admitted."
Lintian thought while walking. The so-called admission is to obtain the certificate of passing the government test, which is one of the conditions for participating in the next "state test".
Before long, Lintian disappeared in the "800 Street" and walked on for a long time before entering a deserted, dark and dilapidated street.
This is a "civilian area" near the city in the East. Most of them live in the bottom of society. Compared with the prosperity of other places, this civilian area undoubtedly looks extremely dilapidated. The people living here are also mixed and diverse.
The public security here is also very poor. Thieves, hooligans and murderers shuttle through it every day, which is extremely chaotic.
Lintian would not have arranged his residence here if he had to.
Lintian walked along a dark alley with muddy water stains under his feet. From time to time, there was a cry of wild dogs and cats in the distance.
At the corner of the alley, a man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks suddenly rushed out and greeted Lintian with a smile: "Hey, man, alone?"
As soon as the man raised his hand, Lintian grabbed it and twisted the other man's wrist.
I saw the man's raised palm loose, and a small blade fell to the ground with a cold light, making a jingling sound.
The man was in pain and was about to scream when Lintian slapped him unconscious. He was paralyzed and fell on the side of the sewage road.
From beginning to end, all actions took place between lightning, stone and fire. It was crisp and came to an end in an instant.
Lintian seemed to be used to this kind of thing. He looked calm and walked forward.
Shortly after Lintian left, two sneaky figures appeared again at the corner of the alley.
When he saw the man who fainted on the ground, one of the fat men couldn't help gloating and laughing, "what's the number?"
Another person pinched his finger and said, "the little man lived in seven days ago. By calculation, this is the 19th man planted in his hands."
"Ha ha, this rotten head Zhang used to be a smart man, but he doesn't open his eyes today. He actually came up with this little master's idea. Doesn't he know how the snake boss died?"
"This is called having eyes without eyes. Now in this area, who doesn't know that in yard 49 deep in the alley, there is a young man who uses cruel means and kills people without blinking an eye?"
"Well, it's time for us to act."
With that, the two men leaned over the man called "rotten head Zhang" for a while, searched for more than ten copper coins, and then left happily.
……
Lintian pushed the door into yard 49 deep in the alley.
Boom!
A fist burst into the air, with a terrible momentum, smashing the air into pieces and splashing, making a dull explosion.
Lintian didn't move. He looked helpless and said, "it's me."
Suddenly, the boxing style converged, everything returned to calm, and the young and delicate figure of the summer solstice appeared in front of us.
"I know it's you. If someone else had died." Xia solstice walked forward, took a cup of "Yunxiang fruit juice" from Lintian naturally, and turned away.
Lintian smiled and shrugged, then walked in.
This courtyard is not big. There is a big locust tree in the center of the yard, with a canopy like an umbrella and lush shade. On the other side are two houses and a kitchen. After thorough cleaning, it is also quite quiet and tidy.
In the room, a Nanling incense candle was lit. The candle was bright and sent out a trace of calming fragrance.
Lintian sat in front of the desk and looked through the books he had bought. At the summer solstice, he sat quietly on the stool on one side, sipping the "Yunxiang fruit juice" in the cup.
Seven days ago, they came to Donglin City, but when they were looking for a place to live, they found that with the 300 silver coins Lintian carried, they could not rent a place with a good environment in the city. Living in the inn was not only expensive, but also many people, so it was not suitable for long-term residence.
In desperation, Lintian could only rent the yard in this "civilian area". The rent was surprisingly cheap, only 30 silver coins a year.
It was only after seven days of living that Lintian finally understood why the rent was so cheap, because this place was too chaotic and there were all kinds of people.
On the first day, a man nicknamed "snake head" led a group of local ruffians to collect protection fees.
The next day, Lintian went out to buy daily necessities. When he returned home, he saw three dead bodies lying in the yard. When he asked about the summer solstice, it turned out that they were three thieves who broke into the house and stole.
On the third day, Lintian was stopped by a group of people who had already ambushed in the streets to rob him.
On the fourth day, Lintian met a group of murderers who tried to rob a woman and immediately came to the rescue, but the result was that the woman was with the murderers.
The fifth day
In a word, in the short seven days when Lintian moved in, thieves, hooligans, scoundrels and murderers came and went like wild dogs smelling blood.
Of course, the fate of those people was very miserable, and even many of them had completely disappeared in the world, but Lintian knew that if he dealt with these people every day, there would be no difference.
Most importantly, there is a summer solstice around him. He doesn't want the little girl to grow up in this dirty and dangerous environment.
As for the reason, it was very simple, because Lintian grew up in the dark environment of mine prison. Since his childhood, he saw many cruel, treacherous, bloody and cruel dark tricks, as well as many vicious people with bloody hands.
Compared with these murderers, those local ruffians and hooligans entrenched in this "civilian area" are pure like a white lotus, clever like an ignorant child, and have no deterrence.
Lintian knew that if there were no Mr. Lu, he would have been infected by this environment since he was a child. He was afraid that he would also sink into the dark road and become inhuman.
In view of this, Lintian would not let the summer solstice live in such a dirty and dark environment.
However, if you want to move, you need a huge amount of money, which is impossible for Lintian.
So now, Lintian's most concern was not how to pass the "government test", but how to... Make money!
——
PS: one of the monthly ticket list has been exploded, and it will be exploded again soon... I don't know what to say.