At the entrance of Taiping Town at noon, two beggars, one old and one young, who were thinly dressed and dirty, and the smell of their bodies made passers-by frown, appear here, and the two entered the town wrapped in a tattered blanket.

"Let me tell you, asking for food is a technical job, and you can't do it without some acting skills." With a face full of black grass and wood ashes, standing in front of Mu Jingchen and walking, Bai Ning, who was wrapped in the blanket covered by Mu Jingchen, once again instructed Mu Jingchen to ask for food.

"Yes." , Mu Jingchen nodded to indicate that he remembered.

Early in the morning, Bai Ning came to the abandoned house with a rag blanket and a small bundle of firewood that had been pieced together from rags that he didn't know where to go.

It was dark at that time, and when Bai Ning came to the abandoned house, Mu Jingchen was leaning against the fire and falling asleep, and the firewood that Bai Ning brought yesterday removed the remaining one or two small pieces of wood that had not been added to the fire, and the wood still in the fire had been burned into a pile of gray grass and wood ash that had not yet cooled, so the house was very dark and could only see a little red light from the grass ash in the center of the house.

Seeing such a scene in the abandoned house, Bai Ning shook her head a little funny, thinking that after the fire was completely extinguished a little later, it was estimated that she would be able to see Mu Jingchen, who was so cold that he jumped up and down in the house after being woken up from the cold and relied on exercise to keep warm.

I really don't know how Mu Jingchen, a person who can't take care of himself, cultivates to a realm that is only one step away from the immortals, Bai Ning thought so, and while thinking like this, Bai Ning threw some hay and added a few pieces of dry wood to the grass ash that still had residual temperature, and the fire that was about to be extinguished burned again after being added with new fuel, illuminating the abandoned house that was originally pitch black.

"Stupid Immortal Venerable is up." Bai Ning gently shook Mu Jingchen's arm that was still asleep with her little hand.

"Who, haven't I worked hard for decades of cultivation? I was finally able to get a good night's sleep, who disturbed my sweet dreams. Mu Jingchen, who was woken up by Bai Ning, muttered, and rubbed his sleepy eyes with his right hand very dissatisfied, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Bai Ning standing by the fire and smiling at him viciously.

"Lazy? Sleep well? Bai Ning's voice was a little higher than just now, and he said to Mu Jingchen angrily, "For your January appointment, I got up early to prepare the agreed trading items in the dark, but when I arrived, you were still sleeping, and the fire was about to burn out, don't you know?" If I come late, as soon as the fire goes out, you will not be woken up by me, but by freezing. As soon as Mu Jingchen opened his eyes, he was hit by Bai Ning.

"I'm not, I don't, I don't want to sleep in, I'm just talking." , Mu Jingchen hurriedly denied that he wanted to be lazy.

"Lie to me, I won't give you breakfast today." Bai Ning took out a potato from his arms and shook it in his hand, then put it into his arms again.

"Don't, why are you a little boy so angry, isn't the food a good deal?" Mu Jingchen saw Bai Ning take the potato in his hand back into his arms, and shook his head with a wry smile.

"Can't I go back? I'm just a child, and I don't know it. ”

Bai Ning made a grimace at Mu Jingchen and said these words generously.

"Well, I'm mistaken. It's wrong for me to be lazy, and I won't be like this next time. In front of the food, Mu Jingchen shrugged and compromised.

"Well, I'll forgive you, the potatoes still need to be baked, teach me the art of spitting during this time of baking potatoes." Bai Ning took out two potatoes, one large and one small, from his arms, and threaded them in wood and roasted them on the fire.

"Breathing technique, okay, no problem, I'll teach you the mantra first, you have to memorize it." When Mu Jingchen heard Bai Ning ask him to teach the Tuna Technique, he immediately came to his senses, straightened his back, sat cross-legged and put his hands on his knees on both sides, and began to teach the Tuna Technique, "Tai Chi Yin and Yang, Heaven and Earth, are originally one, but for chaos; Draw the spirit into the body, run the vitality, start and repeat, start and repeat; ......; Its origin is nothing, and then it is born ,......, the world is immeasurable, and the old is new. ”

The sentences are catchy, and the mantras that are easy to understand when said individually, but become obscure when said coherently, are said from Mu Jingchen's mouth.

"Stop, stop, say slow."

"What's behind the inducement of the spirit?"

"Slow down, don't say so fast, I haven't learned writing and can't record."

"I said it again and again, and I forgot about it."

“......”

During the baking of potatoes, Mu Jingchen first spoke the mantra continuously, and then taught, but when teaching Bai Ning, he repeated no less than ten times the content of the previous source, however, Bai Ning still failed to learn the previous content, until the potatoes were about to be baked, he could only stammered under Mu Jingchen's reminder, from the beginning of Tai Chi Yin and Yang to the end of the first paragraph.

"Let's eat the potatoes first, that's all for today, I don't want to memorize it anymore." Bai Ning felt that the content was obviously a sentence composed of a few simple words, but it was so difficult to recite it coherently, and it was really too big to memorize, so he simply used the meal to change the topic, and took out the wooden stick with the potato from the fire and handed it to Mu Jingchen.

"Okay, but why did you give me the small one and keep the big one for yourself." Taking the baked potatoes handed by Bai Ning, Mu Jingchen said to Bai Ning with some dissatisfaction.

"I'm still a kid, and I need nutrition to grow up." Bai Ning rolled her eyes at him and said a reason that Mu Jingchen couldn't refute.

"I'd love to refute you, but you're telling the truth." Although Bai Ning's mind is mature like an adult, his body is indeed an eight-year-old child, Mu Jingchen couldn't find a reason to refute him, just looked at the little potato in his hand and smiled slightly.

"Wait, I'll come and eat after the Immortal Venerable has washed up." Mu Jingchen put the potatoes on a slightly cleaner ground, and then went out to get snow water to wash.

"No, remember you're a beggar now, and a beggar doesn't need to wash." Hearing that Mu Jingchen was going to wash, Bai Ning said something to stop Mu Jingchen.

"Why? Isn't it easier to make a good impression on others when it's clean? Mu Jingchen asked puzzled.

"That's right, you're right, but you've seen a beggar who went to ask for food cleanly, it's rare that your current body is an old and dirty old beggar, you actually want to destroy this perfect shape, quickly sit down and eat potatoes, and I'll teach you how to beg in a while." Bai Ning didn't raise his head, and commented on Mu Jingchen's behavior while eating hot potatoes in small bites.

"Okay, then don't wash, sometimes I always feel like I'm a kid in front of you." Mu Jingchen picked up the potatoes on the ground and said to Bai Ning.

"It's good to know, stupid Immortal Venerable."

"Yes, understood, precocious imp."

After a brief conversation, Mu Jingchen began to eat baked potatoes.

The potatoes are roasted and soft and delicious, but unfortunately they are tasteless without salt.

"Like this, hunched back, bent back a little more, yes, that's it." After eating, Bai Ning taught Mu Jingchen what an old beggar should look like with his hands.

Half an hour later, Bai Ning looked at Mu Jingchen's appearance at this moment and nodded with satisfaction.

"It's really me, I can teach you to this extent, and now you look pitiful and helpless, like an old beggar."

"Alright, we'll set off when the ash water on your body has been dried by the fire."

"Don't forget to praise yourself while praising me, you're enough." At this moment, his back was bent, and his body was stained with snow water mixed with a lot of grass and wood ashes, and Mu Jingchen, who was shivering from the cold, said.

"Of course, it's not enough to praise the excellence, the image has been done, so now let's say something to a couple when you go to the town to beg."

"Okay."

"What should you say when you go to a house and beg for it?"

"Can you give me some food?"

"Wrong, you should say hello first."

"You should say that, the old lady is auspicious, our town has a poor grain harvest this year, and many people have starved to death. I fled from the famine, I was separated from the people who fled the famine, I was hungry and cold all the way, I haven't eaten for several days, can you give me some food, good people have good rewards, I am grateful. ”

"Isn't this a bit exaggerated?"

"Then you starve to death, why should they give you food if you don't arouse the sympathy of others, anyway, you can't be refined in what you say, if you look so miserable, nine out of ten people will believe it, except for the poor and the stingy who are too poor, most people, either out of sympathy or out of disgust, will always give you something."

"Aren't you going with me, then? I'm going to ask for food, what are you going to do? ”

"Well, this time I will pretend to be a little beggar to accompany you to ask for a meal, but next time you will have to go by yourself, this time we will pretend to be grandparents and grandchildren."

So at noon, there was the scene at the beginning of the article when Bai Ning and Mu Jingchen entered Taiping Town.

"Let's go, go to the inn door." Walking along the street all the way, Bai Ning looked at the surrounding environment and finally chose a bustling inn as their first begging target.

"Hey, stop, ask for food and go somewhere else, don't come to us and affect our business." Before entering the inn door, Mu Jingchen was stopped by Xiao Er, who was soliciting guests at the door of the inn.

"The little second brother is good, give me some food, there is a famine in our town, our grandfather and grandson were lost with the team on the way to escape the famine, we haven't eaten for a day, if it weren't for the way, I really won't come to disturb the little second brother, it doesn't matter if I have this old bone, but the child may not be able to hold on, we come here and don't need money just to share some of the leftover food for the guests to eat, I'm sorry for you." Mu Jingchen said to the shopkeeper tremblingly, his tone was sincere and sincere, but also with a hint of pathos.

"This ......" the shopkeeper seemed to be a little touched when he heard this.

"Grandpa, I'm hungry." Bai Ning made an assist at the right time, poked out a small head from the blanket in front of Mu Jingchen, looked at Mu Jingchen with big watery eyes, and at the same time stretched out his little hand and pulled Mu Jingchen's blanket, revealing the large scar left by the flames.

"This kid's body." The shopkeeper was obviously shocked when he saw the large area of burned skin on Bai Ning's body.

"The child has a hard life, not long after he was born, his father accidentally slipped off the cliff when he went up the mountain to fetch firewood, and it didn't take long for the child and his mother to know that he left us and remarried, I don't have anything, just the child, and the child's suffering is not only these, a few years ago, there was a fire at home, at that time I tried my best to put out the fire, but the child was still burned by the fire, and finally survived, but before a few days of good life, the famine came again, I am really sorry for his dead father." The more Mu Jingchen spoke, the more excited he became, and there were even a little tears flashing in his eyes, obviously moving his true feelings.

"Old man, when everyone may be in trouble, you stand by the door and wait for the food, and wait until I go inside and ask the shopkeeper to see what he has to say." After Bai Ning made up some things to assist Mu Jingchen, the shopkeeper was a little moved, slowed down his tone and said to Mu Jingchen, and then went into the store to report the matter to the shopkeeper standing on the counter.

After a while, the shopkeeper walked out with a slight smile.

"Old man, just now I told the shopkeeper about you, the shopkeeper told me that you can beg around the inn after that, if there are customers in the store leftover food, you will leave some good food for you to stay until noon or night, you can come to the backyard of the store when you are free, now you wait, you will come in after the guests leave these tables, and these three bronze casts are given to you by the boss and ask you to buy a few baked cakes for the child to eat." , the shopkeeper relayed the shopkeeper's words and handed the three bronze casts to Mu Jingchen.

"Little second brother, thank you so much, the old man doesn't know how to thank you, I'll kneel down for you." After that, Mu Jingchen made a gesture to kneel, but was hurriedly supported by the shopkeeper in front of him, "Old man, you can't be like this, if you kneel down at such an age, you really want to torment me." ”

After being held by Xiao Er, Mu Jingchen said to Xiao Er with excitement on his face, "Young man, thank you so much, you are really our savior." At the same time, he patted Bai Ning's head in his arms, "Yan'er, thank you for this brother." ”

"Thank you, big brother." Bai Ning, who was called Yan'er by Mu Jingchen in his arms and patted his head, poked his head out of the blanket and said timidly to the shopkeeper.

"You're welcome, you're welcome, remember that there is no difficulty that can't be overcome, there are still many good people in the world." The shopkeeper touched his head and said to Mu Jingchen very sincerely.

"Yes, there are still many good people in the world." Mu Jingchen turned around, the sad expression on his face showed a sincere smile, bowed deeply to Xiao Er, and then continued to walk towards the depths of the town with Bai Ning.

"There are still many good people in the world, yes, there are still many good people in the world." Looking at Mu Jingchen's figure with Bai Ning in the distance, the shopkeeper smiled slightly and said to himself.

"Sure enough, as you said, as long as you can chisel a crack in people's hearts at that time, the sun will be able to shine into it." After walking away, Mu Jingchen whispered to Bai Ning in the blanket in front of him with a smile.

"Of course, otherwise why would you take off my padded jacket and only wear a single coat to accompany you and run around with a blanket." , Bai Ning responded in a whisper in the blanket in front of Mu Jingchen.

In the evening, after a round of sweeping, Mu Jingchen and Bai Ning ate some of the food left by Xiao Er in the inn where they begged at the beginning, and after the guests ate the leftover food, they returned to the abandoned house with the food and money they begged for.

"A bumper harvest, a bumper harvest, today we begged more than 30 families and nearby shops not only to solve the future food source but also to 105 bronze casts, more than 10 potatoes, a small bag of charcoal and almost half a liter of rice." Mu Jingchen said to Bai Ning excitedly, excitedly wanting to pick him up and lift him high.

In the ruined temple, Mu Jingchen and Bai Ning bought two small clay pots, a wide mouth bowl and some coarse salt, lit a fire in the abandoned house, looked at today's balance, and exclaimed a bumper harvest at the same time.

"But excuses like today can only be used for a short period of time, most of these things are given out of sympathy for a while, if you don't have me here today, you will definitely get more than half less food or money, but you must know that no one's sympathy is infinitely overflowing, and this excuse will not be used after almost winter, and you will still have to rely on begging and planting some edible plants for a living in the days to come, and this is the first pot of gold, you have to use it well." After walking out of the surprise, Bai Ning, who calmed down, objectively analyzed for Mu Jingchen.

"Oh, is that so? I haven't really thought of so much yet. Mu Jingchen, who just wanted to use the money to buy a thick quilt for himself and wanted to live a life of big fish and meat by asking for food in the future, decisively dispelled the idea of buying a quilt.

"Then how do you think the money should be distributed in the most reasonable way?" Mu Jingchen asked Bai Ning.

"Sure enough, the rich young master who had no worries about food and clothing at home before just wouldn't take so many things into account, so let me explain the distribution of this money to you." Bai Ning sighed, shook his head, and pretended to be mature and said to Mu Jingchen.

"First of all, if you want to solve the problem of wintering, you must have a quilt and a cotton jacket, a firewood knife for cutting wood, and at worst, a cotton jacket and a firewood knife, otherwise you may not be able to survive a week just by relying on the rag blanket on your body and the wood I gave you." Bai Ning put forward the primary goal to be solved for Mu Jingchen.

"I know that this blanket can't prevent the cold, and give it to me." Mu Jingchen muttered quietly, although the voice was small, it still did not escape Bai Ning's ears.

"Don't give it back to me, I picked up rags last year and put them together not long ago." , Bai Ning stretched out the palm of his right hand and put it in front of Mu Jingchen.

"Yes, of course, this is an important part of the transaction." Mu Jingchen wrapped the broken blanket on his body tighter.

"That's it, so let's talk about the second point." Bai Ning withdrew his right hand and stretched out his fingers to compare two and continued, "If you have enough food sources that can produce food stably, this is easy to do, you can cultivate a small piece of land in the house next to the abandoned house that has not completely collapsed, cut the potatoes into small pieces and soak them in water, and plant them after they sprout, water them day by day, and you can always be self-sufficient." ”

"The third point is the residence, I suggest that after the winter, even if it takes half a year to make a thatched house, don't tell me that you can't, you can always learn if you don't go to school, no matter how difficult it is, it's not as difficult as the one you taught me to memorize."

"That's about these three points, now all our money should only be enough to buy a worn-out cotton jacket and a brand new wood knife and a whetstone, if you want potatoes, you can take ten and plant them, as for the white rice to arrive, this is a good thing, I haven't been able to eat it for a long time, you have to save some food."