177 Disobedient Dots (2/2)
Sixth Brother was stunned for a moment and said after a moment of silence, ”Then I'll... make some silver needles for you.”
Ning Que's eyes became slightly bright as he said, ”Can they be a little heavier?”
Sixth Brother looked at him and said, ”Then it would be gold.”
Ning Que seriously said, ”Although I haven't tried gold ever, I do believe I have a stronger feeling to it than silver.”
Sixth Brother became silent again and helplessly said after a long time, ”The gold needle is too soft. I'll mix it with something else.”
Ning Que became extremely joyful and greeted a bow with hands in front. Then he suddenly thought of certain possibility and had much brighter eyes.
...
...
The second day.
In a calligraphy shop in Lin 47th Street of Chang'an City, a little handmaiden with a black face unhappily threw away a pot and rags, with an extremely bad mood. So she decided to take her private savings today to purchase many cosmetic powders in Chenjinji Cosmetics Store. And her young master had robbed a pile of silver notes out of home like a bad gambler and exchanged them for real silver and gold. Then he happily went back to the Academy's back mountain.
When the rough cloth was untied, three podaos that have been polished shiny appeared in front of Sixth Brother.
Ning Que stood next to the three knives, hopefully looking at Sixth Brother.
Sixth Brother looked at podao and the gold and silver beside and became silent for a long time. Then he looked up and watched excited Ning Que to seriously ask, ”From these things, I think Younger Brother you are going to play... flying knife?”
”Right.” Ning Que rubbed his hands and nervously said, ”Senior Brother, I am best at playing with knives. Since a sword can fly, of course, a knife can also fly. Besides, with your help of mixing it with gold as well as silver, I believe it must be better than the flying sword.”
Sixth Brother finally turned to a stiff face. ”But... have you seen such a big flying knife in the world?”
...
...
In the opinion of Ning Que, all the enemies hate him, so their word attacks were all wort a fart. Those clever people were best at speaking, so their language attacks were also worth a fart. However, such a simple and honest good man like Sixth Brother deeply hurt his self-esteem when Senior Brother mistakenly issued language attacks occasionally and inadvertently.
Because of the depression and his hurt self-esteem, Ning Que decided to calm down to think about what to do in the future. So he slipped into the Mountain Path and went straightly into the flower trees. He found Eleventh Brother who was muttering deep inside the trees.
”Senior Brother, gain any new experience? Share with your Younger Brother.”
...
...
Someone flew a sword at the lake, smashing the flowers as well as grass and hitting Senior Brother's head. It also disturbed Senior Sister's embroidery in the spring, those magical lines on the sand table, blue waves in the lake and wet grass in the water.
Someone flew a needle in the forest, adding a few more bloody wounds on his body. Not for too long, he was seen to be chasen after by a fat white, screaming over the mountain.
Someone forged iron in the blacksmith house, with all kinds of strange materials piled at his feet. They were mainly gold and silver, supplemented by precious stones. Sixth Brother stood aside to help him to finish the design, with a simple and honest face filled with grievances.
In the late spring of the fourteenth year of Tianqi era, these pictures repeatedly occurring in the Academy's back mountain. Many years later, people living in the back mountain still felt afraid when missing and recalling those days.
The Younger Brother, who has just stepped into the Second floor, practiced his broken sword as well as his broken needle and thought of those bad ideas to torment his Senior Brothers and Sisters. All in all, he really made them extremely distressed.
”Are you crazy lately?”
Chen Pipi put his meal box down, watching Ning Que who was still satisfied when losing three rounds of chess to Eighth Brother, and then lamentedly asked.
”What do you mean? Try a flying needle or a flying knife?” Ning Que confusedly asked.
”All of them...” Chen Pipi said snappily, ”You haven't learnt the Haoran Sword, or known much Talisman Taoism from Master Yan Se. Why do you have so much energy to make so many bizarre things?”
”It's always good to learn more.”
”Why are you in such a hurry? Cultivation is a gradual and orderly progress. The most important thing is to lay the foundation first.”
”My qualification is so poor, no matter how good the foundation is. So it's better to learn more.”
Chen Pipi sighed and said, ”In my opinion... you had better still focus on Talisman Taoism. What it needs is the talent not the foundation.”
Ning Que curiously asked, ”Why not learn them together?”
Chen Pipi frowned and said, ”Insatiable greed is not good for cultivation.”
Ning Que laughed and said, ”Since childhood, I've learnt a truth. No greed, no success.”
Chen Pipi was so angry as to laugh to say, ”Until now do I realize that you are such a stubborn person, even more stubborn than Second Brother.”
”I won't tell it to Second Brother.”
”A bowl of crab porridge.”
”Impossible. Recently I've taken too much gold and silver out of home and Sangsang has been very unhappy.”
”Well... how much did you take.”
”Two hundred Liang taels of silver.”
”Two hundred? Why did you make so many silver needles? You want to learn medical acupuncture!”
”It's none of your business.”
”Well, well. Then I'll curse you with a few more words of idiots.”
”Pipi, you should remember that the back mountain is the Second floor of the Academy. Since we are all in the Second floor, naturally all of us are idiots.”
”... ”
”Idiot Chen, don't you agree?”
”I... agree.” Chen Pipi looked at Ning Que as if seeing a madman and said biting his teeth, ”Even if you make those things for cultivation, why do you every day harass Senior Brothers? At the beginning, you were scared to pale when hearing that you were about to listen to their music and play chess. Why did you suddenly change the temper to listen to music and play chess every day?”
Ning Que laughed and replied, ”I did not like it at the very beginning because I didn't like being forced by someone to listen to music and play chess. Now Second Brother has ordered everyone not to force me. So I still can do them when I choose to do them myself. Senior Brother Bei Gong is really good at blowing the vertical bamboo flute. Besides how can I look for the opportunity to play against the two major national players outside the Academy?” ”In the non-cultivation time, I can take those activities as an entertainment and cultivate my sentiments. In the future, I can boast to impress others with these things like World Wayfarers.”
Chen Pipi startled upon hearing it and held his own chubby cheeks to ask, ”How about Eleventh Brother? Why do you annoy him?”
”But Eleventh Brother doesn't feel me annoying.”
Ning Que leaned down and lowered his voice to say, ”Have you ever noticed that listening to Eleventh Brother talk about those mysterious problems can not only help people sleep, but also help people get into meditation?”
...
...
All disciples on the Second floor of the Academy held a collective meeting in the back mountain the same night. Even the scholar of the small book house in the cave was also asked to be present. But the old man holding an old book has been concentrating on reading, not caring about what the people around were saying.
Ning Que did not attend this meeting, not for he had already returned to his house in Chang'an, but for the main topic of this meeting on the Second floor of the Academy was to study how to deal with his current problems.
”Don't you think Younger Brother is very miserable? Haoran Sword was trained to become a wasp's tail needle... This is certainly not what he wants. But his qualification is limited, so he was forced to think about these messy ideas. I mean you should tolerate him more. Though he laughs every day, I always feel that he has hidden tears in his laughter, with a shadow in his heart.”
The meeting was held at Second Brother's small courtyard. Seventh Sister was holding an embroidery rack, cross-legged sitting in the deepest part of a Lohan bed. Her posture was extremely casual, which proved that she was not afraid of Second Brother.
Listening to these words, Fourth Brother with the most serious face frowned and said, ”It's not a matter of tolerance. Am I really mad with Younger Brother? Now the most important question is how to help solve his cultivation problem.”
Third Sister Yu Lian quietly sitting in the corner of the room slightly smiled but did not say anything.
Fifth Brother frowned and said, ”I think the primary problem is to enhance Younger Brother's self-confidence. He bothers me and Eighth Brother to play chess with him every day. Even if he loses a lot, he also grins and laughs. It's obvious that he has lost to numbness, even some metamorphosis. We can't let him be like this.”
All of them thought that those words seemed to make sense indeed.
Ninth Brother tapped the vertical bamboo flute pipe and looked somewhere after a short moment of pondering. He said, ”Since the teacher and Eldest Brother are not here, now Second Brother you're the one we respect in the back mountain. To be honest, that day when he practiced the sword at the lakeside, what Second Brother you have said really hurt him. It says that it is better for the doer to undo what he has done. If Second Brother you can sincerely praise Younger Brother, he might be able to reinstate his confidence in practicing Haoran Sword.”
Everyone looked at Second Brother sitting in the middle.
After a long time of silence, Second Brother said, ”I... can not lie.”