Liaozhai: A scholar should draw a sword

Chapter 196 Fighting Crickets
Not long after, Zhou Yu brought a group of students to the north of the city.

This is the largest cricket market in Huayin County. Those who buy and sell crickets, those who fight crickets, those who watch the excitement, those who want to pick up leaks... are very popular.

After turning around for a while, Zhou Yu saw a lot of people surrounded in front of him, each of them yelling, thinking that the battle was fierce.

So, he walked over.

As soon as they entered the crowd, they saw a small table in the field. On the table was a ceramic bucket. In the basin, two crickets, one big and one small, were fighting fiercely.

The reason why cricket fighting is popular among the people is because crickets have aggressive nature.

Male crickets will often bite each other to defend their territory or compete for mate rights.

After being caught, it can be used to fight with other crickets after a little feeding.

The important thing is that the biting between crickets is also skillful, and it is not just rushing forward to bite the opponent as soon as you see it.

After encountering an opponent, the first thing to do is flap your wings and cry, this is to cheer yourself up, and at the same time, it is also to intimidate and destroy the opponent's prestige.

This point is the same as shouting at each other in human wars and beating drums to boost morale.

In the process of fighting, crickets will also adopt various tactics. In addition to biting with their mouths, they will also use the top of their heads, kick their feet, and constantly change their positions in order to find the best attack or attack. defensive position.

A small cricket jar, placed on the table, can enjoy a wonderful fight, which is indeed an excellent way for the common people to spend time after dinner.

There is no way to verify when and where cricket fighting started. It was originally just a way of entertainment, but it gradually evolved into a way of gambling.

Some princes and nobles started betting on a cricket fight with a hundred taels of silver, and some even bet tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Therefore, the little crickets are fried to sky-high prices.

Of course, not all crickets are valuable, it depends on the species and appearance.

Generally speaking, larger crickets have stronger combat power.

But at this time, the big cricket in the bucket kept backing down, but the small cricket, with its toes high and high, chased after it fiercely, fluttered its wings and croaked from time to time, gaining the upper hand.

"How can this happen, how can this happen..."

A middle-aged man in a brocade suit with a livid face and cold sweat muttered to himself in disbelief.

He is the owner of the big cricket. The species of this cricket is called black-headed general.

This species is also found in Huayin County, but it is different from the inkflies produced in other places. There is an obvious green line on the head, which is called Qingtou inkfly, which is a unique category.

Although the middle-aged man's green-headed inkfly is not top-grade, it is considered very good. He spent more than 100 taels of silver to buy it, and he has earned nearly 300 taels from gambling with others.

But he never thought that today he would lose to an unremarkable little cricket who was playing for the first time.

And the owner of that little cricket seems to be a scholar, and he doesn't know how to fight crickets.

Others will pinch a cricket grass to tease the crickets in order to stimulate their ferocity and fighting spirit.

But the scholar didn't take the cricket grass, but just shouted a few times from time to time, as if cheering for someone.

Not long after, the blue-lined blackfly shrank to the edge of the bucket, no matter how much the middle-aged man teased him, he would not fight again.

That means it throws in the towel.

Although cricket fighting cannot avoid casualties, in fact there are not many casualties, because although crickets are aggressive, they also have the spirit of contract.

Once the opponent admits defeat, he will stop chasing and biting.

"Grasshopper..."

The little cricket raised its head high, flapping its wings and chirping like a victorious general.

"Hahaha, I won, I won..."

The scholar shouted excitedly, and then carefully caught the cricket back into the bamboo tube.

"Don't be complacent, you just won by luck once, if we have the ability, let's fight again next time."

The middle-aged man had an unconvinced expression on his face.

But not convinced, if you lose, you lose, and you can only obediently take out a silver coin and put it on the table.

"Assignment and acceptance."

The scholar put away the money and left happily.

"Turn around here as you please, and I'll leave for a while."

Zhou Yu gave instructions to several students, and then followed the scholar from a distance to the outside of the market.

Not far from the market, he chased after him and blocked the scholar's way, and said with a smile, "I wonder if this cricket from Xiongtai is willing to sell it?"

The scholar froze for a moment, looked at Zhou Yu, shook his head like a rattle: "If you don't sell it or sell it, it will be handed over to the county government."

"Hand it over to the county government?"

"Correct!"

The scholar responded, changed direction and continued on his way.

"Wait..." Zhou Yu stepped forward to block the way again: "I'll buy it from you at a high price, and you set a price."

In fact, Zhou Yu didn't really want to buy some crickets, but wanted to test the other party.

Because he found this cricket unusual.

"I told you not to sell it, what's the matter with you?" The scholar became a little impatient.

"What if I have to buy it today?"

"You... Do you still have the law? Do you want to rob in the street?"

Zhou Yu smiled: "Brother, you are serious. You should be a scholar. I am also a scholar. Let's be reasonable."

"Are you so reasonable? You said you wouldn't sell it, but you still said you insisted on buying it."

"Okay, you don't have to sell it, but can you tell me, where did your cricket come from?"

"I caught it myself."

"You caught it yourself? Where did you catch it?"

"You... Do it, you're in my yard. Are you satisfied now? I really have something important to do, so I won't accompany you."

The scholar changed direction again and wanted to leave.

As a result, Zhou Yu stopped him again.

Now, the scholar was really annoyed: "What do you want? Believe it or not, I will report to the official?"

"It's not what I want, but you have a problem with this cricket..."

While speaking, Zhou Yu scrutinized the other party's expression steadily.

"Is there a problem?" The scholar was stunned: "What's the problem?"

It's strange, looking at this guy's expression, it doesn't seem like he's pretending. It seems that he really doesn't know that there is something wrong with this cricket.

Then there is a real problem.

"To tell you the truth, this cricket is not a cricket..."

"You...what are you talking about? Crickets...not crickets?" The scholar was confused, and subconsciously picked up the bamboo tube and looked at it.

Such an expression made Zhou Yu more certain that the other party really didn't know anything, and he was just a cricket that was good at fighting.

"That's right, on the surface it is a cricket, but in fact...it has intelligence. To be precise, this cricket has a human soul attached to it, so it is so smart and flexible."

The scholar was dumbfounded.

In the past, he would definitely have thought that Zhou Yu was a charlatan, playing tricks to cheat money.

But now, he didn't think so, because Zhou Yu's words aroused his thoughts.

Seeing that the scholar's face was cloudy and uncertain, Zhou Yu guessed that there was something hidden about the origin of this cricket.

That's why he chased it out.

A cricket actually possessed a human soul, which inevitably made Zhou Yu speculate whether someone was out of his mind and used a kind of magic similar to making animals.

Creating animals is an extremely evil witchcraft, which uses the hair and blood of animals supplemented by medicine and spells to turn people into animals.

If he really wanted to meet such an evil warlock, Zhou Yu would never let him go.

It's just that the scholar didn't look like someone who knew magic, so Zhou Yu had to figure out where the cricket came from.

The scholar hesitated for a while, couldn't help but arched his hands and said: "I won't be famous before, I'm just a scholar, dare to ask Mr. Gao's name?"

"Miangui's surname is Zhou, and the single name has the character Yu."

Cheng Ming bowed subconsciously: "So it's Zhou..."

Speaking of this, he seemed to think of something, and asked in disbelief, "Could it be that Mr. Cheng is... Zhou Jieyuan from Wendao Academy?"

Zhou Yu smiled and nodded: "Exactly!"

The news that Zhou Yu led a group of students to fight against the fake Dragon King had already spread.

There are a lot of people coming and going from south to north in Huayin County, so the news has naturally spread here, and the fame has been mentioned more than once.

Therefore, as soon as Zhou Yu announced his name, he suddenly reacted.

All of a sudden, Cheng Ming's expression became surprised, happy and excited, and at the same time he looked a little at a loss, subconsciously took a step back, bent down and bowed again.

"No wonder I saw a lot of scholars in the market before, so it turned out that the husband has arrived.

I have long admired Mr.'s name, and it is my luck to see you today. "

"Okay, there's no need to be too polite." Zhou Yu raised his hand in the air.

Then he said: "I came after you specially because of your cricket."

When this matter was mentioned, Cheng Ming couldn't help but sighed, and said with a wry smile: "Sir, not being talented is not just playing around and being obsessed with this way.

Bucai has been studying hard, never thought that one day..."

"It seems that what is your difficulty, how about it, let's talk in another place, you might as well talk and listen."

"Sir, if you don't mind, please sit in the humble house. The humble house is not far from the city."

"Okay, let's go."

"Sir please!"

After walking two or three miles out of the city, I arrived at Chengming's house.

There are two entrances to the yard, so the family situation is not bad.

However, when Zhou Yu entered the backyard, the famous wife came out after hearing the sound, but she was dressed in coarse cloth with a haggard face, like a poor family.

Entering the front hall, I found that the furniture inside was also very dilapidated, which did not match the layout of the yard at all.

"Sir, have some tea, please."

"Thank you!"

Zhou Yu took the tea bowl and couldn't help frowning.

After all, he drank high-quality tea on weekdays, but when his famous wife brewed it, he knew it was the big bowl of tea from a roadside stall.

Of course, he didn't dislike it either. When he was away from home, he would often go to a roadside stall to drink a big bowl of tea.

"Sir, there really isn't any good tea at home..." Cheng Ming took the initiative to say.

"it's okay no problem……"

Zhou Yu smiled, his eyes suddenly caught sight of a painting hanging on the west wall, and he looked at it for a while.

"That's a clumsy work by a poor talent, I hope you don't laugh at it."

"Did you draw this yourself?"

Zhou Yu couldn't help getting up and walking to the painting to appreciate it carefully.

With Zhou Yu's current level, there are not many paintings that can catch his eyes, even if they are masterpieces of some masters.

However, the painting painted by Cheng Ming caught his eye.

In terms of skill, it is naturally not as good as some Danqing masters, but it has a unique charm.

The name of this painting is Tongqu, and it depicts a child catching crickets in the grass.

The child is squatting on the ground, the facial expressions are lifelike, and the cricket is also vividly drawn, including the faint green hills in the background, and the grass is very vividly drawn.

Standing in front of the painting, there is quite a sense of immersion, as if the picture can move at any time.

In Zhou Yu's view, although the technique of this painting is a bit inferior, it has a rare spirituality and great plasticity.

Cheng Ming walked up to Zhou Yu, and said modestly, "This is a few days ago when I had nothing to do, and I did it on the spur of the moment, which made my husband laugh."

"It can be seen that you have worked very hard on this painting, and the painting is quite good.

On the whole, his skills are a little weaker, but he has a rare spirituality and a vivid charm that can resonate with people..."

After a review, I was surprised and delighted to be famous, and at the same time inspired.

Excited, I couldn't help cupping my hands and thanking him: "Thank you sir for your comment. Listening to your words is really better than reading ten years of books."

"If you have a chance in the future, you can go to the academy. There is a calligraphy and painting club in the academy, and there are many talented people in it. If you have a chat, maybe you will have unexpected gains."

When Zhou Yu said these words, he naturally cherished his talents.

After all, it is rare to meet such a talented person, and after some training, he might have the opportunity to become a famous calligrapher and painter.

"This……"

Hearing what Zhou Yu said, Cheng Ming couldn't help but frowned, as if there was something hard to say.

"Okay, let's not talk about this, let's talk about your cricket, I hope you can tell the truth, where did this cricket come from?"

"To tell you the truth, this cricket was really caught in my yard, and it appeared by itself.

I was still surprised at the time.

In the past, crickets could be seen everywhere in walls, brick cracks, and grass.

But in recent years, the price of crickets has been rising steadily, and people are crazily catching them, regardless of size, appearance, or category, as long as it is a cricket.

As a result, the number of crickets has decreased dramatically.

Not to mention good appearance, even the most common crickets are rarely seen, and they can only be found in remote mountains.

It's nothing more than a large number of foreign merchants flocking to buy, the key is that the government is also forcibly apportioning it to the village chiefs.

The gentleman also knows that the position of village head has always been held by well-known squires in various townships, or the patriarchs of some big families.

But since the assignment of crickets, the post of chief here has become a hot potato..."

Speaking of this, Cheng Ming couldn't help but let out a long sigh, with a sad expression on his face.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu's heart moved, and he asked, "Could it be that you are the head of the village now?"

The head of the village is very prestigious in the countryside, and many squires will rush to be the leader. After all, it is profitable and powerful, which is equivalent to a local emperor.

In the countryside, if there is a Juren in the local area, it is usually the Juren who serves as the head of the village.

If there is no juren, most of them will be the patriarchs or elders of some big families.A scholar, unless the family is relatively rich and famous in the local area, can be a village chief.

Cheng Ming smiled wryly and nodded: "Isn't it the one who was tricked by others? Logically speaking, how could he be qualified to be the village chief?"

After becoming famous and talking about it, Zhou Yu finally understood the reason why the other party was able to become the chief of the village.

……

(End of this chapter)