Anthology of Gu Long: The Prodigal Son of Border Town

Chapter 2 The Man Without a Knife (1)
He has no saber.

As soon as he walked in, he saw Fu Hongxue!
There were already many people here, all kinds of people, but people like him shouldn't have come here.

Because he doesn't deserve it.

This is a very strange place.

It's late autumn now, but the place is still as warm as spring.

It was late at night, but the place was still as bright as day.

There is wine here, but it is not a restaurant.

There is gambling, but it is not a casino.

There are women who can do anything with you at any time, but they are not brothels.

This place has no name at all, but it is the most famous place within a few hundred miles.

There are eighteen tables in the hall.

No matter which table you choose to sit down, you can enjoy the best food and drink-only food and wine, if you want to enjoy anything else, you have to open the door.

There are eighteen doors on all sides of the hall.

No matter which door you push to walk in, you will never regret it, nor will you be disappointed.

At the back of the hall, there is a tall staircase.

No one knew what was upstairs, and no one had ever been there.

Because you don't have to go upstairs at all.

Whatever it is you're looking for, it's all downstairs.

At the entrance of the stairs, there was a relatively small square table, and a middle-aged man with gorgeous clothes and neat grooming was sitting there.

He always seems to be sitting there alone, playing dominoes alone.

He was rarely seen doing anything else, and rarely seen standing up.

The chair he sat in was wide and comfortable.

Next to the chair, there are two mahogany canes.

He never noticed other people coming and going, and rarely even raised his head to take a look.

No matter what other people do, it seems that it has nothing to do with him.

In fact, he is the owner of this place.

A very strange place, usually with a very strange owner.

Fu Hongxue held a knife in his hand.

A strangely shaped knife with a black scabbard and a black handle.

He is eating, eating a mouthful of rice, with a mouthful of vegetables, eating very slowly.

Because he can only eat with one hand.

He holds the knife in his left hand, and no matter what he is doing, he never lets go of the knife.

A pitch-black knife, pitch-black clothes, and pitch-black eyes.

Shiny black.

So although he was sitting far away from the gate, Ye Kai saw him and the knife in his hand when he walked in.

Ye Kai never carried a knife.

Autumn is deep, and night is deep.

There is only one lamp hanging from this gate on the long street.

The door is very narrow, the dim light shines on the dry land in front of the door, and the autumn wind blows up the sky full of yellow sand.

A remnant chrysanthemum rolled in the wind and sand, neither where it came from nor where it was going to be blown.

Isn't everyone in the world just like this broken chrysanthemum, who can predict their own destiny?
So why should people sigh sadly for its fate?
If the chrysanthemum knew it, it would not complain, because it has already had its own glory days, and has been praised and cherished by people.

That's enough.

One end of the long street is a boundless wasteland; the other end of the long street is also a boundless wasteland.

This lamp seems to be the only bright pearl in this wasteland.

The sky is connected with the yellow sand, and the yellow sand is connected with the sky.

People are already in the sky.

Ye Kai seemed to come from the sky.

He walked slowly along the long street from the darkness to a place with lights.

He sat down in the middle of the street and raised his feet.

The boots on the feet are made of tanned leather, usually only the shepherds in the desert wear this kind of boots.

This kind of boots, like the shepherds on the desert, can withstand the wind and frost and endure the toil.

But now, the sole of the boot has been worn into a big hole, and the sole of his foot is also bleeding.

He looked at his feet and shook his head as if dissatisfied—not with the boots, but with his feet.

"How can the feet of a person like me be broken like other people's feet?"

He grabbed a handful of yellow sand and poured it through the hole in his boot.

"Since you are so useless, I will tell you to suffer more and suffer more."

He stood up, letting the sand rub the wound on the sole of his foot.

Then he laughed.

His smile is like a ray of sunshine suddenly appearing in the sky full of yellow sand.

The lamp swayed in the wind.

A gust of wind blew over, and the remnant chrysanthemum was swept up.

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he grabbed it.

The petals of the chrysanthemum have fallen off, and only the last few petals, the most tenacious, still live on the withered flower stalks.

He patted a set of clothes on his body that should have been sent to the trash can, and carefully inserted the broken chrysanthemum into a hole in the skirt.

Looking at his expression, he looked like a well-groomed dandy who finally put the most beautiful red flower on his valuable purple robe.

Then he is completely satisfied with everything about himself.

He laughed again.

The narrow gate is closed.

He held his head high, puffed up his chest, strode over, and pushed open the door.

So he saw Fu Hongxue.

Fu Hongxue and his knife!

Knife in hand.

Pale hand, black knife!

From his knife, Ye Kai saw his hands, and from his hands, he saw his face.

Pale face, dark eyes.

Ye Kai smiled again, as if he was satisfied with everything he saw.

He strode over, walked across to Fu Hongxue, and sat down.

Fu Hongxue's chopsticks didn't stop, and he ate very slowly, but he didn't stop to look at him.

Ye Kai looked at him, suddenly smiled and said, "You never drink alcohol?"

Fu Hongxue neither looked up nor stopped.

He slowly finished the last two mouthfuls of rice in the bowl before putting down his chopsticks and looking at Ye Kai.

Ye Kai's smile is like sunshine.

Fu Hongxue's pale face didn't even have a trace of a smile, and after a long time, he said word for word:
"I do not drink."

Ye Kai laughed and said, "If you don't want to drink, how about buying me two cups?"

Fu Hongxue said, "You want me to buy you a drink? Why?"

He spoke slowly, as if every word was thought through, because he was absolutely responsible for everything that came out of his mouth.

So he never wants to say a word wrong.

Ye Kai said: "Why? Because I think you are very pleasing to the eye."

He sighed, and said again: "Except for you, there is almost no one who is pleasing to the eye in this place."

Fu Hongxue lowered his eyes, looking at his hands.

He always had that look when he didn't want to speak.

Ye Kai said: "Are you willing?"

Fu Hongxue still looked at his hands.

Ye Kai said: "This is your best chance, wouldn't it be a pity if you miss it?"

Fu Hongxue finally shook his head, and said slowly, "It's not a pity."

Ye Kai laughed loudly and said, "You are really interesting. To be honest, even if other people kneel down and beg me, I wouldn't drink a drop of wine from him."

His voice seemed to treat others as deaf, and it was difficult for others not to listen.

As long as you hear his words, it's hard not to get angry.

Several people in the room had already stood up, and the fastest one was a boy in a purple shirt with a sword.

His waist was thin and his shoulders were broad, and his sword was set with sparkling gems, and the tassel was purple, matching the color of his clothes.

He was holding a glass of wine in his hand, a full glass, and when he turned around, he jumped in front of Ye Kai.

With a glass full of wine in his hand, not even a drop was spilled.

It seems that this person is not only very particular about his clothes, he must also be very particular about his kung fu.

It's a pity that Ye Kai didn't see it, and neither did Fu Hongxue.

The boy in purple shirt deliberately put on a handsome smile because he knew that everyone was watching him.

He patted Ye Kai's shoulder lightly and said, "Can I buy you a glass of wine?"

Ye Kai said: "Not good."

The purple shirt boy said: "What do you want before you are willing to drink? Kneel down and beg you, okay?"

Ye Kai said: "Okay."

The purple shirt boy laughed, and the others laughed too.

Ye Kai was also laughing, and said with a smile: "It's just that even if you kneel down, I still won't drink."

The purple shirt boy said: "Do you know who I am?"

Ye Kai said: "I don't know, I don't even know whether you are a person or not."

The purple-shirted boy's smile froze, and he had already grasped the hilt of his sword.

With a sound of "clang", the sword has been unsheathed.

But he still held only a sword hilt in his hand.

The sword remained in its sheath.

As soon as he pulled out his sword, Ye Kai suddenly stretched out his hand and flicked it, and the fine steel long sword broke.

It was broken an inch below the hilt, so although the hilt was pulled out, the blade slipped back into the scabbard.

The purple shirt boy looked at the hilt in his hand, his face was as pale as paper.

No one in the room laughed anymore, not only couldn't laugh, they almost stopped breathing.

Only one voice remains.

The sound of pushing dominoes.

It seemed that he was the only one who didn't see what happened just now.

Although Fu Hongxue saw it, his face was still expressionless.

Ye Kai looked at him, smiled and said: "Look, I didn't lie to you, it's very difficult for others to buy me a drink."

Fu Hongxue nodded slowly, and said, "You didn't lie to me."

Ye Kai said: "Do you want to invite me?"

Fu Hongxue shook his head slowly, and said, "I don't invite you."

He stood up, turned around, and seemed unwilling to discuss the matter any more.

But he turned his head to look at the boy in purple shirt, and said slowly: "You should use the money you paid for the clothes to buy a good sword; but it's better not to wear a sword from now on, but to use a sword for decoration. Very dangerous."

He speaks very slowly and sincerely, which is good words of gold and stone.

But in the ears of this purple-shirted boy, the feeling was not very pleasant.

He looked at Fu Hongxue, his pale face turned blue.

Fu Hongxue was walking out slowly. Walking was slower than talking, and it was very strange.

After he took a step with his left foot, his right leg slowly followed from the ground.

"So he was crippled."

Ye Kai seemed surprised and regretful.

Other than that, he obviously didn't mean anything else.

The purple-shirted boy clenched his fists, angry and disappointed - he originally hoped that Ye Kai would grab Fu Hongxue back.

Although Ye Kai's martial arts were terrifying, the cripple was not.

The purple-shirted boy winked, and two of the people who were at the same table with him slowly stood up, obviously wanting to chase him out.

At this moment, a very strange voice suddenly sounded in the room: "You don't want others to buy you a drink, do you want to buy others a drink?"

The voice was low and soft, but everyone could hear it clearly.

The person who spoke seemed to be right next to his ear, but he couldn't see it.

Finally, someone finally noticed that the well-dressed and well-groomed middle-aged man had turned his head and was looking at Ye Kai with a smile.

Ye Kai also laughed, and said: "It's one thing for others to invite me, but it's another thing for me to invite others."

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "That's right, that's completely different."

Ye Kai said: "So I invite everyone in this room."

He spoke with an expression as if he had regarded himself as the boss of this place.

The purple-shirted boy gritted his teeth, and suddenly turned his head and walked out.

(End of this chapter)