The shopkeeper came back soon, holding a pot of hot water in his hand. He looked at Zhiqiu and saw that he wanted to leave, he whispered: "Xiao Zhiqiu, why are you uncomfortable sitting on the chair in the small bookstore? Do you want to change another one for you?"

Zhiqiu quickly refused and smiled and said that he was just a little sleepy, but his heart became more and more uneasy.

"That's good, Xiao Zhiqiu, how many years have we known each other? I'm so old, and now I'm getting more and more forgot." The old shopkeeper looked at Zhiqiu and said softly.

Zhiqiu rubbed his head for two years? Two and a half years? Who remembers this?

"It seems that it's been more than two years... I just came to Suzhou, but I seemed to have come to this small book shop not long after." Zhiqiu replied with uncertainty.

"Anyway, it's been a long time, too. I remember when you first came to Xiaoshu Shop, I saw that you were still a child. Why did you feel stronger when you first came here?" The old shopkeeper said as he stepped forward and pinched Zhiqiu's shoulder.

Zhiqiu ohed twice. Why is this old man so strong? He looks so weak. Can I not lose weight? What I ate in the capital before and what I ate after coming to Gusuzhou? Can it be the same?

However, he forced a smile and said to the old shopkeeper: "Maybe I will lose weight if I grow taller?" After that, Zhiqiu wanted to slap himself hard. When did he speak so against his conscience?

Alas, it’s all his fault for making trouble for the world.

The old shopkeeper actually looked regretful and said, "Oh, I feel very sorry for seeing Xiao Zhiqiu so thin. From tomorrow, the shopkeeper will add some meat to you. The fifteen-and-six-year-old boy is the time to grow up. He has to eat more. Okay, don't be humble. Just tell me what you want to eat in the future."

Zhiqiu thought to himself: I won’t be humble. But it did rise from the west today, no, looking at the night, I’m afraid the sun sets from the east.

Did Qiu still squeezed out a reluctant look and said, "Shopkeeper, how can you do this? I am very grateful to have you taken me to work in the small bookstore a few years ago and given me a few bites of white rice. I haven't done anything recently. How can I deserve this? I feel sorry for it, I really can't afford it."

If you add meat, add more beef, the beef will still be tender... But Zhiqiu still can't say this. Even if he has a thick skin, he can't say it. In fact, he can say it. But today anyone with a discerning eye can see that this shopkeeper has something to do and want to find Zhiqiu.

Could it be that it was a child trafficking incident? Zhiqiu imagined countless scenes in his heart.

He held a knife in his left hand and some rope in his right hand. While scolding the children, he went to put them on. He would use the knife to do this... He thought that it was a bit majestic.

The old shopkeeper continued, "Think about it, I'm thinking about it. As time goes by, the leaves in front of the door have also changed batch after batch, green and yellow, and yellow have disappeared." He looked at the ginkgo tree in front of the door with emotion, "Why do you think people are like this ginkgo tree, and they will change at every stage?"

Zhiqiu touched his head. Although his head didn't hurt so much, it was hard to not hurt after listening to these words. "Shopkeeper, my head started to hurt again when you said this. I'll go into the house and get a bowl of medicine first!"

After a while, Zhiqiu took the medicine and returned to the chair. He looked at the old shopkeeper and said casually: "It's the ginkgo tree. I know that when the days are colder, the leaves fall, and when they are warmer, they start to spread and bloom and bear fruit."

"Xiao Zhiqiu, there are not many educated boys like you. Besides, if I remember correctly, you can't even read, you can't write. Could it be that you have such insight?" The old shopkeeper said slowly.

Don't anyone with some common sense know this? Why is this shopkeeper always praising me today, which makes me feel embarrassed. Although I have many advantages, this is obviously about the point...

Zhiqiu smiled faintly and said, "Nothing is there, the shopkeeper, I heard from others."

The old shopkeeper got up and walked under the ginkgo tree. It happened that the evening wind blew a gust of fallen leaves. He picked up a fallen leaf and shouted: "Xiao Zhiqiu, do you think it's okay to be like a ginkgo tree?"

Zhiqiu didn't know what the ginkgo tree had to do with being a human being, so he shook his head.

But when he looked at the old shopkeeper's hot eyes, he screamed in his heart that something was wrong. This was obviously a sign of a lot of words!

Sure enough, the old shopkeeper saw him shake his head and became interested. He took the fallen leaf to his chair and said in a deep voice: "Some people do things like ginkgo trees. As you said just now, the ginkgo trees will fall leaves when they are cold, and the days will become hotter, and they will start to bloom and bear fruit. Some people will be motivated to do what they want to do once the weather is better, and once they encounter bad weather, windy and rainy, and hot summers are unbearable, they will give up what they do."

"They will not stick to the bottom line because of what they do. On the contrary, once the external conditions are a little worse, they will give up or change." The old shopkeeper looked at Zhiqiu and asked, "Do you think I'm right?"

Zhiqiu stretched out a thumb and kept lit his head.

The old shopkeeper touched his white beard, obviously very satisfied with Zhiqiu's move.

Then he said, "Do you think you are such a person?"

Zhiqiu shook his head without thinking.

But after waiting for a while, Zhiqiu held his chin with one hand and asked the old shopkeeper: "What if the ginkgo tree just went with the flow?"

The old shopkeeper obviously didn't expect Zhiqiu to ask back, but fortunately, someone had asked such questions before, and he could answer them in time, so he said: "Actually, what you said is right, but you ignored one question. That is, if the ginkgo tree is willing to endure hardships and endures all kinds of bad weather, it can blossom and bear fruit at any time. So this is not called flowering and fruiting, but escapism."

"If reality is cruel, should I escape?" Zhiqiu still refused to give up.

"There is no reality in this world that can be escaped. As long as your life is still there, you are still living in reality. How can you say escape? When you eat or sleep, you are still in this reality. How can you escape?" The old shopkeeper's series of questions made Zhiqiu feel breathless.

"That's right, but sometimes it seems like you have to escape from reality... It's okay to pretend to escape, just like me, if you encounter something unpleasant, drink some wine and get drunk, and forget to wake up tomorrow morning." Zhiqiu murmured in a low voice.

The old shopkeeper looked at Zhiqiu's eyes and murmured: "How can something that can be forgotten be called a troublesome?"

"I've seen thousands of iron cavalry crossing the child."

"I've seen scholars kneel down and beg for mercy to soldiers holding big swords."

"I've heard someone who should be the first in the Taoist list now says he can't do it."

"Whether I have seen or heard of, anything that can make me remember until now is a worry."

"How can there be any troubles in this world that can be forgotten?"

Zhiqiu looked at the old shopkeeper's face and suddenly felt that the shopkeeper was older than he had imagined.

Perhaps it was when he said these words, he became several years older in an instant.

Especially when saying the three words "can't do it", Zhiqiu could obviously feel the shopkeeper's voice trembling a little.

After the shopkeeper finished speaking, the atmosphere was a little silent. Zhiqiu didn't know why the old man told him a "never known" person tonight, but he felt that he had to break the silence.

Zhiqiu whispered, "Well, the shopkeeper, I don't know what you want me to do..."

"I... can I say it too, can't I do it?"

After Zhiqiu finished speaking, he closed his eyes and did not dare to look at the old shopkeeper.

Unexpectedly, the old shopkeeper laughed and said, "Interesting and interesting".

Zhiqiu felt a little embarrassed and laughed twice as if he was the old shopkeeper.

"Xiao Zhiqiu, who did you learn your cleverness from?" asked the old shopkeeper.

Zhiqiu replied without thinking, "Who else can you teach yourself? I'm sorry..."

The shopkeeper thought he was going to sell for another miserable period, but found that Zhiqiu stopped.

Zhiqiu looked at the night scene and found that he had been chatting for a long time tonight, so he wanted to go back and rest, so he looked at the shopkeeper a little hurriedly.

The shopkeeper saw Zhiqiu's intention, so he shook his head for granted.

Zhiqiu sighed and said, "Shopkeeper, I don't have the talent for martial arts. After a few years of random punches, I can't even beat a girl. I'm not smart enough. You can't recognize my words and can't write them. Apart from having a little talent in food, I really can't think of what you can ask me for?" He paused, stared at the shopkeeper, and whispered: "Did you really want me to be a child trafficker? OK, I won't do those things."

The shopkeeper still shook his head. Zhiqiu was really helpless and just lay on the chair and pretended to be asleep.

"I've been thinking about a question these days. If I teach you how to read and write, are you considered my apprentice?" the shopkeeper said slowly.

After hearing this, Zhiqiu bounced straight from the chair.

Teach me to write and recognize words? I finally learned for eight years before I got out of the sea of ​​suffering. You old man want me to retake the path of the past? But if I say I can actually write, then what I said before will be overthrown, and it is nothing to be overthrown. The key is that if I start asking who I learned from, how should I answer?

This unlucky young man seemed to have rubbed his head a little more times today.

He thought for a while and said, "Shopkeeper, what, I've got my heart, but you also know that I am a scammer and scammer, and I'm very philanthropist. Wherever I get a chance, I must run fast. Where can I take a break, I will never hesitate and run away for a moment. Do you think I can be the one who can take the name of your disciple?"

After the old shopkeeper looked carefully for a while, a "like" popped out of his mouth.

The young boy was crying but couldn't cry. He thought that if he didn't agree today, he would probably not use the small book shop tomorrow. He thought about whether he could make the last journey back, and he asked, "Shopkeeper, can you just be your disciple and not learn to read and read?"

"No." The shopkeeper refused.

"By the way, from today, you will be my closed disciple, ranking 14th."

"What about my senior brothers and sisters?" Zhiqiu heard the fourteenth ranking and thought to himself whether this old man was talking nonsense. Just a shopkeeper, how could he receive fourteen? What's even more ridiculous is that before a stick of incense, he seemed to have heard something like "the first in the Taoist list" or something like that.

"It's over."

Another evening breeze hit, and a piece of ginkgo leaves just fell.
Chapter completed!