There is a hill called "General Hill" in the border town of Yanhui. The name sounds majestic, but it is actually just a small mound of earth. If you have a long neck, you can see the top of the hill at a glance.

General Hill has not always existed. Legend has it that fourteen years ago, the three camps of the Black Iron Battalion, the first iron cavalry of Daliang, led a northern expedition and annihilated eighteen tribes of barbarians. When returning to the capital, they passed through Yanhui City and abandoned their discarded armor here, which turned into a small hill on the spot. Later, it was eroded by sand, dust, wind and rain and became General Hill.

Jiangjun Slope is a barren slope. Nothing grows on it. There is no weeds. There is no shelter for adultery. It is bare and no one knows what to do with it. The old people said that it was because the Black Iron Camp had committed too many murders and was full of hostility. Over time, some idle hooligans used this as a prototype and compiled a series of legends about haunted places. Over time, no one went there.

That evening, two boys in their teens ran to the foot of Jiangjun Hill.

One of them is tall and thin, and the other is short and fat. Together they look like a pair of running chopsticks.

The tall and thin one was dressed as a little girl. You had to look carefully to know that he was a boy. His nickname was Madam Cao, because the fortune teller said that he was destined to be a girl but was born in the wrong body. He was afraid that God had to call him back to be born again. His family was worried that he would not live long, so they raised him as a girl.

The short and fat one is the youngest son of Ge the butcher, nicknamed Ge Pangxiao. As the name suggests, his whole body is covered with a layer of rich and oily sheen.

The two of them looked towards Jiangjun Hill together, but because of the ghost legend, no one dared to go closer.

Fat Ge held a copper-clad "clairvoyance" in his hand, stretched his neck and looked towards Jiangjunpo, muttering, "You said the sun has already set, but it hasn't come down the mountain yet. My eldest brother is really... what's that called - hanging and fasting!"

Madam Cao: "That's called hanging from the beam and piercing the thigh. Stop talking nonsense and give me the clairvoyance."

This fake girl often acts out her fake roles, but unfortunately her real side is a bit problematic. She doesn't act like a lady, but more like a shrew, and she especially likes to wave her chicken claws to pinch people.

As soon as he stretched out his hand, Ge Pangxiao's fat body ached slightly. He quickly handed over the Thousand-Li Eyes and warned him, "Be careful. If you break it, my father will beat me into a cake."

The so-called "telescope" is a small round copper poke with "five bats" carved around it. Inside is a transparent piece of colored glaze. When it is buckled on the eye, one can clearly see the gender of rabbits ten miles away.

The one belonging to Ge Pangxiao is particularly exquisite. It was left by his grandfather who used to be a scout.

Madam Cao held it in her hand for a long time, and then she raised it to look at the stars: "It's so clear."

Fat Ge followed his gaze and pointed out, "I know. That one is called Evening Star, also known as Chang Geng, the same name as my elder brother. Mr. Shen taught me that. I remember it."

Madam Cao pouted: "Who is 'your elder brother'? Do you think he would care about you? You shamelessly chased after him and insisted on claiming him as your elder brother. Look how cheap you are... Hey, wait, do you think that's him?"

Fat Ge looked in the direction of his finger and found that it was true.

I saw a young man holding a sword, lowering his head, slowly walking down from the General Hill. Fatty Ge immediately seemed not to be afraid of ghosts, and rushed out like a rolling mine: "Brother, brother!"

He ran too fast and was tripped by something at the foot of Jiangjun Hill. He rolled out and landed at the feet of the young man.

Fat Ge raised his head with a dusty face. Without even trying to get up, he gave a silly flattering smile and said with bared teeth: "Hey, big brother, I've been waiting for you here all day."

The young man named Chang Geng silently shrank back and almost stepped on Fatty Ge's foot.

Every time he saw Ge Pangxiao, he felt amazing, thinking that the butcher Ge who had killed thousands of pigs might have been born with a sharp eye, and for so many years, he actually didn't treat his son as a pig and slaughtered him. However, Chang Geng had a steady personality and was very kind-hearted. No matter what he thought in his heart, he would not say hurtful words.

Chang Geng reached out his hand like an elder brother and helped Fatty Ge up, brushing off the loose dirt on him: "Why are you running? Be careful if you get hurt. Do you want to talk to me?"

Fat Ge: "Brother Chang Geng, your father and his friends will be back tomorrow. We won't have classes anymore. Why don't you come with us to grab the goose food? We can definitely beat the crap out of Li Xiaohouzi and his friends!"

Chang Geng’s father is Captain Xu—not his biological father.

When he was two or three years old, Chang Geng came here with his widowed mother Xiuniang to seek refuge with relatives, but they found out that the relatives had already moved away with their families, so they came to nothing. It happened that Xu Baihu, a soldier from Yanhui, had lost his wife early and had no children. He fell in love with Xiuniang and married her back as his concubine.

Captain Xu led his men out of the border to collect the annual tribute from the barbarians. It is estimated that they will return to the city in the next two days.

Life in the border town was hard, and the children had few snacks. Every time the soldiers returned from paying tribute, they would bring some of the barbarians' cheese and dried meat and scatter them on the roadside, which always attracted naughty children to scramble for them. This was called "stealing food from the geese."

Since it was a "robbery", a bunch of little brats were bound to fight. As long as nothing was hurt, the adults would not care, and they would just form gangs and fight seriously.

In this kind of situation, whoever can get Chang Geng to join the team will be invincible.

Chang Geng has been practicing martial arts meticulously since he was a child. There are many military households in the border areas, and there are quite a few children practicing martial arts. However, practicing martial arts requires hard work, and most children are just casual hooligans, and their practice is sloppy. Only Chang Geng has been practicing sword alone on Jiangjunpo every day since the day he started learning sword. He has been practicing hard for many years, and his perseverance is amazing.

Today, Chang Geng is not even fourteen years old, but he can already lift a heavy sword weighing more than 60 kilograms with one hand. Although he knows what he is doing and never joins in fights among naughty boys, those little brats are inexplicably afraid of him.

Chang Geng didn't take it seriously and said with a smile, "I'm too old to pick up goose food."

Fatty Ge insisted, "I have already told Mr. Shen, and he has agreed to give us a few days off."

Chang Geng walked slowly with his hands behind his back, hitting his calves with his heavy sword from time to time, and ignored Ge Pangxiao's childish words.

Whether he studies or practices sword or not is up to him, and has nothing to do with whether the teacher has a holiday or not.

Fat Ge: "Besides, Mr. Shen said he wants to change Uncle Sixteen's medicine. He may have to go out to buy herbs in the next few days. He won't be at home. You have nowhere to go, so why don't you come with us? What's the fun of practicing sword all day?"

Chang Geng finally took this to heart. He paused and asked, "Didn't Sixteen just come back from Changyang Pass? Why is he sick again?"

Fat Ge: "Ah...I guess. He has never been well."

"Then I'll go check on him," Chang Geng waved at the two little followers, "Go home quickly, it's getting late, if you miss dinner your dad will beat you up again."

Ge Pangxiao: "Hey, brother, that..."

Chang Geng was not interested in listening to him talking about "this" and "that" endlessly. For boys of this age, one year older is one year older. There is a big difference in size and ideas. Chang Geng can no longer play with Ge Pangxiao and the others.

Relying on his tall stature and long legs, he walked far away in the blink of an eye.

The fat boy made a wasted trip and didn't invite anyone. He sighed in disappointment and turned back to glare at Madam Cao: "Why don't you say something!"

Madam Cao's face flushed, her eyes wandered, the bossy look she had just shown towards Fatty Ge was long gone, she covered her chest like a young girl in love, "My big brother Chang Geng looks better when he walks than others."

Fatty Ge: "..."

I can never bring this worldly treasure out again.

The "Mr. Shen" and "Uncle Sixteen" mentioned by Ge Pangxiao are brothers and have a close relationship with Chang Gung.

Two years ago, when Chang Geng was still a child, he sneaked out of the city gate to play alone. He accidentally got lost and met a pack of wolves. He was almost taken away. Fortunately, the Shen brothers happened to visit here.

Mr. Shen used medicine powder to drive away the hungry wolf and saved his life. The two brothers later settled down in Yanhui Town. Captain Xu rented them an empty yard in his house and did not charge them rent in gratitude for their life-saving grace.

The elder brother's name is Shen Yi. He is a failed scholar who has failed the imperial examinations many times. Although he is young, he has given up the ambition of pursuing a career in politics. He lives a hermit in this remote place and the neighbors politely call him "Mr. Shen".

In addition to being a hermit, Mr. Shen also served as a doctor, a letter and couplet writer, a teacher and a "long-arm master". He was very versatile. He could treat injuries and deliver mares. During the day, he ran a private school at home, teaching a group of young people to read and write. At night, after sending the students away, he would roll up his sleeves to repair steam lighters, steel armor and various puppets to supplement his family income. He lived in seclusion for a very long time.

Mr. Shen can do everything. He can make money and take care of the family. He is also good at making fire and cooking. He is very capable. His brother has nothing to do because of this, so he has to be responsible for squandering the family's money. Mr. Shen's brother is called "Shen Shiliu". It is said that he has been in poor health since childhood, and his family was afraid that they would not be able to raise him, so they did not give him a full name. Because he was born on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, he was named "Shiliu".

Shen Shiliu neither reads nor works all day long. He doesn't know how to fix a fallen oil bottle and he has never even fetched water. He either wanders around or drinks. He is completely uneducated and has almost no merits.

Besides looking good.

He is really good-looking. Even the centenarian in town personally confirmed that he has never seen such a well-groomed man even though he is almost 90 years old.

Unfortunately, it was useless no matter how good he was. Shen had a serious illness when he was sixteen years old, and his body was burned. His eyes could only see things about two feet away. He couldn't even tell men and women ten steps away. He was also hard of hearing, so he had to shout to say anything to him. Every day when he passed by the door of Shen's house, he could hear the gentle Mr. Shen roaring at him like a mad dog through the courtyard wall.

All in all, Shen Shiliu is a deaf, blind and sickly person.

According to his conditions, he should have been a blessed gigolo, but unfortunately this frontier town is full of poor people, and no one can afford to support him even if a fairy came.

According to local customs, when one is unable to repay a great favor, one will adopt a godchild. If one has children or grandchildren, the children and grandchildren will adopt the godchild; if one does not have children or grandchildren, the godchild will be adopted by the person himself.

The Shen brothers saved Chang Geng from the wolf's mouth, which was a life-saving favor. Chang Geng naturally recognized one of them as his adoptive father.

Mr. Shen's brain had been damaged by reading too much, and he insisted that the law was unreasonable, so he dared not accept it. Instead, his brother, Master Sixteen, was pleased and changed his words to "son" on the spot.

In this way, the gangster Shen Shiliu got a huge advantage - if this idle and sickly man became poor and destitute in the future, Chang Geng would have to take care of him until the end of his life.

Chang Geng walked through his yard with ease, turned out from the corner gate, and arrived at Mr. Shen's house.

There are two bachelors in the Shen family, and they don't even have a hen, so naturally they don't have to be shy about anyone. He always comes and goes as he pleases, without even knocking on the door.

As soon as I entered the yard, a smell of medicine and the faint sound of a xiao hit me in the face.

Mr. Shen was brewing medicine in the yard with a frown on his face. He was a young man who looked like a scholar, wearing an old gown. He didn't look old, but he always had a frown on his face, and his clothes were a simple and earthy look.

The sound of the xiao came from inside the house. The slender figure of the xiao player was reflected on the paper window by the dim light. It was obvious that his level of play was not good, and it was impossible to tell what tune it was. Occasionally, one or two notes could not be heard, and the whole play was hoarse and breathless, bringing out a strange sense of desolation and weariness.

It might be a bit far-fetched to say that this was music. Chang Geng listened attentively for a while and felt that if he had to praise it, he could only say that his howl was quite gentle.

Shen Yi heard the footsteps, smiled at Chang Geng, and then shouted to the inner room: "Ancestor, please be merciful, you've made me pee, Chang Geng is here!"

The man playing the xiao turned a deaf ear, and given his hearing ability, he probably didn't hear anything either.

Mr. Shen looked pale.

Chang Geng felt that the person playing the xiao had plenty of energy and didn't seem to be ill, so he was half relieved and asked, "I heard that Mr. Ge Pangxiao wanted to change the medicine for Sixteen. What happened to him?"

Mr. Shen looked at the color of the medicine soup and said unhappily, "Nothing, it's just a change of seasons. The medicine used in each season is different. This sickly plant is delicate and difficult to take care of. Yes, you came at the right time. He got something from somewhere today and wanted to send it to you tomorrow morning. Go and take a look."