I am a swordsman in a strange city

Chapter 1
On midsummer nights, the street lights are always swarming with countless mosquitoes.

It is especially bad in the alleys, where lights and shadows are intertwined, and wild dogs and cats run around and bite.

A young man wearing the uniform of Haishi Shentu No. 2 Middle School was riding an old bicycle through the alley.

The clanging sound of bicycles, the sounds of cooking coming from the nearby windows, and the crying of children intertwined together, adding a bit of life to the atmosphere.

A man carrying a load of shelves came into view around the corner. The boy immediately braked, supported himself with one foot, and moved to the side to make way.

The man walked into the light and could see the boy clearly. He said, "Little boy, your grandfather is waiting for you at the door with a whip in hand!"

Of course the boy recognized him. He was a shoemaker on the other side of the alley and went to Qianmen Street every day to polish and repair people's shoes.

After hearing what the shoemaker said, the boy felt a pang of anxiety, but he said nonchalantly, "It's just a beating, just like a tickle."

"Hehe, I don't know who was crying last time."

As soon as the shoemaker said this, the boy fell silent and his face felt a little hot. The last time he was beaten, he not only cried, but also wrote a letter of guarantee and read it loudly in the yard, promising that he would not fight again.

He wanted to say that it was so painful last time that he couldn't hold it back.

This time, he had decided in his heart that he would endure it no matter what.

He got on his bike again and squeaked to the door of his house. On the left doorpost was a blue rusty houseplate with the words "No. 14, Qingyi Lane, Shentu Society, Xicheng District" written on it.

On the right side is a long wooden sign with the words "Pei's Sword Hall" engraved on it.

The city of Haishi developed after the sea was opened. After nearly a hundred years of ups and downs, a small fishing village finally developed into a world-famous metropolis.

In the past, the people living in this alley were all those who did unclean things in the government, such as coroners, corpse collectors, executioners, fortune-tellers, sorcerers, paper-making shops, coffin shops, etc. At that time, the government stipulated that these people should live here, and these people could only wear green clothes, so the original name of this alley was gradually replaced by "Green Clothes Lane".

It was not until the new era that the Qingyi Lane, commonly known as Qingyi Lane, was officially named.

With the development of the times, the government no longer restricts people who do these things to live here, and some people living in Qingyi Lane are unwilling to continue their ancestral trades, so the style of this lane is no longer as obvious as it was a hundred years ago, but there is still some inheritance and preservation.

The shoemaker just now had ancestors who collected corpses. It is said that the corpses collected by his ancestors rarely come back to life. No matter how painful the death was before, no matter how resentful or terrifying the expression left after death, they will all be peaceful after he has collected them.

Xicheng District, Shentu Society, Qingyi Lane No. 14 has been a sword hall since its ancestors.

However, this sword hall is different from other sword halls. It does not teach sword fighting skills, but is a place for people to kill uncleanness.

The young man stopped the car at the door. The door was open and there was a light on. He saw the old man standing under the eaves at a glance.

The old man was very tall and his name was Pei Jieyang. Because he was the fourth child in the family, he was also called Pei Si, or Pei Lao Si, but more people called him Si Ye.

Master Pei Si was holding a coil of rope in his hand, looking at his grandson who had returned from outside.

This grandson, named Pei Ju, was only in the first year of high school, but he already had a tall and thin body. Probably because he had been practicing sword since he was a child and had a loyal and cheerful personality, he had never stopped fighting since he was a child. For this reason, Master Pei Si was often invited to parent-teacher meetings, and every time the parents were invited, Pei Ju would be beaten.

Pei Ju's steps as he pushed the cart were a little hesitant, but he said, "Grandpa, the teacher kept us in school to do homework for a while, so we came back late."

"Hehe, your grandfather is not senile yet, park the car." The old man under the eaves said with a bit of sarcasm.

Pei Ju wanted to argue, but when he saw his grandfather standing in the shadows with a pair of eyes like cold stars, he retracted the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

His desire to quibble immediately disappeared. He parked his bicycle, put down his schoolbag, walked up to his grandfather and shouted, "Grandpa, let me help you cook!"

"Don't eat yet. I'll give you some noodles first." Grandpa's voice was a little hard.

Pei Siye came over with a nylon rope in his hand and said, "Take off your clothes."

Pei Ju reluctantly took off his shirt, revealing his thin but strong upper body.

Then he stretched out his hands again, and Master Pei tied his hands, and hung one end of the rope on the grape trellis made of steel pipes next to him, and hung his hands up.

He did not argue any more, because he knew very well that his grandfather must have gotten the accurate information from somewhere, otherwise he would not be so angry.

Mr. Pei Si turned around and took out a bamboo branch from the chair under the eaves. The bamboo branch was long and thin, with a green color, and was obviously freshly picked.

"Grandpa, I was wrong. Can you save it for next time?" Pei Ju immediately said that he realized his mistake and begged for mercy.

Mr. Pei Si ignored him and raised the bamboo stick in his hand, whipping it down. The bamboo stick passed through the air, making a "swoosh" sound.

It landed on Pei Ju's chest with a "bang", stretching from his left chest to his right ribs, immediately leaving a bloody mark.

"Ah!" Pei Ju let out a short sound, and immediately bit his back teeth to hold back the second half of the sound.

His whole body was shaking, he gritted his teeth and grinned, but only made a "hmm" sound.

"I'll let you fight!"

Fourth Master Pei raised the bamboo stick and whipped him down again. Another blood mark appeared on his body, stretching from his right chest to his left rib.

"I asked you to fight, and use a knife."

"You think you're pretty awesome, don't you?"

Master Pei said this and then started whipping him.

"Others have knives, but you dare to fight with a short stick. You are very capable, aren't you?"

The boy was grimacing from the beating, but his teeth were clenched tightly, making only muffled "Mmm" sounds. Although some sounds were still inevitable, no screams came out.

His body twisted as the bamboo sticks whipped him, without a sound.

The Fourth Master stood with his back to the light, his face gloomy, and he said nothing.

Mr. Pei Si suddenly stopped and said abruptly: "As long as your father is away, I will take care of you as long as I am here."

After saying that, he turned around and went back into the house, holding the bamboo stick.

The young man was left hanging under the grape trellis, covered in blood in the light. He tilted his head back, grimacing, and suddenly saw someone standing on the second floor of the next door house. It looked like a girl, but she was facing away from him and could not be seen clearly in the shadows.

He knew very well that the house next door had not been occupied for more than a year. It was said that the original owner had gone abroad and sold the house, but no one had lived there since then. He didn't know when someone moved in today.

"What are you looking at!" the boy shouted, scaring the girl on the second floor who was peeping so much that she shrank back into the room like a rabbit.

After a while, another middle-aged woman came to the corridor and looked at the young man, but this time, Mr. Pei came out again, holding a small bottle filled with medicinal powder. He helped the young man untie the rope on his hands, then opened the bottle and sprinkled the medicinal powder on the scars on the young man's body.

After applying the medicine in silence.

"Why did you fight?" Master Pei suddenly asked. "Someone was bullying my classmate, and I stopped him. Then they asked me to go to the woods behind the school," the boy said.

"So you went?" said Mr. Pei.

"I'm not afraid of them." The boy said as a matter of course.

Mr. Pei Si did not say anything, but silently sprinkled medicine powder on his wound.

He said he was not afraid. In the eyes of outsiders, Mr. Pei Si was also a man of integrity and ability. But no one knew that when he heard that his grandson had fought with someone and even pulled a knife, he suddenly became nervous and even a little panicked.

Because he had already experienced a white-haired man giving birth to a black-haired man, and he didn't want this to happen again.

Such young boys have no idea how to hold back when they fight. They just stab people with a knife, and the people will stop making a sound after being stabbed.

"How many people are there?" asked Mr. Pei Si.

"I'm not sure, probably about ten people, three of them took action and one used a knife," said the young man.

"How did you fight?" Mr. Pei Si asked again.

"There's no need to fight. I'll just stab them in the throat or heart with a stick, and they'll fall down. If they try to use a knife, I'll just step back and chop their knife-holding hand with the bamboo stick, and the knife will fall. Then I'll hit them in the face with the stick, and they won't dare to move."

Fourth Master Pei remained silent. He discovered that his grandson seemed to have a great talent for swordsmanship. He usually only practiced swordsmanship and had never practiced counterattacks or counterattacks in actual combat. However, when he used a stick as a sword, his movements were concise, clear, and methodical.

"In a society ruled by law, call the police if something happens in the future. We can't afford to pay compensation if someone is injured." Master Pei Si said as he helped him untie the rope.

"Besides, our family's swordsmanship is not used to fight against people." said Mr. Pei Si.

If it's not against people, then it's against things other than people.

The young man grimaced. It hurt from being hit by the bamboo stick, and it also hurt from applying the medicine.

Under the incandescent light on the second floor, you can see faint traces of tears on the boy's face. In the end, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Mr. Pei Si took the young man who had applied the medicine and walked into the house.

The boy picked up the clothes on the ground beside him, wiped his face quickly a few times, and then went back into the house.

"Come and eat, pig's feet stewed with soybeans." Master Pei called out. The young man didn't dare to have any objection. He picked up the bowl to serve rice to his grandfather, and then filled it for himself.

In the quiet room, an old man and a young boy were eating in silence.

Some yellow light from the light bulbs shone above the two people's heads. The wind blew in from outside, making the hanging light bulbs sway. The originally silent shadows swayed in the light, as if they wanted to stand up and keep the old and the young company.

After Pei Ju finished eating, he waited for Master Pei Si to finish eating and stood up to clear the dishes, but Master Pei Si raised his hand and said, "Sit down for a moment. I have something to tell you."

"Today, the street office sent a notice that it is difficult to open our training hall." Mr. Pei Si's voice was a little low.

"Why?" Pei Ju's heart was in turmoil. He knew very well that although this sword hall did not teach apprentices, if people nearby had any dissatisfaction, they would always be willing to come here to let his grandfather's sword kill the "evil" in their hearts. This was the source of livelihood for the two of them.

"The latest policy says that it will standardize the management of venues involving mysterious forms. If you want to reopen, you need a license to apply for a new business license."

"What kind of certificate do I need?" Pei Ju's worry covered up the pain in his body.

"The first-level swordsman certificate and the first-level secret forbidden school certificate." Mr. Pei seemed to know them very well.

"We have to take two exams?" Pei Ju asked in surprise.

He knew about the swordsman certificate. The physical education teacher in the school had a swordsman certificate. He also heard that the president of the school's sword club already had a first-level swordsman certificate.

However, the secret forbidden academic certificate surprised him, but then he changed his mind and felt that he should have it.

Mr. Pei seemed a little thirsty. He took a sip of water and looked at his grandson in front of him. His eyebrows were very thick, especially now that he was older. His eyebrows had grown a lot longer, and he looked a little gloomy under the light.

"What should we do?" Pei Ju was a little anxious. He knew that the sword hall in his family was not only the source of livelihood for the two of them, but also the faith in his grandfather's heart, the lifeblood, and the inheritance of the Pei family.

"Tian Youhan has opened a special training class for some secret forbidden subject. You'll go there next week to attend the class, and you'll take the exam in three months."

"Me?" Pei Ju asked in surprise.

Fourth Master Pei was silent for a moment, put down his tea bowl, and said, "Grandpa is old and doesn't know how to use those computers."

"The swordsman certificate requires practicing swordsmanship. I've taught you everything I know, but to take the swordsman certificate exam, you also need to go over there and register for classes with Swordsman Wang's son. Once you register, you can take the exam directly."

Pei Ju was silent for a while. He knew that his grandfather was too old to pass the swordsman exam. It would probably be difficult to pass the secret forbidden certificate exam as well. If it came to using a computer, his grandfather wouldn't be able to do it at all.

He knew and had seen Wang Jianke and Tian Youhan, because they had both visited his home, but it was only a visit as a sign of respect for the elders.

"Will I be guaranteed to pass the exam if I apply with them?" Pei Ju asked the key question.

"What do you mean by guaranteed passing? They said they don't charge tuition." Master Pei Si said angrily, "If others can pass the exam, you must pass it too. Do you think my grandson, Master Pei Si, would cheat? If people find out, I'll be so embarrassed that I'll be thrown back to Xijiang."

Pei Ju was certainly not afraid of the exam, but he felt that they were working in some kind of association but also running their own training classes, which sounded like they were stealing from the inside. So he asked this question because he wanted to know whether they could do it.

"Go wash the dishes. Mrs. Wen will be here with her granddaughter Xiaoqiu later. Come with me into the little house and take a look."

Pei Ju knew that the Xiaoqiu that Mr. Pei Si was talking about was a young woman in her twenties. It was said that she was very beautiful in the past and had many pursuers. Later, she started dating a guy, but they broke up for some unknown reason, and then she changed.

At first he was silent and always stayed alone, then he started talking to himself, and later he started rolling his eyes, and sometimes he even screamed in fear.

I went to the hospital and was told I had a mental illness. I took a lot of medicine, which helped a little at first, but then it stopped working and became more and more serious.

It is said that a 'master' was invited to see her and draw talismans for her, but her condition did not improve. Finally, she found this place.

When Fourth Master Pei was treating Xiao Qiu, he wanted to see it, but Fourth Master wouldn't let him, saying that he wasn't old enough yet.

But every time I was waiting outside, I saw that she looked a little dizzy when she went in, but was much better when she came out. At least as long as I didn't talk to her, it wouldn't be obvious.

Pei Ju knew that the reason he asked him to go and see it today was because he needed to do some research, so he asked him to get more exposure to it.

Pei Ju was a little excited. He finally had the chance to see the real sword technique of killing ghosts that was passed down in his family.

He stood up with his bare chest, but he stood up a little too quickly, which pulled the wound and caused him to grit his teeth in pain.

My new book is on sale, it is said to be a very creative novel, I will spend eighteen years writing it.

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(End of this chapter)