Chapter 2 First Encounter

Two years later--

A cliff towering into the clouds, covered with white snow, is like a huge axe cutting off the way of the torrential river.

The big river changed its course to the southeast, running endlessly between the walled canyons, and the rumble of the waves shook the sky.

Chu Tian held half of the driftwood in his hands and was almost frozen in the cold river water. He struggled for too long and was almost out of strength. With too much water in his stomach, he could no longer swallow it. The feeling of being dizzy and dizzy by the waves made him sick and vomiting. What was hateful and annoying was that the turbulent river flow pushed him to the cliff quickly. He wanted to smash it to pieces, but he had no choice!

He is not the only one on the driftwood. An old man in a snow-robed man in a snowy robe let the waves flutter, and has always been as steady as Mount Tai, as if a cloud floats with the waves and is powerless.

"The last chance, yours... is also mine." The old man in white robe looked at the oncoming cliff. His old and low voice penetrated the sound of the waves and the wind and snow, and asked, "Where is she?"

Chu Tian didn't answer. Even if he could still speak at this moment, he was not going to give the old man any answer.

He threw him into the river, deliberately threw half of the driftwood, and then drifted with the waves for more than 70 miles in the heavy snow. Of course, he tortured Chu Tian for a purpose. There was only one purpose, which made him afraid, and then answered his questions obediently. From beginning to end, he only asked one sentence over and over again.

But Chu Tian's tough attitude surprised him. Obviously, it was much more difficult to pry open the boy's teeth than to throw him into the river. What he wants to know, Chu Tian just won't say anything!

Chu Tian didn't seem to care about life and death, nor did he care about the gains and losses of interests. He found that the child he was facing was a hardliner. Based on this, he really wanted to double the pain for Chu Tian. But before you know the answer, you must be careful not to really kill him.

Ten meters, five meters, three meters... The cliff is approaching. Whether it is Chu Tian, who is holding the driftwood and struggling to survive, or the majestic old man, it looks so small and vulnerable compared with it.

"Ah--" At the last moment when the driftwood rushed to the cliff, Chu Tian finally burst out a howl from his chest, like the dying wolf in the forest's last thought of life.

He is not without fear in his heart, and he doesn't want to provoke death, but if something is more painful than death, he would rather be close to death.

If there is no love in life, death is liberation; if there is love in life, death is detachment. Whether it is liberation or detachment, there is not much difference for him at this moment.

When the body was surrounded by the turbulent waves on the hard cliff and turned into a little white foam on the top of the wave, he became one of the waves in his life, becoming a lonely ghost at the bottom of the river.

"Bum!" The driftwood shattered at the moment of hitting the cliff, and was almost swallowed up by the waves at the same time.

Chu Tian closed his eyes and thought in the dark that he was dead, and he didn't even have time to say goodbye to Qing'er.

When Chu Tian woke up, he found himself in the empty riverside wharf.

It was here that he was inexplicably thrown into the river by the inexplicable old man in white robe, but it felt that it had only been a second from hitting the cliff to returning to the riverside dock.

Yes, just in the blink of an eye: the rapids have disappeared, and the old man in white robe has disappeared. Only the big river in front of me is still there, and the snow is still there.

And Chu Tian was surprised to find that his clothes, shoes and socks were dry from the inside out, and there was no trace of being soaked in the cold river.

Are you dreaming or living a ghost in broad daylight?

Chu Tian stared at the river in a daze, but there was a fishy smell of sediment in the river. He gradually came to his senses. The previous experience must not be a dream, and the old man in a white robe was definitely not a ghost, although what he did was like a ghost. But why did the old ghost suddenly change his mind at the last minute and not kill himself and take himself back to the dock? Chu Tian couldn't figure it out, and what worried him more was that the other party had been asking him about Qinger's whereabouts?

Qing'er is Chu Tian's sister, who picked it up from a well.

A sudden fire two years ago destroyed his home. After the fire went out, he took Qinger stubbornly and helplessly to watch in a deserted scorched earth and ruins. However, the hope was finally dashed, and they couldn't wait for the return of their loved ones.

Desperate Chu Tian, in a windy morning, deeply kowtowed to the place where he was once his home, and then took Qinger away from Daya Mountain, hoping to help the little girl find her way home.

But Qing'er is really too young to understand where she came from and why?

In this way, Chu Tian lived a wandering life with the young Qinger. They are more and more like a brother and sister. Sometimes, Chu Tian even feels that Qinger is a gift specially given to him by God. When he lost everything and had nothing in the world, Qinger depended on him for his life.

The wandering life made Chu Tian get used to doing things that he didn't even dare to think about before, such as being a beggar, being a thief, working part-time... He even tried to engage in different professions at different times every morning and evening. The days of making money alone are full of hardships but not unbearable, because there is Qinger. This little girl made Chu Tian feel that life has not lost its laughter.

About half a year ago, Chu Tian decided to temporarily end his wandering life and settle down in Huaiyang City.

Qinger saw that she was gradually growing up, and she seemed to be the only person close to her in the world, so Chu Tian strongly hoped that he could give Qinger a warm and safe environment and even a beautiful future.

He can tolerate bruises all over his body, regardless of good or evil, but he can't stand his sister living the same life anyway. Although Qinger is young, none of the rich ladies in the city can compare with her. She is born to live a happy and satisfying life of reciting poems and reading, playing piano and painting.

"Damn old thing!" Chu Tian spit out the remaining sand grains in his mouth and kicked a stone at his feet far away. Watching it fall into the river, he felt better.

Then he dragged his sore body back to Huaiyang City in the wind and snow. The street was empty, and Chu Tian was disappointed that he couldn't find a job today. Now he'd better go home and sleep. If the snow can stop at night, he may be able to try his luck in the restaurant casino to see if he can "fish" something from those drunks and gamblers.

Chu Tian installed his home in a bridge hole, and the two sides were built with wooden boards to barely block the wind and snow. There is nothing extra in it, just enough to make do with it for sleeping.

However, such a simple place was actually occupied.

A young man who should never appear here, a luxuriously dressed young man, lying on Chu Tian's special broken board** covered in blood, curled up like a prawn, and his mouth moaned in pain. A dagger fell to his hand, and the edge was as blue as a pool of water, faintly revealing a few traces of red blood. It looked like a treasure that cut iron like mud.

Chu Tian stared at the young man who occupied his territory without authorization, and he was a little disgusted and annoyed. Isn't today's bad luck over?

He doesn't like rich people, and he doesn't like those rich young people who are domineering and spend money at will - as long as his father is rich, who is not a prince?!

"Hey, get out of here, this is my place!"

The young man opened his eyes, and there was fear hidden in his eyes. It was only an eleven or twelve-year-old teenager who was talking clearly. The fear in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by an arrogant contempt.

"Bad boy, you are looking for death. Do you know who I are?"

Chu Tiangang was bullied and had nowhere to vent. This "I" actually came to occupy his dog kennel uninvited. He was obviously humming like a dead dog, but he couldn't be arrogant.

"I don't care who you are. Get up and get out of here!" Chu Tian said angrily.

"Little beast, how dare you kick me! If my father knows, I'm going to lay down on your skin!" The young man shouted and reached out to grab the dagger.

Chu Tian quickly kicked the dagger into the corner, grabbed the young man's chest and dragged it out: "Little beast, how dare you grab my territory! If my father knows, it will kill you!"

"Gone go of me, or I want you to look good!" The young man screamed that he tried to condense a trace of true qi in Dantian. As long as he clicked on the yin valley hole on Chu Tian's leg with his family's "one finger", Chu Tian's whole calf would be ruined.

But after several attempts, every time the true qi flowed to the middle acupuncture point in front of his chest, it retreated, which shocked the young man's chest and blood, and there was a feeling of suffocation.

"Hateful, if I hadn't been beaten like this by the 'Iron Gang', a finger could have killed this little beast!"

The young man gritted his teeth and suddenly lit up. Half of his body had been dragged out of the bridge hole by Chu Tian.

"Did you climb down by yourself, or let the young master do it and give you another ride?" Chu Tian stopped and asked.

Seven or eight meters below, the river runs eastward like a roaring angry beast.

The young man's face was empty, and the inexplicable fear in his heart overcame arrogance. The desire to survive made him temporarily give up arrogance: "I'll give you money, a lot of money, as long as you don't throw me into the river!"

He grabbed a golden purse from his arms and held it high to Chu Tian.

Chu Tian was stunned. The young man hurriedly untied his purse. Except for a few pieces of silver, it was full of silver tickets. There are one hundred taels, five hundred taels, and three thousand taels.

Chu Tian couldn't help but bang around. This was the first time he saw so much money.

Four or five thousand taels of silver is enough for him and Qinger to live for a long time.

"Well, I can give you more money." The young man observed the change of Chu Tian's expression, and his tone unconsciously became arrogant again.

"My father has a lot of money. As long as I want, I can let you enjoy the glory and wealth with me. Now, you carry me back to the bridge hole, remember not to touch the wound, and then look for..."

"Bah! Who cares? Are you great if you have money!"

"Bastard, I'm going to kill you!" Seeing that there was no hope of mourning, the young man suddenly threw away his purse and grabbed Chu Tian's calf, and actually wanted to lift him into the river.

Chu Tian was caught off guard and couldn't help leaning back. But his reaction was extremely fast. At the moment when his body was about to fall out of the bridge hole and fall into the river, he grabbed the upper edge of the bridge hole with both hands and hung his legs in the air and shook it desperately to break free.

"Ah--" The young man's body suddenly lost its balance and couldn't help sliding out.

Chu Tian turned his head and looked at the figure of the young man falling quickly, "Bang!" The body that fell into the heart of the river was like a heavy stone, and it disappeared after a few ups and downs.

Chu Tian slowly put down his foot and looked at the rapid river flow. He was shocked and said: It seems that he is not the only one who is unlucky today, and his bad luck is probably far from over...