Chapter 210 Ancient Miao Knife
The old houses here are all castle-style, so they have a second floor, and the area is quite large, and the ceilings are very high. Apart from anything else, the spaciousness is really impeccable.
After dinner, grandma took the two of them to a room on the second floor.
"The beddings and other things here are all freshly washed and dried. If you need anything, tell me. Xiaoliang and I live downstairs, and there aren't many snakes or insects on the second floor, so you can rest assured."
Grandma pushed the wooden door open. It was a real wooden door, the kind that was nailed by herself. The door bolt was also made of wood with nails. It was a perfect replica of Duruo's old rural house from more than 20 years ago.
There is no need to think about sound insulation, but blocking sight is no problem at all. Besides, both Grandma and Xiaoliang downstairs have already witnessed Du Ruo's abnormal hearing.
Even from such a distance, Du Ruo could still hear the centipede crawling under the wooden block. It was terrifying just thinking about it.
Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan walked around the room. Actually, apart from the fact that the lights were a little dim, there was nothing wrong with it.
There is a reason why the lighting is dim. The ceilings are high and the room is spacious, so it is understandable that the lighting is dim.
What made Xiang Yuanyuan most happy was that you actually had a toilet and a washroom, which was very rare. You could see that it was renovated later and it didn't match the room very well, but Xiang Yuanyuan and Du Ruo said nothing.
With these conditions, why do you need a bicycle?
"Xiao Du, right? You are a martial artist. I have something here. Can you help me take a look?"
The old lady sent Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan to the room, thought for a while, but did not leave in a hurry. Seeing the two of them looked quite satisfied, she started to ask Du Ruo.
"Ah? Sure."
Du Ruo didn't understand what the old lady meant, but he agreed verbally. However, all kinds of thoughts went through his mind, and he even looked at the old lady a few more times.
He wondered if this old lady was the legendary hermit master, and whether she would take out a book of amazing martial arts secrets, or even worse, whether she could come up with some panacea that could increase his martial arts strength.
"Okay, wait a moment."
The old lady was very happy to hear Du Ruo nod, and she turned around and walked out.
At this time, Xiang Yuanyuan began to pack up the things in her hands, putting away toiletries such as towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.
She originally wanted to go out for a walk, but she just looked out the window.
It was pitch black inside the village, with only a few lights sporadically visible in the distance. Apart from that, there was only the reflection of the pond. There were no street lights at all. I thought there should be nothing outside at this moment, so I gave up the idea of going out.
Go to bed early, it’s not too late to get up early tomorrow and go shopping.
After a while, the old lady came upstairs carrying a long strip of cloth wrapped in cloth.
Seeing this, Xiang Yuanyuan also became interested and moved closer to Du Ruo, curious about what the old lady would take out.
"This is it. I don't know if it has any value. Could you please help me take a look?"
The old lady stroked the thing in her hand and then handed it to Du Ruo.
Du Ruo stretched out his hand to take it. It was quite heavy. Oh, he hadn’t seen what was inside yet, but his spiritual sense told him that there was a weapon inside, and it was a weapon that had seen blood.
The outer cloth is made of coarse linen, but it is dyed red and black, which is very Miao style. The overall length is about 60 centimeters. If it is a weapon, it should be a short blade.
Du Ruo opened the cloth bag, but there was no weapon inside, but a piece of oilcloth, and a smell of tung oil spread out.
Du Ruo didn't care about these and lifted the oilcloth again, revealing a black knife with a greasy sheen.
Du Ruo put the cloth aside, held the knife in his hand, grasped the scabbard with one hand and the handle with the other, and pulled out the knife.
“Swish~~”
The knife was well maintained, and when it was pulled out, the slight friction sound between the blade and the scabbard sounded very comfortable.
"Ring head, straight blade, square tip, blood grooves on both sides, and printed on the blade. This is a short-bladed ancient Miao knife. This knife is very good, and the most important thing is that it is well maintained."
Du Ruo pulled out the knife, not caring about the tung oil on his hands. As he spoke, he tapped the knife with his hand, and there was a metallic collision sound between his fingers and the blade.
Du Ruo could tell that the material of the knife was very good, and the key point was that it was well maintained, but at the same time he was a little disappointed. The knife was a good knife, but it was really just an ordinary knife, at least that was the case in Du Ruo's eyes, no matter how sharp the knife was.
What's more, it was really just a knife, not the martial arts secret or panacea he thought it was.
The Miao Dao has developed into many styles and has become a general term, but there is only one ancient Miao Dao, which has the characteristics that Du Ruo just mentioned.
The only difference is that the ancient Miao swords come in different lengths, and the one in Du Ruo's hand is a short-blade ancient Miao sword, with a total length of about 60 centimeters, and the handle is about 24 or 25 centimeters.
The above information is Du Ruo's knowledge of weapons. He is definitely a master of weapons. Although he only uses steel needles and coiled dragon silk, his knowledge of weapons is second to none. "Then will you take it? Nowadays, it's useless to hide a knife at home. People in our village are completely a burden if they carry a knife."
The old lady did not take the Miao Dao that Du Ruo handed over, but looked at Du Ruo with some hope.
"What? Grandma, this should be a family heirloom, don't you want to keep it as a souvenir?"
Du Ruo was confused. What was going on? The Miao Dao was a good sword, sure, but what use was he going to have it? This ancient Miao Dao, in terms of sharpness or toughness, was completely incomparable to modern technology and metal.
Perhaps the only use of it is to collect it, but Du Ruo doesn't need it. Why would he collect it?
When Du Ruo spoke, he looked at the handle and scabbard. Just now, out of instinct, he only looked at the sharpness of the knife and did not pay much attention to the scabbard and handle. After all, in his hands, the knife was used to kill people, and the appearance was not that important.
But now the old lady seemed to want to sell the knife, so Du Ruo couldn't help but look at the scabbard and handle.
The scabbard should be made of metal, a little black, probably because it is quite old. There are some snake reliefs on the black surface.
Moreover, when you grab the handle, you can feel a different touch. It is obviously a metal handle and has relief. I don’t know if it is due to oxidation or other reasons, but it is not very clear.
But overall, this Miao Dao is still very beautiful. If you don’t consider collecting it, it will definitely look better if you just polish it or clean the surface.
"What's so good about this as a souvenir? My family has lived in this village for generations, and this knife was passed down from our ancestors. We used to use it for self-defense, but now there's no need. It would be nice if we could exchange it for some money so Xiaoliang can get a wife."
The old lady waved her hand nonchalantly. When a person is poor, there is no such thing as longing for anything. Her grandson can't even get married, so what's the point of keeping the knife?
"But I don't know the value of this knife. After all, it's a few years old. It can't be calculated based on the value of the knife alone. We also have to consider its collection value. I don't know much about this, so I can't give a price."
Du Ruo thought about it and it seemed that he would not lose money if he bought the knife. After all, he was a martial artist, so it didn't matter if he collected a weapon. It would be nice to play with it when he had nothing to do. Few men could refuse a good knife.
Especially with his sharp five senses, he could feel that this was not a trap, which meant that the old lady should not have lied to him. In addition, based on his understanding of knives, he could also see that there was basically no problem with the knife.
"Someone came to the village to buy things before. They offered a hundred yuan for this knife, but I didn't sell it. That was more than ten years ago. If you want it, can you give me five thousand yuan?"
The old lady looked at Du Ruo, hesitated for a long time, and finally said a price.
"Okay, I like this knife very much, so this is the price. Yuanyuan, give some cash to grandma."
Du Ruo nodded without saying anything more, and asked Xiang Yuanyuan beside him to count out the cash.
Du Ruo always carries some cash when traveling, and now it seems to come in handy.
Xiang Yuanyuan didn't waste any time. She took out a stack of money from the box, counted out five thousand and gave it to the old lady.
"Thank you, thank you, Xiao Du. You guys take a rest first. I'll go downstairs now."
The old lady was very grateful. Five thousand yuan was certainly not enough for Xiaoliang to get married, but it was enough for his wife. When the time came, she could add a little to renovate the house and marry him a local girl.
“By the way, you have to go up the mountain early. It’s true that there are many snakes here, but they have appeared most frequently recently.
It was hot and humid in the mountains a few days ago, and the snakes preferred to hide in the shade and didn't want to come out. But after a few days, it got cold in the mountains and no one wanted to move. It was not easy to find them then."
The old lady didn't know what kind of snake Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan were looking for on the mountain, but she still reminded them that snakes appear and disappear in regular patterns and they really won't come out when the weather is cold.
It is already the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which is a good time for people in the mountains to catch snakes. After a few more days, the snakes will not come out.
"Yeah, okay, thank you grandma."
Xiang Yuanyuan sent the person away, then closed the door and fastened the bolt.
"Honey, is this knife good?"
Xiang Yuanyuan came back and saw Du Ruo still playing with the knife. She sat on Du Ruo's lap and asked curiously.
"Hey, it's all oil. It won't be clean when it sticks to clothes."
Du Ruo quickly took his hands away, saying something, but after Xiang Yuanyuan sat on his lap, he hugged her again.
“Should we clean up this oil?”
Xiang Yuanyuan touched the knife with a finger, got a little oil on it, and asked Du Ruo curiously.
"Well, this knife is pretty good. Take it back and keep it. But there's no need to keep the oil. Hunan Province is humid, and this knife is not used. It needs oil maintenance. After the oil is removed, I will polish it. It should be good for cutting fruits on a daily basis."
Du Ruo said with a smile, he didn't think of getting a bargain by spending five thousand to buy the knife, he just liked it very much and it happened to be a favor to the old lady, and he didn't care much about five thousand yuan, so he just acted as a good person.
(End of this chapter)
