During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, people in northwestern Liaoning, near the border with Inner Mongolia, liked to eat horse meat, and a large number of Mongolian meat horses were trafficked. A small town called Sanhukou became a horse meat distribution center, and there was one of the largest horse markets within a radius of hundreds of miles. This unique custom of the locals not only made the town crowded with weavers, but also gave birth to a stunt betting on horses. The so-called betting on horses is that by looking at a live horse, you can estimate how much meat, bones and tendons there will be after killing the horse, so that you can estimate how much meat, bones and tendons there will be.

The horse dealers ran their business away from home, and their lives were boring and boring. When they made money, they took some bets and had a good time. There was a horse butcher shop on the southeast corner of the horse market. The owner of this butcher shop was Zhang Derui, a top horse betting expert. A meat horse, he could estimate that it was about three taels above and below, known as "Zhang Sanliang." A year ago, his son wanted to learn horse betting skills with Zhang Derui, but he was strongly opposed. Angry, his son ran away from home and there was no news at all. Because of this, Mrs. Zhang washed her face with tears every day, and Zhang Derui was also anxious.

The night before the Tomb-sweeping Festival, Zhang Derui sent off his friend early, closed the shop and went to bed, because he and his wife had agreed to go to the mountain temple tomorrow to ask the mountain god, so that his son could come back safely as soon as possible. Not knowing when he slept, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door, he asked a few times "who", but no one answered, and the knocking continued. Zhang Derui opened the door with a lantern and saw that there was a black horse standing outside the door, and an old man was sitting immediately. The old man was deaf and dumb, and he rode a blind horse.

Zhang Derui even asked the old man what the matter was. The deaf old man took out a scroll from his arms, opened it and held it in front of Zhang Derui, and saw a few words written on it: "The old man is not talented, I will bet with you on horses tomorrow."

Zhang Derui took a look and took a deep breath. Inhumans must have high skills, and it seemed that this person must have a great background. Zhang Derui had not gambled on horses for a long time, because every bet would win, and no one around dared to gamble with him anymore.

The next morning, there was a drizzle of cattle hair in the world, and the people in the town heard that Zhang Derui was going to gamble on horses, so they all came to watch the excitement and wanted to bet. They surrounded Zhang Derui's shop, but no one came after waiting for the morning. After noon, the rain stopped, and no one came. In the evening, the spectators' gambling fun was exhausted and they left one after another. Zhang Derui also felt that a deaf man had been tricked and wanted to close the door to sleep. But when he returned to the back room, he suddenly found that his wife, Li Qiner, was missing, and he couldn't find it no matter how he looked for it. When Zhang Derui was in a hurry, there was a knock on the door outside the door. It was the old man, followed by a young man in white riding a white horse.

Zhang Derui stepped forward and clasped his fists and asked, "I don't know what kind of gamble tonight?"

The young man in white beside the deaf old man said, "My master wants to make a bet with you."

Zhang Derui frowned when he heard that, and there was no need to ask, this was to find fault, because absolute gambling was almost the same as gambling in life, and it was about seeing blood. Whoever lost would have to use his own flesh and blood to make up for the difference in the wrong estimate. Zhang Derui turned his eyes and changed to a smiling face, saying, "I know that the two of you will not miss the appointment, so I have prepared wine and meat, and we will eat and drink before talking about betting on horses."

The deaf old man closed his eyes tightly, and the white-clothed boy said, "My master knew that you didn't dare make this bet, so he was prepared beforehand. You can't make this bet if you don't, because my master robbed your family today." The white-clothed boy said and took out a jade bracelet. Zhang Derui saw that it was his love for his wife, and he deeply regretted it. The white-clothed boy said, "If you win the bet, your family will return it safely, but if you lose, you must follow the rules."

Zhang Derui gritted his teeth and said, "Gambling is gambling." He led the two of them into the yard and held up the lights. The young man in white took the white horse, which was a good meat horse. Zhang Derui looked carefully, estimated it for a long time, and said three numbers. The young man in white gestured with the master for a while, and saw the deaf old man shake his hand and the knife light flashed, the white horse fell down at that time, blood flowed out, and the deaf old man went down again, and actually cut off the four hooves of the horse.

The young man in white said, "My master said you lost, and you underestimated four hooves. Now the meat, bones and tendons on the horse are exactly the weight you said." Zhang Derui kills horses and sells meat every day, and he has to estimate in advance, and there are very few mistakes. When he said it in the past, as the young man in white said, he couldn't help but be shocked. According to the rules, this is going to chop off his hands and feet!

Of course, Zhang Derui was not willing to become disabled. He took advantage of the fact that the master and apprentice were not paying attention and flew over with a knife. Unexpectedly, the deaf old man took the knife in his hand.

Both sides tore their faces, and Zhang Derui got on the horse and fought the deaf old man to death. After more than a dozen rounds, Zhang Derui had no advantage, and he rolled his eyes, why not put out the lights, and the deaf old man could not see or hear. Wouldn't it be easy to kill him? Thinking of this, Zhang Derui waved his knife and extinguished the lights, and the surroundings suddenly became dark, and he couldn't reach his fingers, so he could only distinguish the opponent's position by his voice. Zhang Derui thought he had succeeded and boldly attacked and killed, but his horse refused to obey, but the other horse could walk freely. Zhang Derui was shocked, and then he thought that the other horse was not a blind horse, it was a night horse trained from childhood, and the horse's eyes were artificially sewn.

Zhang Derui was a little timid in his heart, and his attack was a little weaker. After a few rounds, the old man sent the knife flying, and he was also shaken down. The young man in white put the knife to his neck, and the lamp was relit.

"Ye Xiangyu, after all these years of suffering of conscience, do you know wrong?" Zhang Derui did not expect this old man not only to be deaf or dumb, but also to have such a familiar voice. He suddenly remembered, "Master, you are still alive! Disciple convicted..."

Zhang Derui's original name was Ye Xiangyu. Twenty-eight years ago, he was still a young man with great ambitions, and he wanted to get ahead, so he went to Thousand Lotus Flower Mountain and studied martial arts under Li Gongtang's door. There were a total of nine brothers in the same school, and he ranked last. Li Gongtang wanted to choose one of these nine to be his successor. The person chosen would not only get the true biography of Leader Li, but also get the daughter of Leader Li Qiner, so these people not only studied hard and practiced hard, but also had their own plans.

This Sect Leader Li, in addition to martial arts, also has a stunt, that is, when you see a horse, you can know how much horse meat the horse produces, but he never passes on this stunt. That day, Ye Xiangyu found Sect Leader Li and said, "Master, my disciple has realized your stunt, please try it."

The master asked him to bring a horse, and Ye Xiangyu gave it a try. Seeing that Ye Xiangyu was clever and savvy, Chief Li decided to choose him as his successor. From then on, Chief Li asked Ye Xiangyu to practice with his daughter Li Qiner. Two years later, Ye Xiangyu's martial arts have greatly improved, and they are even more happy with Li Qiner.

On the surface, Ye Xiangyu was proud, but his heart had always been very conflicted, because he did not realize the master's stunt, but he killed a horse of similar size in advance and weighed it before getting it right. If he did not tell his secret, he might not learn the master's stunt in his life, but he was afraid that the master would blame him for saying it. Once, Ye Xiangyu and the master went to the mountains to collect medicine. He thought that only by learning the master's stunt could he consolidate his position, so he told the truth. Ye Xiangyu expected that things had reached this point, and the master could only teach him the stunt.

The master did not blame him, but he did not promise to teach him either. He just said, "You have already learned the skills of betting on horses." There is no trick to bet on horses.

Ye Xiangyu thought that his master was shirking and didn't want to teach him any more. It seemed that there was no hope of marrying Li Qiner. On the way back, when he walked across the cliff at the top of the mountain, Ye Xiangyu suddenly flashed an evil thought: Now that the master is a mortal threat to his future and love, it is better to push the master down the cliff here. Just when he was about to do it, he was discovered by the master, and Chief Li accidentally fell down. Below is the abyss, Ye Xiangyu knew that the master must be dead, so he went back to report the news.

They searched all over the valley, but they couldn't find the body of the master. Later, when his fellow senior brother refused to accept him, Ye Xiangyu led Li Qiner incognito to this small town. At this time, Li Qiner was pregnant and soon gave birth to a boy. Ye Xiangyu lived by selling horse meat, and every day he saw his wife Li Qiner, he would think of the master, and he felt deeply guilty for his fault. He didn't expect that not only did the master not die, but after so many years, he would still find them.

Ye Xiangyu knew that he would not survive tonight, so he told his master what had happened. After listening to the master, he let out a long sigh: "It's all in the past, but it's taboo to deceive my master and destroy my ancestors, so let's do it according to the rules."

Zhang Derui picked up the knife and looked at his feet. He closed his eyes and went down with the knife, chopping off his feet. He glanced at his left hand again, and the knife also cut.

"This matter is over, let's go." After saying that, the master and the white-clothed young man left.

Ye Xiangyu's hands and feet were in unbearable pain. He regretted the beginning. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had no face to see others, so he wanted to kill himself, but now he can't even kill himself, and Ye Xiangyu fainted in a hurry.

When he woke up, the sky was already bright, and Ye Xiangyu found that his hands and feet were still fine. It turned out that the whole process of betting with the deaf old man was just a dream, it was really a false alarm.

"You finally woke up!It was the madam who was talking, "Our son is back! You said that you slept so dead that you couldn't wake up, and you said that you accompanied me to the Mountain God Temple to offer incense today, but in the end I went by myself. The Mountain God was moved by my sincerity, and I met our son on the way back."

"Son! You said your son is back?The lady pointed to him, and Zhang Derui saw a young man in white standing outside the door. "Child, where have you been this year?"

"I went to the mountains to learn martial arts. By the way, my master asked me to give this to you."

Ye Xiangyu took it, and it was a note. He opened it and looked at it, and there were a few big characters written on it: The old man is not talented, I will bet with you on horses tomorrow. This is the note he saw in his dream. Zhang Derui took a closer look and found that there was a line of small characters behind it: I have seen your thoughts back then. In order not to let you bear the infamy of deceiving Master and Ancestor in the future, I fell off the cliff before you did it.

"Master..."   Ye Xiangyu was dizzy. It turned out that before he did that wrong thing, the master had already forgiven him. And for so many years, he has lived in a nightmare of self-blame.