"Looking for, looking for me?"
Shen Tang pointed at himself.
It feels like winning a small lottery prize.
Not much money, but unexpected.
However, Shen Tang's attention was always very strange. She thought about Gong Xiqiu's words carefully and found something wrong: "Wait a minute, I heard you asked the landlady about He Yin earlier, and I thought you were here to visit me." Am I just by the way?"
At first I was quite touched that my friend remembered me.
Thinking about it again, she made the wrong payment???
Gong Xiqiu was not embarrassed about being caught. Instead, he was confused by Shen Tang's question: "Aren't these all the same?"
Shen Tang resolutely said: "It's different!"
That--
Gong Xiqiu tilted his head in confusion.
Ask in a soliciting tone: "Then I apologize?"
Shen Tang admired his superiority.
"Well, okay, then I accept it."
You can't break up with your best friend just because of a minor conflict.
Gong Xiqiu apologized succinctly, and Shen Tang accepted it as a matter of course. Only the onlookers, Nao, couldn't understand the logical connection. This, maybe this is the reason why they can become close friends, while outsiders can only be confused?
"Parents, please have some tea."
The "boy" brought a pot of tea.
Shen Tang looked at the pierced ears on the "little guy's" plump earlobes, smiled meaningfully at Gong Xiqiu, and asked, "What about you?"
She gave a little thumbs up.
Gong Xiqiu looked at his little finger blankly.
"What... does this mean?"
Gu Chi: "The little finger belongs to water and refers to the younger generation of children."
With Gu Chi's erroneous knowledge, Gongxi Qiu hurriedly explained: "This is not a junior in the clan, but a person who was rewarded by my adoptive father. I saw that she was pitiful and smart, so I stayed with me as a maid to help take care of things. Living expenses.”
Originally, the people who took care of his life were attendants and wives.
With this maid, Gong Xiqiu no longer has to worry about finding the pearls that are randomly thrown around. He didn't want to take her with him when he went out this time. The pressure of traveling day and night is a bit heavy for a weak woman. But considering that he is away, maybe Some mean-spirited people will come to the door looking for trouble, so I thought about it and picked them up.
Shen Tang: "..."
One dares to explain and the other dares to answer.
Her desire for gossip was extinguished.
The topic turned back to that strange young man.
"You said that the young man just came to me, did he come to seek refuge with me, or did he come to seek revenge from me?"
Shen Tang is very confident in her own charm, but there are not many people in the world who can appreciate her. In addition, her reputation has not yet been fully established, so she should not be able to attract high-end talents to actively join her grass-roots team. The young man has excellent bones, regardless of others. His appearance is poor, but the details of his breathing and walking clearly show that this young man is a practitioner with a solid foundation.
With this condition, why bother to find her?
The probability of defecting is low, but the probability of seeking revenge is high.
Gong Xiqiu's answer was unexpected: "He must have defected. When he rescued him earlier, he kept saying that he wanted to find Mama to repay his kindness. He said it was his sister's order before she died. It's a pity that he doesn't know the way very well. …”
"His sister?"
There is absolutely no impression in my mind.
Have you ever saved his sister?
Seeing Mama's reaction, Gong Xiqiu knew that she was also surprised, so he suggested: "How about calling someone here to ask?"
"also."
Gong Xiqiu asked the "boy" to go to the stable in the backyard of the inn to call someone. After a while, the young man came over step by step dragging the heavy chain. Gong Xiqiu pointed to the empty seat and said to the young man: "Sit down. I have something to ask you."
The boy hadn't taken a shower for an unknown amount of time.
His exposed skin was covered with dirt, and there was an indescribable sour odor floating all over his body. Although his clothes were ragged and his head was ragged, he was not embarrassed at all when facing outsiders. When Gong Xiqiu asked him to sit down, he sat down generously. sit down.
"She's the one you're looking for."
Gong Xiqiu pointed at Shen Tang.
After hearing this, the young man's calm eyes finally changed, and he turned his head sharply in the direction pointed by Gong Xiqiu. He said three words without thinking: "Is it you?"
Perhaps because he hasn't spoken to outsiders for a long time, the boy's voice is much deeper and hoarse than that of his peers.
"What is me?"
The young man followed up and asked, "You bought my nephew for forty coins? Where is he now?"
Forty cents?
Buy his nephew?
When did this happen?
Shen Tang vaguely felt that this matter was familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while. Gong Xiqiu helped Shen Tang sell Amway for free, and he wanted to force the following words into the young man's mind: "As expected of Mama, she is really happy He is kind and has the heart of a Bodhisattva! It turns out that there is such a connection. Don’t worry, your nephew will live a good life with my Mama!"
Shen Tang's forehead bulged: "Shut up!"
Gong Xiqiu didn't expect that he would be attacked, so he lowered his head with an aggrieved look and quietly moved his eyes up to observe Shen Tang's reaction.
Shen Tang: "..."
She remembered the matter of "forty coins to buy a nephew." Last year when she was still in Xiaocheng, Sibao County, Shen Tang's base was in the bandit camp on the mountain. In order to further expand the manpower of the bandit camp, Shen Tang decided to join forces with Qi Shan We went down the mountain to buy together, and it was on that trip that we bought Lu Jue.
Before meeting Lu Jue, Shen Tang saw a woman holding a son on the roadside. The son's skin was cold and he had died in the woman's arms. However, the woman was obviously unconscious, or she refused to accept her son. The fact that he died young seems crazy.
Shen Tang took pity on the woman's motherly heart, so he spent 40 yuan to buy the body from her and buried it in the back mountain.
Apart from this, there is nothing else.
Shen Tang swallowed his saliva and secretly thought that he was off the map!
That woman must be the young man's sister. If you take a closer look, there is indeed some similarity between their eyebrows. But why didn't that woman tell him that his nephew had died?
Where can she find a nephew for the boy now?
"Ahem, this matter is actually..."
Shen Tang had a troubled look on his face.
When Gong Xiqiu saw this posture, he knew something was wrong. He pretended to adjust his sitting posture, changing the cross-legged posture to a very casual and rude sitting posture. His body was slanted and his center of gravity was leaning on the low table. The muscles under the dark clothes had already entered the " Ready to go” state.
Shen Tang chose to tell the truth frankly.
"At that time, your sister was holding him and sitting on the roadside. I thought the child was sick and still had breath, so I thought about going over and taking a look. Unexpectedly, there was no pulse at all, and I found out that he had died. His belly was huge. She must have been suffocated to death by Guanyin Soil. Your sister asked me if I wanted to buy it. I saw how pitiful she was in her unconscious state, so I paid for it and buried her alive... These words above are absolutely untrue. It’s just a lie! If you don’t believe me, I can tell you where your nephew’s tomb is.”
As she narrated, the young man's eyes dimmed little by little, his eyes were red and misty, without any suspicion, he was furious, obviously he was mentally prepared, and he choked slightly: "My sister's family only has so much blood. I thought I could find him and raise him well, but I kept asking about Mr. Shen... I didn't expect it would be like this..."
The only blame is that he went back too late.
No wonder the others.
Why didn’t the young man doubt Shen Tang’s words?
Naturally, it was because after he went back and saw his sister who was all skinny except for her huge belly, he realized what had happened to his family. Except for his nephew, everyone in the family of five had the same death condition. The young man repaid his nephew for being alive. There was a glimmer of hope, but his reason told him that it was unlikely.
My nephew is too young, and the two older ones died in infancy. Can he survive until he is bought and raised by a kind-hearted person?
Shen Tang's answer made his heart, which had been suspended for a long time, fall to the ground, but the heavy sound made him feel sad.
"Condolences."
Shen Tang could only feel so relieved.
After listening to this, Gong Xiqiu roughly understood what was going on. He couldn't help but refuse to open and lift certain pots. He looked slightly dissatisfied and accused the young man: "You are also a brave warrior after all. You can't even protect a few ordinary people." None?"
Shen Tang rolled his eyes at Gong Xiqiu.
Said: "The outside world has different customs from your clan."
In the Gongxiqiu ethnic group, babies are usually raised by the mother and her natal uncle together. The tribesmen live close to each other, so it is convenient for them to take care of each other. But in the outside world, when a woman marries her husband's family, it is impossible for a boy to marry as her brother-in-law.
Even if you want to seek asylum, it will be difficult.
The boy was good-natured and not angry.
He just lowered his head silently and didn't say a word.
In fact, it's really not his fault.
The boy was lucky. His bones were discovered when he was still a child, and he was taken as his apprentice. Because a brave warrior came out of the family, which invisibly brought glory to the faces of his parents and sisters, and her elder sister also found her. A wonderful marriage.
The man is considered a wealthy family from a nearby village.
The boy returns home once every three years. Every time he goes back, he sees that his family is living well. Even when Sibao County was captured by Zheng Qiao for the first time, his family fled in time. In the past few years, except that the living conditions are not as good as before, everything else
well.
Letters from home also report good news but not bad news.
As a young man, he studied with peace of mind and achieved success before he was born.
As soon as he came out, he heard that the Pig King rebels were wreaking havoc in Sibao County. The crops had not been good in the past two years, and God would not reward him. He felt a thump in his heart, and went home while asking about it.
Only then did I realize that so many things were happening at home.
His parents were blackmailed and forced to death by bullies on the way to escape. With tears in his eyes, he buried their bones in the ground again and went to look for his sister. When he found them, the smell of corpses in the simple shabby house was so high that the sister who used to have bright eyes and good eyes looked like a corpse that was about to rot.
Withered bones hugged their stomachs and huddled next to their rotting husband.
The young man had just recovered from the shock of the death of his parents, but was shocked to death by the several corpses in the broken house. He felt that the world was spinning in front of him. My sister was still breathing, and after drinking the hot soup, her spirits improved significantly, and her gray skin showed a slight tinge.
red.
But the young man knew that this was a return to the past.
My sister was conscious and told him that her nephew had been bought by a kind-hearted person and that he would live a good life. If there was a chance, he would help take care of him. She kept describing the appearance, clothes, and voice of the kind-hearted person, and her muddy eyes were full of gratitude and expectation.
.
She was grateful for Shen Tang's kindness and hoped that her son would live a happy life, and she breathed her last in the expectation of happiness.
The young man endured his grief and settled down with his sister's family.
From then on, he embarked on the road to find his nephew.
Having lost all his blood relatives in just a few days, the young man's inner sorrow and anger was pent up in his heart, and it was difficult to vent. He held on, and looked around for bits and pieces of information about Shen Tang like a normal person. By chance, he encountered the bully who forced his parents to death and bullied women and children.
The nerve called reason is broken.
He beat the bully's head into paste with one punch after another, and was finally caught and exiled. While in exile, he heard the officer talking about the governor of Ha Yin Fu Gu, and accidentally discovered that this person might be the person he was looking for, so he started beating him violently.
The wounded officer escaped.
As a result, he fainted from hunger and was picked up by Gong Xiqiu.
The latter heard that he was looking for the governor of Heyin County, and without saying a word, he agreed to take him on the road with him. The young man stayed with An Xin as a temporary groom, which was supposed to repay Gong Xi Qiu's kindness.
"He also has a rough life." Shen Tang looked at the young man with pity and said warmly, "Do you have a place to go? If you have no place to go, why not follow me? I will move your nephew's tomb later. Although Heyin is a small place, it is still considered a place.
A place to stay.”
The young man pursed his lips and seemed to be hesitating.
He originally went to Shen Tang to take care of his nephew, but now that his nephew is gone, he doesn't necessarily want to stay. It's just that Shen Tang's invitation poked his weakness and made him shaken.
Gong Xiqiu was dissatisfied and asked, "What's the point of hesitation?"
The young man looked at him and said, "It's more suitable to follow your parents."
Gong Xiqiu was also a brave warrior, and he intuitively told himself that this person was very strong, and even a head-on confrontation might not be able to shake him.
In comparison, Shen Jun seems too gentle and weak.
Unexpectedly, Gong Xiqiu didn't welcome him at all.
He muttered in an imperceptible voice: "Follow me? I don't even know when I will die suddenly and in vain..."
He patted the young man's shoulder and laughed loudly: "I dare to pat my chest and assure you that Mama is definitely the best person in the world. If you miss her, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Even if you follow someone else now, maybe in the future Why should we go to such trouble with her? We might as well do it in one step, don’t you think?"
juvenile:"……"
He didn't quite believe it.
But judging from Shen Tang's behavior of buying a corpse just to comfort his motherly heart, he is indeed a good man. A good man may not be a wise man to knowledgeable people, but to the common people, he is a good man. Words are a great thing.
After a long time, the young man said: "My surname is Xianyu."
"Salted fish?"
The boy didn't hear the question.
It's just a gesture of surrender: "Xian Yu Jian."
"I am willing to listen to Mr. Shen's orders."
————————
"I didn't expect that I would be able to pick up a brave warrior during this trip. He is a good young man." In private, Gu Chi and Shen Tang joked, "It seems that Master Lang's daydream was not in vain."
Shen Tang pouted: "Have you had enough teasing?"
Gu Chi realized what was going on and stopped talking.
Shen Tang asked Yu Zi to find a set of clean clothes to send to Xian Yujian. This was also his subordinate. The treatment should keep up with him. The most basic thing was to clean up his personal hygiene.
"Are you ready for the invitation to Zhang Yongqing?"
The time for this business trip is limited.
There are too few people in the Caotai team, and almost everyone has multiple jobs. She has been out there for too long, and the few literary scholars in her nest should rebel. She plans to make a quick decision and resolve the matter here as soon as possible. Gong Xiqiu also followed She had similar thoughts.
The next day, we made an appointment to come together.
Although he did not reveal his intention and true identity, Gong Xiqiu's courageous tiger talisman was enough for Zhang Yongqing to receive him personally. To be honest, which man could refuse a fifteenth-level junior high-ranking officer.
Even if the other party didn't come to seek refuge with him, what if? Shen Tang thought he had figured out Zhang He's thoughts.
Unexpectedly, when they met, the latter's eyes kept falling on her face—keep looking, just keep looking.
Shen Tang: "...Why is Mr. Zhang looking at me like this?"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
?(???)?
This chapter has been completed!