Seeing the caravan passing by, the strong man at the fork in the road stopped his cart and waited quietly.
After a while, the caravan men and horses walked over, and the strong man also lifted the cart and followed behind, joining Wu Ming and others.
On a small road, four groups, Wu Ming, Liu Laohan's grandson, the salesman, and the strong man pushing the cart, each occupied one side.
Wu Ming raised his eyes and looked at the strong man, and found that the cart was covered with a straw mat, and at the very edge of the straw mat, a pair of embroidered shoes happened to be exposed.
"Hero, I see you are going to Liuzhou, what are you pushing in this cart?" Old man Liu looked at the strong man and couldn't help but ask.
Upon hearing such inquiries, the strong man twitched the corners of his mouth twice and said in a deep voice: "My sister..."
The strong man looked to be around thirty, and his sister was probably not much older.
Old man Liu looked at the straw mat on the cart, couldn't help but shook his head, and sighed: "What a pity!"
Silent, the strong man didn't speak, he just pushed the cart without saying a word.
At noon, by a small stream, the caravan stopped to light a fire for cooking, and Wu Ming and others also took the opportunity to rest.
At this time, the strong man pushing the cart fetched some water from the stream, lifted up the straw mat covering the single cart, and wiped the face of the corpse with a very gentle movement.
The places where everyone rests are not too far apart.
Wu Ming raised his eyes to look at the girl's body and found that the girl was only in her twenties, and her features were somewhat similar to those of a strong man.
"Grandpa, look at this sister, is she smiling?" Xiaobao's words came from the side, causing everyone present to raise their heads.
Wu Ming looked at the corners of the corpse's mouth and saw that the corners of the female corpse's mouth were slightly upward, and it really looked like a smile but not a smile.
Seeing the expression on the corpse, Old Man Liu didn't say anything, picked up Xiaobao and moved away.
On the side, although the man carrying the load did not move, his brows were tightly knitted together, and his face looked a little ugly.
"Huh!" Seeing everyone trying to avoid him, the strong man covered the body with a straw mat with a serious look on his face.
After such an interlude, after resting for more than half an hour, everyone followed the caravan on the road again.
This time, because of the incident at noon, there was a estrangement between old man Liu and the salesman, and they both subconsciously avoided the strong man.
Wu Ming was the only one who was full of curiosity. Instead, he frequently turned back to look at the single scooter pushed by the strong man.
"Aren't you afraid?"
After watching it many times, the strong man also noticed Wu Ming's gaze and couldn't help but ask.
"I'm not afraid, I'm just curious. I want to know how your sister died." Wu Ming walked side by side with the strong man. While asking questions, he reached out to help push the cart.
After pushing the cart for two or three miles, the strong man didn't answer. It wasn't until he walked another two or three miles that he finally spoke: "My sister is the concubine of Mr. Jia, a medicine merchant. Mr. Jia has many wives and concubines, but it is very difficult for his children to have children in their twenties.
There has been nothing for years. Who would have thought that my sister was just pregnant, and within half a month, Mr. Jia’s wife was also pregnant..."
The strong man didn't tell the rest of the story, but the answer was obvious.
There are many disputes among wealthy families, and the girl lying under the straw mat is obviously the loser in the harem struggle.
The mistake is that the strong man's sister is just a concubine, not even a side wife.
If you think about it with your toes, Mr. Jia's wife would not let her concubine give birth to the child first when she was pregnant.
"It stands to reason that your sister should be very angry when she dies like this. Why is the expression on her face like this? Isn't it a little unreasonable?" Wu Ming recalled the expression on the female corpse's face that looked like a smile but not a smile, and couldn't bear it.
He asked the strong man.
Hearing this question, the strong man couldn't answer. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. It was already too late when I went there. If I hadn't stopped them, they would have even burned the body. I finally snatched the body away."
When I came out, I didn’t have time to ask any more questions.”
The strong man spoke vaguely and could not give any answer.
This is the tragedy of the old society. As a concubine, it is difficult to get guaranteed rights.
In many wealthy families, the main wife beats her concubine to death. This is so common that reporting it to the official is useless.
When talking about his sadness, the strong man became more and more silent, and there was no longer any conversational nature.
The whole team became dull. During an afternoon break, Old Man Liu, who was already very tired, never followed the team again.
Without Old Man Liu and his grandson, those who should leave will still have to leave, and no one will stop for anyone.
Needless to say about the caravan, there are animals pulling the carts, so it won't be a problem to walk for a day.
On Wu Ming's side, the strong men and peddlers were all young people. They hung on behind the caravan and held on until the evening.
In the evening, the caravans formed a camp with carts and lit countless bonfires.
Wu Ming and the other three are outsiders and cannot enter the caravan camp.
When Wu Ming was idle and bored in the afternoon, he wanted to get closer to the caravan, but only ten steps away, the guard escorting the car grasped the handle of the knife.
If he had persisted in getting closer at that time, the guard responsible for escorting him would probably have drawn his knife. They would not talk nonsense to you at all.
Looking at the bonfire in the distance, Wu Ming was lying under the tree, eating dry steamed buns.
After all, this was the first day of the journey. At this time, he felt pretty good and there was nothing he was not used to.
On the other side, the bearer was making a bed with branches. There was also a small fire beside him, and a small iron pot was boiling hot water on it.
Looking at his simple way of resting and looking at the salesman who looked tired but kept busy, Wu Ming felt a little nervous.
"There are more mosquitoes at night, so you'd better do like me and raise your sleeping place a little higher and light a fire." The salesman said as if he was someone who had experienced this before and was skilled enough to participate in wilderness survival.
"Since ancient times, there have been masters among the people. Fortunately, you don't know Mr. Bei!" Wu Ming also imitated the other person's example and built a small bed of branches for himself.
After the small bed made of tree branches was finished, Wu Ming looked to the side and found that the strong man was playing with his single scooter. It seemed that he was going to keep his sister company tonight.
Sleeping with the dead, I have to say, the strong man is very courageous.
Especially when the other person lay down and covered himself with a straw mat, the feeling of surprise became even stronger.
Shaking his head, Wu Ming lay on the branch and looked at the starry sky above his head.
The starry sky today is beautiful. Wu Ming himself doesn't know how long it was last time he looked at the stars so seriously.
Counting the stars in the sky, I fell asleep unconsciously.
I don’t know how long it took, but Wu Ming felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach and got up in a daze.
At this time, the moonlight was thick, and the earth seemed to be covered with a white coat, and the line of sight was not greatly affected.
Wu Ming looked around subconsciously, and then his eyes narrowed.
On the single board, the strong man was snoring, and the straw mat on his body had disappeared.
And most importantly, the female body that was supposed to be lying in the car was nowhere to be seen.