The sparse afterglow shone on the sunny road, and a line of carriages slowly drove into the capital.
The carriage stopped in front of an inn, and the accompanying people got off the carriage and took their horses to rest. Only the leader, the young man wearing a bamboo hat, left alone.
The young man in the bamboo hat followed the map and looked at the map in his hand every time he crossed a street. He did not stop until he reached Wuyun Alley of Yong'anfang in the northeast corner of the capital. It was already dark.
"Counting from east to west...the nineteenth room..." The young man in a bamboo hat searched room by room, and finally figured out the layout of the houses in the alleys, and finally knocked on the door of the small courtyard.
"Who are you looking for?" A young man stuck his head out from the door and asked cautiously.
"Are you here?"
"There is no such person. We have found the wrong person." The young man showed a suspicious look, then refused and closed the door.
The young man in the bamboo hat was startled and was about to leave, but after walking around in front of the door, he found that he had not counted the wrong number, let alone the wrong direction. He knew what the other party was playing, so he stretched out his hand and knocked again.
Door.
It was still the same young man who opened the door, with an impatient look on his face: "I told you that you found the wrong person."
"Please tell me, please, that I am here on someone's behalf. Please ask him to see me." The young man in the bamboo hat said softly without losing his temper with the child.
The young man raised his eyebrows: "Who is it?"
"Congratulations."
Hearing this name, the young man was obviously stunned for a moment, and after two or three breaths, he responded: "Then wait a moment."
The young man trotted all the way into the yard and then into the main room. The room was dark. When the young man touched the bed but there was no one there, he whispered: "Brother, there is someone outside the door who said it was Brother He Nan who asked him to come.
you."
After a moment of silence, a clear voice sounded in the darkness: "Did you ask him what his name was? Is there any evidence?"
"This...I forgot." The young man swallowed.
"How many times have I taught you that if someone comes to your door, you must ask who it is and if there is anything that can prove your identity." The voice in the darkness deepened.
"I know I was wrong." The young man lowered his head.
"You will be punished by sweeping the yard for three days." After saying these words, a black shadow hung upside down along the beam and disappeared from the young man's sight again before it landed.
Let's say that the man in a bamboo hat waiting outside the door was dozing off against the wall out of boredom. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from his ears, but no one was seen: "Who are you? What are you doing? What do you want from me?"
Although the man in the bamboo hat couldn't see the speaker, he turned his body to the blue Wu tree in front of the door and said loudly: "Haofengshan Tuanyunguan Dongfang Watch, I am entrusted by the congratulations to send you a letter.
"
"How can I prove that you are Dongfang Watcher?" The voice came again, but in a different direction.
Dongfang Watcher continued to chase the source of the sound and turned around, then took off the brim of his hat covering his head, revealing his beautiful silver hair: "Is this enough?"
Nitu groaned, then fell to the ground: "That's enough."
"What letter does He Nan want you to send me?" Of course He Nan introduced Ni Tu to Dongfang Watcher, but Dongfang Watcher still didn't expect that he was such a person.
Nitu himself has an average appearance, but faint scars can be seen on every inch of his exposed skin, adding a lot of ferocity and weirdness to this thin young man.
Nitu was abandoned by his parents in the wilderness on the outskirts of the city since he was born. Although it was midsummer, the nights were still cold, and there were mosquitoes, snakes, rats and other pests that could endanger his life. Finally, he fell into the hands of a group of beggars.
Not all beggars in the world belong to the Beggar Gang and are heroic and chivalrous. The fact that these beggars do not belong to the Beggar Gang illustrates some problems - they are all unscrupulous people with low morals. A few beggars wanted to take advantage of this child's ignorance of human affairs.
He divided the child into food, but after all, it was a living human life. The more senior beggar among them couldn't bear it, so he persuaded his companions to keep the child, so that he could have one more helper in the future.
In this way, You Tu survived from the beggars' mouths, but life was not easy either - the beggars were already living a life of precariousness and food, and as the youngest child, he had no time to eat.
After a meal, he grew very thin. Not only that, since he could speak, he followed the beggars on the streets to beg for food, and was taught by them how to steal chickens, poach dogs, and uncover bags.
There are many children like him among the beggars, most of them are orphans who have been abandoned and live on the streets. They are forced to steal - even if they are begging for food to survive, they can just pick some leftover and moldy food to eat, but stealing can
Getting real money and silver, but along with the benefits comes cruel risks. Even if someone doesn't give you food, they won't attack you, but it's different if you steal someone else's things. It can range from fists and kicks to more serious ones.
If you report to the official to receive the reward, you may also be beaten to death or maimed by those who do nothing, so these adult beggars force the children to steal and rob, while they themselves enjoy the gains. If these children are unwilling to obey their orders
, which resulted in severe beatings. Many children who were caught stealing would not be cared for even if they were beaten to death. Anyway, the government did not bother to care about these beggars, leaving them to fend for themselves, and even if some of them were lucky enough,
Those who survive will most likely become disabled, but even so, they will inevitably be squeezed out of their final value by these adult beggars - allowing these disabled children to continue to go to the streets to beg for food and win the sympathy of passers-by.
Nitu has a clever mind and nimble hands and feet. He is the best thief among the beggars. Originally, he was able to keep himself safe and was quite appreciated by the leader of the beggars. However, he values loyalty and is ashamed of it.
Being in the company of these people, he did not attack poor people like him, but only stole from corrupt officials and lawless people. He also often distributed the stolen things to other children so that they could avoid being bullied.
But later when the incident came to light, these adult beggars also knew that what you did had caused them to lose a lot of income, so they gave you a severe lesson, even hitting his hands and feet with bricks and using a red-hot iron.
His chest and back were burned, leaving these horrific scars.
After this incident, Ni Tu was completely determined to take revenge on these people, but he had no way out - going to the government to expose them would definitely not work. Whether the government would bother to catch these beggars who dispersed in a hurry, he didn't know.
You have to squat in jail first. So you can only endure it for the time being and continue to live this shameful life like a rat on the street.
This embarrassment lasted until he met He Nan. At that time, Mi was trying to steal dirty silver from a shady shop, but was discovered by a thug from a restaurant. He chased him for several streets and happened to run into a shopping mall.
He Nan and Zhu Zhao'er, who were married to him, saw that he was pitiful, so they paid him back the money.
After hearing about Ni Tu's plight, Zhu Zhaoer was filled with indignation, but He Nan treated him coldly - although he also felt sympathy for Ni Tu's plight, it was only his one-sided words after all. It was not until he investigated the various rogue deeds of these beggars that he
Determined to help You Tu and other children who are deeply oppressed escape from the sea of suffering.
At that time, He Nan had become famous in Shanhe Academy and was highly regarded by Li Zhanchun, so he mentioned the matter in front of his master intentionally or unintentionally, but he was afraid that the master would convict Ni Tu and other children who had gone astray.
But he also concealed something. However, Li Zhanchun saw through it but did not tell the truth. He only taught the capital's head catcher to arrest the beggars who should be arrested and drive away the beggars who should be driven away.
But instead of being beggars or stealing, these children who have been led into evil ways since childhood have fallen into another situation. They have never been educated, have little understanding of etiquette, justice and shame, and cannot read a single word. This time because of
Taking advantage of He Nan's guidance, he had to become a good person, and suddenly lost his income. He Nan also knew that it was not easy for them, but he couldn't bear to leave them, so he took out the subsidies given to him by the school and visited them from time to time.
Bring some books to them where they live and teach them how to read and write, the Three Principles and the Five Constant Rules.
After this incident, Ni Tu burst into tears of gratitude to He Nan, and from then on he treated He Nan as his brother. However, he also knew that He Nan's status was quite difficult, and he did not want to always be favored by He Nan and Zhu Zhaoer, so he never showed up.
He Nan mentioned theft in front of him, and only quietly did some robbing from the rich and giving to the poor to support himself and the children under his command. Although He Nan was also aware of it, the things you tried to do were all ill-gotten gains.
, so I turned a blind eye.
Now that He Nan has left the capital, Ni Tu rented the small courtyard where He Nan once lived, leaving a place for himself and other children like him to live. Although he did not understand the Four Books and Five Classics,
But he remembered He Nan's instructions to supervise the younger children's reading and literacy.
Over the years, He Nan, Ni Tu and others, in addition to the original little beggars, have also taken in and helped some orphans. Now more than twenty children live in the small courtyard together, and the oldest one is only two years older than Ni Tu.
The youngest is less than ten years old. The older ones find themselves working as cooks in a small shop or other businesses in exchange for food. The younger ones study peacefully at home. But even so, the food and accommodation environment is quite good.
It was simple and shabby, with almost no beds. It only used old mattresses that were picked up and sewn together to form a big bunk bed. The food they ate was extremely cheap big pot rice.
Just like his body is covered with wounds, his hands are already full of sins, and there is no way to turn back. But these children are not like him yet, so let them study hard and hope to be successful in the future, at least not
You should be a thief like yourself.
Ni Tu is only a nineteen-year-old young man, but to these children, he is like a brother, a teacher, and a father.
When they established a big gang, they thought the word "big" was quite awe-inspiring, but now that I think about it, it can have many different meanings.
Bigness is the unwillingness of this lonely place, the hope of these down-and-out children for the future, and the shadow that the leader "one person" wants to support for everyone.
He Nan was like this in the past, and you are like this now.
