A semi-old mule cart was mixed in with the hurried crowd and entered the city gate in a leisurely manner.
Sitting in front of the bullock cart, I opened a thin crack in the curtain and looked greedily at the familiar streets and shops outside.
It has been seven years and eight months since the night he escaped overnight. This is the first time he has returned to Changxing City.
This was something he had never dared to think about.
He didn't expect that he could return to Changxing City alive and see everything familiar again.
The car drove directly into a house. The chief guard closed the courtyard door and knocked on the car door.
The curtain was opened, and the head of the bullock cart was carefully poked out.
"It's okay, come out, we're almost there." Chang Sui looked helplessly in front of the ox cart.
This Mr. Niu is so courageous.
"Okay, okay." He shook his legs in front of the oxcart and leaned out little by little.
"Alas!" Chang Sui let out a long sigh, stepped forward to lift his arm in front of the ox cart, and dragged him out of the cart.
"Hurry up, it's going to be late!" Changsui dragged him off the ox cart and into the second gate.
The bullock cart was dragged by a long attendant and headed straight for a high wall in the backyard.
There are several ancient trees with lush branches next to the high wall, and a ladder has been set up under one ancient tree.
Seeing Changsui dragging an ox cart coming, a guard jumped down from the top of the ladder and waved, "Hurry up, we are almost there."
"Is it stable up there?" Chang Sui raised his head and looked at the top of the ladder hidden among the thick branches and leaves.
This Mr. Niu is so timid. If the top is not stable, he is afraid that Mr. Niu will fall and get hurt.
"Don't worry, our leader has told you." The guard looked at the two legs shaking in front of the oxcart and smiled hard.
With the bullock cart in front and the guard at the back, half protecting and half pushing him, he brought the bullock cart front into the canopy of the tree, sat him down, and tied him to a thick branch behind with a belt.
"Watch carefully and don't say anything." The guard patted the front of the bullock cart and whispered in his ear.
In front of the bullock cart, he nodded vigorously and did not dare to say a word.
Next door is a house for a young couple. The house is very dilapidated, and half of the back room at the back has collapsed. On a broken bamboo chair at the door of the main house, an old woman with gray hair is sitting, holding a small oil paper bag.
, was shaking and picking something from the oil paper bag, and carefully put it into his mouth.
A thin woman in old clothes is bending down to sweep the floor.
Tears welled up in front of the bullock cart.
This is his old mother and his wife.
Wiping tears in front of the bullock cart, I stretched my neck to search in the yard.
Where is his son? Where is his son?
In front of the bullock cart, a heart shrinks into a ball.
When he ran away, his son had just learned to walk. When he saw him, he laughed, raised his hands and stumbled towards him.
Where is his son? Is he still alive?
A middle-aged man wearing a long gown and carrying the turban that shopkeepers often carry on his back knocked on the door of Niu's house.
"Who is it?" The woman straightened her upper body, walked towards the courtyard door, and asked in a loud voice.
"Is this Niu's house? Is Sister-in-law Lao Niu at home?" The middle-aged man stepped back and took the next step.
"Who are you?" Sister-in-law Niu opened the courtyard door and asked.
"I'm from Yangzhou, how are you doing, old lady?" The middle-aged man bowed.
"Okay, Yangzhou?" Sister-in-law Niu frowned.
"Since the old lady is at home, let me go in and talk. It's not convenient here." The middle-aged man bowed again.
Sister-in-law Niu thought of something, but she couldn't believe it. She stayed for a moment and then opened the door with a bang.
The middle-aged man entered the courtyard sideways and walked straight to the old lady of the Niu family.
The old lady was stretching her head and squinting, trying hard to see clearly.
"My eyes are not that good, but my ears are fine." Sister-in-law Niu closed the courtyard door tightly and followed closely.
"I'll kowtow to the old lady first." The middle-aged man took off his robe, knelt in front of the old lady, and kowtowed three times seriously.
"Who is he? Who is this? You don't know him? Who is this?" The old lady dropped the oil paper bag in her hand and hurriedly went to catch Mrs. Niu.
"It's not Brother Ping's father!" Sister-in-law Niu hurriedly held the old lady down to sit firmly.
The old lady's face was full of disappointment, and her upper body collapsed.
"My surname is Fang, and my first name is Sheng. I am close friends with Brother Niu." Fang Sheng squatted and knelt in front of the old lady, lowered his voice, and introduced himself first.
"Fang Sheng? I've never heard of it! Not before, but now? You and him? Now?" The old lady grabbed Fang Sheng and asked anxiously.
"Yes, I met Brother Niu three years ago. I passed through Huzhou this time and was entrusted by Brother Niu to come and take a look and say hello."
"Is he still alive?" The old lady was stunned for a moment and burst into tears.
Sister-in-law Niu covered her mouth tightly with both hands, tears streaming down her face, but she did not dare to cry out.
Fang Sheng waited for the two of them to cry out in excitement before continuing: "Brother Niu is safe and in good health, but he looks a little older."
"Where is he? Him?" Sister-in-law Niu didn't know what to ask after seeing him.
"I have been wandering around in various places before, and it was very hard. This year, things have turned around, and I have won the favor of a nobleman. Now I am following that nobleman to take care of the general affairs."
Fang Sheng speaks every word slowly and clearly.
"Brother Niu asked me to come over and report that he was safe. Brother Niu said: The nobleman thinks highly of him. When he accumulates some merits, the nobleman said that he can help him get rid of the crime. At that time, he will rush back immediately to pick up his family.
Reunion in the past."
"It's good that he's safe, that's good that he's safe." The old lady's tears kept flowing.
"How is the child?" Fang Sheng turned around, looked around, and asked Sister-in-law Niu.
"Okay, I'm going to school, I'll call him!" Sister-in-law Niu turned around and ran out.
"Aqian is really alive? You didn't lie to me?" The old lady tried her best to look at Fang Sheng and asked breathlessly.
"Alive and well. Brother Niu said that the old lady was shrewd. He specifically told me a few words before coming here and asked me to tell the old lady that when he left home, it was the old lady who sent him out of the city and put him on the ship.
He said that the old lady told him that as long as he lives, Fang Sheng stretched his head forward and whispered to the old lady.
The old lady leaned back in her chair suddenly, tears welling up again.
Not long after, the courtyard door opened with a bang, and Sister-in-law Niu rushed in, dragging a little boy of eight or nine years old.
In front of the bullock cart among the old trees next door, I stretched my head forward and looked at the little boy intently.
His son has grown so big...
"Quick! Kowtow to Uncle Fang!" Sister-in-law Niu held down the little boy and knelt in front of Fang Sheng.
"This child's facial features are exactly the same as his father's." Fang Sheng stretched out his hand to pick up the little boy and held him carefully.
"No, the features and eyes are exactly the same as his father!" The old lady smiled with tears in her eyes.
"I don't want to waste too much time." Fang Sheng reached for the robe, took out two tightly tied square pieces of mulberry paper, and placed them on the old lady's lap.
"Brother Niu saved this one hundred taels of gold and asked me to bring it back for home use."
"Who is that noble man? Can you tell me a word?" The old lady touched the mulberry paper bag and stretched her head forward to ask.
"Extremely noble man, old lady, don't worry."
Fang Sheng stood up, put his robe on his back, and waved to the curious little boy, "I'm leaving, no need to send me off."
Fang Sheng walked out of the courtyard and walked straight away.
In the yard next door, the guard climbed up, untied the ox cart who was covering his mouth and crying out of breath, grabbed his belt, and handed him to the guard below.
