The tea house on the roadside is very simple. It barely has a room built to protect it from the wind and snow. The big pot is placed by the door, steaming hot, making people who are on the road in winter feel comfortable just looking at it.
There were a lot of people inside, mostly businessmen on the road or people who came to the city to seek a living. Loads, frames and carts were crowded outside, talking and laughing loudly, making it noisy and chaotic.
There was one person in this group of people who was looking down at some pieces of paper. He was wearing a green preacher's robe. When he lowered his head, he only saw his hair tied with a wooden hairpin. There were three or four businessmen sitting next to him, talking loudly and foaming at the mouth.
.
"Sir?" the boy called.
Zhou Hui looked away and looked again. The merchants didn't know what they were looking at each other. They half stood up and stretched out their hands to block the people inside.
There was a commotion ahead, soldiers opened the way, and the crowd got out of the way, and saw a group of officials galloping towards them.
"Sir," the boy shouted.
Zhou Hao frowned.
"How come they know about it again?" he said.
"Sir, your current status is not ordinary." The young man said, "If we continue to hide your presence, the news will spread throughout Longgu City as soon as you leave Longgu City. Many eyes will be watching you along the way."
Who would let go of the opportunity to curry favor with Uncle Guo?
"It would be nice to be so positive about other things." Zhou Hui said with a snort.
The boy chuckled, but also a little worried.
"Sir, don't hit the smiling person with your hand," he reminded.
Zhou Sheng glared at him.
"You still want me to teach you how to be a good person?" he said.
The boy chuckled.
"Master Zhou."
The people and horses over there were already galloping forward, and everyone dismounted and took it over with a smile.
"It's been a hard journey, it's been a hard journey."
Zhou Hui dismounted and returned the gift with his hands.
After exchanging pleasantries, they all walked into the city.
Zhou Hui got on his horse and looked at the tea shed again. The people in the tea shed also looked at the excitement here and stood at the door in large numbers, blocking the people inside.
Why is he here?
Did you read it wrong?
What's more, he, who always prides himself on being tidy and clean, would not dress up like this and hang out in a tea shed like this.
After the emperor ascended the throne, there were great changes in the court, and the Qin family was naturally among them. However, according to the latest news, it was not that serious. Qin Shi asked to resign, and your Majesty agreed, but also appointed him to an idle official position to allow him to return to his hometown.
Although his official career has come to an end, the Qin family who returned to Sichuan is still a prominent family and can still live a happy life.
Zhou Hao withdrew his gaze.
The lively crowds of people on the road headed toward the city.
"Who is this? Even the official came to pick him up in person."
"You are so young, you look inconspicuous."
"He must be a descendant of some high-ranking official."
The people who had been driven away also returned to the road, pointing and talking at the people who were leaving.
The spectators in the tea shed also dispersed, sat back or left.
"Give it, give it." The shopkeeper shouted loudly, bringing in a bowl of hot tea soup and placing it on a counter. The steam covered the face of the person who raised his head.
"Thank you very much," he said.
The heat dissipated, revealing the handsome young face in front of him.
He brushed his sleeves with one hand and picked up the tea bowl with the other.
The foot merchant sitting next to him looked at the slender hands that were completely unequal to the clumsy pottery bowl, and then looked at the young man's movements, and couldn't help but breathe softly.
Although he was wearing an inconspicuous green sermon robe and tied his hair with a bamboo hairpin, his every move exuded magnanimity and grace.
Such a rough tea merchant suddenly couldn't bear to let him drink it, but the young man drank it all in one gulp, put down the tea bowl and continued to pick up a few pieces of paper.
"Is this your family letter from the next generation?"
The foot trader couldn't help but ask. Ever since he sat down, the young man had been watching and smiling from time to time.
"Are you studying abroad?" he asked curiously.
As soon as he asked the question, someone poked him with his arm from behind.
The traveling merchant turned around with a bit of annoyance and saw a man smacking his lips in one direction towards him.
What?
The traveler's gaze fell to the side, and his expression couldn't help but be startled. There were two crutches beside the young man.
He's a lame man.
This, such a handsome young man actually...
A trace of regret flashed across the traveler's face.
Then such people will not go out to study, and they will not be able to take the scientific examination anyway.
But the young man looked up and answered him with a smile.
"Yeah." He said.
The foot trader didn't know what to say.
"Shop, come again..." the young man raised the bowl in his hand and shouted.
Before he finished speaking, the footman hurriedly reached out to take it.
"I'll do it, I'll do it," he said, standing up. "There are so many people now, so you have to wait. I'll bring it to you."
The young man smiled slightly, neither refusing nor showing any fear.
"Okay, thank you very much, uncle," he said.
The happiest thing is to be trusted and accepted by others. The merchant smiled and squeezed past, urging the shopkeeper to pour a full bowl of tea soup and then bring it back.
"Although it is vulgar, this tea soup is most suitable for people on the road to warm up," he said.
The young man nodded with a smile and said thank you again.
"You came out alone?" the traveler asked, "Can your parents rest assured?"
The young man smiled.
"Don't worry." He said.
The traveler wanted to say something else, but the young man lowered his head and began to read the letter. He swallowed his words when someone bumped into him again.
"You speak the truth. I'm not in good health. Don't keep pestering me to talk as if you're curious. Such people don't like to be seen as strange." The man whispered to him.
Likewise, the traveler smiled and stopped talking. While drinking tea, he quietly looked at the young man.
But isn’t the family worried about going out alone like this? There is not even a servant. It doesn’t seem like a poor family, or maybe the parents don’t like it?
The corners of Qin Hu's mouth curved again, he opened one piece and looked at the next one.
My father and mother have already set off back to Sichuan. It seems that my father is in a good mood and is not depressed.
"...Of course this is not because the emperor was kind and gave him the title."
Mrs. Qin wrote in the letter.
Yes, in fact, this is not a benevolent emperor, he has always been treacherous and insidious.
He didn't agree with his father's resignation, so he showed a cruel smile and wanted to trap his father in the capital and slowly kill him like a cat playing with a mouse.
"The queen told us to leave."
This title made Qin Hu's eyes pause. He reached out to pick up the tea soup and took a sip before continuing to read the letter.
"I found out later. I went to see her specially. She was sitting in the queen's palace, dressed as before."
Still the same as before.
Qin Hu's eyes seemed to reappear the way he looked when he first saw her.
It was also winter at that time, and it was snowing. In the yard of Zhou's house, he deliberately pretended to be drunk and walked over to have a drink with her in order to save Zhou Hui.
In the white mist of snow, the woman with long black robes and long sleeves turned around and looked at him.
Sometimes, people live their entire lives just to meet someone at once.
The corners of Qin Hu's mouth curved again, and his eyes settled on the letter.
"I asked her who wanted us to return to Sichuan, and she admitted it. I was surprised. You know, for our family, the best outcome is to be impeached by the Yushitai and then investigated. Which official can
Withstand careful investigation, and then our family is convicted, your father is imprisoned, your mother and I can hang ourselves with dignity, and you are sent to the army and returned to Sichuan, that means that none of this will happen. How is this possible, Emperor?
The reason we hate our family is because we are trying to support the Prince of Yanping County. This is actually nothing. Before a conclusion is reached, the ministers can naturally choose their loyalties. There is nothing wrong with it. At most, we hate and dislike the expulsion and suppress the matter. But the Queen and us are not just
It’s as simple as hating or not liking it.”
Qin Hu put down the letter in his hand and picked up the tea soup again. The spicy heat blurred his face.
Yes, Zhou Hui almost died in his hands, no, not almost, but dead.
In order to save the dead Zhou Hui, she almost took her own life.
Although they all survived in the end, in his heart, they were still killed by him.
How can the hatred of life and death be as simple as disgust and dislike?
So why is she doing this?
yes….
Just as the thought of speculation was about to cross his mind, Qin Hu shook his head and shook the thought away.
It depends on what she says, what she thinks is just what she thinks, it has nothing to do with her!
Qin Hu put down the tea soup and lowered his head to read the letter.
"She said, repay me for giving me water."
Give water?
Qin Hu was stunned for a moment.
Did her mother feed her water? Was it that time? When she fell into a coma after receiving a letter from Chen Shao.
In the dark room, the maids looked puzzled, in the dark days when there was no hope.
The patient who had been comatose for half a month did not have any objection to being dirty. The luxurious lady stepped forward to help the woman and feed her water, as if she was taking care of her own child.
In fact, a nobleman like her would not even take such personal care of her children. She would have servants, wives, and wet nurses around her.
Qin Hu suddenly felt a sore nose.
Is she so reluctant to forget every bit of kindness?
The letter in front of me became a little blurry.
There are traces of tears on the letter. The person who wanted to write this letter stopped writing and shed tears when he wrote this.
"...With her like this, the Qin family has nothing to worry about, so your father is at ease. Let's go back to Sichuan and do whatever we can, and be at ease."
"Oh, by the way, before leaving, she asked me to tell a joke..."
Qin Hu took away the paper and looked at the next one.
"This time, she smiled."
The corners of Qin Hu's mouth curled up.
I just don't know if she is laughing as lightly as before.
"Afterlife."
A voice said in his ear, interrupting Qin Hu's reverie.
He raised his head and looked at the traveling merchant beside him.
"Do you want more tea?" the traveler asked with concern.
Qin Hu smiled and shook his head while putting away the letter paper in his hand.
"No need, I'm going to the city." He said, grabbing the crutch beside him.
There were too many people in the room and the space was small, so the traveler hurriedly got up and helped him.
Qin Hu stood up with some difficulty and stabilized his crutches.
"Thank you very much, husband." He said.
"No, no, no, no," the traveler waved hurriedly.
"You have to pity me for being a cripple?" Qin Hu looked at him and smiled.
The foot merchant was stunned for a moment when he was told this, and then started talking again.
Yes, he did pity the lame man...
But it is difficult to distinguish between pity and contempt in the eyes of disabled people.
It must have excited this young youngster.
While chatting with each other, he saw this young man saluting towards him.
"But pity is also kind-hearted. Thank you very much, father-in-law." He said.
The traveler was stunned for a moment and then laughed.
"You're welcome," he said. "It's a big effort, but I don't want to thank you for it."
As he spoke, he hurriedly turned around to help him block the people walking around the room.
"Give way, give way."
What is rare is not the effort of others, but the trust and acceptance of others' efforts.
It is actually quite easy to accept and believe, and the result is not terrible. He has been living a pretty good life along the way.
Qin Hu smiled and walked out with the foot merchant on crutches, saluted again outside the tea shed and left.
Not long after, there was a lot of excitement on the road.
Two horses came galloping from the city. The passers-by had already dispersed. When the passers-by saw these two men, they did not recognize them as the people who had been welcomed into the city by a group of officials.
"Sir, did you read that correctly?" the boy shouted, "How is this possible! How come Master Qin is here?"
Zhou Hui ignored him and went directly to the tea shed.
He won't be wrong, he won't be wrong.
After entering the city and sitting at the banquet prepared by the officials of the city, he felt more and more uneasy as the sight in front of the city gate kept flashing across his face.
It's him! It must be him!
That bastard is always the one who attracts the most attention even if he is thrown into a mud pit full of people.
"Sir, would you like some drink..." The store owner greeted the person rushing towards him enthusiastically. Before he finished speaking, the person walked past him and stood in the room.
The joking people in the room stopped and looked at this heroic young man.
Zhou Hao's eyes swept over, but he didn't see the person he was looking for.
"Where is the person sitting here just now? He is a young man with a Sichuan accent." He stood in front of a building and asked.
The foot merchant said.
"Young master, are you talking about the young master with handicapped legs and feet?" he said.
He said that the young man would not be alone, he must have relatives and friends all over the world.
Zhou Feng's expression was startled.
"Having trouble with your legs and feet?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm on crutches. I just walked..."
Naturally, people with handicapped legs and feet will remember it better, so they talked about it one after another.
Zhou Hui couldn't hear anything else they said, only the repeated sentence buzzed in his ears.
How could it be? How could it be!
"Sir, go find someone from the government office and come together to find him."
"Since Mr. Qin has entered the city, he must not have left yet. No matter how big the city is, it can only live in these places. Once the city gate is closed, he can't escape."
The boy said loudly, urging the horse to follow.
Zhou Hui suddenly stopped his horse again.
"No need to look for it." He said, looking in one direction, "He can't go far like this."
The boy followed his gaze blankly and saw a young man sitting in front of a letter writing stall not far away, with a bamboo tube, a bow and a cane at his feet.
This crutch is particularly conspicuous.
People who use crutches naturally cannot walk fast or far.
The boy's eyes turned to the young man. He was sitting cross-legged, leaning slightly, lowering his head and writing something with the pen and paper on the letter stand. His expression was focused and his profile was handsome.
"What a young master of the Qin family." He couldn't help but murmured.
It’s really him!
Why is he here?
Zhou Hao suddenly raised his feet and took a step, but stopped again.
See you...or not see you...
"The master's handwriting is very good." The middle-aged man who wrote the letter said with a smile. Although he did not dare to read what the master wrote, he glanced at the handwriting and couldn't help but admire it.
Qin Hu smiled slightly.
"I don't dare, I don't dare, it's not good, it's not good," he said.
Without waiting for the middle-aged man to speak, he raised his head again.
"I'm not being self-effacing," he said with a smile, "There is someone who writes much better than me. I'm just comparing myself to her."
The middle-aged man laughed.
"There are people outside the world and there are mountains outside the mountains." He said.
Qin Hu smiled, lowered his head and continued to write a letter. He quickly finished the letter and sealed it.
When a middle-aged man sees the word father written on it, he knows that it is for his father. So what should be written now is for his mother?
"Young Master is very interested." He smiled and said, "Father, mother, and wife must be written separately."
When he heard the word wife, Qin Hu stopped writing in his hand.
"I'm not married yet," he said.
The middle-aged man was startled, and his eyes fell on his legs, showing a hint of surprise and a hint of apology.
"I don't plan to get married either." Qin Hu continued.
"You still have to get married, otherwise, you will be lonely after all." The middle-aged man said earnestly, and after thinking about it, he comforted, "There is always a good girl, don't worry."
Qin Hu laughed.
"No, uncle, you are wrong to say that." He said after plastic surgery, "Loneliness is not because you don't have a wife, but because you don't have the right person."
The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment.
No one you like?
"The most difficult thing in the world is to meet the person you like." Qin Hu continued with a smile, "There are people you will never meet in your life. If you can meet someone, you are lucky. As long as you have this person in your heart, is it fate to sleep together?
It doesn’t matter. As long as you have this person in your heart and know that this person exists in the world, how can you be lonely? If you don’t have the right person, even if you have someone to sleep with, you will still be lonely.”
After saying this, he put down the pen in his hand, folded the letter into his arms, put down a large amount of money, put the bamboo tube on his back first, then slung the bow on his shoulder, then picked up the crutch and stood up.
The middle-aged man is still stunned.
The person you like...
confidant……
It's hard to find a confidant in life, and it's hard to find a beauty in life. Yes, if you don't have the right person, no matter how many people come and go around you, you will feel lonely in your heart.
The middle-aged man was dazed, and Zhou Hui was also a little dazed. He looked at Qin Hu who stood up, and saw him skillfully walking with a crutch and limping. Such a figure was familiar yet unfamiliar.
How come he...
Is it because of that arrow?
That arrow knocked down himself, did it also knock him down?
What a waste! A coward! A coward who dares to be but not to be!
Does he think that by doing this, he has repaid himself? Does he think that everything is settled?
I really misjudged you! I really misjudged you!
Zhou Feng's fists clenched and made a crunching sound.
There were people and horses galloping past on the street, shouting to give way.
Crowds of people surged into the street in the afternoon. The sudden crowds of people and horses made the streets jump like wildfire. The adults got out of the way, but a child from an unknown family stood still in the road. Amid the screams of the crowd, the child was even more excited.
Dumb.
Zhou Hao tensed up and stepped forward, although it was definitely too late to reach there from his distance.
Someone rushed over faster, hugged the child, and narrowly avoided the horse by turning around.
The horse neighed, and Zhou Hao grabbed the reins of the horse and forced the horse to stop. The man on the horse was thrown off by the force of force due to the sudden obstruction.
Ignoring the screams of the people on the ground, Zhou Hao raised his head and looked over there, wanting to see if the child was safe. When he saw it, he couldn't help but be shocked.
he!
Qin Hu put the child on the ground, lowered his body and smiled to comfort him. The crutch under his arm had already been thrown aside.
This, this bastard...
The passers-by were also dumbfounded. One was because he had saved the child so narrowly, and the other was because the cripple suddenly turned into a normal person.
"Thank you so much, sir." The child's family members rushed over and stammered their thanks in excitement.
Qin Hu just smiled and turned to look at the horse. When his eyes met Zhou Hui's, he was also stunned.
you!
"Master, Master, I'm sorry, the horse was frightened..."
The man who was thrown off his horse was crying, and the followers behind him followed him. They dismounted, helped him, and apologized one after another, blocking his sight in a noisy manner.
Zhou Hui ignored them and looked over there. The figure moved to block it and then moved out of the way. Qin Hu appeared in his sight again. He was also surrounded by the child's family and passers-by, looking at it with a smile on his face.
come over.
"Sir..." A passerby handed the crutch to Qin Hu hesitantly.
Qin Hu reached out to take it, smiled slightly, and held it under his arm again, which made everyone around him wide-eyed.
What are you playing?
Pretending to be a lame? Why pretend to be a lame?
Cheating? But looking at the young man's demeanor, he is not the kind of person who cheats.
Qin Hu smiled.
"It feels so comfortable," he said. "Walking like this, I walk slowly and I can think about things carefully. It feels good."
Passers-by were stunned, showing that there was something wrong with the young man's brain.
Qin Hu didn't speak anymore. He turned around with a crutch and limped two steps. His surroundings were focused, especially the one behind him. He stopped and turned around.
The young man over there looked at him.
Sorry.
Qin Hu moved his lips, smiled, bowed his head and gave a long salute, then raised his head again, turned around and limped towards the city.
"The old woodcutter chops his own wood..."
Singing was rising on the street, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of bows and arms hitting crutches. The clear and broad singing made people pay attention again.
"Bundling green pine trees and clamping green locust trees..."
"Beyond the vast mountains of wild grass and autumn..."
"Monuments are everywhere turned into barren graves..."
"Huabiao Qianxun lies on the green moss..." [Note 1]
The back was limping, but straightened up, and he slowly walked away under the gaze and guidance of the crowd.
"Sir," the young man said, looking at Qin Hu's back.
Zhou Hao took a deep breath, smiled again, and turned around.
"Let's go." he said.
"Sir, let's not chase him anymore?" the boy asked in confusion, "Then we should go back to the government office?"
Zhou Feng got on his horse and did not turn around to urge his horse to head out of the city.
"No," he said, "I'm leaving."
***************************************
Note 1: The episode in the cartoon "Laoshan Taoist", Zheng Banqiao's lyrics, Yangzhou Tao Qing, is quite nice. You can try it, just search for Banqiao Tao Qing.
Next time it’s time for the male protagonist and female protagonist’s extra story. See you on the 31st. Thank you all (*^__^*) hehe...
