The girl struggled to take back her iron piece, but Yu Qiuping threw her hand into the straw pile in the distance. Her strength was not as strong as Yu Qiuping's, and even though she struggled hard in his arms, she was still unable to do anything.
.
"What's your name?" Yu Qiuping asked.
"..." The girl remained silent and did not answer Yu Qiuping's question. Instead, she continued to whisper in a trembling voice: "Robbing... robbing!"
"Be good, be obedient," Yu Qiuping himself did not expect that he would suddenly adopt a tone as coaxing as a child. He asked gently in the surprised eyes of the five companions around him: "You answer my question, I
I’ll just rob you, okay?”
This sentence seemed to have magic power, and it immediately made the girl in her arms quiet down. The girl nodded slightly, seeming to be responding to Yu Qiuping's conditions.
"What's your name?" Yu Qiuping asked softly.
The girl was stunned for a moment and whispered: "Longzi."
"Your name is Long Zi, right?" Yu Qiuping touched Long Zi's head lovingly, "Then can you tell me why you came out to rob?"
Longzi's eyes flickered for a moment, and he whispered hesitantly: "I was hungry, and no one would give me food when I begged, so I had to rob."
Yu Qiuping felt his heart tremble, and unspeakable distress surged into his heart. He took out a small bunch of copper coins from his arms, "Take it, go buy some food, these are what you robbed."
Ryuko obviously hesitated, but still shook his head with resolution: "I want something to eat."
"Want something to eat? That's okay." Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, then handed the remaining dry food in his arms to Long Zi's hand. After Long Zi saw two rice balls and a steamed bun, his eyes immediately exuded excitement.
of brilliance.
"Silly boy..." Yu Qiuping smiled bitterly, "Do you know how many rice balls and steamed buns you can buy with the money I give you?"
Long Zi shook his head, got out of Yu Qiuping's arms, and bowed heavily towards Yu Qiuping, "Thank you, Master Warrior!"
"You know we are warriors," Yu Qiuping pointed at himself and his companions behind him, "How dare you, a little girl, come to rob us? You can't beat us."
Yu Qiuping looked at Long Zi, and then looked at the small shop behind him out of the corner of his eye. He was stunned and asked doubtfully: "The old woman in that small shop is obviously weaker and easier to rob. It's obviously easier to rob her."
Ah, why don't you go rob her?"
"It's not easy for the old woman to make money. I robbed her money. What will she do..." Long Zi looked at Yu Qiuping with innocent eyes and said softly, "Samurai men are not short of money at first sight."
…It doesn’t matter at all if you were robbed by me.”
…
Silly boy, why do you have to be so kind?
Yu Qiuping only felt as if the beating of his heart suddenly stopped for a second, and then, heartbreaking pain spread throughout his body. "I can't even eat... Silly boy," Yu Qiuping felt his eyes were a little moist, "I want to rob
, you can’t be so kind..."
Those who cannot give up anything can save nothing.
However, to Yu Qiuping's expectation, Longzi did not wolf down the hard-earned food, but carefully carried the food and ran away quickly.
"What's wrong, Yu Qiu is a good person?" Toshiie Maeda sniffed and patted Yu Qiuping on the shoulder, "Have you fallen in love with this little girl? Are you staring at her?"
·
Ryuko was an orphan. Maybe she wasn't an orphan at birth, but at least she had been an orphan for as long as she could remember. She didn't know when everyone started calling her Ryoko.
She was adopted in an orphanage near a small mountain village. It was said to be an orphanage, but in fact it was just a place where orphans helped each other. The leaders were two older boys, both of whom were once abandoned orphans.
They survived by begging. Later, whenever they saw another abandoned orphan, they would pick it up and raise it in their small thatched hut in a dilapidated building. The two of them are not very old, because they were malnourished since childhood.
They didn’t have any strength, so they basically had to steal things and beg to make ends meet. So, the other six younger children who were picked up by them also begged and stole things with them. Although everyone lived a very difficult life, the children
They are all ignorant, but as long as they can have a half-full meal, they are quite happy.
Over time, the people in the small mountain village also came to know that they, a group of unlearned children, were stealing and molesting all day long. So, three days ago, the villagers burned down their thatched huts and drove them out. The two older ones
The child was injured while protecting their only thatched hut. Because they had no medicine or food, they both died soon.
So, the eldest among the children was Ryuko.
Without a place to keep out the cold, the children were freezing in the cold autumn night. Ryuko gave all the clothes that could be used to keep out the cold to the other children. The one he wore was in tatters and could only be called clothes.
I don’t know when I picked up the samurai uniform. Ryuko’s neck was frostbitten when she was a child, and she would be particularly afraid of the cold when the weather gets cold. However, the area above the chest of this samurai uniform was basically rotten. Ryuko had no choice but to
Able to endure pain silently.
Due to the exclusion of children in the village, they could no longer ask for food. They had never left the small mountain village since they were young. They did not know the way and did not know where to escape, so they had to hide in a small cave and suffer from hunger and cold.
Under pressure, Longzi had no choice but to take a small piece of iron he had finally picked up and go around the small mountain village, trying to rob passers-by.
After waiting for almost a day, she finally met six samurai. Fortunately, one of the samurai was a kind brother wearing a red leaf shawl and gave her some food.
"Sister Longzi!" After seeing Longzi coming back, the children in the cave shouted excitedly.
"I found something to eat!" Longzi quickly ran into the cave, looked around vigilantly to make sure there were no outsiders, and then carefully took out two rice balls and a steamed bun from his arms.
"Two people should share one, and no grabbing is allowed," as soon as Longzi finished speaking, the children excitedly rushed forward and divided the food in her arms.
"Sister Longzi is so awesome!" Another little girl gnawed on the steamed buns, "I really got something to eat!"
"Sister, have you eaten?" A little boy eating a rice ball asked worriedly.
"Sister, I've eaten," Long Zi smiled and nodded, and then got up and left, "Today seems to be the Mid-Autumn Festival. I'll go to the village to see if anyone has eaten the leftover food."
"You guys stay here well and don't run around." After Longzi warned him, he held his head high and walked out of the cave quickly.
The reason why she was in such a hurry to leave was actually because she was so hungry. Seeing the children eating their food in big gulps, she really couldn't help but want to go up and share a bite. But seeing everyone wolfing down the food,
How can I have the heart to compete with them for food?
very hungry…
She raised her head and looked at the round moon in the sky, which looked like a fragrant pancake.
When she was begging in the village, she heard an uncle say that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for the whole family to reunite. During this festival, no matter how far away relatives are, they will find ways to go home and have a reunion dinner together as a family.
.
However, although Longzi understood every word he said, Longzi didn't know what it meant when all of them were put together. Why do families get together on the Mid-Autumn Festival? Why do families have to have a reunion dinner?
Will you be happy? Aren’t you happy only when you are full?
In other words...what is home?
A gust of cold wind blew, and Ryuko's exposed neck was immediately hit by a biting cold. She hugged her shabby samurai uniform full of holes tightly, but it couldn't cover her neck at all. She sneezed and hugged her tightly.
He put his hands on his neck, trying in vain to warm his cold neck with the warmth of his palms.
Suddenly, in the night sky in the far west, there was a meteor with a long tail, swaying and quietly crossing the horizon.
"Meteor!" Ryuko suddenly shouted excitedly, "Can I make a wish?"
"Then..." Ryuko let go of her hands covering her neck, clasped her hands together devoutly, and closed her eyes facing the shooting star. However, as soon as her hands left, her neck started to feel cold and painful again.
"I want my neck to not be cold..." Ryuko blurted out her first wish.
After saying that, Ryuko seemed to think that this wish was a bit too common, and she felt sorry for this rare meteor. So she narrowed her eyes again and glanced at the meteor quietly, as if hoping that the god on the meteor would not be there.
Hearing her wishes is normal.
"The one just now doesn't count..." Ryuko clasped his hands together devoutly again and faced the direction of the meteor.
"Hmm..." She was thinking about how to make a great wish and seize this opportunity. However, the cold wind blew on her neck like a knife, urging her to make a decision quickly.
"Okay..." she said timidly, as if she was proposing something outrageous.
She thought of the countless snowy nights in the past, when she walked alone in the streets and alleys, looking at the brightly lit houses, the family sitting around the table with a smile; she thought of her parents begging on the roadside.
Walking down the road with a child in hand, the child holds a bunch of candied haws in his hand and hands it to his parents to take a bite...
I thought of the word "home" which is so far away and so unfamiliar.
"Can you give me a home?"
·
Suddenly, there was a soft touch on the neck, and the cold feeling was replaced by a warmth. The warmth started from the neck, gradually spread throughout the body, and quietly penetrated into the cold heart.
She lowered her head and her chin came into contact with a ball of soft silk fabric. From the corner of her eye, she could see that it was a burgundy scarf. It was soft and very comfortable.
She raised her head, and the young man wearing a red leaf shawl who gave her food had walked up to her at some point. At this moment, he was gently wrapping the scarf around her neck for the last time.
"Silly boy," Yu Qiuping, who followed Longzi and witnessed everything, said softly: "Come home with me."
"Both wishes will be fulfilled for you."
He wrapped a scarf around her neck, but also took away her heart.
·
"Home..." that once far-fetched wish.
Ryuko raised his head and looked at the red leaf shawl rustling in the wind. For some reason, tears couldn't stop pouring out of his eyes.