The jailer's home lives in a remote alley in Changping Prefecture.
The alley is not too wide, and the surrounding houses look unusually old.
Last night, Xiao Chen and others only searched the main streets with pubs and inns. They really didn't pay much attention to such dark alleys.
These low old houses are basically similar to those in Qinghedian Town.
In Changpingzhou City, apart from some streets with facades, the lives of the people, judging from the houses, are not too affluent.
"Go a little further, turn two corners, and you'll find Lao Li's house." The jailer walking in the front turned back from time to time to explain to Xiao Chen.
He looked trembling and trembling, with a bit of excitement.
Judging from the expressions of these Dongchang adults, they seem to be particularly interested in the relatives of the old Li family.
If that person is really a wanted criminal in Dongchang, his behavior will be somewhat rewarded by Cao Tongzhi.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the jailer's face, and his pace inadvertently accelerated a bit.
While he was talking, a middle-aged man about forty years old emerged from the corner.
He was dressed in coarse cloth, and his large cotton trousers were tightly wrapped in leggings over a foot high that were almost black.
His hands were sleeved in the sleeves of a large coarse cotton-padded jacket. A thin black rope was wrapped around his wrists, and a half-foot-tall iron wine flask was tied below.
Seeing everyone, they stood there in shock.
"Old Li, don't you have a distant relative at home? Why are you out here?" Looking at the wine flask in the other person's hand, the little jailer said, "Go get some wine?"
"Yeah." The man called Lao Li answered absentmindedly. At the same time, he glanced at Xiao Chen and others behind the jailer and lowered his voice, "You are not on duty in the prison. Where are you going with these people?"
"Oh, these are the adults from Dongchang, and they are preparing to go to your house."
"My home?" As if he couldn't believe it, Lao Li took another look at the dozens of captains in front of him.
"Are you Lao Li?" Xiao Chen smiled and walked forward.
"Well, I'm Lao Li." Putting down his sleeved hands, Lao Li nodded respectfully to Xiao Chen.
Although he is a bit dull, the name of Dongchang is engraved in his heart.
"I want to ask you something." Xiao Chen said.
"Sir, please tell me, I know what I know, and I will never hide it."
"That's good. How many distant relatives have come to your home?"
"A distant relative? A distant relative."
"Haha, the man is still a military master." After a pause, Old Li smiled honestly, and when he talked about this relative, he couldn't help but feel a little proud on his face.
This was his relative who lived far away in Huairou. As for how far away he was, he didn't know. He only knew that he was my mother, a distant relative of her mother's family.
A few years ago, there was a drought in the Ming Dynasty, and it was almost impossible to open the pot at home. In a pot of porridge, I would like to put only a grain of rice in it.
Seeing that his family was desperate, Lao Li thought of joining the army in exchange for some food and salary to support his family's life.
However, looking at his anxious face that was older than his age, no guard in that defense area was willing to take him.
In this predicament, I thought of this distant relative from my natal family.
I was so cruel that I carried the only old hen at home and walked for a day, finally arriving at my relative's residence.
After begging for mercy, she was not taken in because of her age.
Although he was not a soldier, his relatives found him a job as a jailer in Changping Prefecture through their own connections, which finally solved the family's food problem.
Yesterday, a relative came to visit unexpectedly, so he hurriedly changed his shift and stayed at home to take care of her.
"Where does your relative work as an errand?" Xiao Chen asked.
"Longhu Terrace, Longhu Terrace not far from Changping." Lao Li said excitedly.
"Is your surname Lan?"
Old Li was stunned: "How do you know, Sir? My distant relative is named Lan. When I went there, the soldiers in the camp called him Lan Qianhu."
"Does he live with you now?" Xiao Chen asked directly without answering.
Now that we have the whereabouts of the criminal, the most urgent thing is to arrest him as quickly as possible.
"Here, here. I just finished drinking and lay down. I'm going to go to the street to buy him some wine. Sir, are you here specifically for him?"
"He is a criminal." Xiao Chen said coldly, "There is no need to buy this wine. Just let me arrest him."
"This, this." Lao Li looked embarrassed, "Why did he become a criminal..."
"You want to protect me?" Duan Tianming, who was behind him, came directly to bully me.
"I don't dare, I don't dare. How dare a villain protect a criminal?" Lao Li said with a sad face, "If he is really a criminal wanted by the court, I will take you there right now."
With that said, he put the wine bottle away from his waist, turned around and left.
Lao Li's home has no courtyard walls, and the main room is directly connected to the front and back.
Pointing to the main room in the back, Old Li said: "My mother and I live in the front, and the empty house in the back is Lan Qianhu. No, my relative is sleeping in it."
This main room is very low, but it is also over ten feet high.
They are all made of earthen walls and the tiles on the roof look extremely old.
Xiao Chen waved his hand, and the five captains had jumped up to the upper room, and after a few ups and downs, landed at the back door of the main room.
"Let's go in." Xiao Chen greeted, followed Lao Li, and opened the door.
Duan Tianming, who was behind him, took out his knife from his waist and observed his surroundings vigilantly.
"Zaiwazi, is that you?" A voice came from the corner of the main room.
Following the voice, Xiao Chen looked up.
In the corner on the right side of the entrance is an adobe fire pit, with an old woman in her sixties sitting on a tattered reed mat.
A tattered old quilt covered his legs. The cotton clothes on his body had wrinkles that had not been pressed.
Obviously, this is the new clothes for this year’s New Year.
"Mom, it's me." Lao Li responded and walked over.
He took off the wine bottle from his waist and placed it beside the kang. He leaned on the kang with his whole body and reached out with great effort to pick up the half-cut sweet potato left behind the old man.
Rub it on the cuff a few times, then put it to your mouth and blow on it.
He reached out, grabbed the old man's hands that were groping in the air, and gently put the sweet potatoes in.
"Did you accidentally drop the sweet potato again? It's still warm. Eat it." The gentle voice sounded like coaxing a child.
"Oh, there is no one in the world who is as filial as my little boy. It's your mother who has harmed you." The old man held the sweet potato in both hands, but did not eat it. A string of tears fell from his dull eyes.
"Mom, why are you saying this again?" Lao Li simply climbed onto the Tukang, picked up a clean cloth handkerchief beside the old man, and helped her wipe away her tears.
"If it weren't for me, a blind man, to drag you down, my little boy would have married a wife and started a family long ago." The old man choked and said.
"Mom, don't say that. Didn't I get a job in the state government now? After saving a few years, I can marry a wife." Pulling up the tattered quilt, Old Li
On the kang, he climbed down.
"Well, it's all thanks to this distant relative of my mother's family. I'll serve you delicious food and drink. Don't waste money. Even if we don't eat or drink, we still want to let people eat well. In this life, you must know how to be grateful."
"Mom, I understand. I'll go in and talk to Brother Lan." As he said that, Lao Li looked at Xiao Chen and winked at the main room behind him.
Xiao Chen shook his head, but slowly exited the door.
Lao Li was stunned and followed out: "Sir, are you not going to take action?"
"No, I just don't want to disturb the old man." Xiao Chen's face was unusually calm, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking in his heart.
"Then what should I do? As long as I make a move, my mother will definitely be able to hear. Although she can't see, her hearing is very good." Lao Li said anxiously.
Although Lan Qianhu was kind to him, he must have committed a huge crime to become a key criminal in the imperial court.
I will not cover up, and I absolutely cannot cover up.
But if he misses the opportunity to arrest him because of my mother, he will regret it in his heart, and she will feel uncomfortable if she finds out.
"Go in and lead him out." Xiao Chen said calmly.
"He drank a lot in the morning. He should be sleeping deeply now. This is a perfect opportunity to arrest him. If we wake him up, let alone whether he is willing to come out. With his Qianhu skills, if he can
It's such a mistake, I can't handle it well, I feel really bad about it. If I find out about it in the future, she will also blame herself."
There was anxiety on Lao Li's honest face.
Looking at him, Xiao Chen smiled slightly: "Don't worry, in front of Dongchang, no one dares to resist, and no one can escape."
"Okay." Lao Li responded, took two steps forward, and then turned back: "What if he insists on not coming out?"
"Just say that a large number of people from Dongchang are coming here to search."
"Okay." Lao Li turned around and walked into the main door.
The main room at the back was originally used to store firewood, and the separated room was used to store farm tools.
There was a wooden bed inside, and since there was no stove, the house seemed extremely cold.
Lao Li brought all the complete quilts at home and spread them on the bed.
Even so, the drunk Lan Qianhu still wrapped his head tightly with the quilt, curled up, and shivered.
Seeing this situation, Lao Li sighed.
In the main room in front, my wife lives.
In order to facilitate the care, Lao Li also set up a Tukang for himself in another corner of the main room.
The earthen walls of the farmhouse, the biting cold wind whistling in through the gaps between the rafters and beams.
Although the temperature inside the room was almost the same as outside, the earthen kang with a handful of firewood burning was warm and tight.
Originally, Lao Li wanted Lan Qianhu to sleep on his earthen kang, but he insisted on sleeping in the dark farm tool room.
At first, Lao Li thought that those Lan Qian households were afraid of the inconvenience of sleeping on their own Tukang. Now it seems that sleeping in this messy farm equipment room is even more difficult to find.
"Brother Blue, Brother Blue." Lao Li stretched out his right hand and patted the quilt a few times.
There was no response, only a heavy snoring sound came from the bed.
Lao Li felt embarrassed for a while, then reached out and slapped him a few more times.
"I didn't sleep all night last night. I just fell asleep, why are you disturbing me again?" Lan Qian opened the quilt covering his head without even opening his eyes. He chewed the remaining meat in his mouth a few times. He murmured like a sleepwalker.
"It's too cold for you to sleep here. Why don't you get up and sleep on the kang outside?"
"Don't go outside, it's quiet here." Lan Qianhu turned over and fell into a deep sleep again.
Seeing the other party's appearance, Lao Li had a helpless expression on his face. He had no choice but to continue calling him.
Maybe the good dream was disturbed, or maybe he ran away all the way, and the nervousness just calmed down.
Lao Li called out again, making the other party furious.
He opened the quilt and sat up. His bloodshot eyes opened angrily: "What are you talking about? If you disturb my sleep again, I will punch you to death."
After yelling, he lay down again and covered himself with the quilt.
Lao Li on the opposite side was completely stunned.
I serve you delicious food and drink, and I gave you all the quilts at home. Even if you find a job for me, you shouldn't yell at me like a pig or a dog.
At that moment, he thought: "Brother Lan, there is a group of people from Dongchang coming here to search."
As soon as he finished speaking, the quilt on the bed was lifted open. Lan Qianhu, who had been so aggressive just now, looked around like a frightened bird and jumped out of bed.
"Where, where?" A series of murmurs came out of his mouth, and he was about to open the back door and escape.
Lao Li stepped forward and blocked the back door with his body: "They are on the street outside the back door. If you want to leave, just escape through the front door."
