Ling Yan and Zhu Si got up early the next morning, but the old woman who stayed at the house had already gotten up before them, and they had already burned the fire, there was an iron kettle boiling water on the fire, and the old woman saw that when the two woke up, she was adding firewood to the fire pond outside, and she was leaning over, and the old cloth in front of her that seemed to have been worn for decades was stained with bitter traces.
"There are really no other good bedding at home, so you can only make it a little thin, you two children are not frozen."
Ling Yan hurriedly shook his head and said no, the old woman called the two of them children directly, but neither of them minded.
Ling Yan saw that there were dried clothes at the foot of the bed but did not intend to change them, although the clothes he was wearing were a little worn, and there were still several places where the holes were sewn up by a block of coarse cloth of other colors, but Ling Yan felt that the old clothes on his body were more comfortable than the pile of official clothes at the foot of the bed.
"Thank you, old woman."
Ling Yan pulled the old man's thin palm and let her sit on the bench, he opened the door and walked out to find the place where the firewood was stacked, and carried a handful into the house, and then added them one by one, the fire suddenly grew bigger, and the room became much warmer.
The three of them sat around the earthen hearth, and the four walls of the house seemed to have no surplus except for the row of dried corn hanging on the right wall after the two of them had eaten the steamed buns last night, and the old woman patted her head with a sigh, and then immediately got up and walked to the pole that was hung specially for hanging things, and picked up a pair of tongs from the corner of the wall to grab the corn cob.
Ling Yan hurriedly asked Zhu Si to say to the old man, "Old woman, don't bother, I won't be busy walking there before I sit for a while, and it won't hurt to eat when I get to the town." ” The old man didn't follow, he still pulled two corns down and roasted them on the fire, occasionally tossing them twice, during which Ling Yan asked about the situation in the old man's house.
"Eldest prince, do you think we need to tell the Shaxian county government to let them take care of the elderly?"
Zhu Si asked, and Ling Yan replied, "This must be wanted, and receiving favors from others must be repaid."
And I have to let the county order of Shaxian County find out how many lonely and widowed old people are there, it is too sad that there is no one to support them, and let them take good care of these old people after they find out. ” The old woman couldn't understand the words of the capital, so she tossed the corn on the side, and after a while the corn was roasted, and she used tongs to dial it out and dialed it to the two of them, it was still hot, but the taste was unique, and there was a hint of sweetness in the burnt taste.
At this time, someone knocked on the old door, and someone pushed the door and walked in while speaking: "Auntie, this is the porridge that my woman just cooked, thinking that you should not have eaten it yet, and bring some to you."
Also, it rained heavily yesterday, and there should be no rain leaks in your house, right?
” The man who spoke was a shirtless middle-aged man, who was honest and honest, but as soon as the man entered the house, he saw two more strangers in the house, and he was still wearing the clothes of the eldest lady's son in the past, and his face was very delicate, not at all like a person in the crop field.
When the old woman saw the man coming into the house, she hurriedly asked him to sit down, and explained to him by the way: "Didn't it rain heavily yesterday, and the two of them let them rest at home for the night because they couldn't find a place to stay."
Yesterday's rain was a bit heavy, Zhuangzi, the roof you just repaired for the eldest mother was washed away by the heavy rain, but there are not particularly large cracks, the eldest mother takes a basin and then fills it and it will be fine. ” The man, who was called a strong man, put a bowl of hot porridge in his hand on the table next to him, and then sat down with the old woman, and when he saw that the ground in the house was still a little waterlogged, he said, "I'll help you fix it later."
This old house is also too old, you see that there are some cracks on the wall, or you should go and get the money from the government and rebuild the house, otherwise it will be a bad thing if you live in this house alone and the house will collapse one day. ” As soon as Zhuangzi finished saying this, the originally pleasant old woman's face suddenly changed, and her tone began to be a little angry: "Zhuangzi, the eldest mother would rather die than take the few taels of silver from the government, I just want to know how my Bao'er died, why so many people only my Bao'er died, and I can't even find a corpse."
"Okay, okay, auntie, I can't resist you.
But I still listen to Zhuangzi's advice, the people don't fight with the officials, what do we poor people do to fight with those big men. ” "Zhuangzi, my aunt also knows that we can't fight those officials at all, but I'm seventy or eighty years old, almost ninety years old, if they don't give me an explanation, it's a big deal that I will die in the county hall, anyway, I don't believe that there is no reason in this world, why is a good person who is unreasonable."
Zhu Si, who was listening to the side, whispered these words to Ling Yan, and the strong man knew that it was useless to talk about it, so he didn't sit down, and after saying a word to let the old man take care of his body, he pushed the door out of the house, Ling Yan gave Zhu Si a look, and Zhu Si immediately got up and followed Zhuangzi out.
After leaving the house, Zhu Si stopped Zhuangzi, and he smiled: "This big brother has a good heart."
Zhuangzi didn't think much about it, and said: "It's all from the neighborhood, and the aunt has suffered a lot from living alone for all these years."
Zhu Si and Zhuangzi walked out, and on the way, he took the opportunity to ask what was going on with the official mansion that was involved just now, and Zhuangzi began to be a little cautious at this time, and asked Zhu Si who he was.
Zhu Si naturally couldn't tell his true identity, so he casually made it up: "My name is Zhu Er, and I came from Huangzhou to do business with my eldest son, but I met mountain bandits on the road, not to mention that all the goods were robbed, and even everyone else was killed by bandits except me and my eldest son."
I don't have too much doubt about this strong man, most of the people who have been doing business in Hezhou over the years have loved to run into rampant bandits, and it is a good thing to be able to save his life.
Zhu Si said to Zhuangzi while walking on the road in the village: "I heard what Brother Zhuang said to the old man just now, it seems that the government has done something unseemly.
My son-in-law knows some friends in Hezhou City, if you can trust us, talk to us, it would be best if you could help. ” After a heavy rain last night, the road here is particularly difficult to walk, not to mention the slippery is a large and small pond that makes people embarrassed, it doesn't matter what Zhuangzi wears on his feet, just a pair of simple straw sandals, no need to step on the water and get mud, but Zhu Si's feet are still a good pair of boots, and the two steps that were finally dried yesterday were soaked again just now, and he almost fell on his head.
And even so, he still tried his best to keep up with Zhuangzi's footsteps, but Zhuangzi didn't seem to hear what Zhu Si said just now, and finally he stood up and said to Zhu Si: "It's not that I don't want to tell you about this matter, but I really can't help it."
The officials of the county government have warned each family that if anyone dares to talk nonsense, the family will be killed.
You are a big family, so naturally you are not afraid of the county officials, but we are just small flat-headed people, how dare we offend the government. ” In the end, Zhuangzi was still reluctant to tell Zhu Si, and Zhu Si no longer made it difficult for others to walk back and explain the situation to Ling Yan, Ling Yan said: "Since people don't say it, don't ask anymore, people also have their own difficulties."
But I think this matter should be investigated carefully.,Originally, I was going to just go through the motions.,But if you encounter something that you can't really see, you have to take action.。
” Bidding farewell to the old woman's house, Ling Yan and Zhu Si walked again in the early morning mountain road, although it was difficult to walk, but in the end it was still possible to walk, but this road was really a little narrow, basically only one person was allowed to walk, and then many people walked side by side The other was to be squeezed into the ground, this ridge is actually not high, but it is not good if it falls and steps on the crops, so both of them walked carefully, and their trouser legs were wet with dew.
The two of them walked on the road, thirsty, and they could see a mountain spring with water after walking two steps, and they took a big sip of water and folded it into a water scoop before continuing their journey.
The two of them did not walk out of the muddy mountain road until noon, when their trouser legs were dry, and they went over several mountains along the way, and met a rainbow on the way.
Although the road under his feet is now called an official road, it is actually a small road that has become a big road, which can allow a carriage to pass, and it is not so simple to build a road in this southwest road, Ling Yan has been turning around all the way in addition to crossing mountains and mountains just now.
The two of them continued to walk for a short distance, and finally saw a wine shop, Ling Yan strode forward and sat on the dining table outside the canopy, but no one came to greet him for a long time, Zhu Si shouted: "Shopkeeper, can you still do business?"
After shouting loudly, a shrill voice came from the wine shop: "What are the ghosts roaring about, aren't you here?"
A man here actually had a big belly, as big as a woman who had been pregnant for eight or nine months, with a fat head and big ears, and he glanced at Ling Yan and Zhu Si obliquely, and he was even more impatient, and the two poor ghosts dared to go to the wine table to eat and drink.
"No, I saw that the cheapest wine cost eighty yuan, and most of the two of you can't afford to drink it, hurry up and get out, so as to delay Lao Tzu's money-making business."
This boss spoke so rudely, where did Zhu Si get this kind of anger and immediately wanted to get up and reason with him, but Ling Yan asked him to sit down.
Ling Yan said to this boss: "Since ancient times, it has been to open a store to welcome customers, no wonder you don't have a single customer in this store for a face-saving business like you."
After hearing this, the owner of the wine shop slapped Ling Yan in front of him fiercely, and scolded him grinningly: "Bastard boy, what do you need to do to come to Rory."
Hurry up and get out of the way for Lao Tzu, otherwise I will beat you down later, and then I will be given to cry in front of Lao Tzu and call my mother. ”