Don't go back to hometown

Jinling.

The fourth heavy snowfall since the beginning of winter was over, and Xie Chengzu had not received any news from Jiang Xianyu for half a month.

The other party's last reply letter was mailed at the end of November and arrived in Jinling at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, saying that he was all safe and had found a batch of supplies in the mountains.In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, this batch of supplies was sent to various places in the south of the Yangtze River together with the second batch of relief supplies issued by the imperial court.At the same time, Xie Cheng learned from Fang Zhizhou that Jiang Xianyu and Jiang Baizhou joined together and led people into the mountain again to find the whereabouts of the Nine Kings.

No news since then.

Xie Cheng sent letters to Huai'an every day, but because the road was blocked by heavy snow, it seemed that they never reached Jiang Xianyu.Governor Fang also cut off communication with Huai'an, and there was no news of Jiang Xianyu.

The Imperial College suspended school for vacation, Xie Cheng still arranged homework for himself, and at the same time took care of Xie's shop and Sihai Bank, and often helped the governor Fang with ideas to control the disaster.

At night, I couldn't sleep all night. I was obviously tired and sleepy, but I always had nightmares when I closed my eyes.

At first, I only dreamed about the scene where Jiang Xianyu was tortured to death in the dungeon in his previous life. Later, he dreamed that he encountered accidents in the snowy mountains, such as encountering blizzards, encountering wild animals, getting lost, starving and freezing, or meeting the assassin who murdered the Nine Kings. meet...

He has dreamed about everything, and every time he wakes up, he is covered in cold sweat.

Xie Cheng felt that he was on the verge of collapse, but it was ridiculous to say that all this was just because the young man had traveled far away.

Even if the weather is bad, even if the road is treacherous, master and mother will not be as worried as he is, and have trouble sleeping and eating.

He should have trusted Xiao Yu, trusted senior brother, and believed that the other old bodyguards in the bodyguard bureau could take good care of the two of them, like his master and his mother.

But he can't.

He couldn't bear the possibility of losing the other party again, so that he kept regretting agreeing to the other party's going to Huai'an.

But at the same time, he remembered that the boy asked him for trust and support before he left, and he clearly agreed, and he shouldn't go back on his word.

So out of control and sober, rational and extreme, he split his soul, and he lost a lot of weight.

Xie Sangrou thought that it was too hard for him to manage the shop and study at the same time, so she tried to cook soup for him to replenish his body and advised him to rest more.

On the 29th day of the year, when Xie Sangrou saw that Xie Cheng was going out again, she couldn't help persuading her: "Why don't you go today, or I can go with your brother-in-law."

Xie Cheng put on the fox fur: "No need, Qixuan's cough is just right, sister and brother-in-law stay with him more, I'll do it."

After the victims entered the city, Xie's family distributed porridge and rice near the city gate from time to time, and distributed cotton clothes.Xie Cheng would go there every day. On the surface, he would do it himself as the person in charge, but in fact, he gave himself a reason to go to the city gate to wait for Jiang Xianyu every day.

Sometimes he would have terrible thoughts, regretting that he had the heart to serve the country as an official.What does the life and death of the people in the south of the Yangtze River have to do with him?What does Wanmin Sheji have to do with him?Why should his teenager be in danger?

He had a high self-esteem in his previous life, and when his family asked him to be an official, he also thought that he could be an extremely human minister, arouse the turmoil and exalt the righteous, and he also flaunted his righteousness and mocked the young man for not being enterprising, lacking in growth, and lacking in character.So much so that if you don't miss it for life, you can't even keep what you love, and you can't protect it.

Now it seems to be repeating the same mistakes again, letting the young man he loves take risks for his grand ambitions, from the power of the dragon.

Even if the boy said that he was for the Jiang family, Xie Cheng still felt that he had his own responsibility.

If he hadn't mentioned the Nine Kings, hadn't worshiped Fang Zhizhou as his teacher, and hadn't brought Jiang Xianyu to visit Fang Zhizhou that evening, the boy would still be by his side right now, safe and sound.

Xie Cheng got into the carriage and went out, feeling so annoyed and blamed himself again, that he even had the urge to go to Huai'an in person.

Wait until the day after tomorrow—he told himself that if there is still no news in the new year, he must go to Huai'an.

……

In Jinling City, there were many disaster victims from the mountains and countryside. Because the houses were crushed by the heavy snow, because there were no warm clothes and charcoal for heating, they almost froze to death, and because the food ran out, they were hungry...

A few people still have some savings in their hands, or have relatives to turn to, but most of them are desperate and can only rely on government relief.

Fang Zhizhou sent officers and soldiers to respond on the official road outside the city, checked the household registration, and assigned the victims of the disaster in various villages and towns to the same place for resettlement.The space in the Gongyuan was not enough, and the government rented many empty houses in the city.

Xie Cheng sold charcoal, cotton clothes, medicinal materials and other in-demand supplies to the government, and the government sold them at a fixed price, which curbed the skyrocketing prices in the city.

The owners of the merchants who couldn't make any money hated their teeth, but saw that the governor severely punished several merchants who took advantage of the opportunity to make money, and immediately stopped, and dared not make any more moves.

King Zhong sent people to hoard a large amount of charcoal and cotton clothes, and transported them to the south of the Yangtze River with great pains, but they couldn't sell them at all!

He was so angry that he smashed a good inkstone in anger, scolding Fang Zhizhou for his hypocrisy and hypocrisy, for ruining people's wealth.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that after this cold winter, Jiangnan will not be able to sell so much charcoal and cotton clothes, and these things are very susceptible to moisture and mold after the beginning of spring. It's a loss-making deal.

In the end, they had to sell all of them to Fang Zhizhou at a low price, trying to get back some of the capital.

Fang Zhizhou probably guessed which force was going to take advantage of the opportunity to make money. While he felt it was funny, he appreciated Xie Cheng's idea even more. It not only controlled the price, but also forced these merchants who hoarded goods to make deals with the government. We won more supplies for the people in the south of the Yangtze River.

So the next day, Fang Zhizhou added the name of this merchant to the list of disaster relief benevolence outside the Gongyuan, along with the wealthy family who took the lead in donating money and materials to the government, renting warehouses to house the victims, and giving porridge and clothes to the victims. The people praised.

The Xie family was also on the list.

When Xie Cheng arrived at Xie's porridge shed, he saw Zhang Tao, Liu Dingcai, Li Haobin, Zeng Hu and others.

"Here we come." Zhang Tao greeted him with a smile.

Xie Cheng nodded: "Thank you, how many people are there today?"

Zeng Hu replied: "It seems to be a little more than the previous two days."

Although the Imperial Academy has suspended school, many students are stuck in Jinling and cannot return home for the New Year. Zhang Tao and others learned that the Xiejia Congee Shed is recruiting staff and volunteered to help.

The four of them all had kind thoughts in their hearts, caring about the country and the people, but they didn't have the financial resources of the Xie family, so they wanted to do their part for the victims instead of the Xie family's wages.

Zeng Hu, who came from a slightly poor family, originally wanted to take advantage of the suspension of school to find an errand to save some paper and pen expenses for himself, but seeing that Zhang Tao and others didn't ask for wages, he felt embarrassed to mention it, and regarded it as a good deed to make a good reputation.

Xie Cheng didn't reject their kindness, he just learned that they didn't want wages, so he gave them a few sets of clothes to keep out the cold, as well as some books and ink, as a thank you.

Zeng Hu knew that Xie Cheng wanted to take care of him, so he came early every day and did his best.

Xie Cheng saw that his hands holding the padded coat were red with cold, and stepped forward to take over his work: "Drink a bowl of porridge to warm up, and go to the shed to rest for a while."

"No need..." Zeng Hu wanted to decline, but saw Xie Cheng walking towards the victims in line with his cotton coat in his arms.He didn't say anything more, but he was too embarrassed to go to drink porridge, so he just warmed his hands by the boiler.

Unexpectedly, there was a commotion in Xie Cheng's side, and Zeng Hu, Zhang Tao and others ran over immediately.

I saw a dark-skinned, muscular young man grabbing the padded coat in Xie Cheng's hand and yelling loudly: "If you give out a padded coat, why do you need to check your household registration? If you don't want to give it away, just say it, pretending to be a good person." ?”

"Everyone come to comment, my mother-in-law and child are sick, and I asked him to give me two more cotton-padded clothes, but he said that he wants to check my household registration. What does that mean? He just doesn't want to give it!"

Xie Cheng pinched his wrist, with a disdainful expression on his face: "How many people come here to get so many cotton clothes, the wife and children are sick and can't come, go there to register household registration, someone will take them to the hospital to see a doctor, send them Cotton coat."

After speaking, he pulled hard and pulled back the cotton coat that was being held by the other party.

The young man staggered, covered his wrists and began to wail: "Ouch! I beat someone! The boss of Xie's family beat me!"

He deliberately drooped his wrists, crying hard: "Look, everyone! The boss of the Xie family beat someone!"

"you--"

Zhang Tao wanted to argue with the other party, but Xie Cheng held him back and said in a low voice, "I never said I was the boss."

Zhang Tao and the others were taken aback, yes, although everyone knew that this was the porridge shed of the Xie family, and Xie Cheng came every day, but he never said that he was the boss.Logically speaking, disaster victims from other places should not know his identity.

It can be seen that this person obviously came to make trouble on purpose.

Sure enough, the young man saw that Xie Cheng didn't make a sound, thought he was in the wrong, and started to introduce the topic: "I heard from the folks in the village that Xie's family is benevolent, and here I donate porridge and cotton clothes, so I came here specially to give my wife and children some money." Two cotton coats. But look, not only did he refuse to give them to you, but the cotton coats are much worse than those sold in Langyun Pavilion! Who knows whether the cotton or weeds in them can resist the frost!"

"He's clearly pretending to be benevolent and kind, and he just wants to gain fame!"

The victims lined up looked at the cotton coat in Xie Cheng's hand, and couldn't help but start discussing: "Is it real? Is it real cotton?"

"I don't know, but the porridge is really thick, so be full!"

"It's true. My aunt from the same village came to pick it up yesterday, and said that the cotton coat is very thick and can withstand the cold. It's just to register household registration, and each person can only get one. If there are too many."

"Fuck!" The troublemaker yelled again when he saw someone speaking for Xie's family.

"Just such a cotton coat is considered thick? Langyun Pavilion sold much better than this a few days ago. Boss Xie is so kind. Why don't you take out those good cotton coats and send us such inferior goods?!"

After hearing this, the victims showed disapproval expressions, and looked at the young man with both surprise and contempt.

"Why do they give you good cotton clothes? What's wrong with keeping them for sale? Why are you so greedy?"

"Exactly! Thank you, boss! Are you still sending out this cotton coat today?"

Xie Cheng glanced coldly at the troublemaker, and said loudly: "Fa, everyone, come here and line up."

The victims immediately moved to the other end to line up.

The troublemaker was taken aback when he saw this, and then started yelling again: "It's terrible! Thank you, boss, for not treating the disaster victims as human beings. You are also cheap bones. No wonder they can make a lot of money. You can only suffer disasters!"

One sentence ignited the anger of all the victims.

"What do you mean 'we' can only suffer disasters? Co-author, you are still higher than us? Then what kind of cotton coat are you here to get?"

"That's right!" Zeng Hu couldn't bear it anymore, and stepped forward to refute the troublemaker, "It's also a disaster. Others are honest and grateful, and they are willing to help them if they have the spare power. And you are so greedy White-eyed wolf, even if I have ten thousand taels of gold, I would not give you a single grain of rice!"

Zhang Tao and others also stepped forward to stop the troublemaker, "You don't like the padded clothes we gave out, and we are still unwilling to give them to you. Giving them to others is to do good deeds, and it's not worth giving them to you!"

Li Haobin pulled Zhang Tao and Zeng Hu back a step, and sarcastically said: "Okay, okay, this elder brother looks very angry, and he is obviously not hungry or cold. We have time to deal with such people, so why don't we let other victims suffer more?" Order porridge."

"He's not a disaster victim!" Someone in the crowd suddenly yelled, "He's the famous rascal He Laosan in the city! He specializes in cheating and abducting, everyone, don't listen to him!"

The man seemed to be afraid that He Laosan would recognize him, so he yelled and slipped into the crowd, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"My □□ old lady!" He Laosan was exposed and cursed angrily.

Turning around, he was surrounded by a group of victims, spitting at him: "Fuck! Shameless!"

Xie Cheng asked his servants to invite the officials at the gate of the city, and He Laosan was so frightened that he turned around and ran away.

On the other side, an old man lined up in front of Xie Cheng, with cracked red marks on his face and hands, and asked cautiously: "Boss Xie, you said that there is a patient at home, and you can help send it to the hospital. Is it true?" ?"

Xie Cheng: "Yes, you report your household registration, and then tell me where you live now. Someone from me will go back with you and help you send the person to the hospital for treatment."

"Which...is this hospital usually sent to? How much money?" The old man asked with a bitter face.

He fled with his whole family, and his youngest son's family of three fell ill. Although he could go to the government to get some medicinal materials to dispel cold and reduce fever every day, it was becoming less and less enough now.

"No money."

The old man was taken aback: "No money?!"

Xie Cheng handed the cotton coat to the other party: "Yes, I don't want your money, we will pay from the Xie family."

The old man's eyes turned red immediately, and he burst into tears. He bent his knees and wanted to kneel down to Xie Cheng: "Thank you! Thank you boss! You are a good person, a good person like a Bodhisattva!"

"Don't kneel..." Xie Cheng helped him by the arm and pulled him back. He was not used to such sincere and simple thanks, so he could only hand the other person over to the servant beside him to help him, and let the servant take him to register .

Looking back, the disaster victims who lined up all praised him as a living Bodhisattva with a kind heart.

Xie Cheng smiled, lowered his eyes and continued to send out cotton clothes.

He knew in his heart that he was not a living Bodhisattva, but a reborn evil ghost, full of obsessions and karma.

He also doesn't want to be a living Bodhisattva. If what he is doing now can really accumulate virtue, then he asks the Bodhisattva to take pity on him and bless his young man to return home as soon as possible.

"Thank you!"

Xie Cheng raised his head suddenly, thinking that he was hallucinating.

But he could clearly see that the red cloak was swaying in the wind, and his young man rode from the city gate, calling his name and waving at him with a bright smile.

It was like a ball of fire, hitting straight into his eyes, the bottom of his heart.

Xie Cheng suddenly realized how wrong his former self was.

In his previous life, he could only be a man on the shore, envious of fish in the abyss, did not dare to act rashly, and finally lost his love; after his rebirth, he planned to retreat and make a net, trap swimming fish, keep his love as his own, and lock it by his side; now He finally understood that he shouldn't be selfish and narrowly framed as a prison to imprison others and himself.

A young man should not be a bird in a cage or a fish in a pond, but an incomparable bright moon and dazzling stars.

And he should try his best to be vast and far-reaching, to be the vast sea and high sky of a young man, let him strike the sky with eagles, and swim in the vast sea with fish; like a star.

As long as, as long as the boy's home is him, his hometown is him, and his love is him.

As long as he is safe enough.