[Red Mansions] The prince is polite

Xiao Liu ran away like this, and now it's all right, the palace immediately exploded.

Xiao Shisan heard that the sixth brother only brought Hai Dongqing, and without saying anything, he dared to run out of the capital alone, sat down on the ground in fright, and kept muttering, "fourth brother, sixth brother ran away , Huang Ama must be furious this time, it's over, it's over, Brother Six will definitely shed a layer of skin after being arrested."

After Kangxi listened to the report, he glanced at the ministers in the upper study room who were discussing matters, and twisted the cinnabar imperial brush in his hand, "It turns out that this kid wandered around my door for this reason, I thought I heard too much from the students below. If you can wait until Yinzhen comes back, it seems that you have underestimated him. Anyway, this matter is not going to make a big deal, and a team of inner guards will be sent from Shanpuying, and those who are willing to come back will be brought back, and those who are not willing to let them serve. Mishap. It’s just that before the peach blossom flood, you must come back in full, or you will come to see me.”

Liang Jiugong bent over, backed out, went to deliver the oral order in person, and gave some uneasy instructions to the inner guard who was in charge of the order,

"Master, young man, what happened this time is no different than anything else. You must move quickly to intercept Liu Ye."

"We save it. Thank you, Eunuch Liang, for reminding me. I'll go pick someone right away, and I won't send Eunuch away."

I thought I would be able to catch up with the first group of people before going to the next town, but after running for a while, Xiao Liu felt a burning pain at the root of his thigh, so he let the "fourth brother" let him go foraging , and rolled off the horse by himself, looking for a shelter to see the wound.

Xiao Liu not only tossed about riding the horse, but also didn't know how to tie the horse somewhere before leaving. When Xiao Liu, who had put on his trousers again, came out, the horse had already run away with its burden.Xiao Liu touched the rest of his body speechlessly, and only found a few gold and silver beads in his purse. He really didn't know what to do next, so he sat on the side of the road and stared at the road, worrying.

And this group of people just ran to the front, missing the bewildered celibate sixth master, and also missed the horse who left his master, ran wildly for a few laps, and ran back to the post station.When the second group of inner guards arrived, Xiao Liu had already boarded an ox cart full of spring seeds and was walking slowly towards the fields in the outer suburbs.

Xiaoliu, who has left the official road, has no direction at all. He just looks up and the old tenant man sees Haidongqing, who is obviously different from ordinary people's clothes and passing by from time to time. I didn't dare to say too much, I just wanted to quickly unload the seeds and put the person down by the way.

But when the car stopped, not only was it already dark, but the whole family huddled in the corner, the little ones were crying with hunger, and the big ones were moaning.The old man hurriedly got out of the car and touched the tops of the two little grandchildren's heads. Their dry hair and dull yellow skin were incomparable to the young man who was still sitting in the car and looking around.

Her chapped lips moved, and she carefully took out the half sweet potato that she had been clutching in her bosom, divided it into two and gave it to the two children.Seeing the two children gobbling up the meat, even if they choked, they kept stuffing their mouths, they couldn't help feeling their dry eyes, and turned their backs to wipe them.

Xiao Liu, who still couldn't tell the direction, and the 'fourth brother' who was holding a fat raccoon dog forward with his head tilted, gestured for a long time, but he still couldn't make it clear, so he had to take it out of his paw, and The raccoon who started to hop around, hugged him tightly, jumped off the shaft, and walked in front of the old man.Just in time to see the old man wiping his tears, he paused, and waved to one of the children who was still licking his fingers after eating.

The child felt even hungrier after eating sweet potatoes, looked up at the raccoon in Xiao Liu's hand, swallowed, and took a small step hesitantly.Xiao Liu stroked the raccoon raccoon's plentiful fur, handed it to the child, and asked, "Do you like it? Let's play with it."

The old man hurriedly returned the raccoon dog to Xiao Liu, but the child hugged her tightly with tears in his eyes, turned around and ran behind the very thin woman.Another child also ran over, pinched the raccoon's short round ears, and giggled after a while.

Xiao Liu also smiled, "It's the fare, old man, I still have something to trouble you. My horse ran away with a load, and now I dare not go home. If the official road is far away, I won't be able to call As for the sedan chair, I would like to borrow your ox cart."

The old man sighed, "Little brother, this is far away from the official road. There is no road in front of our village, and there is no village in the back. It is a village formed by people who fled famine a few years ago. This cow is not my own either. Where did we buy it? It was leased to us by Wang Yuanwai in the town. Now the whole village is waiting for this ox to plow the land and get ready for spring plowing. But I can go to Wang Yuanwai’s house to ask if I have strong feet. Come into the house with me, it's a little awkward."

Xiao Liu smiled, feeling a little hungry before entering the door, rubbed his stomach, turned to look at Hai Dongqing standing on the stone pier, "Catch some more prey."

The old man ordered his daughter-in-law to boil water and see what else she could cook.With the help of the children, the simple and honest son held down the raccoons, slaughtered and skinned them, cut half into pieces and sent them to the kitchen for stewing, and sprinkled the half with some salt, stuffed them into the stove below to bake.The children are smiling and drying the washed raccoon skins to dry, bouncing and jumping like Chinese New Year.

The old man looked a little happy when he saw the noisy children. He threw a few dried hawthorn slices and dried yellow Sophora japonica flowers into the teapot. the taste of.

Xiao Liu was holding a large coarse porcelain bowl with a smile on his face, and drank in sips.The old man was a little happy when he saw the little brother drinking without disgust, and he talked more.

"My daughter-in-law is capable. Our whole family relies on her to manage the tea alone. She also wanted to coax the children to play with this tea, but she didn't want to drink it too much. The hawthorn in it whets my appetite, and the Sophora japonica is our I can’t get enough food on weekdays, so I make some for the children to drink as sugar water during the Chinese New Year.”

Xiao Liu asked a little confused, "Excuse me, what is the name of the old man? On the way here, all I saw were rice fields. How can I not get enough to eat when I grow rice at home?"

"The little old man's surname is Zhao, and he has to pay rent for the land, as well as the court's poll tax. Every time he finishes harvesting the grain, except for the seeds left behind, what he can do is just two loads, which is not enough for a family of five. Eat. On important days, I take it to exchange for some white rice noodles, and make some steamed buns with corn flour. Plant some juicy vegetables, melons and fruits, and they are all picked and sold in the Hakka Village."

Xiao Liu looked down at the clear brown color in front of his eyes, his pupils were a little dull, "Is this the case in the whole village? What about other places?"

"It's the same situation in the village. Even those who have a little land sell their land and become tenants because they don't have enough to eat. But the money is only temporary. After spending it, life is worse than when they had land. If the owner wants to increase the rent, he will increase the rent, if he says he will not rent it to you, he will not rent it to you, how dare he tell the difference.”

At this time, the daughter-in-law was holding a plate of steaming corn buns, came in through the curtain, took a picture of the little black hands of the child quietly protruding towards the buns, smiled shyly at Xiao Liu, and carried the children by their backs one by one. Collar, going out.

Xiao Liu took what the old man handed over, broke off a small amount and put it in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it with difficulty.

Since the fourth brother became the behind-the-scenes owner of Wangjiang Tower, he asked the chef to make new tricks all day long, and he heard a lot.After careful identification, the taste is rough, the taste is not soft and sweet, the proportion of white flour is not much, and the cornmeal has not been screened.

Thinking that this kind of food is as precious as a treasure, it seems that life is really difficult and frugal.

The two children looked at each other in embarrassment, and pulled at the door frame, refusing to move.

He smiled and waved to the two children, "Wash your hands, how about eating with me?" The two children ran out cheering.The mother pursed her lips and withdrew, too.

Looking at such a cheerful child, Xiao Liu felt a little heavy in his heart, thinking while eating the steamed bread carefully.If you want to find the fourth brother, you can't delay, but you can't take care of things here. Huang Ama will be furious if she finds out that the farmer is hungry.It seems that I can only find a reliable person to come and see what is going on.

At this time, an eagle's cry resounded and he remembered that Hai Dongqing just broke through the fragile window, rushed in, and threw down the musk deer that had no strength to resist.Sitting on the back of the chair, he looked at the old man arrogantly, and spread his wings towards Xiao Liu, the excitement in his eyes seemed to have not faded.

The old man stood up a little excitedly, and stroked the part under the belly button of the screaming musk deer with trembling hands, his eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed, "The musk sac is still there, but you want me to take it off? Sell it to the pharmacy. It can make an old snack last a year."

Xiao Liu looked at the old man's movements with some strangeness, and suddenly his face flushed, remembering the behavior of the fourth brother when he was licking, he pinched his legs, and hurriedly responded, "Then you sell it for me, and the meat will be sold to you." Your daughter-in-law will take care of it, and treat it as a house fee for a few days, so that the little ones can have enough to eat. By the way, do you have paper, pen and ink? I need you to deliver a letter to someone."

The old man rolled down from the chair with a thud, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "I'm really ashamed, old man, such a shabby mud house is just a shelter from the wind and rain, and the little brother can live in it, and it's worth looking at." My old man, how can I collect anything. Things like paper, pen and ink that scholars have, are not available in the village, so I can go to the town and ask."

Xiao Liu hurriedly helped the old man up, and took out a small golden bead from his purse, "Old man, don't be like this, my Haidongqing is capable, not me. This is the money to repair the windows, and to buy horses, pens and ink, and The expenses for sending errands and delivering letters have been collected. Let your grandson take me for a stroll in the village tomorrow."

The old man pushed Jin Zhu away, "Little brother, I don't need so much. Tomorrow I can take this fresh musk sachet and go to the pharmacy to sell it for a good price. I still have more to buy. You said earlier that the burden was lost." , save some money."

Xiao Liu touched his purse and nodded.At this time, the roasted raccoon meat was ready, the old man took the slicer himself, selected the best part, sliced ​​out a bowl, and handed it to Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu tasted a piece, the craftsmanship was not good, the taste was a bit bland, a bit fishy, ​​but it was roasted very carefully, half of the meat was served, and there was no part of the meat that was inedible.It's not like usual, I don't want to eat if it doesn't taste good, I just eat slowly with tea.

The next day, Xiao Liu took the reins of the horse and the spare silver from the old man, and was about to get on the horse, but saw that the horse was still carrying a heavy bag, and looked at the old man in confusion.

The old man smiled, "These are white flour pancakes and smoked jerky made by my daughter-in-law overnight. It is the heart of our family. If you find your fourth brother, come to the old man's house to have a look. I will definitely not let you You are wronged."

Xiao Liu was stunned for a moment, and opened the bag to see, it was indeed so.He lowered his eyes for a long time, and suddenly smiled gently, beckoning to the two children hiding behind the stone pier, took out two gold beads, put one in each child's hands, touched their foreheads, and said softly Say a word,

"I am the only one who owns this thing in the whole capital. If there is any difficulty at home, let your father take it to Wangjiang Tower to find the shopkeeper. Remember, it is Wangjiang Tower over Shichahai."

After speaking, he said goodbye to everyone with a smile, and hurriedly continued to run before Jia Lan arrived.