The eldest grandson of the Red Chamber

After walking for about a day, Ming Xu and his entourage left Yangzhou City. There are endless official roads in front of them. There is no one in the suburbs, only the same carriages or motorcades passing by. It is very boring.

Qing Rong looked at Ming Xu who was a bit listless and said with a smile: "This is the second day, can't you take it?"

"I didn't expect it to be like this scenery." Mingxu was helpless, thousands of miles away from his imaginary study tour. What he expected was to travel to famous mountains and rivers, visit great Confucian scholars, and learn and experience in the secular world.As a result, I came out for two days, except for going to the toilet, I didn't get out of the car at all, and I bumped back and forth along the way. This is a relatively smooth official road.

Qing Rong seemed to know what he was thinking, and reached out her hand to tap the desktop of the little table in the car: "The journey is like this, most of the time it is boring, there are few accidents, and the travel notes you read will not record these. "The book will only describe how beautiful the scenery is, but never say how difficult the road is.

"Be patient, there is a village in front of you, you can go down and have a look, and take a rest." Qing Rong put away the chessboards.

"The map should not be so detailed. How did you know that there is a place to stay before? Could it be the so-called talk from experience?" Mingxu asked suspiciously.

"Of course not. It's my first time visiting this place, but how do I know? Brother Ming knows it right away." Qing Rong laughed.

Mingxu used his hand to lift the curtain to look, and sure enough, he could see a few wisps of cooking smoke coming from the front.

Seeing that they were getting closer to the village, Mingxu and the others met a farmer, about 50 to [-] years old, a little thin.Judging from his attire, he should be a farmer in the village in front of him. He has no farm tools in his hands and is walking on the country road.

Qing Rongrang stopped the car and greeted him: "Old man, my younger brother and I are going to study, we pass by here and want to take a rest, can you tell me where is the place ahead?"

Qing Rong changed his words as much as possible, but to the old farmer in the country, he still seemed polite, but the man spoke naturally: "The front is our Zhongshang Village, the guests come to drink and rest." He seemed a little embarrassed after he finished speaking , scratched his head, and walked out of his mouth without leaving any myths. Seeing that he was a wealthy foreigner, he didn't know whether he disliked us being dirty, but he muttered, but he didn't take it back.

Ten miles have different sounds, but hundreds of miles have different customs.Ming Xu tried his best to distinguish the meaning of his words in his strong accent, but Qing Rong continued to chat with that person very easily: "Zhongshang? It's not an ordinary name."

The farmer was obviously a little happy when he heard Qing Rong's words, "I heard from the elders in the clan that a general was buried here during the wars in our village, so he called the mound, and everyone who came said it was unusual. "

"That's why, dare to ask the old man's name? Since the people in the village ahead don't want to get in the car, let us take a ride." Qing Rong invited him to get in the car.

The man was taken aback after hearing this, and quickly waved his hands, "No, no, I can't dirty the nobleman's carriage."

"It doesn't matter what kind of noble person we have here, but I'm not familiar with this place, so I have to ask the old man if I have something," Qing Rong explained with a smile.

As soon as the man heard that he needed his help, he lost his hesitation and got into the carriage. Fortunately, Qingrong's carriage was spacious enough, and it was not crowded even if there were more people.

After getting in the car, the two asked and answered, which was interesting. When they reached the entrance of the village, Qingrong already knew a lot. I went up the mountain to try my luck to see if I could get some medicine.

This old man was really warm-hearted, because he heard that they had nowhere to stay, when this old man Zheng got off the car at the door of his house, he very warmly invited Ming Xu and his party to spend the night at home.

Qing Rong and Ming Xu planned to spend the night at Zheng's house in the village because there was no inn in the village.Now the old man Zheng took the initiative to invite him, which saved him a lot of talking.So several people thanked them, parked the carriage outside the door, and left one person to watch, while the others followed Uncle Zheng and entered the door.

Uncle Zheng just pushed open the courtyard door, and Ming Xu heard a rather shrill female voice behind him, "You still know how to come back, where did you go and what did you do this time? The sheep at home are screaming, and you don’t know where they died? There is no mower! It’s been a long time, and the land hasn’t been plowed at all. I think it’s going to be barren. I saw that Duhu’s family has plowed most of it Now, you go to guard the field tomorrow, and when their family finishes plowing, you go to borrow cattle, don't let other families take the lead."

The rapid-fire words forced the old man Zheng back a step, hesitantly stepped forward and pushed the door open again, Qing Rong and Ming Xu exchanged glances, followed.Then I saw the source of the sound. A woman in rough clothes was squatting in a corner of the yard and beating her clothes. According to her words, it should be the wife of Uncle Zheng.

The woman raised her head when she heard the noise, and when she saw a few people behind Zheng Daniu, her rather pretty face suddenly grew longer, and she smashed the pestle in her hand into the wooden basin, and got up: "You are blind!" How many times have I told you, don’t pick up all the smelly and smelly things at home, if you are full and have nothing to do, don’t borrow other people’s cattle, you can pull the plow yourself.”

Fragrant smelly ones:...

Ming Xu grabbed Chang An, who was about to come forward to argue, but he was actually not very angry, just a little puzzled, although country women were tired of life and had a hot personality, but this Mrs. Zheng's reaction was a bit too intense.Glancing at Qingrong, he also looked puzzled, obviously he didn't know why he became so unpleasant.

"I met these people at the head of the village. The guests passing by here have no place to stay. The sixth girl has gone out. Isn't her room always empty? I let them stay at our house for a night, and you Don't be angry, there are guests here, add more food for dinner." Uncle Zheng explained weakly with his hands in his hands.

"Add food, add food, don't you check to see if the rice tank at home has bottomed out? There is no sign of it all day long, and there is no one to chop wood for cooking." Madam Zheng did not move with her hands on her hips.

"Uh, Mrs. Zheng, we are the ones who bothered you. Please forgive me. We brought some dry food. If Madam doesn't mind, you can warm it up on the stove." Qing Rong cupped her hands at the woman and smiled. Be suave.

No wonder people dislike it, this family seems to be having a hard time, we are a group of five, and eating is probably a burden for this family.Leave some money when you leave tomorrow, Qing Rong thought to herself.

Seeing him bowing his hands and saluting to her, Mrs. Zheng brushed her hair unnaturally, and entered the main room without saying anything.

Seeing that he made sense, Mingxu ordered Chang'an to split the firewood in the yard, went to get the bedding outside the door, and followed Uncle Zheng into the east room.

It was almost dusk, and Ming Xu had made a big shop, so he didn't need to pay too much attention when going out, just a few people squeezed together.After finishing it, Ming Xu squatted down in a corner in the yard, it was getting late and it was not suitable to go out for a stroll.

The atmosphere in the small courtyard was a bit awkward, and I didn’t know what to say, so I had to squat here to watch Chang’an chop firewood, listen to Qing Rong chatting with old man Zheng, and ask about the population, income, tax payment and so on in the village. .Mrs. Zheng was busy working in the kitchen.

Finally when it was dinner time, Jin Yu, who was raised by Mrs. Zheng, came out of the room. He was a boy about eight or nine years old. When Jin Yu came to the dinner table, he saw that the extra people in the family had finished their meal in silence without saying a word. I went back again, looking very well-behaved.

Mingxu noticed that although the child was silent, he could still see the intimacy and dependence towards Mrs. Zheng in his actions, but he was a little indifferent towards Mrs. Zheng. Mingxu felt a little strange in his heart, but then he thought that Mrs. Zheng was also very kind to Mrs. Zheng. He couldn't see the emotion, and felt that he had an explanation. The child probably followed his mother.

After finishing their meal, Ming Xu and Qing Rong went back to the room and huddled together to exchange today's knowledge.

"Brother Qing, let's leave tomorrow. According to Uncle Zheng, the town is just ahead of us, and everything will be more convenient when we go there." Ming Xu felt a little embarrassed, and borrowed someone else's house, even though they would give money , but here he still has a sense of embarrassment.

"It's been bumpy in the car for two days, don't you want to stop? If you feel uncomfortable, go to the village tomorrow. It's spring plowing, and you can also experience the hardships of the people." Qing Rong said with a smile, it was not the first time he went out , handles the situation with ease.

"It's better not to cause trouble to others, I'll take a look, let's go after soothing the muscles and bones." Mingxu refused, and it's not that he really doesn't eat the grains of the world.

"Okay, then we'll leave tomorrow." Seeing that Ming Xu had said so, Qing Rong naturally had nothing to do.

On the second day, Ming Xu really went outside to play, and unexpectedly found that there was a private school in the village. After asking, he found out that this was the only school in the surrounding villages, and the teacher was an old scholar.Ming Xu sat in on a class with a curious attitude, played with a handful of students for a while, and then left.

On the contrary, I have changed a lot about this village. Since there is a private school, it shows that it is not too difficult, and the life is not too difficult. This idea was demonstrated later when I saw the scene of working in the fields. The villagers were very lively and devoted themselves to farming. Not forgetting to chat and laugh from time to time, Mingxu even saw a dark-skinned peasant girl express her affection to a slightly refined young man.

Zhongshang is just one of thousands of ordinary villages, even though it can barely be called the first stop of Mingxu's study tour, it failed to attract more interest from him.So after a night's rest at Uncle Zheng's house, the group left some money and left without lunch the next day.

I arrived in the town before sunset and checked into the only inn in the town.

The guest's room is in the courtyard where the owner lives, and it still has a bit of a rural atmosphere.The proprietress of this inn is very enthusiastic. She cooks for the guests the next morning, chats and jokes with them, and asks about the outside world. She is bold and decent, just right and not annoying.Ming Xu's mood was also lifted by her, while asking Qing Rong where is the next stop, is there a post station?While answering her questions.

After eating, several people thanked them, got into the carriage, and wanted to continue on their way. At this moment, a group of more than a dozen people in official uniforms held sticks and stopped in front of the carriage. When people come down, the magistrate of the county will send someone to ask him." Immediately, he attracted the attention of everyone on the street.

Qing Rong and Ming Xu glanced at each other and got out of the car. After seeing the battle, before they could speak, they saw a few people wanting to approach them for custody. Qing Rong blocked them with her hand and said, "Although I don't know that the magistrate passed on my brother What are the two talking about, but we both have fame and fame, so we can go on our own."

Seeing that they were all dressed up as scholars, the head of the guard respected them a bit, and instead of going forward to lock them, he let them walk away, and ordered his subordinates to follow them in a circle. Lightly blocking several people, Cai Cai's hand was inconspicuous, but it was not simple.

"Brother, we are newcomers, can you be accommodating and tell us what has alarmed the county magistrate?" Qing Rong asked tentatively as he walked.

Qing Rong had a friendly attitude, but the guard ignored him, and walked straight for half a day, and when he was about to reach the Yamen, he opened his mouth: "Zheng Daniu on Zhongshang died yesterday, and the two of you are suspected of murder. take."

Ming Xu was startled: "Old Uncle Zheng is dead?"