I, the fox clan, Arita!

The return trip was much easier for Lingshu.

Because now he can turn into a little fox as soon as he gets on the carriage, nestling in Wei Xiuya's arms or lying on the wool blanket, in short, he can do whatever is comfortable, and he no longer needs to maintain his human form, sitting in the carriage all day long, being shaken All bones are falling apart.

When you leave the capital, you will gradually get away from the bustling city. When you pass by the small towns and small cities around the capital in the first few days, you can still feel the lively festival atmosphere. After a few days, you will see endless fields, hills and wastelands.

This day, the convoy led by Wei Xiuya had finished resting in a small town, and not long after leaving the town, a group of people gathered far behind the convoy.

Ling Shu sat in the carriage, opened the curtain and looked back, but couldn't quite see who was following behind, frowned worriedly, and said, "It can't be a bandit, can it?"

His worry is not without reason, because along the way, he has seen houses in many villages that were crushed by snow, and in some cities there are hungry people begging. Although the number is small, it is heart-warming. emotion.

After all, the environment of the times was limited, and the capabilities of the government in all aspects were relatively low. Even in the peaceful and prosperous age under the rule of Emperor Changwu, whenever there was heavy snowfall in winter, the affected people would more or less be unable to receive assistance in time.

I'm afraid that some people will be so hungry that they will gather together and become robbers blocking the way.

Lingshu and their team had a lot of people, much more than when they first came. They brought Shen Ziyue to Lingshu and gave them to five households of farmers who can grow fruit trees, and twenty households who are good at farming. These twenty households They were mostly young and middle-aged, with few women and children. Originally, Wei Xiuya only wanted ten households, but Shen Ziyue felt that he was too petty to send only ten households, so he forced ten households in.

He also brought a few carts of special New Year's products from the north, and dozens of elite guards brought by Wei Xiuya from the Hou's residence, all riding tall horses and armed with weapons.

Because there are so many people, there is naturally enough dry food. After all, it is not always possible to find a town that can accommodate so many people. You also need to spend the night outdoors.

Wei Xiuya said: "There have never been bandits in this area before."

After he finished speaking, Wei Ba drove his horse to their carriage and said out of the window: "Master, they are a group of disaster victims. They said they came from the mountain. The snow was too heavy, and the rocks on the mountain landslide and buried their village. , now the whole village has moved with their families, there are about a hundred people, and they want to go to Chang'an Mansion, seeing that we have a lot of people and guards, so we follow behind, fearing that we will encounter thieves on the way."

Although there are more than 100 victims in this group, this number can be said to be very large, but they are all people who can't even eat enough, and they walk for days, so there is no extra strength, so let's go to Chang'an Mansion to say less Three or four hundred miles away, there are many mountains on the road. If they encounter a group of bandits and robbers, they will have no resistance at all. You must know that those robbers not only rob food, but also rob women.

Therefore, when the victims of this village saw the Wei family's convoy and the dozens of strong guards in armor, they followed them from afar, seeking shelter.

"If they live in peace, then don't worry about it." Wei Xiuya nodded and said.

They also have to go through Chang'an Mansion when they return to Dingchun, so the victims of the disaster should follow along, as long as they don't come to disturb them, some protection can still be given.

So the convoy and the victims were divided into two groups, without disturbing each other, and they lived in peace. I was lucky that night. When it was dark, I just arrived at a small post station where I could rest. , the postmaster's family lives here, plus two young postmen.

There have never been so many people coming to this small inn. There are only two rooms in the inn for people who come and go. Naturally, Wei Xiuya and Lingshu will occupy one room, and the other room will be occupied by the guards and the people they brought. Farmers live, but the place is too small to live in. Wei Baduo gave some money to the old postmaster, and at least arranged people into the postmaster's own room and the two postmen's room, so it was enough. .

And those victims were not treated so well. The postmaster was not willing to let these people into the yard at first, but after Lingshu said a few words, the postmaster let them in, only under the eaves and in the yard. If the temperature drops at night, it will be cold to the bone, but it is better than sleeping in the wild, and the walls around the yard still block the wind.

Holding a hand warmer in his arms, Ling Shu stood in front of the window, which opened a small gap, and he looked at the disaster victims in the yard through the gap.

The clothes on them are almost all tattered. They don’t have cotton-padded jackets, but they wear layers of burlap clothes. Some of them are covered with animal fur hunted in the mountains on their upper body, and there is no fur on their legs to keep out the cold. Those furs are dirty and old, and they don’t know how to use them. How many generations have passed.

Everyone had chilblains on their hands, and the faces of children were black and blue from the cold. There were no old people among these people.

Lingshu guessed that most of the old people did not have the physical strength to travel long distances. They should have voluntarily stayed in their villages, and what awaited them was death.

"Sympathize with them?" Wei Xiuya came over and hugged Ling Shu from behind, rubbing his chin on the top of his head.

Lingshu didn't speak, just nodded slightly.

Two women in their 30s came out from the next room, and each of them held a large pot of steaming porridge in their hands. They went to the victims with children in the yard and asked them to feed the porridge to the children.

Lingshu had a vague impression of these two women. They were the wives of two of the peasant households sent by Shen Ziyue. Their men should be Wang and Zhang.

The adults of the children who got the hot porridge thanked the two women so much that they almost kowtowed to their knees.

Lingshu felt uncomfortable watching, and sighed.

"Tell them to cook more, and feed them to children and the weak," Ling Shu said slowly, frowning, "If the other spirits are still good, don't worry about it for now."

He was not naive enough to deliver food to all the victims, nor did he ask Wei Xiuya to do it. On the way from here to Chang'an Mansion, he would give some dry food to the victims who were starving. Some people will starve to death, but they are unable to take care of all the rations of these more than 100 people. If some are sick, he will give them medicine, but if they are seriously ill, he can't do anything.

"Well," Wei Xiuya tilted his head and kissed Lingshu's face, "Let Wei Ba talk about it."

Lingshu touched the brocade robe on his body. The robe was sewn with silk wadding, that is, silk floss. It was made of silk. His home planet called it the "Fiber Queen". It was made by hand and was very expensive. In the Daqing Dynasty, silk was the exclusive product of nobles, and ordinary people could not wear silk and satin. Ordinary businessmen could only wear silk and satin at home.

If it wasn't for Wei Xiuya by his side, he could only wear linen. If he had money, he would at most buy silk and sew it into a linen robe. Looking at the clothes worn by the disaster victims in the yard, Ling Shu felt even more uncomfortable.

"Do you think I'm cruel?" Ling Shu asked Wei Xiuya, "I can help them even if I have money to buy food for them, but I'm not willing to help."

Wei Xiuya closed the window, put his arms around Lingshu's shoulders and led him back to the house, and said with a smile: "If you really did that, I would wonder if my little fox has become stupid."

Ling Shu glared at him: "You're the one who became stupid!"

Wei Xiuya scratched his nose in a funny way, and said, "It's good to have sympathy, but it's not suitable if there is too much sympathy. You only have one person, and your strength is limited. You can help for a while, but you can't help for a lifetime. These things The son should be the government's concern, and it is enough for you to do your part."

Lingshu felt better after hearing this, and fell asleep in Wei Xiuya's arms.

The next day, we continued on the road. Because we were concerned about the victims of the disaster, the speed of the convoy slowed down significantly. Fortunately, we arrived at Chang'an Mansion on the afternoon of the Lantern Festival.

Chang'an's Fucheng is a big city. Like other cities, there is a market in the city on the day of Lantern Festival, and there will be a night market in the evening.

The convoy entered the city gate, and the victims who followed behind naturally wanted to follow in. The officers and soldiers guarding the gate saw the victims and did not drive them out, but let them go to the gate of the city, where many people were accommodated. The temporary shelters for the refugees who came from the northwest were built by the victims themselves.

Seeing those officers and soldiers commanding people calmly, Ling Shu knew that Chang'an Fu City should have often accommodated victims of disasters in the past. If the number of victims was not large, it would not affect the people in the city. will forcibly block.

If there is such a big disaster, such as floods and droughts, causing tens of thousands of people to be displaced, and a large number of victims flood in in a short period of time, the government will not easily let people into the city, and most of them will be resettled outside the city.

Lingshu and his convoy separated from the victims at the gate of the city and walked into the city, gradually feeling the festive atmosphere of the Lantern Festival.

It’s not even night yet, when passing through the downtown area, I saw a group of men dancing dragon lanterns. Amidst the sound of gongs and drums, the long colorful dragons were played by young boys to life, sometimes flying high, sometimes falling, and sometimes circling around Turning around, the people watching were dazzled, and the surrounding onlookers applauded.

Turning a street corner, he saw lion dancers, stilt walkers, colorful boat rowers, and Taiping drum players. Lingshu found everything new, and he didn't take a good look at it when he was in Beijing for the New Year.

At that time, he was not in the mood to watch. Now that he left Shengjing, he saw such a bustling scene. He was still sitting in the carriage, but his heart was already flying. If it wasn't for the team to find an inn to repair first, he would have wanted to get off now. car.

Wei Xiuya booked an inn, and after all the people were settled, he accompanied Lingshu to the street to play.

As it was getting late, the lanterns on the street were lit up one after another, and the steaming snacks on the food stalls made people drool. The two of them didn't eat dinner. They walked all the way, and they were full just eating the snacks.

When the full moon was in the sky, all kinds of lanterns illuminated the streets like daylight, and the streets were bustling with people, many of them with their families, young and handsome sons, burly brothers, women with children in their arms, The maids and servants, the young couples walking hand in hand, and the gray-haired old women and fathers were even more lively than during the day.

Lingshu held a large handful of dough figures in his left hand, including a monkey, a pig, a big rooster, and two small figures, Wei Xiuya and Lingshu, and a rabbit lantern in his right hand, standing on a In front of the mask selling booth, I looked at the masks curiously.

"Young master, want to buy one?" The stall owner, a middle-aged uncle, asked Lingshu with a smile.

Lingshu asked, "Are there any foxes?"

"Yes!" The stall owner quickly handed Lingshu a fox mask.

The mask was made very simply, it was made of wood, with the fox's slender eyes and two pointed ears carved out, which could cover the upper half of the face when worn.

"Help me hold it!" Lingshu turned around and handed the rabbit lamp in his hand to Wei Xiuya. Wei Ba pushed Wei Xiuya's wheelchair and followed Lingshu.

Lingshu put the fox mask on his face, turned around and asked Wei Xiuya, "Does it look good?"

With a smile in his eyes, Wei Xiuya said, "It's pretty."

But I was thinking in my heart, it is not as good-looking as when the ears popped out of your head.

Lingshu was so happy tonight, he immediately bought this mask with money, and went to the stall owner to buy a tiger mask, which he put on for Wei Xiuya.

"Let's put the lanterns on—! Let's put the lanterns on—!"

The two children ran past Lingshu in a flash, shouting that they were going to set off the lanterns, and each of them was holding a lotus lantern, and disappeared into the crowd in a blink of an eye?

Ling Shu asked Wei Xiuya with a question mark on his head, "What is a lantern?"

Before Wei Xiuya could answer, the uncle at the mask stall had already started talking loudly: "Oh, why doesn't this young man even know about putting up lanterns? You're not from our area, are you? Putting up lanterns is a custom." Well, just write the name of the person you like on the note, put it in the lotus lantern, and then let the lantern float away with the water, the lantern will bring her to you! My son, if you have someone you like , hurry up and put a lamp on, it’s amazing!"

Lingshu was eager to try it when he heard it, and excitedly said: "I'm going to let it go! Go! Where are the lotus lanterns sold?"

The uncle said: "It's just ahead, a place with a lot of people, you can see it in the past!"

"There are a lot of people here!" Lingshu threw down these words, and excitedly walked towards the direction where the two children ran just now.

Wei Xiuya looked at Lingshu's back with a smile on his face, and asked Wei Ba to push the wheelchair to follow.

Sure enough, there were already many people by the river. There were many lotus lanterns floating on the river, and there were many lanterns in the distance. The Milky Way is general, presenting a dreamlike scene.

The seller of lotus lanterns was by the river, and there were more than one family. At this moment, the stall was full of people. Lingshu squeezed in, shouted loudly to buy lanterns, and came out with two lotus lanterns from the stall owner. , one of them was handed over to Wei Xiuya.

There was a man who looked like a scholar next to him, and he set up a table to write small notes for people. There were too many people, and they had to queue up.

Lingshu managed to get in the queue, and said to the scholar, "You write, Wei Xiuya, three words."

The scholar swiped his pen and accomplished it overnight. The handwriting was really beautiful. Lingshu said again: "Write again, Lingshu."

The scholar was surprised, and couldn't help asking: "Young master, are there two people you are interested in? These two names should be men, right?"

"I wrote it for someone else!" Lingshu said, "What's wrong with men, I like men."

The scholar choked, but he didn't show any disgust. He just said: "You have to put it on the lotus lantern yourself. If you replace someone else, it won't work."

Wei Ba pushed Wei Xiuya's wheelchair over, and said to the scholar, "Brother, write it, and give the note to me." While talking, he held Ling Shu's hand.

The scholar glanced at them without saying a word, and quickly wrote notes and gave them to the two respectively.

Many people around also looked sideways at Wei Xiuya and Lingshu, but during this Lantern Festival, even if some people thought they were shocking, no one showed it.

Lingshu took Wei Xiuya's hand, and the two went to the river together. He put the note into the lotus lantern, and imitated the men and women around him, holding the lantern in both hands, and putting it into the water reverently.

Although Wei Xiuya's legs were inconvenient, he got up from the wheelchair and put the lotus lantern into the river himself.

Lingshu stood on tiptoe, stretched his neck and stared at the lights of the two of them drifting farther and farther, until the two lights were mixed with other people's lights, and they could no longer be distinguished. He still stared at the river.

The people around suddenly exclaimed one by one: "Wow - what a big lamp! There are so many!"

"There are words written on it! Look at what is written?!"

"Oh, who's young lady is so generous! His confession will be successful this time!"

Lingshu came back to his senses, and hurriedly looked in the direction everyone was looking at, his eyes widened in surprise immediately.

A large group of lanterns floated densely from the upper reaches, illuminating the entire river. Those lanterns were different from the lotus lanterns they put up just now, like small boats covered with a square, There is a small lamp with a pointed top, the lampshade is as thin as a cicada's wing, the candles inside are shining brightly, and there are words written on the outside of the lampshade.

"Hey - I saw it. What is written on the lamp is Ling... Shu?" The literate man put his hands on his eyebrows and looked out.

"The latter is also written about Ling Shu!"

"Who is this Lingshu? Male or female? Is he here?"

"It looks like a man's name to me, tsk tsk, who's young lady is really bold!"

"Wait! There are words behind it! It seems to be my—heart—"

"Yue—you—!" another woman's voice answered.

"I like you! Oh, it's a proper confession!"

"I'm really envious, why doesn't any young lady take a fancy to me!"

Lingshu's heart was beating non-stop, and his cheeks were flushed. Wei Xiuya supported the weight on one leg and stood beside Lingshu, with his arms around his shoulders. The candlelight reflected Wei Xiuya's handsome face. With a smile on his head, he asked Lingshu: "Do you like it?"

"Hi, I like it..." Ling Shu's eyes were as bright as stars, and he looked up at Wei Xiuya's face, feeling shy for some reason, and couldn't speak fluently.

He really likes this man so much!

Lingshu stammered and asked, "You, what did you get these lamps for?"

They only arrived at Chang'an Mansion in the afternoon!Wei Xiuya is still with him all the time!He didn't notice the slightest sign!

"Of course I ordered someone to do it when I came here." Wei Xiuya said.

Lingshu's heart was agitated, and he couldn't help but leaned forward and kissed Wei Xiuya's lips.

At this moment, he heard someone say in surprise: "Ah! I remembered! Isn't this Lingshu the one who wrote his name with the scholar just now? I just ranked behind them, and he said he likes man!"

Another voice said, "Look, it's them!"

"Really!"

"It's two men—!"

Surrounded by exclamations one after another, Lingshu's ears were burning red, but he didn't want to care about it anymore, he just wanted to kiss Wei Xiuya now, and he couldn't think of anything other than entanglement with him Can express their emotions.

He doesn't care how others look at them!

After the kiss was over, Ling Shu and Wei Xiuya looked at each other, and each saw their own reflection in each other's eyes, as if no one around them existed, and only the two of them remained in the whole world.

There was a burst of applause all around.

There are still many people applauding: "Good! Lovers will finally get married!"

"bless all of you!"

"Even if you are so courageous, I will confess my love to the person I like in person!"

Ling Shu and Wei Xiuya looked at each other and smiled. It was a surprise. They never expected that they would be blessed during the Lantern Festival in this city full of strangers.

"Thank you!" The smile on Lingshu's face couldn't stop, and he bowed gratefully to everyone, "Thank you everyone! We will be fine! We will always be together!"

After returning to the inn, Lingshu couldn't calm down.

He took the initiative to pester Wei Xiuya for a kiss, and couldn't help but eat his piece. Although his throat was hurt because it was too big and the process was a bit hard, he was more satisfied than ever in his heart.

Waking up the next morning, recalling what he did to Wei Xiuya last night, Lingshu began to feel embarrassed.

Wei Xiuya stood up wearing only a pair of obscene trousers, showing his strong upper body, glanced at Ling Shu's fluffy ears indiscriminately, scratched his nose, and said with a smile: "I was so enthusiastic yesterday, but now I know how shy I am." gone?"

"Hmph!" Ling Shu glared at him, and quickly got out of bed to get dressed.

Outside the door, Wei Ba took the waiter from the inn to bring them water to wash and have breakfast, but Wei Xiuya didn't let them in, and didn't let Ling Shu pick them up. Get it in early.

"What's the matter?" Lingshu sat at the table and asked strangely, "Why didn't you let them in? You didn't let me get it, and your legs are inconvenient. Is there anything shady in our room?"

If there is something shameful, it is probably the bed sheets, which are stained with some unknown liquid, but when I was in Wei Xiuya's Marquis Mansion before, it was all the servants who changed it. See Wei Xiuya like this.

"It's nothing, eat quickly." Wei Xiuya glanced over Lingshu's head again.

When you change your ears back, you can see people.

Ling Shu didn't understand, so he was hungry, so he buried his head in eating the breakfast on the table, the pointed ears on his head moved from time to time, Wei Xiuya's heart melted.

After breakfast, Lingshu wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and said, "Okay, let's go!"

Chang'an Mansion is still far away from Dingchun, and he is eager to go home now, and he just wants to go home quickly.

Wei Xiuya glanced at his pointed ears, and shook his head: "Don't worry, play chess with me first, Wei Ba has gone to work, we will leave when he comes back."

"What did he go to do?" Lingshu asked suspiciously.

Wei Xiuya said: "I have a gift for you."