two ears pricked up

Yuqiao County is a small county located in the borderlands. The small town is remote, but it is like spring all the year round, full of flowers, and there are at least a hundred households. Men farm and women weave, herd cattle and poultry, and have a bit of a paradise atmosphere.

The small town ushered in a new county magistrate half a year ago. I heard that he was transferred from the capital. He had been a senior official in the court for ten years. For some reason, a good senior official came to this small place. Be a petty officer.

Of course, these are just the speculations of the ordinary people in the city. The common people usually have to deal with officials, and it is best to live a peaceful life behind closed doors.

There is a fair every two days in the small town, and there are shops and incense pavilions, all that should be there, but they don’t have the grandeur of the big city, and the newly appointed magistrate always likes to run to Yuxiang Pavilion recently, after all, he is from Kyoto Yes, I am used to fine clothes and good food, so when I came to Yuqiao County for the first time, I must not be able to bear the gap, and seeking pleasure is a common thing.Moreover, all the girls in Yuxiang Pavilion are wonderful people. Although they are performing arts and not selling themselves, if the target is an official, who would not rush to curry favor.

Chu Shaojie really just went to drink. He was an official in Kyoto for ten years. He drank a lot of wine, but he never had a good time. He resigned from office and hid in his hometown, but the emperor refused to let him go. He issued another memorial and transferred him to this small town as an idle official.

In Taiping, Yuqiao County, trivial matters cannot be disturbed by the government office. After being the magistrate of the county for half a year, he is really leisurely. Chu Shaojie walks around every day and has dinner at Yuxiang Pavilion. The wine in the pavilion is good wine, and more importantly If there is no need to act on the occasion, it is because the rouge of the girls who poured wine for him is thick, he thought, he must change the land tomorrow, or hire a cook back, so as not to have to run out all day.

In the evening, there was a thunderstorm, Chu Shaojie got into the carriage and told the driver not to hurry.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, the carriage passed through the market, and the street vendors rushed to close their stalls, and the crossing was in a mess, blocking the way.

The coachman said: "My lord, I will go ahead and tell them to make way. Please sit down for a while."

Chu Shaojie waved his sleeves casually, "No need, wait until they pack up before going there, don't be in a hurry."

Chu Shaojie seldom puts on airs when he is an official. These are ordinary people in front of him. It is not easy to do some small business to make a living, so why bother to embarrass others.

The coachman stepped aside respectfully, and kissed the magistrate.

Among the messy vendors, Zhang Yang, the hunter, cursed his bad luck today. He spent the past two days drinking too much in the village, but today he cheered up and picked a good weather to put the wild birds he hunted in cages for sale.

The small town is surrounded by mountains, and everyone can go into the mountains to catch wild birds, so the wild animals in the cages are not easy to sell. He discounted the price and managed to sell a few fat rabbits. The rest, he plans to take them home and slaughter them tonight Cook meat.

There are six or seven hares, big and small, in the cage, both fat and thin.

The rain soaked the cage, and a group of rabbits shivered in a nest. Only one black rabbit was squeezed out by the white rabbits. It was skinny and huddled in a corner, its eyes were closed, and its ears drooped listlessly.

Orion was pulling the car, and the cage scraped against the rear of the car next to it and fell to the ground.The rabbits fell out of the bamboo cage one after another, and a few screamed in fright. The black and thin one rolled down the slope and fell under the car, lying on its stomach without moving.

Probably because it was too inconspicuous, the hunter thought it was too thin and had no flesh, so he recaptured a few fat white rabbits, and even missed the black rabbit, so he didn't bother to look for it.

The wheels rolled over the muddy road, and the carriage in front drove away, revealing the black rabbit lying down.

The little black rabbit was so dirty that at first glance it was thought to be a rock, but thanks to the sharp-eyed driver, who was kind-hearted, he ran over it without driving.

"My lord, there is a rabbit in front of me, can I go down and hold it aside?"

The coachman raised the curtain to ask Chu Shaojie for instructions. Chu Shaojie took a brief look and saw the dirty rabbit in the mud. If the coachman hadn't said it was a rabbit, he really wouldn't have noticed it.

With a thought, he asked, "Is it a rabbit?"

The coachman said: "Yes, it's a black rabbit. It must have been left behind by some dealer when he was in a hurry to close the stall."

Chu Shaojie said: "Hold it up and show it to me."

For ten years, he has not seen the rabbit again, and his memory has become blurred with time, but he still has a fascination for the rabbit.

"Hey!" The coachman ran to the front with an umbrella, and wiped the dirty black rabbit several times with his clothes before he dared to hand it over to Chu Shaojie.

The black rabbit was waiting to die, but he didn't die.It was wiped dry from the muddy water on its body, and it fell into a place where the wind and rain could not blow in. When it opened its wet eyes, its vision was hazy, and it was impossible to see the person who touched its head twice.

The coachman said: "Master, why don't you give the rabbit to me? I just checked it. It seems that its eyes and legs are injured. It rains for a while. I'm afraid it won't survive. I'll wait for it to die and look for it." A hole was dug and buried."

Chu Shaojie took out a strip of clean soft material from the car, wrapped the little black rabbit in his palm and rubbed it.

"Just leave it here."