Make a long-term worker as an old attack

When I went back to the forest courtyard, the door of the thatched cottage in the courtyard was opened, Niu Geng walked in holding Xue Zhaoqing, and saw the old man with white beard sitting on one side of the kang, with a row of silver needles of different sizes in his hand , the light in the room is ordinary, but the light reflected by the silver needle is shiny.Niu Geng swallowed his saliva, untied the cloth wrapped around the two of them, and gently placed Xue Zhaoqing on the kang in front of the old man.

"You go out, I don't like people around me when I practice acupuncture."

"..." Although Niu Geng still wanted to stay aside, but the old man said so, he dared not refuse.

Going out through the back door of the thatched hut, Niu Geng realized that the courtyard was much larger than when he looked at it from a distance. The front yard he entered when he first came was only [-]% the size of the back yard. There is a well, and next to the well is a stone mill, which is larger than the one in the front yard. There are a few wooden shelves with medicinal herbs in the northeast corner, and some burlap bags are piled up on the southwest side.There is also a simple kennel in the deepest part of the backyard. Xiaobai is lying on it, squinting his eyes, and ignores him when he comes over. He is not as vicious as when he just bit him.

Although Niu Geng was tired, but thinking that Xue Zhaoqing was still in the house, he couldn't sit still, so he wandered around in the backyard, walked to the burlap bag in the southwest corner, and saw that there were some scattered wheat near the mouth of the bag. It fell, and when I opened the bag, it turned out to be some unhulled wheat. Niu Geng glanced at the stone mill in the middle of the backyard. There was a layer of dust on the thick stone mill, and it seemed that no one had used it for a long time. .

An old man was alone in the woods, and he didn't know what he was relying on for food, but he was still so white and fat, Niu Geng thought to himself, since he is idle anyway, he might as well grind these bags of wheat, so he won't be tired even if he is tired He, and save him from thinking about it.

As Niugeng thought about it, he immediately flushed the stone mill with well water. When it was half dry, he poured the wheat in the sack into the millstone, and pulled up the reins by himself, like an old scalper, pulling the stone mill. The heavy grinding disc turned round and round.The big black dog Xiaobai seemed to be attracted by the circling millstone, so he stopped lying in the nest and ran over, following the burdock around the millstone.

Two hours later, the old man opened the door of the thatched hut, and Niu Geng had already finished grinding most of the wheat piled up in the corner, sweating profusely. When he saw the old man coming out, he hurriedly untied the rope and walked over.

"Old Immortal, how is Qing'er?"

"Okay, it's just that his body has been gaining and losing for many days, and he needs to take good care of it for a few more days."

"Thank you, old god, thank you, old god!" Niu Geng was overjoyed, and thanked the old man again and again. The old man looked at the millstone in the backyard, and the sack that was mostly missing in the southwest corner, and asked, "Did you grind this wheat...?"

"Yes, the younger generation has nothing to do in the courtyard, and used to do this job of grinding noodles, so I gave it up."

"Hmm...he really looks like a cow. Haha, go and see him quickly, he is already awake." The old man smiled crookedly, beckoning the bull to enter the thatched hut.

Niu Geng walked into the room and saw Xue Zhaoqing lying on the kang, covered with a thin layer of blue and white quilt, half-closed his eyes, half awake, his complexion was much better than when he was brought up, Although it is still pale, there is already a little blood in the depths of the skin.

"Qing'er, Qing'er?" Niu Geng called softly, Xue Zhaoqing finally opened his eyes completely, when he saw Niu Geng, he didn't seem to believe it, shook his head again, and looked at him again with wide eyes.

"It's me, Niu Geng."

Xue Zhaoqing has just woken up, and has not realized what happened. The sober memory in his mind is still in Yihong Courtyard. He was drugged and almost insulted, and then...then..., scattered fragments His mind kept colliding, he seemed to see the burdock falling from the sky, saving him, and the madness that night, after that, he couldn't remember anything.

Xue Zhaoqing held his forehead, as if he was having a headache thinking about it, the fragments of that memory were finally connected together in his mind, he looked at the panicked and bewildered Niu Geng in front of him, and finally made sure that he was not dreaming, his brother Niu Geng's It was right in front of his eyes.

In an instant, Xue Zhaoqing's eyes were red, and the tears couldn't stop falling down. The grievance of wandering outside these days, rummaging through garbage, snatching food, being humiliated and drugged seems to be As if everything exploded, Xue Zhaoqing hugged Niu Geng's neck and cried loudly: "I... I finally found you... Woooo..., where did you go..., once I come back, I can't find you... Seeing you..., I went to Chengcheng again..., you...you are not here..., do you know..., I almost died...died outside."

Xue Zhaoqing was struggling to cry, coupled with the fact that he had just recovered from a serious illness and was emotionally unstable, his chest began to twitch uncontrollably after a while, and the words in his mouth were intermittent.

When Niu Geng saw Xue Zhaoqing like this, his heart felt as painful as being crushed. He kissed Xue Zhaoqing's hair, and at the same time patted Xue Zhaoqing's back lightly, just like coddling him when he was a child, following his hair Squeeze, let him be a little more comfortable.

After stroking like this for a while, Xue Zhaoqing finally got better, and the crying subsided, but his body was still twitching uncontrollably. Seeing this, Niu Geng took out a small bag from his bosom, which was tightly packed like a bag Like a treasure, Niu Geng took it to Xue Zhaoqing and shook it. Xue Zhaoqing followed the small bag with crying eyes, and Niu Geng opened it layer by layer like offering treasures. After removing the stopper of the square bottle, there were three or four pieces of crystal clear rock sugar inside. The shape of the rock sugar was irregular, even a bit distorted, but the appearance was very good, translucent like ice skates in winter.

Burdock poured out a piece, stuffed it into Xue Zhaoqing's mouth, looked at him tenderly, and said, "I made this myself. I once stayed in a sugar workshop. I didn't ask for wages. I just asked the boss to teach me how to make it." How to make this rock candy, let me take away some that are not good in shape and sell them out. Sometimes I miss you in a hurry, so I just take a sip of this, it will be better."

The sweet rock sugar melted on the tip of his tongue, and the burdock's love words melted in his heart. Xue Zhaoqing slowly sucked the rock sugar in his mouth, as if the flustered and mixed mood in his heart had been cured by this rock sugar, he gradually calmed down, just cuddled In the bosom of the burdock, quietly savor this sweet taste.

The rock sugar turned into water and gradually disappeared. Xue Zhaoqing smacked the taste in his mouth and took a deep breath. He raised his body and looked at Niu Geng. There is only one thing in my heart that I am most puzzled about.

"Brother Niu Geng, why did you suddenly appear in that Yihong courtyard? How do I remember that you snatched me there, and there were many people in livery with you? Did you serve as a soldier?"

"Qing'er, I told you not to be afraid." Niu Geng supported Xue Zhaoqing's shoulders, took a pillow from the kang and put it under his waist, and continued: "I am now the deputy general of the Weibei formation of the uprising army."

"The rebel army?!" Even though he was mentally prepared, Xue Zhaoqing's heart sank. Although the rebel army never harmed the people, they specifically dealt with the gentry and landlords like the Xue family. I hate them, but I won't pursue them like the poor peasants in the countryside.He then asked, "Why did you join the rebel army?"

"After my mother and I were expelled from Xue's house, I originally wanted to take my mother back to my hometown Chengcheng to find a way out, but now the taxes are too heavy, let alone rich peasants, and some landlords who are not worth much can't afford long-term workers. , my cousin introduced me to a way of life as a postman. Although we often have to leave home, at least we have some income. In the station, we are often scolded by the postman, but the family lacks salt and oil, and my mother is not in good health. , I dare not lose this only way of survival."

Xue Zhaoqing heard this, and when he thought of the Xue family kicking out people indiscriminately at that time, he felt apologetic, took Niu Geng's hand, held it in his arms, and kneaded it carefully.

"Later, my mother was reluctant to take medicine because she went away because of a cold. After she left, I sometimes lived in the woodshed of the post station when I came back late. The crime of decapitation was blamed on our group of postmen. I was overwhelmed for a while, and wanted to catch them and report to the officials. Who knew that I lost in the fight and was almost killed by them. In my desperation, I took a stone and smashed them to pieces. The head of one of them, I was so scared to death that I ran away on my horse.”

Niu Geng tightened Xue Zhaoqing's hand, as if recalling this past event was very uncomfortable.

"Later, I fled everywhere, and I only dared to go to some villages with few people to work for others to ask for food, but in those villages, I almost couldn't save myself. How could there be any surplus food for a homeless person? I was almost starving to death at that time. I was so hungry that I was hiding in a ruined temple. There were many people hiding in that ruined temple. When there was only one breath left, a group of rebels came here, robbed the granary of the local landlord, and rescued the people in our temple... The leader of the rebel army also recognized you, he said he was your mansion in Xi'an Shi Jieyi's brother is called Zhang Xuan."

"What? Brother Zhang?! How is it possible? He did a good job as a postman in Baishui County. How could he lead an uprising?!"

Niu Geng smiled wryly and shook his head, and said: "Qing'er, you don't know something. Brother Zhang has long since stopped working as a postman. The post station he worked in has been cut off. He has no way of living, and his family's land has been taken away by the government. Forcibly accepted, Brother Zhang has already pulled up the flag to revolt, and the postman brothers who followed him at first are now the pillars of the rebel army. After he rescued me in the ruined temple, he asked me if I would like to revolt with him. At that time, I had no other choice, so I followed him all the way to Weibei."

Xue Zhaoqing carefully recalled the scene when he brought Caixing to the outside of Baishui County, the attendants who followed Brother Zhang outside the county, the tense and defensive look on the faces of the attendants, and Brother Zhang's hesitant expression all returned. in mind.It was Xue Zhaoqing who felt strange, but if Zhang Xuan raised the flag to revolt early in the morning, all this would be very easy to explain.

"Do you know if big brother Zhang Xuan has a family?"

"I only know that he has a wife, but she never joined the army. It's just that letters from her family are sent every month."

"That's it." Xue Zhaoqing nodded: "His wife is Caixing's sister-in-law, you also recognize her."