Chongxi [rebirth]

Outside the city of Jizhou, there is heavy snow and ice, everything is silent, only the open official road stretches all the way to the distance.

Apart from them, there were hardly any other passers-by on the road.Only the messy marks on the snow proved that there were pedestrians and horses walking on this road.

Ye Yunting sat on the horse, wrapped his cloak, turned his head to look around, always felt that something was wrong, but couldn't remember it for a while, so he could only suppress the feeling of disobedience, and continued walking beside the carriage.

A group of people traveled westward for half a day, and in the evening, they found a dilapidated temple and temporarily settled down to repair it.

The dark guard cleaned up the cobwebs in the ruined temple, and built a fire again. Then Ye Yunting asked Yiqiu to help the old concubine to rest in the temple.

The old concubine believed in Buddhism, entered the temple, looked at the dilapidated Buddha statue above, bowed down and prostrated three times before she went to the fire and sat down, and told Yiqiu: "Go and bring the pottery pot and boil some hot water to divide it." One point, let the guards warm up."

Yiqiu responded, turned around and went to the carriage to get the clay pot.

"The farther you go north, the colder it will be." Old Wang stretched out his hands and slowly roasted by the fire, talking to Ye Yunting in a babbling voice: "Fortunately, I didn't see any refugees along the way, otherwise, it would be a bad day in such a day." It's so rare to live...that is, when I was more than ten years old, I just saw such a heavy snowfall for such a long time..."

Ye Yunting was broiling on the fire and thinking about what was going against the peace, but when the old concubine interrupted him, his train of thought was interrupted.But after hearing it clearly, he was slightly taken aback again: "Refugees?"

His eyes widened slightly, and he suddenly figured out what was wrong with him since he left the city.

Is a refugee.

With the snowstorm this winter, the number of refugees from all over the country has increased sharply. They have seen many refugees since they traveled all the way to Beijing.But outside the city of Jizhou, there were no traces of refugees.

Even if Yin Xiaozhi governed Jizhou City very well, the people in the city did not suffer any disasters, but there are still people from the villages and towns below and people who fled from other places... These are the most important people among the refugees, and there is a huge number of them. All were brought into the city.But there was no resettlement place outside the city, as if these refugees had disappeared out of thin air.

Ye Yunting fell into deep thought, and muttered to himself: "Where can those refugees go?"

He was thinking about it when he heard a sudden commotion outside, and an old voice pleaded: "My lords, have pity on our grandparents, we haven't eaten for several days, pity on us..."

"What's going on?" Ye Yunting got up to look, and saw an old man and a ten-year-old child, holding a chipped porcelain bowl, kneeling in front of the hidden guard.

The dark guard looked embarrassed and called them to get up repeatedly, but the other party refused to get up, and only kept begging.

"Go get some food first."

The old concubine was also disturbed by the commotion outside. Seeing the child's face was yellow and thin, his face was flushed with cold, and his hands were still covered with chilblains, she immediately showed embarrassment and pulled him up herself.Let the grandparents and grandchildren sit by the fire to warm up.

Yiqiu quickly came over with dry food and distributed it to the grandparent and grandson.

"Thank you ma'am, thank you ma'am." While thanking, the old man broke up the dry food and put it in a bowl for his grandson to eat.

"Where are you from, but you also suffered a disaster?" Seeing that she didn't eat herself, the old princess just kept urging her grandson to eat, and she couldn't bear it any more.

"Yes, we are from Jizhou. We are from Yanghe Village. The heavy snow has crushed the house and we have nowhere to go." The old man took a bite of pancakes and muttered.

"Is there no disaster relief from the government?" Ye Yunting handed them hot water: "Where do you live in such a cold day?"

"Just, just live in the temple." The old man took a sip of the water and said vaguely: "No one cares, and there is no one at home. We will live in the ruined temple."

"Just live in this temple?" Ye Yunting's eyes flashed, and the expression on his face became lighter: "In this wilderness, where is there to find food? Maybe there are wild animals that come out of the mountains to look for food."

As if in response to his words, a wolf howl suddenly came from outside the temple.

The old man shook his hand and stammered, "Just, just ask the passers-by for something to eat..."

Ye Yunting carefully observed her expression, calmly separated the old concubine from the grandparents, and cast a glance at the hidden guard guarding the door.

Something is wrong with the grandparents who suddenly appeared.

The old man said that he lived in the ruined temple before, but when they came in, the ruined temple was covered with cobwebs, the ground was covered with thick dust, and there was no trace of habitation at all.Not to mention that there are no people around this ruined temple, and there are very few passing carriages and horses. If the old and the young were relying on begging from passers-by, they would have starved to death long ago.

Her rhetoric was full of holes.

But Ye Yunting didn't tear it down, but after they finished eating, he stayed with the two of them with a smile on his face: "Since the old people live in this ruined temple, I will leave the other half of the place for you to rest. We will leave for one night." .”

The old man replied "Hey" twice, and after thanking him again and again, he curled up in a corner with his grandson.

Ye Yunting took the opportunity to lower his voice to remind the old concubine: "The grandpa and grandson have problems, mother be careful."

The old concubine was surprised for a moment, and after thinking about it, she realized that something was wrong. Seeing that Ye Yunting did not act rashly, she knew that he had other plans, so she didn't ask any more questions, just nodded lightly, and lit a fire with Yiqiu. Water, distributed to the guards outside to warm up.

The sky darkened in a blink of an eye.

The rest of the hidden guards were guarding outside. In the ruined temple, apart from the grandfather and grandson, there were only Ye Yunting, Ji Lian, Laowangfei, Yiqiu, and four hidden guards.

After a day of driving, everyone was a little tired, wrapped in cloaks and scattered around the fire to rest.

The grandparent and grandson in the corner moved suddenly. Ye Yunting's eyelids moved, but he didn't open them. He only heard the grandson who hadn't spoken all this time say, "Grandma, I'm going to pee."

The old man let out a "hey", followed by the sound of getting up: "I'll take you out to pee."

The two of them walked out holding hands, the commander of the hidden guard who was pretending to sleep suddenly said: "It's dark outside, the old man has trouble with his legs and feet, how about I take him there?"

The grandparents and grandson who were about to cross the threshold were startled. The old man turned around and waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, I'll take him there. It's right behind, and he won't go far."

Seeing this, the commander didn't say any more, he just gave another hidden guard a look.

After the grandfather and grandson went out, the hidden guard quietly followed behind.

At this time, the grandparents and grandchildren are not there, so they don't have to pretend anymore. The leader said: "The grandparents and grandchildren seem to be here to step on the spot. Some bandits who specialize in robbing passers-by like to send the old, weak, sick and disabled to lead the way, so that they can find out the team in advance. The number of people and the gold and silver property are easy to use."

Ye Yunting nodded, and said again: "But it should not be an ordinary bandit, most likely a refugee who fell into the grass and turned into a bandit."

The grandparent and grandson had obviously been hungry for a long time, and their clothes were ragged. The child had sores on his hands from the cold, and he was indeed very down and out.If there were not too many loopholes in his rhetoric, Ye Yunting would not have become suspicious of them.

If it is an ordinary bandit, it should be more than that.

He poked dry firewood to make the fire more intense: "Maybe this trip can find out where the refugees have gone."

***

But on the other hand, after the grandparent and grandson left the ruined temple, they gathered up the clothes that did not block the wind, and walked into the mountains stepping on the deep snow.

They don't know that there is a tail behind them,

The grandson said in a low voice: "Grandma, why don't we go back?"

"Where can we go if we don't go back?" The old man patted his head, took out the leftover half of a pancake and stuffed it to him, urging: "Eat this, or you won't have anything to eat when you go back."

Hearing what she said, the grandson could only take a few mouthfuls of the cake, and stuffed the remaining half back to the old man: "I can't eat any more."

"You're talking nonsense." The old man gave him a loving look, but still took a bite of the cake, then thought of something, and hid half of the cake in his arms.

The group of people they met today were the most generous and kind-hearted people they had ever met. The old man could only sigh guiltily when he thought about what would happen later.

There are no lights in the dark mountains, only a pale moon in the sky reflecting the vast snow, barely able to identify the way ahead with a faint light.Fortunately, the grandparents and grandchildren have walked this road many times, and they are already familiar with it, and soon arrived at the destination - a slightly rudimentary cottage.

The old man patted the gate of the village made of bamboo, and a head poked out from the watchtower beside the gate. After a few glances, he said, "Let's go."

The closed door was opened from the inside, and the two were let in.

The person who opened the door was a tall man. Seeing the two of them, he said harshly, "Have you figured it out? How many people and how much money?"

The child clutched the old man's hand in fear, hung his head and said nothing.

The old man hunched his back slightly, and respectfully said: "I figured it out, it's a young man with an old lady, a bookboy and a maid, and the rest are about a dozen servants and guards. Looking at the clothes, they are from a wealthy family."

"He brought the servant girl with him." The big man smiled lewdly, ignored the two of them, and strode towards the largest room in the middle: "I'll go and tell the village owner, it seems that I met a fat sheep this time."

Seeing this, the old man sighed and led his grandson to the dilapidated wooden house in the corner.

There were nearly ten people crowded in that small wooden hut, both men and women, but without exception they were all pale and emaciated, obviously even in this village, they were the lowest class.

When the people in the room saw the old man coming back, they raised their heads for a glance, and looked away again. There was despair in the numbness. Only one person in the corner moved to the side to make a small corner: "Grandma is back?"

"Hey." The old man took his grandson and walked over to sit down, and stuffed the leftover half of the pancake into his hand under the cover of his body: "I met a rich family today, maybe we can get more food tomorrow .”

Ye Wang took the gnawed pancakes, his throat rolled, but he didn't feel disgusted, taking advantage of other people not noticing, he swallowed it in two or three bites, and finally managed to appease his aching stomach from hunger.If it was in the past, let alone a cake that was eaten by others, even if a complete cake was placed in front of him, he would not take a second look.

But now, touching his less uncomfortable stomach, he sighed contentedly.

It has been more than a month since he escaped from Yin's house, was taken to the mine by force by accident, and then escaped with others, living a difficult life in this village.

At the beginning, he tried every means to get someone to send him back to Shangjing, but as time went by, he found that no one believed his words.Later, when he arrived in the stockade, because he refused to participate in the murder and robbery, he was thrown into this dilapidated house, waiting to die with the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled.

Now he no longer wants to go back to Shangjing, he just wants to survive.

"Another action today?" He pulled off his thin coat and asked the child to slip into his arms, and the two leaned on each other for warmth.

"Ah."

The night was long, and the cabin was drafty, without any warmth.The old man could only hold his arms tightly and talk in a low voice, so he didn't feel so unbearable.

"It's a young son with his mother, who seems to be from Shangjing, and is going to visit relatives." The old man sighed, "You shouldn't go out to visit relatives at this time of year. Otherwise, you wouldn't have met us. It's really kindhearted."

But Ye Fan's eyeballs moved: "He came from Shangjing?"

"It should be." The old man was not too sure: "My head of the family was a businessman in the early years, and often went to Beijing. I followed him a few times. The accent is similar."

Ye Zhu's eyes lit up, thinking about whether to take the risk of going down the mountain to report to the other party.

Grandma said that the pedestrian brought about a dozen family guards. Although they were not as crowded as the people in the village, it was not too far from Jizhou City, and they might be able to escape if they drove all night.If it goes well, you can ask the other party to send you a letter to Shangjing, or better luck, the other party knows the Duke of Qi's mansion and can send someone to send you back to Shangjing.

It's just that this move is too risky, if it fails and the village finds out, he might be silenced as well.

Thinking of the person who tried to escape and was killed earlier, Ye Wan clenched his fists, hesitating in his heart.

After the old man finished speaking, the room became quiet again, coughing loudly and softly.Ye Wang looked at the sleeping child curled up in his arms, and the thoughts in his mind became more and more difficult to suppress.

There was already a lot of noise outside the wooden house, and he knew that it was already counting people.

If it was later, it would probably be too late.

A wealthy family from Shangjing...he may not have such good luck next time, and if this continues, he may not be able to last for too long.

Ye Wan gritted his teeth, put the sleeping child close to the old man's arms, and said softly, "I'll go outside for convenience."

After speaking, he pushed open the door lightly, and slipped out hiding in the shadows.

The stockade was counting people down the mountain, there was a commotion in the central open space, no one noticed that in the dark and dark corner behind, Ye Fan quietly rolled out.

After leaving the stockade, he rubbed his hands, identified the direction, tried his best to avoid the main road that people in the stockade might take, and walked through the forest with difficulty.

The night was too dark, and the big trees with overgrown branches stood like ghosts, and the cold wind passed through the branches, making a sound like howling.

Ye Wang walked with one foot shallow and one foot shallow. The thick snow almost covered his knees, and the worn-out cloth shoes did not keep him warm. His legs were numb from the cold, and he even felt slightly warm. The frostbite on his feet was painful. Itchy again.

He leaned against the tree and took a breath, looking at the lonely cold moon above his head, his thoughts were in a trance for a while, then he regained his strength and continued to walk down.He only walked this road once when he went up the mountain with the people in the village. After that, because he refused to participate in the robbery, he was thrown into the wooden house and locked up, and he never came down again.

Difficult to identify the direction in the dark, but still failed to get out of the woods.He didn't know how long he had been walking, looking back and forth, there was only an endless forest, as if he would never go to the end.

Wiping his face dejectedly, Ye Wan had to admit that he was lost.