I see the snow

Xi Huai didn't want to choose, so he said, "Sit down, I'll take a look around."

This courtyard is really small, probably no more than the size of a hall in Zhen Guogong's mansion, and there is a sense of roughness and embarrassment everywhere.

Xi Huai stood at the door of the thatched cottage, took a slight look inside——

It was dark, and there was a statue of a god and Buddha in the middle of the hall.The copper paint on the statue's body was almost gone, mottled in the darkness, it looked weird and gloomy, and Xi Huai was startled.

"...Young master."

Just when Xi Huai was about to look again, a woman came out from the house, blocking Xi Huai's sight.

"Auntie is going on a long trip?"

Xi Huai said softly.

His eyes were very gentle, but he glanced to the side slightly, indicating the corner of the woman's hall——

There were two packed packages there, wrapped in blue and white cloth sheets, small and not very conspicuous.

"Oh……"

The woman paused and said, "Yes."

"The house is going to be sold."

The woman's voice was a bit deep, always sounding stagnant, always dull and timid: "The master of Yaxian County said that he would pay twenty chickens... If you can't pay, you can only sell the house."

"Isn't Aunt a local?"

Xi Huai asked again: "The house is sold... where are you going?"

"do not know."

The peasant woman said: "I... I came from the north and fled. I stayed here... I don't know where to go."

"That's it."

Xi Huai nodded thoughtfully, and didn't ask any more questions.

"My lord, wait a moment."

The peasant woman said, "I...I'll change an apron."

At this time, after waiting for too long, Yinzhichuan and Lin Kun also looked towards them.The peasant woman hurriedly wiped her hands and said:

"The apron is dirty...it has a smell, it must not stain the eyes and ears of adults."

Yinzhichuan looked down and saw that there were indeed traces of dirt on the dark cloth.

It seemed to be a child's urine stain, soaked on the sarong, and there was an irregular dark mark that was darker than the surrounding color.

"What are you looking at?"

The woman went back to the room to change the sarong again, Yin Zhichuan swayed to Xi Huai's side, and asked with his arms around his shoulder.

Xi Huai shook his head: "Nothing."

"Tsk."

But Yinzhichuan clicked his tongue: "The steamed buns are moldy."

His eyes fell on the statue of God and Buddha that Xi Huai had seen just now, and he frowned as he passed the offerings on the altar:

"Why don't you pick it up and eat it before it's moldy?... How long does it have to be kept?"

——Sheng Yang's custom is to allow eating tributes that have been enshrined to gods and Buddhas, as long as they are in time.

Eating the tribute before it goes bad, even has the meaning of praying for peace.

Hearing Yinzhichuan's words, Xihuai suddenly smiled.

He seemed to think that he was "why don't you eat minced meat", and asked back: "Don't you understand, Major General Yin? - The steamed buns are moldy and still placed on the altar, not because the owner forgot to take them down and eat them in time. It's When she got this steamed bun, it was already moldy...that's why it has been like this, and it was put on the altar."

"..."

Yin Zhichuan was taken aback for a moment, then froze for a moment.

Xi Huai sighed very lightly: "Seventh Young Master, there are some people in this world whose lives are beyond your imagination."

There was some indescribable meaning in his words, although it was light, it gave Yin Zhichuan a heavy blow in the heart.

It seems that there is some invisible barrier that separates them naturally.Yin Zhichuan remained still on the spot, the hand on Xi Huai's shoulder tightened slightly, but Xi Huai sighed, lowered his head, and gently brushed away his hand on the side of his neck.

"How old is Auntie's daughter?"

After a while, the woman came out of the dark room, Lin Kun asked.

He has been thinking about it since just now, and at first he didn't think it was strange, but later he thought that he would still wet the bed, crying and calling "Mother", and he seemed very young.

"Seven years old."

The woman grabbed the sarong with her fingers, feeling a little cramped, twisting her fingers repeatedly: "I've been in Hoshino Capital for seven years..."

"Seven years old?"

Lin Kun was startled when he heard the words, and then he couldn't believe it: "A seven-year-old child? How could he be chosen as the bride of the river god!?"

According to legends and customs, the girls who are chosen as brides of the river god are all very beautiful and smart, and they must satisfy the river god.

Otherwise, angering the river god will lead to more serious consequences.

... Such a seven-year-old girl obviously does not meet the conditions to be selected as a bride.

"But seven years old, it's not enough to wet the bed."

While thinking about it, Yin Zhichuan noticed another problem, and asked suspiciously: "Don't ordinary children know how to cry when they are about five years old? How could they still wet the bed at the age of seven?"

The woman suddenly became more embarrassed:

"Nunny...Nunnan is an idiot."

"..."

Lin Kun: "..."

"To tell you the truth, my lord, she still can't walk."

The woman lowered her head, and rubbed her calloused hands repeatedly on the skirt: "Eat, drink, and scatter all on the bed, and when I leave people for a moment, I just pee my pants. I originally wanted to go to the laundry in the south of the city to do some work. Even if I subsidize the family, I can't leave. Such a child... the neighbors say it's troublesome, but thinking that she will die on the [-]th of next month... I still..."

The peasant woman's voice became slightly hoarse, she smiled and did not continue.

"...How did the people from Qin Tianjian choose her?"

After a while, Lin Kun murmured, "This girl is obviously not old enough to be a bride, and she doesn't meet the criteria for being a bride. What are those people from Qin Tianjian doing?"

Yinzhichuan showed a look of Mr. Lin, you really are more "why don't you eat minced meat" than me, and turned to the peasant woman:

"Then have you offended anyone recently?... How could those people from the Qin Tianjian want to make things difficult for you?"

The woman was silent, and seemed to find it a little difficult to speak.After a while, he said softly:

"I... I'm a prostitute."

"..."

Yinzhichuan: "..."

From the moment she sat across from them, the peasant woman showed a very restless expression. At first Yinzhichuan thought it was her shame when she mentioned her daughter.

But then I realized that a mother is never ashamed of her daughter, no matter what she is.

She is only ashamed of herself.

Among the three, only Xi Huai's expression was calmer, as if he was not surprised by the woman's answer——

Yes, in fact, from the moment he first came in, he noticed that although the woman's clothes were simple, they were extremely clean.There are even a few small pots of evening primrose on the windowsill of the hut.

Putting this kind of incense with a special meaning in front of the window is very rare in poor shacks.

The wooden sign hanging on the door is also written with a vermilion pen facing outwards.In fact, it implies that there is no guest in the house and the door can be opened.If a guest comes, the wooden sign will be turned outward.Such a method can only be used by prostitutes.

...The most important thing is that when the woman faced Yin Zhichuan and Lin Kun, Yin Zhichuan thought she was nervous, but it was not.

It was just a conditioned fear of strange men, and he couldn't help but make a gesture of self-protection.

That kind of mentality can only be noticed by Xi Huai who has also experienced similar things.

The man in the green clothes smiled mockingly, lowered his eyes indifferently, and went to play with the kitten in his arms.

"Then how did you offend the people from Qin Tianjian?"

Yin Zhichuan asked again: "Secret prostitutes... It's the government's business to ban them, so why don't they have to send their daughter to Huhu for apology? What does it have to do with their Qintianjian?"

"The woman used to be the concubine of Master Jianhou of the Qintian Supervisor, and she followed Master Jianhou for half a year."

Her lips trembled slightly, and she muttered. It took a while for the woman to muster up her courage and said, "It's just that Mr. Jianhou has too many wives and concubines, and the little girl was kicked out after half a year. Mr. Jianhou only comes to visit occasionally... look Housewives..."

This time Yinzhichuan was really shocked, the Marquis of Qin Tianjian was only a minor official of the ninth rank in the court, two ranks lower than the so-called seventh rank official who was as big as a sesame seed.Usually, I don't even have the chance to go to the temple, so I can only kneel and listen far away from the gate of the temple.

Unexpectedly, among the people, it has already caused such trouble.

"What then?"

Yin Zhichuan asked: "Since you were his concubine in the past, no matter what, you wouldn't turn your face and deny her, right? How could you intentionally write your daughter on the list of sacrifices?"

"He didn't write it..."

The peasant woman said, "It's someone else. It's all because I was careless and offended someone."

She unconsciously clenched her fingers as she spoke, as if trying to endure something, with a sad and remorseful look on her face.

Xi Huai stared at her with this expression, his eyes, which were as quiet as a deep pool, moved slightly.

In fact, only two years after she was kicked out of the prisoner's house, the woman was already rejected by the prisoner.

There are quite a few refugees from Canglan, and some of them are very beautiful. What's more, every time they come, they have to face such a child who can't take care of themselves.People who shit and urinate are all in the room, and there is a strange smell in the room, and Lord Jianhou is disturbed when he sees it.

He got tired of women and gradually stopped coming.

The woman dragged one of his demented daughters, and had no way of life, so she could only work as a prostitute.

"His subordinate Si Li likes to come to me..."

The woman lowered her eyes and said, "Probably because I heard that I was his concubine."

Sleeping with a superior's woman is really the hobby of all junior officials, especially when they are angry with their superiors.

That Si Li, whose official position is even lower than that of the Jiupin Supervisor, often comes to look for women, and every time he comes, he is in a bad mood.

But no matter how rough he was, the woman always got the money.With that in mind, I endured it.

After a few years of improvisation, the demented daughter gradually grew up, and the woman kept saving money, hoping to cure her disease.

But one day, when that Si Li came again, he was overjoyed, lying lazily on the bedside smoking a cigarette.

The woman was still washing his socks under the window, when she suddenly heard him say vaguely, "Xiao Mian has grown up too."

The woman was startled, and quickly stood up from under the window, only to see that the man had already put his hand on his daughter's shoulder:

"Let me see...how is it developing?"

With his hands on the idiot's clothes, he was about to pull them down.

The woman yelled, kicked over the tub and rushed in, but the man pushed her to the ground:

"You are old!"

He said, "After all, she is an ignorant child, she is so stupid, she doesn't know what to do!... This is the master's daughter? Ai...but she was raised on my money."

The man hummed, "Isn't it too much for me to enjoy myself?"