Jun Xie Chenxin

Since the failure of the Yinhuai River Battle, the imperial court has increased taxes again, and some places that were already poor and distressed are now even more precarious. Under such circumstances, the news came out from the palace that the Empress Dowager was ill. After treating the Empress Dowager's disease, a Taoist priest from Ganyan Mountain explained a method of using snake venom as medicine, and the refining of snake venom for medicine requires countless poisonous snakes.

After that, the imperial city promulgated another decree - catching snakes to offset taxes.

The snakes caught must be highly poisonous snakes, such as water snakes that are generally poisonous, they will not work, so many poor people have to embark on this road of catching snakes to pay taxes.

Due to the fierceness of poisonous snakes, many people have paid their lives on the road of catching snakes.

Not only the common people catch snakes, but even some imperial guards and bodyguards in the palace are ordered to go out of the palace to catch snakes.

It can be said that the current state of Jin is like a purgatory on earth, the people are in dire straits, and Emperor Yang's governance of the world is really absurd.

Qi Yang and others came to a village. There were only a few people in the village, most of them were children and old people. The three of them seemed a little awkward walking in the village.

Suddenly, two children ran towards Qi Yang and the others playing and playing. The child who ran ahead bumped into Qi Yang's leg. Qi Yang leaned over to catch the child who was about to fall, and then helped him up.

The impact was a bit heavy, and the child's soaring braid was crooked, and he rubbed his head in a daze.

Feng Ninghan asked, "Are you okay?"

Before the child could speak, the hunched old man with a cane behind him walked forward slowly, "Puppy! Don't run around! Look, you hit someone again!"

The old man walked up behind the child step by step, raised his hand and gave the child a pat on the head, "Quickly apologize!"

The child's voice was soft and aggrieved, "I'm sorry."

The other child was not spared either, and the old man tapped the ground with his cane, "You too, please apologize."

"I didn't hit..."

Seeing this, Qi Yang said to the old man, "It's okay, old man, the child is just playing."

"Slightly slightly slightly." The child who was unwilling to apologize made a face at Qi Yang and ran away.

Qi Yang frowned, it was because Feng Ninghan was by his side, if Feng Ninghan wasn't around, he would have to hang the child up and spank his ass.

The old man sighed helplessly, "You guys are laughing, the child is too naughty."

Feng Ninghan smiled and said, "It's okay."

Song Qi looked around and asked the old man, "Old man, why are there so few people in your village? Only old people and children?"

The old man looked sad and sighed, "Isn't it because of the emperor's decree on catching snakes to pay taxes? Young people, both men and women have gone out to catch snakes, otherwise who would pay the tax!"

Qi Yang and Feng Ninghan looked at each other. It's not that they haven't heard the news along the way, but they heard it from people chatting in the towns before, and they didn't feel it deeply. Now that they are in the countryside, they really feel it. This decree has brought suffering to the people at the bottom.

It must have been a long time since the old man had a good chat with the young man. He dragged Qi Yang and the others to chat for a long time, until the child next to him couldn't stay still anymore. Just as he was yelling to leave, there was a bustling sound at the entrance of the village. Qi Yang could clearly hear what those people were yelling, probably someone was bitten by a poisonous snake, and it seemed a little serious.

When the crowd got closer, Qi Yang and others saw a man surrounded by the crowd carrying the wounded on his back. The man was wearing the costume of a palace guard.

The crowd stopped in front of the old man, and the guard with the man on his back glanced at the three of Qi Yang, and then put down the injured man on his back, "He was bitten by the white-lipped Zhuyeqing, and the wound needs to be treated."

The old man hurriedly beckoned, "Then, come on! Come in!"

The guard retreated to the side, and several young people came up beside him and carried him into the room. For a while, people came and went in and out of the room, all of them looked serious and nervous.The old man stood outside the house and looked into the house nervously. The child next to him asked him to sit down and wait, but he was uneasy and refused to sit down.

"This is the sixth one, we must save our lives!"

Feng Ninghan asked, "Do people often die from catching snakes?"

"That's right, some snakes in the woods are very poisonous, and if you don't pay attention, you will be bitten. If you are lucky, you can save your life, but if you are unlucky... hey... when will this be the end of the day!"

The guard turned to leave, but was seen by the old man. The old man said to the guard, "Thank you benefactor."

The guard replied, "No need." Then he went in the direction of the forest.

Qi Yang looked at the back of the guard, "He is from the palace."

"Well, the one who came to us a few days ago not only gave us the snakes he caught, but also helped us a lot. He is a very good person, and he will definitely be a high-ranking official in the future!"

"Did he say his name?"

Although this person just glanced at the three of them in a hurry, Qi Yang was very concerned about it.

The old man shook his head, "I don't know, he never said that."

Qi Yang stared at the direction where the guard left for a while, then asked Song Qi to give him the package, Song Qi handed the package to Qi Yang, Qi Yang took a pot of medicine from it and gave it to the old man, the old man didn't take it first, and asked, "This is?"

"To detoxify, save some use."

Hearing this, the old man was startled, and then happily took the medicine bottle with trembling hands. He held the child beside him with his hand, "Puppy! Quick! Quick, let's kneel down and thank our benefactor!"

The little dog let out an "oh", and hurriedly helped the old man to kneel down, but Qi Yang hurriedly stopped him, "No, go and save him, pay attention to cleaning the wound before using it."

After finishing speaking, Qi Yang glanced at Feng Ninghan and said, "Let's go."

Feng Ninghan nodded.

"Don't your benefactor rest in Xiaocun for a while before leaving?"

Qi Yang replied, "No."

Then the three of them left the village, and when they left the village, Qi Yang asked Song Qi to take out a few taels of silver from the package, and Song Qi listened to Qi Yang's words and took out the silver.

"Second master, what are you going to do?"

Qi Yang said, "Go, send it to the villagers, don't be discovered."

Song Qi grinned, took the silver and shouted, "Yes! Second Master!" Then he ran away and disappeared.

Feng Ninghan and Qi Yang found a shade under a tree to enjoy the shade. As soon as they sat down, there was a cicada on the tree making noises non-stop, as if Feng Ninghan and Qi Yang had occupied its territory and wanted to kill the two of them. As if to drive away, the sound of barking is called a spare no effort.

Qi Yang held the back of his head in his hands, leaned against the tree and looked for the noisy cicada, but he was actually a little irritated by the noise.

But no matter how Qi Yang pretends to be, Feng Ninghan can still see the emotions he is holding back. After all, he is wanton and willful, and any dissatisfaction will be expressed on Qi Yang's face. It is really not his nature to be like this now , nor like him.

Feng Ninghan looked up and was also looking for the noisy cicada.

All of a sudden, the eyes of the two of them gleamed almost at the same moment. Before Qi Yang could make a move, Feng Ninghan got up and jumped lightly, and when he landed again, he was holding the "culprit" in his hands.

Qi Yang pointed at Zhizhi, "It's very noisy!"

Knowing it, she didn't know whether it was because she was afraid or what, she became quiet for a while, Feng Ninghan let it go and watched him flapping his wings and fleeing to the depths of the forest.

Qi Yang and Feng Ninghan looked at each other and smiled, then leaned against the tree and squinted their eyes to rest, Qi Yang felt that something was missing, reached out and took Feng Ninghan's hand in the palm of his hand, only then did he feel satisfied.

Feng Ninghan glanced at Qi Yang, saw Qi Yang closed his eyes and smiled, so he smiled slightly, closed his eyes and took a nap.

The sun shines through the tree branches, casting dappled light and shadows on the bodies of the two gentlemen. Such a peaceful situation makes the summer breeze soft and the sunlight soft.

All good things are born for two people.