Gusu snow

After waking up, Tao Ze was arrested, all the inns in Qingcheng refused to take him in, and even the people on the street avoided him intentionally or unintentionally.

This is where they are now.

Qian Qiu was at a loss for what to do, he had never encountered these things before, and he didn't know how to deal with them.

He stood beside Yun Shen silently, and was about to say something when he suddenly saw an older man getting closer and closer to them.

The man stood on the painting boat, glanced at them, frowned and said, "Excuse me, the lease of this boat is up."

Yun Shen raised his eyebrows, Qian Qiu was taken aback, and asked back, "The lease period?"

The man didn't even raise his head: "Yes, the lease is up, you guys hurry up and get down."

While talking, he untied the rope, took out some pennies from the painting boat and set them up, and said with a frown, "Is it your clothes inside? Take it away, take it away!"

"Isn't this the one named Tao Ze?" Hearing this, Qian Qiu winked and told Zhu Jiang to get it.

The man straightened up impatiently: "Tao Ze? He is the one who rented my boat! It is strange to say that he found me a few days ago and insisted on renting two boats. I thought he would rent two boats by himself. What did the boat do, but he took out the money, and I didn’t ask further. Now I know it’s for you to sleep for one night.”

After finishing speaking, he continued: "Are you outsiders? Tao Ze doesn't have many friends. Are you his friends in the capital?"

Qianqiu nodded, then shook his head, not knowing what to say.The man didn't care, just looked at the river bank on the other side, turned around and urged: "Go, go!"

His tone was eager and impatient, Qianqiu subconsciously raised his leg and was about to leave, Yun Shen suddenly said, "Where does Mr. Tao live?"

The man looked at him vigilantly: "Who the hell are you? Don't think that I don't know that the government came to arrest people just now! You can't be the court criminals that are rumored now?"

Zhu Jiangzui, who was listening silently, twitched.

Yun Shen smiled gently and said: "You are overthinking. You just told us about our origins. We are indeed friends of Mr. Tao in the capital. A few years ago, Mr. Tao suddenly left without saying goodbye. My home is in Qingcheng—but now Mr. Tao is suddenly arrested, and we don't know what he has committed."

He spoke calmly, and his demeanor was extremely convincing.Even Qianqiu was a little speechless when he heard it, and almost believed it.

The man looked at Yun Shen and Qian Qiu suspiciously, when suddenly there was a chant on the other side of the river.

The man was startled, and he didn't bother to doubt their identities, he hurriedly said: "Tao Ze's house is in Lizi Village, west of Qingcheng, and there is a big pear tree in front of his house with sparse branches and leaves. But he There is no one at home now, it is useless for you to go - go, go, I'm busy!"

Said and drove them off.

Zhu Jiang couldn't believe Wen Yunshen: "Master?! What are you going to do? You won't really go to Tao Ze's house, will you?"

Yun Shen turned around and opened the curtain, and walked into the carriage: "Go to Lizi Village."

Zhu Jiang sighed, turned to Qian Qiu and said, "Young Master, let's go."

The carriage went all the way west.Qian Qiu glanced at Yun Shen with a pair of eyes without saying a word, his cheeks puffed up and then finally said: "Yun Shen, why?"

Yun Shen looked sideways and said softly, "Young Master Tao was arrested for taking us in. It's okay to go to his house to have a look."

Qian Qiu opened his eyes wide, as if sitting in front of him was a fake Yun Shen: "You want to meddle in this business?"

Yun Shen smiled helplessly: "If it's an idle matter, Qianqiu and I will go and have a look together and then we'll find out."

Qian Qiu looked away awkwardly, and said in a very low voice: "I don't want to..."

Perhaps it was because his voice was too low that Yun Shen didn't hear it at all.Seeing that he didn't respond, Qianqiu felt a burst of disappointment and a burst of grievance, the two feelings mixed together, making it difficult for Qianqiu to calm down.In the end, he still obeyed Yun Shen and went to Lizi Village.

Lizi Village is not too dilapidated, but the weeds on the side of the road tell the visitors how desolate it is.

The road in the village was not easy to walk, so Zhu Jiang parked the carriage at the entrance of the village, Yun Shen and Qian Qiu got off, and saw many deserted farmlands at a glance.

"My God, it's not far from the capital city of Gusu." Qian Qiu followed Yun Shen step by step, while muttering and sighing, "Why are these farmlands so withered?"

As far as he could see, there were weeds, and it was June and summer, and the grass grew extremely lush, blocking the road unscrupulously.

It took Zhu Jiang a lot of effort to finally open up a slightly wider road. "Young master, young master, it's impossible for someone to live here, right?"

As soon as Zhu Jiang finished speaking, he heard an old voice suddenly: "Stranger?"

Several people followed the sound and saw an old man with a cane coming out of a dilapidated thatched hut, looking at them vigilantly: "I am the village head of Lizi Village. Who are you? You are not from Qingcheng Right? What are you doing in Lizi Village, are you looking for someone or something?"

Yun Shen took advantage of the situation and said, "Village chief, we are looking for someone."

The head of Lizi Village looked at Yun Shen, and suddenly sneered: "Looking at your clothes and listening to your words, you should be from the capital, right?"

Leaning on crutches, he said slowly: "As far as I know, no outsiders will come to Lizi Village. The young people here have already left the city, who else will come here?"

Yun Shen said: "Master Tao Ze is my friend."

"Tao Ze?" The head of Lizi Village glanced at him. "That's right. Tao Ze went to the capital a few years ago and said he was going to take the imperial examination. Alas, he failed the exam. If you are really friends he made in the capital, then follow me. Anyway, Lizi Village We are the only old, weak, sick, and dying people left, will we still be afraid of you little youths?"

Tao Ze's house soon arrived, Qianqiu saw a thick pear tree from a distance, the strange thing was that it was summer, but this pear tree alone had sparse branches and leaves.

The head of Lizi Village leaned on his crutches in front of the door: "You guys wait here."

As soon as he finished speaking, he was about to go in alone, when the dilapidated thatched door was suddenly pushed open gently from inside, and an old woman with a hunched back walked out from the inside.

Her cloudy eyes were lifeless, her hair was disheveled, and her face was full of signs of aging and frost.

The village head quickly went up to support her: "Ms. Rong, Mrs. Rong, there are guests!"

Qianqiu looked at Aunt Rong worriedly, wondering if she had ear problems.Then Aunt Rong said: "A visitor? Who is it?"

The village chief helped her turn around, facing Yun Shen and Qian Qiu, pointing and said, "That's them. They are Ze Yazi's friends in the capital, and they are here to find Ze Yazi this time!"

Fortunately, Mrs. Rong looks very old, but her ears are very sensitive.

Hearing that they were looking for Tao Ze, he immediately smiled: "They are all sons in the capital, we, Ze Yazi, are really lucky to have friends like you."

After saying that, she tugged the village chief's arm and said, "Ze Yazi has said that he will stay in the city for a few days, but he is not at home."

Yun Shen and Qian Qiu glanced at each other, Qian Qiu pursed his lips and nodded, carefully waved his hand at the village head to signal him to come over.Yun Shen took a step forward to support Aunt Rong.

"Village chief..." Qianqiu probed, "Do you know that Tao Ze...was arrested by the government?"

The village chief was shocked and lost his voice in horror: "What did you say?!"

Qianqiu told the whole story, he kept selfishness in the end, and didn't dare to say the words that maybe they were implicated.

Although the village chief was terrified, he had seen some things in the world, calmed down after a while, and told Qianqiu: "In front of Mrs. Rong, if you dare to tell her about this, I will not spare you!"

Qian Qiu hurriedly nodded: "Yes yes yes..."

The village chief was stunned: "Ze Yazi, his life is suffering. Aunt Rong sees him pitiful, and has been by his side all these years. His mother was accidentally killed by the son of the Zhao family in our village, and his father married another one. That woman went to another village and never came back. And Ze Yazi failed the imperial examination... oh..."

The village chief walked away with a cane, and Qianqiu felt uncomfortable standing there.

He looked back at the extremely dilapidated thatched cottage, thinking that Tao Ze had studied hard in this place for so many years, and his heart ached.

If Qi State could be truly prosperous and strong, and the emperor truly sympathized with the people's conditions and opinions, perhaps there would not be so many people suffering in the world.

As soon as Zhu Jiang came out, he saw Qianqiu standing outside meditating, and couldn't help saying: "Master, come here quickly!"

"what?"

"Just now Mrs. Rong talked about Mr. Tao's life experience, oh, it's so pitiful!" Zhu Jiang said in a low voice, worried, "If Mrs. Rong knows that Mr. Tao Ze was implicated by us, I don't know what will happen. ... No wonder the young master suddenly changed his temperament and wanted to meddle in other things, if it were me, I would also take care of it, and I can't waste the friendship that Mr. Tao Ze treats us with."

Qianqiu heard him call Mr. Tao Ze Ji Shun one by one, and the concern for the country and the people just now was instantly forgotten, and he said awkwardly: "Mmm, I just heard the village chief say, you go in first, I I won’t go in. Also, I promised the village chief that Tao Ze’s affairs should never be revealed.”

"Of course! Young Master knows." Zhu Jiang Yingxia, looked at Qianqiu suspiciously, "Young Master, why do I think something is wrong with you after Mr. Tao Ze appeared? You usually like to uphold justice, why? I always feel that you seem to be hostile to Mr. Tao Ze."

Qianqiu became angry from embarrassment, and said viciously: "Who is wrong?! Where do I have to control everything? How can I be hostile? Why do you always turn to others? Who is your young master?"

Zhu Jiang, who was sprayed with saliva for no reason: "??"

After thinking hard for a while, he finally realized something, leaned over and asked earnestly, "Master, are you having a good time?"

"Fuck your mother, who is it? Zhu Jiang, I warn you not to talk nonsense!" Qianqiu, who was still calm down, suddenly became even more annoyed, guilty and angry at the same time, so that he couldn't choose what to say, "Who is it? Whose taste did I eat? That Tao Ze's? Do I need it?"

Zhu Jiang wiped the saliva on his face again.

As soon as Qian Qiu finished speaking, the thatched door was suddenly pushed open.

Before seeing anyone, Qianqiu only saw the dark gray sleeves, and his heart trembled suddenly.

Yun Shen had already come out from inside, a pair of eyes as calm as water just met Qian Qiu.