"Senior brother, get up!" Early the next morning, Yuan Zhao's knock on the door woke me up, I yawned and opened the door to see that Yuan Zhao was already dressed and standing in front of me.

"I'm so sleepy, when is this?" I said lazily, stretching. Yuan Zhao couldn't help but say, and as soon as he took my hand, he dragged me, who was still asleep, to the carriage.

"Senior brother, it's not as important as being at home and hurrying now, so you can be wronged and go to sleep in the car. I groaned, climbed into the car, and fell asleep on the board with my head on my burden.

I don't know how long it took, but a violent jolt woke me up. It was probably noon, it was hot in the carriage, and I felt like my throat was about to burn. When I came out, I saw that the sun was already hanging overhead. Yuan Zhao, who was driving under the scorching sun, had dense beads of sweat on his neck.

"Senior brother, bring water, I'm dying of thirst. I sat down next to Yuan Zhao, picked up the bamboo tube he handed over, and drank it with my head up. This bamboo tube is really a good thing, using it to hold water, not only is it easy to carry, but the water can stay cool. With a tube of underwater belly, I felt that the heat in my body had long since disappeared. "It's so cool!" I lay down comfortably in the carriage, lazily closing my eyes and enjoying the sun.

"You're really good, you've been sleeping until now. Yuan Zhao said with a smile on his face.

"We slept late last night, okay? We slept in the middle of the night, and we were woken up before dawn. I glanced at him disapprovingly.

Yuan Zhao smiled and said, "If we don't get up early today, we won't be able to get to Duanjiazhuang in time at night." ”

"Duanjiazhuang, why are we going there?" "That's the old mansion that Master said. Yuan Zhao explained. I immediately understood that Duanjiazhuang was my mother's hometown, but I once heard my mother say that there were no relatives in her hometown, so why should I go back? I asked Yuan Zhao for advice, and Yuan Zhao also told me the reason.

Duanjiazhuang was originally not called this name, but was called Henan Village. At that time, the old man had just begun to prepare for the establishment of the sect, and brought the family to Zhongnan Mountain, and the thousands of hectares of fertile land left by his grandfather in his hometown were left untended, except for a small number of villagers who rented and planted, most of them were deserted.

In the second year of Taikang, there was a severe drought in Xuzhou and Yanzhou, and a large number of victims flocked to the Jingluo area. The government called on the gentry to give porridge for disaster relief, and the old man wanted to give people fish, but it was better to give people fish, so he rented all the idle fertile land at home to the outsiders, promised three years of rent-free, and solved the problem of eating for more than 1,000 people, and the government greatly appreciated the old man's behavior, and wanted to change the name of "Henan Village" to "Fengjiazhuang" to praise the old man's good deeds. But was politely rejected by the old man, who said that all his property was inherited from his father-in-law, Duan Taigong, thanks to Duan Taigong's spirit in the sky, so the government finally decided to change the name of "Henan Village" to "Duan Jiazhuang".

"Unexpectedly, the old man is still a warm-hearted and benevolent man. After listening to the story, I sighed.

"Master has done good deeds all his life, indifferent to fame and fortune, and those who are familiar with him are all happy and convinced of him. Yuan Zhao said thoughtfully: "Senior sister, you may not know Master, although Master is a short-tempered person on the surface, but he is not thinking about others all the time. This time, we went to Duanjiazhuang to bring Master's message to the villagers, so that they should stop preparing congratulatory gifts for Master's birthday. Master felt that it was not easy for the villagers to farm all year round, and he did not want to cause them any more trouble except for charging a very small amount of land rent. ”

After Yuan Zhao said this, I feel that the image of the old man in my mind is no longer so hateful.

"Senior sister, do you know what is the difference between our disciples of the Zhongnan Mountain Sect and the disciples of other sects?" Yuan Zhao suddenly turned his head and asked me.

I thought for a moment and said, "Your tricks are different from those of other sects, aren't they?"

Yuan Zhao shook his head and said slowly: "We are all orphans, if it weren't for Master, we would have died a long time ago." This answer was so unexpected that I couldn't help but be stunned.

"All the sects in the world accept apprentices who put talent in the first place, and start training at a very young age, so that they have a greater chance of becoming successful when they grow up. But Master's apprentices were all orphans he took in during his travels. He has always stubbornly believed that we can be like him, and we can lay a foundation in the martial arts with the hard work of the day after tomorrow, but we are too uncompetitive. Saying that, Yuan Zhao lowered his head.

Seeing that he was sad, I was relieved: "Senior brother, don't be too yourself, you are already great." ”

"Sooner or later, one day, I will make Master proud of me! Let all those in the world who dare to laugh at Master shut up!" After talking for half an afternoon, it was just a heavy topic, and seeing that Yuan Zhao had been wiping his sweat with his sleeve, I asked him, "What about the handkerchief I gave you? Why don't you use it?" Yuan Zhao smiled and didn't say anything.

"Surely you have thrown it away?" I asked him solemnly.

"No, no. Yuan Zhao hurriedly denied: "Actually, I have washed and dried it, but I have been reluctant to use it." "It's funny, there are people in the world who are reluctant to use handkerchiefs.

"Have you been kicked in the head by a donkey, and aren't your handkerchiefs used to wipe your sweat?" "Because," Yuan Zhao said, staring into my eyes, "that was the first gift you gave me." I was so uncomfortable that I was stared at by him, so I pretended to be crazy and stupid and said, "Was I really that stingy before?" Well, I will often give you gifts in the future, and you will wait to receive them. With that, I excused myself from sitting outside and got up and got into the carriage.

Sitting in the carriage, my mind was full of cranky thoughts: Does Yuan Zhao say this to mean that he likes me? He seems to like me quite a lot, which can be felt from the way he usually looks at me and the things he does for me. But do I like him? I don't know, but I know I'm happy to be with him, maybe a little, I said to myself.

"Isn't this Brother Qin?Hey, Brother Qin is back!" Yuan Zhao stopped the carriage and didn't know who he was greeting. I quietly lifted the corner of the curtain and saw Yuan Zhao greeting two young men with farm tools in hand.

"Brother Qin, didn't Gong Feng come back together?" "The master didn't come back, but the young lady came back and sat in the car. Yuan Zhao pointed to the car and said.

"Really?" the other party looked very excited: "Brother Qin, you guys walk slowly first, and I'll go back and report to Uncle Cui." A young man said and handed the wooden shovel in his hand to his companion, then ran away, shouting as he ran, "Miss Feng is back——, Gongzi Qin is back—"

When the peasants who were working in the fields on both sides of the road heard the shouts, they also ran to the fields and greeted Yuan Zhao warmly. Yuan Zhao also smiled and returned the salute one by one. Curious, I stuck my head out and was seen by the villagers on both sides of the road. "Isn't this Miss?" the sharp-eyed man immediately recognized me. Some people also muttered in a low voice: "Isn't this also a son?"

I greeted everyone with a smile and asked Yuan Zhao in a low voice, "I didn't expect you to be quite popular here." Yuan Zhao smiled and said, "No matter how busy I am every year, the master has to come back twice, and I don't know how many times I have accompanied the master back." ”