Pepper only cried and should not cry.

Xia Lian persuaded her for a while, and saw that she was still like this. Xia Lian's anger also came up, she sat on the bed and stared, wanting to scold Little Pepper, but seeing that she was crying so pitifully, she had to get up angrily and put on a jacket, hugged the quilt and fell out of the door, and went to the narcissus and magnolia room next door.

Narcissus went on night duty, and Magnolia was the only one in their house.

Little Pepper cried alone for a long time, and the cold sweat that woke up from the dream was already wet and sticking to her body, and she gradually realized the cold. So he pulled the quilt and wrapped it around his body, curled up and lay down on his side.

The fog had cleared, the mountains and the moon were clear, and the sound of a wooden fish came not far away, knocking on her heart one by one.

Over the years, she has almost forgotten many things because she was forced not to think about them. If it hadn't been for the sudden upturn today, it wouldn't be long before she forgot about it.

Those days by the Huaishui River, and those who were good to her, and those who were not good to her.

Little Pepper was called in recent years, her real name is not called this, she was called Zhang Tao before she was eight years old, and after the age of eight she was called Crescent Moon by the old lady of Chengde Hou Mansion, and later she was renamed Little Pepper.

The name Crescent Moon is the shortest, but because of a joke, it became a little pepper in less than a year.

The longest is the name Zhang Tao. She couldn't remember much of the name.

Her father's name is Zhang Shuisheng, and he is a famous captain on the Huaihe River. She couldn't remember what he looked like, but she remembered that he was very tall and a fast swimmer, dragging her from one end of the Huai River to the other. His hands are large and warm.

She still remembers that the town above their village was called Quantang Town, and there was a pastry shop there. There are osmanthus cakes and ruyi cakes. There are many kinds of cakes. Every time her father came home, he would bring them pastries to eat.

She had eaten the five flavors of pastries in their shop. But her favorite thing to eat is osmanthus cake.

It's sweet and take a bite. Then the fragrance of osmanthus will sink into the heart.

Her mother......

She used to think of her mother, and her heart would always twitch and ache, and gradually faded. Now when I think about it, there is no trace of turmoil in my heart.

Her mother didn't like her, she thought she was a girl, and often twisted her forehead and scolded her for being a dead girl, and the slap was also very painful, and every time she raised her hand, her heart would be shocked.

Her mother liked her brother and thought she ate too much. Suspecting that she couldn't work, he threw her away once, and then sold her again.

At that time, her father was dying, and the family was so poor that she couldn't open the pot, so she sold her to the people of Quantang Town, and got two taels of silver, and for the seven dollars of silver, she cut it with the woman for a long time.

She was standing next to her and listening, thinking to herself. I don't know how many packs of medicine can I buy for my father?

She was very strange at that time, and she was not afraid at all, her sister had sold herself to treat her father, and she felt that she had grown up. It should be the same as my sister. If you are sold, you may be able to see your sister and Brother Shi.

There was even some excitement and anticipation in her heart.

Her mother got the money, and before leaving, she explained: "You have to listen to Mama Zhu." ”

She nodded.

The woman was laughing and said, "Just give it to me." Let's go, let's go. ”

Her mother was gone, and she was out of sight. I didn't see her come back.

She decided to be a good child, maybe this Mama Zhu looked at her so well-behaved. Will sell her to her sister.

There are more and more children in Mama Zhu's family, but she is the most obedient and sensible among them. Mama Zhu nodded and said, "Yes, she is a good seedling." ”

Mama Zhu took them on a boat, the boat was very broken, the wind was very strong, and many children on the boat couldn't stand it. I couldn't eat or sleep, as if I was seriously ill.

But she's fine, to be honest, what is this little storm? Her father took her on a boat back and forth, and he didn't get any trouble with a storm bigger than that.

The boat went into the water while on a dangerous shoal. The boatmen's doors are scooping water. They were locked in the cabin, and several girls older than her were crying in fright.

She didn't cry, she wasn't afraid of water.

The water in the cabin is getting higher and higher.

"No, the ship is sinking, the ship is sinking, everyone should run for their lives. The boatmen who scooped the water threw their scoops and jumped into the water.

The water in the cabin was knee-high in the blink of an eye.

A few boys about the same age as Brother Shi shook the door and shouted, "Open the door, open the door, help, help." ”

Everyone rushed to the door. She also wanted to squeeze in, but she was small, and she was pulled aside every time.

The water was up to her waist, and there was a sound of wood breaking outside. She was a little flustered. She remembered her father's words, when the water came, she should not panic, she had to climb to a high place, and the wood would generally float in the water.

She looked around, and there were no tables, chairs, cabinets, and only a few large pillars in the cabin.

She hurriedly went over and hugged the pillar.

Before he could hold it tightly, the door of the cabin opened, and the water rushed in at once, washing all the children at the door. She hurriedly climbed up.

The water suddenly disappeared through the hatch and grew higher and higher.

Something grabbed her foot. Grab her and slide down.

She screamed, her hands clenched, and she kicked hard.

The force of the downward pull was gone, but the water was up to her neck. She climbed up a little more, and her head was on top of the cabin.

She held her head high, and the water quickly flooded overhead.

Her whole body was in the water.

It was a mess in the water, a lot of things were floating, and there were several older brothers and sisters struggling.

She saw the hatch in the water and swam there.

Swimming out of the hatch, she saw the full view of the boat in the water. The ship is still sinking.

She hurried upstream, but the current was so strong that it took her a lot of effort to get out of the water. But there is no way to stop.

Just in time a table rushed over. She grabbed it.

She didn't dare to lie on it, the water was too fast, and she was afraid that the table would not be able to support her.

She grabbed only one foot of the table and drifted down the river.

Both sides of the river are mountains, and there are many strange rocks on the banks. She didn't dare to get close to either side, for fear of bumping into them.

After exiting the gorge, the water widened and the current slowed down.

She found a shoal, threw away the table, and swam over there.

She didn't feel very cold in the water, and when she went ashore, she was blown by the cold wind, and she was so cold that she shivered. She walked for a long time before she came across an ox-cart driver. The ox cart was pulling a cart of hay. The handlebar sat on a stone and ate the cake.

She knew that there were many bad people in this world, and she didn't know whether the ox cart was a bad person or a good person, so she didn't dare to go over to speak, so she just hid next to her and peeked.

That handlebar style is so delicious.

She was hungry too.

A cloth bag was placed next to the cattle car. She reckoned that the bread had come out of it. There should be a lot of bread inside.

She also wanted to eat cakes.

After eating the bread in his hand, the ox-cart driver clapped his hands and wiped his mouth. I opened the cloth bag and looked at it.

There's really bread in there.

She couldn't walk anymore.

The ox-cart driver lifted the cloth bag and tied it to the cart. He looked around the ox cart and pressed the hay down. Then he drove the ox cart and set off.

She hurriedly climbed up, got into the hay, and moved forward secretly, and found the cloth bag, and took out the dry biscuits in it, and lay down in the hay to eat.

After eating a loaf of bread, she was also tired and fell asleep unconsciously.

When I woke up, the bullock cart had stopped, and the handlebar was gone. When she saw that there were people around, she hurriedly got out of the hay and got out of the ox cart.

I slept in the hay, and my clothes were dry.

She didn't know where this place was. She felt that it looked bigger than their Quantang Town, and there were many more people, but it was smaller than Huaiyang where she had been.

Her mother didn't like her, and if she went back, Mama Zhu might want back the two taels of silver she had sold. In that case, her father would have no money for medicine.

She decides to go to her sister and Brother Stone.

They were all sold in Huaiyang, and she decided to go to Huaiyang.

But where Huaiyang is going, she doesn't know how to go.

She didn't dare to ask anyone, for fear of meeting bad people. There was no way to think of it, she was sad and wanted to cry.

There was a noodle stall proprietress on the side of the road who saw her always walking around the neighborhood and thought she was hungry. Brought her a bowl of leftover noodles.

She's really hungry, too. I took it and started eating. When you finish eating, return the bowl to the hostess.

She thinks that this proprietress must be a good person, and she has given her noodles.

She then asked, "Uncle, do you know how to go to Huaiyang?"

The proprietress looked at her in surprise, "Little girl, are you going to Huaiyang?"

She nodded.

"What are you going to do in Huaiyang?" asked the proprietress again.

"I'm going to Huaiyang to find my sister. She replied.

"What is your sister doing in Huaiyang?"

She shook her head. Her sister was sold in Huaiyang, and she didn't know what to do.

The noodles on the noodle stall are all sold out, and the boss and lady are ready to close the stall. After listening to her words, the proprietress dragged a stool over, sat down and asked her, "Where is the little girl?"

She thought about it, good people don't do bad things. So he replied, "My home is in Lizhuang Village." ”

The proprietress was stunned.

She hurriedly said again: "Lizhuang Village, where is Lizhuang Village?"

"Lizhuang Village is in Lizhuang Village. After she finished answering, she remembered something again, and then said, "Lizhuang Village is in Quantang Town. ”

The boss took the stool and table, and came over at this time. Listened to her. The boss and the hostess glanced at each other. The proprietress pulled her over, patted the grass ash on her body, and asked, "Little girl, how did you get to us?" ”

She kept her mouth shut and looked at the two men cautiously.

If Mama Zhu knew that she didn't take the boat, would she take back the money she sold?

She thought about it for a moment, but said, "I came by boat." "These two are good people, and they just returned the noodles, so they shouldn't tell her about it.

The proprietress looked at each other again. The boss said: "I heard that there is a Quantang town in Yu'an, isn't this what this kid is talking about?"

She nodded hurriedly.

The proprietress was surprised and said, "That place is not close. (To be continued......)