The moonless and starless night fades away, looking at the east, a touch of fish and white dew.

Li Xiaokuan and the others walked in a hurry and walked more than ten miles.

Along the way, they also encountered several waves of soldiers who were on their way, or had already arrived at a nearby village for searching, and both of them chose to avoid it and find another way.

The night is very cold when the day is about to dawn, and sometimes it is a matter of a gust of wind from summer to autumn.

Li Xiaokuan had already changed into the coat given by Shi Ke'an, which warmed up a lot.

And Yan Liang's clothes are still thin, but he doesn't show that he is cold.

The northern part of Chu is mostly hilly, and the mountains are not high, but there are many weeds and shrubs in them. In order to avoid the soldiers of the Chu State, Yan Liang mostly chose to pass through the hills, splitting wood and pulling grass, and the speed was much slower.

In the early morning, the grass on the middle road was also covered with a thin layer of dew, which was slippery and slippery, and Li Xiaokuan had to pay attention to his feet at all times and not slip into the gutter.

It's really hard to go up the mountain, and it's hard to go down.

"Stop. ”

Yan Liang, who was walking in front, paused, bowed down, and Li Xiaokuan also stopped and squatted. This has happened many times before, and it was Yan Liang who noticed that there were soldiers passing by in front of him.

After a few breaths, Li Xiaokuan saw through the gap in the long grass that a group of soldiers in light armor trotted through the mountain road not far from the slope downhill.

The soldiers I met before were still holding torches, which was easy to distinguish, but now that the sky is bright and the soldiers put away their torches, it is even more difficult to spot.

It wasn't until the soldiers ran away that Yan Liang got up.

"I don't think we will be able to reach Wangbei City today, so let's go to the town in front of us first to see if there are any horses that can be rented. ”

"Good. ”

Li Xiaokuan took out water and dry food from the package and handed them to Yan Liang.

Yan Liang took the water, but did not ask for dry food.

Li Xiaokuan took out a little and put it in his mouth to chew, and put the other part in his pocket.

But when he reached into his pocket, he froze.

Li Xiaokuan took out the things in the coat pocket, and when he saw it, it was Shi Ke'an's cloth bag.

Li Xiaokuan, who vaguely guessed something, hurriedly opened the bag, and sure enough, there were three golden gold yuan coins lying inside.

"This ......"

This is all the savings of the two of them over the years, Li Xiaokuan deliberately didn't mention it when he left, thinking about leaving all the money to Shi Ke'an, but he didn't expect Shi Ke'an to secretly stuff the money to himself.

Yan Liang, who was walking in front, noticed that Li Xiaokuan hadn't followed, and when he looked back, he found that his expression was wrong.

"What's wrong?"

A hint of struggle flashed on Li Xiaokuan's face, but he still chose to speak.

"I'm going back. ”

"Scared, want to be a deserter?"

Yan Liang sneered when he heard this.

"That stupid girl gave me all the money, and I have to send it back to her, and I'll be back as soon as I get back. ”

Li Xiaokuan lowered his head and couldn't see his expression.

"Come back?"

"How long will it take to come back and forth, have you thought about it? In case you meet Chu soldiers along the way, can you get out?"

"But ......"

Li Xiaokuan raised his head and said, tears flashing in his eyes.

"But that girl doesn't have much money on her, so how will she live after this? She hasn't bought clothes for herself yet......

"And I just looked at it, and the master also gave me all the rest of the robbery soup, it takes a lot of medicinal materials to make a pair, and it can't be done well in a short time, in case something happens in the middle, what should I do......"

Yan Liang was silent for a moment when he heard this, and then said, "In this way, let's go to Wangbeicheng first, and when the matter is discussed, you can come back again." ”

"The exchange will not last more than five days, and the two of them will take care of each other during these five days, and nothing should happen. ”

Li Xiaokuan thought for a while, and had no choice but to nod, after all, he also knew in his heart that the two of them had only walked half the distance with a lot of effort, and now they suddenly said that they wanted to go back, which was unrealistic at all.

"Okay......"

————

By the time the two of them reached the nearest town, it was already three poles old.

Yan Liang took Li Xiaokuan into a restaurant in the town.

It's still morning, and there's not much business in the store.

As soon as the two of them took their seats, the shopkeeper stepped forward and asked with a warm smile.

"What do you want, two guest officers?"

"Do you have any boiled vegetables here?"

Yan Liang asked.

"This ......" the shopkeeper said with some embarrassment: "There are pickles, but your boiled vegetables are not sold in this store." ”

"You go and ask the store for me if you can cook a pot. ”

"Okay, do you two want anything else?"

"Another pot of hot tea. ”

"Okay, guest officer, please wait a moment. ”

After that, the shopkeeper walked to the shopkeeper and told the matter again, and the shopkeeper nodded lightly.

Li Xiaokuan saw Yan Liang's gaze and the shopkeeper staggered slightly, and the two sides nodded without leaving a trace.

After a while, the shopkeeper came with hot tea.

"Guest officer, it's really unfortunate, the vegetables in our store are all used up today, and I can only come back tomorrow after purchasing. Would you like anything else? Our beef sauce is a must-have in town. ”

"No need. ”

"Cheng, then you two use it slowly. ”

Yan Liang drank the tea unhurriedly, but Li Xiaokuan didn't have that thought, just closed his eyes and silently practiced Tuna.

It didn't take long for a middle-aged man to walk in, order a pot of soju and two taels of beef sauce, and sit not far from Li Xiaokuan's table.

After some time, another person rushed over, also ordered a pot of soju and two taels of beef, and sat down with the previous person.

Then Li Xiaokuan heard the person who came first and said with some complaints: "Why did you come, did you bring something?"

"Bring it, don't worry, don't talk about this, do you know what I saw on the way here?"

The man later said with some excitement.

"What's the matter? Which girl do you like again?"

"I didn't talk to you! I passed by your village on my way, and what do you think I saw?"

"What do you see, you say!"

The man who came first seemed a little anxious when he heard about his village.

"A large group of officers and soldiers, they just left when I passed by, and many people were remanded!"

"Who have you arrested? Is there anything wrong with my family?"

The man who came first became even more anxious when he heard this.

"Oh, rest assured, brother, I'll definitely keep an eye on you, your family is fine. ”

"That's good...... But why are you arresting people?"

"It seems to be the meaning of the above, some people with unknown household registration were taken to the yamen for interrogation, although your family is fine, but I heard that your cousin's daughter-in-law seems to be in it and was taken away by the officers and soldiers. ”

"Oh......" The other person nodded a little clearly, lowered his voice and said: "My stupid cousin and daughter-in-law was picked up by himself on the side of the road a few years ago and brought home, it seems that she fled from the Qin State before, and she looks so smart, I have been very greedy over the years, but after all, people have a background in the Qin State, and if they are found to be killed, I can't help but touch them." Several times before, the officers and soldiers came to check, and his father stuffed some money for the village chief, so he helped prevaricate, and this time he was arrested?"

Later, the man took a sip of wine, stuffed another piece of beef, and said vaguely: "This time it seems to be a soldier from the city, the investigation is strict, if your village chief dares to cover up this time, I estimate that his head will also be off." ”

"I also heard that this time the officers and soldiers investigated people, it is said that it was because a Qin man annoyed a big man above, and now the big man is angry, so he sent troops to search door to door, all those whose origin is unknown, will be arrested, whether they are caught or not from the Qin State, they will be killed, saying that they would rather kill a hundred by mistake than let one go. ”

"Tut-tut, create evil, aren't the Qin people dead yet?"

"So many people, have you finished killing? These days, you tell your family to pay attention, don't touch the people and things that are related to the Qin State, otherwise you will be implicated and you won't know how to die!"

"Yes, yes, thank you brother for reminding me, I'm going to go home and persuade my uncle to leave my stupid cousin and daughter-in-law alone. ”