003

Several big men took Shen Miao and Ma and walked thirty miles overnight, without the slightest stop, Shen Miao only scolded a few words at first These people did not pity the fragrance and cherish the jade, and then they had no thoughts at all, and walked forward mechanically with the rough crutches.

When it was almost dawn, he finally arrived at the range of Huangjianao Village, and the big man had no intention of escorting him anymore, and pointed to the sparse col not far away: "That's Zhuangzi, go in by yourself." ”

Shen Miao loosened her crutches and collapsed on the ground, not wanting to move.

The horse was even worse than him, and after carefully putting the man with the camel on his back to the ground, he fell straight to the ground.

Several big men ignored their miserable situation, turned around and left, and one of them said quite unhappily: "This kind of thing has to be done more than 30 times a year, and I don't know what the master thinks, so he has to be such a broken Zhuangzi." ”

"I heard that it was because this was the Zhuangzi given to the master by the master, and it was specially selected in order to train the master's ability. But the is too hasty, the Zhuangzi picked is too dangerous, three years have passed, and no one can handle it. The old man had no choice but to make this decision, so he caught someone casually on the road, and used a dead horse as a live horse doctor. ”

A few big men disappeared on the road as they spoke.

Shen Miaomo, what kind of Zhuangzi is this? More than three village heads die a year, and an average of ten days to change one? This is more terrible than the Longtan Tiger's Den, that kind of place can still find a way to break through, here is not good is to see the head of the knife and cut it, and don't give a chance at all.

No way! You have to run, you can't stay.

Thinking about it, Shen Miao barely raised a trace of strength, walked back and forth with his hands and feet, and was stupid without walking a few dozen meters. In front of him is a hill that cannot be seen, there is no road at all, and the big men who left before are walking in the mountains, not along the road, but picking the road at random. In other words, unless an acquaintance leads the way, he can't find a way out at all, no wonder these big men just escort him and leave him alone.

Shen Miao had no choice but to turn back, and as soon as he turned around, he saw an old man with a stiff figure but not emaciated, who was checking the person he brought back and forth with the tip of a firewood knife, Shen Miao was startled, and hurriedly went over to stop: "You, who are you?" What for? ”

"You're new to the bank?" The old man turned his head and asked, pulling out a smile that didn't look like a smile, revealing a mouthful of incomplete yellow teeth, which was very hideous.

Shen Miao's expression was grim, first nodded in acknowledgement, and then shook his head in denial.

The old man was obviously experienced and accustomed to this kind of reaction, and immediately identified Shen Miao as the new Zhuang Tou: "Zhuang Tou's surname? ”

Name? Shen Miao was stunned, he remembered that his mother called his father Dong Lang in Yizhuang, and his mother nicknamed him Nianlang, so it should be called Dong Nianlang...... The name of the vulgar, Shen Miao immediately trembled, and replied with the original name: "Shen Miao." ”

"Shen Zhuangtou?" The old man looked at Shen Miao and confirmed again.

Shen Miao hurriedly nodded and said that his name was indeed Shen Miao.

The old man then turned around and led the way: "Follow me into the village." ”

Shen Miao shook his head and resisted, he didn't want to enter.

The old man didn't force it, but sneered and said: "It's okay if Zhuangtou doesn't want to go in, it's just that this place is not safe in broad daylight, and the people and horses you brought are covered in blood, and it is easy to attract something." ”

Shen Miao immediately thought of fierce beasts and the like, so she had to agree, and asked euphemistically: "Old man, can you call some people to help carry people in?" ”

"I can't." The old man refused.

Shen Miao was surprised that she refused to help with such a thing, and she didn't want the old man to continue to explain: "I am the only one left in the entire village." ”

Shen Miao hurriedly took out the account book, and the first page clearly said that there were twenty-seven peasant households, how could there be no one?

"That was the number of households two years ago, and in the past two years, there have been so many dead and running, and there are no so many households. The lord above didn't care about this at all, and every village head who came down to manage the land had to collect and pay rent according to the number of twenty-seven households, and all those who confiscated it all, or ran back to ask for dismissal, or ran away, were pulled out and cut down. ”

No wonder you have to change the head of the village every ten days, and if you can't complete the task at all, you will be beheaded at every turn. Shen Miao looked at the sky speechlessly, who did he offend? Why is it that the things that happen are worse than the other?

"Zhuangtou, are you going or not? If I don't go, I'll go back. The old man was impatient.

Shen Miao had no choice but to rely on herself, ignoring the horse first, first half-dragging and half-holding the wounded, and followed the old man into the village with staggering steps.

The scene along the way made Shen Miao strange, this village didn't know what was going on, the terraces that had been built were all broken and landslided, there were all weeds on the slope, and even a few shrubs did not grow; The surrounding mountains are also very strange, with some sunken potholes from time to time, of different sizes, but the vegetation is slightly richer, with shrubs, but there are still no trees.

The houses in the village are largely deserted, with collapsed wooden beams, rotting grass roofs, crumbling earthen walls, and the only two seemingly functioning rooms are located in the middle of the village, one high and one low.

The old man pointed to the tall room and said, "Zhuangtou, that's your residence, and I live in the low room next door." ”

Shen Miao nodded, and followed the old man to the high room, the house was obviously uninhabited for a long time, and as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw all kinds of animals, rats or reptiles scattered and fleeing. Shen Miao had no choice but to say to the old man, "Old man, can you let him stay at your house first?" ”

"No, my house is small, it's enough for one person to lie down, he occupies it, what should I do?" The old man refused.

Shen Miao had no choice but to give in: "Then let him stay until you go to bed, and I will do my best to clean up the place." ”

"I have a nap habit, you have to clean up before noon." The old man reluctantly gave in.

Shen Miao nodded hurriedly and dragged people to the old man's house. As the old man said, the low house is only ten square meters in size, there is no bed and no table, there are some weeds on the floor, a small pit is dug in the corner, and a small pot is being set up on the pit, and the food is cooking, the smell is not very attractive, but Shen Miao still feels hungry, he has not eaten since he crossed over, he has long been hungry, and quickly begged the old man to share a bowl of food with a shy face.

The old man was obviously not happy: "You came over to be the head of the village, didn't the head of the pipe give you coils and food?" ”

"Do you give back the coils and food?" Shen Miao was surprised.

The old man was also surprised: "I used to give a few of them, why didn't you have them?" ”

"I was stopped by them while I was walking on the road and was forced to come over, so I didn't know the situation at all." Shen Miao complained bitterly.

"It's getting more and more unpleasant." The old man muttered, and gave a small bowl to Shen Miao, "Eat." ”

Shen Miao hurriedly took it and swallowed it, he couldn't tell what he was eating at all, he only knew that it was some plant leaves and the like, not hungry but steaming, and the blood in his whole body was also circulating a little, and his brain was clear.

Although it has been unlucky to cross over, it is not all without benefits, at least there is a place to stay, and because this place is very remote, the possibility of meeting the original owner father again is temporarily eliminated, and safety is guaranteed. As for the matter of collecting rent, after settling down, no matter how dangerous this place is, it is not a problem to stay for seven or eight days or something like that.

Thinking of this, Shen Miao's motivation came, he tore a sleeve and tied his hair, borrowed some tools from the old man, and went to Zhuangwai to solve the problem of the horse first.

The horse was only very tired, and when he had rested enough, he awoke, and when he saw that he had no master and the man who saved him, he was anxious, and scattered in search of him, and he kept neighing. Shen Miao heard it from a distance, and hurriedly greeted: "Here~~"

Ma Huiyi, came over at a trot all the way, rubbed Shen Miao hard, and then began to look left and right to find his master.

Shen Miao smiled and said, "Your master is temporarily settled in someone else's house, don't worry." Ma Sui quieted down and followed Shen Miao to the village.

The tall house for Zhuang Tou to live in is quite elegantly built, with a single courtyard with a patio, a hall, a side room, a residence on the second floor, some wooden boxes, and a decent bed. But because it has not been inhabited for a long time, the second floor has leaked, and the top is damp, and the brown shed on the big bed has rotted and it is impossible to sleep.

Shen Miao had no choice but to temporarily abandon the second floor and clean up the side room first.

The wing room is a separate one, there is a passage away from the main house, and the roof is protected by the eaves of the second floor of the main house, and there is not much dilapidation, except for the accumulation of dust, there is no sign of decay.

Shen Miao covered her mouth and nose with a cloth, opened the window, and began to clean from top to bottom, and soon cleaned out a complete bed board among a pile of broken wood, pressed it hard, and it was quite strong. Shen Miao hurriedly put the bed board on the wall, cleaned up the rest of the broken wood, and went to the second floor to find three sturdy and unbroken boxes, cleaned them inside and out, put them on the ground, and then put on the bed board and built a new bed.

After the build, Shen Miao swept the ground again, fortunately the soil on the ground was very strong, and after sweeping away the dust, the hard ground was exposed, without any signs of plant growth, and a small pit was cleared in the corner of the ground, which seemed to be the same as the old man's house, which was used to burn the fire.

Shen Miao was very happy, and hurriedly found some dry branches in the other house, lit the fire, closed the window, and smoked the house with the door. Although the house is not very damp, there is no guarantee that there are no reptiles and mice, so it is better to smoke it.

Sure enough, half an hour passed, and when Fu opened the house again, there were many reptile corpses on the ground, Shen Miao was cold, and quickly cleaned it up.

The open fire in the pit had been extinguished, and most of the branches had turned to ashes, and some of the ones that had not been burned had turned into black charcoal. Shen Miao had been in the countryside when she was a child, and she knew the benefits of charcoal, so she quickly put it away, thinking that she would burn some more when she had time. When the weather is humid, it is impossible for the reptiles to burn once and disappear, and if the house can be kept dry by burning carbon, the possibility of reptiles coming back will be greatly reduced.

After doing this, it was already noon, and the old man saw that Shen Miao hadn't come to pick up people before he finished lunch, so he came over to remind him unhappily. Seeing that the wing room was cleaned up, the old man was obviously a little surprised, he thought that he would grow into a Shen Miao like how to clean up the house?

Shen Miao saw the old man and found that it was already noon, so he hurriedly smiled apologetically and said, "I didn't pay attention to the hour, I delayed your old rest, so I'll go over and move someone." At this moment, Shen Miao's face was gray and dirty, and her face was full of sweat, sweat swept across her cheeks, leaving unsightly sweat stains, but this did not hinder the happiness and self-confidence contained in the smile.

The old man was slightly stunned, followed Shen Miao back to his house, and did not let him move immediately, but brought out a bowl of food to Shen Miao.

Shen Miao was very surprised, happily accepted the old man's kindness, and swallowed it in two bites.

The old man looked at Shen Miao like that, and asked the question that he had been puzzled about: "You can't protect yourself, why do you have to take such two burdens as one person and one horse, the horse is okay, this person is almost burning." ”

"Huh?" Shen Miao didn't bother to answer the old man's question, and hurriedly put down the bowl to check on the man, and sure enough, it was hot.

The old man's gaze at Shen Miao became gloomy again.