Qu'an is a small county. During the drought, the situation was chaotic, and after several lootings by soldiers and bandits, the originally quiet and peaceful small county town was almost in ruins. Many refugees who have fled from other places gather here, trembling and terrifying all day long.

In the Li family's pawnshop in the east of the county, several family members guarded the door with machetes on their backs to prevent anyone from robbing the pawnshop.

There was a long queue at the door of the pawnshop, and the old farmer who was dressed in tatters handed the cold cotton clothes to the counter in distress, and the shopkeeper threw it out when he saw it, and said coldly: "Inappropriate!" ”

In the middle of the line were one old and one young. The old lady's eyes were bright, her plain back was flat without a trace of wrinkles, and her head was wrapped in a flower turban. The weak girl beside her was wearing two small buns and a light blue gown. The whole person was as thin as a willow branch, as if it was about to float up when the wind blew. The temperament is elegant and quiet, and the complexion looks fair and delicate, just covered with a faint layer of yellow.

Sixteen-year-old Meng Xiaowan originally had a wealthy family, and her family had been in business for generations, and there were seven Shu brocade shops in the city. There are thousands of acres of fertile land at home, and there are a number of servants.

Meng Xiaowan was born only 100 days ago, and she was engaged to the son of the Lincheng giant Jia Du family. Speaking of this marriage, everyone in the city was amazed. Meng Xiaowan's fiancé Du Ye is a genius, who can read and write at the age of three, and can read the family account books at the age of seven. When he was eight years old, Du Ye suddenly told his parents that Lincheng Dreamer Layue would add a young lady, that is, his wife, and asked his parents to go and propose marriage. Master Du was suspicious, and invited the celebrities in the city to inquire, and happened to meet the dreamer to hold a 100-day banquet for his daughter. Listening to the celebrity explain the reason, the Meng couple felt that Du Ye and his daughter were married in heaven. Seeing that the Du family had a big business, he was overjoyed and set up this family affair for his daughter.

Since then, the two have been in frequent contact. At the strong request of the Du family's son, Meng Xiaowan escaped the pain of foot binding, and was exempted from reciting the biography of the three from the four virtues every day, and lived a happy and worry-free life. only waited for her to marry into the Du family when she grew up, taught her husband and children, and accompanied her literary and elegant husband. When she was fifteen years old, the two families were about to discuss the two of them, and Meng Xiaowan's mother suddenly fell seriously ill. Meng Xiaowan is a filial daughter, and she took the initiative to postpone her marriage and stay at home to serve her mother's decoction.

A year later, Meng Xiaowan's mother died, and the chaos broke out again. Seeing that the bandits were too fierce, Master Meng simply took his family to his in-laws, and sent Meng Xiaowan to marry by the way. Halfway through, the dreamers and his party encountered robbers. Master Meng died at that time, and Meng Xiaowan escaped with her grandmother Li Mama under the desperate protection of her eldest brother, but she was separated from her eldest brother.

Two women, one old and one young, have never been out of the house, and they don't know what to do. Fortunately, on the road, I met a family that had business dealings with the Dream Family who was also fleeing, and Mama Li begged them hard to let them take a ride from the wilderness to Qu'an. The master and servant asked someone to bring a message to the Du family, and they waited for the Du family's reply, and they waited for four months.

Because there were too many people fleeing and there was chaos around, the price of everything in Qu'an skyrocketed. The two rented a dilapidated shack on the bank of the river, and the rent was paid early, which could last until March of the following year, but the food had to be spent. Meng Xiaowan got rid of the dowry jewelry and valuable clothes she carried with her, and changed from a pampered rich lady to a blind stream escaping disasters.

In a year of great drought, there are almost countless grains in the ground. August is still the season of grain harvest, and a liter of millet is sold for one or two silver, and Meng Xiaowan can only drink thin porridge with Mama Li's lips raised. Pampered since she was a child, where has she ever suffered this kind of hardship, and soon her originally moist and lovely cheeks were sunken, and she was so thin that she fell out of shape.

Seeing that the price of food would rise, Meng Xiaowan discussed with Mama Li and decided to take the jade pendant given to her by Du Ye and exchange it for some millet to live.

After waiting in line at the pawnshop for a long time, they finally got in line. Mama Li carefully opened the cloth bag, took out the Jiurui Ring Dragon Pendant, stood on tiptoe and handed it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper took it carefully, took a closer look, and said to Mama Li: "Old lady, this piece of jade is a high-grade product, give you a tael of silver." ”

Seeing that the shopkeeper deliberately lowered the price, Meng Xiaowan couldn't help but speak: "The shopkeeper, this jade pendant is worth 10,000 gold." ”

The shopkeeper smiled softly: "Miss, this time is no better than in the past, no one wants jewelry and jade." One tael of silver is already for me to take care of your orphans and widows, and if I am not, I will not be reluctant. ”

Mama Li grinded her lips for a long time, and finally raised the price to five taels of silver. It is indeed a high-grade Hetian warm jade, it is a treasure, and it is usually priceless. But in the war, it was worth five taels of silver, and five taels of silver could buy two and a half liters of millet, enough for two people to drink a month's thin porridge.

became a jade pendant, and went to a rice store to buy millet. Mama Li covered a rag on the rice bag, and the two walked forward holding hands and pretending to be calm. Because there is always a circle of hungry homeless people outside the rice shop, hoping that someone else will lose a few grains of rice. I heard that there was an incident of snatching grain at the door of the rice shop two days ago, and the two of them had to take precautions.

Sure enough, when I saw two women coming out of the rice shop, a few homeless people with bad intentions followed. Less than 100 meters out of the rice shop, a man suddenly became troubled, rushed over and grabbed the rice bag on Mama Li's wrist and dragged it.

Mama Li was an inferior servant when she was young, and she became stronger when she was old. Although I can't eat and sleep well these days, I still have some strength in my body. She hurriedly hugged the rice bag in her arms, tore open her throat and shouted: "Hey, hey!" ”

Meng Xiaowan was so frightened that she didn't know what to do, she only knew to raise her fist and pound it on the robber's head. But her fist had no strength at all, and it had no effect at all on the robber.

Seeing that the rice in her arms was about to be snatched away, Mama Li sat on the ground, and the robber dragged it hard. With a "porphyry", the rice bag cracked. The golden millet flowed all over the ground, stabbing the eyes of everyone around them greedily, and slowly surrounded them.

The hearts of the master and servant were suddenly cold.

These people were so hungry that their faces turned green, and their eyes were staring at the millet on the ground glowing red, and it was possible to eat them on the spot.

Just as the master and servant were trembling, a tall man pushed through the crowd and squeezed in. One hand stuck the neck of the robber who was quickly grabbing millet in his arms, and with the other hand, he clenched his fist and swung it fiercely. A very heavy punch directly knocked the robber and flew out of everyone's heads. Falling on the side of the street, he collapsed into a ball, and blood foamed from his nose, and he didn't know if he was still angry.

The terrifying power frightened everyone who was about to move.

Then the man turned around and helped Mama Li take the millet scattered on the ground back into her pocket.

He wore a blue scarf on his head and a blue gown, dressed like a scholar. But the feeling is completely different from that of many white and pure scholars. The facial features are straight, the eyebrows are slightly locked, and the bridge of the nose is high. The body is strong, and the shoulders are somewhat thick. The narrow sleeves were rolled up, revealing fan-like palms and strong muscles of the forearms, like a martial artist.

Meng Xiaowan had seen this man, who lived next door to her small shack. I saw him move in a few days ago, alone, with a haggard package on his back. Because he was handsome, he remembered it very clearly.

After repacking the millet, Mama Li held the rice pocket tightly in her arms again, and kept saying words of thanks to the man.

"Old lady is polite, I live next door to your house." As the man spoke, his eyes looked at Meng Xiaowan.

The first time she was stared at by a strange man, Meng Xiaowan was very uncomfortable, and quickly lowered her head.

Mama Li also noticed this, but the most important thing at the moment is to bring this millet home as soon as possible. She smiled and said, "Hou Shengzi lives next door to my house, dare to be kind, let's go back together." ”

The man didn't refuse, and nodded.

Along the way, the tall body did not know how many hungry wolf-like eyes around him, and he was safe and sound.

Back at the rented broken shack, Mama Li took out a handful of millet from her pocket and put it in Mingyue's hand: "Hou Shengzi, this is a thank you gift." ”

The man was stunned for a moment, staring at the millet in his hand, his eyes were a little dazed.

Mama Li lala Meng Xiaowan: "Go, enter the house." ”

Meng Xiaowan nodded and took a few steps towards the door. He returned and bowed to the man, his eyes always staring at the ground: "Thank you Childe, there were a lot of people just now, so it's not good to talk to Childe." Dare to ask the name of the child? ”

The man looked up at her and spit out two words for a long time: "Mingyue." ”

"Thank you Ming Gongzi for your help, your kindness and kindness will be remembered in my heart." She is a young lady born in a wealthy family, and she knows that talking between unmarried men and women is detrimental to her daughter's manners. But Mingyue helped them, and it would be rude if they didn't say thank you.

Mingyue said succinctly: "You're welcome. ”

After saluting again, Meng Xiaowan was about to turn around and go back to the house, when Mingyue suddenly grabbed her hand.

Angry and frightened, for fear that someone would see it, Meng Xiaowan's "rudeness" was stuck in her throat and didn't say it for a long time.

But Mingyue didn't seem to pay attention to Meng Xiaowan's reaction, he carefully poured the millet in his hand into Meng Xiaowan's palm, his eyes were clear and innocent: "I don't eat millet." ”

Withdrawing her hand, Meng Xiaowan pinched Xiaomi and rushed back to the house, closing the door quickly. His heart was beating in his chest, and a layer of mist was floating in front of his eyes. Men and women don't kiss, Mingyue actually grabbed her hand, it's so rude!

But now in a foreign land, she had to endure the anger. (To be continued.) )