Zhang said loudly: "We were originally good citizens, but the fields were hit by a disaster, and there was no harvest, and the government did not open a warehouse to release grain for disaster relief, but also asked us to pay taxes on planting according to the good year." Many of them fled secretly, but the government put all their taxes on us, and we were forced to leave our homes, and the rest of the village fled with them, trying to beg for a bowl of rice elsewhere. ”

"But along the way, I didn't expect that the government of Shandong still turned a blind eye to us refugees, and saw that there were many of us, but drove us everywhere, although we were allowed to cultivate a lot of wasteland here, but we had to pay a year's tax before we could cultivate. We had no choice but to hide in the mountains and become homeless. We are good citizens who can't get a bite to eat, and we have been hungry for days, and suddenly we see your horses, so we want to grab them to eat, otherwise, I am afraid that tonight, a small half of our people in this village will starve to death here. ”

Cai Wei said: "Brother Zhang, I know that you haven't eaten a full meal for many days, but you have been hungry for a long time, and suddenly you have horse meat to eat, but I am afraid that your stomach will not be able to stand it, and you will die first if you don't starve to death." What's more, just two horses, I'm afraid that even one meal won't be enough for you to eat? ”

"Since you are just trying to have something to eat, it is better to listen to my advice, let me, the coachman, take the five hundred taels of silver tickets in my hand, and buy some rice, noodles, vegetables and fruits back, so that you can at least eat a full meal for three or four days."

Zhang Er suddenly leaned into his eldest brother's ear and whispered a few words, Cai Wei saw it in his eyes, smiled slightly on his lips, just stared at Zhang Da's expression, saw a look of disapproval in his eyes, and nodded secretly in his heart, it seems that this Zhang Da is much more generous than his younger brother.

Seeing that his brother didn't speak, Zhang Er thought he acquiesced to his idea, so he shouted at Cai Wei: "We promised you, hurry up and send the silver ticket over, and we will let you go." ”

Cai Wei glanced at him, the fire fold in her hand was still held steadily, "Little brother of the Zhang family, do you think I'm an idiot?" If I hand over the silver ticket now, and you come back and talk it doesn't count, but you still want to take the lives of some of us, then will we not be helpless? What kind of wishful thinking do you have in your heart, don't you know if you look at me? ”

Zhang Da frowned, stepped forward and said: "Steward Zhou, since my second brother has promised not to hurt your life, I am his eldest brother, our brothers will keep their promise and never break their promises, as long as you hand over the silver ticket, we will not hurt your life, but you also have to promise that you will never sue the official to take us." ”

Cai Wei saw that his eyes were honest and firm, so she said: "I can still trust Brother Zhang's character, and this silver ticket will be given to you." With that, she put the silver ticket on the carriage at her feet.

Qiu Wu saw that he only listened to a word from others, and the princess handed over the silver ticket that she could take to blackmail them, and couldn't help but shake her head and sigh in her heart, in the end, she was too naïve to be a woman in the back house who had never been in the world.

Zhang Er didn't need his brother's orders, so he grabbed it. Cai Wei looked coldly at him and took the silver ticket from the carriage with a happy face, and suddenly smiled: "Little brother of the Zhang family, do you know why my eldest brother handed over the silver ticket when he said a word?" ”

"Because I believe that Brother Zhang's personality is a man who stands up to the sky and the earth, and he will not do such a disbelieving, treacherous and immoral act, and kill people for a mere five hundred taels of silver, hurt people's lives, and cut off people's incense."

However, it is difficult to say the hearts of people in this world, there are heroes like Brother Zhang who value righteousness, but there are also some people who are mercenary and don't recognize people when they turn their faces. That's why I dare to hand over the silver tickets so generously, because in addition to the five hundred taels of silver tickets, I also have two silver tickets of one thousand taels here, and if you are greedy for small profits and want to kill us after only five hundred taels of silver, then you should never think about these two thousand taels of silver again. ”

Zhang Er raised his head and shouted, "Aren't all the silver tickets on you?" I can't run away, you hurry up and hand it over, and we promise not to kill you!" ”

Cai Wei took out two silver tickets from her sleeve and shook them at them, "It's okay to give it to you, anyway, there is something missing from this silver ticket, no matter who it is, it is just two pieces of waste paper, and it is useless." ”

Zhang Eryi's eyes stared at the two silver tickets and asked, "What's missing, why can't I see it?" ”

Cai Wei smiled coldly, "The five hundred taels of silver tickets I have given you are all small bills of dozens of taels, and I don't need such things, but these two are large bills that can be used to propose a thousand taels of silver, if there is no autograph of my son-in-law, you will not be able to withdraw one or two silver even if you take it to Qingfeng Qianzhuang." ”

"Don't even think about forcing my son-in-law to write your name on you, he is now in a high fever, unconscious, so sick that he doesn't know who he is, and it is extremely difficult to even open his mouth to drink water, let alone ask him to write with a pen."

Zhang Er scratched his head, "That means if we want to get the two thousand taels of silver, we must wait for your son-in-law to wake up?" ”

Cai Wei smiled, "Not bad! She looked at the sky and said, "Brother Zhang, the sun is about to go down, why don't you pick a few brothers to accompany me, the coachman, to find a nearby town to buy some rice and noodles first." Anyway, our son-in-law is seriously ill now, and he can't continue to hurry, so it's better to rest with Brother Zhang, and when our son-in-law is sicker, let's discuss how we can let you get the two thousand taels of silver, and the three of us can get out of the whole body, what do you think? ”

Zhang Da patted his thigh and said: "According to what you said, listen, listen, this Steward Zhou can let us eat a full meal for three or four days, and when the sick son in the car is better, we can eat a few more days of full food, these days their master and servant are our guests, none of you are allowed to bully them, otherwise, don't blame me for being unkind to you!" ”

When others heard that they could have a full meal, they had no objections, only Zhang Er still had an angry look on his face, Cai Wei knew what he was thinking, and was about to beat him a few more words, when he suddenly heard several exclamations from the crowd: "Oh, Aunt Zhang, what's wrong with you?" ”

"And the grandmother of the Liu family, it's not good!"

"My little treasure, what's wrong with you, don't you scare your mother?"

As soon as Cai Wei heard the words "Aunt Zhang", she looked at the brothers of the Zhang family, and saw that the two of them really turned around and looked back, and a few young peasant women had already helped a few people over, crying: "Brother Jinzhong, our Xiaobao suddenly rolled on the ground with a stomachache, and your mother and grandmother Liu also covered their stomachs and screamed, how is this good?" ”

The two brothers lost their father at a young age, and were raised by their mother alone, and they have always been filial to their widowed mother, and now when they saw their mother's face as white as paper in pain, and their faces were covered with cold sweat, they suddenly panicked, and they were in a hurry and didn't know what to do, and suddenly a hoarse voice said: "Have the three of them eaten anything before?" ”

It turned out that Cai Wei had come over at some point, and while asking the peasant woman, she wondered in her heart that her real name was Zhang Jinzhong, but she didn't know what his brother's name was.

"We have been hungry for many days and have not eaten, Xiaobao is a good boy of filial piety, seeing that his grandmother is really hungry, he went everywhere to find something to eat, but this day is cold, there is no wild fruit, he looked for a long time, and only found a few wild vegetables, cooked a pot of wild vegetable soup, distributed it to a few old people who were almost hungry and fainted, and also gave him a few bites."

"I'm afraid that the children picked the poisonous weeds by mistake, and they were all poisoned." Cai Wei said. Although she didn't know how to heal, she had roughly flipped through a few medical books, and her father had also told her about some symptoms of poisoning when he was investigating the case, and when he asked about the cause and effect, he deduced a possibility.

She picked up a branch from the ground, tore off a strip of cloth from her robe and wrapped it on it, walked up to Aunt Zhang, and was about to reach out to touch her, but was stopped by Zhang Eryi and said, "What are you going to do?" ”

"I'm going to save your mother's life, if you want her to live or die, just stop me."

Zhang Er suddenly became entangled, this person is just a housekeeper and not a doctor, how can he cure diseases and save people, but looking at his expression, he is full of confidence, could it be that he really has any way?

His brother saw that the old lady was in more and more pain, so he immediately made a decision, pushed his younger brother away, hugged his fist at Cai Wei and said, "Please also ask Mr. to save my mother's life?" ”

Zhang Er saw that his brother had spoken, and he didn't say anything more, anyway, if he couldn't save his mother, he would be killed with a few sticks to pay for his mother's life.