On the Chinese New Year's Eve of the 22nd year of Dading, in a rented courtyard at the end of the alley in the east of Xifang District, Wuyi County, Situ Yan's family gathered around the table and ate a reunion dinner.

"Little Wu, this elbow is so fragrant." Erlang first sandwiched a chopsticks and elbow meat for the little sister, and then ate it in a big gulp.

"Yes, Xiao Wu, your fish is as fragrant as the fish we used to raise." San Lang was full of praise as he ate the dishes made of smoked fish, where would he have thought that this fish was exactly what they had raised, but it had been hidden in Situ Yan's ring.

After a lively reunion dinner, Situ Yan put the dim sum made during the day on the table, and the family sat on the kang to keep the New Year, talking about what they saw and heard along the way, they were all embarrassed.

When the time came, Li Dalang led his younger brothers to set off the artillery battle, and after eating dumplings, they went back to the house to rest.

When the child passed, Situ Yan was also nine years old, and she had already passed three New Year's Festivals in this life, lying on the kang with a lot of emotion in her heart, she got up and kowtowed to the north three times in a row, "Grandma, it's the New Year, my granddaughter is here to give you New Year's greetings." I wish you good health and a smile on your lips. After some chatter, I felt at ease, and I lay down again, and I don't know how long it took before I fell asleep.

The eldest man also chatted until it was nearly dawn before squinting for a while.

As soon as dawn was the next day, Situ Yan got up and set up an offering table in the courtyard first, and spread dim sum, white flour buns and pork as offerings. When the four brothers of the Li family got up, they looked at a table of food and incense burners in the courtyard, all of which were one.

"Little Five, what are you doing with these?" Shiro looked around the offering table and was a little puzzled.

"Brothers, I forgot, today is the day of the second brother Chengding's crown ceremony, although we are fleeing, but such a day still has to be done. I said hello to my grandfather and uncles in this alley yesterday, and at the end of the hour, they will come to watch the ceremony, and I also invited the grandfather of the uncle of the Yacha family to be the guest and praiser of the second brother. ”

The four brothers listened to Quan Leng, and even Erlang himself forgot that he is now 15 years old, and he has reached the age of marrying and starting a family, and he doesn't know whether he is happy or worried. It's more about the carefulness of the little sister.

"Second brother, today is your big day, you can't cry, go and put on new clothes, and when the guests come, we will salute." The eldest brother and the third brother helped me prepare a banquet, and when the salute was done, I could invite the neighbors to a banquet, and the family would be lively. ”

Li Dalang felt a little guilty in his heart, he even forgot about such a big thing as his second brother Chengding, fortunately, there was a little sister who remembered, otherwise what would he have to see his father and mother under Jiuquan. I felt guilty and worked harder, and I took all the work in the kitchen, and even Saburo was kicked out.

The things were prepared, and the neighbors invited by Situ Yan also arrived one after another, these people did not come empty-handed, they all took some New Year's gifts, where could Situ Yan make people lose, and hurriedly told San Lang to redivide the gifts, and then choose some from the food at home to add to them, and bring all the gifts in return when they left.

As soon as the time came, the visitors gathered in the courtyard, Situ Yan put a futon in front of the offering table, and then the praiser sang the congratulations first, and then Zhengbin retied Li Erlang's hair, and tied the headscarf that Situ Yan had prepared early in the morning for Li Erlang.

Li Erlang kowtowed, toasted, and saluted the neighbors who came to watch the ceremony, and the neighbors stepped forward to say a few auspicious words, and the ceremony was completed. The ceremony is much simpler than Li Dalang's crown ceremony, but Erlang cherishes it more in his heart. The little sister can prepare these for him, can remember him to salute, and prepare a banquet for him, and invite the neighbors to watch the ceremony, except for being moved, it is difficult for him to put anything else in his mind.

Li Dalang, as the head of the family, accompanied the guests to eat and toast with Erlang. Saburo and Shiro greeted the neighbors and children who came to congratulate the New Year. And Situ Yan was busy with dishes, snacks, and drinks in the stove room, but the family was busy with their feet not touching the ground.

The first day of the first lunar month was spent in a burst of laughter, and at night Erlang lay on the kang, turning over and over and over and couldn't sleep, "Er, what's wrong with you?" A strong pancake. ”

"Big brother, I don't know what's wrong, I just can't sleep, as soon as I close my eyes, all I see is the shadow of Xiao Wu dangling in front of my eyes, the more I think about it, the more energetic I become."

"When I first saluted, it was the same, at that time Xiao Wu prepared a fish for me as a sacrificial dish, at that time I didn't know what it tasted like, this time I thought about it, it should be Xiao Wu said grateful, moved, right?"

"Yes, that's it, big brother, if there is no little five at home, I don't know if I can survive this way?" Erlang listened to Da Lang's words, and he was even more sure that the most important thing in the family was the little sister.

San Lang also turned over and sat up, wearing a quilt and chatting with his brothers, "Yes, we escaped this way, and I don't know how many people died of freezing and starvation, just like this, there are no less than hundreds of victims outside the county who have no money to pay the gate tax." If Xiao Wu hadn't taken us to make a living to make money before, I'm afraid that we would be frozen outside the county seat! ”

"No, big brother, when I first came out of Xinchang County, I was so scared that I trembled when I saw so many dead people, I was really afraid that one day I would be like those people, just starved to death and froze to death on the road, and I didn't even have a grave bag. But Xiao Wu has always been so strong, and he constantly encouraged me, which made me survive. Shiro didn't sleep either, and when he listened to his brother's energy, he also turned over and sat up.

"Little Four, you put the quilt (huo softly, Northeast dialect) tightly covered, and when you catch a cold, you will have to be tired of Xiao Wu!" Li Dalang saw that several people had gotten up, and he also sat up.

"Only with Xiao Wu in this family can I have a good life, but these days, I see that Xiao Wu has not grown any flesh, it seems that he has lost weight, it is useless for me to be a big brother, let Xiao Wu suffer with it!"

"Big brother, what are you blaming yourself, Xiao Wu is the sister of the four of us, and if you don't take care of Xiao Wu, we are all responsible." San Lang always looks guilty of self-blame and guilt when he doesn't want to see Li Dalang, and he is more willing to take care of his little sister by himself than his brothers.

"Yes, my courage is smaller than Xiao Wu, this one, I haven't seen Xiao Wu cry, but I have cried a few times!" Shiro blushed and was a little embarrassed, he wasn't afraid, but when he saw so many dead people, the tears couldn't stop flowing out.

"In the future, we just have to be good to Xiao Wu with our hearts and lungs, and don't let Xiao Wu suffer anymore!"

Li Dalang's words and the brothers all nodded, in fact, if Situ Yan was here, he would definitely roll his eyes at a few people, except for spending money or using Situ Yan's hands and mouths when entering the city gate, this road is her most leisurely, she doesn't need to drive cars, collect firewood, dig pits, and boil water, and even the bath water is only made for her by a few people before she is called into the house. But in the eyes of these four brothers, as long as Situ Yan didn't gain weight, it was a few people who didn't take care of it. This problem has not been changed until a few people have passed the age of sixties.

The first day of the first month passed, several people completely rested for three days, early in the morning of the fifth day of the first month, Situ Yan found a tooth to retreat from the rented yard, Li Dalang and a few people said goodbye to the neighborhood, and a group of five people drove the mule cart to continue to the south.

I didn't have time to rush to Xindu County that night, so I stopped at the nearest car shop to the county seat.

When they arrived, there were already two groups of people living in the cart shop, one group was a dozen or so merchants, carrying five or six carts of goods; The other group of people was not more than five or six people, but it attracted Situ Yan's attention, these people were dressed like they were fleeing, but Situ Yan noticed that these people had calluses on their hands, thick arms, and stable chassis, and they were obviously all practitioners.

And these people claim to be some people who are running the rivers and lakes to sell their arts, which makes Situ Yan even more suspicious, if they are really showers, there is no need to disguise their identities like this, unless these people have some ulterior secrets. Situ Yan adheres to the principle that if people don't offend me, I won't offend anyone, and if someone offends me, I will cut the grass and eradicate the roots, so she naturally paid more attention.

After dinner, Situ Yan washed up in the house first, and Erlang sat in the courtyard and chatted with those people. Situ Yan could clearly hear the temptation in these people's words. "It seems that I don't want to find trouble, but things are going to come to me, even if you are unlucky, you don't want to go to the Yangguan Road, and you want to go up to my single-plank bridge."

After Situ Yan washed up and called the four brothers in, she slipped into the stove room and added some herbal powder to the tea of those people, and the amount was not very large, after all, these people had not had time to do it yet. If she did, she wouldn't mind giving them a ride.

Originally, she wanted to give the shopkeeper of the big car shop a wake-up call, but she found out that the shopkeeper and these people were actually in the same group, and then she knew that several people lived in a black shop. There's no more empathy for these people.

Li Dalang washed a few people, and the five of them went to the kang, Situ Yan just turned off the lights, but did not lie down, but touched Li Dalang's side, and pushed a few people in a suppressed voice, "Brothers, don't make a sound, don't sleep first, put on all your clothes, and wait for a while, we can see the good show." ”

A few people were confused, but as long as the little sister asked them to do it, even if a few people couldn't understand it, the movements in their hands were not slow, and they quickly put on their clothes again, and Situ Yan made a small hole in the window paper and looked out.

Erlang waited for a while, but couldn't help it, and leaned into Situ Yan's ear and asked, "Little Wu, what's wrong?" ”

"There's a ringing horse." Although Situ Yan didn't know who these people were, she still gave these people an identity, which also made Li Dalang and the others more vigilant. Sure enough, the four brothers were nervous for a while, and they were a little sleepy-eyed just now, but now they opened their eyes twice as big as when they were awake.

When I waited until I was there, there was a noise outside. First, the shopkeeper touched it out, listened to the windows of each room, and then called out several people, and through the snow light, he could clearly see the knife light in the hands of several people. Seeing the snow wolf bowing towards the door, Situ Yan knew that no matter how light the movement of these people was, it couldn't escape the ears of the snow wolf, so she hurriedly pulled it aside and gently caressed and comforted it, so as not to startle the snake with the snow wolf's cry.