In the woods, Zhou Boyan's caravan was on the left, and Qingshu's team was on the right. Zhou Boyan's caravan was gnawing dry food, feeding horses and drinking horses; Qingshu's team set up pots and stoves, picked dry branches, went to the stream to fetch water, washed rice, and fed horses and cattle...... It's a lot of fun.

There was a crackling, a fire was lit, and a large iron pot was poured with most of the water. Xu Sanniang put the washed three bowls of white rice and a bowl of red beans into the pot, covered the lid, squatted aside and added firewood to the pot from time to time. Xiaoya stood beside Xu Sanniang, holding a fan and fanning Xu Sanniang, which made Xu Sanniang smile.

Qingshu and Xu Wuniang got together, guarding a bowl of red dates, and were pitting them.

Yuan Bao and Wu Xiaoshan took back the dry branches they had picked up and put them down, and continued to pick them up.

Xiaoyu Xiaojuan and the other two women were not idle, they prepared the dishes and chopsticks for more than 40 people and a hundred multigrain flour buns bought from the inn where they settled in the morning.

The strong men who were on foot sat in the shade of the trees to rest and enjoy the coolness.

After a while, the water in the pot boiled, Xu Sanniang opened the lid of the pot, stirred it with a big spoon, covered it, and continued to add firewood.

The smell of porridge soon filled the woods, which made the stomachs of the hungry men cry even more happily.

The people on the other side of the caravan also looked at them from time to time, thinking in their hearts: It's not a march to fight, and they still carry pots and bowls when they go out, and they have to cook and eat, and they are puzzled. However, isn't it just the rice porridge that is cooked, why does it smell so good!

At this time, Xu Sanniang had already withdrawn the fire, removed the lid of the pot and cooled for a while, then used a white porcelain bowl to serve four bowls of porridge that was just right, and let Ding Jiamei, Xiaoyu and Xiaojuan take it away. After that, she took a big spoon and shouted, "Mother Su, Steward Wu, let everyone take their own bowls and serve porridge." ”

Soon, the men came over with a large coarse porcelain bowl in their hands and lined up to make porridge. After beating the finished one, he went back, squatted in the shade of the tree, and ate the porridge in one hand and the multigrain noodles in the other.

The women were the last to serve, and they first had to ensure that the men had a bowl each, and they shared the leftovers, and only nibbled on multigrain flour buns if there was no leftovers. In the end, Xu Sanniang divided the rest of the pot equally, but fortunately, the women and children each served half a bowl.

I want to ask Xu Sanniang why she gave four bowls to the three masters, because the young master said that he would bring one bowl to his brother Yan to eat.

Zhou Boyan looked at the strange-colored porridge that his entourage had received from Gu Yuanbao, and asked shamelessly, "What is it cooked with?" ”

Qingyang straightened his small chest, "White rice, yellow rice, beans and red dates, my sister said that the porridge should be cooked in different ways, and it is good for the body to eat it." ”

Zhou Boyan smiled faintly, "Hurry up and go back to eat, eat well and hurry." ”

Qingyang agreed, quickly stuffed something in the palm of his hand into Zhou Boyan's hand, and when he turned around and ran, he said in a crisp voice that it was delicious jerky.

Zhou Boyan looked down at the object in his hand, the strip of adult fingers, the color was dark red and black, and it was very hard. He unhurriedly put it to his mouth and took a bite, raising his eyebrows, which was not very easy to bite.

I saw Qingyang, who had run away, running back again, holding a so-called jerky in his hand, "Brother, you have to eat like this, bite off the meat stubble little by little." He gestured, and felt that he couldn't speak clearly, so he ate it to his brother Yan.

Zhou Boyan smiled and bit off the thin shredded meat like him.

Qingyang was relieved, turned around and ran away.

Zhou Boyan was patient, chewed a piece of meat unhurriedly and ate it slowly, ignoring someone standing beside him who swallowed saliva, picked up the handkerchief at hand and wiped off a little oil on his hands, then picked up the bowl, picked up the spoon in the porridge bowl, and stirred it curiously.

A young and childish face came over from the side, "Childe, let the little one taste it for you, the bad stomach is also small, and the son will not suffer." "He is the young knight who rode out ten miles to greet people yesterday, named Gu Shishi.

Zhou Boyan turned a blind eye to Gu Shishi who came over, and quickly ate a bowl of hot porridge with elegant movements, and finally handed the bowl out, "Wash it and go back." ”

Gu Shishi took the bowl and walked away muttering. "Stingy, don't give a stone a mouthful. Young Master Gu cooks porridge for his subordinates to eat, and the son knows that people will eat dry food, and he is stingy......"

On the Gu family's side, after lunch, everyone worked together, quickly washed the pots and bowls, loaded them into the carriage, and disposed of the ashes on the ground, and rested for a quarter of an hour to consume food, and then set off.

Four days later, in the afternoon, between the time and the hour, the wind rose, with a cool feeling, and dark clouds drifted in the sky, covering half the day.

Wu Langtou looked at the sky, hurriedly stopped, told the female dependents to stay in the car and not move, and shouted to the strong men, asking them to stack the baskets and burdens on the board carts where they took turns to rest on weekdays, and untied the three large oilcloths prepared before departure from the carriage, and busily and unhurriedly covered the two carriages full of goods and an ox cart, and tied the four corners properly to ensure that these household belongings would not get rainy.

The three coachmen, Zhang Da, Li Dalang and Cai Tieniu, were not idle, and put down the rain curtains of the carriages they were responsible for. Originally, the small windows on the left and right walls were hung with light gauze curtains, and the curtains on the carriage doors were also light and transparent.

It was sure that it was safe, Wu Langtou shouted, "The carriages and horses run, everyone runs, there is a village only one or two miles ahead, everyone should rush to the village to find a farmer to take shelter from the rain in the village." ”

Huhula, a team of people ran. The village can be seen that the dark clouds are rapidly engulfing the bright colors of the sky at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the road in the countryside is very bumpy, but there is no way to do it, it is better to be in the rain for a while.

There are not a few people running in the fields carrying farm tools, Wu Langtou caught up with the two men, and asked as he ran, "Brother, I don't know who in your Zhuangzi has a big courtyard and a spare room?" ”

A square-faced man in his early twenties slowed down his running speed when he heard this, "What are you doing here?" ”

Wu Lang pointed behind him, "It's raining on the road, our group wants to find a place to shelter from the rain, looking at the sky, I'm afraid we will have to stay for one night." ”

The square-faced man looked at the other person beside him and shouted Brother Shanzi.

Known as Brother Shanzi, he has a dark complexion and a square face, giving people a straightforward feeling. He glanced back at the twenty or so men running around with a few cars, "Follow me." ”

Finally, before the rain fell, Wu Langtou, with the help of a man named Shanzi, took shelter from the rain and entered a farmhouse. The rain outside was very heavy, and the rain was rapid, and the cattle and horses tied to the courtyard that had not had time to unload the cart moved restlessly. Li Dalang stared at the cow and horse, with a distressed face, and in the end, he couldn't help but step out of the door and rushed into the rain to unload the car.

Wu Langtou couldn't stop it, and just about to call a few people out to help, he saw that Zhang Da and the others were going out with him, so he quickly stopped everyone, and finally only let Zhang Da and the other two strong go out to help.

Shanzi, who was standing at the door of the hall and watching the rain, saw it and shouted loudly, "The thatched hut on the east side is empty, and there are wooden stakes in it, and the cattle are drawn in and bolted." He shouted to the house again, "Little grass girl, go cook a few bowls of ginger soup." ”

This is Shanzi's home, the yard is very large, but the courtyard wall is very broken. There are four main rooms, two east and west wings, all of which are adobe houses and are very dilapidated. His father and mother are gone, and the three of them are brothers, two of whom went to the army and died on the battlefield, leaving him alone to pass incense. He married a daughter-in-law, and he had to support his elderly grandparents at the top, and his daughter Xiaocao at the bottom, and the daughter-in-law was still pregnant with one in her belly. He is a laborer, feeding a family of five, and his life is naturally difficult. Soon after, his daughter-in-law gave birth, and he had to support a family of six by himself.

Half an hour later, although the rain was light, it seemed that it couldn't stop for a while, and everyone in the Gu family was sure to stay overnight. Before Wu Langtou could speak, Shanzi spoke first, "There are many of you, the four main rooms will be vacated for you, and the east wing will also be cleaned up for you, no money." There is not much rice at home, so you can find your own way to eat, you can use the stove as you like, and go to the thatched hut to get firewood and grass. ”

Wu Langtou said that the money must be given, Shanzi was silent, and finally said: "Your master does not dislike the broken house, just live, and when you leave, give a bucket of rice, that's all." After speaking, I went to the stove room (note: one bucket of rice = 30 catties of rice)

Shanzi was a cheerful man who spoke and did things, called his daughter-in-law with a slightly bulging belly from the stove room, rolled up the cover of the hall house and a few things, and gave up the four halls, and the family of five moved to the west wing.

Qingshu began to settle down on their side, of course, the first thing to settle down was the Gu Ye clan, and the others had a place to live, so they didn't pay attention to it. Gu Ye's guest house has to use its own bedding, its own toiletries, teacups, eating utensils, etc., not to mention staying in poor farmhouses.

Mother Su and Sister Ding wiped and washed, moved and moved the largest room in the main house, and after a long time, Gu Ye reluctantly accepted the accommodation conditions. There were three rooms left in the hall, and Qingshu arranged for women and children to live there. Wu Langtou made the men squeeze into the two east wings.

At the same time, Xu Sanniang took two women to work on the dinner of more than 40 people in the stove room. The three masters are noodles rolled with white flour, and the next ones are porridge with a little white rice mixed with coarse grains and multigrain flour buns.

Qing Shu was idle, she went to the stove room with an oil-paper umbrella, and saw a little girl who looked like she was three or four years old, lying on the door of the stove room and drooling. She followed the little girl's line of sight and saw that it was Xu Sanniang who was serving white noodles.

Qing Shu touched the top of the little girl's fluffy hair, "What's your name?" ”

The little girl seemed to be frightened, looked up at Qing Shu, with vigilance in her eyes, ran away with a smoke, got into the west wing, and called her mother softly, and then lost her voice.

Qing Shu walked into the stove room, "Did the host make dinner by himself?" ”

Xu Sanniang had already filled three bowls of noodles in a white porcelain bowl, and replied with a smile, "Miss, this lady said that she wanted to clean up the house, so let's use the stove room first." ”

Qing Shu glanced in the direction of the west wing, "You take some more white noodles, put pimple soup in the noodle soup, let the children eat, and by the way, put a bowl for the little girl in this family." ”

Xu Sanniang agreed, urging Qingshu to hurry back to the house to eat noodles, and called Xiaoyu and a few maids to come over and serve noodles.

The rain fell all night, and it was still raining in the morning, and the weather was much cooler, and the big guys turned over their own baggage and clothes.

When they entered the village yesterday, everyone in the village was sheltered from the rain, and few people paid attention. Early this morning, when the rain was not heavy, some people came out to walk around and found that there were cars and horses in the courtyard of Shanzi's house, which attracted many people to look inside. The daughter-in-law, who had that good deed, pushed the fence door into the courtyard, stared at the car covered with oilcloth, shouted that Shanzi's daughter-in-law had made a fortune, etc., and reached out to lift the oilcloth.

Li Dalang was feeding the horses, and when he turned around, he saw it and shouted unhappily, "Stop, what do you want to do?" There was also a strong man who saw it and shouted to stop.

The daughter-in-law was startled, withdrew her hand, and rolled her eyes, "Oh, just take a look, can't you see?" ”

Li Dalang and the others snorted.

Shanzi's daughter-in-law hurriedly came out of the house, "Hammer daughter-in-law, hurry up, no one in our two families wants to see anyone, what do you want to do when you break into my yard?" ”

is known as the daughter-in-law of the hammer, and stands with her waist crossed, "Daughter-in-law of Shanzi, how can you speak!" What do you mean by breaking into your yard? ”

Shanzi's daughter-in-law didn't answer the stubble, and shouted loudly: "Xiaocao Dad, come back quickly, the hammer daughter-in-law is making trouble again." ”

Shanzi, who was strong and dark-faced, ran over from the vegetable garden behind the house, "Dead woman, dare to come, it must be that the lesson from last time was not enough." ”

Hammer's daughter-in-law didn't expect Shanzi to be really at home, and she thought it was Shanzi's daughter-in-law who pretended to shout casually, so she didn't say a word, turned around and ran, and accidentally fell when she got out of the fence gate, causing the daughters-in-law of Shanzi's neighbors to laugh.

Shanzi loosened his clenched fist at this time, "Little grass girl, hurry in, it's raining, don't suffer the cold." ”

After a while, the hammer daughter-in-law came again, with five or six young men behind her, pointing to the car covered with oilcloth in the courtyard, "Look, I didn't lie to you, the Shanzi family has hidden good things and made a fortune." ”

One of the five or six young men kicked open the fence and "took them all." As he spoke, he led someone in.

Shanzi heard the movement and came out, "What do you want to do?" Get out of my house. ”

"Shanzi, you kid is not authentic, and you don't tell my brother if you have good things. It doesn't matter, my brother takes it himself. ”

A gloomy voice came from the thatched hut, "Whichever hand you take, Lao Tzu will cut off which of your hands." So saying, a male-looking man came with an axe for chopping wood. This is none other than Zhang Da, the butcher of Zhang. Because they have a lot of people and use a lot of firewood and grass, a few people are helping the master's family to chop firewood.

Except for the Gufu one, everyone else was shocked. The hammer daughter-in-law swallowed her saliva and slipped away while people were not paying attention. Those five or six bastards were also afraid of death, and when they saw that the situation was not good, they repeatedly said that they had misunderstood, and ran faster than rabbits.

Shanzi frowned and found Wu Hammer, "This big brother, I won't tell you, there are more than a dozen little brothers who gather together in a few nearby villages, and they often do some things like stealing chickens and dogs, and some time ago, they robbed the rich people passing by at night." The five or six just now, not to mention all of them, at least three or two of them were following that gang to do evil. I think these people are eyeing you, although it is difficult to walk in the rain, but you don't want to suffer a loss, it is better to leave quickly. ”

Wu Langtou naturally listened, although they were well-staffed, but after all, they were not familiar with life, and they had no one to help them when they encountered something, so they were easy to suffer. He thanked him, went to Qingshu to explain the situation, and said to leave immediately.

Qing Shu didn't expect such a thing to happen, but she didn't think it would be wise for them to leave now. Here, not only the village roads are dirt roads, but even the official roads are dirt roads. It had rained all night and the road was muddy, and if they had set off now, they would not have been able to avoid the reality of the wheels getting stuck in the mud puddle.

Since a group of people are eyeing them, their car is stuck in the mud and can't get out, so they give others an opportunity to take advantage of. What's more, if this group of people deliberately dig pits and traps on the road to trap them, and then attack them, they are busy protecting women and children, and it is easy to fall into the wind, which is not appropriate.

Qing Shu's words, Wu Langtou felt that it made sense, he thought about it, and Jian Yì sent someone to the town ten miles away in front of him to ask Yan Gongzi for help. He believed that on a rainy day, Yan Gongzi, who entered the town before them, would definitely not brave the rain and stay in the town.

Qing Shu felt that it was always bad to rely on others for everything, but Wu Langtou's idea was not wrong, everyone was for the safety of the group. She thought for a moment, "Is there a way for us not to do it ourselves and let others clean up this guy." For example, the government, such as the people of several villages who were harmed by this group of people. "She's just an idea, whether she can do it or not depends on Wu Hammer.

Hearing this, Wu Hammer seemed to have an idea, "Miss, the little one went to Shanzi to inquire about some things, and by the way, probed his tone." "Since Shanzi dares to get to the bottom of them, he is naturally decent, and he looks down on those guys.

Qing Shu nodded, and deliberately confessed, "That hammer daughter-in-law must not be let go lightly." Obviously, the person was attracted by the hammer daughter-in-law, maybe this hammer daughter-in-law is in a group with those people, and is responsible for listening to the news.

Wu Langtou nodded, went out and instructed the strong men to cheer up, protect the master, and not leave their posts without permission, so he found Shanzi to talk alone, and soon, followed Shanzi out again.

An hour later, Xiao Juan, who was standing in the courtyard and looked out from time to time, finally saw the figure of Wu Langtou coming back with Shanzi, and also saw the appearance of the two men leading the mules walking with them.

Xiao Juan ran into the house with a happy face, "Miss, Miss, Butler Gu has arrived." Without waiting for Qing Shu to react, he turned around and ran out again, "Mother Su, the housekeeper has arrived." "Sister, come out quickly, your brother is catching up."

Knowing that Gu Qiang had caught up, Qing Shu was very happy, and did not forget to say a few words in his mouth, "Xiaojuan, this girl, is too uncontrollable, and she screams in surprise at every turn, which is far inferior to Xiaoyu." ”

Xiaoyu smiled and said, "If she hears it, she will definitely eat the vinegar of the slave maid for a long time." ”

Qingyang, who was sitting on the bed and playing with Qingshu, couldn't sit still, "Sister, hurry up, Xiaoyang wants to take care of the uncle." ”

Qingshu nodded his nose, "Got it, got it." ”

Xiao Yu stepped forward and took the shoes of the two masters and put them on the low stool under the bed.

After the two sisters and brothers got out of bed with their shoes on, Qingshu grabbed Qingyang, who was about to run out, and straightened his clothes for him, and then released him.

"Uncle housekeeper, uncle housekeeper......" Qingyang shouted all the way, running towards Gu Qiang, who had just stepped into the fence gate.

Gu Qiang, who had a frosty face, listened to Qingyang's uncle as a housekeeper, and saw Qingyang grinning and running towards him with his little short legs, his eyes were hot, he threw the reins of the mule to the people behind, and opened his arms to hug Qingyang who rushed up, "Young master, you can't call it a slave uncle, it will make people laugh." ”

Qingyang hugged Gu Qiang's neck, "No, no, let's call Uncle Housekeeper." ”