In front of the entrance of Huangkou Village is the official road, and at the end of the village is the road up the mountain, near noon, the sun is fierce, and an eleven or twelve-year-old child walks slowly down the mountain.

The boy's name is Lin Zhao, his parents died early when he was five years old, and he survived with the help of the villagers, but he was strong, and after the age of eight, he began to support himself, following the village hunter Uncle Wang up the mountain to hunt, helping him set traps in exchange for some food.

When he was ten years old, he was able to go hunting in the mountains alone, and although he could not pull the bow, he made a good slingshot in his hand, and began to be self-sufficient in food and clothing.

After descending the mountain, he suddenly saw a little girl standing at the end of the village, she was standing by a bush with her hands behind her back to look at something.

Lin Zhao became curious, walked up to her and asked, "Little sister, whose family are you?" What are you doing here? ”

Lu Yutong glanced at him, retracted his gaze and continued to look at the grass, ignoring him.

Lin Zhao was glanced at by her, and his heart jumped, only to feel that she was a little different from the little sister in the village, and she couldn't say what the difference was.

Following her gaze to the grass, he was taken aback to see a green snake coiled in the bushes, spitting out letters to the little girl.

Lin Zhao didn't say a word, took out the slingshot, and shot a stone at the green snake.

"Bang", the green snake was shot in the head by a stone, he was in a hurry, and while the green snake was dizzy, he took out the firewood knife on his waist and cut off the snake's head.

Lu Yutong saw that the green snake was dead, glanced at the boy, turned around and left.

Lin Zhao grabbed the snake body with one hand, followed behind Lu Yutong and said, "Little sister, this snake is what you saw first, it is your prey, you can take it." ”

Lu Yutong ignored it and walked on his own.

When Lin Zhao saw her walk into Tie Zhu's house, he thought to himself, could she be a relative of Uncle Tie's family? Why haven't I seen it before?

He listened to the movement, and when he saw that there was a person in the stove room, he went into the stove room.

The wife of the iron pillar in the stove room saw him and said with a smile: "It's Lin Zhao, did you have anything this morning?" ”

Lin Zhao hurriedly said: "It's up, Aunt Tie, I saw a little sister enter your house just now, who is she?" ”

"You said Xiaoyu Hitomi, she and her brother are passers-by, and they came to my house for a few days." Aunt Tie said with a smile.

Lin Zhao sighed and went back sullenly.

Halfway through, his eyes suddenly lit up and he ran back to Tiezhu's house. After entering the lobby, he glanced around and walked towards the small room where Lu Yuan was staying.

Pushing open the door, he immediately saw the little girl sitting on the bed.

When the little girl saw him, she quickly pulled out a wooden cone from the package and glared at him.

Lin Zhao hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Don't be afraid, I'm just here to ask you if you want to move to my house, I still have a big vacant room in my house, and I don't charge you rent." ”

Lu Yutong still stared at him, not saying a word.

The little boy sighed and turned to leave.

……

It was noon, and Lu Yuan's feet were sore, but it was still not his turn.

He found that most of the people who went in to apply for the job came out with a bitter face, it seems that Sun Fu recruited the results on the spot, and it is estimated that there will not be too many people called.

During this period, Sun Fu went out two more carriages, and each time the carriage passed, recruitment would be suspended for a while.

Although Lu Yuan waited very impatiently, he didn't want to give up halfway, he looked at the young man from Huangkou Village who came with him, and found that there were already a few fewer people, thinking that he had sneaked away.

After waiting hungry for more than an hour, Lu Yuan's eyes were fixed on the deacon's lips, hoping that this mouth would call out his name earlier.

After a while, the deacon shouted, "Mu Xuan, Iron Hammer, Wang Dali!" ”

Lu Yuan was overjoyed, but before he stepped forward, the deacon shouted loudly: "It's the eldest lady's carriage, don't look at it, keep your head down." ”

Lu Yuan turned his head to look, but it was the eldest lady of the Sun family who had returned in carriage, and the coachman was tall and strong, very conspicuous.

There was also a handsome man on horseback next to the carriage, facing the curtain of the carriage, talking to the lady in the carriage.

Neither the man on horseback nor the servant following the carriage looked directly at the group.

When the carriage entered the house, Lu Yuan and the two people from Huangkou Village finally passed through the small door and began the interview.

After entering, a family member stepped forward to lead the way, and when he walked to a row of houses, the family said expressionlessly: "Three rooms, one person goes to one." ”

Entering the room, there is a table and a chair in the room. On the table was a box and a stack of paper containing three wooden plaques, and on the left wall were a dozen bags of cloth bags.

A middle-aged steward sat on a chair without raising his head and said, "Your name is Mu Xuan?" ”

"Yes."

"Can you read and write?"

"Yes."

The steward finally glanced up at him and handed over a piece of paper full of words: "Read it and listen to it." ”

Lu Yuan read it according to his words, although the characters of this era are traditional characters, he has the memory of the original owner in his body, and the traditional characters are no different from the simplified characters in his eyes.

Seeing that he was reading clearly and fluently, the steward showed a smile on his face, and handed over a blank piece of paper: "Let's write it again." ”

Lu Yuan easily picked up the brush and prepared to copy.

He had learned calligraphy with a brush when he was a student, but he didn't write very well, and this was the first time he had written in the world.

As soon as I moved the pen, my hand naturally moved, and a rather neat line of text appeared on the white paper.

Lu Yuan felt a pang in his heart, knowing that this was the same as the memories that often appeared in his brain, they were all things attached to his body.

The middle-aged steward's expression was a little surprised, and he said in his heart: "What a handsome word." ”

Then he asked Lu Yuan about his background and home address.

Lu Yuan picked and talked about the original owner's life experience, and hid the matter of the Jinshi in the examination, only saying that he had studied private school for half a year when he was a child, and said that he had defected to relatives before running to Huangkou Village.

The steward was very satisfied, handed over a wooden card and a contract, and said with a smile: "Congratulations, from tomorrow onwards you will be the temporary family member of the Sun Mansion, if you do a good job, you will have the opportunity to be promoted to the official family, the wooden card is a certificate, press a handprint on the contract." ”

Lu Yuan took the wooden card, picked up the contract and looked at it carefully, and found that the salary was higher than what the hammer said, and there were ninety wen a day.

There are also some rules about housekeeping.

For example, treaties such as "no disobedience to superiors", "no disrespect to the head of the family", "the right of the head of the family to dismiss the head of the family at any time".

After reading it, Lu Yuan pressed his handprint on the contract.

The steward continued: "Since you are still a temporary family member, you can't live in the mansion, tomorrow morning, you can come in from the south third gate with this wooden sign to report, okay, you go out." ”

This is exactly what Lu Yuan wants, he still has to take care of the little girl, so he naturally doesn't want to live in the house.

After leaving the room, he picked up the wooden sign and looked at it, there were three words written on it, and there was a small word 'Wen' in the upper left corner.

When he went out, Lu Yuan saw that the family member who led them in was waiting, and stepped forward and asked, "Can I go out?" ”

The guy glanced at the wooden card in his hand and said coldly, "Wait here." ”

After waiting for another cup of tea, Iron Hammer and Wang Dali both came out, neither of them had wooden cards in their hands, their faces were different, Wang Dali's face was bitter, and Iron Hammer was full of smiles.

Although Wang Dali's name is Dali, he is actually extremely thin, and when he saw the wooden card in Lu Yuan's hand, he snorted and followed his family first.

Iron Hammer greeted him warmly, and Lu Yuan asked, "Brother Hammer, what were you doing in there just now, why did it take so long?" ”

Iron Hammer smiled and said, "Carrying the bag, the steward told me to move the sandbag from the left to the right, I listened to you, and deliberately moved it very slowly, so I used it for a long time." ”

Lu Yuan was stunned and said, "After you moved two bags, you directly said that you couldn't move it, isn't it okay?" ”

"I heard him tell me to finish moving, so I did it." Hammer touched his head and smiled.

What an honest man, Lu Yuan sighed.

Out of the mansion, the young people in Huangkou Village who had not yet entered saw that Lu Yuan had obtained a wooden card, and they all stepped forward to inquire, and they were a little depressed when they learned that he could read and write.

"Brother Hammer, let's go to dinner." Lu Yuan was already extremely hungry.

Iron Hammer shook his head: "It's too expensive to eat outside, I'll go back and eat." ”

"It's okay, I'll ask you." He can still afford a meal.

Ignoring his objections, he dragged him to eat on the street.

Leaving the southeast district of the county, the two found a stall selling Hu cakes on a street, and Lu Yuan bought four flax cakes and ate them separately with the hammer.

Later, at Lu Yuan's suggestion, the two walked around the street. He bought a shuttlecock for Lu Yutong, wrapped two more cooking cakes, and then returned to Huangkou Village with the hammer.

Back at Tiezhu's house, Lu Yuan pushed open the door and saw Lu Yutong sitting on the eaves of the bed.

"Dangdang, Yu Hitomi, see what I bought you?" Lu Yuan put his hands in front of the little girl.

Lu Yutong saw that he was holding a cooking cake in his left hand and a shuttlecock in his right hand, his little face smiled, he grabbed the cooking cake and took a bite, and asked, "Have you been called to the family?" ”

"I've been summoned, and I'll go tomorrow morning." Lu Yuan smiled.

Lu Yutong snorted, silently ate the cooking cake, suddenly remembered something, turned out a note and handed it over, and said, "Master Qin came here today, let me give you this note." ”

Lu Yuan took it and looked at it, and wrote on the paper:

The adults are well, the subordinates have placed a small courtyard in the south of the city, the address is located in Pingguifang, Nanning Street, if the adults have something to order, they can send someone to summon each other. Another subordinate has been to the north gate, but has not seen anyone in the house. Subordinate Qin Li on the word.