The caravan brought wonderful vitality to this small mountain village, and the land in front of the temple became a sea of people and goods, a sea of joy.

As the sun rises higher and higher, not only the mountain people from the nearby villages come to catch up with the market, but even in the mountains more than ten miles away, there are many people who get the news, carry the burden and shoulder bundles, and emerge from the mountains and mountains one after another, and come to the land temple in Qingluo Village, and merge into the sea of people.

Chen Qinghua was strolling with Xie Yucheng, when suddenly a servant came to look for him and whispered to him, only to see Chen Qinghua's expression becoming more and more solemn the more he listened.

"Brother Qinghua, what's wrong? What's wrong? As soon as the servant's words fell, Xie Yucheng's concerned voice sounded beside him.

Chen Qinghua smiled at Xie Yuzhen: "Oh, something happened to the mine in the mountains, I have to rush there." I don't know if Brother Xie is interested, let's go to the mine to have a look? ”

"Oh? On the mine? Isn't there a Japanese classmate in the mine who is taking care of it? Xie Yucheng's gaze withdrew from a nearby stall owner who was acrobatic and sold toys, and glanced at Chen Qinghua.

"Yes. The various matters in the mine were quite complicated, but fortunately, my teacher in Japan, Mr. Fujiwara, and some classmates helped with the cooking, otherwise, I would not have been so idle. Chen Qinghua's gaze had already crossed the bazaar in front of him and landed on the reckless mountains, looking worried.

"Mr. Fujiwara? Japanese classmates? ”

When Xie Yucheng heard this, the pair of Japanese male and female thieves he encountered in the mountains immediately appeared in front of him, and his heart jumped for a while, and he glanced left and right, but when he saw the bustling in front of him, shoulder to shoulder, noisy, his right hand quietly touched his waist, and when his palm touched Colt's handle, his heart was a little settled, and he smiled,

"I'm sorry, Brother Qinghua, I don't like Orientals, since there is an urgent matter in the mine, Brother Qinghua can go and deal with it quickly, I will walk around this bazaar, and be familiar with the people of the horse gang, so as not to go to Tanghuwei tomorrow, there is nothing to say between my companions, and I will be embarrassed all the way!"

Chen Qinghua retracted his gaze and glanced at Xie Yucheng a little strangely, but he didn't think much about it, and replied casually:

"That's okay, Ah Fu, don't go with me, you are at home, accompany the commissioner, and go shopping." Speaking of this, he raised his voice again and shouted to Niu Er and the others not far away, "Niu Er, come here." When Niu Er's farts came running around, he quickly ordered: "Niu Er, I have something to do, I want to go to the mountains, you and a few pillars, accompany the commissioner, and when you get to dinner, you will go home to eat, do you hear?" ”

"Oh, that's good." A small bamboo figure pinched on the cow's second-hand hand, and the little man was tirelessly turning his head. When he heard that he could go to Chen's Mansion for dinner at noon, the smiling expression on his face quickly fell, and he straightened his thin chest, "Young Master, you can rest assured, with me accompanying the commissioner, you can't lose it." ”

What's the matter? Can't lose it? What do you mean?

Xie Yucheng listened to Niu Er's words, and his heart suddenly became quite uncomfortable, he looked at Niu Er, and then looked at the master Chen Qinghua, and saw that there was nothing unusual on their faces, and couldn't help but scold himself: nervous!

Chen Qinghua led people to the mountains in a hurry, and Xie Yuzhen, accompanied by Ah Fu and Niu Er, was wandering in front of the Land Temple.

Ah Fu is a loyal servant, accompanying the guests with all his heart, Niu Er is a pranky, funny words and deeds, from time to time to joke about the stuffy stick pillar who follows him, and talks about the village flower girl of Qingluo Village. It can be seen that Niu Er is very envious, jealous and hateful of this stuffy stick.

After strolling around for a while, there were all kinds of stalls in front of me, horsemen and gangsters who had been weathered and weathered, children smiling brightly, honest villagers, the zenith was getting hotter and hotter Xia Yang, and Xie Yuzhen, who was pretending to be troubled, soon became restless.

asked Niu Er to take him to the village for a walk, intending to familiarize himself with the terrain, just in case.

Niu Er had already given the somersault in his hand to Widow Liu's daughter, and when he heard this, he was not allowed.

Several people started patrolling the village again, in front of the village, behind the village, on the left and right sides of the village.

Although Qingluo Village is a remote mountainous area, there are a few scholars, and some small scenery around the village is also elegantly made up of the "Eight Views of Qingluo".

There are three or two places in it, and there are still some wild interests, so I can't help but linger for a while, and when I walk around the village and outside the village, it is already after ten o'clock in the morning.

Several people came to the entrance of the village and sat under the canopy in front of Wang Mazi's shop.

As soon as the shopkeeper Wang Mazi heard that the young man in front of him was the state government commissioner who had made the Liu family in Xikou deflated in Zhentou yesterday, he immediately called loudly to the mother-in-law who was hoeing in the vegetable garden to come back.

Let her boil a pot of boiling water, and she diligently presented the treasured ceramic tea set, brewed the best Luo Xiao green tea, and brought out some mountain fruit snacks and entertained her.

While drinking tea and chatting, a cripple about fifty years old came out from behind the fence, holding a yellow cowhide bag, passing in front of the store, and was stopped by Niu Er.

It turned out that this was a dumb blacksmith in the village, and his ancestral skills were quite good, and he knew it for hundreds of miles.

Niu Er had nothing to do, and shouted teasingly: "Hey, dumb, open your precious skin and show us." ”

The dumb man turned his head, quite unhappy. Wang Mazi next to him immediately stepped forward and reprimanded:

"The person in front of me is the special commissioner of the state government who presided over justice yesterday, and he has no eyes and no nobles. Come in with me, you. With that, he dragged him into the tea shed.

The mute blacksmith had no choice but to limp and cautiously step forward, put the leather bag on the table and open it, and showed the iron inside to the crowd.

The leather bag contained mainly iron horseshoe and bridle accessories, as well as a dozen or so daggers with a ghostly light, seven or eight iron fists, and three or two pairs of grappling hooks.

Xie Yucheng saw those daggers, his eyes lit up, and he saw that one of them was slender in shape, and there were two pieces of cork inlaid on the handle, which fit his eyes very well, and he couldn't help but put it down, turning it over and over, thinking that he could leave it for self-defense.

Niu Er saw Xie Yucheng's appearance, how could he not understand, his eyes rolled, he took out two copper plates from his pocket, slapped them in the hands of the dumb man, and then rolled up the skin bag on the table, stuffed it into the dumb man's arms, and waved his hand: "I see that you are also very busy, let's go, let's go!" ”

The dumb man was dumbfounded. These ironware were specially customized by the caravans who set up stalls in front of the temple, and each of them had a deposit paid in advance. Now that I see that I have one less thing, the dumb man doesn't know what to do.

Niu Er didn't care so much, he put his face on the board, waved to the pillar behind him, and the two stepped forward, pushed the dumb man and pushed him out, and blasted out of the tea shed.

The mute man stood outside with his skin in his arms, babbling and refusing to move.

Seeing this, Wang Mazi walked out quickly, pulled the mute to the side, and persuaded in a low voice: "This commissioner from Nanjing is a big official. What a face it is to be able to look at your things. Besides, the Liu family in Xikou is wealthy, right? Yesterday was not the same, honestly, pay money to ransom people. You'd better go, Niu Er has just joined the armor protection team, and he is full of energy, so don't provoke them! If they are upset, they will charge you with a crime and throw you into the county jail, and you will have to shed your skin if you don't die. You...... Let's go. ”

The dumb man listened, his expression was dazed, he nodded quickly, and just as he was about to leave, he heard Niu Er's voice from behind: "Wait!" ”

The mute's face swished and turned pale.

But he saw Niu Ertoe walking out of the tea shed proudly, throwing a piece of glittering ocean, and scolded with a smile, "I can't imagine that what comes out of your dumb hand can also be taken by the Nanjing government commissioner, come, the commissioner will appreciate it, go." ”

At this moment, the dumb blacksmith smiled, nodded to Niu Er again and again, and thanked Xie Yucheng for his kindness. Niu Er laughed and scolded, raised his foot and kicked him a few times, and then he went happily.

In the scorching summer, a few people drank tea and chatted, and when they were bored, the Chen family came to find it, saying that Liu Kejun sent a housekeeper from Xikou to send the title deed and pension, and at the same time asked to meet the commissioner.

When they returned to Chen's house, the housekeeper was accompanied by Chen's father, talking in the living room. Seeing Xie Yucheng come back, both of them were overjoyed.

"The commissioner is back?" The butler stepped forward and presented a list and an invitation with both hands.

Xie Yucheng took a look and saw that the list listed the compensation and bereavement benefits for the injured, and the amount was relatively generous, and some kind words were written on the invitation, but it was Liu Kejun who invited the commissioner to come to Xikou and stay for two days when he had leisure.

After reading it, Xie Yucheng smiled and asked the housekeeper to tell Second Master Liu, saying that when he had free time, he would go with Young Master Qinghua.

When the butler heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and went with joy.

In the afternoon, Chen's mother brought a few ladies to cut clothes for Xie Yucheng. Xie Yucheng took the opportunity to ask Chen's mother to sew two cloth bags, ready to use them to store a few silver dollars sent by Liu Kejun.

Chen's mother immediately ordered someone to take two cloth blankets, and assisted Xie Yucheng to open the silver dollars and insert them into the blanket one by one.

It was not until this time that Xie Yucheng knew that most of the people before the Republic of China used this kind of blanket to store silver dollars and copper plates. As the saying goes, "the waist is wrapped around 100,000 yuan, and the crane is riding to Yangzhou", people in ancient times went out, and many people carried gold and silver with them in this way.

These ladies are accustomed to female popularity, and they got Chen's mother's instructions, one by one, flying needles and threads, seeing the sun and shadows slanting westward, the sky is getting dark, and two sets of long shirts and pants have been made.

At this time, the hustle and bustle in front of the land temple gradually subsided, and the horse gangsters were packing up their stalls and setting up large and small tents, preparing to feed the horses and cook overnight.

Soon, a pile of fires ignited in the direction of the Land Temple, and the dazzling light of the fire illuminated the sky of Qingluo Village.

Inside and outside the living room of the Chen family, the lamp was turned on early, and the young master of Tsinghua who went into the mountains to do business had not yet returned, and Chen's father called a few village elders to accompany the commissioner for dinner.

This afternoon, Liu Tou and Niu Er, the captains of the Chen family, walked around the village and distributed soup and medicine and pensions to the injured villagers one by one. In front of these villagers who were invited to dinner, it was difficult to hold back the gratitude in their hearts, and they took turns to toast, and the commissioner drank a few cups hard, and quickly became dazzled and his cheeks flew away.

Seeing this, Chen's father and Niu Er stepped forward one after another to block the wine and escort the car. Everyone didn't dare to force it, so they had to disperse in disarray, return to their respective places, continue to push the cup and change the lamp, shout five and drink six, and eat and drink so happily.

The feast lasted a long time.

Xie Yucheng has been thinking about tomorrow morning's itinerary, so he left the table early and returned to the attic to rest.

In his sleep, he returned to the pine and cypress hill, and met the two Japanese again, and during the fight, one of the Japanese pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger on him.

Bang bang bang, the gun went off.

Xie Yucheng clearly saw the muzzle flame flickering and flashing, and the golden bullets shot out of the muzzle one after another, spinning rapidly in the air, stirring up waves of turbulence, and hitting him directly.

He didn't have time to dodge, and suddenly woke up.

The night is already deep, the insects chirp in the courtyard outside, and the spring and waterfall splash near the mountain in the west window. Feeling that the bed board under him was stable, Xie Yucheng felt a little more steady and breathed a sigh of relief.

The room was pitch black, except for a red dot like an incense head in the corner, which was lit to repel mosquitoes, and was emitting a faint fragrance in the pottery bowl on the flower stand.

At this moment, a slight sound sounded in the room, which suddenly made Xie Yucheng feel terrified.

Because the floor of this attic is paved with cedar planks, the sound that is now made is due to the sound of one of the thinner planks being too heavy and sinking slightly.

The sound was extremely thin and faint, and the duration was extremely short, and it was drowned in the sound of the spring, waterfall and insect chirping outside the attic, and Xie Yucheng would not have noticed it.

But at this moment, he just woke up from a nightmare, thinking back on what had happened in the past two days, he felt that he was really lucky, and naturally he was afraid, and at this moment of cold awakening, this subtle voice fell into his ears, and it became extremely clear:

There are people indoors!