Shock, a young boy of 15 years old, half a head shorter than Hauff, with freckles on his nose and cheeks, and a pair of large eyes, was now raising his eyebrows, excitedly looking at his first weapon.

It was a sword about nine inches long, cast in bronze with a ring-shaped handle, and it was held in amazement as it slashed through the fallen roots of the great banyan tree, and the thin branches broke in response.

He couldn't help but praise: "Brother Zhong, this sword is really sharp!" How much did you buy it? ”

"It's just over a hundred dollars."

Heifu was holding two grass carp bought in the township market in his left hand, and carrying a heavy blanket in his right hand, which was an understatement, but he stuck out his tongue in surprise: "Changing into rice, it is enough for me to eat for more than a month." ”

At this time, although iron tools were already widely used in agricultural handicrafts, iron weapons were still not very mature. Especially in the Qin State, bronze weapons are preferred, because as a standard weapon in the army, it is necessary to consider not only its performance, but also its cost. There are a large number of copper mines in the Jianghan area, and it is much more cost-effective to manufacture bronze weapons in large batches with a casting process that has approached perfection than iron weapons that have been tempered slowly.

Even so, the young boys in the countryside who have no income want a bronze dagger but can't. After being shocked, he kept pulling it out of the scabbard, couldn't put it down, and said triumphantly: "Let's see who dares to mess with me in the future!" I'll give him a sword!" ”

"What nonsense!"

Heifu frowned, and began to regret the purchase of the sword, his younger brother was impatient, and often argued with others when he disagreed, and sooner or later he would cause trouble, so he reprimanded:

"I bought you a sword because you are 15 years old, and you will soon be an adult, and the swordsman and husband are armed, so you can defend yourself and use it to ward off thieves and protect your family, but you can't use it to fight bravely. You must know that the law has a word in advance, and if two people fight, the government will send the person who fights privately to hard labor. As for biting off someone's nose, tearing off his ear, breaking his fingers, etc., the punishment is even more enduring. If the sword is wielded, the punishment is even more severe. ”

With a startled sigh, he obediently put away his sword.

But after a while, after passing by two little village girls who pointed at them and snickered, he said happily: "Brother Zhong doesn't know, now the young people in the middle school are all obeying me, because I am the brother of Brother Zhong, so they surrounded me and asked me to tell them about your deeds of capturing the three thieves and grabbing the blade empty-handed." The two neighbor's daughters were also dumbfounded, and they all said that you are not like this on weekdays, you look at the way they look at you...... Hey, hey, hey. ”

In fact, when he first heard about the rumors of Heifu, he almost dropped his jaw, in the past ten years, Brother Zhong gave him the impression that he didn't talk much, was silent, although he had a lot of strength, but he was far from the "warrior".

Who would have thought that Brother Zhong would be famous in the county when he went out to serve for the first time, and he also went from being surprised at the beginning, to having a bright face later, and taking the initiative to brag.

"When will Brother Zhong teach me your ability to capture thieves?"

Shocked a little impatient with him, he always felt that Brother Zhong must have secretly learned martial arts from somewhere.

"More on that later."

Heifu didn't care about him, but kept greeting the villagers.

Think about him when he left here to serve more than a month ago, who wanted to ask him more? And now, regardless of men, women, and children, whenever they meet them on the road, they must stop them to greet each other and have a friendly attitude. Even Tian Dian and Wu Lao, who were arrogant in the past, would invite him to sit at home warmly and enthusiastically when they met him......

Heifu had to respond one by one, and his mother once told him that in Lilu's life, the most important thing is neighborly harmony, and don't let the neighbors think that you are arrogant and look down on people. The people in the township are very simple, but they are also small, and the smaller the place, the more so.

His house was at the end of the sunset, so Heifu passed all the way in front of forty or fifty houses, greeted thirty or forty times, declined countless invitations, real or false, and finally moved to his house.

Coming here, Hefu felt even more at home.

Heifu's house is a standard public homestead, larger than the homes of ordinary scholars, but not as far away as Lizheng and Tian Dian's homes, but the vacant land outside the house is not wasted, and there are more than 20 mulberry trees planted, but the mulberry leaves have long been gone, and only bare branches remain.

In the spring, these mulberry trees are the meat of their mother's heart, and at that time, the old man and his daughter-in-law take turns to get up at night to add mulberry leaves to the crazy silkworms. So all night, the house was filled with the rustle of silkworms eating mulberry leaves, like a gentle wind and drizzle...... The mother always didn't let her three sons do this work, thinking them clumsy and not serving the spring silkworms well, in fact, Heifu knew that he felt sorry for them.

A five-acre house, a mulberry tree, and fifty people can be clothed...... It's a pity that Mencius was too ideal after all, and the poor were reluctant to wear raw silk and woven silk cloth by themselves, preferring to sell it in the bazaar, or even directly use it for money, in exchange for more practical agricultural tools and salt. In Heifu's memory, his mother was also in her fifties, and she didn't know how many pieces of cloth she had woven in her life, but she had never worn silk silk on her body.

In the summer, this little piece of mulberry tree became the world of the younger brother and the pair of nephews and nieces, and he would take the two little children around three or four times a day, and pick up all the mulberries on the branches and the ground, but he could not cheapen the turtledoves and the neighbors. The red and purple mushrooms are sweet and sour, and they are a rare snack for the people, and even a family can hope to satisfy their hunger in a famine year.

I walked around the bare mulberry trees and came to the courtyard wall, but I saw that the wall was about six or seven feet high, and the yellow mud with straw was exposed, and the wall was not plastered. The wooden door is low, and I don't know how many years it has not been renovated, the wind and rain blow, cracked out a lot of fine cracks, and the paint has also fallen off most of it, so a black piece, a white piece, has become a big flower face, which looks very undignified.

"Didn't I ask my uncle to repair the walls and doors of the courtyard after he came back with the money?"

Hefu frowned again.

Shocked and said nonchalantly: "Brother Zhong, you don't know that your uncle is a person, and you don't want to spend any money that you don't have to spend, and all the money you asked him to bring back is put in his mother's." said that he wanted to build a new house for you, but when the time came, he was afraid that he would not have enough money, so how could he dare to use it to repair the old house. ”

Heifu didn't think about it so much, if it went well, he would go to Huyang Pavilion dozens of miles away to take office, and if he didn't come back for ten days and half a month, it didn't make a difference whether the new house was built or not.

At this time, Jing was already knocking on the door and shouting: "Mother, uncle, middle brother, I have brought it back!" ”

Soon, the door came in response, and he walked out with a smile on his face, but he reprimanded and exclaimed: "Let you pick up people, but you are empty-handed all the way, like what words, how old are you, why are you still so ignorant." ”

As he spoke, he took half of the things in Heifu's hand, but he just stuck out his tongue, jumped into the door first, and shouted: "Mother, sister-in-law Qiu, Brother Zhong is back, and he bought fish, let's eat something good today......

Heifu shook his head helplessly, these third brothers have been spoiled since they were children, and they don't know that the world is difficult.

His family's house is very similar to the rural families of later generations, one house and two interiors, divided into front and back yards.

Pushing the door into the front yard, the first thing is a kennel, a big yellow dog smells the familiar smell, and is already barking. At this moment, he rushed over with an arrow, sticking out his tongue, and walked around the black man.

He said: "This yellow dog likes to be close to you, and if you are not in this month, you will be listless, and you will lie on your stomach and don't want to move." ”

"That's nature, I brought it back in the first place."

Hefu also smiled and touched the yellow fur on the back of its neck, and the big yellow dog squinted in great enjoyment, and wagged his tail incessantly.

Although everyone eats dog meat these days, the family guard dog is never allowed to eat. As the saying goes, "There are no dogs before, and those who have no dogs after are mediocre." In other words, if you can't afford to have dogs in the front yard and pigs in the back yard, it means that the family is so poor that they can only work as a servant.

The pigsty in the backyard has been vacant for a long time, but the big yellow dog in the front yard has also been raised for almost five years.

"Middle Father!"

As he spoke, two crisp children's voices sounded in the courtyard, and a pair of young children rushed over.

In front of the run was a boy with two hairs, about 6 years old, barefoot, dirty, but fortunately he finally put on a newly modified short shirt, and he didn't have to be bare-assed anymore.

Running behind was a little girl with eyebrows in front and braids in the back, less than 5 years old, wearing a dress that was obviously too big, stumbling and stumbling, seeing that the brother in front of her didn't wait for her at all, she was about to cry.

This is the son and daughter of the heart, and a pair of nephews and nieces of Heifu, named "Yang" and "Yue".

They ran one after the other, and the boy was the first to hit Hef's left leg, looking up and smirking. The girl arrived, but not to be outdone, her slender little arm hugged Heifu's right leg......