The lake plays with willows, and the cicadas chirp.

On the calm water, a large flock of water ducks leisurely foraged for food, hearing the sound of horses' hooves, occasionally an alert duck looked up, and continued to pay attention to the water with disdain.

Who are the two riders?

Leading a horse's head was a young man, wearing a green hat, long thick eyebrows, a straight nose and a wide mouth, a tiger's back and an ape waist, and a sleeveless gown, revealing strong and bulging arm muscles. Riding a big green horse, the saddle hangs a long knife on the left, and the saddle hangs a bow bag on the right.

The one on the back right was a fat man with a sweaty face, also wearing a sleeveless short coat, the fat on his arms trembled and trembled, drenched in sweat, and he was carrying a heavy long-handled mace, and the sharp blades of the canine teeth shone dazzlingly in the scorching sun.

These two people are Jiayin and Qi Sanduo, they set off from Bianjing early yesterday morning, and arrived in Xuzhou in one day, and did not enter the city, and found an inn outside the city to rest.

Although Qin Yue wanted to come, he couldn't be without a master general in the army, so he had to take over Chen Scar, who liked to be his father, and honestly went to duty.

"I didn't expect the lakes here to be crisscrossed, and the scenery is so wonderful, I suspect that I have reached Jiangnan."

Qi San wiped the sweat on his face, changed the mace to his left hand, and then replied: "There are a lot of ducks here, find a place to sharpen at noon, let's have a good meal." ”

Jia Yin tapped the mace in his hand with a horsewhip, and said with a smile: "In Jiulang's words, you are at the top of the bag, I haven't seen you use this when you went into battle, and you came out to play but carried this heavy thing, aren't you tired?" ”

Qi Sanduo crossed the stick, knocked it heavily on the willow tree next to the road, shook the cicadas and danced, and said hardly: "What are you tired, the first time I saw it in the Yangzhou arsenal, I fell in love, but which time I went into battle was not to raise the flag, but I didn't have a good thing to do, so I always had to take it out and play with it." ”

"It's you who says you're not tired, and it's you who is sweating, in short, it's up to you."

The two rode their horses slowly, passed through two Zhuangzi, rested their strength at noon, and inquired about the road several times, and finally found the old Zhuangtai where Zhuang Heng was located when the sunset was full of smoke.

At the entrance of the village, a group of half-grown children were playing, and when they saw the two of them riding a big horse majestically, they stood against the wall in fright, staring at the two curiously with big eyes.

"Excuse me, where is Zhuang Heng's family, or Bao Jiujin's family, who can lead the way? I'll give you a reward. ”

A group of little children looked at the golden copper coin in Jia Yin's hand, and then looked left and right at their companions, but finally focused their eyes on a thin boy of twelve or thirteen years old.

The thin boy was as black as a loach, which was comparable to Zhao Shanbao, but a pair of big eyes were spirit, and when he saw Jia Yin looking over, he hesitated and asked, "How much reward do you give?" ”

Jia Yin threw out the five copper coins in his hand steadily, and the thin boy caught them quickly, tightly clasped them in his hand, raised his hand, and said: "The third house on the right over there is the Bao family, the Zhuang family is still working in the field, and there is no one at home." ”

Jia Yin smiled and thanked him, and rode his horse into the village.

When he came to the thatched hut pointed out by the thin boy, he saw that the earthen wall was broken, and there were figures shaking in the house, but there was a strange smell coming out, Jia Yin hesitated, turned over and dismounted, and asked, "Is anyone at home?" ”

A little girl of seven or eight years old poked her head out of the house and asked curiously, "Who are you looking for?" ”

Seeing that his unkempt head was dirty and his clothes were shabby, Jia Yin hesitated for a moment and said, "Is this Bao Jiujin's family?" ”

The girl didn't, but shouted crisply into the house: "Auntie, someone is looking for ...... father"

After a while, a gray-haired woman poked her head out of the room, looked at the two of them, and looked puzzled: "Two guests, the late husband has been dead for many years, who are you?" ”

Jia Yin knew that he was only in his thirties, but he didn't expect to be so old and tired, and there was a huge sarcoma hanging under his neck, which was due to the lack of salt and the big neck.

"The ninth battalion of the original Hujie Army is a soldier of the fourth and seventh soldiers, and I will meet my sister-in-law."

The woman shrank and disappeared into the darkness, her voice trembling: "You, you, you ......"

"I'm sorry, sister-in-law, I ...... I'm late. ”

Jia Yin was still kneeling on the ground, but his eyes couldn't help but moisten.

Only then did Bao Liushi in the room react, crossed the threshold barefoot, rubbed his hands crampedly, and said: "It turned out to be a colleague in the army, hurry, hurry up, thanks to your care for the past two years, and send copper coins, sit in the house quickly." ”

Jia Yin got up, motioned to Qi Sanduo to take down the gifts in the horse bag, and went into the house first, the room was very dim, Jia Yin came back to get used to it, only to see that there was only a small square table in the room, and a large wooden bed was laid against the wall on the left, but there was a black shadow moving under the bed.

I was about to sit down, but I saw a figure flash in the back stove room, and I was about to take a closer look, but the figure flashed away again, and there was a whisper again.

Qi Sanduo tied up the horse and came in with a horse bag, Jia Yin was not good at words, took out a bag of silver from the horse bag and handed it to Bao Liu, and said: "Sister-in-law, it's been three years, but it's the first time I've come. ”

Bao Liu has been standing, rubbing his hands blankly, obviously not knowing how to receive, subconsciously took the small package, touched, surprised, not to be rude, tied his head to untie, revealing a pile of white silver, his hands immediately trembled, put the silver on the table, and fell to his knees.

"Little guest, you can't stand such a big gift, please take it back, take it back."

Jia Yin helped him up, couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart anymore, and asked: "Sister-in-law, I fought with Brother Bao, I am a real brother of life and death, sister-in-law don't see outside...... In addition, we Chen Tou have sent silver over in the past three years, and there have been twelve taels before and after, you ...... Why are you still having such a hard time? ”

Bao Liu was puzzled: "It is true that there are two copper coins, one consistent, if it weren't for these money relief, our orphans and widows would not be able to survive, I really want to thank you." ”

"Sister-in-law, you remember wrong, it's silver, not copper coins, how much does it cost to send copper coins."

"Yes...... But what we received was indeed copper coins. ”

"What about the dealer?"

"It's the same with the dealer, Erya, go and call your Aunt Zhuang over."

Someone under the stove answered crisply, and then I heard someone running out.

Jia Yin knew that there must be a problem, Chen Tou couldn't lie to himself, the mail route of the trust was either Longchang Xing or Su Ji Guangshuntang, so it was basically clear which link went wrong in the middle, he settled down, thought about it and asked: "The silver we sent, you got the copper coin, I don't know where you got the copper coin?" ”

"Zhuang Qigongna, he is our Lizheng, and every time his helper helps us carry it."

Jia Yin shivered excitedly, and gestured to Qi Sanduo with his eyes, Qi Sanduo saw the killing intent in his eyes, and immediately went out to get the other two horse bags.

Jia Yin did not shy away from suspicion, took off his short coat, changed into a crimson robe with tight sleeves, put on thin-soled fast boots, and buckled the belt of the seven-star tiger head.

Bao Liu stood on the side at a loss, seeing that the little guest changed into a general robe, he suddenly became majestic, and he really didn't know what to do.

"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'm here, and I won't let you suffer any more losses."

After a while, Zhuang Heng's family came, and Jia Yin saw that his clothes were slightly better, but his face was the same, and when he asked, he had only received two pieces of money in the past three years.

Jia Yin couldn't hold back any longer, asked the home of the seventh prince of Mingzhuang, asked the two families to follow, and left with a knife.