Pang Jinming entered the house to cover the door, and a strong old smell first penetrated his nose. In the darkness, the old man lit a dim oil lamp, barely half of the small room.

"The place is small, make a floor there, and you will be settled." The old man said, and slowly approached a cupboard, looking for the futon, "You are lucky, there is just a quilt here, hehe, I also said that it is useless, and I will be a ...... in a few days."

Pang Jinming thanked him, looked up and looked around the room, only to see that although the place was small, there were a lot of things piled up, and there was even a hard bow hanging on one wall.

"I can't see that Ah Weng can shoot arrows." Pang Jinming quipped, wanting to bring the relationship between the two closer.

The old man pulled the futon and said, "How can I shoot arrows." This bow was originally my eldest son's arm strength in the past, and he pulled it easily, but I tried it, but I couldn't pull it a bit. This was originally self-deprecating, but when it came to "Da'er", the old man was not ashamed of himself, but his face was full of pride.

Pang Jinming followed his words and asked, "Oh? Ling Lang is a member of the army? ”

"Not really." The old man laid down the quilt, stretched out his head and said, "He is a general under Hou Shuai in Sichuan, and he has a hundred and ten people!" ”

Pang Jinming flattered: "If you want to win, you want to win, serve in Hou Shuai's account, and the future will be limitless." ”

The old man smiled, but a lonely look suddenly appeared on his face, Pang Jinming was careful, and called softly: "Ah Weng? ”

"Huh?" The old man withdrew from his thoughts, and began to arrange the corners of the quilt again, "Alas, what do you say about this official, do you deserve it?" ”

Pang Jinming didn't know what was going on, and asked, "What should be deserved?" ”

The old man said, shaking his head slightly: "A few years ago, Hou Shuai came to Hanzhong Mansion to recruit troops, and my eldest son was the one who joined the army at that time. I have three sons, and this eldest is the most obedient and filial, but after joining the army, he never came to Baocheng again, but he only asked someone to bring some silver taels every once in a while. You say that I am so old that eating one meal of pickle gruel a day is enough to live, why do I need so much silver? Oh, this silver is accumulating more and more, and I can't spend it, and I'm really panicking......"

Pang Jinming interjected at this time: "Ah Weng, you and I have never known each other, and since you allow me to live and disclose such news, aren't you afraid that I am a villain?" ”

The old man was smoothed out by the horns, and sighed: "At the moment, there is no such thing as a bad person, cough cough, don't mention this." In the next life, I don't think you look like a traitor, why did you become a thief? ”

As soon as these words came out, Pang Jinming's heart was shocked, and he couldn't help but put his hand on the hilt of the knife, and said in a deep voice: "Why did Ah Weng slander me for no reason? ”

The old man shook his head again and again and said, "I'm old and old, but my eyes are still there, I have buried the outfit you picked up in Xiaojing Lane." It seems to be deserted, but there are a few clumps of vegetable furrows, and people often go to take care of them, and they see that they have reported to the official, and they will come to search for you if they can't say it. ”

Pang Jinming broke out in a cold sweat, barely calmed down, and said, "It turned out that Ah Weng saw it......" As he spoke, his right hand tightly grasped the handle of the knife.

The old man glanced at him and said quietly: "Housheng, you don't have to be nervous, if I want to sue you, you will be arrested earlier." I brought you in with no intention of harming you. After that, he ignored Pang Jinming's possible outburst at any time and began to continue to sort out the bedding.

Pang Jinming listened, and saw that he didn't seem to be malicious, and he was a little relieved, but after this experience, his heart fluctuated, and he could no longer pretend to be calm, so he lowered his voice and said: "Since Ah Weng knows the identity of his junior, why is he willing to help?" ”

The old man suddenly raised his head at this time, the horizontal lines on his forehead were particularly distinct in the dim light, he half smiled bitterly, half helplessly said: "Whether it is a thief or an official, what is the difference to me?" In the later life, I said that my eldest son was a general under the tent of Hou Shuai. But you don't know that my second son is also an 'official' elsewhere! ”

Pang Jinming heard that there was something in his words, and said solemnly: "Oh? Please speak clearly. ”

The old man smiled dryly and said: "He is a coward under the red thief, entrenched in several counties, do you say he is powerful?" ”

"Huh?" Pang Jinming was surprised when he heard this, the red thief is the little red wolf, and he is a well-known thief in Hanzhong. is born to the same mother, the eldest son is an official, and the second son is a coward, which is rare.

"My unscrupulous second son has been idle since he was a child, and he is not involved in industry. Alas, I also blame my godson for having no way, and finally let him fall into the evil path with that group of fox friends and dogs...... However, he often stole through the walls of the city and came into the city to see me, and I tried to persuade him to abandon evil and turn to good, but in vain. In the end, it was a handful of and a handful of urine, I couldn't go to the yamen to sue him, and only told the public that he had already died...... Hey, the others didn't pay attention to it...... "The old man laid out the floor, dusted off his head, stood up, turned his back to the light, and couldn't see the expression on his face, but from his tone, he could hear that he had a love and hate for his two sons.

"When I saw that when he came, he was always hungry and cold, and though he hated his virtue, I could not bear it: so when he came, I gave him all the money that my eldest son had brought him. I hope that he will live better, and that he will receive these subsidies so that he will not harm others. The old man said intermittently, while Pang Jinming listened silently. The distance between the word official and thief used to be so far away in his opinion, but in the mouth of this old man, it was like a line apart.

Maybe he was infected by the old man's emotions, Pang Jinming hadn't felt so stuffy in his chest for a long time, he didn't have much to say, and he didn't know what to say at this time, so he could only be speechless and stunned at the old man.

"Housheng, you say, should one day, my two children meet in the battle array, right?" After a long time, the old man said with a smile, a seemingly ordinary sentence, but Pang Jinming could feel the incomparably strong worry and sorrow revealed in it. Such a scene, just thinking about it makes people shudder, and from the mouth of such a father, how many vicissitudes of life are involved.

The matter of cannibalism, Pang Jinming has only heard of storytellers before, but this scene is very likely to really happen to the two sons of this old man. He couldn't imagine how many days and nights of mental torture this shriveled and thin body had suffered, but he believed that the moment when he handed over the eldest child's money to the second son must be the most painful and helpless moment for this old man.

"I didn't dare to reveal these words to others in the past few years, and I only said them to you." The old man talked a lot, and his tone suddenly relaxed a lot. It can be expected that such worries are piling up in his heart like a mountain, and it is really uncomfortable if he does not find someone to talk to. Even if it doesn't help to say it, it relieves a lot of stress.

This old man is just one of the thousands of Li Shu in the Ming Dynasty, and it is conceivable that a person like him will never be an exception to such a thing. Countless individuals and families have struggled in the double purgatory of mind and body in the troubled times, and have issued the humblest cry. And when these faint cries gradually gather in one place, for survival and hope, then they will burst out with the most powerful cry!

Pang Jinming thought for a long time, until the old man greeted him: "Housheng, the futon is laid, you wipe your body with a cloth first." ”

After taking the rag, Pang Jinming didn't do it immediately, and couldn't help asking: "Ah Weng, did you leave your juniors for the night, just to say these words?" Ming people don't say dark words, Pang Jinming believes that this old man is a good person, but this alone can allow him to take the risk of "thief" to contain himself, but I am afraid that there is no such possibility. If it's really just because of kindness, then this old man is not a human being, but a bodhisattva.

The old man grinned, revealing his mutilated teeth, and said, "You are a real descendant. ”

Pang Jinming arched his hand and said: "Please forgive me, the younger generation is very careful, and if you don't figure it out, you can't sleep steadily." ”

The old man nodded and said, "Wait a minute. So saying, he turned to the corner of the house, where there was no light, so he searched for a while in the dark, and then took out a long strip of something.

When the thing got closer, Pang Jinming found that it looked like a knife in shape, but it was covered with gray cloth, so he asked, "Is this a knife?" ”

The old man didn't speak, but as soon as he untied the string, the gray cloth immediately slid down, and under the lamplight, a delicate Yanling knife shone brightly.

Pang Jinming's eyes straightened: "This, this knife ......" He really couldn't imagine that such a dilapidated house would have such a treasure knife.

The old man quickly wrapped the knife again, and said: "In the past two months, the patrol inside and outside the city has been very strict, and my second son may not have a chance, and it will be a long time coming." It is difficult for me to explain to him what I have in mind. Later life, since you are outside the city, can you find an opportunity to give this knife to me? He saw the sword, and knew what I meant. ”

Pang Jinming hesitated: "This ...... How can I find him in the vast sea of people? But he added, "You said he was working under the little red wolf, and that's a clue." ”

The old man responded: "That's it, Hou Sheng, I can't keep this knife here, if you can find my second son, give him the knife, if not, you can collect this knife yourself." ”

Pang Jinming listened to his speech speed up, seemed to be in a hurry to give the knife away, doubted in his heart, and said, "This knife ......"

The old man smiled and said: "The small temple can't accommodate the big Buddha, and this knife is not suitable for my broken house to eat ashes." It's getting late at night, so you should quickly wipe it off, or you won't disturb the neighbors, so that nothing goes wrong. ”

Pang Jin saw that he didn't want to say it clearly, so he didn't ask any more. In the end, the other party did himself a great favor, but a knife, he took it, and he could still eat himself? Thinking of this verse, he no longer worried about anything else, and said: "Ah Weng is righteous, how can the younger generation have a reason to excuse himself!" ”

When the old man heard this, he smiled sincerely: "This is good, this is good." ”

Because he had made up his mind to get up early tomorrow morning to visit, Pang Jinming took off his coat and wrung it out, hung it on the shelf, hastily dried his body, and lay down on the bunk. At this time, he remembered something and said to the old man standing by the oil lamp: "Ah Weng, you just said that you have three sons. The eldest son and the second son have all said, where else has he gone? After thinking about it, he continued, "This bedding, isn't it his?" ”

As soon as the words came out, Pang Jinming was shocked to see that the old man's face suddenly tightened, but the oil lamp was blown out at the same time, and the twitching face flashed away in front of his eyes.

I only heard the old man's trembling voice say: "No, it's not his, it's his business, and I don't want to talk about it anymore......"

Pang Jinming knew that he was speechless, and he was speechless. Lying on his side and closing his eyes, thinking about what to do tomorrow. After a while, I heard the old man on the bed say: "I still have a set of clean clothes in the cupboard, you change into them tomorrow morning, and I will take the opportunity to send you out of the city." ”

Pang Jinming wouldn't tell him the plan he had come up with, but said: "I think the defense of this Baocheng is very tight, I'm afraid it's not easy to go out." ”

"Strict?" The old man suddenly sneered for some reason, "It's just some paper puppets, deceiving themselves." ”

Pang Jinming sensed the key point, and immediately raised his spirit, pricked up his ears, and asked, "What?" With so many troops stationed in the city, I am afraid that there are some general troops here to assist in the defense, so there is such a weather! ”

The old man's dry voice came from the darkness: "In a remote town like ours, how can any general soldier look at it?" After a pause, he continued, "Have you seen a boat?" Even a fish of this size can swell up a lot when it is attacked by an enemy, so as to intimidate the opponent. However, if the enemy comes, it will be difficult to escape death. ”

Pang Jinming couldn't lie down anymore, Gu Lu sat up, and said in amazement: "Ah Weng means that the soldiers in this city ......"

In the darkness, the old man didn't respond again, just yawned for a long time, smacked his lips and said, "People are old and useless, and as soon as the lights go out, they are very sleepy." Don't say it, don't say it, I'm sleepy first. ”

Pang Jinming sat on the bunk, listening to the wind and rain outside the house, his heart was churning, he was extremely fortunate now, there was nothing wrong with his trip to Baocheng.