But after two or three days, a rare thing spread in Huojiabao, the monk who killed two wolves and saved the merchant Liu Laozhu turned out to be a relative of Liu Laozhu's deceased woman on the long road, and this time he came to Yi County to go to Liu Laozhu; The funny thing is that both the monk and Liu Laozhu didn't know the identities of the two parties at the beginning, and they made a lot of jokes. Then there were rumors that Liu Laozhu's relatives were not monks at all, and they were actually vulgar for a long time. It is also said that the person could not be considered a monk in the first place, on the basis that the person had hair on his head and no ring scars on the top of his head. There is also some debate about whether the person was a monk or not, or whether he had ever been a monk. And according to some people who came back from Liu Laozhu's visit under various banners, that person should have been a little monk for a few days before, the reason is that Liu Laozhu's daughter Liu Yue'er, and the four female babies of Huo Seventeen's family, always called that person "Brother Monk and Brother Monk". As a result, another debate arose over whether an unordained little monk was considered a monk or not......

In the past few days, Shang Cheng, a relative of Liu Laozhu's family on the long road, has been the focus of people's discussions, and people have expressed their admiration for his courage and ability to kill wolves while discussing whether he has been a monk or not. It's also normal for people not to care about where he comes from. Now that Liu Laozhu has recognized him as a relative, Huo Qiqi has also declared his household registration in the county government for him, and the officials have recognized it, why should others worry about it? As for Gao Xiaosan and his father-in-law's family, who vaguely knew the secret of Shang Cheng's origin, they didn't say a word about this matter from beginning to end, and when others asked about the day they killed the wolf, they only said that when they rushed over, they saw two dead wolves.

How the two wolves were killed by Shang Cheng, whether they were hacked to death with a knife or smashed to death by a wooden stick, immediately became a new topic; The latest claim is that he was strangled to death by Shang Cheng, of course, many people doubt it. Some people also ran to find Shang Cheng and Liu Laozhu. But the two parties involved in this incident are not clear about their tongues, and the other is that outsiders are timid and don't like to talk much, so people have to use their imagination to add fuel to this story. It wasn't until a good person ran to the leather shop to inquire that he learned that the two wolf skins were intact, with neither arrow eyes nor knife edges, which was enough to prove that the monk had indeed killed the two scourge guys with his bare hands! And the news came from the restaurant that the male of the two wolves was bigger than a calf, and the smaller one was not much smaller than a calf......

A monk can kill two guys like this with his bare hands? Is this still worth it? What an incredible man!

So before Shang Cheng recognized all the people in the street and alley where Liu Laozhu lived, he had already faintly become the number one person in Huojiabao. Not only the people of Huojiabao are talking about him, but also the people in the countryside around Huojiabao are talking about him, and before he knows it, he has become a well-known figure in a radius of dozens of miles around Huojiabao. And with the passage of time, with the casual gossip and conversation of those who came and went to Huojiabao to rest and do business, his fame gradually spread to Nanzheng and Beizheng, to Duanzhou Mansion and Yanzhou Mansion, and also to the grassland, and to the south......

People soon found that this young descendant not only has a good body and a good strength, but also a good craftsmanship of a craftsman, and can do the work of building a wall and building a house and repairing a house, if anyone does not believe it, you can go to Liu Laozhu's house to see the newly built mud courtyard wall, the new stove house, the new stove, and even the dam in the yard have been refilled with soil, which is both smooth and strong. Although the Liu family is still the three thatched houses, and although the Liu family is still poor, looking at the new yellow and fluffy courtyard, people can't help but be envious and jealous.

After tidying up the courtyard of Liu Laozhu's house, Shang Cheng helped repair the courtyard of Huo Seventeen's family again, and helped the two neighbors rebuild the stove by the way. The new stove not only saves firewood and does not return to smoke, people are busy in the stove room, and they will no longer be choked so that their eyes can't open, tears and snot flow, and they can save half of the time they usually spend cooking a meal. People were amazed at his craft, and the quick-witted people immediately invited him to build a stove for his house, and they were willing to pay him for it. So in the next half a month, Shang Cheng became a plasterer specializing in building stoves.

It's a pity that he only worked in this business for half a month. After all, he didn't have any experience as a professional plasterer, and there was no skill in making a living from this stove that could be kept secret, and others could just watch him do it once, and he could learn his craft in a similar way, and it was even more beautiful and fine than he did.

But he didn't have anything to do. Huojiabao is a bustling market town, there are always people willing to invest money to build houses here, and various construction sites always need manpower, especially people like him. On the first day he worked on the site of the first restaurant, he was promoted by the master's family to be the leader of the small workers, and he was given a worker's salary. He is indeed worthy of the money he receives, carrying stones and carrying wood and mud one by one, and what he does is the hardest and most tiring work on the construction site, and occasionally he can give the old craftsman a little drawing and guidance, and what he says always makes people look at him with an incredible face.

Of course, he didn't always have something to do, and when he had nothing to do, he ran to help Huo Seventeen's family and help Seventeen aunts manage those acres of dry land. The people around him were all veterans of the crops, and it was immediately obvious that although he was unfamiliar with the work in his hands, he himself went to the blacksmith's shop to blow the fire and instructed the blacksmith master to beat out a few farm tools, which opened everyone's eyes, and some people curiously took the few hoes and rakes of different shapes to try them out, and turned around and asked the blacksmith to buy a set for himself in the same way. Not only the farm tools, but even the harness and plough of Huo Seventeen's ploughing cattle were all replaced by him, and it was also within a few days, and the capable people around him all changed them like cats and tigers......

Now that the poor people of Huojiabao are together again, as long as they mention the merchant monks who have joined Liu Laozhu's family, they can't help but praise: That's a capable person!

Three months of hard work also made Shang Cheng's appearance change a lot. He is no longer the white appearance he had when he first came into this world. He now has a dark face and a sparse beard stubble on his chin. The hair also grows up, so that people don't think it's a monk at first glance; The originally delicate and fair hands and feet have transformed into thick arms and strong legs, and the rough skin shines with a healthy luster; Blood blisters on his hands were worn out and now thick calluses. Every time I work hard until the evening to return to Liu's house, when I pull off my gown in the yard and brush the sweat stains and dirt on my back and chest with cold water, I can see the old and new scars left by doing heavy work on my back and shoulders.

Now judging from his appearance, except for the hair that has not yet grown, no one can tell that he was once a monk. When he speaks, he still has a Beijing accent, but he can understand what others say, and from time to time he will pop out of his mouth like other laborers. Except for those eyes that were always full of melancholy and sorrow, he had become an ordinary miserable person through and through.

Of course, what can only change is his appearance, and what is going on in his heart, no one else knows.

It can't be said that no one knows at all, at least Liu Laozhu and his daughter can see some clues. Several times at night, they all saw Shang Cheng sitting alone in the courtyard, with his face up, staring at the starry sky for a long time, and letting out a sigh from time to time. On the day of Qingming, Le'er went to her mother's grave, and when she came back, she saw Shang Cheng lighting three sticks of incense under a big locust tree and kowtowing three times. The little girl didn't bother him. She made a circle and returned home from the other side of the market town.

Occasionally, Huo Shiqi will come to visit the door. At this time, Le Er would sensibly go to the street to buy a small jar of wine, and then pick up two or three dishes in the kitchen, and then sit quietly by the door of the hall to do needlework, watching the adults eat, drink, and talk.

In August, Uncle Seventeen rarely came, and the affairs in the yamen suddenly increased, and he always went to other counties for official business. From the eldest girl and the second girl, Yue'er also knew that in just one month, Uncle Seventeen had been to Beizheng County twice and Nanzheng once, and he would go to Guangliang with the pack team next month. Her father was also busy, and even people and horses were requisitioned by the government to transport grain and grass. Only the eldest brother monk is still idle, but as a Xiangyong, he was called by the yamen to go back to the Mao, and at the same time received the money and food that Xiangyong deserved for three months.

There were already rumors in Huojiabao that the imperial court was going to raise troops, and the most outrageous one was rumored to have a nose and eyes, and it was said that the army would be raised this autumn to fight the Tuqi people on the grassland. This rumor caused panic in the market town. The county government found a few people who spread this rumor one after another, and one by one they pressed on the ground and took off their pants and slapped 30 boards in public, but they could not stop the rumor. In the end, it was the older generation who came out to refute the rumors. They said that if you want to raise troops, you must gather generals and gather troops, but the two sentinel guards in the county town are still two sentinel guards, neither more nor less, which kind of soldiers are this xing? Then the news came from Yanzhou and Duanzhou, and it was also calm and calm, and it seemed that the matter of Xingbing was indeed a rumor.

However, the townsmen of several nearby villages and towns have begun to train in Huojiabao from time to time, and the people who come to guide their training are the guards in the county seat. The leader of the guards who led the team over last time was the officer who caught the monk's eldest brother at the gate of the county seat. The officer seemed to remember the monk's eldest brother and pulled him to talk for a long time. This made Yue'er, who was hiding far away from watching the lively crowd, worry for a long time. Later, the officer also took off his armor and tried it with the monk, and was knocked down on the field by the monk's eldest brother in three or five strokes. The officer can't do it, and neither can the guards who came with him, and in the blink of an eye, the three guards were all kicked down by the monk's eldest brother, and one guy was picked up by the monk's eldest brother and thrown out of the distance, and the mouth of the dang and the merger shouted wow, dancing and falling into a haystack, and was laughed at by the onlookers for a long time. Later, a guard from Liuzhen wanted to persuade the monk to eat food and become a soldier, but fortunately, she reacted quickly to stop him. She also took out her aunt's identity and taught the younger generation of the Liu family a lesson. The next day, when she told Uncle Seventeen about it as her own credit, Uncle Seventeen reprimanded her for being stupid one by one! Then she realized that the eldest brother monk already had a household registration, and even if he was a soldier, he was not afraid of being exposed; Besides, the monk can't do odd jobs all his life to support himself, right? With his physical strength, ability, and ability, eating food and becoming a soldier is the best way out, and it is also the fastest way out......

She couldn't help but blame herself for being troublesome, causing the monk brother to miss a good opportunity. Fortunately, the guards will come again to train Xiangyong, and the monk brother still has a chance.

Just when she was anxiously looking forward to the officer coming to Huojiabao with the guards again, Gao Xiaosan, who had not shown up for a long time, stood outside the courtyard wall.

"Uncle Zhuzi, are you here? I'm looking for you! ”