In the next two days, Shang Cheng seized the time to meet with the gentry of various villages, and spent another day to make arrangements for all the official affairs at hand, and then left Zhongzhai with Shi Baokan, Sun Zhongshan and two female babies, and a group of six people, five horses and a carriage, and went south in the cold north wind. Walking on the road, he was still thinking about the things in the military village. The various villages under his jurisdiction in Chuandao, because the time he arrived in office was too short, he actually went to see all of them in person, and all the situations were heard from his subordinates and the gentry and officials of the villages, all of which were too good news to be good. The situation in the military fortification is also worrying. The first is winter clothing. Not to mention this year, there are still more than 600 sets of winter clothes left last year, and when he was in Dujiadian, he had a quarrel with the envoy Yamen, so he wanted to come with 400 sets, but so far only 280 sets have been delivered, and there are still many gaps in the number of heads. In desperation, he could only squeeze out a part of Zhongzhai's military affairs funds first, and then took out forty yuan from his waist bag, collected one hundred yuan, and sent someone to Duanzhou Mansion as soon as possible. But when he went out, there was no news from Duanzhou. In addition to the matter of winter clothes, money and food are also a thing. The problem of money is not big, even if you don't break through the sky, the deficit in the big account of the military village is less than 20 yuan; The food is not enough, and the bandits' den can make the border army of Ximazhi have a fat year. But today, the snow road is difficult, and the grain is still piled up in the lower village, and the village cannot be transported. He tried his best, and finally sent 200 sets of new winter clothes and more than 100 stone grains and wheat to Shangzhai, as well as a large amount of oil, salt, pickles, and firewood, but more than 100 and 200 people had to spend the winter there, and he didn't have any bottom in his heart to support these things for a few days. Before leaving, he had repeatedly explained the logistics that no matter what method they came up with, even if it was the highest salary, they would send the second batch of thirty loads of supplies as soon as possible, but he was worried that without his supervision, how efficient would these people be, and whether they would discount his words. There are also four beacon towers outside the Sichuan Road in the north, and there are also more than twenty or thirty people stationed, where the roads are more difficult, the conditions are more difficult, and I don't know if we can get supplies in time......

Also, in this cold and frozen land, will there be people in the poor families in various villages who have no cooking? Has there been a farmer's house that collapsed in the snow? Can the local head of the household take care of the help in time? Moreover, he let Guan Xuan, who was already a loyal and brave man, distribute the money and food obtained by those bandits, and he didn't know what Guan Miao had done......

He was thinking about these troubles all the way. Sometimes he even felt that he shouldn't have agreed to Sun Zhongshan in a hurry. He should wait for everything to be understood, and then lead the two girls to Yixian; Or simply write a letter for Sun Zhongshan to carry, Yue'er and Uncle Seventeen saw his letter, and naturally arranged it for him. But now it's too late to say anything, he has already promised Sun Zhongshan that he will do family affairs for him when he arrives in Yi County, and he will be his officiant as a brother. This situation is too big, he can't shirk it at all, and now he can only rush back to Yixian County after the meeting, and then divide Sun Zhongshan's marriage by two, and then rush back non-stop.

It took three days from West Malaysia to Beizheng, and it took a day and a half to hold a meeting, and I met Wen Mu, who happened to be on business in Beizheng, and the two of them went to the family tavern for another half a day...... It wasn't until a full decade had passed since the time of coming out of Zhongma that the group came to Huojiabao.

Shang Cheng pointed to a house on the edge of the market town and said to Sun Zhongshan, "That's my seventeenth uncle's house. Let's go over and see if he's at home. ”

Sun Zhongshan, who acted as a coachman all the way, glanced at it, and didn't see anything unusual about this mansion. The earthen courtyard wall, except for the blue brick wall hat on the wall, is no different from the courtyard wall of the surrounding neighbors. The wall was not high, only as good as the usual chest, and the white ash plastered on the wall had long since fallen off, and there were potholes everywhere, and the dry yellow straw mixed in the mud was exposed in clusters in the east and west. Because it was getting late, the courtyard gate was tightly covered, and only half of the paintings on the gate were left, and the two door gods who lacked arms and legs were very majesticly shrunk in the cold wind. The only eye-catching thing is that there is a small gatehouse with a single eaves above the gate, and there is a wooden plaque embedded in several green bricks, and the words "Huo Zhai" on the plaque have been covered with thick dust.

Sun Zhongshan knew that this small gatehouse showed that there was a talent living in this courtyard.

Shang Cheng had already dismounted, stepped up the steps and slapped the rusty door knocker with a crackle, and shouted loudly: "Uncle Seventeen, are you at home?" ”

The courtyard door opened a crack, and a small head with a double bun poked out, followed by a scream of surprise: "Ah! Brother Monk! One by one, Dad, Mother! Come out! The monk is back! While shouting, the door was opened, and a little girl almost jumped out of the yard, grabbed Shang Cheng by one arm and dragged it inside.

Sun Zhongshan stabbed the stone next to him with a horsewhip, and asked with his eyes, who is this girl who jumped out, can't it be the sister of the Shang school captain, right?

"Erya, the second girl of Uncle Seventeen."

At this time, two smaller girls came out of the yard. One grabbed Shang Cheng's other hand, and the other pulled his trouser leg and didn't let go.

Bao Kan had already dismounted, took the blanket on the horse's back and carried it in his hand, and said, "Brother Zhao, Siya, the third and fourth eldest of the seventeenth uncle's family." As he spoke, he bent down with a smile and patted his half-drum skirt and said, "Four girls, don't you come to Uncle Bao yet?" Uncle Bao has brought you something delicious. ”

Sun Zhongshan opened his mouth and stammered and whispered to the stone: "These two girls are, are they...... That Erya's sister? ”

The stone also dismounted, rolling his eyes and glaring at him. That's a strange question. Didn't you say it all? These three are Huo Shiqi's daughters, the second, the third, and the fourth; The two little ones are not Erya's sisters, who else can they be?

Sun Zhongshan grunted and salivaed: "That...... How's that old bag, how's that,...... How can you make Miss Fourth call him uncle? "Isn't this a bargain? Can adults not annoy him?

"He's itchy and underwhelming!" Shi glanced at the bag in Siya's arms. Brother Zhao had already seen him, let go of Shang Cheng and ran over, shouting as he ran: "Uncle Shi! The stone smiled so that his eyes narrowed into two slits, and the voice of his promise was louder than anyone else's, and he squatted down to hold the younger brother, and took out two small snacks wrapped in red paper in his hand like a trick, and a wooden duck, put the duck on the ground, dragged a string, and the duck fanned its wooden wings and moved on the ground, moved, and screamed.

Shi put all the toys and snacks into his brother's hands, and said, "Uncle bought it for you." How's that, fun, isn't it? ”

"Okay." Brother Zhao nodded vigorously.

There were already two more people in the courtyard between the talks. The previous one was in his thirties, with a round face and white skin, and a beard under his chin, but he didn't take care of it much, and he looked a little messy. The man came out at a trot almost all the way. Shang Cheng had already bowed down and bowed deeply: "Seventeenth uncle." Seeing Shang Cheng giving a salute, the man paused, returned the half salute first, grabbed his arm when he came over, and said with a smile: "I just talked about you with the sixth brother, but I didn't expect you to come." When did you come back? ”

Shang Cheng said respectfully: "I just arrived. Passing by you, I came over to say hello. As he spoke, he waved at the people behind him, "I didn't expect the sixth uncle to be there." ”

The people who came from behind stood still and returned a half-long salute, straightened up and only smiled and did not speak. This man was a few years older than Uncle Seventeen, and he also had a round white face, a long black beard with a slap and a straight and smooth beard, and a pair of slender eyes with a wide and relieved smile, standing aside reservedly.

Huo Shiqi took Shang Cheng's hand and walked towards the hall house, and said: "There is no news as soon as you go to Yanzhou, I thought you would not come back until the New Year, but I really didn't expect you to arrive now." What kind of position do you have now? Is this a transfer back to the South Gate camp? Or do you stop by and take a look at it halfway through your tenure? As he spoke, he said to Erya, "What are you still relying on your monk brother?" Hurry up and find your mother in the stove room, and ask her to give you money to go to the street to call a table seat and send it over. And wine! Good wine! ”

The second girl promised to leave, Shang Cheng stopped her first, and then said to Huo Shiqi: "Uncle Seventeen, you and the sixth uncle and the aunts and sisters will go to me first tonight......"

Huo Shiqi shook his head and said, "That's not possible!" You've entered your uncle's house, how can you get out without eating this meal? Turning his face and asking Huo Liudao, "Sixth brother said, is there such a rule?" ”

Huo Liu shook his head with a smile.

Shang Chengdao: "This is not good. I stopped by to invite your whole family and Uncle Liu. Besides, I'm not here alone......"

Huo Shiqi immediately said to Erya: "You go and book a banquet, and immediately call Yue'er and Xing'er to come over." ”

Shang Cheng smiled bitterly: "That's not the case. There are other people out there......"

As soon as Huo Shiqi turned around, he had already seen the stone and the bag of a person holding one of his daughters, nodded slightly, turned back to Shang Cheng and said, "None of them are outsiders, so they will sit together." Seeing that Shang Cheng was about to excuse himself, he said, "We'll go with you, don't you also want to go to the street to book a banquet?" Bring sand to the beach! I'll eat this meal here today, and don't excuse myself! Otherwise, your aunt will be annoyed and come out and beat you with a rolling pin, but I won't persuade you. ”

The last joke made Shang Cheng angry, but he still couldn't eat dinner at Huo Shiqi's place. Sun Zhongshan and the two daughters of the Yang family are still in the carriage outside, and he has to settle the two girls down first no matter what; There are some things that he must also explain to Yue'er first. He did this, not because he was afraid that Huo Liu would go out and talk nonsense after he found out With his current status and status, Huo Liu couldn't even stammer, how could he do something that offended him? He just felt that this kind of illegal thing, the fewer people who knew about it, the better, and the fewer people who knew, the more he could keep the secret, he had already planned to hide it from Sun Zhongshan's family, but he hadn't found a proper excuse yet.

"Uncle Seventeen, I'll go to my place for dinner today......"

Huo Shiqi had already seen the carriage, and also saw Sun Zhongshan sitting on the wheel and wearing civilian clothes, his eyes turned on the carriage that was tightly covered by the curtain, and he had already changed his words when he spoke again: "Okay, good, go to your place, I will go to you." Knowing that you are thinking about your new home, we will accompany you to see what your current home is like. Erya, you go and call your mother. Then he said to his two little daughters, "There are no rules! Don't go to the backyard to help clean up! The two girls ate with gifts in their hands and pockets, and ran away in a smoke, and Bao Kan and the stone saluted Huo Shiqi together, and also shouted respectfully:

"Uncle Seventeen."