When it was dark, Huo Shiqi came, and looking at his dusty appearance, he knew that he didn't even go back to his own home, but came directly to Liu's house.

This is the man who relieved Shang Cheng at the gate of the county and let him go in the city. Huo Shiqi is in his thirties, with a white and clean round face, a beard under the impeachment, wearing a blue silk gown, a gold silk embroidered belt around his waist, and stepping on a pair of soft cowhide boots.

He stepped into the courtyard gate with one foot, and Shang Cheng had already greeted the courtyard gate, without saying a word, respectful and respectful was a long bow.

Huo Shiqi didn't give in, and waited for Shang Cheng to straighten up with a smile, and then said teasingly: "Didn't make it?" Was it pulled by Yue'er, right? ”

Shang Chengden was a line. He reacted immediately, laughing and arching his hand. He secretly smacked his tongue one by one, Huo Shiqi's smart mind, he had already guessed that he was leaving, and he expected that he would definitely be stopped by Liu Yue'er. The latter is fine, Liu Laozhu can't say that even if he has the intention to stop himself; But he expected that he would go, and this was terrible......

Huo Shiqi waved his hand and said, "Come into the house and talk." With that, he should go first. It can be seen that he is a frequent guest in this house, since Liu Laozhu is still in the hall and has not come out, he can be half a master One by one, he is indeed like a master now, and he is indeed like a master to let Shang Cheng into the house. At the door of the hall, he picked up the broom hanging on the wall, stood in the courtyard and beat the dust on his shoes before entering the house.

An oil lamp had been placed on each of the two wooden tables in the hall, and all kinds of dried vegetables and fruits were neatly kept, stacked on top of each other. As Yue'er said, Aunt Seventeen is a good hand at cooking, and yesterday she still treated Shang Cheng as a guest, and also cleaned up the table full of food, but although the things are beautiful, they are not as real as today.

“…… Is it over? Liu Laozhu stood up and said. He stood up to welcome Shang Cheng, but his words were to Huo Shiqi.

Huo Shiqi didn't give in to Liu Laozhu, he chose a horizontal companion seat, threw a fruit he didn't know what to throw into his mouth to chew, and felt that the taste was not right and leaned over and spit it out, and then said to Liu Laozhu: "Can those things in the yamen be busy?" You've done it today, and you'll have it tomorrow; If you do it tomorrow, you have to do it the day after tomorrow. If you are idle, the official will not like you, and if you are busy, your colleagues will not be pleasing to your eyes, and it is most appropriate to be idle or busy. This last sentence is said to Shang Cheng.

This is indeed a wise saying for mixed government units. Shang Cheng nodded subconsciously, but caught a glimpse of a spark bursting in Huo Shiqi's eyes, which dimmed again in the blink of an eye.

In the gossip, he quietly touched his bottom, is this Huo Shiqi still a human being? Shang Cheng couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head.

Huo Shiqi casually carried the wine jar over, filled the empty bowls in front of the three people, and shouted in his mouth: "Family, you come here, a few little guys also come over, one by one, recruit your brother to take your sister over and gnaw pig's feet!" The big fart doll ran over and made a lot of fun! Seeing that his mother-in-law took the eldest girl, the second girl, and Yue'er to stand in front of this table, she found an empty bowl of wine in the jar and poured a small half bowl, put down the jar and picked up her own wine bowl, and said, "After drinking this bowl of wine, there will be no outsiders in this room......" His eyes burned, from his mother-in-law to his two daughters to Liu Laozhu's father and daughter, and finally to Shang Cheng. "Monk, you saved my pillar brother's life, and I, Huo Qida, am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, so I also saved your life, one by one, this is not to say that we will return our lives and never owe each other, but that our lives have been tied together from today onwards. Not only the lives of you and me and Brother Zhuzi, but also the lives of my family and my four daughters, as well as the lives of Yue'er, our lives are already tied together......" He stopped before he finished speaking, and only squinted at Shang Cheng in the guest seat.

In this room, except for the young and ignorant Zhao Brother and Siya, the others have long understood the consequences of hiding Shang Cheng and not reporting to the official, seeing that Shang Cheng just frowned and did not speak with his hands on the table, the expressions on the faces of the seventeenth aunt and the three girls were a little uneasy. Liu Laozhu only served the wine bowl, and Mu Ne's face was unhappy; Huo Shiqi also held the bowl, and the look on his face was exactly the same as Liu Laozhu's, neither happy nor worried.

There were adults in the room, and the three girls didn't dare to interject. Aunt Seventeen stood at the table, but she kept staring at her man. Strange things, what his man usually does is an absent-minded appearance, it seems that there is nothing in this world that can be valued by him, and I don't know how to do it today, for a monk who has lost his degree, not only does he hide and does not report to the official, but also makes things so solemn as soon as he comes back? But three or two glances passed over in succession, but the man ignored him. She endured it for a long time, and finally couldn't bear the dead silence of the hall, and couldn't help but say: "Monk, if you want to or not, you can say something!" ”

Shang Cheng didn't speak, but couldn't speak at all. Huo Shiqi looked at Si Swenwen alone, but he made an opening statement with these words, at first he really scared Shang Cheng, but when he woke up, he felt that the heat wave in his chest was rolling, and he pursed his lips and couldn't squeak anymore.

After a long time, he silently picked up the wine bowl in front of him, raised his neck and drank it clean, took the bowl from Liu Laozhu's hand, drank it again, and then came over to take the bowl in Huo Shiqi's hand, and drank it all in one gulp. After drinking, he didn't speak, picked up the wine jar and filled it for the two of them, raised the bowl and gestured weakly, still leaning his neck and pouring it down, and when the two people also drank the wine in the bowl, they poured it for them again, and drank it all again......

If this is the third, the stars on Shang Cheng's chest are all wine. He made six bowls in a row, and this action stunned the whole room. Even Huo Shiqi didn't expect Shang Cheng, a fake monk, to be so good at drinking.

"Pillar ......" Shang Cheng gently put down the bowl, opened his mouth and wanted to speak, who knew that the voice that came out was so hoarse that even he couldn't hear it clearly. He let out a long breath, and then said, "Uncle Zhuzi, Uncle Seventeen, Aunt Seventeen, and five younger sisters, I can't speak, if I say something wrong, you have to bear with me and understand one by one, I will say a word here: Great grace is not grateful." After saying that, he poured himself a bowl of wine alone, and poured it into his mouth with his neck straight.

The Seventh Bowl!

At this time, even Huo Shiqi looked straight at it. This wine is not a good wine, he can usually deal with seven or eight bowls when he is fine, but if he is asked to dry seven bowls in one breath like Shang Cheng, he will definitely not be able to do it.

It took a long time for Huo Shiqi to realize that he was a little out of shape. He grinned and shook his head vigorously, knocked on the wooden table and exclaimed, "Good monk!" Good man! Seeing that his woman had already led a few girls to share the small half bowl of wine with a smile, he waved his hand and said, "Today is a good day, drink some, dip some joy, and let you pour two more bowls one by one!" Er Ya immediately ran and got two empty bowls to fill the wine. Taking advantage of her father's pleasure, this little girl who was good at drinking quietly changed "pour two more bowls" to "serve two more bowls".

Huo Shiqi didn't notice that his second daughter was cheating. Although his amount of wine is not shallow, it is the first time in his life that he has done three bowls in a row, and now he only feels dizzy in his head, and his vision is a little blurry, so he hurriedly took a few mouthfuls of food to press the wine. Liu Laozhu is larger than him and can still hold it, but Shang Cheng raised the bowl and invited the wine again, and he could only take a sip shallowly against the edge of the bowl.

It wasn't until the strength of the wine passed that Huo Shiqi shook his head and smiled: "The year before last, I took the military rations to Yanzhou Mansion and ate in the barracks. He thought about it for a long time and didn't think of a suitable name, and several people at the women's table next to him were already laughing. Aunt Seventeen said, "What's wrong with calling him a monk?" ”

Huo Shiqi glared at his woman dissatisfiedly and said, "What does the woman's family know?" The monk and the monk's really spread to the official yamen, so what else can it get? ”

Aunt Seventeen was not too scared of her man, and said: "I don't know how many people in this Huojiabao know that he killed two wolves with his bare hands, and I don't know how many people know that he is a monk, if you don't call him a monk, maybe others won't say that he is a monk?" I look at it, so what's the matter if I call a monk? ......" He stopped talking and asked after a while, "Monk, talk for a long time, where is your home?" ”

At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to them, and it seemed that they were also curious.

Shang Cheng was silent for a long time before he said, "...... Jiazhou. He knew that a few female dolls might believe that Aunt Seventeen and Liu Laozhu were most likely suspicious, and it was probably impossible to coax Huo Shiqi, searching for reliable reasons in his mind, and his mouth did not stop, "The year before last, there was a big flood in my hometown, and I escaped from my family, and when the flood receded, the house was already washed into a white ground by the flood......" said and paused, and secretly looked at everyone's faces, Liu Laozhu still had that Fu Mu Ne expression, and Brother Zhao and Siya were eating a table full of good food. The three older girls and the seventeen aunts all looked at him worriedly; Huo Shiqi didn't know what he thought of, so he drooped his eyebrows with a bitter face and instigated his lips not to speak. "My family originally had more than ten acres of good paddy fields, but as soon as the water receded, Master Gao ......" He temporarily borrowed Gao Xiaosan's surname, "Master Gao forged the title deed, and pointed to the paddy field and said that it was his family." I went to sue the official, and the official said that he had to have an old contract to make decisions for me. My house has been washed into white ground, where can I find the title deed? I couldn't get angry when I thought about it, so I ran to reason with Master Gao, and accidentally injured two people from the Gao family; The Gao family sued me to the government...... Or an uncle came to me when he got the news......"

There was silence in the room.

After a long time, Aunt Seventeen said, "I think, let's call the monk." When others want to ask, they say that he is a close relative of Yue'er's mother's house, and when he heard about the Buddha and Bodhisattva in the realm of Jiazhou, he went south to become a monk and stayed in Jiazhou for several years. Later, when I came to Shangjing Plain Mansion, I saw the flower world in Shangjing and couldn't hold back my mortal heart, so I simply saved my hair and returned to the vulgar, and the officials couldn't prohibit other monks from returning to the vulgar, right? Later, when I returned to Jin County, Bohai, it was just because Jin County was burned down by the Tuqi people, and none of the family members could find it, so they had to go over the mountains and mountains to join their relatives......"

Huo Shiqi blinked his eyes and thought about his woman's idea, frowned and said: "I'm afraid this statement is untenable, there is a roster of officials one by one, whether it is a common person or a monk, it must be registered, and there will really be a day when the incident happens......" He glanced at Shang Cheng. Although he didn't have much to do with Shang Cheng, he knew that Shang Cheng's origin was extremely strange: the identity of the monk was now overthrown by Shang Cheng himself, but how to explain that he cut his hair in a good manner? The origin of Jiazhou may be true, but after coming to Yanshan from Jiazhou for thousands of miles, a reason for "fleeing for his life" does not make sense at all - Yanshan is a key point in the north, and the household registration check is a hundred times stricter than that in the mainland, and Shang Chengzhen wants to avoid government inspection, which is easier in a densely populated place like Shangjing; Also, where was he before he set foot in Yi County? Thinking of the "Mauritius National Cotton" casually mentioned by Gao Xiaosan, he was even more uneasy......

Hearing her man say this, Aunt Seventeen also felt that her idea was not clever, so she quickly lowered her head to eat vegetables, and knocked on the head of the second girl who was drinking and smiling.

Huo Shiqi thought about it a few times, weighed the results and weighed it, and then nodded and said, "...... But it's not a bad idea, it can be made! Seeing that Shang Cheng was confused and didn't understand, he dipped his fingers in wine and drew a debut on the table to explain, "Jin County has been ...... by the damned Tu Tu Ci" The three words Tu Tu Ci spit out with his eyes puffed out and gritted his teeth. "Jin County has been burned by the damned Tuqi people, and the household registration documents in the yamen are naturally not spared, which means that as long as you insist that your household registration is in Jin County, you will die without proof......"

Shang Cheng interjected: "Is there no household registration for me in the state capital?" ”

"As long as you don't join the army, don't join the army, don't send out, and don't go out, your household registration will always be ......there," Huo Shiqi said, glanced at Shang Cheng, and then said, "When you become a monk, as long as you become a monk, the state capital is Jiazhou, as long as Jiazhou does not issue official documents, your household registration will not disappear." ”

"But Jiazhou should have a copywriting background when I became a monk......"

Hearing Shang Cheng's words, Huo Shiqi smiled strangely, and said slowly: "Jiazhou...... Jiazhou naturally has the bottom file when you became a monk, you can go from Yixian County to Jiazhou, and the official documents can go back and forth for as little as half a year or as long as three years and five years, during which the time is enough to do tricks, or let the informant withdraw the lawsuit, or accommodating the relationship to close the case, or put the case file on the shelf, in short, let it disappear again. ”

Huo Shiqi's mysterious smile made Shang Cheng's heart feel a little empty. Could it be that this person has already discovered his origins? Can't you, could it be that your own story just now showed a flaw? After thinking about it carefully, he didn't dare to be sure, so he settled down, and focused his mind on the things in front of him, and then he picked Huo Shiqi's words and said: "What if the journey takes less than half a year? ”

Huo Shiqi picked up the bowl and took a sip of wine, before he said with a smile: "Such a long road, if it takes less than half a year, then who would dare to check the bottom file when you became a monk in Jiazhou?" ”

This was said without a head or a brain, and Shang Cheng didn't react for a long time to understand what it meant. After being stunned for a long time, I finally figured out the reason: if the ordinary official correspondence from Yixian County to Jiazhou for thousands of miles did not take half a year's work, the official document could only be transmitted through the post station, and the official document of the post station express transmission was either involved in political affairs or involved military affairs, and the official document of the post station was either involved in political affairs or involved military affairs, and the official document of his monk could be supported by the post station express transmission, then his status at that time should also be extraordinary, one by one, which is why Huo Shiqi said, "Who dares to check". He couldn't help but glance at Huo Shiqi, who was holding a bowl of wine, and couldn't help but wonder in his heart, didn't Huo Shiqi not only see that his identity as a monk was fake, but also expected that no one would dare to go to Jiazhou to check his identity in the future?

After being silent for a long time, Shang Cheng suddenly remembered something: "There are also others who know that I lost my degree, and Gao Xiaosan knows about it......"

Huo Shiqi shook his head and said, "Don't worry about him." He was a clever man, and he had an idea of what to say and what not to say, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to climb to the position of the big guy in the warehouse in just nine years. Besides, he didn't report yesterday, he didn't report today, and he naturally won't report tomorrow, and he won't report in the future. ”

Shang Cheng opened his mouth, thought about it, and said nothing. He was originally worried about Gao Xiaosan's father-in-law and his father-in-law's uncles and brothers, but listening to Huo Shiqi's meaning, as long as they didn't make a move in the past two days, if they wanted to make some moves in the future, they had to weigh the severity of it first. As for other people who know about his monk, they don't have to worry at all, it's what Uncle Seventeen said: There is no time limit for official documents to go back and forth, which is just convenient for doing tricks.

Seeing that the matter of his identity finally had an eyebrow, the big stone hanging in Shang Cheng's heart finally fell to the ground, he couldn't restrain the joy and excitement in his heart, picked up the wine jar and poured a bowl full of Liu Laozhu and Huo Shiqi, and also poured a bowl full of himself, drank it heartily, and smacked his lips unsatisfied, and motioned with his eyes to the two people who were holding the bowl and drank the wine in the bowl quickly, and there were more miles in the jar!

The second girl smacked her tongue and looked at Shang Cheng with envy. This is already the eleventh bowl of rice wine that Shang Cheng has drunk.

Shang Cheng carried the jar to invite wine, Huo Shiqi was already blushing and a little unable to help the wine, but because of the man's face, he couldn't speak, and Liu Laozhu couldn't bear it, but he couldn't speak. At this time, it is natural for women to come out and speak for men. Aunt Seventeen said, "Don't you dare to let your uncle drink more!" He will go to the yamen tomorrow to do some work. Brother Zhuzi, you accompany the monk to drink more, anyway, you hurt your hand, and you can't go out to catch the horse these days. Saying that, he said to Shang Chengdao, "Since you want to live in peace, you have to find a full-time businessman, what can you do?" That's what she should have asked. She thought that Liu Laozhu had a poor family and a thin business, and he pulled a girl, so he couldn't raise an idler like Shang Cheng anymore; As Brother Zhuzi's brother and daughter-in-law, she has the responsibility and obligation to manage this matter for the man's brother.

Before Huo Shiqi could speak, Liu Laozhu had already put the wine bowl on the table, and glared at Aunt Seventeen with dissatisfaction, and he was about to get angry when he saw it......

"I can't tell you what I can do." Shang Cheng said first. He wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth, frowning in thought. He was raised in the countryside by the elders of the family, and he could do almost all the work of the crops in the fields; In order to earn money for tuition and books, he began to do odd jobs at a very young age, sometimes for two full meals, and whoever has a building a wall and a stove to repair a house and build a house, he also goes to help, so these things can be done one by one, but now I can't say the same. He thought about it and spread his two hands and slowly squeezed them into fists and shook them, his two arms from his shoulders to his fingers, giggling a string, laughing self-deprecatingly, and said to Aunt Seventeen, "I am a countryman, and I have done all kinds of hard work, although I have not made any reputation, I can be regarded as having the strength to do it......"

The people in the room were silent and agreed, these days, body strength is the capital, as long as you are willing to exert your strength, you will not starve people. Although they didn't know what Shang Cheng was capable of, just by looking at his strength, they knew that he would definitely be capable. Huo Shiqi said with a smile: "As long as you have strength, there will be no shortage of life, and when you settle down for the household registration, I will find an opportunity for you to find a name for you in the county, and you will be registered in the yamen." In the past three or two years, there will be no shortage of business trips to deliver food and goods, neither can I eat and drink, and I will not treat you badly in terms of money......"

Shang Cheng was still ignorant, and Aunt Seventeen had already asked anxiously, "What?" Raising troops again? When will the army be raised? ”

The people in the room looked at Huo Shiqi in surprise, and even Erya held the bowl and stared at her father without rolling her eyes. Huo Shiqi nodded and said: "Since last autumn, more and more grain and grass have come from the south, and the road is not good in winter, and it has been broken for a while, and now it has started again, and it is all transported from us to Guangliang and Beizheng." Not only us, but I heard that the front line from Yanzhou to Guangliang is also being transported, and I estimate that it is going to start a war. ”

Others were silent when they heard this, but Shang Cheng was a little unimpressed. How big is the matter of sending troops, and a small official in the county yamen like Uncle Seventeen can also know? It's just a matter of chasing after the wind. But he remembered that Gao Xiaosan once said that Huojiabao had not been defeated for more than ten years, that is, Liu Laozhu and Uncle Seventeen had experienced military disasters, and most of them had their reasons for looking at the current situation like this...... He thought in his heart, and then heard Aunt Seventeen ask, "When will the army start?" ”

"It will be until next autumn at the earliest" The people in the house were a little frightened, and the eldest daughter, who had seen the war when she was a child, was even more frightened and her face was pale and almost bloodless, Huo Shiqi waved his hand and said, "You know, don't go out and make noise, although this matter can't be hidden, but it can't be said from our own family." As he spoke, he glared at his mother-in-law, and said to Shang Cheng, "If you are willing, you can put your name in Xiangyong, and you will have 30 yuan and 20 catties of grain every month......

Shang Cheng asked: "Then you have to report for training every month...... Do you want to respond? ”

"Of course, where in the world is there a good thing to eat for nothing?" Huo Shiqi said with a smile, "When the farmers are slack, they should also get together for training, and if they go out for a long time, they must register in the yamen, and when the government is recruited, they should not be recruited to eat boards, and the three levies should not be issued to fill the army......"

Shang Cheng thought about it, these are not difficult things, so he nodded and agreed.

Before leaving, Huo Shiqi remembered that he had forgotten a major incident, so he grabbed Shang Cheng at the gate of the courtyard and asked, "I forgot to ask you for a long time, how old are you this year?" ”

"Twenty-six."

Huo Shiqi was silenced for a moment, and his drunken eyes stared straight at Shang Cheng. God, looking at Shang Cheng's appearance, he always thought that he was about the same age as Gao Xiaosan, and he was also eighteen or nineteen years old, who knew that Shang Cheng was eight years older than Gao Xiaosan! It's strange, Shang Cheng just said that he was also working hard in the countryside when he was young, why did he raise his body so young?