After noon, Qu Wu's boat crossed the riverbank where Ji Jiao's father and son docked the boat before, and arrived at the Shucheng River.

Qu Wu and Ximen Hu negotiated a time arrangement to meet them, and agreed to board the ship in the same place in the afternoon after ten days, if Qu Wu and they postponed, they would be paid for one day, and they could not sail until they got on the ship.

After making an appointment for the boarding time, everyone worked together to get the two carriages ashore, tied the horses to the carriage, and the spare horse Qu Wu rode on, and the luggage and belongings were also loaded into the carriage, so they said goodbye to Ximen Fox and marched towards Chen Guo.

Since there were inns every thirty miles along the way, Qu Wu and they did not enter the city, and hurried forward as soon as possible, and the previous plan was also modified, Qu Wu, Ji Zhi, and Chen Shi's carriage did not enter Zhuye in Chen Guo, but went to Zheng Guo first, the purpose was to pick up Zheng Guo's sister Chen Shi as soon as possible; Ziyan followed the three brothers and sisters of the Chen family back to the Chen family first.

Two days later, they arrived outside Zhuye City, Chen Damao's brothers and sisters, Zi Yan and the four of them said goodbye to Qu Wu, Qu Wu streamlined his luggage, in addition to the money and things that must be brought to Uncle Chen Shi's house, most of the things were handed over to Zi Yan for safekeeping, considering that he wanted to sacrifice Wu Mengyao by the way, he also brought some sacrificial supplies.

Qu Wu, Ji Zhi, and Chen Shi continued to walk forward with some biscuits, drinks, and things for Uncle Chen Shi, and arrived at an inn where Ji Zhi had stayed before at the junction of Chen Guo and Zheng Guo in the evening to rest.

Ji Zhi, the owner of this inn, was very familiar, and the three of them chatted with the boss while eating here.

"Boss, I heard that the Chu State will beat Zheng Guo, do you know?" Qu Wu asked.

"I heard about it the day before yesterday." The boss replied.

"Then how do you feel about the situation on Zheng Guo's side?"

"In the past two days, there has been a large increase in the number of people coming from Zheng Guo to Chen Guo, and the common people are afraid of war. The people of Zheng Guo who heard it say that now the people of Zheng Guo are panicking, and when they encounter a powerful foreign enemy like Chu State, many people are worried that there will be a disaster of destroying the country. ”

"Is there a war now?" Ji Zhi asked.

"There is no war yet, but I heard that the State of Chu is already gathering troops in Langyuan."

"Then Zheng Guo's army should be gathered to that side, right?" Qu Wu asked.

"Yes, so the border between Zheng Guo and Chen Guo is not strictly guarded."

"With Zheng Guo's national strength, there are many evils and few auspicious ones." Ji Zhi said.

"Why did the State of Chu choose this time to attack the State of Zheng? Although it is now early spring, the weather is still cold, and it is not easy to transport grain and grass. Qu Wu asked.

"I heard that it was the State of Chu that saw the young lord of the Northern Powers of the Jin State ascending the throne, and his foothold was unstable but he lacked experience in governing the country, and he wanted to take the opportunity to annex the small countries around the Jin State, and Zheng State was a servant state of the State of Chu before, and in recent years, he has hooked up with the Jin State and angered King Mu of Chu, so the State of Chu wants to take the State of Zheng under the knife." This boss doesn't seem to be an ordinary person, and when it comes to international affairs, he is the first to go.

"Boss, it's a bit of a waste of talent for you not to be an official." Qu Wu said.

"Childe smiled, I also listened to the guests. I have all kinds of guests here, many of whom have been officials and have fought in wars. I also heard from people from Zheng Guo's side that Zheng Guo's left, center, and right armies were led by Zheng Mugong's two sons, Gongzi Jian and Gongzi Long, and the general Le Er, respectively, while Zheng Mugong's other son, Gongzi, was in contact with Jin, Wei, Xu, and Song, and if they could form a coalition army, they might be able to save Zheng Guo. ”

"It's amazing, this can be regarded as military intelligence, Zheng Guoren actually spread it everywhere by himself." Qu Wu sighed. When he heard the boss talk about these sons of Zheng Mugong, Qu Wu remembered the cowardly son he saw in Yayun Pavilion, and his heart was full of resentment, wishing that all Zheng Mugong's sons were dead, so as to vent the hatred in his heart.

Early the next morning, Qu Wu rode a horse and Ji Zhi rode a carriage through the junction of Chen Guo and Zheng Guo into Zheng Guo, and galloped towards Xu Cheng quickly, while Chen Shi stayed at the inn for the time being and waited for them to return. Chen Shi told Qu Wu that his uncle's name was Chen Zhang, his eldest sister was called Chen Huan, and his younger sister was called Chen Le.

After Qu Wu and Ji Zhi entered Zheng Guo, they found that the situation in Zheng Guo was indeed a little tense, and there were many people on the road marching in the direction of Chen Guo, because they were walking in the opposite direction to these people, so no one stopped Ji Zhi's carriage, but many people asked Ji Zhi if the carriage was rented.

Nearly noon, Qu Wu and Ji Zhi arrived at Chen Shi's hometown of Niutou Village, Xucheng.

It's a small, quiet village with more than a dozen families living in a sparsely populated area, and it's estimated that the depression here has been exacerbated by the war. Still, there was still a man who was leisurely busy with farm work, and when he saw that the two of them were strangers, he enthusiastically asked who he was looking for.

Of course, Qu Wu couldn't say that Chen Shi asked them to come, only that he was looking for Chen Zhang.

The man enthusiastically told them which house Chen Zhang lived in and showed them with his finger.

Qu Wu and Ji Zhi looked in the direction the man was pointing, and saw that Uncle Chen Shi's house was a few dilapidated thatched houses, far away from those better ones, built alone at the foot of the mountain.

Qu Wu and Ji Zhi led the horses and carriages to the thatched huts, someone inside heard the sound and pushed the door and walked out, Qu Wu saw that it was a teenage girl, wearing a ragged dress, and the swarthy couldn't see the original color, Qu Wu asked, "Little girl, are you Chen Huan or Chen Le?"

The little girl was obviously taken aback, not expecting anyone who came to know their names.

At this time, a man in his forties came out, also in rags, and couldn't bear to look at it directly.

"This gentleman is Chen Zhang?" Qu Wu waved his hand and saluted.

"Where did the two gentlemen come from? How do I know the names of my family and those of my family? Chen Zhang looked at Qu Wu and Ji Zhi with vigilant eyes.

"Uncle, can you take a step to speak?" Qu Wu said to Chen Zhang, he was worried that saying Chen Shi too early would cause the little girl's mood swings, so it would be safer to explain the truth to Chen Zhang first.

After Qu Wu and Chen Zhang came aside, Qu Wu first introduced himself, briefly talked about his relationship with Chen Shi, and then took out the letter that Chen Shi wrote to him. Unexpectedly, Chen Zhang was illiterate, so Qu Wu had to believe it again.

"This guy who cut off his brain, such a big thing happened, our whole family was affected, and there were officers and soldiers who came to arrest him a while ago, and it was because of the war that no one cared about him, alas." Chen Zhang sighed.

"It's a long story. Today it was Chen Shi who entrusted us to pick up his two younger sisters to go to Chen Guo, and Chen Shi did not dare to enter Zheng Guo for reasons you know. Now Chu Guo is preparing to fight Zheng Guo, and Chen Shi is worried about their safety. Qu Wu said.

"Yes, I want to run away too, but I am penniless, and everyone will not be able to ask for food, and I will starve to death when I go out." Chen Zhang said, tears in his eyes.

"Chen Shi knows your situation, and asked me to bring you some clothes and food, as well as this money." With that, Qu Wu handed over a bag.

Chen Zhang took it and felt heavy, and when he opened it, there were a few gold cakes and a large handful of copper coins inside, and he was stunned all of a sudden.

"Now that the war is raging, these yellow goods must be collected, and a new house should be repaired after the war." Qu Wu said.

"Yes, yes, definitely. I really didn't expect this guy to make a fortune outside. Chen Zhang was so excited that while wiping his tears, he couldn't even speak, and silently muttered in his heart that his nephew still had a little conscience and knew that he would send money to his uncle.

"Chen Shi said that we will take Chen Huan and Chen Le away in a while, and if any neighbors ask, they will say that Chen Huan and Chen Le's uncle sent someone to pick them up." Qu Wu said again.

"Okay, I'll say the same to Chen Huan and Chen Le, let's go into the house and talk." Chen Zhang said.

"Okay." Qu Wu said, came to the carriage, and saw that Ji Zhi had already tied up a few horses, so he walked into Chen Zhang's house with him carrying two big bags.

Seeing that there were still six people in Chen Zhang's family, Chen Zhang told them that Chen Huan and Chen Le's uncle sent someone to pick up their two sisters, and introduced all the people in the house, except for Chen Shi's two sisters, Chen Zhang's wife and children, Qu Wu greeted them one by one.

Chen Huan and Chen Le didn't seem very happy when they heard their uncle say that their uncle sent someone to pick them up, and Qu Wu estimated that her uncle's family conditions were not good.

And when Qu Wu handed them the clothes that Chen Shi had given them, when they saw the new clothes, they swept away the unhappiness they had just seen, jumped up with joy, and hurriedly ran to another house to change their clothes.

The others also had new clothes, as well as a large bag of delicious food, and after Qu Wu handed them to them, the whole room immediately burst into laughter, which made Qu Wu and Ji Zhi both happy and sad, it is estimated that they have not worn new clothes for many years.

Chen Zhang proposed to cook at this time, but Qu Wu stopped him and told him that because he still had to walk a long way, he had to leave immediately, and Chen Zhang's family did not stop him.

After a while, Chen Huan and Chen Le changed their clothes and walked out, the two of them specially washed their faces, and they looked much more beautiful, and they were still immersed in the joy of wearing new clothes. Qu Wu told them to leave immediately, and they came to their senses and said goodbye to everyone in their uncle's family one by one, and Chen Chang and his wife sent the four of them to the village.