Since the man said that he would not light the lamp, Lianniang didn't ask why, and groped to sit on the kang and get dressed. The man's clothes were simple, Shang Cheng put on old cotton pants, casually touched a belt on the kang and tied it to his waist, and did not wear an undershirt and jacket, dragged the old sheepskin jacket when he went out to do work and put it on his body, hesitated for a moment, and then lifted the curtain and went out. He originally wanted to take a knife to defend himself, but after thinking about it, he felt redundant, if the matter of the fake monk happened, the government would send someone to arrest him, and Erya was sent by the Yamen to earn him to open the door, and the result was the same with or without a knife. Besides, just the low wall of his courtyard, you can come in as soon as you shrug off the wall, why let a girl slap the door one by one, isn't this a message for him?

The light in the yard is much stronger than in the house. The moon showed half of its face in the deep blue night sky, and in the company of countless stars, it stared coldly at everything that happened on the earth. In the distance, the bare old locust trees were not alarmed. On the opposite side, Yao San's house still had a swaying figure reflected in the window, and his son, who was not yet full moon, was crying loudly, his voice was crisp and loud. A few neighbors' dogs only purred a few times when the second girl knocked on the door just now, but now they are silent, and they are probably back to sleep in the warm kennel.

It seems that everything is normal, and there should be no errand boy in ambush outside the door.

His heart, which had been hanging in his throat, slowly put it down, walked a few steps to the gate of the courtyard, unbolted the door, opened the door, and knocked on the door one by one. She also brought her two younger sisters, Zhaodi and Siya. The two dolls didn't know what was going on, and when the sister cried, they pulled the corners of their sister's jacket and cried, and suddenly saw that the courtyard door that had not moved for a long time suddenly opened, and then a tall black figure stood in front of him, and he forgot to cry when he came, and he stared at Shang Cheng with round eyes and stupidly.

"Brother Monk...... "When Shang Cheng took the door inside, Erya stopped crying, and when he suddenly saw Shang Cheng, his mouth grinned, and tears immediately fell." Monk Big Brother ......"

Seeing her crying, even the frightened Zhao brother Siya immediately flattened his mouth and wanted to let go of his throat.

Shang Cheng hurriedly said, "Don't cry yet!" Something to say in the house! He picked up the two little girls one by one and led them into the courtyard towards the hall.

Lian Niang had already dressed indiscriminately, and the oil lamp was lit in the hall, Shang Cheng put the two dolls down, stretched out his hand and grabbed a handful of the food prepared for the daughter of the mountain baby on the table, and no matter whether the two little guys could take it or not, they were all stuffed in their hands, and said to Lian Niang without raising his head: "You go and tie the courtyard door, and then take them into the inner room to coax, here I will talk to Erya." He thought, this is the dead of night, a slight cough can spread out of the alley for a long time, but he can't wake up the neighbors, if Erya brings something important and fatal, he can't alarm others! The four younger brothers have to avoid it, lest the two little guys who don't understand anything go out and be talked by others after hearing it......

Lianniang did as he said without saying a word.

Shang Cheng waited for him and Erya to be left in the hall before asking, "What's wrong?" ”

Erya has been standing in the ground to wipe her tears, listening to his inquiry, with a crying voice, she said, "My father...... Mother...... Let's go...... Mother is also leaving...... And horse-drawn carriages...... Old Song is gone......" she sobbed and spoke, and a sentence was immediately cut into several paragraphs, and some words were swallowed back by her without even a syllable.

In order to calm her down, Shang Cheng asked her to sit down first, then poured out a bowl of warm water from the teapot wrapped in a warm sleeve made of old cotton wool and put it in her hand, reached out and touched her messy hair affectionately, and said, "Don't worry, drink saliva first, and speak slowly." What's going on at home? ”

"My mom and dad are gone......"

"Where did you go?"

"I don't know ......"

"Did they tell you anything before they left?"

"No ......"

After asking for a long time, Shang Chengcai roughly figured out the ins and outs of the matter.

First, someone came to her father in the middle of the night, and then her father's voice changed when he yelled at the carriage, and her mother kept howling; By the time Erya heard the movement and ran out, the carriage had long since disappeared, leaving only a few clatters of horses' hooves on the frozen hard ground......

After listening to Erya's story, Shang Cheng frowned. While comforting Erya, he pondered the key issues in this story that couldn't be simpler. First of all, who would come to Huo Shiqi so late? He immediately thought that the person who came was someone from the yamen. If this is the case, either there is a big mistake in the errand handled by Huo Shiqi, or there is a big mess in the yamen. The latter possibility was ruled out by him almost immediately. Huo Shiqi was in charge of the military department of the Yamen, and this department was only responsible for the training and selection of military personnel related to military conscription and conscription, and it was equivalent to the armed forces department of the county government, which did not care about money and food or criminal law, and no matter how big the chaos in the yamen was, it would rarely affect this department. In contrast, the possibility of the former situation is quite large, could it be that Huo Shiqi stretched out his hand indiscriminately on an errand and was caught by someone? Or, was it revealed that he had forged household registration materials for himself?

Thinking of this, his heart suddenly tightened. If it is really a matter of household registration, it is a trivial matter for him to have a lawsuit, but I am afraid that many people will be implicated, the Huo family, the Liu family, Gao Xiaosan and Gao Xiaosan's family and several brothers will be affected...... The idea of surrendering came up one by one, what should Lianniang do?

It can't be that! He immediately comforted himself in his heart. Who is full enough to go through the old books of half a year ago? Can...... However, if it weren't for this, it would only be Huo Shiqi who was caught greedy for money and food. It's even more terrifying! In the current situation where the top and bottom of the Yanshan Guards are accumulating grain and preparing for war, if Huo Shiqi really wants to do such a thing, it is no longer a question of whether to cut off the head or not, but a question of cutting the head on the spot or after being detained and interrogated...... And listening to Erya describe her mother's miserable and desolate situation at that time, it really seems that Huo Shiqi had an accident. But at this time, Aunt Seventeen didn't hurry up to find someone to intercede, but instead followed the man with death, what does it mean? What role can it play?

He pondered and asked, "Have you seen the person who came to find your father?" What do you wear? ”

"No ......" After half a day of persuasion and comfort, although Erya still had red circles under her eyes and was in a very low mood when she spoke, she no longer trembled and sobbed as soon as she spoke just now. I didn't see anyone, but I heard them banging on the door......"

"Think about it, what do they say when they knock on the door?"

Erya lowered her head and thought for a while, and said: "It seems to be shouting to open the door, and she has been shouting, and the voice is very loud......" She is a girl who is greedy for cups, and there are many people at night, Huo Shiqi and Liu Laozhu have lifted the barrier again, and the adults patronize and talk, no one cares about her, she secretly drank a few more bowls, and when she fell asleep, she was already drunk, and the two people knocked on the door loudly, and they couldn't wake her up completely; She just vaguely remembered that the person who came kept shouting, "Master Huo, open the door!" ”

"They are shouting 'Master Huo'?"

Erya nodded affirmatively.

It doesn't seem to be a matter of the yamen. If the people from the yamen came from the yamen, they would not be so polite. Since they are not from the yamen, the identity of the people who came is about to come out, and they and Huo Shiqi are either relatives or friends! It is unlikely that the people in the Huo family clan will have a good relationship with Huo Shiqi recently, even if something big happens in the clan, they will not count on him for a while; Besides, almost all of the Huo family's heads and faces are in the market town, if something really bad happens, Huo Shiqi will not be able to run to set the carriage. The carriage must be used only when the road is far away, and the thing must have happened far away; In the distance, the relationship between the person who happened and Huo Shiqi is quite close, so it can only be Huo Liu or the eldest girl in the county......

Thinking of the howling of the seventeenth aunt again......

Could it be that she ......

Shang Cheng couldn't help but shudder. He didn't dare to think about it further, so he forced himself to hold his mind and asked, "What else did they say?" What did your father and mother say? You tell me everything you can remember, no matter who said it! The more detailed, the better! ”

But what Erya remembers is such a sentence "Master Huo opens the door", and everything else is her mother's cry and her father's angry roar.

At this time, Lianniang had already put Zhao Di and Siya to sleep in the back room, and came out to ask what happened.

"Maybe the big girl is sick." Shang Cheng didn't dare to say what he had deduced. "Uncle Seventeen and her aunt went into the city to visit her. They were in a hurry, and they didn't have time to tell Erya that she was still in trouble with her uncle and aunt. Only now did he realize that the belt he used to tie the waistband of his trousers turned out to be Lianniang's trouser belt. Fortunately, Erya is a careless girl, and she didn't notice these embarrassing details in a panic.

Shang Cheng stood up and said to his suspicious wife, "You and Erya sleep in the back room, and I'll go to the side room to sleep." Tomorrow I'll go into town and see what's going on. ”