In the sixth year of Guanghe (183), in early summer and April.

A young man riding a white horse came to a village pavilion, this young man is slender and long, looks almost an adult, and his appearance is also very handsome, his full and broad forehead is slightly oozing sweat, his straight eyebrows are slightly elongated at the end, his sharp eyebrows are almost stretched into his sideburns, his eyes are slender and bright, he smiles slightly, the bridge of his nose is high but not thick, his upper lip is a little thin, and his face is a little long, but it is more refreshing and heroic.

The boy wore a blue-gray robe and ochre-colored trousers, a tall and straight bamboo crown on his head, and a gold-patterned iron sword hanging from his waist. The so-called trouser pleats, originated from the Beihu people, popular in the Later Han Dynasty, easy to ride, usually used as a military uniform, popular among the people among the ranger swordsmen.

This young man, named Jiang Xun, is a child of the Jiang family in Tianshui, Liangzhou, traveling to Shandong, studying under the great Confucian Zheng Xuan, studying for nearly a year to the west, passing through here.

The Central Plains is not as cold as Liangzhou, just in April, the weather has gradually become hotter, Jiang Xun has been driving under the sun for most of the day, his forehead and face are sweaty. In front of the Lu Gate of the Township Pavilion, he restrained his mount, pulled his sleeve to wipe his sweat, and looked around.

Zaoyang Pavilion is also located on the main road, extending a bluestone slab path from the north gate, and it is connected to the official road in a few steps. At the intersection stood a street sign, on which stood a wooden sundial, and the shadow of the pointer was almost in the middle of the day. Under the sundial, there is a nameplate horizontally, which reads "Zaoyang Pavilion", and two arrows of the same wooden are inserted under the nameplate, one points to the direction from which he came, writing "Kuangcheng Township", and the other points to the southwest along the direction of the road, writing "Suo Zao County".

The section of the official road in front of him is straight and wide, basically along the river (referring to the Yellow River), which is also the road he took when he came. Walk along the official road to the southwest for one hundred and eighty miles, during which you have to bypass a dense forest and hill called "Dwarf Mule Ridge", you can go to the county seat of Sujuo, after Sujuo, all the way to the west, you will arrive at the imperial capital Luoyang.

On both sides of the official road are large corn fields, and the grass leaves are verdant, which should be a good year. After the beginning of summer, there were two heavy rains, and the fields were lush and green, and when the wind blew, the green grass leaves were undulating, just like the waves of the East China Sea. From a distance, you can see three or two field slaves, wearing cownose pants and working bare-chested, but now weeds are sprouting, it is the season of hoeing, there should be a lot of people in the field, only these few people, but it seems a little strange.

It's almost time, and there are a lot of cars and horses and pedestrians on the road. There are Confucian scholars in single clothes, businessmen in elegant clothes, and Qianshou in black or white clothes. Because the world is restless and the roads are not quiet, pedestrians often wear short knives and long swords.

Jiang Hyun walked into Lumen, most of the inside were low thatched houses, and occasionally there were some mud houses, which showed that Li Zhong was not rich. Three or two children were chasing, laughing, and playing, and smoke was already rising from several houses.

Along a fairly spacious dirt road in the pavilion, Jiang Hyun walked to the front of the pavilion, jumped off his horse, and straightened his outfit.

Pavilion, stop also, also people stop the collection also. The pavilion is responsible for the security, post, and civil affairs of the pavilion. There is a pavilion in ten miles, and the pavilion is long. Ten pavilions and one township, the township has three elders, ranks, husbands, and wanderers. Ten miles and one pavilion, ten pavilions and one township, are all approximate. Some small pavilions are only three or four miles away, such as this Zaoyang Pavilion. In this case, it's not a distance, it's a natural village.

You can see from afar that there is a pillar that is more than a long zhang in front of the gate of the pavilion house towering high, and there is a sign at the upper end of the pillar, the small character in the upper right corner reads "Kuangcheng Township", and the big character in the middle is still written "Zaoyang Pavilion". It shows that this Zaoyang Pavilion is also subordinate to Kuangcheng Township.

At this time, when I got closer, I saw more clearly, and saw that the courtyard of the pavilion covered a wide area, the foundation was three or four feet higher than the ground, and there were stone stairs connected to the official road. I think it is also, because the pavilion is not only a security unit, but also has the responsibility of receiving past officials and providing accommodation for the people who travel far away, so the pavilion is quite large. Jujube is not a big county, and Zaoyang Pavilion is also a small pavilion in the county, but the façade of the pavilion is still magnificent.

Jiang Hyun didn't think much about it, tied the white horse to the pillar, and walked into the pavilion.

There was an old man sitting in the school next to the door of the pavilion, and when he saw him come up, he walked out of the house, looked at Jiang Xun slightly, and asked kindly, "Stay?" Or is it a search for someone? ”

Jiang Hyun is a scholar, this old pawn is at most a pavilion chief, Jiang Hyun didn't have to be polite, but he still bent down slightly, made a gesture, and said, "Dare to ask, how far is it from the county seat?" ”

The old man saw that although Jiang Xun was young, he was also dressed as a scholar, and he was polite to himself, so he didn't dare to slack off, and replied: "The county seat is still one hundred and twenty miles west of here, and the time is not early, and it will not be able to arrive before dark." If you don't dislike it, let's stay first, right? ”

Jiang Hyun arched his hand again and said, "That's what I mean, thank you so much." "When a person goes out, it is not strange to have many people.

Jiang Hyun led the white horse into the pavilion and asked the old man, "What is the name of the old man?" ”

The old pawn led the way in front and led Jiang Xun to the place where he lived in the backyard, the old pawn was old, his steps and reactions were a little slow, and he paused slightly, and then replied: "The little old man's surname is Jing, and he is the pavilion pawn here." What do you call a nobleman? ”

"Oh, in Xia Jiang Hyun, the word Bo Pei. May I ask Elder Jing, where is the pavilion chief in the pavilion? Since you are staying here, you should visit the pavilion chief first. ”

"Alas......" Jing Lao sighed, Jiang Xun listened to him sigh, combined with the sparse farmers in the field that he had just seen, he seemed to have some premonitions, and sure enough, he heard Jing Lao say slowly: "Pavilion Chief, it's dead." As he spoke, he walked to the backyard with Kang Hyun.

Even after following Jing Lao, Jiang Xun could still feel that there was another reason here, so he asked, "Where is the pavilion father in the pavilion, where is the thief?" ”

"Alas......" Jing Lao sighed again and said, "It's also dead." ”

Sure enough, something was wrong, Jiang Xun still wanted to ask again, but he thought that since Jing Lao refused to take the initiative to say that he was a human being, he was afraid that it would be in vain to ask now, so it would be much easier to ask after he was familiar.

At this time, Jiang Xun also followed Jing Lao to the backyard, there were two young people in the backyard, a man and a woman, the man should be twenty years old, he was holding a stone lock to boil his strength, he was shirtless, a horizontal meat, because he was still young, his beard was sparse, his eyes were sparse, a big round face, red, black, red and black. The woman is about fifteen or sixteen years old, she is sprinkling and sweeping, she is developing well, a little graceful, with a small melon seed face, slender eyes, and she is also a beauty, but perhaps because of her perennial labor, her skin is a little black and yellow, and there are faint spots on her cheeks.

When Jing Lao saw the two young people, his face was gone, and he showed a smile, and said, "Wei'er, Zhen'er, come and see the nobles." Jing Lao pointed to the two young people, and said to Jiang Xun: "This is the son and daughter of Xiao Lao'er, Jing Wei and Jing Zhen. ”

The noble man in Jing Lao's mouth, his sister Jing Zhen didn't dare to slack off, put down the broom, and his brother Jing Wei saw that Jiang Xun was young and might not be as old as himself, so he was reluctant, but it was not good to disobey Jing Lao, threw the stone lock aside, and also stepped forward to salute, and said with his sister Jing Zhen: "I've seen a nobleman." ”

Jiang Hyun first helped Jing Wei up, and then helped Jing Zhen up, and said: "There is no need to be like this, under the surname Jiang, just call me Bo Pei." ”

Jiang Hyun was so polite, Jing Wei, who originally looked down on Jiang Hyun, was a little embarrassed. But he hadn't read anything, his mouth was stupid, and he couldn't say anything, so he had to smile and stand close to Jiang Hyun's position to show his closeness.

Seeing that Jing Wei was an upright person, Jiang Xun was also a little happy in his heart, and took out the small half of the gold cake that was cut from his pocket yesterday, handed it to Jing Lao, and said: "I still have some scattered money, please ask Jing Lao to buy some wine and buy some meat, I don't know the taste of meat for a few days!" ”

Jiang Hyun didn't know the taste of meat for a few days, which is shabby, but it is also relative. Jing Lao's family is not bad, but they can't eat meat a few times a year. But this small piece of gold cake is too valuable, this year's gold is expensive and cheap, it can be exchanged for six or seven thousand yuan, Jing Lao is a little afraid to ask for it: "Nobleman, this is ...... How does this work? ”

"It's okay, for the rest of the money, please buy some forage and dry food, if you don't have to be tired from the journey, you don't dare to bother Jing Lao in the future."

Seeing Jiang Hyun say this, Jing Lao had no choice but to accept the money, hand it over to Jing Wei, and let Jing Wei run errands. Jing Wei borrowed money and left happily.

Jing Lao pointed to a relatively large adobe house in the backyard and said, "Zhen'er, you go and clean up the house, so that the nobles can rest, and I will go and make a fire." ”

"Holo." Jing Zhen was also refreshed, glanced at Jiang Hyun, and entered the room.

Seeing that Jing Lao went to clean up the firewood, Jiang Hyun followed behind Jing Zhen, but in order to avoid suspicion, it was not good for men and women to be in the same room, so Jiang Hyun had to wait outside the door and said, "Thank you, girl." ”

"The nobleman is too polite, there are so many people in this pavilion, and I have also seen scholars who are studying, rich and shabby, I have never seen a nobleman so polite." Jing Zhen replied coolly as she cleaned up the house.

Jiang Hyun felt that Jing Zhen should be easy to speak, so he asked: "Dare to ask the girl, I heard that the pavilion chief, the pavilion father, and the thief all died, what is the reason?" Didn't the county send new people? "The pavilion chief is appointed by the county, and the pavilion father is the pavilion chief's deputy, and he asks the thief to assist the pavilion chief in managing law and order, and these two people are appointed by the county.

"Don't ask, noble." Although it was Jiang Hyun's back that was facing her, Jiang Hyun saw Jing Zhen's shoulders trembling slightly, and she could still feel the changes in her mood, some sadness, and some indescribable emotions, maybe fear, maybe despair.

The house is very clean, old but not broken, and there is no sundries, it will be cleaned up after a while, at this time, Jing Wei also brought wine and meat, and the dry food and forage that Jiang Hyun explained before are available in the pavilion, so naturally there is no need to buy them again.

Jing Zhen invited Jiang Xun into the house and went to help Jing Lao cook. Jiang Hyun put down his burden, unloaded his long sword, and lay down on the earthen kang, thinking about what could make Jing Lao and Jing Zhen so worried and silent. After thinking about it for a while, after all, I was still at the age of growing my body, I was easily hungry and sleepy, and I was in a hurry for days, but at this time, I was tired and fell asleep.