At the end of the twenty-first year of Yan Jinhui, the wounds brought by the drought to Yunzhou seem to have been almost soothed by the winter snow, and when the people of Yunzhou were preparing for the New Year's goods with tight grain, a heavy snowfall that was rare in a hundred years hit the northernmost state of Yan again, and there was a snow disaster in Yunzhou.

This is in the second month of Zhang Yanqiu's departure from the county government, and the actions of Chu Shouren have been gradually forgotten by Zhang Yanqiu, and when the county order Chu Shouren called on the people of the county to remove snow and provide disaster relief, Zhang Yanqiu also faintly felt that he might have misunderstood Chu Shouren at the beginning, and secretly blamed himself for being too impulsive and reckless.

It's just that when the people actively responded to the call of the government and shoveled out the snow accumulated on the road, what was ushered in was not the condolences of the government, but the visit of the tax collector again, and the name of taxation was the disaster tax.

Liu Rushi's family and Zhang Yanqiu's maiden family were taken care of by the tax collectors, and the desperate and helpless Zhang Yanqiu had to step into the gate of the county government again under the guidance of the tax collectors' "full of compassion", and this time she knew that she might never be able to get out again.

So before leaving, she deliberately used her only remaining dowry to change a chicken stew in a rich man's house and sit with the family for the year.

In the voice of her mother-in-law constantly complaining about her extravagance and waste, Zhang Yanqiu finished the meal with tears, and then cleaned up the house inside and out one by one, and finally said goodbye to his father-in-law and father-in-law.

It wasn't until he woke up the next day that he saw that there was no wife on the bed and no one in the house, that Liu Ru was shocked, and first went to his father-in-law's house, and said that his wife had not returned to her parents' house.

Then he followed Liu Laohan all the way to the county government dignitaries, but was told that Zhang Yanqiu left the county government early last night, where were the two willing to believe it, they had to break into the county government and see it for themselves, just imagine how you can break into the official government yamen casually, so the consequence was that the two were beaten out with sticks, and Liu Laohan fell to the ground after leaving the yamen, and never got up again.

The subordinates hurriedly reported the news that Liu Laohan was killed to Chu Shouren, but Chu Shouren just said lightly: "If you die, you will die, just throw two taels of silver to them." ”

After saying that, he smiled, turned over and rode on the trembling body again, and started a new round of journey in the tears of the other party's pear blossoms and rain.

In this way, Zhang Yanqiu became the eighth aunt of Chu Shouren, and later heard that the mother-in-law of the Liu family also followed after the death of her father-in-law, thinking that the future of Xianggong Liu Ru could not be ruined like this, so she took advantage of Chu Shouren's son Chu Ruqin's inattention, stole ten taels of silver from him, wrapped it in the long gown she secretly sewn for him, and dragged it to the old woman who was a helper in the county government and brought it to Liu Ruyi.

I thought that Liu Ru was holding the ten taels of silver, and there was a coil in Beijing, but I thought that I was robbed by Chu Ruqin in the middle of the road, but what I didn't expect was that Chu Ruqin did not embarrass the old woman, but asked the old woman to bring the money to Liu Ruyi, and warned the old woman not to have any crooked thoughts about this money, and the frightened old man sent ten taels of silver and a long shirt to Liu Ruye's hands overnight.

Zhang Yanqiu was grateful to Chu Ruqin in her heart, and felt that the beast-like Chu Shou people still had a son with a conscience, but she completely shattered this idea that night, and Chu Ruqin was even worse than Chu Shouren.

Zhang Yanqiu has thought a lot, including suicide, but although her father-in-law and mother-in-law are gone, and her father-in-law Liu Ru also went to the capital, there is still Zhang Laohan's family in Chu County, which is her biological parents, Chu Shouren and Chu Ruqin's most important bargaining chips for her to succumb.

So now she can only live under the obscenity of Chu Shouren and Chu Ruqin, and meet the various requirements of the two with a smile, although Chu Shouren has a new love, but occasionally she will patronize her room, and more under the threat of Chu Ruqin, let the other party enjoy herself wantonly.

"Xianggong should have arrived in Yanjing by now, I don't know if this road is smooth, there are still a few days before the spring, God bless, I hope Xianggong can be named on the gold list, and then ......" Zhang Yanqiu, who was tired of crying, shrank in the corner and began to think about Xianggong Liu, who was already in Yanjing.

Thinking that he was flying like a pen in the examination room, and the answers were like a stream; Thinking of the title of the gold list when he released the list, he danced with his hands; Thinking that he was high-spirited in the Jinluan Palace, he scolded Fang Xuan, but all this seemed to have nothing to do with him.

He will be appointed by the imperial court to be an official in a place, he will get acquainted with the beautiful and generous rich lady in the local area, and he will go out and go with each other after spending candles in the cave room, and he will be in love.

Thinking about it, Zhang Yanqiu covered her chest like a knife, and added in a choked voice: "I hope ...... You can be a good officer. ”

……

And back here, Jin Hong and his party of four people out of Yanyun Pass, all the way to the north for more than ten days before finally passing through Yanzhou to reach the territory of Yunzhou, Chu County is a small county under the jurisdiction of Anlin County under the rule of Yunzhou, in the south-east of Yunzhou, Jin Hong according to the information provided by Liu Ru, a slight estimate, about two more days to get to Chu County.

The four people who entered Yunzhou did not go to the official post to replenish as before, because they didn't know much about the Yunzhou officialdom, and they didn't know what kind of accomplices the Chu Shou people had in Yunzhou, so the four chose to continue to move forward as ordinary people.

However, this is beneficial, but the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, they have to accept the review of the guards from all over the country, they used to rush in the name of the imperial court, and all kinds of pass defense cards were opened for them when they had not yet arrived, but now it is good, and after the review, even half of the original road was not walked in a day, so Jinhong had to reassess the time when the group arrived in Chu County.

Therefore, it is easy to walk ten miles and eight towns in ancient times, but if you want to cross states and counties, it is even more difficult, and even if you don't have a pass issued by the government, don't even think about it.

Liu Ru has not learned anything else for so many days, riding a horse is much more skilled than at the beginning, several people hurried to hurry, and finally entered the territory of Chu County on the fourth day, Liu Ru was anxious about the safety of his own lady, so he was so anxious that he did not dare to urge the three of Jinhong, so he had to shake the horse whip himself, and ran forward for a while, standing in place and watching Jin Ran drive the carriage slowly, waiting for a hurry, another whip was thrown under the horse's buttocks, "tick tick" ran back, and Jinhong's carriage drove side by side.

Jinghong looked at Liu Ruis with a tired expression, and then looked at the surrounding environment, and looked around, as Liu said, many of those barks can be clearly seen to be newly grown this spring, and the weeds on the ground are just sparsely emerging because they were uprooted last year.

It's hard to imagine what kind of scene this Chu County was like at that time, although Liu Ru didn't say it, but the people were so hungry that if it was said that no one was eating people, no one would believe it.

A few people quietly continued to hurry, most of the fields on both sides of Ruth were deserted, only a few sparse fields were planted with crops, it was a pity to look at it, just looking at the weeds inside also knew that these fields were rare fertile fields, and spring was the best season for sowing, but now no one came to plant.

As if seeing the doubts in Jin Hong's eyes, Liu Ru explained sadly in his heart: "More than fifty percent of the people in charge of these fields have starved to death, and the fourth layer has already eaten the seeds reserved for planting as food for the stomach, so the crops in front of me that are less than one layer are all exchanged for the lives of the people." ”

Jin Hong's face was gloomy, and he continued to drive the carriage, Yan Changfeng and Li Yu heard Liu Ruyi's words, and their hearts were even more sad, as a rich lady who has been in a prosperous city like Yanjing since she was a child, where has she ever been exposed to such a terrifying scene, and it is even more difficult to imagine that under the surface of Dayan's singing and dancing, such a cruel thing will happen.

At the same time, he was even more angry at the Chu Shou people who didn't care about the lives of the people and the fish and meat township, and he couldn't wait to be able to bring that Chu Shou people to death in front of him at this moment.

After about a stick of incense, the four of them could finally see the outline of the city wall of Chu County from afar, and it was not appropriate to say that it was a city wall, at best, it could only be regarded as a soil ram piled up with mud and stones, and it was about the height of an adult man.

When I got closer, I saw two guards wearing the uniforms of the county government officials standing at the door and sleeping on the table placed at the door with squinting eyes, Xu slept too late last night, and now it is still morning (si), these two people are sleeping here, seeing Liu Ru shaking his head, originally in order to avoid the guard, afraid that the doorman will recognize his outfit now seems to be useless at all, and several people swaggered into the county seat.

Liu Ru originally wanted to invite the three of Jin Hong to live in his house, but was rejected by Li Yu and Yan Changfeng, not that they felt inconvenient, but it was not yet time to reveal their whereabouts, Liu Ru is neighbors must know him, and as soon as he went back, wouldn't it mean that everyone knew.

So after a few people discussed, they decided to find a small hotel to live in, during this period, Liu Ru could only stay in his room obediently, and could not come out to show his face, which made Liu Ru, who was anxious to miss his wife, scream wow, but fortunately, he was also a person who could recognize current affairs, and stayed in the room every day to wash his face with tears, looking forward to the early arrival of the day when he reunited with his wife Zhang Yanqiu.

Yan Changfeng and Li Yu had never been to such a far place, so as soon as they entered the county seat, the two of them temporarily left the matter of Chu Shouren behind, and at this time, the two of them were looking out of the street through the window of the room, and some new gadgets sold by the vendors on both sides surprised the two beauties from time to time.

Jin Hong's gaze directly crossed the background of the two beauties, he didn't have the heart to enjoy the beautiful scenery in front of him now, but his gaze hit a three-story tower in the distance, and his bright eyes flashed a deep blue from time to time.

There is a very peculiar aura in this county, this breath Jinhong has only felt on the fox-shaped jade pendant that Mr. Kong Wensheng carries with him before, but it needs to be close to Kong Wensheng's side, but this breath he has felt since he first entered the county seat.

The source of that breath is the three-story tower that Jinhong's eyes locked, which is the tallest building in the county, what could it be? Even Jinhong himself didn't know.