arranged for Niu Pingfu to sit down and drink tea in the gatehouse, and the servant hurriedly took the letter from Niu Pingfu and went to the direction of the study. When he arrived at the door of the study, he saw Wang Yannian's personal servant Wang Gui waiting outside the study, so he stepped forward and said, "Brother Wang Gui, someone has come to visit the master." As he spoke, he handed over the prayer note and the letter.

This Wang Gui was originally Wang Yannian's scholar, so he also knew a few words. Now I took the post and looked at it, but I saw that it read: "Niu Pingfu, a junior student, worships it." Looking at the letter again, it was written: "Mr. Wang personally opened, and the student Niu Juming nodded his head." He couldn't remember when Wang Yannian had such a "world friend" surnamed Niu, but this matter was not something he could decide, so he said: "You wait here, I'll go in and present it to the master." ”

When Wang Gui had said this, he took the prayer note and the letter, and pushed the door in. When he entered the door, he saw that Wang Yannian was settling accounts with his wife, so he didn't dare to disturb, but just stood aside and waited. It turned out that since Wang Yannian was involved in the reverse case, lost his official position, and was rejected by Shilin after he came back, he broke off his mind to start again, and now he has spent all his thoughts on how to make money. His family has some fertile land on Yuliangzhou, natural disasters have been frequent in recent years, and the price of rice is higher than a year. It's just that recently, Huang Zide's gang came over, and the court officials and soldiers were incompetent, so they fled without a fight. As a result, the trade routes for the sale of this grain were also cut off.

"Now a small half of Huguang has fallen into the hands of thieves, but fortunately, Huang Zide, a thief, wants to buy people's hearts now, but there is no large-scale looting. It's just that this year's millet is about to ripen, but it can't be sold. It's really ......"

"Master, in this troubled world, it is already good to live a peaceful and stable life, this grain can't be sold, it's just put in the granary for a while. As long as the family is safe. His wife, Li, persuaded him.

Wang Yannian was about to say something more, but when he saw Wang Gui waiting on the side, he asked, "Wang Gui, is there anything wrong?" ”

"Sir, there is a visitor." Wang Gui hurriedly said.

"Guests? At this time? Wang Yannian was taken aback.

After Wang Yannian was dismissed, the characters in Shilin basically didn't associate with him anymore, and as for those businessmen and the like, Wang Yannian still couldn't pull his face to deal with them, and in business, although he made the decision in the end, it was always his nephew and the like who came forward. Now, when Xiangyang and even the entire Jianghan have fallen into the hands of thieves, who will come to visit him at such a time.

With such doubts, Wang Yannian turned out to pay tribute to the post and letter, first looked at the cover of the post and letter, Wang Yannian asked his wife very suspiciously: "When did I recognize a person named Niu Juming?" Do you remember such a person? ”

"The master is really confused, how can this kind of thing be asked to us women?" Li said, "Since the master doesn't recognize people, let's go back to them." ”

Wang Yannian shook his head, opened the envelope, and took out the letter from it, but after a cursory glance, his face changed, and his body shook, almost falling down.

Seeing him like this, Li Shi hurriedly helped him sit down and asked, "Master, what happened?" Don't scare me. ”

Wang Yannian sat on the chair and sighed, "Huang Zide has found us." ”

"Ahh After Li helped him sit down, he took another teacup, poured him a cup of tea, held it in his hand, and was about to let him drink two sips, smooth air, but suddenly heard the word "Huang Zide", and couldn't help but be frightened and his legs were weak, and he sat down on the ground with a bang, and the teacup also fell to the ground, and the tea splashed her skirt.

"Master, master, the thieves have come in, how can this be good!" Li didn't care to get up, so he screamed.

"Don't panic, since they are sending letters, they don't want our lives, otherwise, those thieves will just kill us. Xiangyang City can't stop people, what is our dirt fence? Wang Yannian regained some of his senses at this time.

Seeing that her husband had regained his composure, Li's heart was inexplicably like he had a backer. It was only then that she realized that she was sitting on the ground, and she really didn't look like it. Hurriedly got up and stood up, and asked quite worriedly, "Master, what should I do then?" ”

"Wang Gui, how many people are coming?" Wang Yannian asked.

"Master, this letter was sent by the porter Li San. He's still outside, so he's not too much to call him in. The lord asked him? ”

Wang Yannian thought about it, raised his eyes again, and saw that his wife's skirt was wet with tea. Then he said, "You go to the back room first." He turned to Wang Gui and said, "You clean up these things first, and then call Li San in." ”

Wang Gui answered, and hurriedly treated the broken teacup on the ground and the water stains on the ground, and then went out and called Li San in.

"Li San, what are the guests like today, how many people are there?" Wang Yannian asked.

"Back to the master, the man who came today is a son in his twenties, with five servants, all on horseback. I'm waiting in the gatehouse now. Do you want to see him? ”

When Wang Yannian heard this, he said, "You lead him to the living room, and say that I will come to see him when I change my clothes." ”

Li San answered, turned around and went out. As soon as Li San went out, there was a knock on the door over there, but he saw Li Shi coming out quickly, and said with a worried face: "Master, are you going to see that thief?" But you need to call a few more family members by your side...... I'm worried that if that thief is going to be bad for the master......"

"Since the thief came to the door according to the number of etiquette, it was to come 'salute first and then soldier', and there was still room for turnaround." Wang Yannian said, "The person who came was holding his uncle's letter, his uncle, I still have a faint impression when I said it, when I was a grandmaster and inspected the school, his uncle was just a child, I saw him work hard, and it seems that he encouraged him a few words." Since he thinks I'm a teacher, I shouldn't be in danger for the time being. Well, for a while, you take your step-grandfather, Jigong, and Tuan Ge'er and Second Sister to the back mountain to hide, if it's okay, I'll let people go up the mountain to find you in a while. If something happens, you take them to your mother's house to hide. If anything happens to me, ...... future"

"Master......" Li Shi couldn't help but burst into tears when he heard this.

"Okay, stop crying." Wang Yannian said, "Actually, most of the time there is nothing wrong. Well, go ahead and arrange it. ”

After speaking, Wang Yannian stood up and went to the living room.

……

At this time, Niu Pingfu had been waiting in the living room for a while, but when he saw a thin old man in his fifties walking in tremblingly, he guessed that it must be Wang Yannian. So he quickly stood up and bowed and saluted: "Niu Pingfu, the junior of the last school, will meet Mr. ”

Wang Yannian hurriedly returned the salute, the two sat down separately, and talked about the old for a while, Niu Pingfu said: "The younger generation came this time, in fact, it is still for the people of this world, and they came to ask the old gentleman for his life." Now Marshal Huang has just opened the government, and although there are only a few counties under his jurisdiction, there are millions of people waiting to be fed. Governance relief is yet to be meted out. Marshal Huang has heard the name of the old gentleman for a long time and knows the talent and character of the old gentleman. I want to be tired of the affairs of a county. ”

When Wang Yannian heard this, he hurriedly shook his head and said: "The old man has no ability and knowledge, but now that he is old and frail, you see that I am a bad old man, I don't know how many days I can live, how can I take on such a thing, you better ask for another master." ”

"Marshal Huang knows that his foundation is not yet solid. The old gentleman was unwilling to give in for a while, and the marshal could understand. After listening to Wang Yannian's words, Niu Pingfu said so.

This sentence made Wang Yannian very relieved. He had already made up his mind before he came, that is, no matter what, even if he died, he could not be a "thief". This is not because Wang Yannian is very loyal to the Jokhang Dynasty, but because he doesn't think that Huang Zide, a rogue, can have much future. And once you bear the notoriety of "slave thief", you will not only be unlucky in the future, but also implicate future generations. Therefore, he is even ready, if the "thief" forces him, he will first recite two sentences, "Who has not died in life since ancient times, leave Dan to take care of the sweat", and then come to a heroic martyrdom.

But now that people don't seem to have the intention of forcing him, Wang Yannian naturally won't recite those two lines of poetry by himself. After all, it doesn't look good to hang your tongue, and wiping your neck with a knife will stain your clothes, as for diving...... It's autumn now, and the river outside is already very cold; As for the well at home, although it is said to be warm in winter and cool in summer, it is still a little cooler at this time. In short, it is always a good thing to be able to not die.

"But now the ground in Xiangyang is full of displaced people, and now although the marshal has given a large amount of relief and temporarily saved their lives, the food in the marshal's hands is not enough for so many displaced people to eat. The marshal knew that the boss had a lot of food in his hands. ”

Speaking of this, Niu Pingfu found that Wang Yannian's face was a little white.

"The old man's family has also suffered a famine, where is there food?" Wang Yannian said, "But God has the virtue of a good life, if the marshal wants to build a few porridge sheds, the old man will fight for his family, and he can also help the marshal a little." The old man can only take out fifty stones of grain here, and he doesn't know ......."

Speaking of this, Wang Yannian stopped talking, because he found that Niu Pingfu laughed.

"Old man, you have misunderstood what our Marshal Huang meant. The marshal sent me not to fight the old gentleman, but to negotiate a deal with the old gentleman. Old gentleman, how much grain has been sold in the house over the years, who in this Xiangyang Mansion doesn't know? Now because of the war, the trade route has been cut off, which has interfered with the old gentleman's business, and the marshal is also very unhappy. So the marshal sent me to buy grain from the gentleman. The real price is clear, and the real money is real. Just charge it at the price of one tael of silver and one load, and it shouldn't make the old gentleman suffer. If the old gentleman is worried that he will not have a good relationship with us, we can also pretend to be an ordinary caravan to buy it. I don't know what the old gentleman thinks? ”