Lunar calendar, Chinese New Year's Eve.

In the twilight, in the secluded place of Jijing Lane, Jiangtian Town, Yongcheng County, Jiangnan, in a house full of holes, there was a lonely and thin young man.

At this time, the boy was lighting the only half of the candle in the house according to custom, preparing for the vigil, and symbolically illuminating the candle in every dark corner, hoping for good luck and a bright future in the coming year.

The young man's surname is Jiang, his name is Liu'er, when he was six years old, his father died somehow, and his mother didn't know where to go, Jiang Liuer became an orphan, and the neighbors looked at him pitifully.

His father only left a dilapidated ancestral mansion, Jiang Liu'er used it to shelter from the wind and rain, and his mother left a pair of white jade bracelets, which must not be worth a few copper plates.

The town is surrounded by mountains, and the iron ore in the mountains is extremely prestigious, and since the founding of the dynasty, it has served as an important task of the imperial armory, and there are imperial officials stationed here all year round to supervise the casting of imperial ordnance.

Jiang Liu'er began to learn the craft of iron casting with the blacksmith master very early, and at first she could only do some rough work of serving tea and pouring water, and followed a short-tempered master to study hard for several years.

Just pondered a little bit of iron casting experience, the result of the impermanence of the world, due to the empire cut transportation costs, coupled with the continuous natural disasters in the northwest region for many years, the weapons created have no money to be shipped out, piled up in this place, in the end there is really no way, the imperial court had to revoke the status of the armory here, and the weapons that have been created are temporarily shelved here for emergencies.

As soon as the imperial court ordered, hundreds of mines around Jiangtian Town that had been reclaimed became decadent and ruined overnight.

—————————

Jiang Liuer finished busy, put down the half candle in his hand, walked out of the house, sat on the broken steps in front of the door, looking up at the starry sky, at this time, the fireworks on Chinese New Year's Eve splashed everywhere, and fire dragons came out of the dark night sky, instantly illuminating the sky.

The boy still clearly remembers that the master who was transferred halfway was surnamed Tian, a local, on the dog days of this year, when he was striking iron in the iron shop where he lived, he unfortunately died of heat stroke, and in the year of his establishment, he abandoned his wife and abandoned his mother.

However, people like Master Tian who drill the horns of the bull and only obsesse with iron casting all their lives belong to a minority.

After more than 200 years from the founding of the country to the present, iron casting has been passed down for several generations, and the small town blacksmiths who can only make a living from iron casting have lost their iron rice bowls and have to change jobs one after another to find another way out.

Sixteen-year-old Jiang Liuer was also swept away, and after returning to Jiangtian Town, she guarded this dilapidated old mansion, and the environment was rainy and windy, even if Jiang Liuer wanted to become a loser, she couldn't do it.

After losing his job, Jiang Liu'er was like a lonely ghost, floating around in the town, after a while, the boy still couldn't find a living, the savings saved by a few years of blacksmith life have been stretched, if he can't find a job in the next few days, then he really has to drink the northwest wind, the boy has already begun to tighten his clothes and food, he is already very thin, and he has been hungry for a while, and now it looks like a hemp pole, maybe it is because of this that his senior brother gave him a nickname called hemp pole.

A few days ago, I heard that there were porters at the freight port, no salary, just food, Jiang Liuer ran over and tried it, because she was too thin, but she was directly blasted out before she tried, Jiang Liuer was a little confused, a porter has to ask so much.

Although Jiang Liu'er looks a little weak, his arm strength is indeed very strong, and he can lift it with one hand while holding an adult, which has been practiced in several years of iron casting.

In addition, Jiang Liuer and Master Tian also traveled all over the mountains and rivers within a hundred miles of Jiangtian Town, tasted all kinds of soil around them, worked hard, and were willing to do any heavy and dirty work, without dragging mud and water at all.

It's a pity that Master Tian has passed away, although he never waited to see Jiang Liu'er when he was alive, he always felt that others had no understanding, and he was far inferior to his big apprentice Xue Zhongliang, so it was no wonder that Master Tian was selfish.

"The master leads the door, and the cultivation is in the individual?"

For example, forging the same sword would take Jiang Liu'er about three quarters of an hour to complete, while Xue Zhongliang only needed half a quarter of an hour! Jiang Liu'er had learned a few years of skills, but it was not as skilled as Xue Zhongliang's mastery in half a year.

"That's talent!"

Time flies, the stars are changing, the glorious year is about to pass, and another year full of hope and challenges is quietly coming. Although the weather is a little cold, it still can't stop the fiery hearts of the people in the town, and there are thousands of empty alleys, a prosperous and peaceful scene.

The sound of the howling cold wind, the sound of fireworks, and the sound of children playing and playing were so sound that Jiang Liuer didn't immediately notice that someone appeared next to his courtyard.

"Ma Pole! Have you eaten the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner?"

I saw a young man of the same age squatting on the wall of Jiang Liuer's house, grinning, and unabashedly his disdainful eyes.

It is said that this teenager is the illegitimate son of the former supervisor Ouyang Tian, in order to prevent gossip, he handed over the child to a childless and daughterless ordinary couple to raise, and regularly paid enough support every month.

Since Lord Ouyang returned to Beijing to resume his post, he has never appeared here again, unconsciously the young man has become an abandoned child, and the disaster is not alone, since his adoptive parents got together and passed away, his own life has begun to be depressed day by day, but compared with Jiang Liuer, his life is still leisurely, leisurely, wandering around the town and beyond, idle all year round, and never worried about silver.

The neighbor boy has a title that matches his identity, named Ouyang Shao.

The courtyards of every household in Jiang Tian Town are not high, and you can see the situation inside when you stand outside, Ouyang Shao never enters the courtyard, at most he sits above the courtyard wall, crosses Erlang's legs, and hums a little song, but he can talk to Jiang Liu'er all night long.

"By the way, did you hear that? The mountains of ordnance piled up over the mine were gone, and it happened overnight. ”

"What?

"Yes, not a single piece is left. ”

"Have you found out who did it?"

"No, the perpetrator didn't leave any clues, and the government was helpless, just like a fairy ghost, he suddenly disappeared out of thin air. ”

"Those Shu Li, who oppress the people all day long and have nothing to do, should be busy!"

"That's right! I heard that the order from above has been issued, and the time limit is one month, and the case must be solved, otherwise they will all take off their official uniforms and leave. ”

"Is that awesome?"

"It's really good, but there are even more awesome, that is, the Shuli Yamen, who has always been like an iron rooster, actually began to issue a bounty announcement, as long as you provide valuable clues, you can receive a thousand taels of silver, if you catch the thief directly, then you don't have to worry about it in this life." ”

"Why do you say that? Are there a lot of rewards?"

"No, because the reward for directly catching the prisoner is not a silver tael, but an official position, isn't the position of the county magistrate in this county always vacant?"

"Oh! I see! I can be an official!"

"That's right!"

———————

Ouyang Shao diverted the topic and said, "I may have to leave Jiangtian Town next month. ”

Jiang Liu'er sighed: "Hey! take care all the way." ”

"There are some things in my house that I definitely can't move, so don't take advantage of my absence and sell them secretly and unscrupulously. ”

Jiang Liu'er shook her head.

Ouyang Shao suddenly laughed and pointed at Jiang Liu'er with his finger.

"Coward!"

Jiang Liu'er was silent.

Then, the two of them returned to the house, and Jiang Liuer closed the doors and windows.

"Gollum ......"

There was a sound of hunger.

Jiang Liu'er lay on the bed and squeezed her trouser belt hard.

Then, from his belt, he took out the only thing his mother had left behind, which became brighter and more rosy in the night.

After touching it for a while, Jiang Liuer unconsciously fell asleep.

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