Du Wenhao smiled and nodded at him, signaling that he could go, Gan Laohan trembled, held the pile of silver coins, knelt down and kowtowed to Du Wenhao a few times, walked over, held the silver coins in both hands and handed them to Du Wenhao.

Du Wenhao knew what he meant, took a small piece of broken silver from it, put it on the mat, and said, "If there is anything, just come to me!" ”

Gan Laohan was slightly stunned, and then understood that Du Wenhao's words were to clear his own troubles, and he was grateful, and agreed repeatedly, so he got up and bowed his body tremblingly, and walked away with tears.

Du Wenhao returned to the back hall, and found the shopkeeper Na Luo to inquire about the purchase of goods in detail, until he was confident, so he taught the shopkeeper a few words and left.

The next day, Du Wenhao didn't sleep well all night, always let the squeaky gnawing sound of the rats in the attic harass for half the night, and only took a nap in the second half of the night.

Who would have thought that the cook and mother-in-law of the inn were doing good deeds in the room, and the bed squeaked against the wall, which was more torturous than the rats in the attic, Du Wenhao stretched out his hand and was about to knock on the door, listened, the mother-in-law in the house was very prodigal, kissing her brother one by one, Du Wenhao swallowed his saliva alive, thinking that he had not been close to a woman for many days, although he could kiss Lin Qingdai's small mouth from time to time, but there was still a gap between that and reality, and if there was a gap, it would naturally be different. At a critical time, you still can't think about it, and when you think about it, you can't control yourself.

Thinking of this, Du Wenhao was worried that someone would pass by and see him, and he thought that he was peeping, so that people could see this kind of thing, but the face of the Du family was lost, so he hurriedly tiptoed out of the yard, because the sky was not yet bright, and when he was about to arrive at the door, he mentioned a fat cat at the door who left his post without permission and did not go to catch mice and just sleep.

I heard a scream, and someone in the porter was asking, "Who is it?" ”

Du Wenhao had no choice but to say angrily: "The guests upstairs." ”

There was no sound in the gatehouse, Du Wenhao opened the door and walked out, and the sky began to drizzle.

Out of the inn, it was still early, and not far away there were already early shepherd boys grazing and restaurants open.

Du Wenhao walked to a restaurant, and saw several cage drawers placed at the door, which emitted bursts of fragrance, and when he smelled this smell again in his empty stomach, Du Wenhao couldn't help but swallow his saliva secretly, and simply stopped.

At this time, a woman in her twenties was wearing an orchid dress and trousers, dressed neatly, with an apron of the same color tied around her waist, and was sweeping the floor with a broom. There are freshly released buns and vegetable porridge, and we have dried sauerkraut in our own shop, which is delicious. ”

Du Wenhao swallowed saliva, picked up his robe and walked into the door, found a table by the window and sat down, the woman quickly found a handkerchief and wiped the table again, standing next to Du Wenhao and looking at him with a smile.

Du Wenhao saw that although this woman was dressed plainly and looked quite upright, but her eyes were a little inverted, in the words of the ancients, this kind of woman was calculating, and her cheekbones were high, this kind of woman was kefu. However, Du Wenhao thought that he was not here for a blind date, but to eat steamed buns, so he smiled and said, "Bring me six steamed buns, a plate of sauerkraut, and a bowl of porridge." ”

"Okay, it's seventy in total." The woman was still smiling, but she did not move.

Du Wenhao was stunned, and thought, isn't this usually eaten first and then paid, and these things are only ten yuan, why is it so expensive here, could it be that this store is a black shop?

Seeing Du Wenhao's suspicious face, the woman hurriedly explained with a smile: "The guest officer must not be from us here, and we didn't have this price in the past, but now everything is expensive, and we have no way, don't you say you want to support your family?" Moreover, many refugees now can't afford to pay for food, and we are not a big family, so we can't afford to help these individuals, so we ask the guest officer to forgive me. ”

is a good pair of sharp teeth, Du Wenhao thought about it, anyway, he has to give money, so he won't give her money and she won't give him food, so he touched a string of copper coins from the money bag and handed it to the woman. The woman put the money away, and with a smile on her face, she quickly brought the meal.

Du Wenhao leisurely ate the buns and drank the porridge, the taste of the meal was quite delicious, especially the porridge was boiled well, Du Wenhao's mouth had already made Pang Yuqin and Lin Qingdai pet into a fragrant mouth, and the general food could not satisfy him, but today this porridge is really good, Du Wenhao asked for another bowl and drank it beautifully.

The woman was overjoyed and said, "The guest officer likes to eat, so I won't charge you for this bowl of porridge." ”

As he was talking, he saw a child's head popping out of the back room, about five or six years old, a boy, dressed thinly, walked up to the woman and stared at the bowl where Du Wenhao was drinking porridge, his eyes showed a look of longing, and his little tongue stretched out and licked his lips.

"Mother, I'm hungry." The boy said pitifully.

The woman looked at Du Wenhao with some embarrassment, and hurriedly coaxed the child: "Bao'er, let Dad get you some food, my mother is busy here." ”

The child tugged at the woman's garment, but his eyes did not take off the porridge bowl, and murmured, "You always say so, I didn't eat last night." ”

The woman hurriedly shouted to the back room, "Father, get some food for the child, I have a busy guest here." ”

No one spoke in the back room, and the woman was in a hurry, so she tore the child's hand away and turned around to give Du Wenhao porridge.

When the child saw that the woman ignored her, she pouted and did not make a sound, and tears fell down her eyes.

Seeing this, Du Wenhao handed him a bun, the child was stunned at first, looked at Du Wenhao, and saw that Du Wenhao was looking at himself with a smile, so he grabbed the bun and devoured it.

The woman came with porridge, and when she saw that her child was eating the guest's buns, she hurriedly stepped forward to stop her.

"Bao'er, why are you so ignorant, how can you eat the guest's things, hurry up and put it down for me!" As he spoke, he was going to grab the bun.

"This sister-in-law, I can't eat it anyway, you take the money, and then bring a bowl of porridge to the child." Du Wenhao blocked the woman's hand and said.

The woman's face turned red, and in a hurry, she didn't speak as cleverly as she had just now: "Guest officer, this ...... How does this make this ...... That's unacceptable. ”

Du Wenhao smiled, and saw that the child had already eaten a bun, and his eyes rolled because he choked on it too quickly, so he gently patted him twice on the back: "It's not in the way, you can just go and bring it quickly." ”

The woman nodded gratefully to Du Wenhao, put the porridge in front of Du Wenhao, and went to scoop a bowl of porridge for her child.

"This sister-in-law, is your business good?" Du Wenhao simply gave all the remaining three buns to the child, and asked while drinking porridge.

Seeing that there were no guests, the woman sat opposite Du Wenhao and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's all some passing merchants to take care of business, and life is okay." ”

"No one in your family farms?"

"No, in the past, farming could barely survive, but now the government taxes are too heavy, and all the year's harvest is given to ......, hehe, don't talk about it, anyway, our store can still survive."

Du Wenhao touched the child's head, the child was working hard, and he didn't care what the adults said. Just fill your belly.

"No matter how hard it is in the future, I still have to feed the child, he is growing his body, but he can't lose the child."

The woman nodded again and again, and said ashamedly: "There is also an old mother in the family who is not in good health, and the family depends on this income, so ......, hehe, it won't be in the future, it won't." ”

Du Wenhao finished drinking the porridge, and the child had already eaten all the meals on the table, burped with satisfaction, and smiled at Du Wenhao.

At this time, it was already dawn, and Du Wenhao thought that Song Shenzong and they should also get up, so he got up and said goodbye.

The woman took the child's hand and watched Du Wenhao disappear on the horizon, when the child raised his head and said to the woman: "Mother, why do you have to call my father to the back room every time, didn't my father die when I was two years old?" ”

The woman smiled miserably, squatted down, and said: "Bao'er, you are still young, you don't know many things, your mother takes you alone, and your grandmother, life is really not easy, every time you see a well-dressed guest officer, he comes out and asks his mother what he wants to eat, in fact, he just wants to save a meal for your grandmother." ”

The child still shook his head, looked dazed, and said, "How does the mother know that those who are well-dressed will definitely give Bao'er food?" ”

The woman smiled, touched the child's forehead, and kissed the forehead affectionately: "Mother doesn't know, I just want to try my luck, after all, there are still many good people in this world, and besides, these rich people won't care about the money for one or two buns." ”

"Anyway, Bao'er doesn't understand what her mother is saying, as long as she can be like today's person, someone will give Bao'er steamed buns every day, and the steamed buns made by my mother are the most delicious."

The woman took the child in her arms in distress, kissed him the forehead again, stood up, and said, "All right, let's go and bring breakfast to grandma." ”

The child smiled and touched his bulging belly, took the woman's hand, and followed her back to the shop.

Du Wenhao walked slowly back to the inn all the way, the rain was still falling, but it was already very small, and it was sporadically floating on Du Wenhao's head and body, itchy and crispy and did not feel cold.

Walking to the door of the inn, Du Wenhao saw a woman sitting under the eaves at the door of the inn, about the same age as the woman who sold buns just now, and she was only in her twenties, but she was not as neat as the woman who sold buns, her hair was messy, her clothes were shabby, and she only had one shoe on her feet, and the other one was thrown somewhere, and there was a swaddling baby in her arms, and the woman was sitting there crying.

Du Wenhao stepped forward and was about to speak, when the woman heard the footsteps and raised her head, Du Wenhao found that the woman's appearance was delicate, but a huge tumor on her neck hung there, the size of a grapefruit, and it felt like the whole face was deformed, and it looked really infiltrating.

Du Wenhao was about to ask, but saw the door of the inn open, and a girl walked out of the door, with two pigtails in a pink shirt and white pants on her shoulders, and a willow branch in her hand.

"Shopkeeper Du, you got up so early, I thought I was the earliest."

This person is Yu Pigeon.

Yu Ge'er didn't pay attention to the woman before, because when Du Wenhao walked to the woman's side, the woman suddenly stopped crying, but there were tears in the corners of her eyes.

Yu Ge'er passed by the woman, and turned back inadvertently, probably also startled by the thing on the woman's neck, her face changed, and the woman immediately lowered her head and sobbed as soon as she saw Yu Ge'er's expression.

Yu Ge'er hurriedly walked to Du Wenhao's side and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with her?" How do you ...... on your neck? ”

Du Wenhao hurriedly motioned to her not to say any more, but pointed to the woman to her, Yu Ge'er understood, stepped forward and asked softly: "This sister, why are you sitting here?" Then he looked at the swaddling clothes and found a sleeping child lying inside, so he continued: "It's so cold outside, be careful that your child catches a cold." ”

Yu Ge'er looked at the child in the swaddling clothes, probably held tightly by the woman all the time, as if she didn't feel the cold, and she was still asleep and never woke up.

The woman shook her head and cried, "I don't want to live, but the child is still young, so I stay at this inn to see who is willing to take my child." ”

When Du Wenhao and Yu Ge'er heard this, they were shocked, Yu Ge'er was suddenly annoyed, stepped forward and sat down next to the woman, pointed to the child in the swaddling clothes, and said: "How are you a mother, the child is so young, you want to give the child away, is it the harmful seedling method that makes you have no way to live, tell me, I will call the shots for you." ”

When Du Wenhao heard this, he couldn't help laughing, this Yu Geer always says whatever he wants, and now he sees who is having a bad time, he always takes out the green seedling method first to talk about things, you are in charge? So who is in charge of the pigeon?

Du Wenhao stepped forward, and the woman instinctively leaned back, deliberately keeping a distance from the man in front of her.

"What are you hiding, other people's daughters-in-law are much more beautiful than you, oh, I don't mean anything else, I just want to say that he already has two wives, and besides, I'm still here." Yu Ge'er consciously lost her mouth and hurriedly added.

Du Wenhao thought to himself, you just listened to Lin Qingdai, how do you know your situation.

"Does your man know you're coming out?" Du Wenhao asked.

When the woman heard Du Wenhao say this, she simply covered her face and cried loudly. Yu Ge'er was anxious, and hurriedly said: "You be quiet, be careful of noisy children." ”

When the woman heard Yu Ge'er say this, her voice immediately became smaller: "My name is Xiaolian, and I live in Li Village, a suburb of Dongming County, and I ran away from home because I couldn't stand the beating and scolding of the men in my family. ”

"There is no royal law, and it is too much to dare to beat people." Yu Ge'er was angry.

Du Wenhao saw that the woman's face was blue and her lips were pale, she must have been sitting at the door of this inn for a long time, so he said, "Let's go, go in and have a cup of hot tea and something to eat." ”

The woman shook her head again and again when she heard this, and said: "Guest officer, if you are kind enough to take in my hard-working child, his father will definitely marry again, then his stepmother will definitely lose him, I really can't bear it, so I beg you." As he spoke, he knelt in front of Du Wenhao.

Du Wenhao hurriedly motioned to Yu Ge'er to help the woman up, and Yu Ge'er said in a good voice: "If you have anything to say, wait until you eat, and when you eat, we will go with you to find that bastard man, if he dares to beat you again, we will take him to see the official." ”

The woman sighed, looked at the baby in the swaddling clothes, and said, "I can't blame him, if it weren't for me, a harmful disease, he wouldn't have done this to me." ”

"You're still speaking for that bastard?" Yu Ge'er said loudly angrily.

"Yu Ge'er, bring this sister-in-law in to eat something first, see a doctor when you are sick, don't say death at every turn."

"That's it, our shopkeeper Du is a miracle doctor, if you meet us, even if you are saved, let's go."

When the woman heard Yu Ge'er say this, she couldn't help but take a good look at the handsome little boy in front of her who was about the same age as herself, blushed and lowered her head, and said in a low voice: "Aren't all divine doctors gray-haired?" ”

Yu Ge'er laughed loudly: "Our shopkeeper Du is a little younger, but he is still a miracle doctor. ”

Du Wenhao really has no way to take Yu Ge'er, this little girl, there is always something she said, and it doesn't matter whether she should say it or not, whether she can say it or not.

Yu Ge'er helped the woman into the door, and Wang Anshi walked over.

"The king's shopkeeper is early." Yu Ge'er said with a smile.

Wang Anshi has always been respectful of Yu Ge'er, if it weren't for Song Shenzong's imperial attendant, this stubborn old man would not be too lazy to take care of it, but for the sake of Song Shenzong's face, he still nodded symbolically.

Wang Anshi looked at the woman next to Yu Ge'er and said, "Who is this?" ”

The woman lowered her head timidly, and Yu Ge'er said: "She was sick, and the man in the family beat her, so she wanted to come out to seek death and let the shopkeeper Du meet me, and persuade her to come in and eat something, you don't know that her child is well-behaved, how can she bear to leave the child alone?" ”

Yu Ge'er said a lot of things cracklingly, Wang Anshi frowned slightly, and muttered: "We still have so many things to do, how can we still be in the mood to meddle with other people's affairs, it's true!" As he spoke, he walked past Yu Ge'er.

"The old and the old, the young and the young, what do you say, the king?"

Wang Anshi didn't expect Yu Ge'er to reply to himself, he was a little embarrassed, his face was slightly hot, and he pretended to cough dryly twice and left with his hands behind his back.

Du Wenhao stepped forward and secretly stretched out his thumb to Yu Ge'er, and Yu Ge'er smiled proudly.

"This old master is full of benevolence, righteousness and morality all day long, and when it is critical, he not only sits back and ignores him, but also says something cool, and he can't do it without stabbing him." Yu Ge'er whispered.

Du Wenhao couldn't help but admire this little woman a little.

Yu Ge'er led the woman to her room and asked the innkeeper to cook a bowl of hot noodles for the woman to eat, the woman refused at first, and then saw that Yu Ge'er was anxious with herself, so she choked up and ate all the bowls of noodles, and after eating, her mood was much calmer, and she began to tell Du Wenhao and Yu Ge'er about her own affairs.

"When I was seventeen years old, I married to Li Village, the man's name is Li Zhong, in fact, he was very good to me in the first few years of marriage, because of the early death of my mother-in-law, my father-in-law is also an easy-going person, I don't have to look at the old man's face, he is also heavy work and tired work one by one does not let me do, those years are the best years of my life, later, not long after the child was born, I found that there was a hard lump on the neck, I didn't care at first, because it didn't hurt or itch, we croppers work a day, and we didn't care, who wants this thing to grow bigger and bigger, In less than half a year, it grew to the size of a pear, and since then, the man has become more and more bad to me, at first he was picky, not disgusted with the bad cooking, so he said that my work was not good, and then he did not go to the ground, the work in the field was all done by me, he and a group of people in the village went to the county town to gamble money and play women, and when he came back, he was beaten and scolded, I couldn't get by, this is ......"

"Then he doesn't like you so much, why didn't he just divorce you?" Yu Ge'er said.

It's too late for Du Wenhao to stop it, this ancient and modern times are different, Yu Ge'er is not married, naturally he doesn't understand this truth, the truth from the beginning to the end is deeply ingrained in the hearts of ancient people, whether it is a commoner or a royal noble, divorce is the most shameful thing, not only the face of the woman, but even the face of the woman's whole family and even the whole clan.

Sure enough, the woman's face changed, and Du Wenhao hurriedly explained: "Yu Ge'er means that he should treat you better, since he married you, he shouldn't treat you like this." ”

The woman's face became better when she heard this, and said: "He doesn't dare, because he knows that I didn't make a mistake, and my father-in-law is also my old man, so he has no reason to divorce me, if he divorces me, I will crash to death on the ancestral hall of his Li family." ”

didn't expect to be such a chaste woman, Yu Ge'er joked: "You are going to die now, why do you need to wait for the day when he divorces you, your death has responded to his thoughts, just to remarry the newlywed." ”

Although Yu Ge'er didn't like what she said, this woman named Xiaolian understood what Yu Ge'er meant, and she became sad again.

Yu Ge'er said: "Okay, don't cry anymore, if you cry again, you will drink all those noodle soups that will flow out." ”

Du Wenhao couldn't help but sneer, and Xiaolian laughed embarrassedly.

Yu Ge'er smiled when she saw Xiaolian, so she pointed to Du Wenhao and said, "You let our shopkeeper Du show you, and then I'll go to the fifth master." After saying that, he got up and left.

Du Wenhao: "What are you going to do with the fifth master?" ”

Yu Ge'er smiled weirdly and said, "Tell the fifth master to let Xiaolian stay temporarily, lest she be let go after a while, what if she is sad and wants to die?" ”

Du Wenhao smiled and said, "Then don't be in a hurry to leave, she was already a little afraid of me, leave me alone, where does she dare to let me see her?" ”

Yu Ge'er laughed, and Xiaolian was even more embarrassed, her little face turned red, and she buried her face deep in the swaddling clothes.