The night was too dark, the pursuers were too urgent, and Li Mao carelessly deviated from the predetermined retreat route.

Running wildly all night, at dawn, Li Mao found himself in a strange town, he settled down, took off the blue cloth shirt of the night walk in the woods outside the village, nested into a ball, dug a pit and buried it, found a pond and washed his face, and shone by the water, except that the root of his arm was a little white, and he looked like a man who worked as a coolie in the countryside.

My stomach was cramping, and I was hungry and uncomfortable. Touched his pocket, only found three copper coins, these three copper coins can buy what to eat, Li Mao was dazed and ignorant, he has lived a smooth life in the past two years, although the money is not much, but it has never been lacking, he is used to spending money lavishly, and he has long been unable to figure out the true purchasing power of a copper coin.

"I guess it's enough to buy a bowl of noodles to eat."

Thinking about it, Li Mao walked towards Zhuangzi, which was surrounded by a ditch with thorns planted on both sides of the ditch to prevent theft. The noodle shop where Li Mao went was located on the outside of the ditch, which is also the southernmost part of the town, near a small east-west river lined with green trees.

Li Mao's wishful thinking in his heart was that if the money was not enough to buy a bowl of noodles, he would eat the overlord meal, in short, he could not starve to death as a dignified right-handed right-handed.

"Let's have a bowl of noodles."

"Is there any money?" The young shopkeeper rolled his eyes and glanced at Li Mao, and said coldly.

"Yes." Li Maoqiang pressed the anger in his heart, and he couldn't understand how this man looked down on people like this.

"One article for plain noodles, two articles for beef, and three articles for mutton." The shopkeeper lazily quoted the price.

"Smack!" Li Mao slapped the three copper coins on the noodle table and said arrogantly: "Come to three bowls of somen noodles." ”

The first bowl of somen noodles was quickly placed in front of Li Mao, and the bowl was like a basin.

Li Mao was a little dizzy, he knew that he should have a bowl of mutton noodles.

After running wild all night and exhausting his physical strength, Li Mao felt that he could swallow a cow, but he was afraid that his stomach would not be stimulated, so he forced himself to chew and swallow slowly.

Half a bowl of noodles was lowered, his body warmed up, and after eating the second half of the bowl with vigor, Li Mao wiped his mouth and couldn't eat anymore.

The shopkeeper glanced at Li Mao and said lazily: "I have already cut the noodles, I can't sell them to others if you don't eat them, I can't refund the money, send you a pot of tea to quench your thirst." ”

Li Mao didn't care about him either, and waited for him to make a sencha.

At this time, a chubby middle-aged woman appeared at the door of the noodle restaurant, carrying a bag of broken cloth in her hand, her face was gloomy, her cheeks were bruised, and there seemed to be some tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Sister, why are you here?" The owner of the noodle shop lazily greeted the woman, and he clearly saw the bruise on the woman's face, but he pretended not to care and kept silent.

"Why am I coming, can't I come? I...... Hey, there's a monk. ”

The woman who came was named Aunt Yang, the sister of Yang Qi, the owner of the noodle restaurant, she had just been beaten by her husband at home, and she wanted to go home to complain to her brother, but she didn't expect that the younger brother was indifferent to her sister, and the grievances and resentment in her heart suddenly poured towards her brother like the water that burst the embankment.

It was Li Mao who saved Yang Qi, the woman caught a glimpse of Li Mao sitting in the store in a daze, and immediately shut up, her eyebrows raised upward, her eyes were shining, and the resentment disappeared without a trace in an instant.

"Alas, here you are."

She beckoned to Yang Qi and walked under a poplar tree outside the store.

Yang Qi wiped his hand on his apron and reluctantly followed. His sister's temper is not very good, her husband's temper is even worse, the two of them often fight at home, and every time his sister suffers a loss, he comes to take out his anger, Yang Qi is distressed by this.

When the woman saw her brother's sluggish attitude, her just sunny mood suddenly became cloudy, her face was as cold as frost for a while, and she was about to scold, but suddenly she changed her mind again, and her face was full of laughter.

Yang Qi couldn't help but shudder, Aunt Yang dragged her younger brother and muttered two words in his ear, Yang Qi was taken aback and looked at her in amazement. Aunt Yang was annoyed, pushed her brother viciously, and said viciously: "Without your brother-in-law, you would have died in prison, ungrateful things, don't go quickly!" Yang Qi drooped his head and turned around. Aunt Yang punched him hard in the back again, and then turned to leave. When she walked past the door of the noodle shop, she glanced at Li Mao again, as if she had seen a rare treasure, and the two eyebrows on her chubby white face were bent into a festive crescent moon.

Li Mao was unaware of all this that was happening outside the door, he was worried about the Pinglu army's increase in troops to Caozhou, these soldiers and horses were hidden in the forest, only a few days of food and grass, and the plan was already obvious. Xue Rong is right, and now that Ziqing is peaceful, Li Shigu still has to attack Yu Hualong.

Thinking of this, Li Mao smiled bitterly twice, most of the four counties in Caozhou suffered floods last summer, and there was no harvest in the autumn, and it was all thanks to the relief of the imperial court to barely pass the year. At the beginning of spring, there was a big drought, and although the rain increased after the beginning of summer, the temperature was higher than in previous years, and the heat was surprisingly hot.

At this juncture, those in power do not think about taking precautions and helping the people in the heat and water, but instead step up the struggle for power and profit and cause internal strife. What a bastard.

Although he has been an official for two years and has some understanding of the darkness of society, he refuses to go with the flow and assimilates himself, and he is still excited when he thinks of these things.

Li Mao was completely immersed in his own world, not noticing that a crisis was quietly approaching.

This noodle shop was originally open in the middle of nowhere, the year was not good, and the business was difficult to do, and after noon, there was no customer in the store except him. When the copper kettle was boiling on the fire, Yang Qi took off his apron and sat opposite Li Mao.

"It's just vulgar, isn't it?"

"Well, why did the donor say this, oh no, I'm not a monk. The head is prone to lice, so it is shaved. ”

Li Mao has always kept his head in the past, not only to commemorate the past, but also because it is easier to care for the head than to have long hair.

The Chinese and Tang Dynasty have an open society and a great degree of social tolerance, and they don't care much about what hairstyle they keep, and they are relatively conservative officialdom, as long as they don't show their "monk head" on formal occasions, it doesn't hurt.

Li Mao usually wears a hat to go out, and last night he went to the Pinglu Army camp to inquire about the news, but did not bring a head, but wrapped his head with a square scarf, and buried it with his night clothes in the early morning. There have been several times when he has been mistaken for a monk who has returned to the world, and Li Mao has long been able to deal with it easily.

"Hehe, there are no outsiders here, so you don't have to hide it. Isn't it a monk, you just eat vegetarian noodles? Called three bowls, only eat one bowl, you are stupid. ”

Li Mao was speechless, he did feel very hungry in front of eating, thinking that he could eat two or three bowls, but who would have thought that the noodle bowl would be so big.

"It doesn't matter where you come from, look at your white and pure, burly and majestic, and your family background must be extraordinary. Eighty percent is the prince and grandson who saw through the red dust and volunteered to become a monk and practice. Yang Qi's sycophant is not very clever, but Li Mao is very useful: his height is still two centimeters away from 1.8 meters, and no one has ever used the word "burly and majestic" to describe him, as for Baijing...... Li Mao looked at his "bronzed" skin, and suddenly felt a little depressed.

"Hey, hehehe......" Li Mao haha, the owner of this noodle restaurant looks annoying at first glance, and it's quite likable to chat.

"Hey, you know, the city is recruiting, go to Jingxi, Tunfengxiang Mansion and Lingwu City, the border troops in these two places are particularly rich in food and clothing, and they are promoted quickly, look at your figure, tsk, if you go to enlist, I dare to pack a ticket, and I can be a fire chief when I come up." A good man is determined to fight for the country, make contributions and make a name for himself, think about it, you are not a big boss, it's not a thing to always drift like this, how about it, think about it. I have friends in Caozhou City, if you want to go, I can't treat you badly......"