Under the moonlight, the huge and dark city wall of Xiangyang lies along the Han River.

In the southwest corner of Xiangyang City, a patchwork of uneven grass huts that cannot see the edge is built, extending from the flat ground outside the city to the foot of the mountain. This was originally a flat silt washed out by the Han River, and those grass sheds gradually became larger with the siltation, and I don't know how many years have developed into such a gathering place.

Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, died and buried in the north.

Outside the eastern capital of Luoyang, there is an inconspicuous hill, called Beipi.

Although the north mountain is not high, the feng shui is excellent, since ancient times it is the first choice for the burial place of princes and nobles, a small hill, only the emperor's tomb is twenty or thirty.

At present, the West Mountain outside Xiangyang City is similar to the northern place. Not only the dignitaries and dignitaries in Xiangyang City are also buried here after their deaths, but even ordinary people should come here to squeeze in and choose a place with better feng shui.

As soon as there were many tombs, another scene was derived, and every time there were people who could not survive, they would rely on stealing the sacrificial meat to survive. Over time, at the foot of the mountain gathered a number of homeless people, beggars, homeless, fugitives, and so on.

This is the lowest level of the whole city, and it is even poorer than the poor people in Xiangyang.

Xiangyang City is an important town in the world, and this kind of gathering was not allowed to exist outside the city, but it has been leveled for many years, and there is no trouble with swords, so the government also acquiesced. At this Xiangyang Conference, Zheng Qin intended to clean up, but these thousands of poor people had nowhere to go, adding more hidden dangers to Xiangyang, so they were retained.

The Zheng family tidied up the perimeter to make it look less dilapidated from afar. Of course, the nobles from all over the world will not come here to see these more bottom-level existences like silt.

At this moment, there is still more than an hour before dawn, the moonlight begins to converge, and some cooking stoves outside the grass shed are gradually ignited, and the entire grass shed area wakes up in the worldly fireworks.

Along with the wake up is Nanhachi.

Nanba is eight years old, surnamed Nan, and is the eighth oldest in the family, so he is called Nanba. Malnourished, he was thin and withered, making him look much younger than his actual age.

Brushing aside the hay, Nanba stretched out his thin arm, pushed away the long stone that was sleeping on the pillow, sat up straight, and on his immature face, his eyes were half-narrowed to gradually round open, and his gaze gradually turned into clear.

The young man was at the age of lethargy, and the long uneven stone pillow was not comfortable, but it could wake him up in the early hours of the morning.

When Xiao Nanba's eyes turned clear, a dry hand pressed the young man's shoulder from behind, and the old voice sounded behind him, "Ba'er, go back and lie down for a while." ”

"I don't." Xiao Nanba's stubborn tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction, and quickly got up and ran to the other end of the grass shed, where a stove stood diagonally.

Then he bent down, grabbed firewood and grass, and added it to the stove.

In the darkness, the old man stopped talking, got up and walked to the corner of the hut, where half a bucket of beans was quietly soaked in the water. Glancing at the state of the beans soaking, the old man sighed with satisfaction and turned to wash.

After a while, the stone mill outside the grass hut creaked and turned.

The fire on the stove had been turned up very vigorously, and the thin boy ran out and snatched the stone mill from the old man's hand, and the squeaking sound stopped for a while, and then turned at a faster speed.

"Nanba, turn slowly, and the soy milk is delicious." The old man, who was busy with things on the stove, looked back at the little boy who was gritting his teeth and struggling with the stone grinder, and whispered.

Xiaonanba's fire burned extremely strongly, and the pot heated quickly. The old man's hands and feet were nimble, and Nanba was up and down, and when the stove exuded a strong aroma of soybean milk, Li Bai led Li Ping to step into the outside of this grass shed area.

When the two of them said goodbye to everyone on the mountainside and had nowhere to go, Li Bai hesitated for a long time, and then led Li Ping all the way here.

Li Bai was obviously not the first time to arrive, and after looking at the direction, he avoided the windows and houses that had been lit, and walked along the shadows of the light of the oil lamps and stoves to the relatively simpler shanties in these people's homes.

The shantytowns on this side are more shabby, the position is a little worse, and the terrain is not so flat, and it tends to rise gradually. The shantytown faces the edge of the mountain, in a slightly new grass hut, and the grandfather and grandson are finishing their work in front of the stove.

At this moment, it is still a long time before the light of day. Nanba, who had been busy with everything, was sitting in front of the stove, holding a burning stick in one hand and supporting his chin with the other, raising his eyebrows with stubborn force, but his eyes couldn't be opened no matter what.

"Nanba, go back to sleep." The old man was cleaning up the last bit of soy milk left on the stove.

"Hmm." The child was awakened, immediately opened his eyes wide, looked at the old man and said, "I don't, I'm going to sell tofu brains with Grandpa." ”

Li Bai looked at the arguing grandfather and grandson in the house from a distance, and a smile appeared on his face, "Daddy Nan, can I go in?" ”

"Brother Li." Looking out of the room, it was not clear, and Nanba obviously heard Li Bai's voice, and his sleepiness disappeared, so he jumped up and ran out of the house.

The old man came out with Nan Ba behind him, full of surprises. Suddenly saw Li Bai and the others dressed in prison uniforms, and couldn't help but be stunned. stepped forward a few steps, stopped Xiao Nanba, who was shouting with excitement, and hurriedly pulled the two into the grass shed.

Li Bai and Li Ping stepped in, the room was uneven dirt floor, there were four wooden barrels on the ground, three wooden barrels were covered with lids, the other was freshly filled with soybean milk, and the aroma was floating in the grass shed.

Needless to say, the food in the prison was poor, and the two of them came out of the prison, their stomachs were already empty, and the smell of such a strong aroma at this moment actually sounded a thunderous voice at the same time, "Grunt." ”

"Brother Li hasn't eaten yet." Nanhachi was amused when he heard this, so he picked up two wooden bowls from the stove and washed them repeatedly with clean water. I opened the innermost wooden barrel, looked back and smiled, "The tofu brain made by Grandpa is just formed." ”

Nanba picked up the spoon, gently skimmed the layers of white tofu brains, and put them in a wooden bowl layer by layer, but the marinade handed over by the old man was quickly sprinkled on the tofu brain, held it in both hands, and handed it to Li Ping.

"This little brother, you eat first." Li Ping was surprised in his heart, he couldn't imagine that this little guy was so polite, and he actually gave his tofu brain to himself first.

The aroma of tofu brain passes through the nose and hits the brain. Li Ping starved for several days, and could no longer resist the temptation of this fragrant smell, picked up the wooden spoon in the bowl, stuffed a spoonful of tofu brain with marinade, and then devoured it.

The tofu brain had just come out of the pot, and the ironed stomach was very comfortable, regardless of Li Bai on the side, he buried his head in eating. On the other side, Li Bai ate not much slower than Li Ping, and his usual elegant and graceful appearance had long been lost.

"Nanba, go outside and watch, don't let people notice here." The old man looked at the sweetness of the two of them, and a contented smile appeared between his brows, and as he spoke, he moved the wooden barrel containing the tofu brain to the front of the stove, blocking the fire, and the light in the house dimmed instantly, making it impossible to see the situation inside the house from the outside.

There was silence in the grass shed for a while, only the sound of two people snoring and eating tofu brains.

The two of them only ate bowl after bowl, and did not stop until seven or eight bowls.

"Engong, there are injuries on your body?" Although the old man didn't know martial arts, he could also see from Li Bai's actions that he was injured.

"Daddy Nan, I'm injured, it's not safe outside, I want to recuperate here for two days." The old man didn't ask where the two came from or why they were injured, but just asked directly if they were injured, which moved Li Bai's heart, but he was embarrassed. "This is the little brother Li Ping."

"Engong saved the lives of my ancestors and grandchildren, and helped the old man to buy these things, don't say that he should care for his injuries, even if he provides for them every day." Father Nan hurriedly responded, turned around and saluted Li Ping, "Second son is good." ”

"Daddy Nan doesn't want to call me son-in-law, let's call me Li Ping." Li Ping hurriedly saluted the old man.

Daddy Nan already regarded Li Ping as Li Bai's younger brother, and called him the second son, Li Ping thought about it for a while, but he couldn't explain it, so he followed Daddy Nan.

This Nan Daddy was originally an old man who took care of the carriage and horses in Shannan Road, and the carriage and horses were caught by the seven ghosts of the Sword Pavilion in the Sword Pavilion, and he wanted to kill people and sell goods, but he was bumped into by Li Bai and really turned the Seven Ghosts of the Sword Pavilion into ghosts. But the man who was in charge of the foot walk had been killed, and after the men had delivered the goods, they went home with their wages. It's just that this Nan Daddy fell ill again in Xiangyang, and when his ancestors and grandchildren were helpless, it happened that Nanba met Li Bai again on the official road. After Li Bai used the money to cure Nan's father's illness, he bought some things to make tofu brain, and asked his grandparents and grandchildren to sell some snacks to make a living.

"If the two of you don't dislike it, you can stay here for as long as you want, this is a mix of fish and dragons here, the two of you try to go out as little as possible, eat and other things, just ask Nanba to do it. I happen to have two more clothes here, and if Engong doesn't dislike it, he will change this one after a while. ”

"You don't have to go with me to sell tofu brains every day, the two brothers will be handed over to you to take care of, and you must help them heal their injuries. Don't let the people outside notice the two brothers. Nan's father pulled Nanba and said to the little boy in a serious tone.

"Got it." Nan Ba had a serious expression on his face that did not match his age, and kept nodding in agreement.