It was still three people and two horses, Xu An rode to the front of the wind, and Chang Geng sat behind Ah Li's back with his hands behind his back to support the horse's hips, looking unusually honest.

Because of Lin Pinggui's shot, the three of them had a lot of consumption, and they all suffered some injuries, especially Changgen and Xu An, the number of Changgen was the most seriously injured, and Xu An's consumption was the largest, so the speed at which they moved forward was not fast, and they talked and laughed along the way, and they had more fun.

From the border of Beichang to the north to Beiyang City, the three of them had the same destination, and it was not until evening that they slowly saw a small village in front of them.

The evening sun fell on the village, which seemed more peaceful and peaceful, and there were some children playing at the entrance of the village, their faces were dark, and their clothes were not bright, but they were also full of joy.

Swarthyness is a common trait in the village, which means that it is not wealthy.

Suddenly, a child began to cry, Xu An looked at this picture with interest, with his eyesight, of course he could see why the child was crying, but he did not have the idea of wanting to help.

In fact, there is no need for Xu An to help, the children will deal with these things themselves, and a slightly older child stood up to ask the reason when he heard the voice, and it turned out that another child accidentally touched him while playing.

The older children began to deal with these things in earnest, and seemed unusually fair, followed by the sounds of apologies and play, and the children never held grudges and began to play with them.

Xu An nodded seriously.

The three of them had been here for a while, but the children who were playing were not afraid of life when they saw someone coming, but they did not take the initiative to say hello, but chose to ignore it, and their dark and red faces revealed a stubbornness that no one should approach.

Xu An likes this kind of stubbornness, this is stubbornness that ignores power, even when he sees the tall and gorgeously dressed Changchang, these children do not show the slightest flattery, this is the stubbornness of pursuing freedom and equality.

In their opinion, there is no difference between themselves riding a wooden horse and Xu An riding after the wind, and there is no difference between a shabby-dressed partner and a glamorous Changchang.

But Xu An knew that this kind of stubbornness could only be seen and maintained in these children.

Sure enough, after a while, an old man ran towards Xu An and them from afar, and he didn't know what kind of power he was at that age to support him to run so fast, standing in front of the three people and two horses, nodding his waist, saying that it was getting late, and invited the three of them to stay in his home.

This kind of stubbornness belongs to these children, but it does not belong to the Beichang Empire, as Xu An said, he only wants to do something, and he doesn't want to change anything. Rodin also once said that it was more of a sarcasm for a prince to tell ordinary people that everyone was equal, so Xu An didn't want to change and break this picture, but smiled and shook his head and chose to go around.

Changgen and Ah Li followed behind Xu An and didn't say much.

But after the three of them traveled a long way, until the sun began to set, Xu An suddenly remembered the children who were playing just now, so he turned back again.

In Xu An's heart, he had almost forgotten the things taught by the Spirit Academy, since he left the Spirit Academy, he had seen too much unfreedom, inequality and injustice, and the group of children just now made him realize how beautiful these things were.

Changgen and Ah Li were speechless, but they still turned around.

By the time Xu An returned to the village, it was getting late, and the children who were playing were already scattered and ready to go home, and they should be going to dinner. Although it was a little later than just now, this time Xu An saw it more realistically.

The loess under his feet has exaggerated cracks, and the roof of the village is not much different from the Wanqiu City on the border, full of dust. Occasionally, a cold wind blew, and Xu An's first reaction was not to tighten the clothes on his body as before, but to raise his arms first to block his eyes.

Although this place is far from the border, it is still dusty, and even because it is closer to the north, the cold wind is blowing more unscrupulously, but those small figures who have gone away do not appear weak in this cold wind, but look more stubborn.

Beichang also needs such stubbornness, and the world needs such stubbornness even more.

It wasn't until the children had left that Xu An saw a middle-aged man sitting on a raised mound of dirt at the entrance of the village, the man also had a dark face, but his eyes were very attentive, his eyes were staring in the direction of due north, and it could be seen from his eyes that he was not thinking about something, but waiting for something.

As for why Xu An can see this, it is because the man's gaze is very clear, if he is thinking, then the attention should be focused on the brain rather than the eyes, so this situation can only show that the man does not need to think too much about what he wants to do, as long as he finds the right direction.

Xu An was interested when he saw this, and led the horse and walked slowly towards the middle-aged man.

Changgen and Ah Li also dismounted and did the same action.

"What's the matter?" The middle-aged man saw Xu An asking, these two words might be a little unfriendly if they were written on paper, but what came out of the man's mouth was just an ordinary question, without the slightest emotion. There is a distinct local accent in his words, and it is not official.

"Don't do anything, the three of us have been bumpy all the way, just passing by this village, and want to spend the night, I don't know if this big brother can make it convenient. Xu An returned with a smile.

"It's easy to say, let's go. Without thinking about it, the man got up and patted the dust on his buttocks, said with a smile, and then led the way.

The three of them entered the village, which was not very large, and the houses were not densely distributed, they were all simple wooden houses, and the roofs were covered with thick thatch, which was used to protect them from the wind and rain, although they were shabby, but they were also stable.

Beichang is peaceful, some remote areas can have this kind of conditions is already quite good, every family has a small courtyard, every household has a thin field, what kind of life depends on personal ability.

After a short time, he followed the middle-aged man to a small courtyard, the courtyard wall is surrounded by a fence, the door is not locked, there are not too many things in the yard, but it is not clean, perhaps because it has not rained for a long time, the fence wall is also full of dust, and the two war horses occasionally snort to raise the loess in the sky.

The middle-aged man pushed open the courtyard door and welcomed the three into the courtyard, and then randomly found two wooden sticks and a hammer from the courtyard, walked outside the courtyard, and nailed two wooden stakes to tie the horses.

Perhaps because he was not good at words, the middle-aged man did these things and did not say hello to Xu An, Xu An walked out of the yard and tied the horse to the stake nailed by the man, and then talked to him: "This big brother, what do you call it." ”

"I am the second oldest in the family, and everyone calls me Liu Lao. The middle-aged man squatted on the ground and nailed a stake, looked up and smiled innocently.

After a while, Xu An helped tie up the two horses, and then followed Liu Lao Er into the yard again.

"Second brother, we need to travel a long way, is there any concentrate feed for horses at home, rest assured, money is not a problem. Xu An said, and then motioned to Changgen to take the money.

"What's not money, it's just a beast, and what kind of concentrate feed is fed, isn't that a waste of things? Just give it the leftovers at noon. Liu Lao Er waved his hand and said, then walked to the kitchen and began to bring out the leftovers, all of which were leftover noodles or something.

When Liu Lao Er brought out the leftovers, Xu An glanced at it hurriedly, the oil and water in it were limited, and there were not even a few green vegetables, let alone meat, it could be seen that the middle-aged man's life was very poor.

Xu An didn't object, he couldn't help but appreciate the bold character of this Liu Lao Er even more, if ordinary people heard the words money is not a problem, even if it was a brute, he would take care of you properly, but this Liu Lao Er said that brutes are brutes, and it has nothing to do with money or not.

Liu Lao Er re-entered the courtyard and walked to the back room, and after tossing for a while, he moved a polished shiny bench and walked out, and then smiled with shame on his face, put the stool in front of the three of them, pointed to the next door, and walked out of the yard without saying anything.

Xu An didn't understand what he meant, but he didn't stop it, but stood there and waited quietly.

After a while, Liu Lao Er walked back with a wooden stool in one hand, put it in front of the three of them, and said with a smile: "I am usually the only one in the family, and I don't prepare more chairs, so let's sit down." ”

After speaking, Liu Lao Er squatted next to him and quietly looked at the two horses at the gate of the courtyard.

Xu An then knew what Liu Lao Er meant just now, and it turned out that he was going to borrow a stool, but Xu An did not sit down, but walked to Liu Lao Er's side and learned from him to squat there.

Changgen and Ah Li sat honestly in the courtyard, wanting to see what tricks Xu An was going to play this time.

Originally, Xu An thought that the residents in remote areas were not very easy to get along with, but since this Liu Lao Er had a bold personality, Xu An also let go of his restraints, but after such a long time, he never saw anyone else in the house come out, and Liu Lao Er also said that he was usually the only one in the family, so he couldn't help but ask with some curiosity: "What about my sister-in-law and children?"

"I've been in prison before, I'm sorry for her mother, your sister-in-law ran away with the child, and now my child should be as old as you. ”

"What's wrong?" Xu An asked curiously, such an honest person actually went to prison?

"Kill. After finishing speaking, Liu Lao Er saw that the half bowl of leftover rice he had poured was eaten by the two horses, and he got up and went to the house to fill two bowls of corn and sprinkle them on the ground.

Changgen and Ah Li looked at this honest middle-aged man, thinking that he was just joking and didn't take it too seriously. Xu An knew that this person didn't seem to be able to make such a joke.

"Second brother, murder is a capital crime, why did you run out?" Xu An said in shock and speechlessness, others would like to hide such a serious crime for a lifetime, and people asked you to say it?

"Murder is a capital crime, who dares to run out? When the second prince of Qing'an was born, the lord of the country issued a pardon order, and I was released. ”

Xu An suddenly realized, and actually forgot about this stubble: "But the pardon order can even pardon such a serious crime of murder?"

"The first king was merciful. The local government transferred my case and said that although I had killed someone, I was not specifically there to kill, so they released me. Liu Lao Er said, his eyes were full of gratitude.

"How did you kill it?"

"Kill with a knife. ”

"No, I asked what caused the killing. ”

"To avenge my mother, I killed three people. ”

"Do you regret it?" Xu An asked with a nod.

"What do you regret about avenging my mother?" Liu Lao Er looked at Xu An like a fool and said.

"How many years have you been letting go?" asked Xu An.

"I was lucky, I had to ask for a cut in the third year, and after just sitting for two years, I was released. ”

"The laws of your country are really impersonal. Chang Geng chimed in.

"Killing people pays for their lives, it is a matter of course, what kind of human affection can you talk about? You can kill people if you talk about human affection? You young people can't help but learn well. Liu Laoer's eyes widened, and he turned his head to look at Chang Geng and said.

Chang is more speechless.

Xu An couldn't help but be happy when he heard Liu Lao Er's reprimand, he didn't expect that Liu Lao Er was quite upright, if other people encountered this kind of thing, they would definitely feel wronged, but this Liu Lao Er thought that killing people to pay for their lives was a matter of course, and he didn't take it for granted that he was released, but was grateful for the pardon order.

"Well said! Murder pays for life, it is justified!" Xu An said with a good shout.

Chang turned his head more stupidly.

"But those children at the entrance of the village are not afraid of you?" Xu An asked, reminding of the picture at the entrance of the village.

"What are you afraid of? They all said I did the right thing, and they said they were the same. ”

Now it is almost winter, and it gets dark relatively quickly, although the hour is still early, but the yard is already pitch black, Liu Lao Er welcomed the three of them into the house and lit a dim candle.

"You haven't eaten yet, I'll borrow some wine and meat, it's cold, warm up after eating, and go to bed early." Liu Lao Er welcomed the three of them into the house, said to himself, and walked out of the courtyard without waiting for the three of them to reply.