Deserve! I grabbed his wrist weakly, half-pushing and half-giving to help.

"Is there a female ghost who is lonely and wants to leave you in the coffin?"

"Although the tongue of the ox is long, it is inevitable to cut it and drink it."

His center of gravity was unstable, and I took advantage of the situation and planted him back in the grave, and his hurried appearance was extremely relieved.

"Wait! This corpse is wrapped in several layers of plain cloth, I am afraid that he is a rich Jew, and he is buried here in the cemetery of Orthodox Christians, there must be valuable burial things, let me touch it! ”

His attitude took a 180-degree turn, and he immediately leaned over the corpse and put his hands on it, the dog can't change the ****, I took two steps back in disgust, I didn't want to be with the tomb robbers.

Houdini tossed and turned around the sky for a long time, and even though I sat with my back to him, I could still hear the disgusting sounds wafting into my ears, the cloth tearing, the bones broken, the rotting corpses pickled, and the cold morning air diluted the disgusting stench, but I still caressed my chest and held back the acid in my stomach.

"Strange!"

The beggar king said to himself, "It's clear that the burial is neat, but I can't find any burial goods, aha...... Isn't it hidden in the mouth? These cunning Jews speculated in their lifetimes, and when they died, they had to swallow gold and silver, and come and give to those who really need it. ”

Pick open the mouth of a dead man? Just thinking about this image was enough to make my scalp tingle, and I scrambled to my feet, ready to stay away.

"Huh?"

Found gold? Gold stained with dead saliva? I held my throat down, and it was uncomfortably astringent and itchy.

"Come back and see what it is?"

Show me more! It's so perverted!

"No need, you can keep it......"

"I swear to God!"

How dare you claim to believe in God when you rob tombs? I stood down laughing and crying, and was just about to open my mouth when I heard him say, "Sure enough, ......"

Houdini shook the object in his hand in front of my eyes: "It's a rolled piece of parchment, what do you think it will be?" ”

Is there really a situation?

There really is a situation!

I carefully took the parchment roll still stained with the dead man's oral fluid, and my brow furrowed like a mille-feuille, but not because I hated the slimy saliva, but affirmed that I was in a dangerous reality.

"What's written on this?"

Houdini curiously twisted his head between me and the paper roll, like a bobblehead doll full of clockwork.

I took a deep breath and slowly opened the damp scroll, feeling a kind of confusion in my heart, worried that some shocking secret would suddenly pop out of it, even if there was a secret? For me, after experiencing the destruction of my family and the separation of my wife, there is nothing more grief than the death of my heart.

"Tell me what's written on it?" The beggar king urged impatiently.

“invenit”

I gently read out the scribbled words on it, and the traces of charcoal were very clear, black and plastered on the paper, and it also enveloped my body and mind like a haze.

“invenit？”

Houdini stiffly repeated to me: "What did you find? ”

That's right! The word means "discovery" in Latin, and it is impossible for a beggar who has traveled far and wide for many years not to understand the meaning of the word, Frankish, Lombard, Latin, and Greek are all familiar to him.

"If you know two more foreign words, you may be able to get an extra bite of food!" Houdini used to boast so proudly.

"Me!" Pointing calmly to myself, I nodded with a wry smile.

"You?" Houdini's eyes instantly became puzzled, and then they became sharp again, and he kicked open the lid of the coffin, which was full of holes gnawed by ants, and stared at me angrily and shouted:

"Can you tell me the truth now? Who are you? What do you want to do ******? Why even a dog's nose...... No, someone is spying on you? ”

I pursed my lips and thought about it, but I didn't say anything, did I want to tell him all this? Is this person trustworthy? After too many betrayals, the door of the heart has long been closed, who else is worth entrusting secrets? I slipped the note into my pocket, not knowing what to do about the crisis of trust in front of me.

"I won't take this job, gold coins are not gold coins, to hell with it!"

Houdini stomped his foot fiercely, as if this was the only way to vent his anger: "Lao Tzu can't lose his life for a little gold pimple!" ”

After saying that, he spat at the ground and walked away without looking back.

When a new day comes, the morning sun spreads its light cheerfully, shining warmly on every corner of the earth, waking up all things that have been sleeping all night from their sleep, and the distant villages gradually resounded with the sound of roosters, from lifeless to vibrant, Houdini turned left and right and disappeared behind the thatched huts.

That's it! It was better to walk away, to save him a drag, and I let out a long breath and looked at the road that led to the distance outside the village, not bitter or happy, calm as if nothing had happened.

"What is the way forward? I can't even find ****** directions......"

The road under my feet is not so much the road as the path that the shepherd has stepped on, and the further I go, the narrower it becomes, and the two shallow ruts that are barely visible grow half-foot-high weeds, which shows how long no one has been here in the desolation, and if it weren't for the air-dried horse manure piled up in the middle of the road from a long distance, it reminds outsiders that there have been cars and horses here, and I almost wonder if the village where I stayed last night is a paradise that is inaccessible.

"But now...... Which side should I choose? ”

The sun had risen halfway through noon, and I was dizzy and parched from the sun, and I stood in despair at a fork in the road that parted from an open rock.

"Left...... A bare stone field. ”

"Right...... The same bare stone ground is a boring scenery, but which is the right path? Are there no signs or anything? ”

I muttered to myself for a while, but finally I couldn't hold it anymore and fell to the ground, hiding from the increasingly intense sun through the shadows of the rocks.

"Anyway, no matter which direction you go, you won't be able to reach your destination, right?"

I muttered to myself in my heart, and my body curled up tighter, as if the sun would melt even the slightest bit.

"Tuscany is a relatively rich country, why haven't you seen anyone for a long time? As for the villages...... Someone has to do that first. ”

"Just pick the left!"

I stood up and patted my buttocks, but what if this ragged shirt was stained with a little dust? The sun will be at noon, and the green grass and trees scattered in the rocks and loess gaps, although they add a lot of life to the dull earth, but most of them can't withstand the blazing sun, wilting and drooping their heads, figuratively showing the same state as me.

"The left side is closer to the coastline, so if you can't find the road, you can walk along the coast to ******." My meagre knowledge of geography was of considerable use at this moment, and it was evident that reading is really better.

Comforting himself that this road is closer to the sea, the sultry air seems to bring the humidity from the sea, and when I inhale it into my lungs, I feel a lot more comfortable, and my steps become brisk.

The emperor lived up to his wishes, and along the continuous downhill path, a slightly prosperous town jumped into view, compared to Niujiao Road, it covers a larger area, there are many houses, and there is a stone church with a cross in the distance, it is not too difficult to go to the church to beg for a bowl of food.

At noon, the village is generally lifeless, the peasants have finished their work in the morning, and they have taken refuge in their semi-underground huts to escape the heat, and the livestock running around the streets are nowhere to be seen, and the whole village is as quiet as an empty city, except for the breeze in the ears and the light sand flying.

Wading through a small river nestled in the village, the river is shallow and not even the foot surface, but it is crystal clear, the fine sand and gravel are washed out of the extraordinarily clean and transparent, the upper reaches of the river are hidden behind the church, there is a waterwheel erected by the river, don't look at this thing is bulky, in this era can be regarded as an advanced invention, not built anywhere, even if the wealth is rich, I am afraid that I will not find a professional who can do engineering.

Wet straw sandals, my cowhide boots were snatched away by the two stabbed guards, and thanks to Houdini stealing a pair of straw sandals from other houses, I was kept from going barefoot, though he himself walked barefoot, like other destitute peasants.

As soon as I got ashore, it was covered with dust and sand, but I didn't care about running to the vegetable garden surrounded by a fence not far away, and the peasant woman who was leaning over and busy with something heard a strange sound, and straightened up to look this way, and then, you made up a madman with dirty clothes and rotten strips, and ran at himself with his teeth and claws, and the visual impact must have been quite terrifying!

She screamed in fright, and slipped home, and a moment later two emaciated men appeared with sticks and pitchforks.

So, instead I screamed and hugged my head.

"Whirring ......"

I gasped for breath, my body was almost in the ground, my ears keenly catching the movement around me, yes, I ran like a mourning dog, fortunately I was relatively fast, I escaped from the pursuers' field of vision in advance, and found a sunken stone pit to hide for the time being.

"As the saying goes, the phoenix in distress is not as good as a chicken, but the chicken at least has wings, and it is more than enough to deal with small insects and bites, and then look at yourself, hey......"

Thinking like this, I simply turned my back to the sky, let the scorching sun pierce my skin, and experienced the painful pleasure.

The light above my head disappeared in the haze, replaced by a black shadow, was I in a trance? Or was it caught? The shadow grew larger and larger, revealing a rough-skinned human face.

"Beat me to death, I don't have the strength to live anyway...... It's so boring to live like this! ”

I put on an expression that a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water, and shouted at that face: "Hurry up, hurry up, give a good time!" ”

"Friend, why did we meet for the first time?"

The face was gone, the sun was shining again, and the voice was full of breath, but shrewd.

I forced myself to concentrate and got up from the ground and observed the man who was talking to me, who was wearing a typical Jewish felt hat of a slightly different shape, with two locks of hair hanging down from his sideburns, which was also the custom of the Jews, and his beard was simply trimmed, and his roots were delicate, and he looked very clean and tidy, his eyes were bright and not angry, the bridge of his nose was straight and angular, and his skin was the roughness of the weathered past, which set off an extraordinary temperament.

A plain but elegant yellow robe, calm and dignified, made him appear more polite than most of the self-proclaimed scholars and scribes in the castles of lords, and if we were to meet on the streets of ancient China, I would not hesitate to regard him as a great Confucian.

"I'm sorry, but may I ask if you are ......"

Caught in my imagination, I almost bent down in a daze to make a nondescript Chinese bow.

The Jews' decent, slightly bowed, shows their good cultivation, and they are simply personable.

"I am a merchant from Córdoba, a faithful servant of His Majesty the Caliph, Baruch Ain, and as you can see, I am a Jew."

I smiled awkwardly, the countries generally discriminated against the Jews, and the sensitive nobles were even ashamed to breathe with the Jews, but the lords who had no business savvy, especially the great nobles, could not do without these inferior people whom they despised, because the latter had always been known for being good at business, and their ruined finances needed the help and subsidies of the betrayers of the Holy Son, and the friendly self-surrendering figures recruited Jewish merchants to do business in their own territories, extracting high taxes from them for profit, and the despicable simply regarded the latter as walking gold coins, Kill and rob them directly, and don't see killing Jews as a crime, so Jewish caravans of higher scale will spend a lot of money to hire armed followers to protect them.

Of course, this kind of protection is very unreliable, firstly, it gives the lords who are eyeing the hell an opportunity to disarm, and secondly, the retinue is not a good bird, often taking money and not doing anything, and even stealing and robbing the employer by the guards.

I scratched the back of my head, and I couldn't remember this strange place:

"Córdoba? It's a remote place......"

"Yes, it's very far away, on the other side of the mountain and on the other side of the sea."

The Jewish merchant who called himself Barouch smiled lightly and motioned for his servant to come and help me.

Got a bunch of Smurfs? Listening to the familiar lyrics, I was in a good mood for no reason, and hurriedly fluttered to tidy up my clothes.

"I beg your pardon for being rude...... My lord? I asked tentatively, trying to make sure who the other person was first, so that I could handle it in the rest of the conversation.

Baruch stroked his beard, and his whole person exuded a heavy bookish atmosphere, quite calm and mature, and it was easy for people who came into contact for the first time to lift their guard and become friendly friends.

"Haha, you laugh, I'm not a great man, as mentioned earlier, I am a faithful servant of His Majesty the Caliphate of Córdoba, a merchant as humble as dust, and I am flattered if you are too formal." He nodded and invited me to come closer and speak.

"Master......" The servant who helped me looked at his master hesitantly, and his expression should not be worried that I, a lowly dressed man, was too close.

"It's okay!"

Baruch smiled and took my arm: "Life is long, meeting is a chance, right?" ”

He led me into the carriage and greeted me warmly: "If you don't mind, please come with me in the car, stop for a while in the village in front of you, and boil some hot water to wash up." ”

(End of chapter)