Lamp!

A very bright light shines down from the sky, forming a tiny circle of light on the ground. Beyond the aperture was a silent darkness, with no background to be seen and no life in sight, as if there was no time, let alone space, just pure darkness.

Except for the aperture in front of him, Zhu Junyi couldn't see anything beside him, he found that his palms were full of cold sweat, this was the first time he had entered such a place, he didn't know how to get in, let alone how to get out.

He didn't rush into the light, the inexplicable fear seemed to have condensed and formed, and the cold wind was always blowing in his ears, and he didn't dare to act rashly.

“Hello？ Is anyone there? He tried to find anyone he could talk to, but nothing happened.

Zhu Junyi circled around the light a few times, the light was very pure, it seemed to be completely composed of light, not the kind of illuminated light of an artificial light source, it seemed to be surrounded by photons from the extreme to the extreme at high speed.

As he was now, people always had a fear of the unknown, and he turned and ran backwards in a bit of a panic, the space seemed so large that he didn't encounter any obstacles until he felt that he couldn't run anymore.

Zhu Junyi's face was pale and a little nervous, and when he looked back, he fell to the ground in shock—not far behind him, it was still that aperture, still so close.

What's going on? Could it be that this is the palm of the Buddha's hand that the legendary monkey turned over?

Zhu Junyi was thinking nonsense.

"I didn't ...... Useless ......" A cowardly, childish voice suddenly sounded nearby.

Zhu Junyi was taken aback and asked tremblingly, "Who is it?" Who's where? ”

There was not the slightest response, as if no one existed at all.

"You...... If you don't say anything, I'll ...... I shouted! "Zhu Junyi didn't know what the point of shouting here was, but he just wanted to say something, otherwise I would think I would go crazy.

"You...... Don't shout, I'm scared ......" was the same voice again.

Zhu Junyi tried to settle down and asked, "Who are you?" Where are you? ”

"I ...... I used to seem to know who I was, but now I don't know ......."

"Where are you now?"

"I ...... It's right across the ...... from you."

Zhu Junyi's eyes widened, there was only an aperture in front of him, could it be that the other party was behind the aperture? He was about to go around the aperture to see what was going on, but after taking two steps, the voice came again: "Don't ...... Don't come here......"

"Why don't you let me pass?"

"I ...... I'm scared of you......"

Zhu Junyi was stunned, what is the situation? Shouldn't I be afraid? "Why are you afraid of me?"

There was silence on the other side for a long time, and then he whispered timidly: "Because ...... Because...... You've killed a lot of people, I'm ...... I saw it all......"

Zhu Junyi was even more strange, he tried to use words to appease the other party, and slowly paced over to find out: "Don't be afraid! I won't hurt you! I promise you! I don't like to hurt people, as you can see, I kill all bad people......"

Zhu Junyi had already gone around to the other side, but he still didn't see anyone, he was puzzled, but he didn't know how to meet the other party.

"I see...... the other party was silent for a long time, and then responded again: "Do you really want to see me?" ”

"Yes." Zhu Junyi replied without thinking, "I want to see you!" ”

The other party seemed to think about it for a long time, and finally agreed, "Okay then! ”

Zhu Junyi opened his eyes wide, only to see that there seemed to be something condensed and formed in front of him, the process was very slow, but very clear, when the human form became more and more obvious, the other party's head suddenly raised, Zhu Junyi was instantly shocked by the scene in front of him, and subconsciously took a step back, just stepping into the aperture.

"Ahh There seemed to be an invisible pull within the aperture tearing at him, and Zhu Junyi rushed forward in panic, trying to escape from the aperture......

Zhu Junyi sat up from the bed suddenly, everything he had just seen seemed to be a dream.

Is it just a dream? He muttered to himself, and after a brief stupor of not being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, he began to look around carefully.

In the middle of the wooden house is a fire pit surrounded by bricks, and next to it is a platform made of bricks, on which are neatly placed wooden basins, bowls, chopsticks, and spoons.

Simple, one might even say rudimentary.

As soon as Zhu Junyi wanted to get up, he was re-collapsed on the bed by the sharp pain from his chest, looked down, and saw that his chest was made of several simple curved wooden sticks to form an arc, his arms, chest, and waist were tightly wrapped with white yarn, and the skin on his chest seemed to be coated with herbs.

There was a sound of footsteps outside the wooden wall.

Zhu Junyi wanted to get up, there was a protest in his chest again, he had to give up, the moment the wooden door was pushed open from the outside, a short and thin but very strong man walked in, dressed in dark clothes and pants, carrying a bamboo and rattan basket on his back, and a pair of straw sandals on his feet, when he saw him, he smiled happily: "You guy is finally awake!" If you don't wake up, my reputation will be completely ruined! ”

Well? Grass corals? Zhu Junyi looked at this self-ripe "grass coral" stupidly, and didn't know how to communicate with him.

Cao Shanhu put down the back basket, rubbed his hands and said, "You wait, I will cook the medicine later, so that I can change the medicine for you." Your sternum is just right, and you still have to recover! ”

Zhu Junyi was confused, he remembered that the last thing he did was to stab the black dog to death, and then he seemed to faint, so who is this "grass coral" in front of him? Why should I drug myself and why should I take care of myself? You must know that in today's Batavia City, these Chinese herbal medicines transported by the Qing Dynasty are all high-value resources. Zhu Junyi, who has experienced many changes, has become very vigilant, he asked himself if he is not a rich man, and it will not be beneficial for others to take care of himself like this, so what is the other party's plan? Zhu Junyi strongly doubted the other party's motives.

Suddenly, he remembered that he might be waiting for his rescue, and his heart was hot, and he insisted on getting out of bed.

"Hey, hey, you're in good shape, what are you going to do?" Cao Shanhu hurriedly supported Zhu Junyi, who had just gotten out of bed.

Zhu Junyi was puzzled and panting and thanked Cao Shanhu: "Thank you, uncle!" ”

"What? What do you call me? Cao Shanhu was stunned.

Zhu Junyi wondered if he was called the wrong name, you must know that if you call the wrong person in some places, you will have to play with you. He observed Cao Shanhu's shape and the big mouthful of yellow teeth, and asked tentatively, "Then thank you...... Uncle? ”

Cao Shanhu is more than two heads taller than Zhu Junyi, this height can be regarded as a "low altitude", who knows that after listening to Zhu Junyi's title, he smiled happily: "Alas! Even the hall master is so capable that he said that you are a little hero, and you are also a capable person, and you have to argue with your peers, how dare I be your uncle? Didn't I get my big teeth laughed off by those boys? ”

Zhu Junyi couldn't hear where the dialect was, and he just wanted to find Gao Sheng quickly, so he didn't care about anything else, and asked, "Uncle Cao......"

"What?" Cao Shanhu shook his head and said dissatisfiedly: "You want to call me a cauldron!" ”

"Big ...... Cauldron? Zhu Junyi was stunned when he heard this, and it took a while to realize that what the other party was talking about should be the eldest brother.

"Cao Da...... Eldest brother! ”

"Alas! That's right! Cao Shanhu nodded and smiled.

"May I ask Brother Cao, how far is Bacheng from here? There is a mass grave outside the city, I want to go there, how should I go? ”

"What?" Cao Shanhu seemed to be completely incomprehensible, tilted his head and said: "This seems to be the same as Mode in the play!" ”

"What drama?"

"That's it! Sounds good! When Cao Shanhu said about the play, his eyebrows fluttered, and he said confidently: "I remember that after the little white face saved the little lady in the play, the first thing the little lady asked was, 'Where is this place?'" ', 'Mr. has no way to repay his great kindness, so he has to promise himself!' Now, little brother, why don't you say the same? ”

Zhu Junyi rolled his eyes, it seems that this old brother is purely here to be funny.

Cao Shanhu has always been open-mouthed, but he is not a bad person, at this time, seeing that Zhu Junyi insisted on going out, he simply threw off his arms, patted his chest and said solemnly: "Gotcha!" Since you have to go out, it will be done, you lie down well, don't move, I will treat the wound for you, cook the medicine and change it, and then find you a car, and I will accompany you on a trip! ”

Zhu Junyi nodded, he knew that he was rescued by others, and it was not clear what the other party's purpose was, and the other party's request could not be completely ignored, not to mention, there was a car and a guide, which was much better than going around to hit the luck.

Cao Shanhu kept on his hands and mouth, from where he had the ability to administer medicine, how famous he was in this vicinity, to where his ancestral home was, and how he escaped to this Java Island. Hearing this, Zhu Junyi laughed, if it happened to be a war year, the enemy would not have to be punished, and he would arrange someone to chat with him, he had to tell his wife what color he was in the bottoms, of course, there is no such high-end goods as bottoms in this era.

However, Cao Shanhu's deeds are really bitter, there was a flood in Henan's hometown, and after the flood, there was a great drought, and the government only took care of those rich and large households, but ignored the lives of the common people, Cao Shanhu's wife, wife and children were all dead, and he wanted to go out to escape, but he was arrested and sentenced by the officers and soldiers on the charge of confusing the public with fallacies and inciting riots.

"Those officers and soldiers are not things, they will fight if they catch them, and they will beat you to death, and the old men in the yamen will only report good news and not bad news, for fear that our group of mud-legged people will escape and talk nonsense, and provoke the court to investigate, so they will all throw us all in the stinky ravine to dig the city wall! He also said that we are 'replacing sin with merit and benefiting the township', and we must expand the wall of the county seat by one foot! ! Make a! Hundreds of people were thrown in the first day, and the next day they died! The ravine is full of stench, and some people are so hungry that they tear off the meat from the dead and eat it, but people are starving to death, how many taels of meat can they have on their bodies? If it weren't for the eldest brother in the club who saved me, I would still be beating a pile of bones in that ravine. ”

Cao Shanhu's narration shocked Zhu Junyi very much. He had never understood the society of the early Qing Dynasty, let alone the suffering of the people at that time, to such an extent, and suddenly remembered the evaluation of the "prosperous era of Kangqian" mentioned in the book of later generations, and couldn't help but interject suspiciously and asked: "Isn't the Great Qing Kingdom now 'the prosperous era of Kang Yongqian'?" How can ordinary people live so miserably? ”

How do you know that Cao Shan's tiger eyes glared, and he said angrily: "What? 'Bran is rich'? Still prosperous? Prosperous times! Little brother, as soon as you hear it, you know that you have never been to the Great Qing Kingdom, so the Great Qing Kingdom is so good? I Cao Shanhu followed the eldest brother in the club from north to south, where have I never been? What suffering has not been suffered? Those big families are well fed and warmly dressed, when do you see that our people have never been hungry? The north and south of the river are so wide, I have never seen a place where people have not starved to death! ”

Zhu Junyi was uneasy when he heard this, but when he thought of the Guangzhou Mansion where he had lived since he was a child, he felt that the Great Qing Kingdom was not as unbearable as 'Grass Coral' said, so he couldn't help but retort: "I have lived in Guangzhou Mansion since I was a child, why haven't I heard of these things?" ”

"Wow", to his surprise, a strong man like Cao Shanhu cried bitterly after hearing the three words of Guangzhou Mansion, a lot of snot and tears, crying like a child, looking helpless at him, and didn't know how to comfort him.

I only heard Cao Shanhu crying in a loud voice: "Do you dare to say that Guangzhou Mansion is good? I beat up because I heard that the provincial city was good, so I went to beg for a bowl of rice to eat, but I was deceived into pressing my handprint in Guangzhou Mansion, selling myself as a piglet, and pulling it to this aggrieved place where birds don't shit, chickens don't lay eggs, and turtles don't go ashore......

The more Cao Shanhu cried, the louder his voice became, but he didn't pause at all, and with a few clicks, he removed the wooden stick used to fix the sternum on Zhu Junyi's chest, wiped off the herbs on his chest, and pulled over a bed of broken cotton wool quilt to cover it, turned his head and went to cook the medicine, crying while cooking, but the crying did not stop, but the crying became higher and higher.

Zhu Junyi didn't persuade him, thinking that letting him cry might be the best way, it seems that 'Grass Coral' is really full of grievances and suffering.

Zhu Junyi lay on the bed obediently, thinking of the little beggars that his mother Liu took in when she was alive, and thinking of the "five-year plan to get ahead" formulated by Haihai and Gao Sheng for a while, and fell into deep thought.