Simao's home is still two or three miles away from Jubao Street, it is a dense turn, uneven, at a glance can not see the edge of the shack area, the local name is Liumin Lane, as the name suggests, this is obviously the settlement area of the homeless people from all over the world, which is equal to the black household area and slum in later generations.

Simao carried a grain bag on his shoulders, a hanging of pork in his right hand, and a cloth bag in his left hand was stuffed full, all of which were vegetables, oil and salt and other things that he had just rushed to buy.

The name of the alley is lane, in fact, there is not even a bluestone road, a dirt road with dust on a sunny day, a rainy day and mud is his main traffic road, although it is only early summer, the weather in the town of Chukou is threatening, the sky will be half dark, it is the time when the heat is steaming, every household in the alley has begun to splash water in front of the door to drive away the heat, the good conditions are made of bamboo beds, the poor family or bamboo reclining chairs, or simply reed mats are laid on the ground, and they have begun to occupy land on both sides of the road, in front of the door and behind the house. The men are all shirtless, with a pair of big pants underneath, shaking a fan in their hands, and the dolls are playing and jumping, and the guests have begun to put some of their own food at the door, nothing more than some gruel, pickles, etc., this picture of a long scroll of life is a unique feature of the town. However, Simao was born and grew up in Si since he was a child, and he was not surprised, and he had no intention of appreciating it, what he was worried about was that there was a hungry old lady at home, so he dodged left and right from the big array of enjoying the cool like a fish, slid all the way, and stopped in front of a dilapidated thatched house.

In front of the door, a middle-aged woman with half-white hair and a pair of cloudy eyes looking at the sky sat on a bamboo chair, although the clothes were very old, but the pulp was washed and sewn cleanly, neatly and neatly, and the wrinkles of premature aging on her face crawled all over the corners of her eyes, but she could vaguely see the beauty of the past, which was very similar to Simao. The hands are very dexterous to thread the needle and thread to mend a coat, and there is a big dustpan on the low stool next to it, and there is a high stack of clothes in it, which is his old lady Zhang. Simao's old lady since a few years ago had an eye disease, her eyes are basically blind, and she can't do other work, so she sews some torn clothes for her neighbors, and does some needlework such as insoles.

When Simao saw the old lady, he put away the signature hippie smiling expression, handed the pork to his left hand, took out a steamed bun with hot air from his arms with his free right hand, tiptoed to the old lady's side, and sent the steamed bun to the old lady's mouth. Zhang's eyes were as if he had seen it, and scolded in disgust: "Where is the wild again, and you still know how to come back?" ”

"Mother, the meat buns I bought in Fuji, you eat them first to suppress your hunger, and I'll burn the fire." The dialect of Chukou Town said that cooking was to light a fire, and after speaking, Simao put the bun in the old lady's hand, and entered the door with a bunch of things on his shoulder.

Passing through the hall, behind the door is a large pond, up and down the river, although it is not said that the sinking fish can be seen, but it is also clear, here is also the only public water source in the Liumin Lane, because the flowing water is not rotten, the residents eat, drink, lasa, pulp washing and washing rice are here, just like the Ganges River of the Three Kingdoms, it bears too many functions. The big pond of God-given has formed the current scale of the Wandering Alley, and the so-called living by water is this reason.

Simao carried the vegetables and pork in a basket, and also carried a clay pot with rice, walked straight to the edge of the pond, squatted next to a bluestone slab, put the things in his hand on the bluestone slab, and began to clean up.

"Brother Simao, rich again? Buy all these delicious things? A crisp voice sounded, and a girl about the same age as Simao asked a few feet away. Although she is dressed in a cloth and hairpin skirt and has a vegetable color on her face, her eyebrows and eyes are delicate, and the bridge of her nose is high.

Simao didn't raise his head, and his hand didn't stop, he knew that it was the neighbor next door who spoke, surnamed Zong, nicknamed Yanzi, one year younger than himself, and he also grew up in a homeless house, but his life was more bitter than Huang Lian, and he died when he was a few years old, and his father picked up a woman who fled the famine in less than a year, and got together as a family.

The stepmother also looked at her duty at the beginning, although there was a time to beat and scold the swallow, but it was not too out of line, since she added a younger brother, the swallow starved and abused became commonplace, the father was afraid of his wife, and he couldn't manage it at all, and the neighbors secretly called the stepmother as the mother-in-law, which was very arrogant and unreasonable. Once the swallow got typhoid fever, his father happened to go on a long trip, working as a boatman on a salt boat, and the grandmother seized the opportunity, and drove the swallow to the firewood room in the tenth winter wax moon, and did not ask for medical medicine, and wanted to put the swallow to death. Thanks to Simao Niang's quiet delivery of medicine, ginger soup, and food, she saved Yanzi's life. But who would have thought that she would be discovered by the mother-in-law, she didn't say a word, dragged a chopping board to the door of Simao's house, took off the pants she was wearing, chopped the pants with the back of a knife, and scolded the whole Simao family with the name of Simao Niang, and even the eight generations of ancestors did not let go.

Simao Dad always boasted that he was a person who rolled in the rivers and lakes, but in fact, he was a little Huang Huang who lived by being abducted and deceived by the pit, with a single body, and he quarreled with the Zong's mother-in-law, although the Zong's mother-in-law was a woman, but her physique was strong and her temperament was fierce. Simao was only eleven or twelve years old that year, and when he went home, he happened to see this scene, and he worked hard with his wife when he picked up the kitchen knife. Of course, he is not the opponent of the mother-in-law, he was beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, what he didn't expect was that Simao was beaten, got up from the ground, and left without saying a word. What's more is still behind, since that day, Simao's daily task is to constantly change all kinds of weapons, or ambush on the road, or rush into the house of the mother-in-law to raid, and that posture is by no means a fight, it is to go to the life of the mother-in-law, so a few rounds down, Simao is covered in bruises but the more courageous he becomes, although the mother-in-law is victorious, he is completely frightened, so Tori is coming to bring peace, Simao coldly said: "Let him kowtow to my father and mother in front of the neighbors to make amends, otherwise, I must have her life." ”

As a result, Mrs. Zong really did as she could, and said in the words of herself and the long-tongued women who chewed their tongues behind their backs: "You don't see his eyes, just like the wild wolf cub in my hometown, this little bastard must be a product with a thousand knives when he grows up." ”

Since then, the mother-in-law of the sect has formed a feud with the Simao family, and the neighbors of the Wandering Alley can be regarded as having thoroughly understood the true face of Simao, and they all say that this kid of the old Zhang family is only afraid that he will not die well in the future.

But Yanzi doesn't see it that way, in her eyes, Simao is like a relative, and she is the eldest brother who protects her the most in the homeless alley. And Simao Niang is like her own mother.

Simao bragged with a lazy demeanor: "What is this, I'm tired of eating these outside every day." You'll come over quietly, I'll leave you some ready. She can swallow saliva in front of raw pork and swallows, which is also what makes Simao have to admire, so she directly said what was in her heart.

Yanzi nodded desperately: "I'll help you, Brother Simao, I wash quickly, how do the men do the work of these female generals?" As he spoke, the swallow was going to come over and help Simao wash the vegetables.

"Dead swallow, the water in the stove pond has been boiled dry, and it can't be mixed with cold water." The thick voice of the grandmother sounded, and the swallow reflex was like a stir.

Glancing at Simao, the grandmother-in-law shrunk and hid in the stove room, looking at herself with vicious and fearful eyes, and did not dare to come from a distance.

Simao glanced at Yanzi with encouraging eyes, then stood up, took the washed vegetables, swayed his shoulders and walked to his stove, and hummed the "Wang Po scolding chicken" in Chu dialect in a strange voice as he walked: "That delicious mother-in-law is not a thing, and I think about my chicken when I get dark all day, my chicken, there is a ........ origin."

After heating the pot, Simao was about to stir-fry the sliced pork in the pot, when he suddenly heard Zhang's voice at the front door: "Simao Dad, what trouble have you caused?" Who are they? ”

Then I heard a familiar rough voice coming: "There is a wrong, there is a debtor, we are only looking for Zhang Simao, and others don't look for bad luck." ”

A thought flashed in Simao's mind, and then he came back to his senses, he picked up the half-pull hoist in the water tank and poured a scoop of water into the hot pot, and immediately the sound of "red" was endless, and the hot pot saw the water, and a mist of water appeared, so as not to cause a fire in the red-hot pot. In the steaming mist, Simao bent down and pulled out of the pyre, took out a short iron sword that was well hidden, stuffed it into his arms, and then shot out like a rabbit.

The people in front of the door gathered in a big circle, Simao Niang could hear her husband's voice, but she couldn't see anyone, the needlework was turned to the ground, she was anxious towards the direction where Lao Zhang's voice came from, shaking her hands and exploring the road, trying to catch her husband.

Although Lao Zhang's clothes were messy, it was obviously just the reason for being pulled, and there were no scars on his face, one left and one right were supported by two big men and couldn't move.

Led by a man in brocade clothes and beard, with his hands crossed in front of his chest, there was a quiet young man standing quietly beside him, who would it be if it wasn't the two old men sitting in the casino today? And around them, there were eight or nine sturdy men, forming a semicircle, separating the onlookers from the neighbors, and the neighbors who didn't know what to do and wanted to come over to help or fight Taiping Boxing were all silent at the moment. Because the other party is holding a bright and shiny short knife or dagger in his hand, the fierceness and ruthlessness on his body are not something that ordinary hooligans dare to provoke.

The town is a land and water wharf, a city of rivers and lakes, and the alleys of the homeless people are not all good people, there are many commonly known as the ghosts, but in front of these people, they are completely killed from the momentum, the army fights and hooligans fight is actually a truth, compared to the momentum and psychological quality, once the momentum is lost, the heart admits that it is cowardly, no matter how many people are a group of lambs to be slaughtered. These dozen or so people were in this crowded homeless alley, like standing out from the crowd, and a large area was overwhelmed.

Simao's heart is bright, this is the news leaked, and the other party is here to seek revenge.

During the day, Xu Sandao's little apprentice followed the method he pointed out and found the dark pile outside the field of this group of people, and at the same time heard the news that there was indeed a group of Eight Banners soldiers supervising the delivery of salt ships from Jingzhou to Chukou, and the team was led by a general of eight pins wearing rhinoceros uniforms (the Qing Dynasty military officers had different grades and different costumes, and the eight pins wearing rhinoceros uniforms were about equivalent to the company commander). Once the identity of the other party was confirmed, Xu Sandao arranged for the digging team that usually set up a bureau to pretend to be an official to deliberately leak the bottom in front of the dark pile, as for the method of leaking the bottom, it was actually very simple, wearing civilian clothes outside, but deliberately leaving a green camp waist card for the other party to see, and pretending to be watching outside the field, mobilizing manpower, and pretending to wait for someone to enter the market to catch the gambling posture. This trick bent the bow, knocked on the mountain and shook the tiger, and the dark pile immediately entered the market to notify the dealer, and the group left the casino in a hurry. Xu Sandao's tricky thing was easily turned into invisible in Simao's hands, neither showing traces, nor forming a beam (meaning revenge), so that the other party knew the difficulty and retreated, Xu Sandao hid behind the scenes, unaware, and Simao did not cause trouble, but just let the green camp carry a black cauldron. But anyway, the two sides didn't have the bright identity of the gong and drum in person, and it was also a matter of death without proof, which was originally a very clever move, but Simao was very strange, how could he expose himself as a dog-headed military advisor?

The situation in front of him is very tense, but for some reason, the more times like this, Simao's brain turns faster, and his heart is quieter: "Without an inner ghost, it is impossible for these people to know that they are the masterminds, but if there is an inner ghost, why don't they go to find Xu Sandao's stubble and come to find their own little ghost?" If it is because they bully the soft and are afraid of the hard, it is obviously unreasonable, these Qiu Ba under this gang are used to being domineering, black and white, it is impossible to be afraid of Xu Sandao, the head snake, otherwise they would not openly go to an unfamiliar casino at the raw dock. Then there is only one possibility, this inner ghost is actually not Xu Sandao's apprentice and brother, and he only knows half of this matter, so he doesn't know that it is actually Xu Sandao who is behind him, maybe he still thinks that he is the sticky pole of the green camp (the sticky pole is the black language of the rivers and lakes, when Yongzheng was still the prince, the dean of the mansion near Xinqiao in the northeast of Beijing City has some tall trees, every midsummer and early autumn, there are cicadas in the lush branches and leaves, and Yinzhen, who likes to be quiet and afraid of the heat, will order the Hakka Ding to catch cicadas. When the competition for the crown prince was becoming increasingly fierce, Yongzheng recruited troops under the banner of this sticky pole, but in fact, he was using this institution to spy on intelligence everywhere, and the party would fight against dissent and eliminate dissent. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, this sticky pole was preserved and strengthened as a spy organization directly under the emperor's control, and the blood drops of folklore were under the jurisdiction of the sticky pole, and the official name of this institution was Shangyu Standby, and it was not until after the death of Qianlong that this spy organization was completely abolished. On the rivers and lakes, the word sticky pole is used to imply the informant of the government), and when they meet high-rollers with fresh faces, they collude with the officials to make their cages to make money, and then sit on the ground and share the spoils. ”

Thinking of this, the question in Simao's heart suddenly became clear, and he secretly blamed himself for being impetuous, missing the most basic common sense, these people must have their own peripheral eyeliner in Chukou Town, otherwise, how could a group of foreign cross-river dragons know everything about the time and stakes of Xu Sandao's betting? Therefore, this eyeliner must be a gangster who eats in Chukou Town and Jubao Street, and it must not be Xu Sandao's person. But at this moment, it is meaningless to know who this person is, that is what Xu Sandao should be concerned about, because this person is equivalent to uniting others to pit Xu Sandao. And at this time, I have one more lesson, and I must be more thoughtful in the future, and I can't be impetuous and be blinded by sharp words, otherwise, the rivers and lakes are dangerous, and some low-level mistakes will often make me suffer a big loss. The second is that the other party can't easily give up when they come to the door, how to avoid this disaster this time?