Spoonful by spoonful, Lu Ren and Wan'er each fed a bowl of gruel to the two children. Seeing that the bowl was empty, Lu Ren handed the empty bowl to the young man, reached out and touched his sister's forehead and said with a long sigh of relief: "Fortunately, this little girl is just too hungry, so she didn't catch the cold, otherwise I'm afraid that I won't even be able to save it." ”

He turned his head to Wan'er and said, "Wan'er, these two children can only eat this little gruel first, don't give it if you have more." ”

Wan'er was slightly surprised: "Why?" They were all hungry like this. ”

Lu Ren shook his head and said, "It's because they've been hungry for too long that they can't eat a lot at once, because ...... Let's put it this way, they were so hungry that their stomachs were a little curled up with hunger. If you suddenly stuff a bunch of food into it, it will hurt their stomach and intestines because the stomach and intestines are not moving. ”

These should be regarded as the basic common sense that modern people generally know, but people at that time did not know much about these, so Wan'er nodded abruptly after hearing it. And after the young man who stole the rice understood what Lu Ren meant, he asked Lu Ren with some hesitation: "Then, when can I let them eat again?" ”

"It's best not to eat anything for the time being, especially dry rice or something. Well...... It's a little too late to cook the soup, so you'll follow me back in a moment. At this point, Lu Ren turned to Wan'er again: "Wan'er, you can boil some rice water for these two children to drink later." ”

"Wash rice water!?"

The people around were all stunned, but Lu Ren just smiled and didn't want to explain more. In fact, the highest nutritional value of rice is the outer layer of rice, but it is easy to destroy the rice husk when washing rice, and then many nutrients in the rice husk are left in the rice washing water. In the old countryside, rice washing water was often used as a substitute for breast milk. Lu Ren now asked Wan'er to boil some rice water, in a sense, he was almost feeding milk to these two hungry children.

Of course, if you don't wash the modern rice, you will not be able to eat the residual pesticides, and you can't wash it well, but where are the pesticide residues that Lu Ren grows? In addition, Lu Ren will have rice on hand, but because he was angry that Xun Yu was too ruthless at that time, he angrily told Xun Yu that he only needed the rice he planted, and Xun Yu just smiled at this and agreed. Anyway, Lu Ren's Yulu is only a few hundred stones, and it doesn't matter if he pulls it out to Lu Ren.

The porridge had been fed, and the two children had woken up, so Lu Ren breathed a sigh of relief and called someone to carry the two children back to Yingtun.

It was already late at night when I returned to the camp, and it was already two or three o'clock in the night when Wan'er fed the rice water to the three children. When the two children fell asleep, Wan'er was also driven back to the tent by Lu Ren to sleep, but Lu Ren himself couldn't sleep, and stood outside the tent alone and stared at the sky in a daze.

"Captain Lu......"

Lu Ren turned around and saw that it was the young man who stole the rice and came closer, so he said with a pleasant face: "You don't sleep so late?" ”

The young man who stole the rice lowered his head embarrassedly: "Stealing things is only easy to steal in the dead of night, so I am used to not sleeping at night, and I only hide and sleep during the day." ”

Lu Renxin said that this kid is almost the same as those networms who like to go to the all-night net in his time, but the all-night networms are good at all-night speed and cheap night nets, but this kid is trying to survive.

As soon as he thought of survival, Lu Ren went up and down to dry the rice thief boy. Lu Ren can be said to have a deep impression of the scene where this young man has to protect that bit of food when he is beaten, and he can feel that this young man is not too lazy to steal because he is lazy to eat. After another thought, Lu Ren asked, "What are you going to do next?" Do you still want to do this, to survive by doing this kind of thing that relies on stealing chickens and dogs? ”

The boy shook his head desperately.

Lu Ren said: "That's it, I haven't had a scholar and a little girl by my side, and now I just happened to meet you three brothers and sisters, so why don't you stay by my side as my scholar and little girl, how about it?" ”

The young man kept his head down for a long time and didn't speak, and only after a long time did he raise his head, and said to Lu Ren hesitantly: "Thank you for the care of the captain, but ...... Our three brothers and sisters just want to enlist in Tuntian, can the captain ......?"

"Huh!?" Lu Ren was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses, and looked at the young man up and down, left and right, again for a long time, and suddenly patted his head lightly and said to himself: "I'm strangling!" This kid isn't as simple as I thought! My sister too, I've been in this era for so long, why haven't I even remembered this? ”

What did Lu Ren not remember? In ancient times, it was common to see poor families forced to sell their children and daughters because of their lives, but someone had to buy them to sell their children and daughters, so who was the buyer? It's nothing more than those rich and powerful people, of course, the girl has to have a brothel or something. And once the child is bought, it means that he can only be a lowly slave for the rest of his life, and basically there is no future for him. Don't talk about it, it can be said that even personal freedom is gone.

And in the era that Lu Ren is in now, in addition to the strong and strong in those places, children are also among them. Let's put it this way, which is more reliable, training from a young age or temporary recruitment? The robbed adult homeless people can work as soon as they come, but this type of homeless people are rootless and can run anywhere; Slaves who can be cultivated from a young age often form a kind of dependence, and once they leave, they don't know what to do, and in the end they can only come back obediently.

Looking at this rice thief boy who is not big or big, but not small, Lu Ren quickly understood that this young man had his own opinions in his heart, and it was likely that he didn't want to be Haoqiang's slave, so he chose to take his younger brothers and sisters to recruit Tuntian, because then he would have relative personal freedom and would not be a slave to the end. Otherwise, at the age of the three of them, which powerful family they went to, no matter how much they had a mouthful of hungry food, they would still have something to eat, and how could they survive by stealing some food like now? And when Lu Ren expressed his willingness to take them in, he had an attitude of refusal?

Thinking of this, Lu Ren asked the young man directly: "Are you afraid that you will be a slave for one day and a slave for life?" ”

The young man didn't expect Lu Ren to ask such a question, so he took a step back in astonishment and looked at Lu Ren with a very frightened gaze. But soon he noticed that Lu Ren's expression was calm, and he didn't seem to be angry. After another hesitation, the young man gritted his teeth and nodded to Lu Ren very boldly.

Lu Ren smiled indifferently: "You kid is really a big ghost." And you'd have that thought, if I'm not mistaken......"

As he spoke, Lu Ren took out a piece of wooden tablet with some trivial notes from his arms and handed it to the young man: "Read all the words on it to me." ”

The young man was stunned, took the wooden tablet and looked at it by the firelight, and said, "Captain, there are a few words that you seem to have written incorrectly." ”

Lu Renxin said that it was not a mistake, but a simplified Chinese character that I wrote directly out of habit. But in this way, Lu Ren became more and more sure that this young man was not an ordinary peasant child, and it was very likely that he was the child of those poor scholars. The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have been plagued by war, and it is not uncommon for many of these poor people to be displaced by the war. But a scholar from a humble family is also a scholar, and he doesn't want to be a lowly slave until he has to, which is an understandable mentality.

So Lu Ren smiled again, and after retrieving the wooden Jane, he said, "How many acres of land can you three little children plant?" Even if you plant it reluctantly, you will only be bullied, okay? Besides, you are all growing your body, can you do this hungry and full meal? ”

The boy gritted his teeth and did not speak.

Lu Ren said: "What is going on in your heart, I think I can probably guess it." Then I might as well tell you that I will only be an official for a few years at most, and after a few years, I will take Wan'er to abandon the official and go into hiding, but I need someone to help me inherit a lot of things here. I thought your kid had a good personality so I asked you to follow me to learn my skills, and I didn't bother to pay attention to him if I changed to someone else. If you don't want to, forget it, give your brothers and sisters a few acres of land to plant, and it's just a matter of words to me. But ......"

Saying that, Lu Ren smiled at the young man evilly: "Recruiting for Tuntian is just a way to eat a full meal, if you kid wants to get ahead, I'm afraid it won't work just by becoming a tun citizen." ”

"This ......," the boy hesitated visibly.

Lu Ren turned around with a smile: "I will go back to Puyang at noon tomorrow, whether the three of you are willing to follow me back, there is only this one night to consider." Let me remind you one last sentence, are you willing to follow my side to learn skills, or do you want to think about it yourself when it is difficult to get ahead in the face of the loess and the sky. ”

After speaking, Lu Ren didn't pay attention to the boy anymore, but went straight back to his post tent, leaving a young man there without saying a word for a long time. After a long time, the boy looked to the north and whispered to himself, "Mother, the child will definitely make them regret driving us out......"

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Because he didn't sleep until late, Lu Ren slept until three o'clock in the morning after returning to the tent. When I woke up, I found the three children kneeling quietly in front of the tent door.

Lu Ren was stunned at first, but immediately smiled at the rice thief boy and said, "Have you thought about it?" ”

The rice thief nodded vigorously, and then glanced at the two children, and the three children bowed to Lu Ren together: "Thank you Captain Lu for saving your life!" ”

Lu Ren couldn't help but laugh and stretched out his hand to help: "Get up!" ”

Immediately, Lu Ren looked at the young man: "You taught it, right?" ”

Without waiting for the boy to respond, the younger siblings stretched out their hands and pointed at the boy at the same time: "It was taught by the eldest brother!" ”

Lu Ren patted the young man on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I don't dare to say too much about some things, I can only tell you that you will probably not regret the choice you made today in the future." Okay, let's go pack up and get ready to go back to Puyang with me. Oh, by the way, what are the names of the three of you, and how old are you this year? ”

"My name is ......" As soon as the words came out, the young man hesitated for a moment before he said: "I have been wandering for several years, and I have forgotten what my real name is." Just remember...... I have a milk named Ah Cheng, honest Cheng. As for the younger siblings, they don't have names...... In fact, we are not brothers and sisters, we are just wandering and begging refugees, and we only get together to take care of each other......"