Three nights of snow, heavy snow closed the road.

The alley next to the Xianju Building was crowded with people. More than thirty people, huddled in the alley a little one wide, stared at the small door on the side. The two little two who were washing the dishes inside were chatting about what they didn't have. These days, it is not easy to find a job in a restaurant.

Hearing the movement outside the alley, the one by the door stretched out his hand from the cold wooden basin, sighed, and said helplessly: "It's so cold that your hands are going to freeze into turnips." Five of them froze to death in an alley yesterday, and they reported to the county government, but the county magistrate didn't care, and directly called himself buried. The proprietor is also a kind person, and this morning, he took a few straw mats and asked me to call a few people to bury them in the suburbs. ”

The man sitting in the other tub straightened up and put the cleaned dishes aside, "I don't know how many people will freeze to death tonight." Maozi, take out that bucket of swill. The shopkeeper is really, helping people to send the Buddha to the west, this swill is ordered to be clean every day, and some food is added, why don't you let those people go into the house to avoid the cold. ”

"You're stupid. Do you know how many refugees I saw when I went to the countryside this morning? Thousands, hundreds, like hungry wolves, looked at the corpses on the straw mats. If I hadn't buried it quickly, I guess I would have come up and eat human flesh. I got goosebumps all over my body and ran back. If you really let those people outside the house in, it won't be a big deal. Maozi went over and looked at the bucket of swill.

The guy who was still wiping it said faintly, "There are really so many? I haven't seen much of this in the city. ”

Mao Zi picked up the bucket of swill and said, "Do you think the county master is stupid, so many refugees are so likely to be put into the city." These hiding in the alleys are estimated to be fish that have slipped through the net, otherwise this Shuntianfu is estimated to be occupied by tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of refugees. Hey, you'd open the door for me. Just sit and do it. "As soon as the door opened, more than a dozen pairs of black hands came straight in, almost tearing the door open.

"Oops, don't stretch. Reach in again and close the door! Maozi frowned and took a step back. Those dozens of pairs of ** hands immediately stopped moving. The door was halfway open, and Mao Zi hurriedly put the swill bucket out and quickly closed the door. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "These people are crazy hungry." ”

"Do you need to say it? Hurriedly, the door was sealed after cleaning up. The man stretched, yawned, and walked back.

Dozens of pairs of black hands outside the door reached into the swill bucket, pulling leftovers. Only by living can there be hope. Dignity or something has long been trampled by the ruthless world, and the body is incomplete, and the body is bruised. However, in the corner, two figures did not go up to join the ranks of the robbery.

The faint light of the candle shined through the door on the man's face in heat. The eyelashes were covered with snowflakes, and they blinked as the cold wind blew. This was originally a pair of beautiful eyes, the peach blossoms were eye-catching, bright like jewels.

"Master, let's eat some. It's been seven days, you haven't eaten for seven days, can you handle it? ”

"Erlang, we scholars must have backbone. It is better to starve to death than to eat the food that comes from the mouth. He slowly raised his hand, patted the snow on the scholar's head, looked at the faint candlelight, and through the door, in a trance, it seemed that there were five or six lamps inside. Erlang, when the young master and I enter the top three, let's come to this Xianju Building for a big meal, and the scenery is also beautiful. ”

The boy tightened the collar button of his young master's robe so that the wind would not pour in, and cried: "If it weren't for the young master, you have wrapped the plate all the way to others, how could you be so hungry?" ”

"Can you not give it? Do you watch people starve to death? If we want to enter the official career, in addition to ambition, we are concerned about the people's livelihood, how can we see death and not save it? The breath coming out of his thin body gradually deepened, and he raised his eyelids, "Erlang, I seem to have seen it, I saw the title of the young master's gold list......"

The scholar's tears remained, and he said, "Young master, you can't stop eating, you wait, you wait!" Jiro wiped away his tears and staggered into the pile of people who were still scrambling. The petite body was squeezed out of shape, and the arm, which was already as thin as firewood, grabbed into the bucket without hesitation. It's a pity that nothing was caught. Like a low, roaring wolf, he let out a rage and fished down with all his might.

The little hand kept fluttering on dozens of pairs of wooden barrels calmly grabbing leftovers to eat, no one paid attention, in the dark, the stubbornness of the little hand, who should pity him, sympathize with him, and give him charity? There seems to be no one. Even if his request was only to catch a little bit of food, it would cheer up the young master, who was already hungry to the point of hallucination, a little.

The young master leaning against the corner of the wall, his eyelids kept opening and closing. The snow fell on his purple lips and lingered for a moment before melted by his body heat. He pursed his unconscious lips, "Erlang...... Erlang ...... the last article of "Shangshu", I haven't read it yet, young master, you can turn it out and read it to the young master......"

He immediately looked up at the faint candlelight inside the door, and then extinguished.

The alley was dark, and the little hand was still churning in the barrel, and at last, half of the scholar's body entered the barrel, and at last he got a handful of rice soaked in soup, and he breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly jumped off the barrel. A shoe has long gone. The heels were covered with purple chilblains, and the festering was a little frightening.

The moment he jumped off the barrel, his feet hurt terribly. Erlang limped to the young man who was half leaning against the corner, and with his small arm, he pillowed under the young man's neck, his voice trembled slightly, and said, "Young master, it's time to eat." Jiro bought you rice. He carefully fed the still hot food into the boy's mouth. I don't know if it's the heat of his palms, or the heat of the rice itself, probably the rice itself, those little hands have long been stiff and unconscious.

"Young master, you should eat!" The scholar was a little anxious, thinking that his young master was a picky eater, so he hurriedly comforted, "Only when you have eaten enough can you have the strength to study, and you can win the top prize." He also seemed to be tired, and his little head was pressed against the bricks, still carefully fed.

"Right...... I'm going to ...... Will try to ...... "Shangshu"...... The purple lips of the rice ...... pursed slightly, and the little hand that had been holding up the young man's chin hurriedly sent a few grains of rice inside.

"Young master, you eat slowly. Erlang recited the "Book of Shang" to you. The little head shook slowly, "Be diligent in the state, be thrifty in the family......" He is really smart, and he can remember most of the sentences that the young master has read. The young man in his arms pursed his lips, and Erlang sent a little of the rice grain in his hand into it.

The casks were snatched away, the alleys were quiet again, and everyone huddled to resist the cold judgment, but what crime had they committed? Yes, they are guilty. The sin is poor, and the sin is that they are poor.

The carriage in front of the Xianju Building dispersed in all directions, the wine banquet had been dispersed for a long time, and the guests inside always had to call for a good cup of tea, and then chat, talk about things, talk about people, and finally, there was really no topic to talk about, so I had to get up and say goodbye. After the owners of the seven families of the flyover finished talking about opening the shed and giving porridge, they left.

The lantern in the Xianju Building was extinguished. A qiē, as if frozen by the cold winter, did not make any sound.

The next day, two frozen teenagers were found dead in the corner. The one lying in his arms, with a mouthful of rice in his mouth, and the one holding a few vegetable leaves and rice grains in his hand, his little head has been leaning against the wall tiles. Two straw mats are too much, looking at the two intimate looks, it is estimated that they do not dislike being buried together, and the Mao Zi who was invited early in the morning kicked the poor man on the side, and said: "Hey, those two boys in it, are they famous or not?" ”

"I don't know. But one keeps calling the other Jiro. ”

Maozi nodded, so a new tomb was added on the outskirts of the city that was so simple that it would lose any features if the wooden sign was kicked away-the tomb of Da Lang Erlang......