You must know that in the past, when Gawain went skiing, swimming, mountaineering or hiking, he was accompanied by beautiful women, and the scenery was infinite, but now in front of him, he was an old man in tattered clothes.

This area is a border where various forces are intertwined, and there may be patrols from the Roma state, Byzantine Roman soldiers, Zahas's men and horses, and even bandits and robbers.

So Peter and Gawain agreed with each other that Gawain would lead the black mare in the same turban as a Crescentist, and Peter would walk behind him on crutches - if he met a Turk, he would say that Peter was a pilgrim who had been captured and enslaved by Gawain; But if you meet a Byzantine, you say that Gawain was a convert to Christ and escorted Peter the hermit.

Fortunately, the snow-covered mountains, combined with the continuous bad weather, also made the patrols of all sides unhappy, and they did not encounter any danger along the way, and reached the mountains near the city of Prussa, which was still in the hands of the Byzantine Roman emperor for the time being.

Two men stood in the snow in front of a desolate and dilapidated village, which was a common sight in Asia Minor, where peasants had gathered around fertile orchards and wheat fields to form villages, but twenty years ago, the borders of the Byzantine Roman Empire had completely collapsed, and the Turkic Turkmen had swarmed in like sand, turning everywhere into their pastures, and wars, looting, and massacres had destroyed the rural life that had dotted the area, and many peasants fled to the other side of the strait to earn a living, and those who remained were living in extreme distress.

However, Peter and Gawain were even more miserable, the little food they had collected from the corpses had already been eaten, and the half of the wheat bread that Peter was still hiding in the luggage roll had never been taken out, and Gawain thought that it should be used to save his life at a critical moment.

So the next thing is very simple, there are still dozens of miles away from the city of Prussia, but they can't hold on, they can only beg for a relationship, which is equally feasible for all monks in ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign.

Peter sang the "Hymn to the Holy Eulalie", which was really melodious and majestic, and Gawain also opened his mouth and followed behind.

"After singing this song, if you haven't eaten it, you will fall down and starve to death." Gawain thought to himself, the inside of his stomach was as painful as turning over the river and the sea, and the knife was twisted.

Fortunately, a few ragged villagers came out with rough plates and jars, and invited them to stand under the eaves of the village hall to shelter from the rain and snow, and to enjoy some "poor but also the food they tried their best to get".

A few children, following Gawain, threw pebbles, clapped their hands and sang, "O tall Varyag, who has come here to beg for a living, he has no shoes, no clothes, and no rusty sword. ”

On the plate, there were some berries, acorns, chestnuts and the like, and the jar contained some goat's milk, and after eating and drinking two sips, Gawain vomited again from his mouth and nose, and he felt that his whole abdomen was like a few pieces of black iron, squeezing and stirring to make himself tremble! He held on to the pillars, his feet were still stretched out in the snow, his hands holding the plates and food were shaking, and the villagers around him were talking, not knowing what he was talking about.

Peter looked at it, understood, and then stood up and said to the villagers, "My friend and brother want to have hot food, or his body will not be able to bear it." ”

"I've heard that the Varyags can eat anything raw, they use raw meat and fish and just order honey." A village elder looked at Gao Wen, who was vomiting and shivering, strangely, and said.

"Be sure to find something hot, be sure to find something hot! In return, I can paint a whole set of sermons on the drawing board in the village church! Peter kept bowing to the villagers.

Then the elder shouted, and took some of the villagers to get some soup and meat, and put them in a pottery urn, and then they went to a house at the entrance of the village, which was covered with tiles, and knocked on the door, and soon came out of it a neatly dressed figure, and stood arrogantly in the snow, and looked at Gao Wen, who was sitting under the eaves and trembling, and even his eyes were beginning to turn red, and said a few words to the elder with disdain, and then the elder and the villager both knelt down, kissed the hem of the figure's clothes and boots, and took out a few coins from their bosoms, It was in the man's hand, and the man counted the numbers, and then smiled disdainfully, took out the key, and put it in the elder's hand.

As if he had found the most precious treasure, he took the key in his hand and ran back to the synagogue of the commune, and said again and again, "Now there will be hot food." Peter's face was also full of joy, and they went to a house by the side of the synagogue, and opened the door with the key, and rushed in, and then Gawain smelled the smell of hot food, and he tried to open his eyes, and saw curling smoke rising from the chimney of the house.

Soon after, the two of them sat down on the spot, grabbing the soup, mushrooms, and wheat rice on their plates, and gulping down their mouths until they were full of tears, sweat, and snot.

At this time, Gao Wen's stomach and intestines slowly recovered, regained his joyful and comfortable peristalsis, and the heat up and down his body also returned, and he also had the strength to explore this world that he felt unfamiliar with, "Why is it so difficult to cook hot food?" ”

Peter looked at him with a strange look, "Because you need a stove to cook hot food." ”

It was as if the two of them couldn't communicate, and Gawain was even more strange, "Isn't this a stove?" ”

"The stove and the fire are very expensive, and this is the only place in this village, which is still owned by the emperor."

"And that character?"

"The tax collectors that the emperor has placed in the villages, and they are in charge of the books, the books, and the stoves, and if we want to eat the hot food from the stoves, we have to pay him, and he will pay the taxes to the emperor."

Hearing this, Gawain was silent, and put down the plate in his hand, he didn't know how to say or comment, and he couldn't look directly at the food on the plate that he felt was rough, and what you take for granted after a thousand years was a gift from his predecessors in pain and corpses, even if it was an insignificant stove - these villagers, day after day, year after year, ate raw food as cold as iron, engaged in the hardest labor, and endured the exploitation of the emperor's tax collectors, even burning a stove to eat a hot meal, They have to pay a month's or even two months' labor compensation.

Peter bent his waist and looked at him, as if he had seen him through, "Continue to eat, until we have eaten up, we have to repay the villagers, I have already said that we will paint frescoes in the chapel of the village, and we will also paint some wooden panels for them to use as icons for the celebration." ”

"What can I do?"

"When you buy paint, you have to cut out square or round planks of the right size."

"Hmm" Gawain agreed, and buried his head and continued to eat until he had eaten the plate thoroughly.