The sun was about to set, and the night wasteland was not welcoming to man, and wild animals and wild birds were about to appear, so the old Odegar family returned to their home on the manor with the flow of people. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Home is a warm place, a haven for wanderers, a traveler's way home, but for little Odega, home is a narrow, dirty, and suffocating place.

Thirty square meters of thatched hut can neither block the wind nor rain - thirty square meters of space for four people, which is already narrow enough, but this thirty square meters of space is not only for four people, it also has to raise chickens, it also has to raise ducks, it is still a cattle pen, it is still a pigsty......

This is not a surprising thing for a family of serfs, who raise pigs and ducks at home, also in order to survive - but although they raise these chickens, ducks, pigs and cows, these chickens, ducks, pigs and cattle also belong to the lord, but for every animal handed in, the serf receives some meager remuneration from the governor - do not think of eating two secretly, the head of the cattle in every serf family has a record there, even if they die of old age, they must hand over the corpse, the head of the house, There will never be a single serf who steals and cheats.

As for the filth, little Odegar had not had such an idea before, but since he had been taught at the Earl of Don the Younger, since he had been assigned a clean and wide wooden house that belonged to him alone, he could no longer bear the place where the floor was full of feces and urine, and where cow dung was splashed when he stepped on it.

And it was suffocating, and little Odega still vividly remembers that one year when the fields failed, the lord's soldiers brutally robbed the family of all the rations and livestock, and the family did not eat a bite of food for two days and two nights, and lived only on grass and leaves. In the end, old Odega risked his life, poached two rabbits from the forest and took them to the market, found a black merchant in exchange for a few pieces of the lowest bread, and the family only ate one bite a day, and survived for half a month, and finally the lord saw that the serfs were starving to death, so he showed mercy and released food, and finally the whole family survived.

(According to the laws of the Middle Ages, the forests, rivers, and all ownerless things in the territory belonged to the lord, and the poaching rabbit blinded one eye, and two were hanged directly)

These dark memories were no longer recalled by little Odegar himself, but now as soon as he stepped into this home that had brought him endless despair, these memories involuntarily rolled out and made him cry.

However, when he came back this time, he would never again make his father, mother, and his brother suffer, he had brought gifts from the Count of Don Jr.

"Dad, Mom, this is what I brought back from the lord, you can eat it quickly."

Little Odega secretly wiped away his tears, fortunately now that the sun had set, the serfs did not dare to make a fire in front of the house, this house was made of thatch, and it would be lit if he was not careful, and because of this, no one noticed his abnormality.

"And brother, come on, Leoff, I've brought enough, everyone has a share."

Little Odega smiled and beckoned to his little brother, then took out the tightest cloth bag from his package behind him, and as soon as he opened it, the rich aroma of meat spread in all directions.

But the reaction of his family, little Odega's mother not only did not feel happy, but her face was instantly full of horror, and his father, old Odega, rushed to the door of the thatched hut in three steps and two steps, looked around the door a few times, and then closed the wooden door deadly. Only his younger brother, Leofrick, was reacting normally, he was swallowing, but he didn't rush up either.

"What's wrong, Mom and Dad? Why don't you eat it? ”

Little Odegar was already frozen, it was different from what he had imagined, in his imagination, it should be a time for the family to laugh and spend the night together, why everyone was so nervous, as if they had seen something that frightened them.

"What's wrong with you?" Old Odegar turned around, his face was also full of horror, panic, and more of a deep worry: "I ask you, where did you poach these things?" And no accomplices? Did anyone find out? ”

"Father, I don't have ......"

"Listen to me!" Old Odegar lowered his voice and said in a deep voice, "Has anyone caught you poaching?" Have you ever told someone about this? ”

"You kid, why are you so disobedient, you ran out to poach, if you are discovered, how will our whole family live......"

"Don't talk nonsense in the woman's house!" Old Odegar violently interrupted little Odega's mother: "Let me speak first, you are not allowed to interject when I am finished!"

"You kid! Why don't you know how to study hard! I will send you to the Earl, and as soon as you graduate, you will be a free man, and you will never again be a serf like me, all your life. And your brother, Leof, I thought that after you became a free man, I would ask you to intercede with the Earl to remove your brother from serfdom, but now you have gone to poach! Alas, this time it was all ruined! Tell me honestly, does anyone know about it? ”

"Dad!" Little Odegar looked at the old Odegar nervous and chattering, but he couldn't interject, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, he finally knew the reason why his whole family was flustered, this was a problem of the generation gap. He, little Odega, had become accustomed to the life of three meals a day, each meal with meat and vegetables, and not only that, but he had learned the most precious knowledge, and he had spent time with the count day and night, and he and the knights were no longer strangers, so his knowledge was not comparable to that of his father.

Just like now, if little Odega really did such a thing, little Count Tang would only laugh when he found out, and he wouldn't take it seriously as a child's naughtiness. If the knight found out, he might have invited him to go hunting!

"Dad! This is something that the Earl gave me! This is what the Earl asked me to bring to you! ”

"Does anyone know about this? If there is no one, I will bury this meat now, and before God knows it, everything can be recovered...... Wait, what are you talking about?! The Earl sent it?! ”

Old Odegar was still talking, and he couldn't be blamed for it, a man who had been oppressed all his life, and had finally grasped the pain of hope, and hope was almost broken, and old Odegar was now chattering as little more than a way to alleviate the pain—but, at once, old Odegar was like a duck with his throat pinched, and his mouth was wide open and he could not say anything.

"Don't lie to me! I tell you, I, old Odega, am thirty-five years old, and I have never seen an earl give anything to a serf! ”

"Dad!" Little Odega couldn't cry and laugh again, he deeply felt that his father's identity was so bad that he could barely communicate, so he could only come up with evidence: "Dad, I won the first place in the first exam, and as a reward, the Count agreed to one of my conditions, this is the award certificate that the Count wrote to me, and the letter from the Earl to you, you can take a look."

As he spoke, little Odegar took out two white, immaculate ...... Paper. This is the second improvement of Earl Tang's papermaking skills, and it can finally be used for writing instead of just wiping his ass.

Old Odegar was not an uninformed man, though he was now far worse than his son, Little Odega. But if he really didn't know enough to have the guts, old Odega would dare to go to the forest to poach? But old Odegar swore that even if he had added up all the white things he had ever seen in his life, he would never have seen such perfect paper as this, whiter than wool.

Therefore, the moment he saw this blank paper, old Odegar believed that only the earl, and only a noble person like the earl, could come up with such a flawless paper.

I have to say that Old Odega is half right, now it is true that only the Earl can come up with such paper, but only for Count Tang, because these papers, the first thing after they are made is to be used by Count Tang Xiao for teaching, and they are still unmarketed products!

Old Odegar wanted to stretch out his hand, but he was ashamed that his dirty hands would stain such a perfect paper, and he saw that the square words written on the white paper seemed to have a strange rhythm, as if they had magical powers, and people couldn't take their eyes off them, and said angrily: "You dead child! Deliberately angry with you, right? Lao Tzu is illiterate! Read it to me. ”

"Okay, Dad." Little Odega was helpless, he knew that this was old Odega's mistake, but he couldn't erase it, so he took the paper back and read:

"Congratulations to Odega, who won the first place in the first semester test, and I would like to issue this certificate of encouragement."

The first is a certificate of merit, which belongs to the category of official business, and Count Tang has not changed much. But the second is a letter, which is quite personal, and the personal relationship between Little Odegar and Count Don Jr. is quite good, so Count Don Jr. uses different words.

"Little Odega, I heard that you are going home in the next two days, but as you know, I've been busy lately, I'm afraid I can't go to see you off, but I think you'll be back soon, so it doesn't make a difference whether you send it or not.

First of all, I want to congratulate you on winning the first place, it's really not easy, I see your hard work, and the Ocoba knight is always nagging in my ear that there is such a talent as you, to be honest, did you give him something? My ears are almost calloused when he reads.

Okay, let's get down to business, I'm afraid you're in a hurry, right?

I have promised what you told me last time, I forgive your father, your mother, and your brother, and your sister, and your sister's husband, and all her children, and I promise to make them all freemen, and to welcome them to my castle as my guests at any time.

How's that? Are you satisfied? If you still have any wishes, remember to study hard, and if you take the first place in the next exam, I can still grant you another wish.

Donchester Mackaffaye, Earl of Desmond.

Note: I've already sent someone to pick you up, but because the person answering you still has something to do, he may need to wait a few days, so you can wait until that time to come back together. ”

PS: Someone told me that I don't like to choose names, it's always this knight and that knight calling, I admit this, because it's too annoying to choose a name!

Ps2: All the names in this chapter have meanings, and they are not taken randomly

Odega, Saxon 'spear tip', by extension, 'leader'

Leofric, the Saxon word for 'the name of favor', by extension, 'lucky'.