Li Yongzhong shook his head, and pressed his self-deprecation and sorrow back to the bottom of his heart, without the slightest abnormality on his face, he looked out the window for a while, and finally decided: "Or I will go to Yibin in person to meet my father-in-law." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" He casually ordered: "The date is about a year ago, the master has seen the yellow calendar and set a date for me, and then prepare some gifts." ”

Wang Huanzhi was silent in his heart, pinched a gesture with his left hand and calculated for a long time, and said calmly: "Don't worry, the sixteenth of this month is an excellent day, from Fushun to Yibin, one hundred and fifty miles, with the foot of our caravan, seven or eight days." ”

The master and servant gossiped for a while, Li Yongzhong patted his forehead and said with a smile: "Look at my memory, it will be my aunt's birthday in a few days?" ”

Wang Huanzhi hurriedly said: "On the birthday of the inner son, the owner doesn't have to take it to heart. Having said that, there was also a little sincere emotion on his face. He and his wife have been married for 20 years, and their relationship is very strong, Li Yongzhong was not valued by Li Zhong when he was young, and he went to the well with Wang Huan a few times, and followed his master back to Wang's house when it was late, and Li Qi did not think so. It wasn't until Brother Zhong'er was getting older that Li Qi, who was disappointed in his eldest son, finally found that he had a capable son, and from then on, Li Yongzhong's stay in Wang's house gradually became extinct.

Li Yongzhong laughed twice, "When I was young, I had to be taken care of by my aunt. He stopped Wang Huanzhi's words, and said with emotion: "My mother died early, and my father ......" The young man laughed self-deprecatingly, avoided Li Qi, and continued: "Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang didn't despise me at that time, and took more care of me, although they were called master servants," he looked at his master's eyes and said lightly: "But in my heart, I regard my master as my father." ”

Wang Huanzhi had mixed feelings, but he could only let out a long sigh.

"My eldest brother is useless, but my father scolds him, but he cares about him more than anyone else, it's a pity," Li Yongzhong narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Li Yongbo is not a person who can support him." Otherwise, my father was afraid that he would personally send me to the village. ”

"Parental partiality is human nature." Wang Huanzhi pondered for a moment and spoke cautiously: "The future days of the owner are only better than now." The Buddhist scriptures have clouds: everything has a way, like a dream bubble. He put his hands on his knees, leaned forward, looked at Li Yongzhong very earnestly, and said: "These days, I have watched the owner act, and I always feel anxious, the owner is still young, why can't I let go?" ”

Li Yongzhong sighed secretly. He can't say to Wang Huanzhi that in a few years, a Shaanxi man named Zhang Xianzhong will lead an army of displaced people, thousands of miles away, and sweep the whole of Sichuan with earth-shattering momentum, and the whole Sichuan will tremble under his horse's hooves. Don't be in a hurry now, do you regret it when the knife is on your neck?

He could only laugh and change the subject.

Skipped the topic tacitly, Li Yongzhong brought up his previous words again: "Although it only takes seven or eight days on the road, I think I will always stay in Yibin for a few days." Not to mention anything else, after my father went, we haven't visited Master Li from the Yanjiao Yamen. ”

Wang Huanzhi's face was grim, he curled his fingers and tapped on the table, nodded, and said, "Very much." Not only Lord Li, but also the heads and brains below are also negligent. It is better to be the king of Hades than to be a little ghost. ”

The two of them settled the matter in a few words, and decided on a few candidates to go out with Li Yongzhong, most of whom were his accustomed entourage and close stewards - except for the attendants and servants in his own courtyard who had grown up with him since childhood, including the chief steward Li Sanzhong, he did not dare to have too much trust in the other servants in the palace.

Yibin is one hundred and fifty miles away from Fushun, although it is hard to travel in winter, but it is still too peaceful on the official road. Master Yan is right, the distance is faster, and the single person can arrive in seven or eight days. But Li Yongzhong was not in a hurry to go, he brought his personal servant Wutong and a few right-hand men, and in addition to the family in the house, he selected more than a dozen water porters from the well; I opened the warehouse and carefully selected various gifts. Pack your bags, and when you're done, you'll be waiting for the day.

The news that the young family was going out was not deliberately hidden, and soon spread among the helpers. In the past, this kind of news did not meet the attention of the water pickers, but this time it was different, the stewards let out a word, and the head of the family seemed to want to choose a few personal followers among the water pickers!

The world is not quiet, and the people at the bottom are always the first to notice, and they are the first to be crushed into dregs by the dark and chaotic fate. They instinctively choose the strong and follow the strong. Although it is unclear whether the selection will be temporary or permanent, there are many people who are interested in those attractive positions.

The relatives of the Li Mansion have three taels of monthly salaries, two seasons of clothes, and continuous rewards during the New Year. Originally, it was just the Li family's nursing home, but since the second young master Zhongguan'er began to follow the caravan to carry salt, he selected the loyal and cautious, strong and powerful people from the water porter as a guard, and invited the martial arts master who had accumulated years to teach martial arts, imitating the law set by the guard, Li Yongzhong treated them with all their efforts, and strictly restrained, in just two years, he brought out a team of guards who moved to the east of Sichuan, and went all the way to Guizhou, playing a big banner with the word salt, and the heroes of the green forest heard the wind and avoided it.

"I'm going to go." Half of Liu Xiaoqi's cheeks were filled with food, and even if he couldn't speak clearly, he still said to his good friend Guan Lao Er seriously: "Zhong Guan'er wants to recruit a family, I don't want to eat the bowl of rice of the water picker." ”

At that time, they had just won the last small half bowl of meat and half a bowl of radish with a few other small workers at the dinner table, and scooped a large bowl of tightly pressed corn from the rice retort, and in the absence of the stewards that afternoon, the two of them sneaked to the hay pile in the cowshed, and talked comfortably while eating.

"You want to be the housekeeper!?" Guan Lao Er wiped his mouth with his sleeves crossed, staring at Liu Xiaoqi's face in shock, trying to see the meaning of the joke from it, but after watching it for a long time, he could only see his friend's seriousness and stubbornness. Guan Lao Er swallowed his saliva and said cautiously: "Xiao Qi, of course it's good to be in charge, but you have to give the deed of sale to Li Jiali." ”

"I'm a homeless person, I don't even know where my home is, what's the matter if I sell my body or not?" Liu Xiaoqi said disapprehantly, "Besides, what's wrong with giving the Li family a presenter?" Eat enough and dress warmly, and live a hundred times better than the tenant farmers outside Fushun Town! ”

Guan Lao Er shook his head, "I can't talk about you." He took a bite of rice into his mouth, and sprayed rice grains as he spoke: "But with your current figure, it's difficult......" crossed the chopsticks and nodded Liu Xiaoqi's chest - with his hands on his chest, he could count the ribs one by one, and he also dotted Xiaoqi's thighs - not as thick as Liu Ermazi's arm on Inoue. He swallowed a mouthful of food with difficulty, and then said clearly: "Xiao Qi, let's die, work in the well for a few years, and when you are a little older, I will ask the steward to accept you as a water porter, not better than you now?" ”

Xiao Qi was silent for a long time, he leaned on the thick straw pile, his eyes were empty, and he said faintly: "My father and mother have been dead for almost ten years. ”

Guan Lao Er sighed, held the bowl, pinched the chopsticks, and looked at Liu Xiaoqi, not knowing what to say.

"My mother died a miserable death, she was trampled on all her bones, and she howled in pain in the middle of the night before leaving, but fortunately, there was a piece of land to bury her; My father ......," the always smiling little seven let out a long breath, "I don't know if the grass on the grave is as tall as mine, but I think he must have no grave, and he doesn't know where to bury it." ”

Liu Xiaoqi turned to look at Guan Lao Er and said seriously: "Guan Er, back then, my family begged all the way to Fushun, and I had a big brother, an eldest sister, and a younger sister, but in the end, only my father and mother survived. ”

"I can't even eat tree bark at home, so the eldest sister said that she sold her and went out to find a way to live; Halfway through, the eldest brother ate Guanyin soil, and his belly was as big as the mother-in-law who was about to give birth, and he couldn't poop out, and finally died; Seeing that he was going to Fushun, his mother was suddenly ill, and his father had no choice, so he sold his little sister to a passer-by and exchanged it for three life-saving money. ”

"Now, my whole family is dead, except for me, a naked man. But I don't want to die, I'm afraid of death! I want to live! Liu Xiaoqi wiped his eyes and said in a dumb voice: "Originally, I thought I was going to live, so I could only steal and rob, but my life is good!" I met Zhong Guan'er who was kind and accepted me into the well. ”

"But I'm not reconciled, I don't want to be a water porter for the rest of my life, I want to be fed and clothed, and I want to get ahead!" Liu Xiaoqi's eyes lit up like there were two fires, "I won't try, even if I have this fate in my life, I will let it go; I tried, but I found a way to survive! ”

Whether it is a time-traveler who has insight into the future or a small person struggling to survive, they are now just ants on the giant tree of fate, but as time goes by, as long as there is still a breath, the ants can bite the giant tree into thousands of holes.

It was a rare sunny day. The stewards had an afternoon to choose the guards, and the young watermen were ready to move, and the dam used as the selection was crowded with idlers, and the room erupted in laughter and exclamations from time to time, breaking the town's former peace.

"You're so good." Li Yongzhong stood at the edge of the crowd, raised his chin towards the lively scene in the field, and whispered to the leader of his own guards: "You must choose a few alert and simple ones." ”

The leader of the guards is called He Tai, who is Li Yongzhong's brother who grew up together, and he is a very calm person. He Tai is a family martial art, and legend has it that his ancestor was an officer from Shunanwei. However, it is only a legend, and when he came to He Tai's father, he had already been a household for several generations. At the age of five, He Tai followed his father to practice martial arts. When Li Yongzhong began to plan for the guard, the first thing that came to mind was his milk brother. And He Tai did not live up to his expectations, he was a natural general, and trained a group of honest water porters into sturdy men with good knowledge of advance and retreat.

"That's what the young master said." He Tai didn't think that he was very special in Li Yongzhong's place, he had always adhered to the way of master and servant, he was three steps behind Li Yongzhong, and said with a slight chin bow: "Now the manpower is enough, but he is still nervous, if he wants to go to Shaanxi in the future as the young master said, he must double the number of guards before he can be used." ”