After meeting Weizhen, Wei Zeng also knew about her family's misfortune from her words. Thinking back to the bits and pieces when I took care of my mother before her death, I have mixed feelings. There is sadness for the misfortune of the family, there is the expectation that the mother's condition will improve, and there is even more resentment of the injustice of fate, but he prays to the sky to endure the pain for his mother. When I returned to my residence after helping the merchants, my mood also fluctuated. At dawn the next day, listening to the sound of hurried footsteps in the alley, Wei Zeng felt that something should be done.

Dressed in old clothes, Weizhen, who was clean and clean, appeared in the alley, and saw a person waiting for him in front of him, the person he had offended yesterday because of his anxiety, and he had some apprehension in his heart, thinking about whether he should go out of the city in the future to take a different path.

Wei Zeng didn't wait for Wei Zhen to open his mouth and asked, "Are you still going to pick dew today?" ”

Weizhen nodded, but he didn't know why the other party asked.

"I'll help you pick it today."

Wei Zhen was a little at a loss, and when he saw Wei Zeng bring a relatively clean bowl, he was about to lead him out of the city with a wave of his hand. Only Zhen was about to refuse, but seeing that this young man who was not a few years older than himself had a somewhat complicated gaze, he couldn't say anything about refusal.

"He doesn't look like a bad guy." Weizhen comforted himself.

So a boy and a girl came into the field one after the other in the thin morning mist, but no one spoke. In silence, the two of them collected the crystal dew on the branches and leaves of the flowers and plants, and the dew on their backs was as clear as crystal, and the crystal turned into colorful gems against the sun. When there were more and more pedestrians on the road, Wei Zeng poured the dew from the bowl into the girl's iron kettle and completed the job. Seeing that with Wei Zeng's help, the things that used to take a lot of time were quickly completed, the girl smiled happily and sincerely thanked Wei Zeng. Wei Zeng saw that the matter was done, and he was also very happy to say goodbye to the girl and was going to work.

When Wei Zeng turned around and was about to leave, the girl mustered up the courage to ask, "By the way, I don't know your name yet, can you tell me?" ”

"Wei Zeng. If you want to pick dew in the future, I can help you," Wei Zeng replied.

As soon as dawn was in the middle of the day for ten days, the girl Weizhen appeared in the alley, and Wei Zeng went with her to collect dew outside the city. Weizhen lost her vigilance, lost her fear, and revealed the nature of a little girl. often asked Wei Zeng questions, and talked about his family from time to time. The girl often brought some food to Wei Zeng, saying that she made it herself, and asked Wei Zeng if it was delicious.

Wei Zeng really liked this kind of dew-picking life, but he thought that he would eventually leave Shifeng City, and he didn't know if he could come back, so he felt a little lost in his heart.

Wei Zeng learned about the girl's family background in the girl's innocent words. Weizhen's father was an alcoholic and a gambler, usually eating and drinking outside, often committing domestic violence at home, and once fell into a ditch after getting drunk and died. left Weizhen and the widowed mother to rely on each other.

That's not too miserable. But the drunkard and gambler owed a lot of gambling debts before dying, and only the real mother and daughter were collected by the creditors in three days, and many of those creditors were scoundrels, harassed by them, and greeted each other with a smile, and their lives could be described as aggrieved.

Someone once persuaded Weizhen's mother to sell Weizhen and marry someone else. The mother of Weizhen felt sorry for her daughter and did not want to do so, so she had to work hard day and night to weave and embroider cloth to maintain the family and pay off debts. Finally, my body was sick and sick. This disease, the creditor urged more tightly, and this disease, life became more miserable. Wei Zhen hid the money to treat his mother's illness, and when he heard that the dew boiled medicine was better, he got up early to pick the dew, and the debt collector could not get the money and naturally made a big fuss, but the mother of the truth was seriously ill, and the debt collector did not dare to do anything, and the truth was indispensable to the pain of flesh and skin.

Seeing the bruises on Wei Zhen's arms again, Wei Zeng was also a little angry, but more helpless, he was just a vagabond, powerless, and he had no time to take care of himself, how could he help others.

On the evening of the tenth day of meeting Weizhen, Wei Zeng dragged his tired body back to his residence, holding a cooking cake bought from a roadside stall in his hand, biting as he walked. At this time, the sunset was red, and the shadows of pedestrians on the road were stretched out of shape, like evil ghosts emerging from the eighteenth layer of hell, and the blood-stained sky seemed to indicate that in this evil era, the god of death had absorbed a lot of blood. When he walked to the alley where he lived, Wei Zeng's eyes lit up, where there was a only bright fluorescence that made this dim alley less depressing. The girl Weizhen was waiting for Wei Zeng there.

"Are you looking for me?" Wei Zeng asked.

"Well, I mentioned you to my mom and said you've been helping me pick up the dew all the time. Mom said she wanted to meet you. Brother Wei, can you come with me? When the girl saw Wei Zeng, there was some excitement in her eyes, and she held back, pretending to be calm and said slowly. In ten days of getting along, the girl trusted Wei Zeng very much, so she called him Brother Wei.

"Your mother wants to see me" Wei Zeng was very surprised, but there was no big problem in thinking about it, so he agreed: "Okay, I'll go with you." But in his heart, he guessed what the reason was for his mother, so that Weizhen's mother wanted to see him.

"Brother Wei, my mother is a very good person, this time my mother asked me to come to you, in fact, I am also a little strange. But it's nothing. Originally, my mother wanted to come by herself, but my mother was not in good health, so she had to call you over. Wei Zhen saw Wei Zeng's thoughtful look, as if he was worried, so he said. Wei Zeng didn't say anything along the way, and he always talked about the truth. In the end, seeing that Wei Zhen was a little wronged, Wei Zeng responded to her with a smile.

Weizhen's home is just like Weizhen's clothes, although it is a little shabby but very clean, it can be seen that the owner is very hardworking. When I walked into the inner room, I saw a middle-aged woman lying on the bed, although her face was a little old due to hard work, but she couldn't hide that little bit of posture, it can be seen that she was also beautiful when she was young, and a kind gaze showed her love and pity as a mother. But there was a black gas on that face, which was a sign that a person was terminally ill and his life was about to pass away.

"You are Wei Zeng, I have often heard Zhen'er talk about you these days. It's really nice to mention you, to be honest, it's been a long time since I've seen Zhen'er so happy. ”

"I'm just picking some dew for her, it's not a big deal. If she's happy, the little girl should smile more. ”

"You don't look very old, and you don't have a tone that you want to be a stone wind person. I guess I just moved here from out of town. Someone else in the house. ”

"I don't have a family anymore, and I went to Shifeng alone."

"I'm sorry to hurt you. You've been helping Zhen'er, and I haven't thanked you yet. Weizhen's mother said and took out a package, took out some money and wanted to give it to Wei Zeng.

"I don't need to, now I work for a trader, and I have money. I've heard Weizhen say that you need money more. ”

"Are you working to support yourself now, what a strong child. I've heard you say that you're sleeping on the streets now, and now it's getting colder, and you're going to get sick like that. Although our house is dilapidated, it can shelter from the wind and rain, so why don't you live here first? "Mother Weizhen was about to refuse when she saw Wei Zeng, and added;" You see me and Zhen'er are orphans and widows, and now I am sick myself, and Zhen'er has always been in charge of the family alone, and she is a ten-year-old child, and I feel distressed as a mother. If you live here, you can help Zhen'er when you have time, and it will be regarded as rent. ”

Wei Zeng saw that Weizhen's mother was about to cry when she spoke, and his heart softened, so he agreed if he couldn't refuse. Xiao Weizhen was also very happy to hear that Brother Wei was going to move over, so he jumped up and went to Wei Zeng's residence to help Wei Zeng clean up the pile of rags, and went home to clean up the house with miscellaneous items and let Wei Zeng move in.

Weizhen's mother looked at the busy Weizhen through the window, and said silently in her heart: "Zhen'er, mom is dying." The child named Wei Zeng seems to be of pure character. When your mother is gone, you can still live a little better. That's what Mom can do for you in the future. ”

In the next few days, Wei Zeng was still working for the merchants, returning to Weizhen's house to help with things. Weizhen's mother treats Wei Zeng like her own son, and often asks Xiao Weizhen to buy some snacks for Wei Zeng, and she also cares about Wei Zeng very much. It made Wei Zeng feel as if he had another family, and it was not impossible for Wei Zeng to decide to stay in Shifeng City for a while. When the merchant was about to go south, he paid Wei Zeng, Wei Zeng held his labor income in his hand, and was full of longing for the future, but he was thinking about whether to return to Wu or stay in Shifeng Wei Zeng fell into a contradiction.

When the house of the Weizhen family was in front of him, Wei Zeng noticed something unusual, only to hear the cry of Weizhen and the shouting and scolding of several men from the courtyard. Soon several men walked out, and one of them was about to take Yuzhen on his shoulders. Wei Zeng rushed into the courtyard and saw a corpse covered with a white cloth on a mat in the center of the courtyard, and Wei Zeng understood what was going on.

He rushed into his house, pinned the dagger to his waist, picked up a bag of stones, grabbed the stick in his hand, and ran in the direction of Weizhen. The men walked down the street, pushing and shoving pedestrians, looking like ruffians who were used to running rampant. I only heard Wei Zhen crying all the time, shouting in his mouth: "Mom, Brother Wei." ”

Wei Zeng quietly approached, and suddenly slammed a stick on the head of the man who was carrying Weizhen. The man fell to the ground, Wei Zeng took Wei Zhen's hand, dragged it up from the ground, and got into an alley on the side of the road while the others were stunned. One of the several men seemed to be the leader, and after saying a few words, two people followed Wei Zeng but kept a certain distance so as not to be hit by the stones, and the others ran in other directions, intending to intercept Wei Zeng.

Wei Zeng had only been in Shifeng City for more than ten days, and his understanding of the terrain was better than that of a scoundrel in the market. When Wei Zeng saw that the opponent was blocking by different roads, he knew that the situation was not good, and hurriedly ran to the nearest direction of the city gate. But in this way, it was in the hands of the gangsters, and the leader of the gangsters, when he saw Wei Zeng intercepting people, guessed that Wei Zeng was going to run towards the city gate. So in a secluded square square, Wei Zeng had no way to escape, and the gangsters surrounding them all showed lewd smiles.

"Aren't you able to run, why don't you run. Don't you dare to intercept people, you have the ability. The leader of the gangsters scoffed.

"Damn, what nonsense to talk to him, dare to beat Lao Tzu, don't do anything, this kid is mine." The beaten gangster said ashamedly and angrily. is about to hit Wei Zeng. Wei Zeng held a wooden stick in both hands, and when the beaten gangsters attacked, he also picked up the wooden sticks and beat them, but the gangsters grabbed the wooden sticks with one hand. As soon as he used his strength, he snatched the wooden stick and kicked Wei Zeng in the stomach. Wei Zeng endured the pain and threw the stones over, and the gangsters used their arms to cover the pain but did not hurt their muscles and bones, but aroused the fierceness of the gangsters. With another punch, Wei Zeng was knocked to the ground, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. The thug smirked.

Wei Zhen saw that Wei Zeng was beaten by the gangsters in order to save himself, and cried out in pain in his heart, and kept shouting: "Don't beat Brother Wei, I'll just go with you, please, if you want to beat me." ”

Wei Zeng knew that if Weizhen fell into their hands today, he would definitely walk into the fire pit. These thugs bully the weak, never repent, and take pleasure in it. For the sake of truth, this girl who makes herself feel like a family must not let these gangsters succeed today. So he was ruthless in his heart, Wei Zeng touched the dagger in his arms, and threw it at the gangsters with a flick of his hand. Seeing Wei Zeng put his hand into his arms, the gangsters thought that Wei Zeng was going to throw stones again, for this kind of non-lethal attack, the gangsters didn't bother to hide, and if they hurt a point, they would make the other party hurt a lot. I didn't expect a cold light to flash, and my abdomen hurt. The thug looked down and saw where the dagger was inserted, and blood flowed out, and he fainted in fright.

The other gangsters also bullied people, where they saw blood, and when they saw their companions stabbed to the ground, they were all stunned there. I saw that Wei Zeng rushed over when the gangsters fell to the ground, pulled out his dagger, and was about to shoot at the gangsters. The gangster leader can be the boss because of his cleverness, watching the blood-stained dagger aimed at him, and running away without saying a word. When the others saw the boss running away, they also dispersed.

Wei Zeng took off his bloodstained coat, wiped the dagger clean, held Wei Zhen who was frightened and motionless with his left hand, picked up the stick with his right hand, and ran towards the city gate. ran out of the city gate, and also vigilantly looked left and right, afraid that someone would follow.

After running for a long time, Wei Zeng got into a bush, and fell asleep as soon as his heart was relaxed. Xiao Wei was really scared, but he also knew that everything Brother Wei did was for himself, so he mustered up the courage to hug Wei Zeng and fell asleep soon.

The night was peaceful, if it weren't for the screaming crickets.