"Hey, little Hanako, I'll give you a honey stack." Xiao Guozi was listening attentively, and suddenly a crisp voice came from his ears, and when he looked up, it was the little girl named Xiuxiu standing in front of him. The sunlight shines from Xiuxiu's shoulders and hits the face of the small pot, Xiuxiu's face is not clear, in the hidden darkness, the little pot raises a hand to block the squinted eyes, the sunlight outlines Xiuxiu with a golden outline, and the small pot can clearly see the golden fluff of Xiuxiu's ears and cheeks reflecting the sun, so delicate and beautiful.

Immediately, a preserved fruit was thrown to the foot of the small pot, Xiuxiu probably looked at the small pot pitiful, but was afraid of the dirtiness of the small pot, and was unwilling to touch him, after dropping the preserved fruit, he squatted down three or five steps away from the small pot, and then looked at him curiously.

The little pot blushed, his mouth closed, and his eyes were full of unwillingness and sadness. In the beginning, he picked wild fruits in the field, picked birds' eggs in the nests of trees, and stole sweet potatoes grown by others, but he never begged, after the massacre of the village, he was afraid of all strangers, he couldn't tell who was good and who was bad, and always felt that all people would become evil as soon as they covered their faces, no matter how enthusiastic they laughed and how kind they were. He was like a frightened bird, and like a wounded wolf, licking his wounds while looking at the world with terrified eyes.

One night, he slept on the edge of the haystack in a farmhouse, and was seen by a lady who got up early, and the lady saw that he was pitiful, and turned around to get a bread for him, and he hesitated, his eyes were like a timid rabbit, and he didn't dare to pick it up, but he was really hungry, and a voice in his heart said to him, take it, take it, you are dying of hunger. The little pot finally took the cake very carefully, and the eldest lady sighed and asked him where he came from, how old he was, and how he came here, but the little pot refused to say a word, but kept crying, holding the cake, cowering and hiding behind the haystack, and gnawing on the dry bread with tears, choking on the neck.

Since then, Xiao Guozi no longer rejects everyone in the world so much, he will observe silently from a distance, if he feels that the other party will not have malicious intentions, he will silently walk in front of others, look at each other with a look of expectation, look at each other evasively, if the other party is kind, will give him a little food, if the other party glare, or put on an unhappy look, he quickly turned around and ran.

The little pot doesn't speak, he really doesn't feel like he can say anything to beg, he doesn't mix with other beggars, he always wanders around by himself, and if he can find food by himself, he will never accept alms from others. Xiao Guozi can't understand the world, why some people look kind, but in fact they are very bad, some people look very vicious, but the heart is good, these days, while he walks, while accepting other people's alms, but also observing all the way, never knowing, it turns out that there are so many different people in the world, there may be abuse and ridicule everywhere.

Not long after he came to Xianyan Town, he didn't dare to go to a crowded place, but two days ago, an old beggar told him that where there are more people, the more things to eat, and the more good people there are.

But he still couldn't open his mouth to beg, he always felt that there was something in his heart, blocked in his throat, this kind of thing needed to be protected by himself, even if his stomach was empty, even if he had no food and clothing.

"Hey, little beggar, eat!" Xiuxiu screamed again, staring at a pair of dark eyes. After saying that, he threw over another honey stack.

The little pot looked down at the honey stack on the ground, the honey stack lay quietly on the ground, under the sunlight, it emitted a dark red light, it seemed to be some transparent, and there was some dust on it, the little pot's face was red, motionless, he remembered the text that his husband asked him to memorize: "A spoon of food, a bean soup, if you get it, you will live, and if you get it, you will die." Huer and with it, the doer of the way is receiving; With it, the beggars disdain. "The little pot didn't know what it meant to be with a gentleman, and the gentleman told him that he could give you something with his feet, but he didn't do that, but with a very rude behavior, then this is not doing a good deed, but trampling on your dignity, you have to remember that even if one day, you can't eat, you are begging, you can't accept such alms. Isn't this the situation that Mr. is talking about? When Mr. was in the school, he once told us that people must have their own arrogance, and the most important thing in life is not high-ranking officials, not generosity, but dignity. You can give me something, but you can't insult me like this, there was a voice in the little pot that roared in his heart, but he didn't say a word in his mouth, just buried his head and shrank back.

"But they still left some traces for my cousin to find out." There was a soft snapping sound in the room, and the man tapped the table with two fingers, and suddenly stopped speaking.

"Zhao Laosan, hurry up, what did you find?" The professor of the academy asked, his eyes widening suddenly.

Zhao Laosan had a hint of an unfathomable smile on the corner of his mouth, but he didn't speak, his fingers clicked on the table, as if he was waiting for something.

"This rammer." Master Luo smiled and put away the fan and slapped it in his palm, pointed at him and smiled, then turned his head to Xiao Er and said, "Get me another pot of wine and cut two catties of pig's head meat." ”

"Okay, wait a minute." Xiao Er turned around and left.

Zhao Laosan's trick succeeded, he took a honey stack and threw it into his mouth a little proudly, took another sip of wine, and then wiped his mouth, and continued: "These strongmen transported all the things they robbed, using ox carts and carriages, as well as wheelbarrows, there are traces, as long as you chase all the way down the rut marks where the strongman left, you can find the place where the strongman stays, even if you can't find it, so many people, so many cars, they can't fly away, as long as they walk on the road, someone must be able to see, as long as someone sees, You can deduce their identities and know where they ended up. So, their rut marks are the best clues they leave behind. Zhao Laosan said.

"Yes, yes, go on." The two listeners hurriedly urged.

"My brother led people all the way down the rut prints, and at the same time, assigned people to visit the people in the villages along the road, but they only chased out seven or eight miles, and found many abandoned cars in a forest, and the cars were empty, and some useless things were thrown in a mess, but all the belongings and people were gone" Zhao Laosan said more and more that he felt that he could go to tell the story, watching the two listeners were moved by his words to change their faces, and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

"Gone? How is this possible? Master Luo said in surprise.

"It's just gone, my brother doesn't believe in this evil, so he searched everywhere and inquired, so many people, so many goods can't fly, how can it disappear, there must be something wrong here. Through the visit, they gathered three useful information: first, there is a river behind the woods, although it is not very wide, but it leads directly to the Feiyun River, and some boats will come and go in the river every day, some fishermen, some transport, I heard the fishermen say that there were several black-shed boats passing by in the river in those days; Second, there is an official road halfway outside the woods, and on the day of the accident, according to the local villagers, there were more people passing by, there was a caravan, a dart bureau, and a team to support the coffin for the funeral; Third, there is a mountain in the southeast of Wanzi County, called Shuanghe Mountain, I heard that it was occupied by a group of robbers a year ago, and they have not harassed the local people much over the years, but they have been practicing in secret, and the government has seen that they have nothing to do wrong, so they will turn a blind eye, after all, the appearance of thieves in the jurisdiction is not good for the performance of officials, right? Zhao Laosan said.

Xiao Er happened to bring the pig's head meat up at this time, Zhao Laosan quickly stopped the topic, raised the chopsticks, picked up a piece, squinted and chewed a few times, but roared at the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, did you go to knock on the widow's door again last night, forgot to put salt in the meat, why is the pig's head meat so light today, there is no bird smell at all, just dare to bring it out, and I am not afraid that I will put the bowl on your head." ”

The shopkeeper glared: "Zhao Laosan, close your beak, don't ruin the reputation of my store, my pig's head meat is an ancestral craft, who doesn't say a good word to the guest officials who come and go from the north to the south, you still eat it, you are smashing my signboard, believe it or not, I will discount your dog legs with a stick." ”

The two scribes thought that Zhao Laosan would jump up and have a seizure, but they didn't expect Zhao Laosan to laugh, and then picked up a piece of meat and threw it into his mouth, "It's so fucking delicious, I can't get tired of eating it every time." I couldn't help but look at each other, it turned out that they were just joking.

Xiao Guozi's ears were always pricked up, wanting to hear Zhao Laosan say who the murderer was, but he didn't expect Zhao Laosan to suddenly stop talking, anxious, and couldn't help but stand up suddenly, wanting to lean towards the window, but he didn't want to be frightened Xiuxiu, who was squatting opposite him, jumped up, thinking that this unkempt man called Hanako was going to stand up and beat people, so he was so frightened that he stepped back, but he sat on the ground with his buttocks, and cried.