Yun Qi hurriedly stood up and hurriedly packed up his clothes, Aunt He also put down the bowl, came over to help him clean the rice on his body, and laughed while dusting, which made Yun Qi very surprised, he didn't understand the reason for Aunt He's laughter, but vaguely felt as if he had said something wrong.

Xiaohong stared at her mother and brother with a pair of good-looking big eyes, seemed to understand a little, and was a little suspicious, and after the two of them sat down again, Xiaohong turned her head and asked her mother cutely: "Mother, did the eldest brother say that he didn't want me to marry him?" ”

"Uh......" Aunt He just took a bite of food, almost choked, and asked curiously: "Xiaohong, you seem to want to marry Brother Yunqi?" ”

Xiaohong grinned at Yun Qi with her mouth without front teeth, and then said seriously to her mother: "Mother, of course I want to marry Brother Yun Qi, he is good to me, and he also takes me to catch rabbits and dig vole holes, and my brother also said that in the future, when it comes to spring, I will weave the most beautiful wreath for me to wear, saying that I am the most beautiful little girl in the world, and of course I will marry Brother Yun Qi in the future." ”

Yun Qi buried his head in the bowl, snoring and picking up rice into his mouth, he didn't know how to respond, he wanted to throw down the bowl and run away in embarrassment, but he felt that it was really rude, he wanted to justify, but he didn't know how to explain, so he had to bury his head in the bowl, and then looked at Xiaohong and Aunt He in a panic with the rest of his eyes, and felt that this bowl was really not big enough to fit his head in completely, so that their mother and daughter could see themselves from the side, Yun Qi felt that his face was getting redder and redder, and blood seemed to fill his head, Even he felt his neck red, and the heart in his chest was beating like a big drum, and it was audible in the distance.

Aunt He looked at her ignorant daughter, and then looked at the embarrassed Yun Qi, and couldn't help laughing, she said to Yun Qi: "Yun Qi, you're wrong, my aunt doesn't want you to get married, you're still young, it's not time yet, my aunt is thinking, you live here alone, and you also need someone to take care of you, my Xiaohong also likes you very much, if you want, this will be your home in the future, you will treat Xiaohong as your own sister, and treat me as your godmother, how about it?" ”

Yun Qi raised his head suddenly, "Ah", his mouth opened widely, he forgot to chew, and after a while, he suddenly realized something again, his face was full of blood, and he lowered his head suddenly, as if he wanted to bury himself under the table, but he didn't expect to miscalculate the distance, and his forehead hit the edge of the table directly, and he gasped in pain.

Xiaohong hurriedly dropped the dishes and chopsticks and walked over, hugged Yun Qi's head, touched it with her little hand, and blew on her forehead again, and reprimanded the little adult: "It's such a big person, and it's so careless, alas, it hurts!" ”

Yun Qi looked at Xiaohong with tears and laughter, feeling that he had never been so embarrassed in his life, even if Grandpa Wu threw him alone in the forest, when he faced a wild boar alone, he was not so embarrassed and panicked, this woman is really more terrible than a tiger, whether it is a big woman or a little girl, it is just as terrible.

Dinner was full of twists and turns, when he put down the dishes and chopsticks, Yun Qi only felt that his whole body was sweating, and his back was cold and swishing, he wanted to escape directly back to the dart game, but he had many questions in his heart, these questions were related to the clues he had been striving for, and now, the clues were in front of him, he didn't want to delay for a moment, he just wanted to know the truth as soon as possible, so as to move away from the mountain that pressed in his heart, so that he could raise his head, no longer so heavy, and breathe in the fresh air of the outside world.

finally got through until Aunt He finished cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks, Yun Qi dragged Aunt He over, and in Aunt He's strange eyes, asked about the cause of Xiaohong's father's death.

"Little red father, he used to be a sailor, when he was eleven or twelve years old, the water nature was famous to us, a fierce man into the water, there will always be a harvest, sometimes a fish, sometimes a big mussel shell, sometimes it is an item left by others under the water." Aunt He's eyes were shining, as if the long-deceased husband was standing in front of her, looking at her affectionately, Xiaohong heard her mother tell her father's story, and also brought a small bench, sat quietly aside, supported her chin with her hand, and listened attentively.

"Once, we came here with a big official in the capital, he came by boat, when the boat docked, the county magistrate who came to meet him said that we have a lot of sailors here, and the water is very good, this big official didn't believe it, so he took out a piece of gold from his pocket, about the size of a little knuckle, he raised it up and said to everyone, I threw this gold into the water, and whoever of you can pick it up, this gold belongs to whom, and then threw it far into the lake."

"The sailors nearby jumped into the lake like dumplings, and Xiaohong and his father also jumped down, because there were too many people going down, and the lake water was like boiling, bubbling everywhere, and the originally relatively clear lake water soon became turbid, and even a few sailors fought in the water because of the competition for a favorable position, the scene was very chaotic, and the officials in the capital laughed, saying that they originally thought that someone might scoop up the gold, but now it seems that this is purely an exaggeration of the county order, although they have lost a piece of gold, but seeing such a good show, it is worth the trip. ”

"As soon as the words fell, I saw someone in the water shouting, 'I found the gold', I saw an eleven or twelve-year-old child in the water while stepping on the water, while holding the gold in his hand, the shore suddenly burst into applause, this child is Xiaohong's father, because of this incident, everyone gave him a nickname, called 'Little Loach He Bin', and then he used this piece of gold to build this house, and married me." Aunt He's face was full of happiness.

"Then how did he get mixed up with Xu Tai again? That's a madman. Yun Qi pretended not to know Xu Tai's original identity, he wanted to hear different things from another angle, so that they could verify each other, this was what Grandpa Wu taught him, what everyone said, no matter how true it was, would always add what they understood intentionally or unintentionally, and complete the originally incomplete events through hypothetical, so there are many things that are not real, therefore, if you want to know the real face, you can only understand from many parties, find common ground, and then extract the different points for analysis, to be as close to the truth as possible.

"This Xu Tai, it turns out that he is not a madman, Xu Tai was very smart back then, their family is the most famous merchant here, his fleet can't be placed in the port, and there are countless goods entering and leaving the port every day, so many of the young people in our county are hired by him."

"Little Red Dad because of the good water nature, when he was 13 years old, he also went to Xu Taimen, became a sailor, with his own hardships and hard work, good water nature, and people are righteous, and soon became a boatswain on a boat, at that time said' Little Loach He Bin's neighbors in this street are going to pick a thumbs up, he thought that he would get better and better, and eventually he might even mix with the captain of a boat, but things are always unsatisfactory, seven or eight years ago, the imperial court further strengthened the ban on the sea, and the trade at sea is not allowed to do, but everyone always has to live, and we can't plant land here, so Xu Tai disbanded some sailors, retained some backbone forces, and took everyone to secretly engage in transportation. ”

"At first, everyone was very scared, afraid that the government would come to raid it, because after all, this was something forbidden by the imperial court, but after doing it for a long time, the imperial court did not really come to embarrass everyone, and then they became bolder, and the fleet slowly returned to its original level." Aunt He said.

"Didn't the imperial court say that the sea was forbidden? They really don't know that someone is smuggling something? Yun Qi said in surprise.

"Silly boy, the court is not blind, deaf, how can they not know, it's just that they pretend to be blind and deaf, because there are more people doing business, this tax is easy to collect, and the county lord's political achievements will be there, and if everyone doesn't go to sea all of a sudden, what will happen to so many idlers? The government has no way to solve their food problems, and if there is a change in the people, wouldn't it be even more terrible? There is another one, this is what Xiaohong's father secretly told me, saying that this county commander has long been bought by Xu Tai, maybe Xu Tai's fleet has the shares of the county commander, he was entrusted by Xu Tai more than once to send a lot of valuable things to the place designated by Xu Tai, and handed them over to a masked person, although the person covered his face, but Xiaohong's father still recognized it, this person is a confidant of the county commander. Therefore, although the imperial court banned the sea, the Xu Tai family's industry did not stop, but it was only slightly more restrained than before, and it was no longer fanfare everywhere. Aunt He said.

"Then how did Uncle He die?" Yun Qi asked.

"About five years ago, suddenly one day, your Uncle He came home, very angry, Xiaohong was just over two years old at the time, saw his father come back, happily threw himself on him, but was pushed away by him with a slap, sat on the ground and cried."

"I saw that his face was not good, so I picked up Xiaohong and asked him what happened, your Uncle He said that their fleet caught a suspicious sand boat at the mouth of the sea, and detained several suspicious people, through interrogation, I learned that these bad people came to a village in our county a few days ago and killed many people overnight, I asked him strangely: 'Who came to kill?' Why kill? They kill people, what are you angry about? What does it have to do with you? Your Uncle He sighed and said, "There are many things that you women don't understand, but there are many ways here, and the world is not peaceful." ”

"After a few days, he told me that he was going to go far away, I thought I was going to transport goods as before, so I didn't care, but I didn't expect that half a month later, he finally came back, but he was all wounded, with a circle of cloth wrapped around his stomach, many wounds were inflamed, and he was so thin that he couldn't look good, but I was frightened." Aunt He closed her eyes, as if she didn't want to recall those scenes anymore, but she couldn't help recalling them. Yun Qi didn't dare to interject, and sat there quietly, Xiaohong was also very quiet, there was no sound in the room, and the light of the oil lamp sprinkled orange light softly, enveloping the three people.

After pondering for a long time, Aunt He continued: "I asked him what happened and why this happened, and he said that they ran into the Japanese when they were sailing outside, and they were injured by the Japanese invaders, and later Xu Tai sent some money to say that it was compensation. ”

"But your Uncle He's injuries worsened day by day, and then he had a fever every day and talked nonsense, I remember clearly that one day, he shouted, 'Xu Mingshan, you are not a human, even the women and children are killed cleanly, not a single one is left, this is the work of brutes, this time we failed to avenge the villagers, next time we will come, we will not stop if we don't kill you.'" So I guess that they may not have been injured by the Japanese Kou this time, but by the hands of that Xu Mingshan. I was still talking nonsense, and I heard Quanzhou, Fujian several times, and I don't know if it was the place where he was injured. ”

"Your Uncle He turned out to be an iron-clad man, his body was like a mountain, and then his body gradually weakened, and all the money in the family was taken out to treat him, and in the end he was not cured, two months later, he was so thin that only a handful of bones remained, and the eye sockets were like two black holes, which were pitiful, and he was angry every day, and on the day he died, he suddenly had the spirit, called me to the bed, and said to me that he was about to die, saying that he was really sorry for us, and did not let us live a good life, you can go to his brethren, and before he finished speaking, he swallowed his breath and left us orphans and widows, alas! Aunt He let out a long sigh.

"Quanzhou, Fujian, Xu Mingshan?" Yun Qi chewed on these two words suspiciously, could it be that they had anything to do with the Wako? Could they be related to the tragedy in our village?