Chapter 27: Trouble Returns

Duan Xuehong sighed and told her story.

It turned out that Duan Xuehong, like Li Zicheng, was also from Shaanxi Mizhi. In the second year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1629, Li Zicheng rebelled in Shaanxi with Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang at that time. Since the uprising of the rebel army, the political axe of the Ming Dynasty has sent troops to kill the rebel army on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has focused on eliminating the township party in the hometown of several main leaders of the rebel army. Duan Xuehong's mother's surname is Li, and Li Zicheng is a distant relative, and she travels a lot with the rebels, so she is also implicated. However, at that time, the Duan family was very powerful in Mizhi, so the Ming army did not act immediately, but imposed sanctions on the Duan family from agriculture, commerce and other economic aspects, which caused the Duan family to suffer an unprecedented blow. Only a year later, the power of the Duan family was not as strong as before, and the Ming army was convicted of a trumped-up crime at this time, and in the winter when Duan Xuehong had just turned fourteen, the Duan family's entire family was beheaded by the Ming army. In the meantime, the rebels knew that they were powerless to stop it, but they also sent rescuers quite righteously, after all, the Duan family had provided a lot of grain and grass funds for the rebels over the years, and they were kind to the rebels. At that time, the leader of the rescue operation of the rebels was Yuan Shizhong. At that time, Yuan Shizhong, twenty years old, was twenty years old, high-spirited, burly and handsome, a big knife was wielded vigorously, killing the Ming army, but the ability of the righteous army was limited, and only Duan Xuehong was snatched out in the rescue, and in the end, not only the rest of the Duan family was killed by the Ming army, but the two hundred righteous soldiers who participated in the rescue were also killed only a dozen people. The only impression left in Duan Xuehong's mind by Yuan Shizhong's armpit was that the snow-white snow was dyed blood-red by blood at that time. Since then, Duan Xuehong has been stimulated and forgot her original name, and later when Yuan Shizhong asked her what her name was, she casually said that her name was Xuehong. Although after some time, her memory returned, but the name kept calling.

Soon after, King Gao Yingxiang was killed in battle, and Li Zicheng succeeded him to the throne and officially took over the rebel army. Since then, the ranks of the righteous army have continued to grow, invincible, and famous, and Yuan Shizhong has also become famous, and his life has gradually become more and more comfortable, and there is less of the day of fighting when he first joined the righteous army. At that time, Duan Xuehong, who had just fallen in love, found an opportunity to express her love for Yuan Shizhong, to be precise, in fact, since Yuan Shizhong saved Duan Xuehong, she has fallen in love with this man deeply. Although Duan Xuehong was only fourteen years old at the time, in ancient times, it was normal for thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls to get married. Unexpectedly, Yuan Shizhong told Duan Xuehong that he was married, and although his wife had passed away, he left a daughter who was only eight years younger than Duan Xuehong - that is, Yuan Moqing, who had promised his wife that he would raise his daughter wholeheartedly Chengren. It's not that no one persuaded Yuan Shizhong to continue the strings, but he politely refused, so Yuan Shizhong also refused Duan Xuehong's love. One night, Duan Xuehong ran to Yuan Shizhong's room, gritted her teeth and stripped naked, knelt in front of him, and begged the other party to ask for herself, but Yuan Shizhong still stood still, didn't touch her fingers, and didn't even look at her. Since then, Duan Xuehong has put on a hat and veil, and she has secretly determined that in this life, except for Yuan Shizhong, she will not let anyone see her face and body again. Later, Duan Xuehong practiced martial arts ruthlessly, and made up her mind to protect Yuan Shizhong secretly for the rest of her life and not let anyone hurt him. If someone has different intentions towards Yuan Shi, or even threatens his safety, Duan Xuehong will fight for his life. In her heart, her person, her heart, her body, her life, and everything she had, she was given by Yuan Shizhong, and she would do whatever it took to give her life for this man.

Duan Xuehong finished speaking, but Yuan Chen and Yuan Moqing listened to it stupidly and couldn't extricate themselves. Such a dedicated love, they have only heard it in the story, although Duan Xuehong's narration has no details to speak of, but it still deeply shocked the delicate hearts of the two girls. This woman has paid so much for the man she loves, including the most beautiful thirteen years of youth.

The house was silent, except for the rain dripping outside the window. After a long time, Duan Xuehong let out a long sigh and said, "Alas, thirteen years have passed, don't think so much!" ”

"Sister Xuehong," Yuan Moqing was bored for a long time, and finally spoke, "I'm almost going to call you 'mother'." ”

Yuan Moqing's words made everyone laugh all of a sudden, yes, if Yuan Shizhong really married Duan Xuehong, then she would really be Yuan Moqing's stepmother.

The atmosphere in the room eased a lot, and Sai Jinhua also happened to walk in with a large pot of pies, and when she saw that the three of them were laughing, she asked, "What's a good thing?" Laughing like this? ”

"It's Sister Xuehong," Yuan Moqing hurriedly said, "She's in love." ”

"Oh? Whose young man is so blessed, he is taken by such a girl who is like a flower and a jade martial arts and has good martial arts. ”

"Haha......" After hearing this, the three girls laughed even more, forgetting the hardships and dangers of fleeing for a while.

It rained for six days in a row, during which the old golden head came to remove the stitches for Duan Xuehong and reapplied the medicine, Duan Xuehong's injuries were almost better, and she began to gradually move her body every night, sometimes playing a few sets of small punches.

As Sai Jinhua said, it's war again, it's rainy, there have been no guests in the inn these days, Yuan Chen and Yuan Moqing just help Sai Jinhua cook and clean up the house every day, they want to go out and stroll, but they can't get out because of the rain, so they have to hide in the house after finishing their work to chat and have fun, but after laughing, it is even more lonely.

On the seventh day, the sky finally cleared, and the sun showed a rare smile, but this bright sunshine brought trouble to the three girlsβ€”the pursuers of Xiangyang came to Zhuji Town, and posted bounty notices everywhere. When some of these soldiers were resting and drinking at Sai Jinhua's inn, Sai Jinhua found out some news, the most shocking of which was that Yuan Shizhong had been executed.

Looking at Yuan Moqing, who was lying on the bed and crying bitterly, and Duan Xuehong, who was standing in front of the window and crying silently, Yuan Chen couldn't believe that Yuan Shizhong, who was so kind to his daughter and so righteous to his friends, was already separated from them.

After crying for a while, Duan Xuehong turned around and said angrily: "I'll go back to Xiangyang!" I want to avenge General Yuan! ”

"I'll go back too!" Yuan Moqing also stood up, and said upside down. With that, the two walked out the door.

"Stop!" Yuan Chen shouted, the voice was not loud, but it was very penetrating, and the two of them stopped at the door after hearing it.

"Who do you go back to take revenge? With the two of you, can you kill a city of soldiers? Do you want to die in vain? What did General Yuan die for? Do you want General Yuan to die in vain? Yuan Chen asked in a row.

Yuan Moqing and Duan Xuehong's boiling blood cooled down a little, indeed, Yuan Shizhong did not hesitate to stay in the city in order for them to escape from Xiangyang and flee to Jiangsu, now that he is dead, if they go back to die, wouldn't it be in vain for his thoughts?

"So what do you say?" Yuan Moqing's eyes were red, and he asked Yuan Chen.

Yuan Chen thought for a while and said, "With the current situation, it is a bit unrealistic to escape from the town, because the town is already full of soldiers now. Even if we are lucky and not blocked, but they have posted so many reward notices, if a greedy people find out about us, maybe they will betray us, in that case, not only will we not escape death, I am afraid that Sister Hua will also be affected. The best thing to do is to stay put, avoid the day, and wait until it gets dark to plan how to escape. ”

Yuan Moqing sat back on the bed, and Duan Xuehong also walked back to the window, although no one spoke, they all used body language to express their agreement with Yuan Chen's plan.

But it was not yet noon, and the spring was getting longer, and it would take a long time to wait until it was dark, and Sai Jinhua was also busy entertaining the soldiers downstairs, and by the way, he stopped them from going upstairs to check the room. Of course, with the ability of the Isai Golden Flower, it was very easy to make a few soldiers unable to find the north.

However, for the three girls upstairs, it was like a year, and it was very boring. Yuan Chen and Yuan Moqing sat stupidly on the bed, not even knowing what they were thinking. Duan Xuehong stood in front of the closed window, looking through the window lattice at the chaotic soldiers and civilians on the street outside.

Suddenly, Duan Xuehong beckoned to Yuan Chen and Yuan Moqing: "Quick!" Come here! ”

Yuan Chen and Yuan Moqing hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Look at the man." Duan Xuehong pointed to a person downstairs, "Why do you always point to our store?" It was as if he was saying something to the soldier next to him. ”

The three of them pointed downstairs and saw a man with a sharp beak pointing to the store and talking to the two soldiers beside him.

"I think I've seen this man somewhere." Yuan Chen muttered to himself.

"Oh? Have you been to Zhuji Town before? Yuan Moqing asked.

"No, like you, I only came that night." Yuan Chen replied.

"That's not right!" She thought for a while and said, "I came a little earlier than you to find a doctor for Sister Xuehong." I remembered, it was at that time that I saw this man, he seemed to be Sister Hua's neighbor, and his name seemed to be Hou ...... Hou Er. ”

"What? Is he Sister Hua's neighbor? Duan Xuehong was shocked when she heard this.

"yes. What's wrong? Yuan Chen asked.

"How is he?" Duan Xuehong asked again.

"I don't know this, but listening to him doesn't seem to be serious, like a little **." Yuan Chen thought for a while and said.

"I'm afraid of such a person, if he betrays Sister Hua and us for the bounty, it will be bad." Duan Xuehong said.

Yuan Moqing's face was gloomy: "Sister Hua is such a good person, how can she have such a neighbor?" If that's the case, I can't spare him! ”

"Let's take a look first, if that's the case, we won't be able to run, and I guess you won't have much chance to teach him a lesson." Duan Xuehong said.

The three of them said, continuing to look. I saw Hou Er and the soldiers say a few words, and then led them into the inn.

"Go and see, don't anything happen." Duan Xuehong said, hurriedly walked to the door, and listened attentively to the movement on the first floor.

The room where Yuan Chen and the others were located was at the innermost corner of the second floor, so they couldn't hear the sound of the downstairs clearly, but after a while, they only heard a "boom", as if the tables and chairs downstairs had been kicked over.

"Not good!" Duan Xuehong was startled, opened the door gently, and the three of them touched the staircase and peeked downstairs.

I saw that a table had toppled over, the legs had been broken, and the five or six soldiers who were eating and drinking had stood up and gathered around. The two soldiers who came in later were armed with knives and guns, pointing directly at Sai Jinhua. Behind these two soldiers, stood Hou Er.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Sai Jinhua crossed her hands on her hips, her apricot eyes widened, and shouted.

"Sister Hua, you just admit it, isn't the person who followed you behind that day one of the people in the notice?" Hou Er stood behind with a wince, sneering.

"Hou Er! You fart! I told you everything, it was my nephew, a man, who came to my relatives to visit. He happened to catch a cold that day, so I went to the old golden man to get some medicine, can't he? Sai Jinhua pointed at Hou Er and scolded.

"And where is your nephew now?" A soldier asked, pointing a knife at Sai Jinhua.

"Let's go! How? Sai Jinhua squinted his eyes and asked rhetorically.

Another soldier asked, "It was raining all the other day, and your nephew walked in the rain?" ”

"He was willing to go in the rain, but I couldn't stop him. Can't you leave when it's raining? Sai Jinhua asked rhetorically.

"You're always asking us back, which means you have a ghost in your heart!" The soldier with the knife shouted again.

"I have a ghost in my heart? You can ask on the street if my sister Hua is a ghost in her heart. ”

"You don't need to ask others, just ask the old golden man, if the two of them can match their words, then it means that they are not lying." Hou Er smirked at the soldier.

"Good idea, you two," the knife-carrying soldier pointed at the two soldiers, "take Hou Er to find the old golden man, and see what he says, if he says something different from this woman, he will be executed on the spot!" ”

"Yes!" Two soldiers answered.

"Slow!" Sai Jinhua hurriedly stopped, "What does the old golden man know?" He didn't know anything, I just grabbed some medicine that day, he was just a medicine seller, how could he know who I grabbed medicine for? ”

"Vixen!" The soldier with the knife yelled, "Don't make excuses. I think you're the same party of those three gangsters! I advise you to recruit as soon as possible, so as not to suffer from flesh and skin. ”

"Yo? You are a righteous army, and you dare to beat and scold the people? Aren't you just fighting the world for us ordinary people? Sai Jin Hua said sarcastically.

"It depends on what kind of people they are!" After the soldier finished speaking, he put the knife into the sheath, stepped forward, grabbed Sai Jinhua's hair, opened his bow left and right, and slapped her a few times.

Sai Jinhua was beaten to the point that her nose and mouth were bleeding, and she fell to the ground. The soldier stepped forward again, and was about to continue the beating, when he suddenly heard a shout from upstairs: "Stop! Here is the man you are looking for! ”

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