Liu Xiu and Dong Zhuo were depressed, Niu Fu came to report, and the little Guo Jia that General Liu was looking for was here.

As Dong Zhuo said, Guo Jia is thin and small, standing with Tang Yingzi, who is about the same age as him, he is half a head smaller than Tang Yingzi, his face is vegetable, and the clothes on his body are also patched, but they are fairly clean.

"How old are you?" Looking at this child with serious nutritional deficiencies, Liu Xiu couldn't coincide with the ghost talent in his impression, except that he was thin like a ghost.

Guo Jia glanced at it and knew that Liu Xiu was the protagonist today, so he hurriedly bowed his hand and replied in a childish voice: "General Cheng asked, the kid was born in March of the third year of Jianning, and he is eleven years old this year. ”

Three years in Jianning? Liu Xiu secretly snapped his fingers, as if it was exactly ten years ago, according to the current way of counting the age, Guo Jia was indeed eleven years old.

"Who else is in the house?"

"And the mother." Guo Jia's eyes turned red and he lowered his head.

"Where's you?" Tang Yingzi interjected.

"My Ah Weng died when I was four years old." Guo Jia was silent for a moment, and then said calmly: "It's my aunt who has been struggling to run the house, and she is really embarrassed, so she is boasting about her age, and she wants to find a handyman in the Taishou Mansion." However, the prince of Fujun is as bright as a torch, and the poor boy is thin, and the boy is allowed to come back in two years. ”

Tang Yingzi stepped forward, hugged Guo Jia's shoulders like a little adult, and stretched out his little hand to wipe the tears rolling in his eyes for him: "Don't cry, don't cry, my sister, like you, is also a hard-working person." ”

Guo Jia raised his head and looked at him in surprise. Tang Yingzi was wearing brocade clothes, her little face was white and fat, and she couldn't see the slightest hard-working person.

"Really, I was abducted when I was four or five years old, and it wasn't until I met the general's brother that it was only a few days later." Tang Yingzi pointed at Liu Xiu: "Brother General is a good person, if you follow him, you won't have to suffer in the future." ”

Guo Jia looked at Liu Xiu, hesitated for a moment, but shook his head: "I am a member of the Yang Zhai Guo family, the Yang Zhai Guo family...... I once encroached on the fiefdom of the eldest princess, I ......"

Liu Xiu was very surprised, he didn't expect that this poor kid still had a family concept. "What is the relationship between you and Guo Xun?"

"He is my great-grandfather."

"Oh, it's a long way away." Liu Xiu waved his hand, "I know, you don't have to worry, your uncle was beaten by me, and our enmity has been erased, although we are not very affectionate now, we are not enemies." If you want, follow me, and you will wait for my pen and ink in the future, read books by the way, and practice martial arts. As for your mother, if she wants, she can go to Luoyang with her and do things in my house, and if she doesn't want to leave home, she can stay in Yangzhai, and I will arrange her life. ”

Guo Jia breathed a sigh of relief, knelt down and kowtowed, Liu Xiu had never met him, he could be so polite to him, where could he find such a good thing. He didn't know that Liu Xiu was beating rabbits with grass, whether you were useful or not, pull it over first.

"Thank you for the general's kindness, wait for the boy to discuss it with his mother, and then come back to the general."

"Very good, you are so filial, I like it very much. Mr. Fu, please arrange a car to go home with him, maybe there are some things to load. ”

Dong Zhuo hurriedly arranged for someone to follow Guo Jia home. Guo Jia's mother, Li, heard that the eldest princess of Yangzhai and his wife were coming, and called Guo Jia, and she didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse, and she was worried at home. Guo Jia's father died early, and the family did not have much property, so he packed up a few torn clothes, and he could go on the road as soon as the door was locked. After arriving at the Taishou Mansion, Liu Xiu said to the Li family, although Guo Jia is young, his mother is very filial, and I think the word can be called filial piety. Your mother and son will follow us in the future, and I will not treat you badly.

Guo Jia's mother and son thanked Liu Xiu for his great kindness.

Liu Xiu immediately asked people to change their clothes, and the Li family temporarily served by the eldest princess's side, and Guo Jia worked as a scholar beside him. Tang Yingzi is a little star in Luoyang, and there are a group of children who follow her wherever she goes, this time she came to Yingchuan, and she was quite lonely along the way, and now there is Guo Jia, in her words, the two of them are both fallen people at the end of the world, and they are both hard-working people. Tang Yingzi is cunning, a ghost horse elf, and Guo Jia is not far behind, so he is naturally opportunistic, and soon became inseparable good friends.

From Guo Jia's occasional words, Liu Xiu knew that their family was also a member of the Guo family of the Yangzhai clan, but his father died early and had no chance to enter the ranks, so the family was ruined. His mother Li is from the Li family in Xiangcheng, and Li Ying is of the same clan, she was widowed at a young age, and when she saw Guo Jia being smart, she was unwilling to remarry, and she pulled Guo Jia to grow up. Orphans and widows, plus the Li family is still a little lonely, usually bullied a lot, although it is a big family, but life is very difficult.

This is not the first time Liu Xiu has heard of this situation, among the big clans, there are not only generous and benevolent clansmen, but also snobbish fellow clansmen, and often the latter are more. The Yang Zhai Guo family is not a Confucian heirloom, and their family is proficient in criminal names. Guo Jia's great-grandfather Guo Hong's family biography "Little Du Lu" was born as a prison official and served in prison for 30 years, from his great-grandfather Guo to a prison officer to a court lieutenant. Although it cannot be said that the people in prison are mean and unkind, but the Guo family is indeed like this, especially after several generations, the situation of the gap between the rich and the poor within the clan is more serious, and there is basically no relief between each other.

In comparison, Xun You is also less lonely, and his situation is much better than Guo Jia.

Leaving Yang Zhai, Liu Xiu drove straight to Yuncheng, Tang Mao had already received Tang Zhen's fast horse to pass the book, and went out of the city early to greet him. Tang Mao was in his thirties, but he just looked melancholy and taciturn. Seeing Tang Yingzi, he only frowned lightly and didn't show too much expression.

Liu Xiu took out the painting, Tang Mao looked at it for a while, probably understood what the location was, and took Liu Xiu to a small hillside. As soon as he was about to stop on the hillside, Liu Xiu was stunned, the scene in front of him was exactly the same as the image left in the ring, it seemed that nothing had changed in the past few years, obviously this is undoubtedly here.

Tang Yingzi stood on the wheel, looking at everything in front of her, her face, which was never lacking a smile, became silent, she stood in a daze for a moment, suddenly jumped out of the car, and rushed towards a small cliff, shouting loudly as she ran: "Mother...... Mother ......"

Tang Mao, who had not spoken much, suddenly burst into tears, chased after her, hugged Tang Yingzi in her arms, and cried silently: "A-Ying, A-Ying, you are finally back." ”

Tang Yingzi struggled to push him away, shouting loudly, "Mother...... Mother ......"

Tang Mao was even more miserable: "A-Ying, your mother...... Your grandmother is gone. ”

"You talk nonsense!" Tang Yingzi suddenly became angry, bit Tang Mao hard, and took advantage of Tang Mao's pain to let go, pushed him away and ran, and in a blink of an eye, he bypassed a mountain and disappeared. Liu Xiu was taken aback and hurriedly chased after him.

Turning a hillside, Tang Yingzi stood in front of a dilapidated thatched hut in a daze, tears fell down, and when she heard Liu Xiu's voice, she turned around, threw herself into Liu Xiu's arms, and cried loudly: "Big brother, my aunt...... My grandmother is gone! ”

Liu Xiu was sad, patted her on the back, looked at the grass house, and couldn't help but feel a little strange, the Tang family is also a big family in Yuncheng, although Tang Mao is not out of office, but it can be seen from the clothes he wears and the carriage he rides that the Tang family's economic situation is good, how can Tang Yingzi and her grandmother live in this place. It's a lonely thatched hut here, and it doesn't look like a place for people to live.

Guo Jia also ran over, stretched out his hand hesitantly, and pulled the corner of Tang Yingzi's clothes: "Sister Yingzi, don't cry." ”

He didn't say that it was okay, but when he said this, Tang Yingzi cried even more shockedly, tears and snot fell together, staining Liu Xiu's chest to a mess. Tang Mao walked over, and when she saw this scene, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and apologized repeatedly.

"It's okay, Yingzi and I are like brothers and sisters, she is so sad, I also feel uncomfortable, what's the big deal about a piece of clothing." Liu Xiu's eyes were red and he said, "Dare to ask Tang Jun, is this ...... What's going on? ”

"Alas-" Tang Mao sighed and stretched out his hand to invite: "Please follow me to the cold house to sit down, let me do a little bit of the friendship of the landlord, and I will tell the general what happened one by one." ”

Liu Xiu nodded yes, picked up Tang Yingzi, got into the car, and followed Tang Mao back to Tang's house. The Tang family is in Gaotang, and half of the whole mile is the Tang family brothers. Although Tang Heng has lost power for many years, the Tang family is still an existence that cannot be underestimated.

Tang Mao wiped her tears and told what happened.

The Tang family was originally just an inconspicuous small family, and the real fortune was after Tang Heng entered the palace as a permanent servant, Tang Heng was smart and resolute since he was a child, bold, daring, adventurous, and scheming. In the second year of Yanxi, when the Son of Heaven hid in the toilet to ask for a plan, he immediately seized the opportunity to assist the Son of Heaven to overthrow the Liang family in one fell swoop. Tang Heng was therefore named the Marquis of Ruyang, with 13,000 households and 13 million rewards.

After Tang Heng became a marquis, the Tang family began to develop rapidly, and the brothers had smooth sailing in their official careers. In the seventh year of Yanxi, Tang Heng died of illness, was given a car to ride the general, and the five battalions were sent to the funeral, and he would be a master craftsman to raise the tomb, and Tang Mao inherited Tang Heng's Marquis of Ruyang, and the limelight was still strong. Later, because of the impeachment of the eunuchs' children for disorderly government, Han Yan, the captain of Sili, he was demoted to a township marquis, and he paid a tax of 3 million a year.

In the seventh year of Yanxi, Tang Heng, who was in the prime of life, suddenly fell ill with an emergency and was soon bedridden, and Tang Mao had been waiting in front of his bed. Before Tang Heng died, he handed Tang Mao a brocade box and said to him, this thing is a treasure, and I haven't figured out the trick yet, so I can't cultivate the Dao technique, but suffer from it. You keep it carefully, and when you meet someone who can understand the secret talisman on the brocade box, you will take it out and ask for advice, take care of it, and don't let anyone know about it.

Tang Mao took the brocade box for a few years, and he secretly searched for people with Taoism, but he never met a master who could solve the secret charms on the brocade box. Later, a middle-aged woman suddenly came, and she said that she knew the secret charm on it, which was a sacred object from ancient times, and the brocade box should be a ring-shaped thing. Tang Mao was suspicious at that time, because Tang Heng had taken care of him, and he was not allowed to open the brocade box until he met the master, and he actually didn't know what it contained. Seeing that the woman was sure of what she said, he opened the brocade box and found that it was indeed a ring.

"Is that it?" Liu Xiu took off the ring and pushed it in front of Tang Mao. Tang Mao took the ring, looked at the runes inside and nodded repeatedly, "Exactly, exactly." Immediately, his eyes turned red again, and he pushed the ring back to Liu Xiu: "This is a disaster star, if it weren't for it, I wouldn't have suffered for so many years." ”

Tang Mao went on to say that the woman was overjoyed when she saw the ring, and showed Tang Mao the magic of the ring, and when she saw the person wearing strange clothes appear out of thin air, Tang Mao no longer had any doubts, he felt that the woman was a fairy. There was no doubt about the woman's suggestion that she borrow the ring for a period of time on the condition that she would marry her daughter to him.

After getting married, he and his wife had a very good relationship, and he didn't care about his aunt (i.e., his mother-in-law) borrowing the ring, and waited for his aunt to understand the wonders of it, so that he could also practice Taoism with him. After three years, they had a daughter, Tang Yingzi, her name is Tang Ying, and her name is Yingzi. One day in the second year of Jianning, my aunt suddenly became furious and accused Tang Mao of retrieving the ring without her consent. Tang Mao was inexplicable and denied it, and his wife also helped him explain, but this angered his aunt even more, and his aunt slapped his wife, walked away, and never showed up again.

His wife was seriously injured by that slap, and she was recuperated for a few months, and the trauma was healed, but the person went crazy and yelled when she saw outsiders, Tang Mao had no choice but to build her a grass hut on the mountain and let her live there alone. At that time, Yingzi was still young and couldn't do without his mother, so Tang Mao carried her daughter up the mountain every day, and only when she saw her daughter would his wife be quiet.

It's a pity that this didn't last long, in the first year of Xiping, Yingzi suddenly disappeared, his wife went completely crazy, walked around the mountains every day, and finally never came back one day.

After Tang Mao finished speaking, Liu Xiu sighed for a long time, but he didn't expect that there would be such a tortuous process. Now Yingzi's mother doesn't know life and death, and it is impossible to tell how this ring appeared in Yingzi's hand.

"What does that woman look like, what is her last name, what is her name, and where is she from?"

Tang Mao shook her head sadly: "I don't know, I only know that my wife's surname is Zhang, and listening to the accent, it seems that she is from the Bashu area, but there are some Shandong accents in the accent." As for her mother, I only know her surname and what her name is, I don't know, where she is from, I don't know, I just know that my wife is very afraid of her, and she is very nervous at the mention of her. ”

Liu Xiu was even more puzzled, this mother and daughter were very strange. However, he can now be sure that this ring is indeed a lost item in the palace, stolen by Tang Heng, and he may have practiced Taoism, but he didn't know the secret in this ring from beginning to end.

"I see your breath, you should be practicing aisle art, right?"

Tang Mao nodded: "I did practice some room techniques at the beginning, which my wife taught me, but then my wife went crazy and my daughter disappeared, so I never practiced it again." He paused, and then said, "My eldest sister also practices the Dao technique, and she is much stronger than me. ”

"Your eldest sister?"

"Well, it's the sister who married into the Xun family." Tang Mao's mind was a little dazed, "She once learned some spitting techniques from my wife's mother, and I heard her say that it was very useful, and now it has been passed on to her son Xun Yu." ”

"Xun Yu?" Liu Xiu was stunned, it turned out that the Xun family and the Tang family were really relatives, but it was not Xun Yu, but his father married Tang Heng's sister. It's no wonder that in this era, my sister is only called orally, and the written language is a female brother, probably because it was omitted when copying, so it changed from "Tang Heng's female brother" to "Tang Heng's daughter", and it was mixed from Xun Yu's head to Xun Yu's head.

"Well, among my sister's sons, only Xun Yu has the best practice, and he is the smartest. Although he has not yet been weakly crowned, he has already gained a good reputation, and He Boqiu, a famous man in Nanyang, said that he was Wang Zuozhicai. ”

Liu Xiu smiled, so he should visit this Wang Zuo.

Knowing that it was Zhang Jiao, the great sage and good teacher of Taiping Dao, who kidnapped Yingzi, Tang Mao was furious, but when he thought that Zhang Jiao was now the favored minister of the Son of Heaven, far more majestic than his Tang family, he was a little depressed, and after gambling for half the weather, he scolded viciously: "This thief and Taoist priest must not die well." ”

Liu Xiu remembered that although Yunxian belonged to Yingchuan, it was very close to Runan, and he must not be clear about what Zhang Jiao had done, so he took advantage of Tang Mao's annoyance with Zhang Jiao to ask a few words, but Tang Mao was a deaf person who didn't listen to things outside the window, and only knew that Zhang Jiao was a taishou in Runan, but he didn't know what he had done. However, he reminded Liu Xiu: "You be careful of Zhang Jiao, he is not as simple as deceiving a few homeless people. ”

"Where do you start?" Liu Xiu was a little surprised, Zhang Jiao gave him the impression that he would fool people, he was very appealing among the homeless, he hated the family to the core, and his thoughts were very radical.

Tang Mao was a little hesitant, and said after a while, Zhang Jiao has been active in Yingchuan and Runan for many years, and his roots are very deep, and he has connections with many powerful families, not only the homeless, even those celebrities are no exception, he heard that Xun Shuang and Zhang Jiao had dealings, discussing the relationship between the Book of Changes and Taoist learning, and the book he wrote "The Book of Changes" has part of Zhang Jiao's contributions. In order to comprehend the Great Dao, he also learned from Zhang Jiao the Dao techniques such as the Tuna Technique and the Guiding Technique.

Liu Xiu was very surprised, he knew that Xun Shuang was proficient in the Book of Changes, and he integrated all schools in the study of the Book of Changes, and he was self-contained, but he didn't expect that there was still a shadow of Zhang Jiao among his families. It can be seen that Zhang Jiao's influence is far from what he estimated before, and when he thinks of Zhang Ming's close contacts with many wealthy families when he preached in Luoyang, he has some faith, but what he can't figure out is that since Zhang Jiao has a lot of dealings with these celebrities, why does he still propose Dutian to curb the wealthy? Wouldn't he offend his friends by doing this, is he really selfless and willing to be the enemy of everyone for the sake of the common people in the world?

"You're thinking too much of him." Tang Mao scoffed, "There are many people in Yingchuan and few land, and there are indeed many families who occupy a lot of land, but it all depends on how much income can be made from farming." The reason why he can make a fortune is not because there are many people who have joined the office, and he has been promoted to make a fortune, which one of them does not earn enough money for one term? There are many workshops in Yuzhou, relying on someone in the family to be an official, those taxes or anything can be paid without paying, being an official, with power in his hands, the red envelopes collected every year are worth hundreds of acres of land. That Chen Da Ming was originally just a poor erection, but later became a pavilion chief, and he had plenty of money, otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat enough, how many fathers and sons would not be separated, and there would be spare money to give to the gentleman on Liang? ”

Tang Mao's words were full of sourness, and he must have been very dissatisfied with Chen Yu's celebrities, but his eyes were red. Although the Tang family has been popular for a while, and their strength is not bad now, after all, their reputation is too stinky, and celebrities are unwilling to deal with them. Tang Precious is commonplace, and he also tries his best to win over the scholars, but it is still too far behind the Yuan family.

talked with Tang Mao for a long time, and finally talked about Tang Yingzi, Tang Mao wanted Tang Yingzi to go home, but Tang Yingzi didn't have a good impression of his father, since her mother was gone, she resolutely refused to go home, Tang Mao persuaded her for a long time, and didn't say anything about her, so she had to entrust her to Liu Xiu. He was sad and ashamed, and pulled Tang Yingzi to talk for a long time, so that she could come back often when she was free, so she reluctantly went.

Liu Xiu stayed in Yuncheng for two days, giving Tang Mao a chance to get close to his daughter. Tang Mao came early every morning, deliberately pleasing Tang Yingzi, accompanying her on a tour of the city, and bought her a lot of food and clothing, and when she left, she gave a large sum of money, saying that she was grateful to Liu Xiu for taking care of Tang Yingzi over the years. Hearing that Liu Xiu intended to visit Xun Yu, he specially wrote a letter to his sister and handed it to Liu Xiu.

After Liu Xiu arrived in Yingyin, he stayed in the post house, and then sent someone to deliver Tang Mao's letter. Now although Xun You is his cronies, it does not mean that the Xun family can accept him, Xun Shuang has always been close to Yuan Kui, if he takes the initiative to go to Gaoyang to see Xun Yu, maybe he will have a closed door, but it is not good to step down. Since Tang Mao wrote a letter, if Xun Yu is willing to see him, he will naturally come to the post house for the reason of worship, and if he is not willing to see him, someone else will come, so that everyone will not be too embarrassed.

To be honest, although Liu Xiu is also a teenager and famous now, there is really nothing he can do about these celebrities, although he doesn't bird them, but people don't bird him, and he doesn't recruit him, so he can't force others to come with a knife.

Having said that, when he thought that the person he was waiting for now was Xun Yu, who was known as the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms, he was still a little apprehensive in his heart.

The messenger returned after about half an hour, followed by a carriage. At the end of the carriage sat a young man with clear eyebrows, red lips and white teeth, dressed in a snow-white silk robe, embroidered with white silk thread on the blue sleeve edge of a budding lotus flower, and embroidered the outline of the lotus leaf with white silk thread. The carriage stopped, he got out of the car with light steps, smiled and nodded at Zhang Fei, who came up:

"Yingyin Xunyu, on my mother's order, came to meet the general."

Zhang Fei was stunned, Xun Yu said twice before he came back to his senses, and hurriedly turned sideways and said, "The general is in the house, please come with me." Oh, by the way, under Zhang Fei, the word Yide, a native of Zhuojun, is a disciple of the general, and is currently leading the guard to ride the superintendent......" He was a little nervous, stammering, Xun Yu listened, smiled slightly, and said very casually: "It turned out to be Zhang Dudu, who has admired his name for a long time, and it is really an honor to see him today." ”

Zhang Fei was excited, and when Xun Yu entered the house, he hurriedly grabbed Guan Yu's sleeve and said in a trembling voice: "He...... He actually knew me, alas. ”

"Know what's wrong with you?" Guan Yu glanced at him puzzled, and pouted: "Isn't it just a scholar dressed like a woman, what's there to be excited about." ”

"How can you say that?" Zhang Fei was unhappy: "Why does he look like a woman?" ”

"You don't smell him?" Guan Yu snorted and turned his head: "Guan doesn't like these Confucian students who are greased and powdered, neither male nor female, and when I see them, I also feel that my eyes are dirty." ”

(To be continued)