I hurriedly looked up and saw a pale blue figure squatting in front of a stall selling fruits and vegetables. Si'er combed the cute horns as usual, and weighed back and forth with a gourd in each hand.

From the age of eight to fifteen, her habit of picking melons never seemed to change.

I slowly walked to Si'er's side and squatted down, reached out and grabbed the gourd in her left hand, and sighed: "Eat gourd again tonight, why do you cook this all the time?" Let the big head master change it! ”

When I was young, I went out to buy groceries with my four children, which is my favorite sentence to complain about.

The gourd on Si'er's right hand rolled to the ground with a clatter, breaking in half. She turned her head to look at me, and before she could speak, her apricot eyes were full of tears.

"Well, I've got it. Every time you see me, you always cry no matter what. "I put my arm around Si'er, and with the other hand, I took a coin from my girdle and threw it to the melon seller.

"Okay, don't think that if you cry, I won't scold you! I came to you with a lot of swearing. I stood up with Si'er in my arms. The older this girl gets, the softer her temperament becomes. In the past two years, there have been more and more tears.

"I'm sorry...... I'm the one who has caused you. Ah Shi, you scold me! Si'er wiped his tears with his hands and raised his head.

"Dead girl, don't rob me of what I'm going to say! Are you brain-soaked? Throw yourself into the river! Where did you come up with this ghostly idea? If you throw yourself into the river and die, and I come back alive, where will I find you? Accompany you to die! I unceremoniously slapped Si'er a few times.

Si'er looked at me in a daze, the more I scolded, the more angry I became, she held me in both hands and kept sobbing.

"Okay, stop crying. I'll tell you more about this in the evening. When the time comes, you will scold me instead. I gently patted Si'er's shoulder, took out a silk handkerchief from my arms and stuffed it into her hand, "Wipe it, everyone is watching us!" ”

"Girl, you're here!" On the other side of the street, the swordsman ran toward us with a basket of sunflowers.

"Just arrived! Your master and Ah Yu are at home, you go back and tell them, just say that I have seen the fourth girl, and I will go back after a while. ”

"No!" The swordsman nodded, bent down and picked up a bamboo cage with a big red-tailed rooster at Si'er's feet.

"Fish woman, pick two melons and bring them back to Ah Shou!"

"Hmm." The fish woman hurriedly squatted down and picked up two gourds from the stall and put them in the arms of the swordsman.

"Don't buy melons, aren't you tired of eating?" Si'er wiped his tears with a handkerchief and whispered.

"I've eaten it for so many years, and I'm used to it. I can't eat it, and I panic. I laughed, pinched Si'er's flushed face, and led her towards the south side of the market.

Although the market in Qufu is small, there are all kinds of shops. I bought two sets of well-fitting Confucian clothes for myself and Wuxian in the garment workshop, and when I passed by the jade shop, I bought a hairpin made of Xiuying and a pair of earrings for the fish woman.

"Noble girl, the slave is a pariah, and you can't wear a jade flute, so take it back quickly!" On the way home, the fishwoman kept begging me in my ear to take back what I had given her.

"No, I said that I would give you a bride price for Ah Yu, how can I break my promise?"

"But this is a jade flute! A slave is not allowed to transgress the courtesy. "The fishwoman stopped and wanted to give me back the hairpin and ear flute in her hand.

"You can keep it for now! Now you can't wear it, but I think I like Fish a lot, maybe you will be able to wear it in two years. And this jade yellow and white color is not a top grade, if you refuse, I will only treat you as if you don't like what I sent! I watched as the fish woman deliberately grimaced.

When the fish woman saw that my complexion had changed, she immediately froze. Si'er took the opportunity to take the things in her hand and stuffed them into her arms: "This is also the girl's heart, don't shirk it." When you and we return to the Jin Kingdom, there will be a lot of good things! ”

I glanced at the fish woman and smiled and continued to walk forward, Si'er came up to me and whispered, "When did you perform the ceremony?" Why did you wear only an unpainted wooden flute? ”

"Half a month ago, the monarch and Mrs. Jun of Qi held a ceremony for me. It's a pity that you weren't there at that time, and there were always two or three hundred people in the hall watching the ceremony, not to mention how lively it was. I touched the wooden flute in the style of the Luan Bird in my hair, and said with a smile, "This wooden flute is handmade without shirts, isn't it better than any golden flute or Ming jade flute?" ”

"Qi Hou will still give you a ceremony? But Yu An Ming said, you were arrested into the palace? Don't lie to me! Si'er frowned and stared at me.

"Hey, now that you have Brother Yu An, you only believe in him, not me. Sure enough, the female lady is not staying......" I glanced at Si'er with a pouted mouth, turned to the fish woman and said: "Fish woman, when we return to the Jin Kingdom, you must remember to remind me that the fourth girl's wedding must be done before the autumn, and the wedding must be done before the end of the year, and a doll's full moon ceremony will be held at this time next year." Oops, I'm going to be busy. ”

"No, it's written!" The fish woman responded to my words, turned her head and smiled at Si'er: "Si'er girl has already been married?" Congratulations to the girl. ”

"Which one said they wanted to get married? Which one said they were going to give birth to a doll? If you make fun of me like that, I'll ignore you. Si'er blushed, slapped me, picked up the hem of her skirt and ran.

"Good Si'er, if you don't give birth to a baby, then who will call me Auntie?" I laughed and chased after it.

"You were born on your own!" Si'er turned around and shouted at me.

Just as Si'er was turning his head, a seven or eight-year-old girl suddenly rushed out of the alley next to the road.

The little girl buried her head and didn't look at the road, but she ran fast, and she bumped into Si'er all of a sudden.

Si'er was fine, staggered back a few steps and stopped. The little girl was light, but she fell back and sat on the ground, spilling coins all over the ground.

"Little girl, are you alright?" I ran up and helped the little girl up, and Si'er and the fish woman hurriedly picked up the coins on the ground and returned them to her.

"Thank you." The little girl took the coins and counted them, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oops, your hand is bleeding." Si'er grabbed the little girl's hand and exclaimed.

The little girl lowered her head and pulled her hand back sharply and shrank it behind her back: "The slave is fine." After speaking, he hurriedly saluted, turned around and ran.

"Don't go yet!" I grabbed her arm with my backhand and pulled her in front of me, reaching out and lifting her chin, "What's your name?" ”

"Maysun." The little girl looked at me and replied with a winch.

"Ah Shi, what's wrong?" Si'er Fox said suspiciously.

"Mayyang, are you from Ganyuan? Your grandmother is from the Xihe tribe? "I flipped over the little girl's hand, and there were many dark red wavy lines on the back of her hand. The old woman in the fishing village said that this is the mark of the sun, and every few years there will always be girls in the Xihe tribe who are born with such lines on the back of their hands.

"How does the noble lady know?" The little girl nodded, but quickly shook her head again, "Lady, I don't know you. Let me go, my master is still waiting for me to ask the witch doctor to save people!" ”

I took Mayyang's hand and squatted down in front of her: "Mayyang, my name is Ah Shi, and it was your grandmother who asked me to come to you." Can you take me to your master, and I'll redeem you and send you home?" ”

"Grandma asked you to come!" Mayyang looked at me, her thin and thin body suddenly shuddered, her steps moved back little by little, and her frightened and frightened eyes seemed as if I was a murderer who didn't blink.

"What's wrong with you?" Her reaction was beyond my expectations, why would a girl who had been sold into slavery by her mother be afraid of this after hearing about her family? I was suspicious, and I couldn't help but tighten my hand.

Mayyang didn't answer me, and suddenly lowered his head and bit me on the wrist. I shrank my hand in pain, and she took the opportunity to run away.

"Where did this crazy boy come from, you stop me!" Si'er screamed in surprise and lifted the hem of her skirt and chased after her.

Si'er couldn't run fast in her skirt and embroidered shoes, but Mayyang was small and flexible, and she disappeared in the crowd with a few dodges.

"Lady, are you alright?" The fish woman leaned next to me and asked nervously.

"I'm fine. Go and call Si'er back! I looked down at the bloodshot tooth marks on my wrists, and said to myself, this girl bit really hard, it seems that she really doesn't want to go back to Ganyuan.

Si'er was pulled back by the fish woman with a frustrated face, she scolded Mayyang in a babbling voice, and at the same time took out a silk handkerchief from her arms and carefully tied it to my wound: "Does this child have a deep hatred with you?" The lower mouth is so heavy. ”

"I don't know, I was just asked by her grandmother to send her home."

"It's eventful." Si'er looked at me reproachfully, raised my wrist and said, "There's a shop selling herbs near here, we have to hurry up and buy some herbs to stop the bleeding." Biting in such a conspicuous place will be troublesome in case of a scar. Also, I think that child's hands are also quite strange, do you have to buy some antidote? ”

"It's not that serious, don't worry about it." I smiled and took my hand back.

"Noble girl, it's better to be careful, I used to hear the old people in the village say that the Xihe tribe living in Ganyuan can use some strange witchcraft, and they still use human animals to worship the gods on weekdays.1

"Sacrifice to God with human animals?" Si'er's face changed.

I hurriedly interrupted the fish woman's words: "Gan Yuan, I have been there before, and the people there are quite kind, nothing strange or strange. Si'er, where is the pharmacy you are talking about? Let's buy some medicine and take it home. ”

"Over there, it's half an hour's walk." Si'er wanted to ask the fish woman something more, but when she saw that I wanted to buy medicine, she turned around and pointed to the southeast corner of the market.

When you are sick, it has been the norm for people to find a sorcerer first, and then a doctor, but since the name of the divine doctor Bian Que has become famous all over the world, there have been more doctors from all over the world. The pharmacy Si'er said was opened in an alley to the southeast of the market, and the low walls of loess tamped made people stand outside the courtyard and tiptoe to clearly see the piles of herbs drying in the open space in the courtyard.

Si'er stepped forward and knocked on the brass ring on the wooden door, and someone in the house answered but didn't come to open the door. I tentatively reached out and pushed, and the two moth-eaten pine doors opened with a "creak".