Half a day ago, a small country estate in the south of Big Pudding City.

After noon, the sun was setting much faster, and the gray-haired old man laboriously brushed the horse that had been with him for many years in the stable—perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe the old man as a war horse, but in fact the old horse was so old that it had long since lost its former strength and strength, and was left with bloated fat and a blank gaze.

The old man's forehead soon began to sweat profusely because of physical exertion, and there was an atmosphere of depression and silence in the whole manor, the only wind mill had long since ceased to work, and the two tenant farmers who were responsible for cultivating a few acres of thin fields had also left after the previous month's busy farming, and there were only two people left in the small manor, so that the old man, who was the owner of the manor, had to do it himself.

Outside the stables was a fifty percent new and dilapidated carriage, half of the wheels broken, and the old man sighed as he swept his gaze over the obviously cracked wheels.

Now, he can only hope that these old fellows and this carriage can fight again, and tonight's banquet is almost the most important in his life.

Thinking of this, the wrinkles on the old knight's face couldn't help but deepen:

When he was young, he was always vigorous, and Geng Geng's loyalty also earned him a knight's title and this small manor, but the hidden illness left behind many years ago made the old knight suffer, coupled with poor management, he was always not as good as a day.

Luckily, I had Ricky with me.

The old knight shook his daughter's smile in front of him, and his heart suddenly became more energetic. Ricky is a good boy, but he is a little shy, and the old knight has always been not good at socializing, so he rarely shows his head, and hides in the small manor all day to help the old knight with household chores.

Although the girl was only 16 years old, she had already hand-sewn or washed countless clothes over the years. She would even take the initiative to help with the easier work when she was busy with the farms, and she also made the tenant farmers' dinners, which everyone who had spent on the manor had commented: Miss Ricky was like a tireless little bee, she was too industrious.

But all this happened only in this small manor, and the girl had not even been to the big pudding city a few times since she had grown into a big girl. She rarely has noble friends, which is somewhat inconsistent with the status of the old knight, after all, in the noble class of the Luha Empire, knights should also occupy a place.

The withdrawn and unspoken old knight thought it was nothing at first, and although he had a hard time, it was much better than those civilians who had no land and no land. In addition, his knighthood was canonized by the Earl of Lyle himself, and the previous tax collectors appointed by the city saw that the taxes were also scavenged in moderation, relying on a few acres of thin fields, he could barely survive. However, in the autumn of this year, when the farm was busy, the old knight overheard the aunt-in-law of his tenant farmer talking about Miss Ricky's marriage, and he was suddenly struck by lightning.

The old man has been poor all his life, and his brain is not very good, but this time he happened to hear the discussion of his subordinates, and even if he didn't open his mind, he suddenly realized that the girl he was pulling with one hand had reached the age of marriage.

"It's hateful that her useless father didn't know about it in advance!" When the old knight thought of this, he felt some regret in his heart. I am old, and I expect to die soon, and when the time comes, I will only be left with a lonely daughter, what should I do?!

As soon as this thought arose, it became uncontrollable. The more the old man thought about it, the more anxious he became, for fear that he would accidentally go early and not arrange his daughter's back road properly, and let her suffer and suffer. From that day on, the taciturn old knight began to gather - in fact, he had few people to ask, and as an old man who could barely get on the side of the nobility, he could hardly afford a dowry that would attract a husband. His only property was penniless in the eyes of the true aristocracy, and the only thing that made the old knight a little proud was that Ricky was not bad-looking, which was inherited from her mother, and the two of them were almost carved out of the same mold. Sometimes, when the old man is in a trance, he will mistake his young daughter for his wife who has been dead for many years.

After a while, the old knight found a few old friends with a shy face, wanting to find out the situation. Helplessly, many of his friends have now gone before him, and he doesn't know any of the nobles in the city or even in the suburbs.

The old man also tried to find a few well-known matchmakers in the city, but after he quietly visited one, the first price offered by the other party made the old man tremble with fright, and he no longer dared to have similar thoughts. His family background is really a bit thin, even if it is a craftsman with a little family background among the commoners, he may not be able to look at it.

The only thing that was a little moved by Miss Ricky was a widower who had been working for many years. Not to mention that the widower was almost twenty years older than Ricky, and this profession alone was not acceptable to the old knight. He still has a pride in his heart, how could the daughter of an imperial knight marry a lowly and ugly blacksmith? Even if the blacksmith family has a lot of money after many years of operation, the old knight will definitely not consider it.

It's just that in this way, he lost the channel to find a husband for Ricky, and he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. Ricky was not in a hurry, but comforted his old father, saying that he was accompanying his father in the manor, and it was nothing if he didn't marry in his life.

The old man knows that the girl is filial, but he can't even do this as a father, isn't it too useless?

So he tried his best to lead the old horse into the city with a limp several times, wanting to ask to see the Earl once with a shy face, hoping that he would talk about the love of the year and help arrange Ricky's marriage. Who knew that as soon as he entered the city, he ate the closed door. The concierge of the Earl's Court has changed a lot of people over the years, and he doesn't know who the old knight is, so he is directly ridiculed and reprimanded, and an arrogant boy even wants to whip him. The old knight was angry, but under the eaves, he had to bow his head, and he could only swallow his anger for the time being. Later, his identity was confirmed, and the little ones did not have a good face, and at last he met the eldest son of the earl, who had gone out hunting with his father, and after so many years had passed, he actually recognized the old knight.

The eldest prince of the earl was naturally extraordinary, and after patiently listening to the difficulties of the old knight, he asked others to bring an invitation card to invite the young lady of the old knight's family to participate in the harvest festival ball held by the earl. The eldest prince said that there were many young and handsome people with a lot of money at the ball, and if Miss Ricky was beautiful and lucky, she would naturally be photographed, and she would naturally not worry about the dowry or anything at that time.

The old knight got the invitation, thanked the eldest prince happily, and sang a little song all the way back to the manor.

……

When the old knight's memories came here, he was suddenly awakened by the old horse's "call", and he looked at it fixedly, and it turned out that he had brushed the old man's sore spot. He reached out to soothe the old fellow, then dropped his brush and barely stood up with a wooden cane.

"It's time for Ricky to get dressed, tonight is the number one priority." The old man thought of this, and he prepared to limp into the house.

Who knew that at this time, a scream suddenly came from the calm manor!

The old man's face instantly turned pale, he suddenly picked up a shovel from the corner of the wall beside him, walked quickly to the front room with a limp, and shouted at the same time: "Who is there?" Ricky baby? Who's there? Richie?! ”

The screams continued to sound, and the old knight's blood surged, and he was sweating profusely, and he struggled to get around the corner, but he was stunned to see his daughter pushing and shoving with a man!

"Ricky!?" The old knight roared angrily: "Who are you, dare to break into my manor~!" ”

The man didn't look back, but Silver smiled and threw poor little Ricky to the ground, and laid his hands on her.

The old man almost didn't see a black in front of him, and fainted angrily. He struggled to walk over.

The man didn't pay attention to the old knight at all, he violently tore Ricky's coarse cloth clothes, and the large white ** was directly exposed to the air - the man's eyes were violently bloodshot, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva. He pressed Ricky and whispered:

"Resist as much as you want, chick, if you accidentally hurt me, you and your lame daddy will be finished......"

Who knew that before he finished speaking, he only heard a bang, and several thick lines of blood slowly flowed from the man's head. His body stiffened, and he collapsed limply on top of Ricky.

The girl let out a shrill exclamation, and behind him, the old knight struggled with his shovel, and there was a hint of panic and sadness in his eyes.

A few drops of blood ran down the tip of the shovel and slowly dripped onto the thick earth.

"Father, father?!" The girl struggled to push the man away from her, and threw herself into her old father's arms like a frightened bunny.

The lame old knight's face turned pale, and the father and daughter clutched their heads and wept bitterly.

It took a long time for the two to recover. The girl looked at the shovel that her father had thrown on the ground, her eyes were full of panic, and she looked at the old knight as if asking for help, but she could only see the sorrow and pain in the old man's eyes.

"What are we going to do? Father? "This man, he says he is the new tax collector, the nephew of Lord Earl." ”

The old knight closed his eyes in pain, panting for breath, and he was obviously helpless as he had never been good at using his brain.

Just when the father and daughter were almost in despair, a reassuring voice suddenly sounded:

"Don't worry, maybe I can help you." (To be continued.) )