Chapter 168: One Ring and One Ring

Zhou E and An Xiaorui both came back after nearly dark.

Zhou E's side, along this barren mountain and dense forest, all the way to the west and south, the further inside, the farther away from the imperial court.

An Xiaorui went to the nearest county seat, the county seat is not large, and there are almost no traces of the war.

The city gates on all sides, the lively places in the city, and even the post stations ten miles away from the county seat, are posted with the two portraits of Li Ran and Zhou E, and the portraits are guarded by the soldiers and the chief of the guard.

On the way there, he also met a group of light horsemen on patrol.

Zhou E's face was gloomy, and she walked to the depths of the barren mountains, the farther and farther, the more difficult it became to walk, and the road she walked today, in some places, she felt that the horse could not pass.

In any case, they could not lose their horses, and as soon as they found them, they found their tracks, which were easy to expose, and secondly, without horses, it was even more difficult for them.

Leaving this barren mountain, how many patrol teams can they fight for?

An Xiaorui looked at Zhou E's face, and Li Ran obviously had a fever again, and said some unreliable words about this and that, so that it didn't seem to be a predicament at the moment.

When Li Ran fell asleep, An Xiaorui, Zhou E, and Wang Cui were head to head, measured and measured, discussed in a low voice for a long time, and decided to wait for Li Ran to get a little better tomorrow, and then set off, sticking to the edge of the forest, and then walked inside, while walking, looking for a path to the south or north.

Li Ran didn't sleep deeply, he woke up from time to time, and woke up for a while at dawn, and wanted to sit up in a daze, but he fell asleep again unconsciously.

Li Ran was woken up by Tao Nong.

"Girl, wake up, you have to hide, someone is coming again! What the fuck! ”

Without waiting for Li Ran to wake up, Tao Nong set up Li Ran and leaned her into the corner, Wang Cui and the others hurriedly moved the broken table and covered it with a thick layer of branches.

Li Ran curled up in the corner of the wall, sweating profusely, the person came to his senses, calmed his breathing to the lightest, and listened to the movement outside.

From far to near, there is more than one person stepping on the dead branches and leaves.

After a loud sound of copper and iron striking on the bluestone, footsteps entered the small temple.

Li Ran then heard a somewhat old male voice, "Excuse me Daxian, a little bow." Dalang. ”

A young man's voice answered, listening to the voice, it should be some kind of offering on it.

"The little old man's surname is Hong, a single name is a longevity, Ding Weinian Jinshi, after the first emperor left, the little old man hung up his boots and left, moved here with his family, hid his name, practiced medicine and saved people.

Yesterday, when it was dark, a woman pushed her husband in a cart to seek medical treatment, and took a piece of gold, saying that the fox fairy here had rewarded her with saving her husband.

Xiao Lao'er guessed that the bounty was not a fox fairy, but about the relics of the first emperor, if it was still here, I hope to be able to give a meeting, and Xiao Lao'er has something to say. ”

Li Ran was stunned when she heard this.

Ding Weinian, is it the same department as the monk champion?

Li Ran reached out and pushed the half of the broken table in front of her, and the table shook and fell to the ground against the branches.

Zhou E was about the back door, the sound of the table falling to the ground did not fall, and he had already rushed in with a knife, blocking in front of Li Ran, squinting at Hong Shou and the others who rushed past the statue in a few steps.

An Xiaorui and others came up from all around, surrounded Hong Shou and the four in the middle, and several sentry spies went out to check on the past.

"Sure enough, it's a girl." Hong Shou didn't seem to see the swords and swords around him, he only looked at Li Ran, slowly knelt down, and kowtowed solemnly.

"I can't afford to be a big gift like the old gentleman, the old gentleman, please."

Li Ran moved forward and sat up straight.

"The girl is sick? Is it a cold? Do you have a fever? Can you let the little old child have a pulse diagnosis? ”

Hong Shou kowtowed a few times solemnly, stood up, and looked at Li Ran carefully.

"How do you know we're here? Just that piece of gold? ”

Zhou E didn't move in front of Li Ran, picked up the knife in his hand, looked from Hong Shou to an old servant and two middle-aged people who knelt down and kowtowed with Hong Shou, and then looked back at Hong Shou.

"The evening before yesterday, the portrait of you and the girl was pasted on the gate of Wu County, and on our town, when it was dark, it was also pasted. I've seen portraits of girls. ”

Hong Shou looked at Zhou E, paused, and looked at Li Ran.

"Ding Weinian's subject, Wang An is the champion, Xiao Lao'er is the last name of the top three, that subject, he is the first name, and Xiao Lao'er is the last name.

After the list was released, he came to me, Wang An is a hearty and noisy character, saying the first name and the last name, this is fate.

It's really fate, Xiao Lao'er and him, at first sight, intersect with each other.

Later, the first emperor went to the great line, and the little old man returned to his hometown, and Wang An followed Jian Xiang to counsel government affairs and military affairs.

He is just unconvinced, people like the first emperor, in terms of conduct, talent, knowledge, vision, and mind, all of them are people who are indulgent. ”

Hong Shou's words paused, and after a while, he sighed lowly.

"Time is also fate, the little old man responds to the order, Wang Anxin is arrogant, alas, no matter how arrogant he is, what can he do if the destiny is like this?

Last spring, Wang An met the girl, and after that, he came to me.

When he came, he had already lost his hair and stayed here for two days.

Chatting with the little old man, in addition to talking about the girl, and painting a small portrait of the girl for the little old man to see, nothing else, did not mention the world's affairs, only talked about the law and the Tao, and said some truths about the knowledge of things.

As soon as the girl's portrait was sent to the town, the little old man recognized it.

Since she was sent to this place, the girl must have been chased and fled to this area.

This piece of mountain forest, to the east, leads to the area of Licheng and Yang County.

Over the years, Jian Xiang has governed the township and county by protecting the armor and sitting together, and the girl has been able to hide until now, but I am afraid that she can only move and dodge in this mountain forest.

This area is bent in the hollow of the mountain, and no one passes through unless it comes on purpose.

In this mountain forest, in addition to the people who fled, in the past few decades, that is, the old gentleman who built this temple, has been lost once.

In the midst of the escape, he can also help the poor, even if he is not a girl, this person is worth a trip to the little old man to see if he can help. ”

Zhou E put the knife into the scabbard and motioned to Wang Cui, "Raise the fire, it's early in the morning, it's wet and cold." ”

As he spoke, he squatted down to pick up dry branches, and when he saw that Hong Shou looked at her and stopped talking, he waved his hand and said, "You said yours." ”

Hong Shou nodded with a smile, looked at Li Ran, and then said just now, "The things that ghosts and gods help people can only be guided by dreams, such gold, I am afraid that ghosts and gods do not have such skills, and this is mostly in the name of ghosts and gods." ”

Hong Shou took out the piece of gold that Li Ran asked Tao Nong to throw to the mother-in-law from his arms and handed it to Zhou E.

"I thought, maybe it's the girl, I'm afraid that the girl will have to leave in the morning just for a night's rest, so I rushed over overnight."

"You're smart." Zhou E swept the gold and handed it to Hong Shou.

"Annoying old man to take care of me." Li Ran owed to Hong Shou and stretched out his hand.

Hong Shou bypassed Zhou E, sat on the ground, bent one leg, put Li Ran's hand on his knee, and pressed it on Li Ran's vein.

After concentrating for a while, and then diagnosing again, Hong Shou sighed softly.

"Although the girl's pulse is a little weak, it has been calmed and is almost healed."

"That's good, thank you." Li Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"You just said, let's see if you can help, how can you help?"

Zhou E looked at Hong Shoudao.

"The girl needs to get out of here.

Wang An and Xiao Lao'er talked about Qi Yi, who is meticulous and cautious, good at observing people's hearts, and is extremely not simple.

Xiao Lao'er could think that the girl would come all the way along this mountain forest, Qi Yi must have thought of it too, Wang An said that he was a steady and steady person, and when he came around, he was afraid that it would be extremely difficult for the girl to escape. ”

Hong Shou looked at Li Randao.

"What can you do?" Zhou E simply asked directly.

"You know it's us, and you want to help us?" Li Ran and Zhou E asked at the same time.

Hong Shou looked at Li Ran and smiled.

"I know what the girl means.

When the first emperor was in the country, the place where I hung the seal was in Shuzhong, and after that, Wang An also asked me if I wanted to take another state and county, and I told him that I would not be an official again.

Wang An and I are both deeply influenced by the great grace of the first emperor, and in this life, we only serve the first emperor.

As long as the people can live and work in peace and contentment, the first emperor ordered me to do my best for the people's livelihood as before.

Xiao Lao'er thinks that this is also doing his best for the people's livelihood.

In addition to this. ”

Hong Shou's words paused and looked at Zhou E.

"Tea trees can grow on these four slopes, but the quality is not good, and no one has paid attention to them.

Twenty years ago, I came here, collected tea leaves from farmers, fried them into tea bricks, and shipped them to the north, and sold them at a good price. ”

"Horse gang? How many people are there? How many horses? Haven't left this year? Zhou E's eyes lit up.

"I go on two or three trips a year, usually every year, and there are 100 pack horses on one trip. The affairs of the horse gang have always been in the hands of Da Lang, this time, let him go. ”

Hong Shou pointed to the middle-aged man who had been standing next to him.

The middle-aged man smiled and respectfully waved at Li Ran and Zhou E respectively.

Zhou E didn't speak, and looked at Li Ran.

Li Ran looked at Hong Shou, and without waiting for her to speak, Hong Shou continued, "I have three sons, this is Dalang, who is generous and cautious, loves farming, and ploughs and reads for self-entertainment; That's Erlang, who has studied with me since he was a child and concentrates on medical skills; Saburo is a pioneer who travels most of the year and does a small business.

Now and in the future, those who are in charge of this place and the world, whether it is here or there, or anyone else, do not hide it from the girl, and we father and son do not care.

This trip is just for the girl.

The girl is the legacy of the first emperor, just for this.

As for the rest, the girl's status as a princess, and the prominence of Xie Dashuai, Xiao Lao'er never thought about it. ”

Zhou E's eyebrows raised when she listened, glanced at Hong Shou obliquely, and glanced at Hong Dalang again, Hong Dalang met her gaze and smiled.

"We'll have to talk about ......"

Before Zhou E finished speaking, he was interrupted by Li Ran, "Then I'm not welcome, bother the old man." ”

Zhou E furrowed her eyebrows, relaxed for a moment, took a step back, and did not speak.

"Don't dare to be." Hong Shouchong owed Li Ran, "Since it has been agreed, it is better to be fast than slow, let Da Lang and the old servant Hong An take the horses, take a little detour to the tea house, and pick up the horse goods."

The little old man accompanied the girl down the mountain from here, first went to the little old man in the village at the bottom of the mountain, rested for the night, packed up, and set off early tomorrow morning. ”

Zhou E looked at An Xiaorui, An Xiaorui bowed and smiled, "I went with Hong Dalang to pick up the horses and goods, and you accompanied the girl over." ”

Zhou E nodded in response.

The group quickly cleaned up neatly, restored the inside and outside of the small temple to its original state, Zhou E personally checked it again, and the group divided into two ways and left separately.

There were two thin donkeys tied to the outside of the small temple, one each ridden by Hong Shou and Li Ran.

Hong Shou's second son led Hong Shou's donkey, Wang Cui stepped forward to lead Li Ran's head, Zhou E held his hands behind his back and followed closely behind Hong Erye, Tao Nong followed Zhou E, Shen Mai was two steps behind, echoing Zhou E.

The rest of the sentries scattered around.

Hong Erye concentrated on leading the donkey, Hong Shou and Li Ran were talking about practicing medicine and mulberry field tea, along the forest path that was almost invisible, zigzag down, and after walking not far, they saw a neat house.

"From there, from there, some of this piece of land that I bought, but most of it was the wasteland that I hired men to open up and cultivate for them.

Dalang is good at farming, every year in spring ploughing and spring sowing, autumn harvest and autumn planting, all come here, check everywhere, for convenience, just set up these rooms. ”

Hong Shou smiled and explained the house in front of him.

Li Ran smiled in response, got off the donkey in front of the house, and entered the courtyard gate with Hong Shou.

There are more than a dozen rooms in the small courtyard, and the kitchen utensils are all available.

Zhou E checked room by room with her hands behind her back, except for the upper room and the two kitchens in the east wing, the remaining seven or eight rooms were full of all kinds of farm tools and bunches of dried whole rice.

There is a vegetable garden in the small courtyard, Tao Nong and Shen Mai picked some vegetables, steamed rice and fried bacon and bacon and chicken vegetables, and for the first time in a few days, they had a comfortable meal.

From the moment he entered the small courtyard, Hong Shou only sat and talked to Li Ran, Hong Er Ye pointed out where Tao Nong and Shen Mai were all kinds of things, but they didn't come close, Tao Nong and Shen Mai boiled water, cooked vegetables and rice, Hong Er Ye must serve two portions first, serve one to Hong Shou, one for himself, drink first and eat first.

Zhou E aimed at the Hong family father and son from beginning to end.

Although the father and son always stood in the open, drinking first and eating first to show that they were non-toxic and harmless, she still didn't dare to relax a little, and the current situation was not too careful.

Li Ran ate a meal of soup for dinner, slept with clothes, this sleep was very sound, after a while, when Tao Nong pushed her awake, she only felt that she had just closed her eyes.

There should be a lot of clouds in the sky, the waning moon is hidden by thick clouds, and in the distance, you can still see a bright starry sky.

Hong Shou and his second son walked in the front, walked along the ridge, walked for an hour, and got on a country dirt road.

On the way, Hong Min, the uncle of the Hong family, dressed up as a horse gang shopkeeper, and An Xiaorui, who was almost dressed up, with dozens of horses full of goods, were already waiting.

"Let's go quickly, before dawn, it's best to get out of the county." Hong Shou confessed to his eldest son, and he also talked to Li Ran, Zhou E and others.

"Thank you, sir." Zhou E arched his hand at Hong Shou.

Hong Shou waved his hand and retreated to the side of the road.

"Thank you." Li Ran took a step forward and bent his knees at Hong Shou.

"Don't dare to be, I wish the girl a safe and smooth future, and five blessings." Hong Shou lasted a long time to the end.

Li Ran bowed slightly, An Xiaorui led the short and fat donkey over, Li Ran rode on the donkey, and everyone set off forward.