After dinner, the uncle came over to gossip with Master Sun, and Master Sun pretended to be careless and asked the uncle about some details of buying horses.

"Where did you meet this horse?"

"Met in Yanzhou!"

"In the city or outside the city?"

"In town!" The uncle smiled and said, "Dad, why are you asking this?" ”

"What else can you do?" The old lady smiled and said, "I don't have anything to say, you two just met, can't you pull a lala?!" ”

The uncle laughed, and the lord laughed too.

The old man said, "I'm just asking." ”

"That day, as soon as I came out of the inn, and before I had taken a few steps on my horse, Ma Ya's mother knelt on the road and stopped me, begging me to take her daughter, who only needed two taels of silver at that time." Uncle said.

"Well, this girl is good!" As the old man spoke, he remembered something, so he asked, "By the way, how is her mother's health?" Don't you get sick too?! ”

"Her mother is thin, but she speaks quite energetically, not like she is sick!"

The old man smiled, and he pretended to be unintentional and glanced at the old lady, who was also looking at him.

The old man leaned back in his chair, and then said to the old lady, "When this child comes, how is his spirit, he won't be sick, right?" ”

"Dad, this is not true!" The uncle laughed, "If she looks like she is sick, then I can't ask for it, I'd rather give her two dollars, I can't bring her into the house!" ”

"When she came, I saw it, and Ma Ya looked scared and a little wooden. I heard Wu's mother say that she didn't seem to have done anything at home, and when she arrived at the house, she couldn't even sweep the floor at first, but Wu's mother said that she was quite interested in learning to work, and she learned quickly! Bell added.

"This is natural, life is not familiar, how can anyone not be afraid of people?" The old man said to the bell: "Besides, how old is she?!" ”

The bell nodded, saying that Ma Ya was only seven years old, and he was still young.

The old man yawned, and then said, "Bell, I'll wash with some water, it's not early, I'm going to sleep too!" ”

"Alas!" The bell said yes and went out.

The old lady said to her eldest son, "Go too, it's not too early, your father is old, and he can't compare to you young people!" ”

"Daddy?!" The uncle came over and called Master Sun.

"You go, I'm afraid that there will be guests tomorrow, so I will rest early!" The old man said.

"Alas, Dad, then I'll go!"

"Go ahead!"

The bell and the two maids waited for the old lady to finish washing, and sent them to the room, and then the bell closed the door, and went to the side room with the maids, and washed and went to sleep.

When there was no movement outside, and everything was calm, the old lady helped the old man take off his robe and hang it on a hanger in the house, and when the old man got into bed, she took off her skirt herself, got into bed, blew out the light, and lay down, and then spoke.

"Master, do you think there's something wrong with this horse?"

"What do you say?" In the dark, the old man asked the old lady.

"I didn't pay attention to it before, but now I see that your face is different, so I will take a closer look at this maid, she doesn't look like a child from a poor family at all!"

"Hmm!" The old man said: "I'm also worried about this, look at this child's hands, with fine skin and tender meat, like tender lotus roots, where do they look like children from poor families?!" ”

"Sir, that's what you're talking about. I touched her hand, and looked, to say that our house has also entered a lot of maids over the years, and there are some injuries on those hands, at least there are black scars left by chilblains or something, but her hands are white and tender, and her skin is delicate, even our girl, but that's it. Master, her mother can't be fake, right? Could Ma Ya have been abducted by a kidnapper? ”

The old man blinked, thought for a while, and said, "Have you ever heard that the kidnappers are in urgent need of money?" Have you ever heard of a kidnapper who only costs two taels of silver? Is there such a stupid crutch?! ”

"Yes!" The old lady said: "This kidnapper is all for money, before Ma Ya comes in, if she dresses up Ma Ya, if she looks like this now, I'm afraid she can't buy it for twenty taels of silver!" ”

"So, I'm worried!" The old man sighed.

"Worried about what?" The old lady turned her head and asked the old man.

"I'm afraid she's from Nancheng, the daughter of a traitor!" Master Sun said: "Although Ma Ya is just a girl, if you know it, it will not implicate our Sun family." However, if she is really the daughter of a traitor, this matter will be used by others, and it will be difficult to say it to the emperor. Not long after Fukang became emperor, he was most taboo about his own people going to save the ministers close to Emperor Huiwu. ”

When the old lady heard what the old man said, she was so frightened that she stood up and asked, "Master, how is this good?" ”

"What's the panic?" The old man said: "I'm just so suspicious, Ma Ya is not, then what else to say!" ”

The old lady listened to the old man's words, and then slowly lay down, and the old lady's heart was pounding.

"Don't tell the kids about this!" The old man said: "Even if she is the daughter of a traitor, let's pretend not to know anything, besides, we bought her as a maid, and we didn't raise her in the house, and we are not afraid of being stabbed!" ”

Speaking of this, the old man suddenly felt a lot more sure in his heart, and he said again: "Besides, it is the daughter of a traitor, and now she is a maid in our house, and the emperor will not mind if he knows it." Don't you know, over there in Nancheng, many of Emperor Huiwu's ministers and daughters have suffered, and many of them have been sold as slaves, and some have even been sold to the flower building! ”

"If that's what you say, I'll understand!" The old lady said: "If she is the daughter of the courtiers of Emperor Huiwu, then sell her, at least she can live." ”

"That's it!" The old man said: "You and I know this, and you must not say it to the children!" ”

"Uh-huh!" In the darkness, the old lady hummed twice, sighed and said, "Master, if you don't say it, who would have thought of this layer!" ”

"It's an eventful season, be careful!" The old man said: "Ma Ya's matter, that's the end of it, don't mention it again in the future!" ”

"That's it!" The old lady said.

This night, the old man and the old lady arrived very late, and they did not fall asleep.

The two of them were lying on the bed, not talking, and they were all thinking about Ma Ya.

The more the old lady thought about it, the more firm the old man's idea became: Ma Ya could never be a child of a poor family.

This feeling reminded the old lady of the first time she saw Ma Ya, and Ma Ya could look directly at her without dodging, which was not consistent with what Wu's mother said about her timid nature.

In other words, in this maid, there are some behaviors that she pretends.

What poor child can't do things? Can't even sweep the ground, is it possible?

And then there is, in poor families, children have no clothes to wear and no cotton shoes to freeze in winter, which is normal, the back of the hands and heels, when it comes to winter, many maids in the house are, and the children's faces will leave traces of freezing.

are so poor that they sold their daughters, so you can imagine the situation of Ma Ya's family.

Thinking about it like this, the old lady firmly believed that Ma Ya was not small.

Thinking of the eldest son's saying that Ma Ya's mother took Ma Ya to stop her horse's head, this had to make the old lady suspicious, Ma Ya's mother came prepared.