In this way, they struggled to survive by begging for water and rice from passing carriages.

The days went by day by day, but fortunately, the weather was hot and windless. Li's health also gradually improved, and they finally waited for a carriage that was willing to carry them cheaply, and the family also went to flee, running all the way, and after five days they finally arrived at the county seat, and the two families broke up after thanking them.

Li Shi has not finished the confinement yet, and he has been in a hurry for a moment, and his body is already very unbearable, but he still endures it, Li Tong hugged Ling Yue, hugged Li Shi and walked for a while to rest for a while, and walked for a while before stopping at a house.

Ling Yue looked at her mother's face, and vaguely understood in her heart that she was afraid that this relative was not very close!

She looked sideways and saw that the antique wooden door was tightly closed, although it was not splendid, green tiles and red walls, but it was still a little magnificent.

Tong's mother hugged Ling Yue and stepped forward to lightly buckle the door knocker, and after a while, a little boy came out of it, poked her brain out and looked, and saw that it was two women in dirty clothes, who were just beggars, glared at them with disgust, and said coldly: "Go to another house." "I started to close the door.

When Li Tong saw it, he hurriedly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to block it, "Don't close, it's the fourth lady who is back." ”

The little boy poked out his brain again, as if he was a little suspicious, and Tong's mother had no choice but to say, "Call Steward Li." ”

The boy hesitated for a moment, closed the door, and listened to the footsteps as if he had gone back to the courtyard to find someone.

After a while, I saw an elder about ten or fifty years old come out of the door, looked at them carefully, and suddenly showed a look on his face, "It turns out that the fourth lady has returned." There was not the slightest hint of respect in his tone.

Li Tong's hand holding Ling Yue tightened unconsciously, but his face was not moved at all, "Master is at home?" ”

The round-faced butler was so stingy that he didn't even bother to pull the corners of his mouth, and finally turned sideways to open the door, "The master went to Li's house to drink and hasn't come back yet." ”

Tong's mother turned around and hugged Li, and said as she walked inside: "Madame is at home?" ”

"At home." The words were concise and to the point, and there was a hint of impatience in the tone.

Li Tong didn't dare to ask more, maybe he was afraid of life, Shen Xue tightly tugged at the corner of Li Tong's clothes all the way, not daring to look.

Ling Yue raised her eyes and looked around, the layout of this courtyard was similar to the courtyard houses in Beijing, except that there was an arch next to the house in the hall, and it looked like it should be an inner courtyard inside.

The housekeeper took them to the hall and went to the inner courtyard, Ling Yue was looking around, her mother took her from Li Tong's hand and sat on a chair on the side, "Tong'er, you can sit too." ”

"Miss, the slave won't sit down first, and when the lady sees it, I'm afraid I'll have to talk again." Mother Tong pulled Shen Xue and stood behind Li.

The group waited and waited, during which they did not even serve a cup of tea, and about half a pillar of incense passed, and the housekeeper came back, but he did not follow others.

The housekeeper came to them, and he didn't look at them, but said directly: "Madame said that the fourth lady was in a hurry to come back, and she didn't say hello, and the rooms at home were full, so I had to aggrieve the fourth lady to rest in the next room first." ”

Li had expected it, and his expression remained unchanged. Tong's mother hugged Ling Yue and helped Li Xiangyun get up, "I'm tired of the housekeeper."

”

After the housekeeper led a few people to the subordinate room, he hurriedly left, and Tong's mother tried her best to suppress her anger and helped Li Xiangyun into the house.

Ling Yue looked at the dilapidated house, which seemed to collapse when the wind blew, and sighed, it seemed that the relationship between this family was more complicated than she thought.

Mother Tong went to the servant to borrow tools and began to clean, and by the time she was done, it was already dark.

Li Shi looked outside, and seeing that there was still no one to deliver food, he patted Ling Yue, who had not been crying, "Let's go to the kitchen and have a look." ”

Li Tong hurriedly responded and wiped Shen Xue's dirty face, "Xue'er, you are here to play with your sister obediently, don't run around." ”

"Hmm." Shen Xue obediently responded, turned around and gently patted Mu Bingyue with her little hand, humming an unknown nursery rhyme in her mouth.

It took a while for Mother Tong to come back, and Ling Yue didn't know what happened to her when she went to the kitchen, but she still guessed from her ugly look.

The dishes were all cold, it was obvious that they were leftovers, after feeding Ling Yue, the Li family used the rice, Ling Yue looked at her mother with red eyes, choking and eating these scraps cold. With a sour heart, he secretly vowed that he must let his mother and mother live a good life.

After a long journey, they were all a little tired, so the family rested early.

At night, Ling Yue, who had fallen asleep, was woken up by tears dripping from her cheeks, knowing that it was her mother who was crying. She couldn't see her expression in the dark, but she could feel her emotional ups and downs, and it took a long time for her mother's breathing to gradually calm down.

At this time, Ling Yue listened to the sigh of Mother Tong behind her, got up and covered her mother and her with the quilt, and then turned around and fell asleep.

Ling Yue listened to the shallow breathing sound on her side, her heart was sour, but she missed Ling Nuo more and more, she didn't know how she was now, she could only feel the inexplicable connection from the beads in her hand, she held up her sister for a piece of heaven in that life, and she could still take care of her family in this life.

Thinking about it, Ling Yue also fell asleep tiredly.

On another day, the sky was still hazy, and Li Xiangyun and Li Tong got up.

Li Tong went to the kitchen early to help make the family's breakfast, and after a busy morning, he brought back two bowls of porridge, a few steamed buns and a plate of pickles.

Shen Xue ate half of the steamed bun and then stopped and didn't dare to eat, only staring at it.

Li Shi took half a steamed bun to her, but she refused to accept it, and Li Xiangyun and Li Xiangyun both stopped chopsticks, and their faces were instantly full of sadness.

Ling Yue stretched out her hand to touch her mother's face, her mother looked down at her, the tears she held back finally fell, and she hugged her and cried fiercely, Li Tong only wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Fourth Miss, the master is up, and the lady told you to go to the hall." The door was abruptly opened, and a woman in a green dress entered the room, looking at them proudly, perhaps seeing the tears on their faces, and raising her eyebrows obliquely.

When Li Tong saw it, he quickly got up and said: "The fourth aunt has no letter until now, the fourth lady is sad, I am persuading her!" ”

The woman in green listened, didn't say a word, and turned away.

Seeing her leave, Li Shi cut her hair and clothes, and hurriedly followed Ling Yue with her arms.

Li Tong led Shen Xue to follow.

Entering the hall, Ling Yue saw her grandfather in this world. Fifty or sixty years old, not very good, probably because of a hangover, his eyes are a little puffy. When I saw them, I just asked a few words, and when I heard that they were fleeing, I immediately lost interest, hurriedly gave a few orders, and left in a hurry.

The woman about fifty years old sitting on the side looked at her husband's back unhappily, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea slowly, before she spoke: "I haven't seen each other for many years, and I have been thinking about it for more than ten years, and the four girls are a lot haggard!" ”

Li stood with his daughter in his arms, lowered his head and replied, "Yes! It's been fourteen years, and my aunt has been in good health recently? ”

Li Xiangyun only came back when her mother, Aunt Guo, was seriously ill, and she didn't come back often after Aunt Guo died, and Li Xiangyun never came back after the family declined. But every New Year's Day, Li Xiangyun will always ask someone to bring some gifts home, after all, Aunt Guo's tomb is here.

"Hmm...... That's it...... I can't be idle every day, and I'm getting a lot older. Yu Shi raised his eyes and looked at them casually, "In troubled times, life is getting tighter and tighter......"

Ling Yue only felt her mother's hands tremble, and then the man's constant complaint came from her ears.

Bitter? She really didn't see that the well-maintained skin was more ruddy than her mother's, and the clothes worn by the servant standing behind her were several times better than those worn by her mother.

Xu is thirsty, Yu Shi stopped and moistened his throat, looked at them out of the corner of his eye, saw Li and they all lowered their heads to listen, put down the cup with satisfaction, and inadvertently looked at Ling Yue's eyes, as if they had only noticed her at this time, "Who is this child?" ”

The mother looked at her, her eyes softened, "It's not a full moon yet, it's born in July, and it hasn't been named yet!" ”

"Oh? ......" Yu seemed very surprised!

It's no wonder that the Li family has not conceived a child after marrying into the Mu family for seven or eight years, and after seeing a lot of Langzhong, they all said that their health was fine, and they also took a lot of medicine but to no avail, and the slightly surplus family was also defeated because of the matter of seeking a child. In the end, the two of them traveled thousands of miles to find the Taoist monk who lived in seclusion in the forest, and counted a hexagram.

said that they were destined to have no children, and the two stopped tossing when they were disheartened.

At this time, Yu Shi was surprised to hold back a doll, but he couldn't help but doubt in his heart, "How many years ago did you separate from the fourth aunt?" ”

"Husband, he returned to the barracks after spending the New Year at home."

"Hmm...... This child is not yet a month old? ”

"Yes! When the sewing was chaotic and there was a drought in the hometown, the displaced people looted everywhere, and the family gradually could not receive the sewing work, and it was impossible to make a living. Losing the message of her uncle again, the young lady took care of the blood in her stomach, and rushed to run despite the heavy body, but she didn't expect to suffer bumps on the road, and the little lady was born prematurely, but fortunately, God had mercy on her, and the little lady was fine. "Tong Ma is more than Li Shi through some accidents, seeing out of his doubts, he quickly told the matter as it is.

"Yes! There is a lot of war and chaos over there, and there are homeless people everywhere, but you women can't stay there for long...... It's just ......" Yu Shi's words turned, "If the fourth aunt is gone, it will be a little inconvenient for you to live here......." "A married daughter is a spilled water, and she is usually not allowed to go back to her parents' house to live permanently, and it is even more taboo if she becomes a widow.

Ling Yue raised her eyes and saw that the Yu clan didn't even bother to pretend, and rushed out to them with quick words, and hurriedly looked at her mother.

Li's shoulders trembled but he didn't say a word, Mother Tong bit her lip, and said with a reluctant smile: "Madam, the fourth aunt is just managing the treasury, I don't think there is any danger, I haven't replied for so long, I'm afraid it's caused by the frequent wars in recent months, and the fourth lady just wants to have a place to live, and we will prepare everything ourselves." Li Tong just wants to live first, and as for the future, he can only take one step at a time.

"Look at what you said, it seems that my Li Mansion is stingy......" Yu's well-maintained hand waved into the air, "That's it, if you are left out, the world will not scold me!" You can stay for ten days and a half for a while, and then move out when you find a house. ”

After speaking, he took the housekeeper and the two mothers-in-law and left.

Li Tong sighed helplessly, looked at Li Shi who was in a trance, and said, "Miss, don't think about it...... Take care of your body and take care of your children. ”

"I didn't expect them to be really half-hearted."

Ling Yue raised her eyes and saw that her mother's eyes were already red, but she just couldn't hold back and didn't cry.

Li Tong sighed silently, silently, and went back to the room with Li.

After half a month, Yu Shi came to catch them up on time, "Four girls, you also know that your eldest brother's girl will get married in a few days, and I can't keep you anymore......"

Li had no choice but to pack up his things and leave that day, as for the head of the family, they had not seen each other once in the past half a month.

Li Tong lived here these days every day to find a house, but the price could not be discussed, so he had no choice but to take a group of people to the Jingyue Nunnery on the mountainside to live, they are all ordinary people who have not taken off the red dust, and it is not a way to live in the nunnery for a long time, the Li family can only desperately go to the big families in the county to pick up some sewing and washing work, so as to earn some silver taels.