Some people say that people in poor places are especially good at eating, but this is not the case. It's just that the body needs to replenish and consume more energy than ordinary people when they are engaged in manual labor for a long time. At this time, Wang Xu had a deep understanding, and after eating, his stomach began to rumble. In order to ignore the rebellious behavior of his stomach, he can only choose to sleep. Perhaps it is because taking care of the sick these days is not able to guarantee sleep, and after falling asleep, it is abnormally groggy.

It wasn't until I woke up hungry in the evening that I realized that my lunch had not yet been prepared. I was very sorry in my heart, stretched my waist, and was about to get up to work, when I saw Ah Ji on the side convulsing. The girl's eyes rolled up, her face turned purple, and her body shook uncontrollably.

"What's wrong with you? Don't scare me. Wake up! Wake up. ”

He pinched the girl's cheek in a panic and forced the other to open his mouth, thinking he was convulsing. When a person with a seizure is unconscious, he or she will unintentionally bite his tongue. There was no wooden stick around, so he could only put his finger horizontally in the girl's mouth. Sure enough, the finger was bitten painfully. He could feel Aji's teeth trembling slightly, suddenly.

"Gross... Vomit... Cough... Ahem"

The girl vomited all the soup she had drunk in the morning. Wang Xu's sleeved robe was stained with various recognizable food residues. Oh, my God! It's hard to imagine that if you go to the creek to take a bath in such a cold weather, it will be unforgettable cool. I don't care too much, but fortunately, all the filthy things are on me. Maybe there is also a virus, in case it gets contaminated with Aji's body and a rash develops, then the trouble will be even greater.

After cleaning up, check on Aji's condition. The rash seemed to spread more rapidly, and new pustules grew back in the areas that had already scabbed. Until then, the scab will not regenerate abscesses. For a moment he was helpless, just staring blankly at the girl's miserable face. Aji's face turned pale and soothed, and a small piece of bamboo shoot remained at the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly, the girl's chest cavity rose and fell. Wang Xu seemed to realize something, his pupils dilated instantly, his eyeballs seemed to bulge out of his sockets, and his body trembled uncontrollably. And the person in front of him seems to be sleeping peacefully, without a trace of life. He had never felt a person's death so closely. Even in the previous life, when Grandpa left. At the very least, there were doctors and nurses standing by to comfort them and inform them of the bad news.

The bamboo shoots at the corners of Aji's mouth are more like the remnants of poison. And this poison was inadvertently fed to her by Wang Xu. A young girl, at the same age as a flower, died of incense. He's the murderer.

"Smack... Syllable... Smack..."

Wang Xu jerked his face. Extremely remorseful. It is common knowledge that bamboo shoots are a hair food. Obviously he knew it a long time ago. Why forget? Doesn't letting a weak patient eat bamboo shoots by mistake is equivalent to speeding up the disease and making Aji die faster? I never imagined that life would be so fragile, and it was clear that not long ago, the girl could still carry a wolf corpse close to a hundred times, and her body was as light as a swallow when she climbed a tree. Why is it that he has been killed by a few bamboo shoots now?

The man, in endless self-reproach, waved his sleeve robe and slapped his cheek. The bare forearms emerged from the sleeves, and the places where they had been cut before were as smooth as new. And he was never infected.

"You're not going to die. No... Absolutely not... Deal... I'll be with you. ”

An ironic scene. Not long ago, I thought about saving the girl and making the other party owe me a great favor. And at this moment, he is ready to use his life to compensate the other party. He slit his wrist with a knife and dripped blood on the girl's lips. It seems that the results of this are clearly predictable. At least in modern medicine, it has not been heard that people with antibodies can overload antibodies into patients through blood. Wang Xu just had the mentality of giving it a try, after all, there was no way out now.

Blood beads red the girl's lips and slowly flowed down Aji's mouth. Soon after, Wang Xu fell on Aji's body and fainted. Confused, he felt a chill in his wrist. Then the body became cold, as if falling into an ice cave. Surrounded by cold.

In his dream, he saw Xia Yunnuo as he wished. He was lying on his wife's lap, full of happiness, but Yun Nuo lowered his head and looked at him and kept crying. Tears rolled down and hit the face, cool.

"Yunnuo..."

Wang Xu raised his weak arm, touched his wife's cheek, and tried to wipe away the other party's tears. It's all so real. He looked stupidly.

"Shaojun..."

In the same autumn, the yellow leaves creaked when they were trampled, and the boy and the girl in the pink dress walked forward in the schoolyard. The girl's two peach blossoms were printed on her cheeks, and she shyly tilted her head sideways, clinging to the shoulders of the sweaty but smiling boy. As he walked, the boy tilted his head timidly, as if he wanted to peek at the girl, but was noticed by the other party. The girl sneered, and she was full of charm.

"Huh. Thanks...."

"No... It's okay. ”

A gust of wind lifted the girl's long hair and covered the faces of the two, and the fallen leaves flying in the sky made this withered autumn full of life. The girl pecked him lightly on the face, then put it in his ear and whispered:

"I... Like you. ”

The boy suddenly felt dizzy, and felt that his facial features were instantly magnified. The face was hot, and even the skin of the arm holding the girl's skirt was immediately ignited, and every cell was beating restlessly.

He never imagined that he would be so lucky today. Unexpectedly, I met the girl I liked and injured my foot, and I happened to pass by. carried the girl to the infirmary, and was confessed on the way. It all came so fast that it was like a dream. They are people who live in two worlds, and the gap is not half a star, and the two do not have much contact. The boy has always had a crush on each other, and he never realized that the girl was thinking the same way. He couldn't stop asking himself, was he dreaming? I can't tell the difference between reality and dreams anymore.

Then the doorman uncle ruthlessly interrupted his reverie. Obviously, there were eyewitnesses to the scene just now. The boy didn't have time to be happy, so he yelled and scolded the other person. Claiming to take them to the teaching office, it is immoral to be in the school in broad daylight. Then the two became anxious. The girl said that if the boy could not run away with her on his back, he would take back what he had just said. So the boys seemed to have infinite strength, and they ran away laughing in the schoolyard...

"Are you awake? Sickness... Okay? ”

Wang Xu asked Ah Ji weakly, but the other party just cried silently and did not answer. He saw that the little girl's cheeks were white and there was no scar. Even the imprint on the forehead has become a little smaller. It is obscured by messy hair, and it is difficult to detect without looking closely. Maybe it was too much blood left, and he fell asleep after saying a word.

After two days of recuperation, Wang Xu looked like a dragon and a tiger again. He kept looking around Aji, wondering how his blood could work so well. Not only is the scar on his wrist gone, but there is not a single acne scar on Aji's face. How can this be explained? Completely out of line with scientific common sense.

Aji was busy as usual, but a little distant. The girl was as if she had met her for the first time, and she had not dared to look at her since she woke up, and she looked extremely respectful.

"Aji! Can I make a request for you? ”

"The young gentleman commanded, and the slave did not dare to disobey."

"Why is it a young gentleman and a slave... Didn't we say that we should be called brother and sister? ”

"Brother... Brother"

"That's good! Aji... Can I take off my mask? You're not ugly? Why do you keep wearing a mask? How strange. ”

The girl seemed to be a little embarrassed, and was about to explain, but was interrupted by Wang Xu first.

"Don't say no. I'm your savior. Listen to your benefactor. ”

The little girl nodded obediently and took off the mask on her face. It's just a small hand that keeps pulling the long unkempt hair on the forehead, as if trying to cover the scar. Later, she told Wang Xu that she was a slave, and although she had always claimed to be the slave of the young master, if she was questioned by the officials, it would inevitably bring trouble. For whether the slavery has been eliminated or not, Aj does not know. Her previous owners abandoned her, apparently believing that she would not survive. And Wang Xu couldn't come up with a contract to prove that Aji belonged to his property. Therefore, if it is discovered by someone with a heart, the consequences are self-evident. In these years, killing a fugitive slave is the same as killing a chicken, and there is no need to pursue any legal responsibility.

Wang Xu promised to follow the girl to the back mountain again, this time still digging birds' eggs. The family's food storage is urgent, if you don't reserve it, you will starve to death in winter, I am afraid it is inevitable. Aji plans to complete all the work that was left behind today today. He is also going to catch a few snakes to make up for Wang Xu's body. When Wang Xu learned about it, his hair stood on end and advised the girl not to take risks. After all, snake venom is no joke, and besides, he can't detoxify. The snake's body is full of parasites, and it is not cleanly handled, and it will cause kidney failure or something, so how can it be good?

"If you want to catch the snake, I won't stop you. But... I definitely don't eat... It's disgusting. Eat it yourself. Just leave the snakeskin to me. Just make a couple of belts. ”

In some things, Wang Xu couldn't convince Aji. The girl is unusually stubborn. He couldn't take the initiative to use the identity of the young master to suppress the other party. It's a bit contrived to seem like you're hypocritical. Especially after Aji realized the humility of the upper and lower levels, the whole day of kneeling and honorifics was more terrible than a poisonous snake.

He thought so. Suddenly, the girl raised her hand and pressed it on his shoulder. If you don't feel like squatting, your bones will fall apart immediately. So the two of them bent on their waists and squatted in place. I saw Aji probing his brain and looking into the distance. Wang Xu asked in a low voice:

"What's wrong?"

Aji pointed to the marks on the ground, and the leaves seemed to have been trampled on. Wang Xu was immediately excited.

"There are beasts? What beast? Can you see that? ”

"It's not a beast, it's a man."

In the wilderness, it seems that meeting a man is more terrible than meeting a wild beast. Wang Xu covered his mouth and didn't dare to make a sound. Coming into this world, Aji was the first living person he encountered. The girl's outfit scared him half to death. I really don't know, what would it be like to bump into a few tall savages? Seeing the girl's cautious appearance, Wang Xu was even more worried. The little girl picked up a fallen leaf that had been trampled, observed it carefully, and sniffed it on the tip of her nose. Then his eyes narrowed into a slit, like a fox. The corners of his mouth rose slightly, revealing a shallow smile.

"It's Uncle Li."

The girl's words made him have question marks written all over his face? Who is Uncle Lee? I don't know. He was more curious about how Aji could know who the other party was from a trampled leaf? Is this outrageous? Could it be that you smell each other? Wang Xu didn't believe in evil, picked up the leaf, put it in front of his nose and kept sniffing. Nothing could be smelled except the fresh smell of the earth. The same human beings, why is there such a big gap? The girl could sense the weather with the palm of her hand, but his old cold legs couldn't. The girl can identify people with her sense of smell, and his nose seems to be just an ornament.

When I saw Uncle Li in Ah Ji's mouth, my doubts were solved. The square-looking and plainly dressed peasant man's eyes lit up when he saw Ah Ji. As if there was some surprise, his eyes looked back and forth on the girl. He waited until Aji asked, and then he spoke.

"It turned out to be Aji girl. Remember? You brought your uncle here two years ago. At that time, I stumbled upon a few sumac trees. Since then, every autumn comes, they come to cut lacquer. These clay paint treasures! Take it to the city and exchange it for some rice. Last year, I just tried it, but I didn't expect this soil paint to be of the highest quality, better than the paint of Bashu. ”

Uncle Li explained while carefully pouring the lacquer inside the mussel shell into the bamboo tube. Holding a large leaf in his hand, he carefully wipes the mussel shell with the leaf after pouring the lacquer inside the shell, as if he had finished washing. The upper layer of lacquer is a viscous, yellow-brown liquid that resembles melted chocolate. And the lower layer is milky white, more like cream. I saw that Ah Ji stepped forward very politely to help Uncle Li put away the clam shell.

"Beware! This paint cannot be touched at will. If you accidentally get the lacquer poison, you will get a rash. It doesn't get better for a few days, and the scab will not go away unless it is smeared with leek leaves. It's best not to touch the girl, if you leave a pox scar, you won't be able to marry in the future. That uncle is guilty. Hahaha. ”

Wang Xu, who was standing behind Ah Ji, was like being struck by lightning. It turned out that the bark that had fallen off before was cut a year ago. How could he have thought that the white liquid and wet sawdust were not resin, but lacquer? Aji's accidental poisoning must have been caused by his own resin. And the poison has been hidden in the wooden box at the side of the patient's bed, which is the main reason for the illness compared to feeding Ah Ji bamboo shoots.

Cold sweat unconsciously broke out from his forehead. It's really uneducated, and it's terrible. The initiator of everything turned out to be himself. He swallowed his saliva, only to feel that his throat was like a fire, and his mouth was dry. He, the life-saving benefactor, is really shameless. At this moment, I finally understood that Aji was not chickenpox, but skin allergies. I wanted to make some oil lighting, but I almost killed Aji.

After a period of heart palpitations, Wang Xu was even more strange. He didn't feel any discomfort the whole time. And it is an indisputable fact that his own blood saved Aji's life. Not even the two of them were left with scars. He remembered that when he was injured in the chest, it took many days to heal. Why was it so quick this time? He vaguely felt that this new body was a little weird.

"I've seen Childe Cicada! If it weren't for Gongzi Cicada to rescue him that day, I'm afraid the villain's life would not be guaranteed. I don't thank you for my great kindness, I will be rewarded one day. ”

Maybe Ah Ji is relatively tall and blocks Wang Xu. The man named Li Cang didn't notice his presence for a while. When I found out, I suddenly became respectful. I don't talk and laugh with Aji like before. At this time, the word life-saving benefactor is like a mockery of allergies for Wang Xu.

"Hello! Uncle Li. ”

Li Cang maintained a posture of clenching his fists and saluting, looking at the other party in surprise. He vaguely remembered that the young man used to always call him Li Dazhuang. Now that he is so polite, he scares himself. You look at me, I look at you. The four eyes met, and they froze there for a moment. They all seem to feel that the other party has a strange feeling that can't be said somewhere. The strong man dressed as a farmer in front of him is clearly bookish in his bones.

Li Cang was the first to speak to break the deadlock at this time.

"Childe's injuries are fine, right?"

Wang Xu was still pondering the other party, and he thought that all the books in his home could be opened in a library. Perhaps the people who live in this world generally have a higher level of cultural recuperation. Although Li Cang talks wittily and deliberately belittles himself, it is difficult to hide the good education he once received. After all, a person's recuperation can't be pretended.

"The young master's injuries are no longer serious. Uncle Lao bothered. ”

"That's good. Everyone is still worried. If you have some leisure, please go to the Humble House. The villain beckoned his neighbors to come and pay their respects to Gong En. ”

Seeing that he was silent, Aji hurriedly accosted him so as not to be rude. The other party was not surprised by Wang Xu's silence, and he was no longer as restrained as before when he spoke. It's more like I had expected it to be so ordinary, but it seemed relaxed and natural. After a while, Li Cang finished collecting the raw lacquer. Before leaving, he was still carefully smearing green sap on the trunks of the few cut sumac trees.

"Aji! What is this Li Cang doing? ”

"Uncle Li is a farmer at the foot of Yunmeng Mountain. Did my brother forget? Your previous favorite... Playing with the two children of Uncle Li's family. ”

Speaking of this, the girl seemed to recall the unbearable past of the young master, and she showed a smile.

Instead of being puzzled, it is better to let Aji lead the way to visit the door another day. It can not only enhance the feelings between neighbors, but also dispel doubts in the heart. Isn't it the best of both worlds? Li Cang's appearance made Wang Xu deeply interested, what is hidden in a farmer who knows how to cut lacquer and talks extraordinary?

Then Ah Ji took out the bird's eggs, and Wang Xu chopped wood, and was busy until the sun was about to set. Only then did they return to the cave together, and the first thing Wang Xu did when he returned home was to immediately destroy the barrel of lacquer that almost killed Ah Ji. Fortunately, the girl didn't know about the illness. Otherwise, Wang Xu's image of a good big brother will definitely collapse in the girl's heart.

In the evening, Wang Xu asked Ah Ji why he didn't take the armor in the cave to the city to exchange money. In this way, their quality of life can also be improved a lot. The girl first explained to him the value of bronze in this era. Only then did I know that the value of a bronze dagger was not something that ordinary people could have. I finally understood why Aji kept the fragments left behind when making the tool before.

In these years, craftsmen were under the control of the government, and weapons could not be bought and sold at will. It takes a lot of copper to forge a sword, and if you walk down the street with a sword in hand, people will respect you and avoid you. Because not everyone could afford a bronze sword, and even in the army, only officers were issued short swords. And the children of aristocratic families used the sword as a symbol of status.

If he only wears a sword alone, outsiders will not suspect it. It's nothing more than envy that the person with the sword has money in his family, or behind a meritorious general. However, if you openly buy and sell weapons, the nature is different.

After Ah Ji's explanation, Wang Xu realized why there were so many strange weapon parts in his home. In fact, the reason is very simple, bronze is the material used to make money, used to make weapons, of course, the less material is used, the better. This is also the reason why in the later stages of the war, those strange weapons were replaced by spears. As long as you make a sharp spear tip and insert a wooden stick, you can equip sergeants in large quantities, which is low cost and meets the needs of large-scale wars.

Wang Xu couldn't help but admire himself, and interpreted the relationship between war and weapons development from the other side. It seems that the sword forged by the skilled craftsmen of the Great Zhou Dynasty is just an ornament used by the children of the clan to show off their status. It is more used to look handsome when wiping the neck. He thought there would always be pawnshops or black markets or something like that, but he hadn't been in the city and hadn't found it yet. Otherwise, what do the so-called charlatans and assassins do to fight with people? It's ridiculous to think about.

A few days later, Wang Xu finally looked forward to the first opportunity to go out. Aji took him to the Li family at the foot of the mountain, and the girl carried a lot of leather goods. said that when he asked Li Cang to go to Qicheng to sell raw lacquer, he sold these leather goods by the way. Swap out some rice for the winter. And Wang Xu stuffed two pairs of newly made leather boots to Ah Ji, hoping that Uncle Li could sell them together. He wanted to see if his craft could make money to support his family in this era.

Yunmeng Mountain is located in the territory of Qi County, Henan Province in the later generations, less than 100 miles northeast is the old capital of the Shang Dynasty. Today, it is the capital of the country. A hundred miles to the east is the most prosperous subordinate town of the country - Qicheng. These two cities are now the political and economic centers of the Kingdom of David. Civilians like them could not directly enter the capital of the country, and the control of the fiefdom was very strict in those years. The people under the rule of the fief were not allowed to leave without reason, and if they were caught, they could be treated as fugitive slaves. Being looted is a trivial matter, and if you save your life because of it, it will be worth the loss.

The Great Zhou's feudal system was similar to the castle age in the West. The owners of the feuds would build cities and walls, and then monopolize the market by opening markets from time to time, and the people under their jurisdiction could only be slaughtered by them. Controlling the largest profits from the salt and copper exchanges, and the long-term stability, seems to have become the rule of the game for a hundred years. However, Qicheng is a distribution center for trade between the kingdom and other countries, and the control here is relatively relaxed. Perhaps it is because the trade between the countries is too frequent for there to be enough public officials to monitor it. Therefore, Qicheng has become the best choice for black households like them who evade state taxes and hide in the mountains to escape the world.