"Wasn't the people of the world all the people in the world extremely poor and poor, without food and clothing?" Chongwen was eight years old that year, and he was deeply impressed by Star Swirl as he traveled around the country to help the disaster.

"Oh, yes. Deserted south leads thieves. I thought that only the people in our village were like this one after another, and I didn't know until I went out! Therefore, most of the thieves from near and far came to our village to plunder the village. Speaking of this, the staff member paused, and then added thoughtfully: "Fortunately, Elder She in our village has always spoken very accurately, and everyone packed up their things overnight and fled with their children and daughters...... Hey, at that time, the disaster came, and it was inevitable that some people would be seriously injured unintentionally, and Yue'er was born in the troubled times, so that she can live a good life so far, which is also a miracle. On the day she was born, there was no one who knew anything about it, so she thought she would be stillborn, but she survived. After that, except for noisy and banging, there was almost no major incident. It's been seven, eight, ten years, and I haven't seen any catastrophes, but the kid is very strong. ”

Chongwen smiled, his hands were facing back, and his body shook leisurely. Thinking of the portrait on the temple wall, his beautiful eyes narrowed into a curved arc of crescent, but the smile on his face became more modest and gentle.

"Brother, that little girl is really pitiful. As she struggled, I saw that she still had scars on her arms, old and new! Her stepmother came over and beat her in front of us, but I don't know what else she will do behind people's backs! ”

"Speaking of which, hey......"

Chongwu was completely shocked by Yue'er's experience, and followed Chongwen back to the room to rest, still chattering in his mouth, and his heart was very uneasy. "She is so young, only seven or eight years old, and a little girl of seven or eight years old can have such a miserable experience. When he was eight years old, he enjoyed the love of his parents, how could he have imagined that there were still people in the world who had such a hard time! ”

"To each man has a life. Next year, if you go on a study tour alone and pick some remote and poor places, you will find that such accidents are not uncommon. Chongwen sighed in his heart. This year is the last year he came out to study with Chongwu, and next year he will have to accept the title in a proper manner, and in his fiefdom, he will assume all the rights and obligations derived from his title of "Nanxia Jun".

His younger brother Chongwu is three years younger than him, eleven or twelve years old this year. He still has three years to travel freely, and those responsibilities and obligations are still some distance away from him.

Chongwen and Chongwu were not princely and noble, but they were two of Star Swirl's apprentices. From that moment on, the two were appointed by the emperor as the heirs to the title and fief, and when they went to Beijing at the age of 16 to officially accept the emperor's decree, they had to take on the responsibility of the prosperity of the empire and work hard for the prosperity, glory and wealth of their country.

Chongwen's fiefdom is to the south, and this place is the southernmost city near the sea in the frontier.

"But...... Elder brother! I still don't understand, you just said that such accidents are not unusual, so you ...... So why do you care about her like that? ”

"What?! I care about her? Will I care about her?! Brother, you were still pitying the fragrance and cherishing the jade just now. This will say me again? Let me tell you this, I'm different from you, I'm ...... I just saw the 'ghost drawings' she drew on the temple wall and thought it was a little strange! Strange, strange, a little curious in my heart, curious...... Oh, didn't you listen to what the guy said just now, I haven't had a good life for a few days since I was born......

Chongwen talked a lot, Chongwu couldn't understand Chongwen's words if he wanted to break his head, and his pink and tender face was wrinkled into a pile in the facial features that had not yet opened. At this time, he hated that he was still a baby face, but more often he still enjoyed it, using this baby face to exaggerate all his thoughts and emotions, and he could get some unexpected facial feedback.

"Brother, what are you...... I think otherwise, this time you will be satisfied with your heroism, eh? ”

"Okay! Okay! My brother finally understood the righteousness. "Chongwen's slender white jade hands, tightening his belt, with a robe warm as jade, the corners of his eyes and eyebrows can't hide the smile, elegant as Lan Linfeng's temperament, indescribable romance." Okay, let's go and meet that 'ghost drawing' girl tomorrow. ”

"Brother, I don't understand, the name of the 'ghost drawing talisman' on the wall is nine out of ten like the one in the book, this is too coincidental, right? She's only eight years old, and besides, to put it bluntly, she's a village girl, how many books can she read? Looking at what happened to her, she shouldn't have seen anything in the market, and she didn't go to school. Chongwu frowned slightly, reached out and grabbed his hair, his eyes full of confusion.

"Where are so many words, maybe it's a coincidence? Let's go back to our room and rest, we need to go home before the beginning of autumn. Chongwen lifted his index finger and tapped Chongwu's head, smiling like a spring sun.

"Brother, you just understood the righteousness and said that I should be brave and righteous, and at this time you said that you were going back, you don't ......"

"My good brother, this time and that time, learning between a thousand changes, can't adapt, how can you become a big thing? For the benefit of this world? ”

On the second day, Chongwen and Chongwu said goodbye and continued to hurry.

Riding a horse along the small river to the west, when they reached the mouth of the West Village, they saw a group of people around the small temple, pointing and talking about something. Chongwen didn't care about nosy, and continued to walk on a horse; Chongwu rode high on the horse, looked at the middle of the crowd, and found Yue'er's figure with sharp eyes, so he shouted: "Brother, look at it, it's yesterday's little girl." ”

Chongwen couldn't help but stop, rode his horse and turned around, and before he could take a closer look, he saw that Chongwu had already dismounted and drilled into the center of the crowd. In the middle of the crowd was Yue'er. In addition to Yue'er, there was another man, about thirty years old, born with horizontal eyebrows and a straight mouth, holding a crutch in his left hand, looking at his size and actions, he was actually a lame man.

"What are you seeing?! Her father and mother took my money last night and sold her to me as a little daughter-in-law, what do you think?! What's so weird?! Scattered, scattered, scattered for me! Otherwise, don't blame me for being unsympathetic with the crutches in my hand! The lame man yelled at the crowd of onlookers in a thick voice, and chased people away with his stick.

"What? She was so young, she sold you as a daughter-in-law? It is the crisp children's voice of Chongwu that reverberates throughout the Yangchang slope. Chongwen couldn't stop it, so he had to turn over and dismount and gradually approach.

Yue'er was lying on the ground, her hands were tied behind her back, her feet were tied by corroded and rusty chains, and she saw her hair messy and her small body kept crawling forward. A body of loess, a body of holes, and one end of the rope that bound her hands was impressively on the lame hand. She didn't pay attention to the crowd of onlookers, nor did she look at the person who spoke, just stubbornly faced, buried her head and crawled forward, she desperately told herself: After this pass, as long as she escaped, everything would be fine.

After a while, someone couldn't bear to look at it anymore and shook his head and left. The crowd of onlookers gradually retreated, but the onlookers were still talking and sighing.

When the lame man saw someone jumping out to speak, he was still a child, and his voice became louder. "Her father and mother accepted my money, and the deed of sale and the marriage contract are still in my hands!" He put the rope in his hand and put it in his hand holding the crutch, took out two pieces of paper into his arms with his free hand, shook it at Chongwu Yaowu, and signaled him to retreat quickly.

The yellowed and crumpled dot ink paper had tadpole-like handwriting, and with the movement of his hand, a clear flush was clearly visible at the end of the paragraph.

"She's not my mother, she's not my mother......" Yue'er screamed like crazy, ripped off the rusty chain and got up and ran forward, the lame man pulled the rope hard, she was like a lead kite blown away by the wind, the lame man only moved his hand, and planted her straight back to the ground.

What the little daughter-in-law means, she knows, she understands. But what does it mean to be a lame daughter-in-law who is many years older than herself, she knows, she understands better! But this cognition seems to be the same as a memory hidden in the mind, and when you think about it, it is blank but also a kind of torture. She only knew that she couldn't be this person's daughter-in-law, she could endure the beating and scolding of her father and mother at home, and she could endure the bullying of her younger brother. She can even wander alone and endure starvation, but she can't bear to be the old lame little daughter-in-law who pulls the rope.

The thought of her becoming this man's daughter-in-law made her feel like an endless torment, and a kind of horror that she couldn't even think of.

"Brother, brother, let's save her!" Chongwu ran to Chongwen in three steps and two steps, panting because of anger and excitement, and his face was strangely red.

Chongwen had a smile on his face, luxurious and elegant, his slender white jade hand went steadily towards his back, his eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, he glanced at the lame man, reached out and took out a golden ingots from his arms, handed it to him, but his eyes moved to Yue'er, and said lightly: "Since you bought your daughter-in-law, why don't you sell it to me now!" ”

Yue'er finally glanced sideways at him, and her stubborn upper teeth bit her lower lip fiercely, and at the moment when her upper teeth were loosened, there were deep tooth marks left on her lower lip. Even when she ran away, screamed, or fell, there was no sign of tears in her eyes. At this moment, she cried, and the tears that hung on her cheeks trickled like a mountain stream between the thick earthy ravines. The mud on his face was instantly blurred.

But his body was still dirty, and it was still the same tattered clothes from yesterday, but at this time he was disheveled and embarrassed.

The lame man looked at a golden ingot, stunned for a long time, and before he came to his senses, his hands instinctively loosened the rope, and he was stunned for a while, the sun was spicy at noon, the golden light became more and more dazzling, and a golden light pierced into the lame's cloudy eyes, and he woke up for a while, and happily exchanged the gold ingots with the deed of sale and the marriage contract.