In the south of the capital, under the Yongding Gate City.

As soon as the day dawned, the defenders, dressed in overcoats and yawning, staggered down from the towers and creaked open the two heavy gates.

A dusty carriage had apparently been waiting under the city for a long time.

The coachman, who was napping, shouted when he saw that he was starting to let go, and led the reins of his horse to the city gate.

"Where did you guys come from? What are you doing in a hurry to go into the city this early in the morning? The defender asked.

"Hui Ye's words. We are from Shandong, the little one is the coachman in the family of the wooden man in the city, and this trip is entrusted by the lord to go to the hometown to pick up the young lady and return home. Because he was in a hurry to enter the Beijing draft, he was in a hurry along the way. The coachman replied truthfully.

The defender looked at the coachman a few times and said, "Lord Mu? Which one is Wood-sama? There are a lot of adults surnamed Mu in this city. Dare to ask your family's name, where is the errand gate? And where do you live? ”

The coachman said respectfully: "If you go back to your father, my family's name is Mu Lingzhu, and my wife said that my lord used to be an errand boy in the Ministry of Rites, and now he has just been transferred to Long Live to serve as a four-grade ceremony, and his family lives in Xuanwumen Tan'er Hutong." ”

"Oh." The defender drooped his eyelids, came to the door of the carriage car, lifted the curtain and looked inside, it was indeed a beautiful little girl, and raised his hand and waved. He said, "Let's go......"

"Yes." The groom saluted, turned around and took the reins, and turned over and jumped into the carriage.

"Gotta ...... ......With a loud shout, the four wheels of the carriage squeaked and twisted, and slowly headed north.

The defenders looked at the direction in which they disappeared, missed their own children in the countryside, lit a bag of dry tobacco, smoked it, and said to themselves: "Such an older girl, send it all the way to the palace, can't you give it to a good family, this father's heart is iron." ”

As he spoke, the carriage had entered the city.

After passing the Hufang Bridge Glaze Factory, turning a few corners, the carriage stopped steadily at the door of an inconspicuous black house at the entrance of the alley.

The coachman got out of the car and respectfully reported to the person sitting in the car: "Miss, we have arrived." ”

This eldest lady came all the way to Mu Lan in the capital with a letter from her father.

In the summer of this year, due to several days of continuous heavy rains, part of the Yellow River in Shandong and Hebei provinces burst its banks, washing away many homes and pastorals.

The road was muddy and bumpy, without food and clothing, and they walked very uneasily.

Fortunately, before leaving, her mother Ying brought enough dry food and clothes for Mu Lan, so that when they passed through the disaster area, they did not suffer from freezing and starvation with the victims.

Along the way, Mu Lan saw many groups of refugees fleeing from the disaster area.

There are strong men who starve to death on the side of the road, there are old people who are hobbling, and there are young children who are crying and crying.

Also, in order to fear that the children would die of illness and starvation along the way, they dragged their children to the side of the road, put straw sticks in their hair, and shouted at the father and mother who sold their children.

Every time Mu Lan saw such a tragic situation, she couldn't help but quietly take out some dry food and give it to the children, the elderly, or the frail mothers, and pregnant women who dragged their children in the group.

The coachman first persuaded him with good words, fearing that Mu Lan would send all the rations he brought, and they would have to die on the way.

Later, it was useless to persuade her, and the eldest lady seemed to have a very correct idea.

No matter how he persuaded him, he was still polite to him, but every time he seemed to be relying on compressing his own rations and giving away the savings to passers-by.

I didn't eat much for this meal, and the next meal was only half of this meal, and I saw that I was living by hanging a mouthful of fairy breath, and I gave away the little ration I had left every day.

is already thinner than Huanghua, if he continues like this, will he still be able to enter Beijing alive?

There are many poor people in the world, come here.

Besides, people are reluctant to eat such a little ration, he just wants to, and he doesn't dare to eat more.

The acid reflux water in the stomach every day can only be poured with bowls of cold water to make it a little better.

He didn't want to starve to death, and the old mothers, daughters-in-law, and children in the countryside all pointed to him to feed him alone.

Therefore, if he couldn't stop Mu Lan, he stopped those refugees.

The refugees are about to go crazy with hunger, and they are much worse than the eldest lady.

A little dry food in your hand, you give it here, and the straight eyebrows over there come to ask for it.

He had to often whip the whip in his hand in the air to "crackle", so that these people were afraid to disperse far away.

But there are also those who don't want to die, and the stalker is dragging his legs.

If he couldn't stop the refugees, he didn't stop, waited until he saw the boundary where no one was there, rested for a while, and continued on his way.

In this way, the horses whipped all the way, running to the capital in the wind and rain, and the people and horses were like outlaws, desperately moving north day and night.

Now the old horse knew the way, and knew that when he arrived at the door of the house, he snorted, and lay motionless in front of his house, as if he was dead, and he had no strength to breathe.

Mu Lan was also too tired and hungry for a long time, and since she crossed the Baoding Boundary, she fell asleep all the way.

It wasn't until I heard the creak of the city gate opening just now that they knew that they had reached the south of the city. Listening to the conversation between the coachman and the defenders, the person was much more sober.

At this time, I felt that the carriage slowly stopped, and after a little pinching of the hour, I knew that I had finally arrived home.

"Miss, don't be impatient, the little one will go to the concierge to spread the news." The coachman reported outside.

Mu Lan felt that the sky was already bright, and couldn't help but pick up the curtain and look out.

The house in front of me has a gray wall and a black wall, two mottled ebony wooden doors, and a plaque with the word "Mufu" hanging high on the door.

My father is gone and has not returned for ten years. But she can still recognize that the two words written on the plaque must be her father's Mobao.

Because I arrived too early, there was silence in the high-walled courtyard of the house.

The streets were also empty, bleak and lonely.

Mu Lan slowly lowered the curtain and reached out to gently comb her hair and clothes.

I don't know what my mother is doing now, whether she will be too sad because of her departure.

The situation of the family has not been easy these years, the subordinates who were originally invited have already been dismissed one by one, there is no one else in the family, and everything has to rely on themselves.

What will her mother do when she leaves?

When she saw her father, she must ask her father when she could bring her mother to the capital, so that their family of three could be reunited.

I remember that when my father was transferred, she was still a three-year-old child.

Now, ten years later, she has grown taller than her mother, but she can only see her father face to face.

The father wrote to him that he was busy with affairs in Beijing, and he only hoped that their mother and daughter would take care of themselves, and that when he had a foothold in the capital, he would definitely come to pick up their mother and daughter to come to Beijing and the family would be reunited.

Time passed suddenly, how many days and nights, in the hope and suffering of her mother together, passed lightly.

And in a faint disappointment, along the unspeakable fingertips, turned into one after another, old dreams that could neither be possessed nor faded.

When she sees her today, will she not be able to help crying for her mother who is waiting alone at home in front of her father, who has not seen her for ten years.