May.

It's getting a little hot.

Somewhere on the official road leading to the southwest, a small teahouse is doing quite well.

In the past, most of the merchants would stop and drink a bowl of herbal tea soaked in the well water to cool off the heat, and then eat some food at will, which was also a rare rest during the journey.

In the afternoon of this day.

It's past dinner, and the business of this small teahouse is still good.

After finishing this group of guests, Xiao Er glanced at the official road in front of the door, there were not many people who came and went, and he was just about to take a nap and rest.

But I didn't want to, at this moment, a young man walked in the store.

It seemed that he was more dusty than the others, and his light gray shirt was covered with dust, and even a few damages.

But after a closer look, I feel that the appearance is dignified, the figure is straight, and the gestures are quite extraordinary, if it were not for the slightly green face, it looks like a calm knight.

"It can't be said that he is a troubled son of a large family, and there have been constant wars in these years, and even the Son of Heaven has often been exchanged. Rich today, tomorrow is a common thing. "As the second brother of the official road, I have seen a lot of guests who come and go, and I am somewhat blind.

Thinking in his heart, his face was full of smiles, and he began to greet the young man.

A son like this kind of fallen son can't be lazy, now the situation is uncertain, after the big fall, who knows if it won't be a big one?

"What do you want to use, this son?" The little second brother is enthusiastic.

The young man looked a little shy: "I want a bowl of tea, and some dry food, and you can just look at the food with two things." ”

"Okay." The little second brother greeted him, thought of something again, quietly crouched in the young man's ear, and whispered: "Guest officer, don't hide it." A batch of ploughing cattle just died here, and our shopkeeper took a lot of effort to get one. Therefore, in the past two days, the small shop has good beef for sale, and the guest officer wants to come to serve a plate. Everyone knows that beef has a lot of strength. ”

"No need, vegetarian dishes are fine, as long as you can eat a full stomach." As he spoke, the young man became more and more shy.

The second brother promised in his mouth, but he knew it in his heart, and couldn't help but sigh, in the end, it was in trouble, otherwise this kind of boy and brother would travel far away, where would it not be a luxury carriage, and the food would be prepared exquisitely? You don't need to go to a small shop like yourself to eat coarse tea and light rice. Asking others if they want to eat this high-priced beef is also mouthy.

This was originally a small episode of the shop, and not many people took it seriously.

After all, this tea shop close to the official road, there are more customers coming and going, who is not?

But Xiao Er said about the beef, but the two people next to him listened to it, and they had to discuss: "Brother Zhang, did you hear it?" It's another batch of ploughing cattle, and even this kind of small shop next to the official road has got one. That's a lot. ”

When the person who was called Brother Zhang heard this, he seemed a little annoyed, raised the teahouse, drank most of the bowl in one go, and then wiped his mouth and said, "Is this thing new?" In the nearby county seat, beef can be bought at almost every inn and restaurant. As he spoke, Brother Zhang lowered his voice and said in a voice that could only be heard by the two of them: "Fools can know that something is wrong, and the beef that can usually be eaten is the old and dead cow." But how can so many cows die at one time? Brother Liu, if you think about this carefully, can you make sense? ”

When Brother Liu heard this, he couldn't help but sigh, frowned, and guessed for a long time, and then said: "Little brother can't guess, and I don't dare to guess, Brother Zhang is doing things in the county government, if it's convenient, please make it clear." ”

"Hey." The brother sighed, looked around, and then whispered, "Actually, it's nothing to say?" These cattle are actually from Weihe Village, understand? ”

"Huh? Didn't the people in the village just point to the ploughing oxen for food? How can it be? "Then Brother Liu is puzzled.

"The problem is that all the people in the village are dead, leaving behind this batch of ploughing cattle?" The brother Zhang glanced at Brother Liu meaningfully, put a piece of beef in his mouth, chewed it carefully, took another bite of the bun, and didn't say any more.

Brother Liu's face was shocked, and it took a long time before he said: "Although in this world now, wars are frequent. But in the past few years, the new emperor has ascended to the throne, and there has been no war? Isn't it?"

"It's not like you want to be like that! There is no saying that there will be another war. I'm just whispering a reminder to you, could it be that you forgot the tragedy in Xiaolong Town, not far away, more than ten years ago? Brother Liu said mysteriously.

At this time, a sudden 'snap' sound interrupted the conversation between the two, and the two couldn't help but turn their heads at the same time before they had time to discuss anything.

only to find that it was the young man's chopsticks next door that fell to the ground.

Looking at the eyes of the two, the young man blushed slightly, quickly picked up the chopsticks from the ground, nodded apologetically at the two, and continued to bury his head in eating his simple meal, as if it was some kind of delicacies.

It turned out that the young man was in too much of a hurry to eat, and the chopsticks fell to the ground.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time, not paying too much attention to this little thing, and began to discuss it again.

Speaking of the tragedy in nearby Xiaolong Town more than ten years ago, although the official pressure is pressed and it is said that bandits slaughtered the city, the people have always speculated.

The two of them were originally just discussing in a whisper, but how famous is the tragedy in Xiaolong Town? The two of them inevitably became louder and louder, attracting the surrounding diners.

Brother Zhang couldn't hide the matter of Hewan Village, so he simply said his guess, thinking that he should have encountered the same thing as Xiaolong Town, and the county government didn't dare to say anything.

Everyone was in full swing of discussion, and an old man who seemed to be quite knowledgeable couldn't help but sigh: "If the world is prosperous, there are very few things that this monster makes trouble." If there is a constant war in the world, there will be monsters who will take advantage of the war to come out and make waves. After all, this kind of thing is rarely recorded in the official history, and even if it is recorded, it can hardly be said to be a natural disaster*. But he has pity on the people in the midst of the trouble, and who is there who has come out to administer justice to them? ”

"Justice? There must be someone, the world is so big, there will be no shortage of talented people. Let's just talk about my aunt" was discussed again.

Not noticing at all, in this small tea shop, a young man had quietly checked out and left the place.

Only after the little second brother settled the account for the young man, he muttered in his heart, his bearing is so extraordinary, why is he like hungry for many days?

Looking down, the cups, plates and bowls in front of the young man were all clean, and there was no food left, as if they had been washed.

There is no doubt that this 'hungry' boy is Nie Yan not long after coming down the mountain.

On that day, he went down the nameless mountain to look for a sword.

After getting the sword, it took half a month and hard work to get out of that deserted place.

Fortunately, I spent half a month hunting and left some animal fur intentionally or unintentionally, exchanged for some money, and found that the world was so big that I was at a loss and didn't know where to go.

I made up my mind to go to Xiaolong Town, where my parents died, first.

But I didn't want to hear this conversation in this tea shop, it seems that the evil rebellion has never stopped, and there is a river bay village near here that has been poisoned again.

It's just that I don't know, is the monster who made trouble the same monster as the monster in Xiaolong Town?

If so, Nie Yan was alone carrying the iron sword wrapped in cloth and walking on the official road, with a lot of thoughts in his heart.

The closer I get to my hometown, the clearer the yellowed memories become.

Speaking of monsters, I naturally remembered the big black snake, with blood-red eyes, my father's figure in the belly of the snake, and the miserable howl of the people of Xiaolong Town that night.

I think of the warm candlelight at home, the silhouette of my mother sewing clothes for myself under the candlelight, and the smile of my father when he teases him.

couldn't help but feel desolate in his heart, and secretly decided that he had to go to Hewan Village to see if it was the same monster who was messing around.

It's another early morning after the day.

A figure appeared in a deserted place.

It seems that this place has been uninhabited for a long time, with broken walls, overgrown weeds, and desolate vines, and it is no longer possible to see what kind of place this once was.

I'm afraid that after a few decades, the traces left here will be completely annihilated, and after a hundred years, I am afraid that no one will remember that this is the former - Xiaolong Town.

After rushing overnight, even Nie Yan's body was a little tired.

But when he set foot on the place of birth again, looking at this desolation and desolation, Nie Yan still couldn't help but feel sad.

Ordinary people's memories when they were young are naturally vague, but he remembers everything so clearly, walking here, he suddenly felt that the people at that time, the things at that time were in front of him.

The old streets are no longer visible and are covered with wild grass.

Nie Yan walked along this road all the way forward, because at the east corner of the street was his former hometown.