At six o'clock, his clothes were half dry, and the rain gradually stopped.

The sisters and brothers held hands tightly, followed behind Liu Dakang's junior sister Jiang Han, left the broken temple, took a shortcut, turned onto the official road, and went to Luoxia Town. After walking for two or three quarters of an hour, I saw the bluestone city wall standing by the Qinghe River, spanning the gradually taper Qingxi, and backing against the Xiaoluoxia Mountain.

Luoxia Town is an irregular quadrilateral, the farthest from north to south is about nine miles, and the farthest from east to west is about four or five miles.

It is said that the walls were raised by the town's wealthy families and repaired for three years, and were completed only six or seven years ago.

The city wall is divided into three sections, distributed in the northwest, northeast and south, and the south is actually divided into southeast and southwest.

The city wall on the northwest side, on the flat ground between Luoxia Mountain and the Qinghe River, has a north gate on this section of the city wall. The northeast is close to Xiaoluoxia Mountain, across the Qingxi River. From the southeast to the northeast, the rich gathered, but it was not as good as the natural barrier against the Qinghe River in the west, so this section of the wall was the best.

The city wall turns from the southeast at an acute angle of nearly seventy or eighty degrees, about a mile or so to the river. There's a south gate.

When they approached the city gate, the three of them found that there were more than a dozen officials standing at the gate of the south city, dressed in the uniforms of the inspection yamen, who were seriously inspecting the people entering and leaving the city.

Jiang Han, who was dressed in men's clothes, looked Yun Niang's sister and brother up and down, looked at the embarrassment of the two, and thought that they must have no way out, so they would be sent to the door to be arrested.

"Let's go up Xiaoluoxia Mountain, I know a path, I promise not to be caught, let's go into the city from there first."

The three of them quietly turned around along the city wall, and hurriedly turned to the place where the city wall crossed the green stream. There is not only a river here, but also a cliff on the other side.

Although the river channel beside the city wall is only three or four zhang, the wall is more than ten meters high, almost vertical, and the strange rocks are craggy. At the intersection of the river and the cliff, there are bushes about one meter high, and in the direction of the cliff wall, they are stacked on top of each other, spreading for five or six meters. Above the bushes were strange blue rocks, covered with moss, and it was impossible to climb from there.

Did she want to sneak into the city from under the river?

Yun Niang and her younger brother were already exhausted, and the sister and brother looked at each other and didn't come back to their senses for a long time.

The Jiang Han girl in front ignored them and said, "Come, I'll take you across the river one by one." With that, she went into the water on her own.

It turned out that it was not a dive.

The sister and brother looked at each other, and the elder sister pushed the younger brother and asked him to go first.

The three of them crossed the river, Jiang Han bent his waist again, shuttled through the bushes, and disappeared in the blink of an eye, and then, an excited voice came: "Found it!" Come here! ”

When the two siblings, who were drenched and dazed, looked back and saw people standing in the bushes, waving vigorously at them.

"There's a secret cave here, when I went to the mountains to relax, I accidentally found it, cough, others don't know! Did you think I was going to dive? That didn't work, and there were iron railings under the walls. ”

The light in the cave was very dark, and the siblings could only lean in.

"Go up about ten meters, turn right, and go up a little more to find a hole that leads to the mountain. The road is very steep, you follow me, crawl and walk, your eyes will get used to it in a while, you be careful yourself. ”

A quarter of an hour later, covered in mud, the three of them came out of the small hole of less than three feet hidden under the bushes, trimmed the bushes at the entrance of the cave, hurried up a small slope, passed through a group of strange rocks, and walked a two-foot-wide path close to the mountain wall. There were only sporadic shrubs, and the small slopes with moss and grass rose and fell, winding down, much better than the previous path, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"If you enter the town from here, as long as you don't come to the door to search, you'll be fine, but you have to keep this hole a secret!"

"Thank you! None of us will say! ”

"Thank you! This is nothing, I am the most narrow person, and I will help when I see the unevenness! ”

"Thank you! Miss Jiang, good people have good rewards, you saved our brothers and sisters, we will definitely repay you! ”

"What a reward! Do I seem to be the kind of person who wants to repay my kindness? - Also, it's best to call me Brother Jiang outside, if not, just call me Jiang Han! I saw the person in front of me, suddenly turned his head mysteriously and whispered.

"Jiang ...... Jiang Da - Brother? ”

"Huh!" She turned back to her head contentedly, and then came back again, winked playfully at the siblings, and grinned: "Of course, if your family comes to me and asks me for money or something, I won't refuse, hahaha!" ”

"To tell you the truth, I'm really short of money right now!"

“…… It's better to have the kind of ingots that cost ten taels of silver, and if it's a gold ingot, it's even better, haha, I haven't seen a real gold ingot! ”

“……”

When Yun Niang heard these words, she knew that she was joking, but she didn't have the mood to laugh, only gloomy at a loss.

If Mama Wen can't come back, she and her brother will only be left with the silver tickets sewn by her mother in the middle coat - Mama said, don't show the silver tickets casually - it will definitely not be known unless it is absolutely necessary.

She didn't know what to do in the future, her mother said that those people in black were sent by the clan, and her mother must have something she didn't tell them. They can't go back to the clan, but their grandfather has a daughter, and after their maternal grandmother dies, the uncles in those other rooms will not be their dependence. They are on their own! Can she do it?

In an instant, only her and her brother were left in the family, and there was a killing machine behind them that I didn't know when it would appear. She felt that the future was like the sky of this evening, little by little, and the shuddering darkness spread from the soles of her feet to all around, making her unable to breathe.

Her hands clenched tightly, and she glanced sideways at her brother's worried eyes staring at her. She took a deep breath, calmed down, and let go of the hand holding her brother, before everything calmed down, she could only believe and hold on tightly, this Jiang girl's outstretched hand, looking for an opportunity to make plans again. Although, in her heart, she hoped that Liu Dakang could lead the officers and soldiers to catch up with the bandits in time, and begged the Bodhisattva to bless Mama Wen to come back with her life, so that she could at least have a shoulder to lean on, but......

Thinking of this, she stepped forward quickly, reached out and grabbed Miss Jiang's sleeve, and said with a sincere expression: "Miss Jiang, don't worry!" When Mama Wen comes back, we will definitely repay you well! Although there may not be gold ingots for you, we still have some money in Mama Wen......"

"Oh, I'm kidding, don't you really want to ask you for gold ingots, don't think about it so much!"

"No, you saved our brother and sister, you should do whatever you want! It's just that now I don't have anything, but I can work for your house! I can do laundry and cook, my embroidery skills are not bad, I have read some books, I can write and calculate...... "She is not afraid of her asking for gold and silver, as long as she still asks for them, she will not easily leave them."

"Oh, what a joke! Ahem, my senior brother has already gone to the Yamen to report the news, I just helped him bring you into Luoxia Town. There will be news tomorrow at the latest, and it won't take a few days, and when your relatives find you, you will be safe, and you don't need to give my family any work. ”

"No matter what, you saved us, and I should do what I can to repay us!"

"Oh, just wait for your relatives to come, don't think about it now! Although I am a little short of money, I am not the kind of person who asks for favor for a small thing! - You just think what I just said is a fart, just let it go! Let's hurry up! Miss Jiang shrugged her shoulders a little awkwardly and quickly pulled some distance forward.

"If someone other than Mama Wen comes to find it, my father and my mother are gone, and my mother said that those people in black are probably sent by people from the clan." Xiao An spoke anxiously, he heard Miss Jiang's words, and was very worried that she would hand them over casually.

“…… What do you say? What Men in Black Who sent them? When the people in front of them walked away, they paused and turned back, staring at them in a daze, "You mean that there are not only bandits, but also the men in black sent by your people to kill you?" ”

"......" Yun Niang subconsciously dragged her younger brother behind her, pursed her lips and looked at her nervously.

"Oh my God, what kind of luck are you guys?! Not only was he robbed by thieves, but he was also killed by a family vendetta! - Is your family particularly rich? What kind of person is the richest man in some place? I saw that the Jiang girl's eyes turned, and her face was full of interest.

"You, why are you asking this--my family, my family doesn't have much money-you, you rescued us, you want to be paid, we will give it to you later!" Startled by her expression, the siblings took a step back and began to become suspicious.

"It's not a reward or anything!" After listening to their answers, Miss Jiang waved her hand impatiently, revealing a thoughtful look, "Not much money?" Then why are your people chasing and killing you? It shouldn't be, your family is very rich, but your father is gone, and the people of the clan want to seize the tens of millions of wealth of your orphans and widows, so they sent killers to hunt you down? Isn't it all like this? You don't have any money, why are people chasing you? It's all the same ancestor! ”

“……”

"Or is it that you didn't say much, just what you said? In the eyes of others, you are a rich family? ”

"My family is just a well-off family, not a rich family! My father was just an ordinary businessman, and before he got sick, our family only had 5 shops and a store in Fucheng, and we only had 100 acres of land outside the city—but we could still afford to pay you and your brother. ”

Yun Niang didn't know what her purpose was in saying these words, but she still honestly told the situation at home - no matter what the situation in her family was, she really didn't have any money now, but when she and her brother were safe, they could afford to pay them. Although this person spoke strangely, he didn't look like a great evil person, and I hope that she would focus on robbery and killing just to get the money later, and not worry about whether she would get into trouble, so that at least she would not be so afraid that she would leave their siblings behind.

"It's not for money, but also robbed and killed - then your family is holding someone else's big secret, and someone else wants to kill you!"

Obviously, this Jiang girl didn't receive Yun Niang's inner signal, she was just more interested in the reason for the robbery and killing.

"Although only the dead can keep secrets, your father is a businessman, so he should not be so stupid to use that secret to coerce your people to protect your mother and son. If that's the case, you'll just die faster! I saw her hugging her chest with one hand and touching her chin with the other, and she was walking around with broken thoughts, looking like she was deep in thought.

“……”

"Then it could be like this: what deal did your father make with your patriarch before he died! I want them to take good care of you orphans and widows, and when you grow up, the patriarch will receive the corresponding benefits. But your patriarch is too greedy, he must feel that when you pass through Luoxia Mountain, killing you can directly push it to the head of the bandits,—— the bandits here have long been famous far and wide - when you die, he can immediately take your family's property for himself, once and for all! ”

After she finished speaking, she raised her head and looked at the nervous siblings with sparkling eyes: "Do you think what I said is right?" It must be so! There are always some greedy and bad people in the world! I must be right in that guess! ”

The sister and brother were so frightened by her eyes that they took a step back, Yun Niang looked up at the sky, and the worries in her heart became heavier and heavier, not knowing what she wanted to do next.

"In the past, I liked to watch detective movies the most - there is only one truth, and interests drive people's hearts!"

“……”

"Oh yes, you don't know what a detective movie is...... You don't have a movie here yet - ancient life is really boring, people are still bad - I really want to go back! ”

She patted her head, and her voice became lower and lower—suddenly, she jumped on a stone in a rage, crossed her waist with one hand, pointed to the sky with the other, and shouted three times: "Thief! Thief God! Thief God! ”

"Oops!" Her voice suddenly choked, her legs bent, and she threw herself forward, rolling out two or three meters away.

"Who's sneaking up on me?" She jumped up angrily, looked around, and shouted, "Get out of here if you have the ability!" ”

There was silence all around, except for the piercing echo of the words "get out".

"Oops!" With a cry of pain, the Jiang girl raised her hand to cover her head, "If you have the ability, get out of here, what kind of hero is a sneak attack from behind!" ”

She looked in the direction of the attack, looked at the high slope not far ahead, and saw a person in official uniform, squatting on the stone at the top of the high slope. It was too dark to see his face, his hat was crooked, and he seemed to be throwing something in his hand.

"Huh...... Mom, it seems to be an official errand, run! ”

Miss Jiang swallowed the scolding behind her, and didn't care about Yun Niang, she turned around and ran down the mountain like an arrow.

Yun Niang saw that her figure was like a rabbit and disappeared for a moment, so she grabbed her brother's hand and chased after her.

The man sitting on the high slope threw away the stone in his hand, patted it, straightened his official hat, and muttered: "It's noisy!" In the wilderness, you can't be quiet! ”

He kicked the mud off his shoes, stood up, and walked down the mountain road on the other side of the high slope.

When I looked at it, I saw that the man had sword eyebrows and phoenix eyes, a square face, a weak crown age, a lip that was not thick or thin, and a look of impatience, it was the newly appointed Shen Shen of the Jiupin Patrol Department of Luoxia Town.