"How old is your sister this year?" asked Zhang San, a commoner.

"Two out of twenty this year. The stall vendor replied.

"Why are you still unmarried?" the stall vendor pondered for a while, and then replied with a sigh: "This sister of mine is both talented and beautiful, can sing and dance, is proficient in music and rhythm, and is good at calligraphy and literature, so she never looks at the ordinary people in the world. It is precisely because of this that she has not been able to get married for a long time, which has delayed her own life's events. However, she has some respect for heroes and heroes. Looking at your eyebrows and eyes today, you are definitely not an ordinary man. That's why I dare to say this in front of you today. ”

"Hehe, you're exalting me too much, but it's just a few silver taels, and it's not in the way. As for your sister's marriage, can you and I discuss it later?" After hearing the words of Zhang San, a common man, the stall vendor felt that it was useless to be reluctant, so it was better to let it be.

About two quarters of an hour later, the stall vendor drove the carriage and took the commoner Zhang San back to his home in Suzaku Village. Suzaku Village, this is a large village, about 500 households, densely populated. The houses in the whole village are red mud brick houses, which are scattered and look quite festive. The village is surrounded by lush vegetation, with steep and steep mountains on both sides in the northeast, two rivers more than five zhang wide under the high mountains, and vast plains on the southwest side.

Zhang San, a common man, followed the stall vendor to his house, and as soon as he entered the door, there was a sound of elegant and chic stroking the qin. It turned out that it was the sister of the street vendor playing the guqin in her backyard.

"Sure enough, it's a good piano sound!" Zhang San, a commoner, couldn't help but applaud. When the hawker's sister heard the noise, she was disappointed when she saw that the person who clapped her hands and praised her turned out to be a ragged peasant carrying a rusty hoe on his shoulder.

"Hello, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Zhu Qing, this is my sister, her name is Zhu Hong. The stall vendor said with a smile.

"Why is the name so strange?" said Zhang San, a commoner, with a little surprise.

"Hehe, when my sister was born, she had a red birthmark on her buttocks, so her parents named her "Vermilion", don't make any mistake, it's not Zhu Hong. Zhu Qing, a street vendor, explained that when Zhu Hong saw her brother tell her privacy in front of a stranger, she immediately blushed and ran into her boudoir without saying a word. Seeing this, Zhu Qing hurriedly followed her sister Zhu Hong into the boudoir. Zhu Hong saw that her brother also came in, and said in a complaining tone: "Brother, how can you tell my privacy in front of an outsider?

"If he takes a fancy to you, he's not an outsider. Zhu Qing said.

"Brother, I don't know what you mean. After Zhu Hong heard her brother Zhu Qing's words, her originally shy expression became even more shy, so she immediately turned around and kept grabbing her braids with both hands.

"Don't come to this set, every time you talk about serious things, you are like this. I'm telling you, if you don't marry again, you're going to become an old aunt!" Zhu Qing said in a reprimanding tone.

"Hmph, look at him, he is dressed in tatters, needless to say, he must be a common man who cultivates the land. If you let me marry him, I'd rather bite my tongue and kill myself!" Zhu Hong said in a threatening tone, Zhu Qing knew that his sister was playing tricks, and he was not angry in his heart, because he knew his sister very well.

"My good sister, what do you have to do to get married?" Zhu Qing said in a begging tone.

"First, this man can't help but learn. Second, you need to be talented. Third, it's better to be a hero. Zhu Hong listed her requirements for the man one by one, and after hearing this, Zhu Qing walked behind her and whispered, "What do you think of the man just now?"

"Didn't I just say that, how many more do you want me to repeat?" said Vermilion, muttering a little bit.

"He's a hero, and since my sister doesn't like it, I'm no longer reluctant. Zhu Qing said in a regretful tone, and after that, he walked out of his sister Zhu Hong's boudoir. Zhu Hong couldn't help but waver when she heard the words "heroes and heroes", but she was still a little hesitant, so she closed the door and secretly hid behind the gate.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting!" Zhu Qing said with his hands clasped into fists.

"Hehe, Brother Zhu Qing, you are too polite. Ordinary people Zhang San also hugged his fists.

"Brother, you call me brother, I can't afford this title!"

"The first time I came to your house, you told me about your sister's privacy. This shows that you are a straightforward person. So, I'm relieved to make friends with you. It's just that I want to tell you, don't look at my age and look like I'm in my thirties, I'm almost the year of my sixtieth year. ”

"It's almost the year of the sixtieth year?" Zhu Qing's eyes widened when he heard Zhang San's words. He couldn't believe that the ordinary man in front of him, Zhang San, was twice as old as himself, and he was surprised by this.

"Alright, take me to your storeroom. Zhang San said a little impatiently, and when Zhu Qing heard what he said, he immediately took Zhang San to the warehouse where his family stored herbs. Seeing that this warehouse was almost full of herbs, Zhang San saw this and asked, "These are all Vermilion Birds?" Zhu Qing quickly shook his head after hearing this, and then took him to another warehouse, and found that the herbs in this warehouse only accounted for one-third of the volume of the warehouse. However, even this one-third of the Vermilion Bird Flower is enough to fill two large carriages.

Zhang San and Zhu Qing put the Vermilion Bird Flower in the warehouse into the carriage at this time, and after filling a carriage and paying the silver taels, Zhang San sat on the carriage alone and ran to the southeast quickly. After Zhang San left, Zhu Hong opened the door of her boudoir and saw her brother Zhu Qing. I saw this vermilion with a gloomy face, staring at her brother Zhu Qing, her expression full of displeasure. Zhu Qing knew that his sister Zhu Hong was angry with him, so he preemptively said, "Why are you hiding in the room and eavesdropping on our conversation? It's so rude!"

"Are you embarrassed to say, if you hadn't told me that the man was a hero, would I have eavesdropped on your conversation? Brother, why are you so ruthless and want me to marry an old man with a flower armor?" Zhu Hong countered.

"He's a hero! Besides, he looks like he's in his mid-thirties, and I can't tell his real age. Zhu Qing explained.

"Okay, even if you can't tell the man's real age, but you say that he is a hero, what is the proof of this?"

"Do you know why he bought a wagon of Vermilion Birds?"

"Perhaps he was a businessman, and it was not surprising that he bought a large wagon of Suzaku flowers in order to sell them at a high price in a foreign place. ”

Some villagers in his village accidentally fell down the mountain when they went up the mountain to collect medicine, so he spent a lot of money to buy some vermilion flowers to heal the wounds in his village. Isn't this act of his heroic hero?"

"How do you know?"

He told me personally. ”

"Then you have been deceived, he must have bought so many Vermilion Bird flowers for some other purpose. ”

"What is the use of your family, anyway, they will not use it to harm people. ”

"You are very good at defending him, it seems that my own sister is not as good as a stranger in your heart. Vermilion suddenly sighed and said, her expression very sad.

"Alright, go back to your room. Brother, I'm busy, but I don't have the time to chat with you here. After saying that, Zhu Qing ignored his sister and walked away alone.