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Xu Yang was shocked when he heard Ma Zichen say that the girl he was carrying had died, and hurriedly touched the other party's pulse and breathing, and found that the other party had died. Xu Yang, the www.biquge.info of the pen, saw Ma Zichen gritting his teeth and looking at him, and knew what the other party was thinking, and said: "It turns out that we are all wronged! The previous trafficker pretended to sell the two girls to the straw hut to buy and sell, and the two people, one old and one young, saw that we were soft-hearted and charitable people, so they cut off one of the daughters' arms, and made a bitter plan, which was to lure us to redeem the two daughters in the past, and then extort money from them to earn ill-gotten gains. They were all in a group, and they often used this ploy to make deals, but they didn't think about it, but we caught up. ”

"It turns out that they are a gang of robbers who deceive and seduc! It's just that they are so blatantly buying human flesh on the roadside, aren't they afraid that the government will come to investigate?" Ma Zichen said.

Seeing that the other party was so naïve, Xu Yang sneered: "Their gang has been doing this business for several years, if they were afraid that the government would come to investigate, how would they have done it until now? They just cut off the arms of these women and then sold them again, they won't kill them." Even if the government comes to investigate, there is no real evidence, and the matter can be hastily settled with silver. ”

"It's just a pity that one of the women has died, but you can ask this living woman to see if she has a home, and then send some silver to let them go home!" Ma Zichen said.

Xu Yang looked at the woman beside Ma Zichen sitting there in a daze, her face was pale and her green silk was messy, but she could still judge that the other party's age was in her teens. It's just that the other party's body is a little swollen, and at a glance, it can be seen that it is caused by long-term malnutrition. Xu Yang came to the girl and shook his hand in front of the other party's eyes, the other party was still stunned, and asked, "Girl, what is your name? Where is your home? Is that woman a family with you?"

Ma Zichen saw the girl sitting there motionless, Xu Yang asked, but the other party did not answer. Ma Zichen shook his hand in front of the other party's eyes and said, "Maybe it's too frightened, right?"

"It seems to be caused by overfrightening! It's just that there are no herbs or acupuncture here, otherwise I could have helped with a cure." Xu Yang said.

Ma Zichen was overjoyed when he saw that the other party had a way to heal the girl, and hurriedly said, "Let's walk for another hour of incense, maybe we can go to my house." There is a langzhong in my village, and he has the herbs and acupuncture he needs. Let's hurry up!" said him, pulling the girl up. The girl just stood up obediently, and then stood there like a walking corpse.

"Let's bury this dead girl first! Xu Yang said. After saying that, he stopped and hugged the girl horizontally, came to a wood, dug a hole with a branch, gently put the girl into it, buried a small bag of soil hastily, and put two baked cakes beside it.

Ma Zichen saw that Xu Yang was busy with this, and walked towards the south road with the girl beside him. Xu Yang came to the two of them, saw that the girl was really walking like a walking corpse, and took out a baked cake for the girl. The girl still walked upright, as if she didn't see the baked cake handed by Xu Yang, and she didn't reach out to take it. When Ma Zichen let go of the girl and stopped not leaving, the girl was also nailed to the spot and did not move.

Xu Yang put the baked cake in the girl's palm, clenched it with the other party's small hand, and then held the other party's hand to his mouth and touched it on his lips. The girl was probably very hungry, but she was chewing slowly with her little mouth open. Xu Yang saw that the other party could swallow, so he walked towards the road again.

Ma Zichen saw the girl chewing slowly and eating the baked cakes, with tears in her eyes, holding the other party's waist with her left hand, and walking forward slowly. Xu Yang walked in front for a while, and found that there were no two people around, looked back, and sneered. I saw Ma Zichen holding the girl's waist with his left hand, and his eyes watched the girl eat the baked cake without blinking, while the child stepped on the broken lotus step by step, so he slowed down.

Xu Yang waited there for a while, and the two of them slowly arrived. When Ma Zichen was leaving, he suddenly saw Xu Yang looking at him with a hippie smile, and immediately blushed his cheeks and explained: "I see that this girl eats so slowly, if we walk quickly, the other party will definitely not be able to eat fried cakes." You see this girl is so pitiful, and besides, we are not in a hurry, so why don't we walk slowly! You see how beautiful the moon is tonight, why don't you enjoy the moonlight and walk home!"

"Okay! It's just that if we go so slowly, maybe we will have more than an hour of incense at your house. Xu Yang said. Ma Zichen laughed dryly twice, still helping the girl to walk.

So, under the light of the moon, the three of them walked along the rugged path. Ma Zichen has to look at the road from time to time, if he finds a pothole, he will carry the girl over, and feed the girl with a kettle from time to time to prevent the girl from choking.

Xu Yang looked back and saw Ma Zichen wiping the water stains on the corners of the girl's mouth with his sleeve, smiled knowingly, and said jokingly: "If this girl is homeless and has nowhere to go, you can accept this girl." ”

"What are you kidding? Besides, I have promised my wife that she will not marry another woman in this life. Although Ma Zichen said so in his mouth, he was already a hundred willing in his heart.

Xu Yang saw the other party's duplicitous look, and said: "I didn't let you marry someone else, why do you explain so much? Do you really want to marry the other party? If your mother or your dead lady hears your words, I don't know how they will react? If you really want to marry the other party, this is his death contract, you can look at it!" After speaking, he gave the death contract in his hand to Ma Zichen.

Ma Zichen just stretched out his hand and took the two death deeds, and when he wanted to look at the names on them with the help of the moonlight, it was just that the moonlight was dim and he couldn't see what was written on them. Ma Zichen looked up at Xu Yang walking with his hands behind his back, and muttered to himself, "As long as I can heal this girl, I will send this girl home." If the other party is still homeless, I can only take the other party as a concubine. ”

Xu Yang was just walking, and he also heard the other party say these words, but he shook his head and followed the other party's treatment of this girl.

When the three of them walked slowly and walked two more pillars of incense, they still didn't see Ma Zichen's Anning Village, and at this time they could already vaguely see Dongfang Ribai. Just as the three of them continued to hurry, Xu Yang gradually smelled a strong floral fragrance in the air, which was like a ripe fruit fragrance, and it was also mixed with sandalwood, which was extremely attractive.

After Xu Yang smelled this strong fragrance, he felt that this floral fragrance seemed to have tasted there. When Xu Yang swayed away, he suddenly thought that this strong fragrance was the black soil fragrance he smelled in the smoke house, but this fragrance was a little fragrant, and the fragrance of the black soil was a little strong.

Xu Yang saw that Ma Zichen was still helping the girl to walk, since he smelled it, he must have smelled it too. Xu Yang watched as the sky gradually brightened, and the endless fields gradually appeared in the distance. When the three of them came to the field, they were surprised to see that the land on the side of the road was not planted with crops, but with patches of flowers. These flowers are one by one, or several at a time, half a man tall, some bear gray fruits the size of apricots, some are bones, some are budding, and some are blooming brightly. The flowers are beautiful and colorful, which is very pleasing to the eye.

Xu Yang grabbed a red and bright flower, this flower is the size of a palm, and the fragrance is getting more and more tangy, and he can't help but say: "Is it not popular to grow food now, and they have begun to plant flowers for a living?" And under the knife marks of the flower bones are dripping with black juice, which is more and more attractive and sweet.

Xu Yang looked at the fields full of such flowers, and suddenly a terrible thought came to his heart, and he asked Ma Zichen, "What are these flowers called?"

"We call it 'poppy poppy' here. Ma Zichen said. (Note: In the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, at the suggestion of short-sighted officials, opium poppy was already cultivated on a large scale in China, far exceeding the quantity of imports, reaching self-sufficiency, and even exporting to other countries.) ）

Xu Yang watched as the other party still helped the girl to walk forward, but the girl's face was now a little bloody, not as pale as paper as before. However, the child was still like a chicken, walking like a walking corpse under Ma Zichen's command. Xu Yang asked, "What are these rice bags used for?"

"This still needs to be asked, of course, it is used to make foreign tobacco (opium). Ma Zichen said.

Xu Yang threw away the flowers in his hand, knowing that the foreign smoke was black soil, he couldn't help but be frightened, and said: "This foreign smoke is planted so much now, won't the government stop it?"

"Why do you want to stop it? Growing foreign tobacco is the will of the imperial court, and besides, growing foreign tobacco is much more cost-effective than growing grain. Not only is it a good seed, but it also has a high yield, a good price, and is even easier to sell. I know you want to say that opium is very harmful, but the court ignores it, so why should you bother with such idleness!" Ma Zichen said.

Xu Yang knew that what the other party said was reasonable, he was still threatened by his life from time to time, and he almost died in prison, his life was in danger, and he didn't care about this matter. Xu Yang shook his head helplessly, puzzled by the brainless man in the imperial court who had this bad idea, and muttered to himself: "Everyone doesn't grow food, they all come to grow foreign tobacco, the price of food will definitely rise, and naturally the poor people will suffer in the end!"

"Hey, something is wrong today!" Ma Zichen said in surprise.

Xu Yang looked around, the sun jumped out of the east to illuminate the earth, even if it was quiet and a little weird, he couldn't see any difference, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Normally, as soon as the sky is bright, some villagers will come out to collect the juice of the rice sacs, but now that the sky is already bright, why don't you see a busy figure?" Ma Zichen said.

Xu Yang heard what the other party said, it was indeed too quiet and terrible here, and he built a pergola in front of him with his hand to look around, but still didn't see half a figure, but from time to time there was the sound of chickens crowing from a distance, and he didn't even hear a dog barking. Xu Yang also looked at Ma Zichen puzzled, not knowing what was going on.

Ma Zichen saw that there were no villagers in Siye, and the rice bags in the fields were also in the harvest season, could it be that the villagers were all dozing? Ma Zichen didn't understand what was going on, and looked at Xu Yang in confusion.

"How far is Anning Village? Xu Yang said

Ma Zichen nodded and said, "Just ahead, the kung fu will be there in a while." ”

So, the three of them walked along the field path towards the village. When the three of them walked less than half a pillar of incense, they saw a village come into view. Xu Yang followed Ma Zichen and looked at a towering acacia tree at the entrance of the village, and a stream surrounded half of the village. Walking across the arched bridge over the stream, you can see that the houses in the village are made of stone and the roofs are made of grass and wood.

When the three of them walked to the village, they still didn't see half of the figure, Ma Zichen didn't understand what was happening, and shouted towards a house: "Aunt Ma, are you at home?" As soon as the voice fell, bursts of dog barking sounded around, but no one answered the other party.

Ma Zichen saw that there was no one in the village, and he didn't hear Aunt Ma's answer, but he saw that the other party's wooden door was open, and wanted to go in to check one or two, but was blocked by a jumping black dog tied to the door. Ma Zichen saw the black dog grinning at him, and immediately ran towards his home.

Ma Zichen shouted as he ran towards home, "Is Aunt Zhang at home?" "Is Uncle Ma at home?" "Is Ma Erdan here?" "Is Ma Gouzi here?"

Xu Yang pulled the stunned girl next to him to follow behind Ma Zichen, and when he heard the other party calling people's names all the way, he found that most of the people called by the other party had the surname "Ma". When Xu Yang came to a private house that Ma Zichen had entered, he looked into it, and the courtyard was in an inverted shape, with two houses in front, one house on the left and right, and farm tools and sundries in the other corners. Before he could take a closer look, he suddenly heard a loud cry coming from the house, and his heart was suddenly startled, and he shouted, "What's the matter?