During Xie Qiao passed by a family in the town, the vermilion lacquer gate, the bronze beast head, there was a pair of lifelike stone lions separated left and right, domineering, the boy slowed down slightly, jumped high, but unfortunately the courtyard wall is too high, there is more than one zhang, the young man is now only half of the wall is insufficient, so in vain, the young man still does not give up, after accumulating strength in situ, he suddenly sped up and jumped up again after running out of a few zhang, or failed to get what he wanted, and finally he had to stop, looked left and right, saw that there was no one around, tiptoed close to the courtyard wall, Sticking his ears to the wall, after half a cup of tea, the boy returned to normal, his face was complicated, there was joy, loss, and regret.

When Xie Qiao finally arrived in front of a dilapidated courtyard in the westernmost part of the town, the young man first wiped the sweat from his forehead, breathed slowly, and then looked in through the crack in the door...

At this time, the spring sun is warm, some mild, and some dazzling.

There is a peach tree planted in the small courtyard, which should have been the scene of the first buds and peach blossoms in this season, but now there is no spring full of joy, only dead wood and branches, sparse and fallen.

A woman in a cloth skirt is washing clothes next to the withered peach tree, her facial features are thoughtful, beautiful and dignified, but her face is a little sickly pale at the moment, the years are unforgiving, and the crow's feet have already climbed between the woman's sideburns and eyebrows, which looks like a little more vicissitudes of life.

The woman's surname is Xie, her name is Lijiao, and the neighbors like to call her Liniang.

Xie Qiao cautiously pushed open the courtyard door and shouted affectionately to the woman, "Mother." ”

Then he ran to the house and said, "Something happened to the county government today, so I came back late." ”

The woman followed the prestige, saw the child's hurried appearance, and said softly: "My mother has just gone to the old well to draw water, and when she passed by the private school, she did not hear the sound of reading, so presumably the master has not started today's schoolwork. ”

When Xie Qiao ran out of the house, he had an extra book in his hand, looked at the clothes in the woman's hand, and said, "The doctor said that your body needs to rest more, and it is not appropriate to do more work, and Xie Qiao can do these jobs by himself in his spare time." ”

The woman shook her head slightly, "Mother is fine, it's all some light work at hand, don't worry." ”

Then he urged: "Go quickly, it's really too late to wait." ”

The young man walked out of the door, still a little relieved, and reminded him: "Don't be reluctant, if you feel unwell, go and rest." ”

The woman knows that the child feels sorry for the mother, since the husband left, she has been in good shape, and he has been working hard to support the family, if he has a good one, it will only drag down the child, so she has to quickly let the child relax: "Okay, good, the mother is tired and go to rest." ”

Watching the young man take the last step out of the hospital, the corners of the woman's eyes suddenly warmed, she was very relieved, but also very guilty.

Xie Qiao's life in the town is now busy and fulfilling, first went to the county government early, then patrolled the streets, went home, then went to the study villa, and finally returned to his own work, today is because of Uncle Li, the young man is almost half an hour late.

The teaching gentleman of the private school is a clear-looking, tall old Confucian scholar, surnamed Sui, and now it is a gray sideburns, the year of the sixtieth year, the old man came to Pingyang Town three years ago, said that he was a court official who returned to his hometown, because he had no home and no room, he came to Pingyang, a border town, and wanted to find a place with beautiful mountains and rivers to live for a long time, and the old man was also a life-saving straw for Xie Qiao when he was ten years old, and a beam of light shone into the child's life.

Ten years ago, without the help of his neighbors, Xie Qiao could only wander around the town like a lonely ghost looking for all kinds of work to survive and earn silver taels for his mother who was lying on the sickbed at that time to find medical advice, and asked all the shops in the town, the shopkeeper either thought Xie Qiao was too young, or he was too small to lift a few taels of meat, and the shop accepted such miscellaneous labor to find himself unhappy, and he had to raise it for a few years, it was a waste of food, a living oil bottle, no one wanted to, The desperate child can only go to the door of the big family to sell himself as a slave, but it attracts the cynicism and laughter of the porter, as a fun, the child returns in vain, and finally has to beg along the street for a living, when he meets a good Samaritan, he can get some scraps of cold and trivial silver for a day or two of food and clothing, and if he is unlucky, he has to sweep away the child's hard work for a day, so he has a full meal and three hungry meals and wanders around like a homeless wild dog, In addition, Li Rongxian, who was on an errand in the yamen at that time, also took care of the child intentionally or unintentionally, and tried his best to help so as not to starve to death, sometimes the child had no choice but to go to a neighbor's woman's wine stall to do some small things within his ability, people's hearts are always long, the woman saw that the child was pitiful, did not drive away, and would give some steamed buns and copper coins, which was regarded as helping the mother and her to hang the only remaining breath, and the child struggled in this mud for a day without a day, slowly rotting, and the woman was thinking at that time, Maybe one day God will open his eyes and see this mother and son, so he will take the two of them, so that the family can be reunited, and it can be regarded as the virtue of a good life in heaven, reincarnation, and a good family, so that you don't have to suffer this anymore.

It was a gloomy and hot dog day, a ten-year-old child wandered the streets begging as usual, the child had endured hunger and gave the food he begged for to his mother, so he did not eat a grain of rice for nearly three days, he was so hungry that he walked and was drifting, drowsy, probably because of the weather, there were few pedestrians on the street, so he did not pay too much attention, and the ghost made the god run into an old man in a Confucian shirt, and when he came back to his senses, the child was so frightened that he had to apologize again and again.

The old man didn't blame the child, but squatted down and said softly: "It's not in the way, the old man is from out of town, seeing that it is about to rain this day, I want to find a place to live, a place to shelter from the rain, you are a local, right?" What is your name? ”

In the past, when he bumped into pedestrians, he either beat and scolded them at every turn, or spoke viciously to each other, thinking that the child was dirty, and the child subconsciously took two steps back, looked at the old man, and said nervously: "My name is Xie Qiao, and I am a local." ”

The old man looked at the panicked child, with a coarse cloth in tattered clothes, a dark face, and a thin body, but a pair of clean and clear eyes, sighed, and said softly: "Don't be afraid, I have no malice, and I will not beat you or scold you." ”

The old man seemed to be moved by compassion, "Xie Qiao, can you do the old man a favor?" I can pay you. ”

The old man thought for a moment and added, "How about a tael of silver?" ”

The child blinked, nodded, and then shook his head, a little unspeakable.

The old man asked, "Is one tael of silver too little?" ”

The child hurriedly waved his hand, his voice was immature, and he said seriously: "Old man, Xie Qiao can help you, but I don't want silver." ”

The old man smiled curiously for a moment: "Then what do you want?" ”

The child hesitated, and finally asked tentatively, "Does the old gentleman know how to heal?" ”

The old man didn't expect the child to ask like this, so he thought about it, nodded, and said softly: "I know a little bit about it, is someone in your family sick?" ”

The child was pleasantly surprised, "Really? ”

The old man replied, "I know a little about medicine." ”

The child's expression was instantly gloomy, and he prayed: "My mother is sick, I don't want silver, I hope the old gentleman can go and help my mother take a look." ”

The old man beckoned to the child and motioned for him to come closer, "If you have the money, you can also invite Langzhong, in case the old man says that he doesn't know how to heal, wouldn't you be a bamboo basket to fetch water." ”

The child took two steps closer, wrinkled his little black face, and explained: "It takes five hundred wen to ask Lang Zhong to go to the doctor, one or two silver for the consultation fee, and silver for the medicine, my mother has been sick in bed for a long time, I can only gamble, if I can help the old gentleman, I don't need one or two silver, as long as..."

The child stopped, thought about it seriously, and continued: "Only one hundred wen." ”

seemed to feel that a hundred wen was too much, so he hurriedly changed his words, "Fifty wen." ”

The old man was dumbfounded, the first thing a hungry child thought of was not himself, but his relatives who were sick in bed, the reward was not greedy but fearful, they all said that there was no filial piety in front of the bed for a long time, not necessarily, there are so many greedy people in the world, this pure heart is commendable, the old man took a step forward, saw that the child did not retreat, helped him straighten out the rags on his body, and said with relief: "Good boy." ”

Then the old man asked, "Who took your name?" ”

The child was in high spirits, "Father took it." ”

It's just that soon the child dimmed again, "It's just that the father is gone..."

The old man put his hand on the child's shoulder, and he didn't know how to comfort him for a while, so he had to change the topic, "The heart of a child, the way of sincerity, the unity of knowledge and action, the bridge on the other side, have you heard of this sentence?" ”

The child shook his head blankly, and then said: "My father's surname is Mu, my mother's surname is Xie, and my mother's name has the word "Jiao", saying that I am a continuation of their life, so I was given this name." My father also once said to me, I hope I am safe and long, there are two immortals in the legend, one is called Wang Ziqiao, the other is called Chi Songzi, there is an idiom called..."

The old man added with a smile: "Qiao Song's longevity." ”

The child scratched his head, "I haven't studied since I was a child, so I don't even know how to write my own name now." ”

The old man immediately wrote the words "Jiao" and "Xie Qiao" on the ground with a hand-made pen, and introduced with a smile: "My surname is Sui, and my name is right." ”

He stood up suddenly, and said with a straight face: "Xie Qiao, if you want to read and study, would you like to come under my door and call me sir?" ”

can study, he is willing, but the child did not answer, just shook his head helplessly.

And at this moment, suddenly thunder roared, and dark clouds pressed down.

The old man said empathetically: "Is it because of the poverty of the family, you can't do the etiquette?" ”

The child looked up at the old man, his expression sincere and poignant, "You need money to enter the school, old man, I am just a little beggar begging on the street, and I can't be your student." ”

The old man smiled and said, "You don't need money to worship me as a teacher." ”

The downpour came as promised.

The rain fell on the old man to wash away the dust along the way, on the shoulders of the children to wash away the muddy dust, and on the streets to sing and dance, as if to celebrate his rebirth for a person.

The child asked, "What does that need?" ”

The old man smiled but did not answer.

The child asked, "Is the old gentleman looking for a place to live?" ”

The old man replied with a smile: "Yes, a place to live, a place to teach." ”

The child stretched out his hand and pointed to the west, "The houses over there are cheap. Then he changed direction, "The east side is more expensive." ”

The old man asked, "Where does your family live?" ”

A question and answer in the rain.

Finally, the old man took the child's hand, one old and one young, and slowly went west.

Since then, in the auspicious alley where the child's house is located, in addition to the sound of chickens and dogs barking, there is also the sound of reading aloud.