Kazak sat on his horse and looked back at his two captives. He thought to himself what to do with them.

He knew that the final outcome of these two men was likely to be death. Together, they killed one of their young men, the son of a poor peasant, who had fled to him after only three months of his family's refusal to lower his taxes because of the disaster that had befallen his family and the lord's refusal to lower his taxes.

This peasant is very taciturn, and because of the short time he has been in the house, he is very active in doing things, and he is willing to do things that others are unwilling to contribute. It's very pleasing to other thieves who like to be careful. After the door of the car was finally smashed by a stone, the inexperienced young man recklessly poked his head in, and the skull was broken by the occupants of the car with a wooden stool. It didn't matter who killed the young man, because now his men had only one request, and both of them had to die.

His father's hand was tied behind him with a rope that tied Wright's hand in front of him, and then the rope continued to stretch and tie a dead knot in Kazak's saddle.

On the afternoon of the first day, Wright and his father were dragged out of the carriage at the end, and their noses and faces were swollen. Father even had some envy of the cowardly sausage merchant.

My father's nose just stopped bleeding. Now he had nothing but a cloak full of footprints. Wright was no better, both eyes were swollen and he couldn't see anything in his left eye.

There were actually three of Kazak's captives, and the little girl followed her by the hem of her father's coat. Kazak now doesn't know what to do with this little compatriot.

He hadn't seen his own people in years. This little girl suddenly rekindled Kazak's very lost memories of the steppe. The life of those horses and sheep herders is now like a distant dream for Kazak, like the white clouds reflected on the sea of the steppe.

Kazak's men rode their horses to his side, telling him that they were willing to take on the role of executing the two captives.

That night, Kazak's men camped in a wood.

In the camp, my father and Wright's feet were also tied. At this time, my father and Wright's hands had been tied for too long, the blood supply was insufficient, and they felt cold to the touch. Kazak generally did not take prisoners, because he only needed money. Except when it was a kidnapping, he would lead his captives around with a rope and then contact the kidnapped man's family about paying the ransom. At this time, Kazak would become extremely cautious, as many of the kidnappers were often captured by ambushed patrols when the captives were finally returned.

Kazak usually rents a house in the busiest bazaar and keeps the kidnappers inside. He then informed the families of the abductees to trade in another town. Then Kazak would entrust a citizen with a good criminal record to go to the best business firm and hire a liaison to be in charge of contact.

In this way, after layers of personnel entrustment, a disgraceful business has become the cleanest business. It's very safe, but it's expensive. Therefore, Kazak generally does not kidnap people, and if he wants to kidnap, he kidnaps those rich sons. These people are fed and have nothing to do all day long, except to have fun. Kazak only needs to hire a few charming Dehrim*** in the city to lure these unlucky people to a suitable place, such as an empty factory, an alley, or a secluded orchard.

When Kazak was brought from the front all the way to the heart of Svadia, his hands were tied behind his back, and months of torture left him with sequelae, and his right hand always shook unconsciously. As a result, he could no longer play the melodious dombra, a high-quality dongbula made by an old Elmo luthier, with a beautiful sound that Kazak loved it. Now he can't play it anymore, but he still carries it on his back.

Ever since Kazak joined the thieves, his right hand, which could no longer play the dombra, tormented him all day long, so when Kazak caught his captives, he always tied their hands to death. His habit was understood by his companions to be cautious, and only the smartest thieves could see a flash of pleasure in his eyes when Kazak tied someone else's hand.

As he tied his father's and Wright's hands to the saddle, Kazak once again remembered the sound of the piano, which could no longer come from his hands, which made Kazak particularly hard when tying up. Father screamed in pain, and cold sweat broke out on Wright's forehead.

When most of them were asleep, Kazak looked at two or three of his captives. Kazak secretly thought in his heart, today's harvest is quite rich, Kazak found a few exquisite shirts on my father's body, embroidered with H.A, some ointments that look very medicated, a beautiful sword, more than 100 dinars, of course, what makes Kazak most grateful to Lurens Tanghan is that his father has the most reputable check in the continent, worth 1,000 dinars, and the invoice has two names written on the person who wrote it: Huo. Arcadio and Jill. Bi Anwen; On Wright, he found only 19 dinars and a few very simple but sturdy clothes.

Kazak had seen such bills in the army, and he knew the value of such a thing. He looked at his illiterate thieves, who were staring at the gold coins and nothing else. Kazak looked down on these Svadians in his heart, and he quietly put the bill into his arms.

Kazak asked his subordinates to divide the more than 100 dinars equally and gave 15 dinars to Tonghan's younger brother, which made Tonghan's younger brother very dissatisfied, but there was nothing to be done. Then Kazak called one of his men, who had been a tailor, and asked him to change his father's white shirt into the mourning clothes of the dead young bandit.

The few gold coins each received made Kazak's men very happy. In the light of money, the robbers reveal that they don't really care about the young fool's death.

Kazak gave Rhine a loaf of bread and a skin of water.

Rhine broke half of it and ran to hand it to his father, who asked Rhine to divide half of the bread that Rhine had given him and give it half to Wright. Rhine thought for a moment and gave Wright a small portion of her own bread. The father knew that this girl was very stubborn, so he stopped persuading, but after eating two bites of bread, he said that he couldn't eat it, and let Rhine eat it himself.

Rhine watched his father eat, then pulled the stopper off the skin and fed his father three mouthfuls and Wright one bite. Kazak watched all this with a smile, looking at the slight jealousy in Wright's eyes.

In fact, Kazak didn't want to kill these two people, because of his consistent principles, and because he saw the faint strength behind his father from that note. There is no benefit in making a feud with such a family. Besides, his own little compatriot seemed to like the young man, and he found a reason not to put my father to death. Wright, on the other hand, made a bad impression of Kazak, a boy who was always haughty, more of an out-and-out nobleman than my father, but who had only a pitiful dozen dinars, which gave Wright a particularly bad reputation among the robbers who were full of expectations. In the middle of the night, Kazak had a general idea: to convince his men that if they had to execute the captives, they would only execute Wright, leaving my father behind.

This thought hardened when Kazak saw my father's generous distribution of food and water to Wright.

The next day, Kazak told the robbers that my father was a rich boy and that his life might be worth thousands of dinars. Of course, if the robber must avenge the dead brother, then kill him. Kazak patted his chest and said that he would respect everyone's opinion.

The ransom of the thousand dinars made the robbers' eyes light up when they heard it. Later, one of their representatives approached Kazak and said that the brothers actually felt that they didn't need to kill both of them at the beginning, because after all, they had only killed one person, and the punishment didn't need to be so severe. And everyone thought that my father looked very good, and that the young farmer should have been killed by another cold boy.

"Boss," the robber representative concluded, "let this lad live, just teach him a lesson." All we need is the blood of another person to appease our anger. By the way, and more importantly, when are we going to contact the family of this lucky stinky boy? ”

Kazak thought deeply in front of the robbers, and cautiously asked the robbers, do you really want to let go of this little nobleman who owes a blood debt?

The robbers took a firm stand, and said that after a few days of observation, they found that my father was a man of noble character, and that it would be a pity to kill such a person. ”

Kazak savored the phrase "it's a pity to kill" and said that he felt that he should respect his brothers.

The thieves laughed.

Kazak returned to their camp among the rocks with a few of his captives, and then he ordered my father and Wright to be released and imprisoned in a stone cave. Rhine begged Kazak for permission to keep her and my father together.

Kazak negotiated with his little compatriots for a long time, and then Rhine agreed to help the robber uncle wash his clothes, and in return, Rhine got two promises from Kazak, first, Rhine was free to enter the cave to see my father; Second, Kazak's men would not harass Rhine.

My father sat in a gloomy stone cave and waited for the judgment of fate. Just now, a robber came in and asked my father to organize the language, and then wrote a letter to his relatives and friends for them to ransom him, and they would check the letter, and if my father wrote less than 2,000 dinars, they would not send the letter out.

At this time, the thief looked at Wright. Wright said his family couldn't afford to pay the ransom.

The robber grinned, "You don't have to think about the ransom, you'll be put to death tonight." ”

My father had been sitting and thinking since the afternoon. Wright knelt in prayer in front of the stone wall, muttering a mutter. In the afternoon, Rhine came happily and said that the chief had promised her not to execute her master. Rhine brought his father half a piece of gota milk cheese and a small half of a croissant and a large bag of cino. Her father asked her how she could eat so much.

Rhine poured some wine in the palm of his hand and rubbed the back of his father's hand to let the blood flow back.

Rhine said she didn't know either, and the leader only told her that her master wouldn't die, and then gave her some food and a bag of wine for her to go and give her father a stiff hand.

Father asked Rhine to rub Wright too, Wright stopped praying and said lightly, "No need." ”

The father, who knew the cause and effect, felt very heavy because of Wright's words.

Wright paused and said to his father, "You look like a good-hearted lad. I probably don't have much to live, would you like to do me a favor? ”

Father nodded.

Then Wright told his father a story. That story began twenty years ago and is a story about the Wright family.