While Elune was resting in the bedroom, she was completely disturbed by a note from the steward with a complicated face.

"The day before your engagement, I will be waiting for you behind the pomegranate tree in your yard, and the carriage is ready. I'll take you away, please come with me. Around seven o'clock, watch out for the call of the nightingale. ”

Although the steward promised Jill not to read the contents of the letter, for the sake of the young lady's safety, he read the contents of the letter before giving it to Elune, so that he knew Jill's plan. But instead of withholding the dangerous letter, he gave it to Elune after some thought.

The steward looked at Elune's fair face with pity, and all the already small blood on her face had faded.

"Miss," the steward asked with mixed feelings, "is there anything written in the letter?" It was sent by a beggar, and I thought it was suspicious. ”

From the steward's tone, Elune sensed that the steward might already know everything, "Since it was sent by a beggar, and you find it suspicious, why did you give me the letter?" ”

"This girl is still so smart," the steward said approvingly.

"Miss, you can't go with him. This will make you the biggest laughing stock in all of Suno. The steward confessed that he knew the contents of the letter. Now there are thousands of eyes on you, and even the mayor will be present at your engagement ball, and your engagement ceremony will be called to the bishop for blessing as a gift of peace between the two countries. Do you know? You are now the central figure in the city's and the country's overtures to Kujit. ”

"Uncle, have you forgotten that bowl of cherries?"

“??? Child, I have no objection to you finding such a considerate lover. But I never thought you would be going to go all your life. Especially after I know he's been cheating on you and hiding his own identity. The steward said.

Elune also understood that she and Jill were now more than lucky, "Uncle, you're not going to stop us, are you?" ”

"Son, when I think you might have to do other people's laundry to make up for the house; Going out must be done on foot and no longer in a comfortable four-wheeled carriage; Every morning, I have to go to the vegetable market to fight with the vendors of the three religions and nine streams for a few copper plates. I just thought, I really can't let you go. "I watched you grow up, little Elune, and I don't want you to be the most vulgar woman in a few years, and become round-waisted and familiar with housework. ”

Elune cried, and the steward was sad.

Eventually, after Elune's repeated pleas, the steward agreed not to tell the story.

Finally, there was only one day left for Elune's engagement, and the steward looked at Elune, who was nervous, and remembered that one day before, when Jill was about to visit, Elune was so nervous.

But at that time, the steward was watching Elune move towards happiness, and now, he is watching her go into misery, or at least the misery that the steward thinks.

From morning till night, Elune drank only a glass of milk and a few cookies. The steward only drank a pot of Kugit bitter tea in a depressed mood.

Hal had come to see Elune once, and since deciding to get engaged, Hal and his future in-laws had spread the news of the engagement party among the upper echelons of society in just a few days, and everyone was amazed at the speed and sloppiness with which it was. "Harr is poor and is going to sell his daughter to the Kujits." "It's a pity for such a beautiful girl." , people say.

When Hal heard this, he looked displeased. But he tried his best to behave more plainly in front of his daughter. She said that this engagement was actually the idea of the adults, to show the friendship between the two countries, so that Elune must take the overall situation into account. "It's just an engagement," Hal comforted, "and if you don't want to, then after three months, we can break the engagement." Be happy and don't worry anymore. ”

Hal nagged and comforted his daughter, and the steward couldn't wait to go up and beat up this man who didn't care about his daughter's happiness. Although the family opposite is from a wealthy family, it is too hasty to get engaged in this way. There was only a short time between the prom, and it was hard for the steward to make the decision to betroth Elune to a foreign man at the risk of her life's happiness being buried. He even had a crazy idea to let Elune go, follow Jill, so that he could get revenge on Hal for once. But when he thinks of the tribulations that Elune may encounter in life, this thought of being in charge will slowly be extinguished, after all, Jill can't even guarantee Elune's basic material life under the premise that whether or not Elune's happiness is still unknown.

It was getting dark, and the steward and Elune were nervous to the extreme, but Hal downstairs was beautiful. These days, the news of the marriage of the Hal family to the Kugit lord has arrived, and the credibility of the Hal family has finally begun to shine again like a sun through the dark clouds. Banks approached Howl and said they were willing to take out a loan; And the debtors who had sworn a few days ago to cut off business with Hal now said that they were willing to defer their debts; The merchants who were already standing in the store where Hal had mortgaged also sent people to ask Hal about it, "When are you going to take over your store, we have already cleaned it for you." ”

Only the manager of Hal's office just had the clerk send him a greeting card and a resignation letter, telling Hal that he now knew he could no longer serve Hal because he knew that Mr. Hal would not like him.

Hal immediately replied: "You have proved with your noble character that you are worthy of my trust, and from tomorrow onwards, I invite you to come to the main store as the manager." In terms of details, Hal has always handled it properly, but in big things, he has betrayed his daughter's happiness, although according to him: "It is not my idea, I have nothing to do." ”

At seven o'clock, a nightingale chirped. Elune and the steward met their eyes as if they were saying goodbye.

"Uncle," Elune could not speak, she had finished a package with some sturdy clothes, a bill of 1,500 dinars--- which was part of the bride price from the Uhru family, and a gilded pony that had lost some skin. "Goodbye."

"Let's go", the steward cried, "you little girl with no conscience, let's go." Take care of yourself and go. The butler stopped looking at Elune.

Elune kissed the butler's face, crept down the stairs, threw her baggage through the first-floor window, and jumped out. She saw the starry sky, it was not a good day to escape, but at least she could run out for a few hours, and she rushed all the way to the pomegranate tree.

Jill came out of the darkness excitedly: "I fill the axle with oil, we can get to Riblet the day after tomorrow, and we will be free next week." ”

The steward sat on a stool in Elune's boudoir, which was polished to a sleekness comparable to Elune's face. A servant walked in, "Lord Steward, is there anything you need help here?" ”

The steward stroked the bench, looked at the familiar layout around him, and felt that the room was empty, suffocatingly empty. The steward looked left and right, like a child. Finally, the steward couldn't hold back any longer: "Call someone quickly", and the steward cried: "Go outside the house, someone wants to take the young lady away!" ”

A few minutes later, Jill and Elune heard the house behind them boiling.

When the fearless mob had fled, the people carried Jill into the house. Jill is covered in wounds and clutches a gilded pony in his hand, and during the fight, Jill clings to the pony and doesn't let go.

At the end, Elune gave Jill the horse: "Remember me no matter what." ”

Jill was beaten in the knee with a blow on her left leg, which crippled Jill. While being treated, Jill looked at the people around him with bloodshot eyes. The father found that when Jill looked at his grandfather, his eyes were full of anger and resentment, which puzzled his father, because his grandfather was Jill's best teacher, and his father usually felt that his grandfather's expectations of Jill even exceeded his own occasionally.

Maybe it's because when Jill was pursuing his love, no one was in a relationship to help, my father thought.

Old Bianwen noticed Jill's disrespectful eyes, and he touched Jill's face that was red because of pain, "Jill? What's wrong with you, why are you looking at the master like this? ”

Jill didn't speak, just looked at his grandfather, and soon, a sharp pain made Jill gasp, he subconsciously closed his eyes and cried out in pain.

For the next few days, Jill was reluctant to speak, only responding a few words when old Bianwen came to bring him food and wipe his wounds. The father went to chat again and again, and from Jill's cold response and the sigh of old Bianwen, he knew roughly that his grandfather had rejected Jill when he asked for help, because 100,000 dinars had cost Jill the happiness of his life and a leg.

The angry father confronted his grandfather in front of him and asked him why he did this; Grandfather silently did not answer; The tax collector slapped his father in place of his grandfather; The tax collector's wife hugged her father's head and calmed everyone down.

Ukhru's engagement lasted three days, and his father made an exception to stay, keeping an eye on his son, who was at his happiest moment.

He remembered how cheerful the crowd had been when Ukhru, dressed in fine clothes, had gone to take Elune's hand. People waved handkerchiefs and their hats, and the boys released pigeons that had been in cages for days, and they escaped from their cages and flew up, circling over the crowd. People used projectiles to throw leather balls tied with streamers, dozens of ribbons shuttled over the boiling crowd, accompanied by cheerful musical instruments, people were fascinated to bless the happy couple.

The legend of getting engaged after just a few days of acquaintance will become the topic of housewives for a long time, and people have speculated that before the engagement, Elune had actually fallen in love with Uhru, and even had a "result", in order to cover up, the two families had to get engaged in a hurry, and those middle-aged ladies sneered and made up all kinds of details of male and female love. Someone said that on the day of the ball, Elune was seen behind the curtain, "I didn't see the kugit boy, I guess he was hiding, they may have been doing that, and when they heard me coming, they hid, and Elune was left standing there, wearing a mask, but the clothes I knew ?????"

On the day of the departure of the head of the Kugit delegation, Ukhru, assistant to the ambassador of the Kugit office in the Suno Office, and his fiancée, accompanied by a Suno official, sent the head of the delegation back to China.

"The visit of Mr. Kugit is of far-reaching significance, and has made long-term contributions to enhancing mutual trust, deepening economic and trade exchanges, and promoting national reconciliation between the two countries. ”

In a report to King Kugit written by the head of the Kuji mission, he said: "A number of prohibited products have been purchased. More than 100,000 dinars were spent on breaking through the joints of the Swadia bureaucracy, and the rest was spent on the procurement of various materials that could radically improve the country's military capabilities. There are more than 10,000 books of various types, including more than 200 key books related to military technical guidance; More than 300 pieces of various standard tools and templates; more than 100 carts of medicines; More than 100,000 pieces of various workpieces. Once all these materials have been digested and absorbed, China will be able to arm more than 40 full-fledged cavalry units, and focus on improving the combat strength of these armies in terms of baggage. The Great Khan should continue to strengthen procurement in the future, and at the same time encourage craftsmen to ponder these equipment, so as to lay the foundation for our country to eventually gain its own production capacity. Moreover, we have controlled a number of Swadia officials and gentry who are willing to serve us for money, who are invaluable in the war. Svadia is permeated with a sense of pacifism, the whole country is peaceful, and the sense of war is insufficient. (Note: War Risk Assessment: Can be a war.) ）”

Ukhru and his entourage bid farewell to the messenger of peace--- Mr. Head of the Kugi Special Mission, cheered by the crowd.

For a moment, Elune seemed to see a person staring at him, as if it was Jill, and when Elune looked closely, the person was gone.

"What's wrong, dear?" Ukhru asked warmly.

"Nothing," Elune wasn't used to.

Zaitsev was also in the crowd, which made him very angry these days. When he went to Irinhada, he found that the lord there had a problem in his house: the second master and the old lady of the family had joined forces to disrupt his slave business. It saved him a few days from his schedule, but it was true that he didn't have much money to make.

Of course, Zaitsev's ostentatious business was to cover up people's eyes, and the main purpose of his visit to Kugit was to meet with the Kugit ambassador, and then bring some of the messages that the Salanders had entrusted him to convey to the king of Kugit. After the business failed, he did not go to the border to meet at the pre-agreed place, but returned to Sunuo, preparing to meet Ambassador Kugit as soon as he left Sunuo.

He saw a lame man limping down the avenue after Ambassador Kugit's procession had passed. His neck ached suddenly.

Edward asked him what was wrong, and Zaitsev scolded: "I don't know, I don't know what's going on, it's just that I instinctively don't like this Kugit named Ukhru." ”

Jill heard that Commander Kugit had postponed his departure. When this day came, he took advantage of the fact that there was no one around and quietly left. After a final look at Elune, Jill walked north along the main road, holding a mahogany cane and heading towards the horizon.

He walked through the earth where only the wheat stalks remained, felt the cool autumn wind, the sky was dry and bright, and occasionally two earth-gray birds sprang out from the bushes, bounced away dozens of meters away and disappeared between the wheat stalks. The ground became drier and harder, and it was not until the moment of heavy snow that it was obscured. While people are heading in the direction of home, Jill is like a fish swimming against the current, heading into the unknown.

He didn't care about the purpose now, but he wanted to see his roots--- where his mother had lived. He walked north along the main road, begging for food for his travels, his socks and leggings were rotten, his clothes were tattered, his hair was covered with lice, and he carried large bags of alms from the peasants of Dunliang. At the Jerburg Pass, he saw a boundary marker, on which he saw a warning: "To the left, men and horses are alive." To the right, the horse is dead and alive. Forward, everyone is dead. And, Nord welcomes you. ”

Holding on to the monument, Jill looked back at the glittering Akinobara. turned around and limped into his mother's homeland.