As the sun grew west, the blue-gray sky was blank, and the only sounds of the wind and the terrible crows were filled with the ears. From time to time, the earth is raised by the wind to raise large patches of dust, which is the season for the growth of all things in March, but it looks dilapidated and desolate.

From time to time in the empty wasteland, groups of refugees were seen heading south, perhaps because Zhang Jiao had become white. When they were about to reach a willow forest, Yu Ji and Zhang Jiao had already been stopped for the third time.

"This son, old man, okay, give me something to eat." A middle-aged man, shirtless and wearing a pair of shorts, saluted Zhang Jiao on the side of the road tremblingly, his face was withered, and he couldn't stand steadily. Behind them, two seven or eight-year-old dolls were skinny and bone-ty, timidly dragging the man's trouser leg and hiding behind.

In this man's opinion, Zhang Jiao, who is young, white and strong, and travels with an old slave behind him, must be a great son of a scholar.

"What's your name, and where are you from? How did there be so many people fleeing along the way? Zhang Jiao thought of his relatives at home, and he was a little flustered, and hurriedly asked.

"My name is Ma Yuanyi, I was originally from Hejian County, Jizhou, and my hometown suffered a severe drought and a plague. I still had some land, but the grain harvest failed, and I couldn't bear to see many villagers suffer, so I sold my land and exchanged it for some grain, and most of them were scattered. Leave a small number of villagers who plan to take a few villagers to Luoyang or Jingzhou to join the brothers in the army in the clan..."Saying this, the man choked up, and his eyes were moist. The two children behind him also hugged his legs and whimpered and cried.

Seeing that he was emotional, Yu Ji behind him took out a pot of water from his arms, and took out three gray-brown millet cakes from his sleeve as if he were playing tricks and handed them to Ma Yuanyi and the two children. While stepping forward to support the man, he said, "Don't worry, come here, eat something first, and speak slowly." He pointed to the willow tree by the roadside. took out another set of clothes and handed it to Ma Yuanyi, motioning for him to put it on. The weather in early spring is still a little cold.

From the moment Yu Ji took out the dry food, the two children looked at the millet cake. Ma Yuanyi took a piece of cake and tore it in half and handed it to the two children, then tore his own piece of cake in half, put half of it in his arms, and then handed the remaining one and a half back to Yu Ji.

Yu Ji was moved, his beard trembled twice, and he pushed back the cake handed over by Ma Yuanyi. "We still have a few, you can take these."

Hearing this, Ma Yuanyi couldn't hold back any longer, and knelt down with a pop, his eyes were red, his mouth was open, his throat was turning, but he couldn't speak anymore. He looked at Zhang Jiao and Yu Ji with gratitude. A strong kowtow.

"Alas..." Zhang Jiao was also moved, stepped forward to help Ma Yuanyi up, and helped him sit down next to the willow tree.

The two children stopped crying, and were held on their laps by Yu Ji and Zhang Jiao respectively. Their tears were dripping down on the cracks as they gnawed hard. Ma Yuanyi saluted the two of them again, and began to gobble up.

Zhang Jiao's heart was sour, thinking of his younger brothers and sisters at home, so he stroked the head of the child in his arms.

Generally speaking, such dry food is easy to choke, and the cake is not large, so you can only barely cushion your stomach. But Ma Yuanyi and the two children ate very sweetly. There were no adverse reactions. Miraculously, although the cake is not big, Ma Yuanyi and the child still eat it for a long time. After eating, they felt inexplicably full. The body is not cold anymore. Even the spirit has improved a lot.

Zhang Jiao looked at Yu Ji. Yu Ji smiled and blinked his eyes.

"What about the rest of you, are you the only ones left?" Seeing that they had almost eaten, Zhang Jiao asked again.

Ma Yuanyi regained some of his spirits, and when he heard Zhang Jiao's question, his eyes turned red, and he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "All... He's dead. The road was full of refugees, some of whom formed thieves who, when we were about to leave River, robbed us of the last of our food. Kill all the women! Some of us young men were killed in battle, some were captured alive, and the thieves bound us hand and foot to bury us alive, and in the pit, the remaining brothers and the father of the two children quietly helped me to bite the rope. Unfortunately, they found out, and I struggled to grab a horse to save the two children... Finally... Finally saved the two children. It's a pity, it's a pity that I can't kill it back for the sake of the child! Otherwise, I would never have lived alone... Ahhh Ma Yuanyi's eyes were split, and his heart was distressed.

Hearing this, the two children couldn't hold back any longer, perhaps regained some strength, cried louder, and screamed for their father and mother. The mournful cry seemed to shake the willow forest beside him, and the newly sprouted twigs fluttered towards the north together, as if silently calling for the souls in the distance.

Seeing this, Yu Ji sighed. Reach out and put it on the top of the heads of the two children, so that they fall asleep quickly, so that they do not cry out of excessive sadness. Ma Yuanyi was dumbfounded when he saw this, and Yu Ji waved his hand to silence him.

"You, are you a healer? Or Fangshi? Ma Yuanyi was obviously shocked, cautiously came over, and secretly sweated his previous idea of guessing this old man as an old slave.

Yu Ji put the child in his arms on the ground and said, "I followed this son back to his hometown, he has been enlightened by the immortals, and he will follow the immortals to practice." Before that, I went back to my hometown to visit my family, and I was entrusted by the immortals to protect this son home. ”

Ma Yuanyi was obviously a little big at the moment, and looked at the old farmer in front of him in a daze, and then looked at Zhang Jiao on the side.

Zhang Jiao was a little embarrassed and looked at Yu Ji, who waved his hand directly and said, "It's okay." So Zhang Jiao nodded at Ma Yuanyi, which was considered to be an acknowledgement.

Ma Yuanyi was frightened for a while, he remembered that there were some powerful monks in his hometown who could turn talismans to cure diseases, but it was a pity that it was extremely expensive to ask them to save people. Only the powerful gentry could afford it. Although these two people don't look like legendary immortals, they are not something that they can touch at will by a pariah. Thinking of this, Ma Yuanyi became a little restrained, and he didn't dare to look up at Zhang Jiao and Yuji.

"It's okay, I'm also a farmer's child, a rural village doctor. Fortunately, the teacher rescued him, and he didn't start practicing yet. Zhang Jiao saw his caution, wanted to comfort him, and wanted him not to be so restrained. He said as he handed over his kettle.

"Gongzi Xie." Ma Yuanyi said very gratefully. But he quickly lowered his head, secretly sad.

"And what about the horse you took?" Zhang Jiao spoke again, wanting to break this strange atmosphere.

"When I was about to leave Hejian County, I was taken away by the soldiers of that county!" At the mention of this, Ma Yuanyi really raised his head again, his eyes were full of anger. Then he said: "When they asked us where we were going, we told us truthfully that there was a famine and a plague in our homeland. But they said... But he said, 'The wind and rain in my county are smooth, the grains are abundant, and the heavens and the earth are clear, and you and other untouchables are clearly instructed by others to slander my county lord.' You money-hungry and unreasonable pariahs! Are you still worthy of being my heavenly man? Ma Yuanyi's head was bruised, and his fists were clenched. He said as if he was learning from the soldier.

"And then?" Zhang Jiao was also angry and hurriedly asked.

"Then more and more displaced people gathered at the edge of the county, and the county soldiers gathered us in an abandoned school yard and notified the counties and villages to come and collect people. Can... But there are not many living people in the village anymore, and we want to live when we go out! Woo woo..."Ma Yuanyi, a nine-foot-tall man, said that he actually hid his face and sobbed here, and the sound made people's hearts furious.

Zhang Jiao and Yu Ji were also extremely sad, and even the corners of Yu Ji's eyes were moistened along the way. Yu Ji, who looked like an old farmer, took out a gourd of wine from his arms, poured it violently, sighed, and then handed the wine to Zhang Jiao. Zhang Jiao also took a sip of wine, and then poked Ma Yuanyi, who was hiding his face and crying, with a gourd.

Ma Yuanyi took the gourd, drank it in a big gulp, and then raised his head and howled, as if he had recovered some of his strength, and then continued with a red face: "Then I stayed with the two dolls for a day, and no one came to pick them up, and few of the homeless people in the entire school field were picked up, and some were frozen to death at night, or starved to death. Do you know what kind of sounds people make before they starve to death? Yes? The last breath he exhaled was extremely long, and the whining sound of the whole school field was endless..."

Speaking of this, Ma Yuanyi seemed to have been drained of his spirit, and his whole person was relaxed. Leaning against a willow tree, his expression was in a trance. Mechanically poured a big sip of wine, and continued numbly: "The next day, there were a lot of people from the wealthy families who came, and later I learned that they were here to buy slaves. Many homeless people began to rush out of the school yard together while they were choosing, and I escaped with my two children at that time. ”

"Does the court care?" Zhang Jiao couldn't help it and asked.

"The Imperial Court? Scold... The official position of our county lord Guo was bought by him from the so-called imperial court..."Ma Yuan came from the heart, looked up to the sky and shouted: "I think how wise and martial Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty is, working hard to govern and rest with the people. Yes... Fathers and fathers, if you have spirits, save my great man...! Ma Yuanyi was sad from the heart and indignant.

Zhang Jiao was also sad when he heard this, looking at the sky and crying. He took the wine gourd in Ma Yuanyi's hand and drank it with a bang.

Ma Yuanyi seemed to be a little drunk. Leaning on the willow tree, he muttered weakly: "I think of my ancestor General Ma Yuan, what a temperament... It's a pity that the reserve children and grandchildren are not good. "And he fell into a deep sleep.

Zhang Jiao turned his head to look at Yu Ji, but he didn't know that the latter had found a wine gourd out of nowhere, his eyes were uncertain, and he drank it leisurely one by one. Feeling someone watching, Yu Ji also looked up at Zhang Jiao and said, "Senior brother, this is also a kind of cultivation. The Master often said to me that in the red dust, you should judge the good and evil yourself, no matter what, just don't go against your heart. ”

Zhang Jiao's eyes lit up and turned his head to look at Yu Ji. "Thank you, brother." Then he took off his coat and covered the two children next to him.

The sky is getting dark, and there are constantly homeless people who choose to be near this willow forest, surrounded by threes and twos. Start looking for firewood to make a fire.

Yu Ji stretched out his hand, and a bonfire appeared out of thin air among several people. In the silence of the night, the light shines brightly. Crows kept flying from afar, hovering over the willow forest, and the croaking sound was particularly harsh. For them, there will always be a few people in this bamboo forest who become their food.

Yu Ji's sleeve seemed to have a small world. He kept pulling out all kinds of food, including chicken, a leg of mutton, and a small jar of corn porridge. He even took out a spatula, and then he scolded and stuffed it back into his sleeve. Then I found a rack for the leg of lamb to roast on the bonfire.

"Senior brother, where did you come from?" Zhang Jiao finally couldn't help but be curious and asked.

"Borrowed, hehe." Senior Brother Yu regained his playfulness. He winked at Zhang Jiao.

Zhang Jiao was speechless for a while...

As if smelling the fragrance, the two children's noses moved, and they woke up, and Ma Yuanyi also woke up. He no longer saw Zhang Jiao and them, and bowed. He also smiled and sat down by the campfire. took the corn porridge handed over by Zhang Jiao and fed it to the two children.

When Zhang Jiao was tearing the leg of mutton for the two children, Yu Ji's face suddenly changed, and he turned to look at Ma Yuanyi and said, "People's hearts are terrifying, even more than tigers and wolves." Alas..."

Ma Yuanyi suddenly felt lighter. Something hit the back of his head, but he found that he had come to Yu Ji's back. Bright bonfires reflect people's faces. Ma Yuanyi found that the place where he was sitting had become a black wooden stake, and a piece of firewood knife was stuck on the stake. Ma Yuanyi was immediately furious.

"It's you!?" Ma Yuanyi shouted.

There were more than a dozen people around them. Each with a weapon. Some looked greedily at the food around the bonfire, some looked at Zhang Jiao and the others with unkind faces, and then looked at Ma Yuanyi vigilantly, in their opinion, only this young man had a little deterrent.

The man at the head turned pale for a while, and said viciously: "I'm sorry, hand over the food, and those two children, we don't have to kill you." I know you've got some punches, but we're not vegetarian in our weapons! ”

"Kid? What do you want your children to do! "Ma Yuanyi is angry!

"On that school field, these two children were taken by the Emperor of Blasphemy! If you want to accept them as the children of the Hou Mansion and give them as companions to the little Hou Ye, if you know how to do it, hand over the children! They are better at following the little Hou Ye than following you! The man said sinisterly, and from time to time he looked at the leg of lamb on the campfire and licked his lips.

"You're dreaming! The two brothers entrusted it to me before they died, what a prince, they wanted to cheat the child! Ma Yuanyi stepped forward, pulled out the firewood knife on the stake, blocked the two children and Zhang Jiaoyu Ji in front of him, pointed at the man and said.

"That being the case. Don't blame me for being ruthless! The man screamed, and then a dozen men rushed at them with fierce weapons waving.

Suddenly, something happened abruptly.