The dark clouds are low, and the mountain rain is coming.

A whirlwind blew, kicking up a cloud of dust and adding a dull veil to the entire long street.

The air is filled with a strong smell of corruption, and in this hot and oppressive weather, it goes straight to the head and makes people smell sick.

Roadside vendors began to clean up their stalls in an effort to get back to their homes before the heavy rain arrived.

After putting away the herbs that had not been sold, Wei Tao looked up at the increasingly dark sky, and walked away quickly with the package on his back.

He was just over 1.6 meters tall, with a thin and small build, wearing a coarse cloth coat that was obviously wide, and looked like a sack from a distance.

Leave the long street, turn into an alley, and return home a few hundred meters away.

Surrounded by low, dilapidated bungalows, the contrast with the red bricks and green tiles on both sides of the long street.

Not to mention the deep mansion compounds where the nobles live in the inner city are completely different worlds.

Crossing a puddle of sewage on the ground, Wei Tao frowned slightly, his eyes fell on a soaking and rotten severed finger, and he sped up his already slow pace.

The silence around him made him a little nervous.

If it weren't for the fear of getting wet with the hard-picked and dried herbs, he wouldn't have been willing to cut corners across these gloomy and narrow alleys.

I heard that the Wuyi Gang, which was originally entrenched nearby, provoked a certain nobleman in the inner city, and the dragon head and several gang backbones evaporated directly, and no one was seen alive or dead.

Immediately caused a great chaos in this area, and the fire of several forces will continue until the dust settles on the ownership of the territory.

This is the common phenomenon in the outer cities, where various gangs are rampant, each occupying a piece of territory or monopolizing a certain trade, forming a fragile dynamic balance in the fight and killing.

Even the poor people who collect medicine and firewood for a living, there are brave and ruthless people who have formed a medicine gang.

Although the medicine gang has no territory in the city, it is rampant in the mountains outside the city, and the medicine farmers must hand in a certain amount of worship every month, otherwise they will not be able to guarantee their personal safety in the mountains.

This is the Great Zhou Dynasty, the second year of Qianfu.

A chaotic era in which imperial power declined, moderation made the army self-respecting, wars were frequent, and the people were struggling to make a living.

Wei Tao has been in this Cangyuan City for nearly half a year, from being dazed and helpless at the beginning, to reluctantly accepting it later, and working hard to survive, and he can no longer see the shadow of the 996 programmer he once was.

He sighed secretly, tightened the burden on his back, and suddenly stopped in front of a pile of garbage.

Two figures, one tall and one short, jumped off the wall, blocking his path.

Each of them carried a wooden stick with rusty iron nails clearly visible at the top.

"Brother, borrow two copper coins to spend."

"We are members of the Hidden Knife Society, so we can be regarded as friends."

He didn't even have a real knife, and he still had the face to say that he was a member of the Hidden Knife Society.

Wei Tao was silent for a while, but he still took off the burden on his back, and at the same time spread out his palms, revealing two blackened copper coins.

"After squatting in the market for an afternoon, they sold it for such a small amount of money, if the two eldest brothers don't dislike it, they will take away the herbs in the baggage."

"Say borrow two copper plates, you only have two copper plates, bad luck!"

The tall man cursed in a low voice, turned and took a few steps, but turned back, took the two copper plates from his hands, and spat heavily on the ground.

After the two of them left, Wei Tao's tense body slowly relaxed, let go of the medicine shovel hidden in his sleeve, and reached out to catch a drop of falling rainwater.

Fortunately, these two people just took the copper coin and left, and they didn't get angry and attack him.

If he really wanted to do it, he might be able to kill one with the medicine shovel hidden in his sleeve, but if he was hit with a wooden stick, even if he didn't hit the vital point, the rusty nail would kill him.

The heavy rain poured down, and even the people with their burdens were instantly drenched.

The sun-dried herbs are still wet.

After a few days of hard work, I soaked in the soup.

Wei Tao carried the dripping package, but he was not too sad.

Because life is so difficult, when you can't accept or even understand, you can only calm down and hold on, looking forward to the turnaround.

He thinks he's always turning around.

But I haven't been able to find a way to use it.

It was a golden rune that had crossed over with him.

A golden symbol that can only be perceived when he condenses his own spirit, and is completely imperceptible to others.

It was constantly spinning, giving itself a gold coin every once in a while.

In half a year, he had accumulated six gold coins, one per month on average.

However, gold coins are also illusory, so there is no possibility of using them at all.

Otherwise, you only need to be able to take out one, and your life can be greatly improved, and you may even get the opportunity to go to the inner city to beg for a living, and get out of the big mud pond full of danger and oppression in the outer city.

After a moment in the rain, he waded through the muddy sewage, through the alley, turned two more corners, and finally returned home.

It was a small narrow courtyard, with a stone house in disrepair leaking, and a few puddles of water had accumulated on the ground.

The rest of the family hadn't returned yet, so Wei Tao put down the soaked package and turned to the stove to start a fire.

Pour water, boil the pot, put a few handfuls of aged rice, and cut some wild vegetables that were dug up when picking herbs, even if it is a solution to the night's meal.

It is impossible to eat dry rice, and in this kind of night when there is no need to work, to have a bowl of rice soup to fill the stomach is already the result of the joint efforts of the family.

When the aroma of rice began to fill, the courtyard door outside creaked.

A middle-aged couple walked in with a young girl.

They are Wei Tao's parents and sisters, Wei's father and mother mainly make a living as carpenters, and when they can't get a job, they can only go up the mountain to chop firewood and collect medicine, struggling to maintain the family's daily use.

However, recently, my sister Wei Hong found a job in a jade workshop through a relationship, and it is calculated to earn a lot more money than collecting medicine, and it is more stable.

Today was her monthly rest, and her parents were worried that it would be dangerous for her to come back alone, so they set aside half a day early to take her home from the jade workshop near the inner city.

"The dried herbs are drenched." Wei Tao set the dishes and chopsticks on the table and lit the only oil lamp in the house.

Father Wei was slightly stunned, and then showed a gentle smile, "It's okay to turn around and dry it when it's wet, as long as the person doesn't get cold." ”

Sister Wei Hong took out an oiled paper bag from her coarse cloth pocket and took out an earthen pot, exuding a faint aroma of wine.

"Little brother, I received my salary for the first time today, and I specially bought pig's head meat for you, which is half a catty."

Wei's mother washed two wine cups, handed one to Wei Rongxing, and the other was placed in front of Wei Tao.

"Take a sip of soju to warm up, or you won't catch a cold."

Brown rice porridge, mixed with wild vegetables, a bite of braised pork and a mouthful of wine.

These things that seemed ordinary in the previous life seemed so delicious on this cold and rainy night.

Halfway through the meal, Father Wei's face, who had not had much alcohol, was already red.

For the first time, he picked up half a piece of pig's head meat and put it in his mouth to chew it carefully, and after being silent for a long time, he suddenly said, "The money that the family has saved over the years has been scraped together, and it is enough for Brother Tao to go to the martial arts hall for apprenticeship." ”