Chapter 5: Seeing the Moon and Thinking About

There is a small ditch that is not even a small stream in the south of Weicheng, there is a small dirt slope that is not even a hill next to the small ditch, there is a grass house with a fence and a stone lawn that is not even a small courtyard under the small soil slope, the rain clouds disperse early at night, and the extraordinarily bright starlight is sprinkled on the ditch, the soil slope and the grass house, and it is suddenly plated with a layer of extremely beautiful silver halo.

Ning Quezhuo pulled his shoes and walked slowly under the starlight, looking at the thatched hut in front of him that had lived with Sangsang for a long time, his speed couldn't help but become slower. But as long as you are walking, no matter how slow you are, there will always be a day when you reach your destination. He pushed open the fence wall, which could only prevent dogs and not people, walked to the oil lamp leaking from the crack in the door, raised his hand to block his lips, coughed twice, and said, "What if I go to the capital?"

The door of the hut was pushed open, and a creaking screech pierced the quiet night of the border city.

The little maid Sang Sang squatted down at the door, her thin figure was stretched by the oil lamp, she pressed the side of the wooden door with her fingers, and replied: "Haven't you always wanted to go to Chang'an? By the way, Ning Que, when will you go to the firearms camp to steal some oil and come back? This door has been ringing for several months, and the sound is really hard to hear. ”

"Who else is using those difficult firecrackers now, if it's just oil, I'll go to the baggage camp tomorrow and ask......" Ning Que subconsciously responded casually, and then suddenly thought about one thing, "Hey! I don't seem to be talking to you about this matter, if you really want to leave, what do you care about this broken door?"

Sang Sang stood up on her knees, her thin body looked particularly thin in the cool spring night wind, she looked at Ning Que, and whispered in a serious voice without any other feelings: "Even if we leave, there will still be people living in this house, and they will still open the door." ”

After the two of them left, would anyone really be willing to come and live in this remote and dilapidated thatched hut far away from Fang City? Ning Que thought silently, and for some reason suddenly there was some reluctance, he sighed softly, squeezed sideways past Sang Sang, and whispered, "Pack your luggage at night." ”

Sang Sang pulled the yellowish hair on his sideburns at will, looked at his back and asked, "Ning Que, I haven't understood why you're so interested in that matter. ”

"No one can resist the temptation to make themselves stronger. And those things are so much fun for me. ”

Ning Que knew that the little maid had guessed her thoughts, looked up at Sang Sang's swarthy little face, raised her eyebrows and said: "And the two of us can't stay in Weicheng for a lifetime, the world is so big, there are many countries besides the empire, we have to go and see, even if it is smaller, just to earn more money, get promoted faster, and go to Chang'an is much better than staying in Weicheng, so this time I must be admitted to the academy." ”

Sangsang's face showed thoughtful feelings. Because of her young age, the little maid's eyebrows and eyes did not grow hair, and because of the wind and sand in the border city, her little face was dark and rough, and the yellowish hair caused by childhood malnutrition was really not good-looking, and she couldn't even say that she was beautiful.

But she has a pair of eyes like willow leaves, slender and slender, her eyes are as bright as ice, and there are few too obvious looks, so she doesn't look like a little maid who is about to be eleven or twelve years old from a miserable background, but like a mature woman who knows everything and sees through the world.

Ning Que knew that these were all illusions, in his opinion, the little maid Sang Sang was a typical girl who lacked heart, the two had depended on each other for so many years, because she was used to relying on her own thinking and doing things, so she became more and more lazy to think about things, because she was too lazy to think about things, so she became more and more stupid, and in order to hide her clumsiness, she used fewer and fewer words in every sentence, so she became more and more silent, indifferent, mature and weird.

"It's not stupid, it's clumsy. He thought about something, and silently corrected it in his heart.

After being silent for a long time, Sang Sang suddenly raised his head, bit his lip, showed a rare timidity, and said, "I heard...... Chang'an is big and there are a lot of people. ”

"The capital is prosperous, I heard that the population has exceeded one million in the third year of the Apocalypse, and the living expenses are extremely expensive, and it is not easy to live in peace......"

Ning Que sighed, saw the little maid's nervous expression, smiled and comforted: "There are many people, there is nothing to be afraid of, you just treat Chang'an as a bigger Weicheng, and when the time comes, I will deal with outsiders, you will take care of the affairs of the family as before, if you are really afraid, you will go out less." ”

"How much does it cost to buy meat, vegetables, and rice grains for a month in the capital?"

Sangsang's willow-like eyes were extremely round, and his two small hands tightly grasped the hem of the cloth skirt, and asked nervously: "Will it be more than four taels of silver?" That is double that of Weicheng. ”

"If you are really admitted to the academy, you have to pull some good fabrics for me to make some clothes, plus there may be guests at home, such as classmates or something, in case any gentleman takes a fancy to your young master and me, he may also come to the house to do it, so you must at least make a new set of clothes, I roughly calculated, how can I ask for ten taels of silver." ”

Ning Que frowned and replied, in fact, he was just talking nonsense very seriously, he didn't know very well, ten taels of silver for the students in the academy, it may only be the price of a random table of banquets in Tianxiangfang Zhongda Restaurant - just like the famous joke in Hexi Road: The peasant woman working in the fields chattered, always thinking that Donggong Niangniang was baking meatloaf, Xigong Niangniang was peeling green onions, the meatloaf was like a sea, and the green onions were like mountains.

However, even this obviously shrunken wrong answer far exceeded the little maid's psychological bottom line, and she frowned and looked at him seriously and said, "It's too expensive...... Ning Que, let's not go to Chang'an, and you don't want to take the academy exam, okay?"

"Something I didn't know. Ning Que reprimanded: "After entering the academy, I will definitely be able to become an official, and when the time comes, you and I will spend ten taels of silver a month, and why can't I earn seventy or eighty taels of silver a month in the yamen? Besides, what's wrong with Chang'an, Chen Kum Kee's rouge gouache should not be too much." ”

The four characters of rouge gouache seemed to be the key point of the little maid, she pursed her lips tightly, obviously falling into a very violent psychological struggle, and after a long time she replied in a mosquito-like voice: "But what did you do in the years when you studied in the academy? My female is red, and the eyelids of Chang'an people must be high, and they may not be able to sell." ”

"This is really troublesome, I heard that hunting is not allowed around Chang'an City, and those mountains and forests belong to the emperor...... How much money do we have?"

The master and servant glanced at each other, and then walked to the two large elm boxes with great tacit understanding, opened the boxes, and found a very tightly wrapped wooden box from the deepest part of the box.

The wooden box was full of broken silver, and there were obvious scratches on the silver horns the size of fingernails, and there was only one large silver coin in the middle.

Looking at the loose silver in the wooden box, neither of them counted, Sang Sang said in a low voice: "The old rule is to count once every five days, and I just counted it the night before, seventy-six taels and three dollars and four cents." ”

"It seems that after going to Chang'an, I have to think of ways to make more money. Ning Que said with a serious expression.

"Well, I'll try to improve my female popularity level a little more. Sang Sang replied with a serious expression.

......

......

At night, Sang Sang knelt on the kang to arrange the bedding, his thin knees moved quickly, his movements were quick and fast, and he pressed the middle of the pillow into an arc with a press of his small palm, which was the most comfortable arc for Ning Que to sleep. Then she picked up her futon, jumped off the cold kang, walked to the two large elm boxes in the corner of the house, and began to make her bed.

The light went out, Ning Que put the water bowl on the windowsill, got into the quilt by the starlight, put his hands on the edge of the quilt, yawned heavily, and then let out a sigh of great satisfaction, closed his eyes, and after a while heard the sound of the sound of the squirting that had been heard in the corner of the house for several years.

It was a night that seemed to be no different from all these years, and they would fall asleep with the starlight of the Imperial Frontier, but the reality was that neither the master nor the servant in the grass hut were asleep today, either because of the excitement of stepping into a new world, or because of the prosperity of the capital Chang'an, the looming wealth, and the charming smell of balsamic gouache, the two breaths in the corner of the window were not calm.

I don't know how long it took, Ning Que opened his eyes, looked at the faint silver halo on the window paper, and said distractedly: "I heard...... The girls in Chang'an City are not very afraid of the cold, their clothes are very thin, their necklines are very open, and their bodies are very white, and I don't know if it's true...... I was too young to remember. ”

He turned over, looked at the dark corner of the room, and asked, "Sangsang, have you been sick lately?"

The little maid in the dark seemed to shake her head, and she could vaguely see her clutching the corners of the quilt, her eyes were closed, but there was a very rare smile on the corners of her lips, and she replied in a low voice: "I heard that the girls in Chang'an City are indeed quite white, and they use such good gouache every day, can they not be white?"

Ning Que smiled, looked at her and said, "Don't worry, when Young Master Ben has money in the future, you can buy Chen Kum Kee's rouge gouache as you like." ”

Sangsang Huoran opened his eyes, and there was a bright starlight reflected in his slender eyes like willow leaves, and Yan said, "Ning Que, this is what you promised." ”

"As I said just now, after you go to Chang'an, you must remember to call me the young master, so that you can show respect. ”

Back then, Ning Que turned out the cold little Sangsang from the pile of dead people on the side of the road, and then came to Weicheng, and it has been seven or eight years now. Although Sang Sang is a servant girl in the household registration and does the things of a servant girl, he has never called him a young master, which does not mean anything else, only a habit.

Today, the little maid Sangsang was forced to throw away this habit.

"Ning Que...... Master...... You have to remember to promise to buy me Chan Kum Kee. ”

Ning Que responded, his eyes fell on the starlight like hoarfrost on the ground by the kang, his heart was slightly tight for no reason, the feeling of emptiness many years ago hit again, he looked back at the dark blue night sky outside the window, looked at the starry sky, and then began to bow his head and miss his hometown, muttering: "There is still no moon today......

Sang Sang on the elm cabinet in the corner of the black lacquered house, curled up in the slightly cool futon like a little mouse, she reached out to the back of her waist and pulled it, blocking the slightly cool breath outside, by the way, the gap between the two cabinets looked less awkward, listening to the whispering from the window, thinking about Ning Que...... The young master began to talk this nonsense again.