"Here it is."

Zhuo Lengping came with her mother all the way, entered the territory of Yangzhou Mansion, and walked to a dilapidated house outside Yizheng County.

She passed the compound outside the house and saw that the earthen walls and fences had collapsed, and they were covered with cobwebs that almost blocked the road. Zhuo Lengping lifted the hem of her skirt, stepped over cautiously, and then turned around and pulled her mother in.

When she walked to the front of the house, she only blew the dust on the doorknob, and then pushed the squeaky door open, and the light inside was very dim, but she could see a Buddha statue in front of her, but unfortunately it was full of copper-yellow rust, and it became dull.

"Mother." Zhuo Lengping said, "This is a temple. ”

"Is there a place to cook?" Mrs. Zhang asked.

"I'll go in and have a look." Zhuo Lengping held on to the door frame, lowered his head and walked in, and saw a duster on the offering table, so he respectfully picked it up, swept the patina on the Buddha statue, and then knelt on the ground and bowed to the Buddha statue three times.

After kneeling down, Zhuo Lengping saw that there were ear rooms on both sides, so he walked to the east room, rolled up the curtains, and raised a puff of dust, which made her cough weakly a few times.

When she went into the house, she saw a stove against the wall, and a pot was still on it. Zhuo Lengping's eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly walked over, and lifted the lid of the pot, there were only a few blackened and hard and brittle rice grains inside, and a lot of dust had accumulated at the bottom of the pot.

"Mother!" Zhuo Lengping shouted outside the house, "There is really a stove here!" ”

So he scooped water from the river, washed the pot, made a firewood, plucked some wild vegetables, and boiled them for food.

Zhuo Lengping took the bowl, walked to the west room, put the vegetable soup on the kang, and the mother and daughter ate it immediately.

"Leng Ping, you've been living a hard life for so long, ...... for your mother" Mrs. Zhang chewed wild vegetables, her eyes flashed with tears, and she patted her head sadly.

"Mother, daughter is used to it, and it can be regarded as self-enjoyment, it's better than sending people under the fence in Nanjing, isn't it?" Zhuo Lengping smiled lightly.

"You girl, who usually speaks little, is so comforting when you speak......" Mrs. Zhang sighed and wiped away a line of tears.

Zhuo Lengping ate for a while, and when there was half a bowl left, he pushed it to her mother and said, "My daughter has finished eating, and these will be left for her mother." ”

Mrs. Zhang looked at her scorched face: "How can you eat these?" We traveled for three days and didn't get a good meal...... It doesn't matter if your mother is hungry, don't let you ...... again."

"That's not right. My daughter is young, she can help it, your body is precious, just eat more! ”

Mrs. Zhang was about to stop her, but she saw Zhuo Lengping jump off the kang and go out of the house.

Leng Ping had nothing to do, so he walked around the compound, and went around to the back of the house, but saw that there was a wide open space behind it, which was surrounded by a fence, and the door was still with a lock, and the key could not be found.

Curious, she stood on tiptoe and looked inside, and saw that there were several bundles of firewood piled up there, and a bamboo basket was placed next to it, but the contents of it could not be seen clearly.

Leng Ping thought to himself: If you get these firewood, you can meet your needs for ten days.

When she approached, she saw that the fence was not very high, and that there should be no obstacle to climb over it, and she was overjoyed. However, as soon as she put her hand on the fence, she realized that the head of the fence was so sharp that if she stepped over it, the hand she used for support would be pierced in great pain. For her, as a woman, it was really hard to bear.

She was stunned for a long time, but finally gritted her teeth, jumped over, and climbed over the fence.

There was a sudden stinging pain in her palm, and she screamed, fell to the ground, and rolled around.

After a while, I felt that the pain gradually subsided, and I looked at the palm of my hand, fortunately there was no damage, but there was a hole, so that there would be no bleeding.

She dusted off her clothes, reached out to touch the bamboo basket next to her, and took out a woodcutter about a foot long, shiny and shiny, but the blade was a little curled. She got up, and in the basket took out an axe and bundles of twine, all of which were tools for chopping wood.

She immediately smiled, picked up the bamboo basket, pushed open the door of the backyard, and took out all these objects.

"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Zhang saw Zhuo Lengping enter the house, so she asked.

"Mother, look!" Zhuo Lengping held the bamboo basket and asked her mother to take a look, "This firewood cutting equipment is all ready, I cut firewood all day and pick it up to the city to sell, can I settle down?" ”

On the contrary, Mrs. Zhang looked worried, and persuaded: "You have a daughter's family, it's a bit tiring to do this kind of rough work......

"Don't worry!" Leng Ping stroked her hair and said, "Although my daughter has been learning textile since she was a child, it is definitely better to do this business now." Now that there are knives and axes and other things to chop wood, why not calculate them? ”

Mrs. Zhang always followed his daughter's meaning, so she just smiled and said, "Okay, okay, just follow the idea of the cold screen!" ”

Zhuo Lengping inquired about it, knowing that there was a mountain in the north of the city, so he went up the mountain to chop firewood in the early morning, came back at noon to cook rice, and went to the city to sell firewood at dusk.

Every time she went up the mountain, she felt that the hem of her dress often hooked the branches, and she was deeply distressed. After thinking about it for a long time, although I cherish this apricot yellow skirt, I still have to take care of my mother after all! In this way, he could not care about so many things, so he had to flatten the skirt with his left hand, cut the firewood knife towards the hem of the skirt with his right hand, tore it back and forth several times, tore off a few pieces of rags, and threw it into the stream.

She hurriedly picked up firewood, and when she looked up and saw that it was still early, she planned to go to the city to sell it first, and when she got the idea, she went straight down the mountain and went straight to the city gate.

She entered Yizheng City, walked to the side of the street, and because she didn't know the way, she asked passers-by: "Do you know where to go in the market?" ”

"Go down the avenue and turn left through an alley."

"Thank you."

She walked a long way, and sure enough, she saw an alley on the left, and was about to step into it, but someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.

"Turn your head."

She heard the man laughing dirtily behind his back, and thought it was some kind of hooligan ruffian, and broke out in a cold sweat; She didn't dare to disobey, and slowly turned around, and saw that the man had a collapsed nose, small eyes, and an untidy face, and was gently holding a folding fan, smiling crookedly at her.

"You...... Who are you? Zhuo Lengping asked timidly.

"This is the famous Lu Zhengfu of the Lu family, whose name is Lu Jishou, the word Lusheng, you woman is so ignorant, hurry up and bow down!" Out of nowhere, a slave stood beside this man and shouted proudly.

"Yes......" Zhuo Lengping was about to kneel down, but was grabbed by Lu Jishou's arm. Her face changed suddenly, and she hurriedly withdrew her hand.

"Girl doesn't have to be polite, I don't have much of a fight!" Lu Jishou shook the folding fan and arched his hand: "Dare to ask the girl's name?" ”

Zhuo Lengping's frightened eyes dodged up and down, and he didn't know how to deal with this person for a while.