Chapter 15: The Strange Old Man
"I'm done!"
The girl beside her lifted the steaming rabbit meat, her eyes shining, as if she was asking for credit.
Zhao Zheng broke free from the past and looked at her: "Roasted.... Not ripe. ”
Bai Tao looked at the rabbit meat in disbelief, "How can it be uncooked, you see that the side is burnt." ”
Zhao Zheng took it and swiped it a few times with a dagger: "The outside must be burned, and the meat inside must be tightened, if the oil does not drip is the best." ”
"Okay."
He's only good when he bakes it. Bai Tao handed it to him, and watched his movements with his cheeks on the side.
I feel that Zhao Zhengming looks sick and weak, but he is like a weed gritting his teeth to maintain the last hope of the last mite, taking root, sprouting, and growing savagely in the adversity eroded by wind and snow, and gradually growing into a towering tree.
Bai Tao said: "What if I can't learn how to barbecue in the future." ”
"Then I'll bake it for you."
Zhao Zheng removed the roasted rabbit meat, and after a while, it was already half cool, and he tore a piece of meat to feed the white peach.
Bai Tao refused: "You are sick, you eat." I'm not hungry. ”
How could she not be hungry, the jerky was only three or four days' weight, but she had survived on the bag of jerky for seven or eight days, not counting the days when he was unconscious.
There was a kind of stubbornness in Zhao Zheng's tight lip line that could not be refused, "You eat, I will eat." ”
“.....”
Bai Tao obediently opened her mouth and shared the rabbit meat with him, she found that Zhao Zheng was keeping the burnt side for herself, so she asked: "Do you think you are older than me, I am younger than you, you let me." ”
Zhao Zheng: "Yes." ”
Bai Tao was thinking, if Zhao Zheng knew what would happen if he was over a hundred years old, would he be scared to death?
will still blame her for asking him so much, all of which is to deceive his feelings.
Deceive feelings.
Whether you are a grown up man or not, deceiving other people's feelings is what the bad fox in the mixed hook bar does.
After eating the last bite of meat, Bai Taowo was still thinking about it when he was warming up in Zhao Zheng's arms, and he was a little excited when he thought about it.
Grandma Daji is a famous demon of the demon clan, and she also does things that deceive feelings.
Then can you cheat a reputation?
The more Bai Tao thought about it, the more excited she became, and she couldn't help but roll, but she suddenly hit the ribs on Zhao Zheng's chest, and she reached out to hold down the pain and prevent Zhao Zheng from waking up in pain.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Zheng didn't fall asleep at all, his chest vibrate, coughed a few times, and pressed her head into his arms with his hand: "Taotao, sleep." ”
White Peach: "....."
Sleepless all night, open eyes until dawn.
Maybe the mountain ghost is really protecting and playing a role.
The blizzard that had been blowing for a long time finally stopped whistling, the sky and the earth were dazzling white, Bai Tao took Zhao Zheng's hand out of the hole, and there was a crow on the branch curled up its head, trembling.
Zhao Zheng's body has not recovered well, and he is about to be blown across by the cold wind.
But he said he couldn't delay any longer.
This time out of the hole is very risky, and I may freeze to death outside.
Bai Tao was a little worried about him.
Sensing her worried gaze, Zhao Zheng took her hand and shook it, all in silence.
His face was too pale, even a little cold, Bai Tao couldn't read his expression, couldn't read his thoughts, only felt that he was only eleven years old, and he was too calm.
"Zhao Zheng, I'm not afraid."
Bai Taomai walked in the snow, one foot deep and one foot shallow, and chattered: "Did you think about it all night yesterday and didn't sleep all night, people can't think too much, and there is white snow outside, don't look at it all the time, hurt your eyes, we will go out." ”
"Okay."
Bai Tao guided him to the side, intentionally or unintentionally, and sure enough, he found a path.
She and Zhao Zheng snuggled up to each other, kept each other warm, and walked across the vast plains to find a village in the southwest.
This village is secluded enough to be backed by a cliff that it would have been neglected if it hadn't been for the guidance of the Wolf King.
This is the junction of Qin and Zhao's land, and Qin and Zhao are all at the point where they have to pinch each other when they meet, so this border is the line of defense for sending troops.
However, because of the cessation of the army in recent years, the villagers have a sense of their homeland, so the residents who had moved away have returned, and the village has regained its popularity.
Sort of lucky.
Bai Tao helped Zhao Zheng and knocked on the smoking firewood door.
"Knock knock—"
Listening to the movement, there was someone inside, and the sound of the person's breathing was a little shorter, and there was even the sound of weapons being clattered.
Isn't it Zhao Bing?
Bai Tao was a little nervous, but she knew that this was the territory of the Qin State, and there would never be any people from the Zhao State.
There is also the fact that Zhao Zheng is in a very bad state, and if he stays outside in the snow, he will freeze hard.
The courage to confront mortals from the bottom of my heart came out of my heart.
If you dare to bully Zhao Zheng.
And she drained them of their blood, leaving not one behind.
"Squeak-"
The door opened, and an old man with white sideburns walked out, still holding a sharp scythe in his hand.
Seeing a girl and a boy at the door, he gasped for breath and white mist erupted from his nostrils; "The old man thought that Hu Bing was coming over again."
But the sickle was not put away, because the old man saw the thin boy.
The dagger tightly held in the boy's hand made people feel a kind of ruthlessness for no reason, and it was not much different from the fierce beasts foraging in the snow.
Zhao Zheng took the dagger, "Old man, there is a lot of trouble, and I hope to give you some hot water to drink." ”
"Come in."
Hearing that he was speaking in an authentic Zhao accent, the old man may have been a weathered person, as can be seen from the long and wide head lines on his forehead, he took the cane from the side and held it in his hand.
"Dah."
"Da, da."
The crutches fell to the ground, and the old man led them into the house.
It was a simple wooden house, which looked poor, but the wooden flooring showed some goodness.
"There is still dried meat hanging on the beam, and you are free, and the old man is not hospitable."
"Thank you, uncle." The white peach has a crunchy sound, like a bite of a radish.
She helped Zhao Zheng to sit on the felt cushion, and took a woolen blanket to cover him.
He was really too hungry and thin, and when he didn't speak, his pale cheeks and crow-like eyelashes were lined with a soft wool blanket, which looked a little clear, but the color of his eyes was darker, and there was a kind of exotic taste.
After Bai Tao settled him, he went to set up the tin can and began to boil water.
"Gollum."
After the water boiled, Bai Tao blew and fed him, Zhao Zheng's throat rolled, his body recovered some temperature, and he lifted his heavy eyelids, "Tao Tao..."
"Don't speak."
Bai Tao tore the jerky and stuffed it in his mouth again, she was a fox spirit, and she felt nothing, but a mortal supporting her sick and weak body in the snow, and walking without stopping for so long, it could be regarded as requiring tenacious willpower.
Zhao Zheng didn't hold on anymore, and devoured her feeding little by little.
"Ahem, cough, cough..."
During this period, his cough was committed again, and Bai Tao hurriedly patted him on the back, "Is it choking, then I'll feed it slowly, I'm also feeding people for the first time, I'm a little inexperienced." ”
"No problem."
His voice was weak, and he slowly closed his eyes again.
"You're brother and sister?" The old man sat next to him and began to ask.
"It's not."
Bai Tao stuffed the jerky into his mouth, chewed and said vaguely, "We are friends, and he also vowed to be my best friend for life." ”
Zhao Zheng's eyelashes moved slightly, but he still looked very sluggish, like wilting withered grass.
Bai Tao moved to his side, watched him, and protected him.
The old man said, "You seem to be in a good relationship. ”
"That's good."
"I guess I escaped."
"Sort of, right?"
The folds on the old man's eyelids pressed, "Now this world, it is not easy, not long ago, the new monarch of the Qin State, Yingzi Chu, ascended the throne and began the eastern and western crusades, first destroyed Chenggao and Xingyang, changed to Sanchuan County, and now is preparing to send troops to attack Zhao, and this war is about to burn again." ”
He sighed heavily, his eyes moist, "I have a son, and a little granddaughter of your age, who looks like you, it all melts in my heart and holds it in the palm of my hand, but unfortunately, I was killed by that day, and I was killed by God..."
The old man wiped his tears with his cuffs, and Bai Tao didn't know how to comfort him.
Zhao Zheng was still resting and didn't seem to hear it.
The old man sitting opposite got up tremblingly, "Old man, half of your body is in the ground, and when I see you two dolls, I start to get hurt." ”
The old man chattered to himself, chattering and going out on crutches, "My granddaughter loves bitter herbs, and I'm going to go to the neighbor to order bitter herbs." ”
"Da, da, da."
The crutches hit the floor with a regular rhythmic sound.
Where do the bitter herbs come from in the big winter?
Bai Tao felt that the old man was confused when he missed his granddaughter.
Zhao Zheng next to him lifted his eyelids, like a cold porcelain with fresh life, he pulled the wool on his body, and he was no longer sick and weak just now, "That old man has a problem, it is very likely that he colluded with Zhao Guo and Hu Bing at the same time." ”
Bai Tao's heart jumped: "How do you know." ”
"He just said that Hu Bing is here again, just imagine a village that is often robbed by Hu Bing, why his family has no strong men, and he can still have rich surplus food, and besides, what he said later was to go to his granddaughter to ask for bitter vegetables, because he saw that I was dying, and you were simple and immature, and did not have the ability to escape, so he found a bad excuse, but in fact, he went to report to Hu Bing."
"What then?"
Bai Tao was a little panicked, or she would have turned into a shape and ran away with Zhao Zheng in her mouth.
"Trust me, Momo."
Zhao Zheng was still able to stuff the jerky on the table into his arms when this danger was approaching, he drank the warm water that Bai Peach had just boiled, and wiped his mouth, "Let's go up and go find Hu Bing." ”