In the morning of the same day, a gust of wind suddenly blew and whirred.

With a "click", the flagpole of "Caojia Distillery" was broken by the fierce wind, and the apricot red flag fell to the ground along the edge of the archway.

After a pedestrian found it, he stood at the door of the archway and shouted: Alas, the flagpole of the Cao family is broken.

There was no movement in the courtyard of Caojia Distillery, and the pedestrian left.

After another pedestrian found out, he stood at the door of the archway and shouted: Alas, the flagpole of the Cao family is broken.

Someone in the courtyard of the Cao Family Wine Workshop responded at this time, what?

Chen Shoucai walked out of it and looked at the broken flagpole with a shocked expression. He said to himself that the Cao family's trip today was unlucky. Then he picked up the flag under the root of the archway wall and hurriedly walked towards North Street.

After a while, Chen Shoucai came to the North Gate Ferry, looked around, and there were several strange boatmen standing on the beach.

Chen Shoucai looked at a strange boatman and raised the flag in his hand: Hey, do you see Cao Hongyou, the owner of the Cao Family Distillery?

The strange boatman said, you are late, Boss Cao's family took a boat to Chibi half an hour ago, who are you from his family?

Chen Shoucai replied, I am his family's hired laborer. raised the flag again, and continued, you see, Boss Cao's family just traveled today, and the flagpole of the Cao family winery was broken by the strong wind. I was worried that this was a bad omen, so I rushed over, ready to persuade Boss Cao's family not to leave, and to have to change the day if they want to leave. Who knew I was late.

The strange shipwright said disapprovingly, it is normal for the strong wind to break the flagpole, what is ominous? What a fuss.

On this day, the sky was overcast and snowflakes were falling. There was a canopy boat moored at Chibi Wharf, and after a while, the whole hull of the boat fell white.

Cao Yang led Cao Hongyou, who was on a cane, and Xiao Huaihua, who was on a cane, to look at the cabin full of soybeans, and they pointed and gossiped.

Hu Qin led Cao Tingting into the canopy across the cabin, and below it was a long wooden bar that could sit down, and they sat side by side with Cao Xiaofeng and Cao Gaofeng.

After a while, Cao Hongyou and Xiaohuahua also got under the canopy, and Cao Xiaofeng and Yu Gaofeng hurriedly sat up and called their grandparents obediently. After letting the two elders sit down, they sat down again, looking very polite.

Cao Gaofeng stood up suddenly, looked at Cao Yang on the sampan on the bow of the boat, and said suspiciously, why didn't Dad come in with such a big snow outside?

Hu Qin said, your father can swing the oar, he will be a boatman today to row across the river, take us from Chibi Wharf to Wulin Wharf on the other side, and take you to Uncle Honghu's house to spend the New Year.

Cao Gaofeng and Cao Xiaofeng applauded excitedly, and said in unison, okay!

Outside the canopy boat, the other ships have anchored and remained untouched, and the boatmen have left one by one, and the dock is particularly quiet, and the sound of falling snowflakes can be heard.

Cao Yang wore a cotton hat, looked at the vast river, rolled up his sleeves, and began to rock, and the boat set sail. He hummed the boatman's horn in a high-pitched voice—

Hey, hey, rocking the boat,

Hey,

Hey, hey, windy and snowy

Hey,

Hey, hey, hey, black magpie flying south

Hey,

Hey, hey, hey, the river is flowing eastward

Hey.

……

Before I knew it, it was almost noon, and the snowflakes fell on the vast river and melted immediately, but it stained a bamboo raft in the center of the river and a black canopy boat slowly rowed from the Chibi Wharf.

There were seven people on the raft, all wearing black dog-drilled hats, all of whom pulled down the brim to cover their faces, leaving only two eye holes to look out, deliberately dressed as masked people whose faces no one could see clearly, and they were covered with snowflakes, like a group of mourners dressed in vegetarian clothes, one of whom was carelessly holding the pole.

On the canopy boat, Cao Yang was rocking, and he found that there were no other boats on the river, only a bamboo raft in the center of the river, on which seven people were standing and looking at his big wooden boat, some gesturing, pointing and not knowing what to discuss.

The river wind is howling, the river waves are rushing, and Cao Yang is sailing in the headwind and waves, feeling very difficult.

When the canopy boat was about to approach the bamboo raft, a short masked man on the bamboo raft waved to Cao Yang and shouted: Hey, man, please make it easy.

Cao Yang just didn't hear it and continued to shake the oar.

At this time, the bamboo raft was moored in the middle of the river, and the canopy boat wanted to avoid it and bypassed, but the masked man who was holding the pole crossed the bamboo raft in front of him, blocking the canopy boat from rowing forward.

The short masked man was also calling: Hey, man, do you hear me? It's convenient.

Cao Yang met with him, and asked with questions and answers, what is the convenience?

The short masked man said: The wind and snow are too big, brothers are freezing cold, and you want to get into your canopy to avoid the wind and snow, so let's do it!

The six masked men echoed, "Okay!"

Cao Yang hesitated, turned around and saw that his father, Cao Hongyou, had come out of the cabin and was observing the seven masked people on the bamboo raft.

Cao Hongyou approached Cao Yang and whispered, don't agree, those seven people are suspicious.

Cao Yang turned to face the seven people on the bamboo raft, put his hands to his mouth, and shouted loudly, Hey, the other side of the river is Wulin, and my boat is also going to Wulin, if you want to get on my boat, it is better to quickly hold the raft to the Wulin Wharf to go ashore, and avoid the wind and snow in other people's houses.

The short masked man, who motioned to the masked man holding the pole, stretched the bamboo raft hard, and approached the canopy boat.

Wu Feng couldn't avoid the boat and was forced to run into a bamboo raft.

Cao Hongyou knocked on the side of the boat with a cane and shouted, Hey, what are you going to do?

The masked men on the raft did not answer. I saw the short masked man wave his hand, and the masked man who was holding the pole shook the pole, and then scrambled to jump onto the canopy boat with all the masked men.

Cao Yang looked at Cao Hongyou and shouted, Dad, I'm afraid we have met a strongman.

Cao Hongyou didn't have time to talk to his son, he looked at the seven masked men who had already jumped on the boat, and forced a smile. And he said, What is there to say, since you have come on board, let me come on board and say, Go into the cabin and take shelter from the wind and snow.

The short masked man immediately drew his dagger and stabbed Cao Hongyou in the chest, and Cao Hongyou turned his head and sat down on the side of the boat. He blushed and said, "Hero, are you going to rob money?" This boatload of soybeans will be given to you, so you will be merciful and save the lives of our Cao family!

There was a commotion, and the acacia flowers in the cabin also walked to the hatch of the ship, looked at the masked people with daggers in their hands, trembled with fright, and immediately knelt down.

Xiaohuahua said, you can do well, this boat of soybeans will be given to you, and you must save the lives of our Cao family.

The six masked men looked at the short masked man and asked in unison, Angkor, what's going on?

The short masked man said that in order to make this business safe, it was necessary to kill people to get rid of future troubles.

Cao Hongyou also knelt down and kowtowed, and then raised his head and said: If you want to kill, kill me, an old man! I beg you to leave us the descendants of the Cao family.

Xiao Huaihua also pleaded sadly, if you want to kill, kill me, I have lived a long time, I have lived enough, please do well, leave my son, daughter-in-law and three grandsons.

Cao Yang saw that they all had the murder weapon, knowing that they were robbing and coming prepared, and he couldn't fight at all, so he also knelt down and begged, you kill me, I would rather be a short-lived ghost, but also protect my old father and mother from being killed, and be able to die a good death.

The masked man who held the pole said, "Fuck, it's quite filial!"

Where does the short masked man pay attention to this? He stabbed the dagger into the sky with a dagger, and then roared loudly, killing him without leaving a living mouth.

The huqin in the cabin hugged Cao Tingting, who was crying in fright;

Cao Gaofeng and Cao Xiaofeng's brothers were also so frightened that they sometimes called grandpa and sometimes grandma; Sometimes I call my father, sometimes I call my mother.

Seeing that the comer was not good, Cao Yang immediately got up, picked up a low bench on the ship, and smashed it at the short masked man.

It was too late, it was too late, and the short masked man dodged and got out of the way.

The masked man holding the pole took the opportunity to stick a dagger into Cao Yang's back, and Yang turned around in pain, and reached out to lift the snowflake-stained dog drill hat on the head of the masked man who was holding the pole, so that he could reveal his true face: there was a black scar on the left side of his face, and this person was very familiar.

The masked man who was holding the pole simply pulled down the dog drill hat and threw it off, and angrily reached out and slapped Cao Yang, then pulled out the dagger inserted in Cao Yang's back, flew up with a kick, kicked Cao Yang from the side of the boat and rolled it into the rushing river until it sank, and a ball of red blood immediately appeared on the surface of the river.

Cao Hongyou took the seven-star cane and slammed it at the short masked man wielding the dagger, but failed to knock.

The short masked man also flew up and kicked Cao Hongyou down on the sampan of the canopy.

The short masked man shouted arrogantly, old fellow, do you want to be a whole corpse, or do you want to eat my dagger?

Cao Hongyou didn't answer, turned over and continued to beat indiscriminately with the seven-star cane.