Today's early morning is a rare good weather, at least not as gloomy as the previous half of the month. The culprit rain finally stopped, and when the first rays of the morning sun fell on the earth, it seemed to see the blue sky through the clouds and mist, and finally brought hope to the suffering Hemen City.

Maybe it's because of the rain and sunny weather, Shen Hanguang is in a good mood this morning. She smiled and chatted with Xu Huaigu: "This rain has been falling for half a month, and it should always stop, God bless." Xu Huaigu also replied: "Yes, it finally stopped." God is angry again, and there will always be an end. Shen Hanguang shook his head, but said: "It's not that God is not angry, this is the credit of our imperial court." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Shen Hanguang pretended to be mysterious and said, "You don't understand this." I ask you, do you believe that there is a god of water in this world? Xu Huaigu naturally knew, but it was inconvenient to say it directly in front of Shen Hanguang, so he had to say in a skeptical tone: "I've heard the older generation say it before, and there are water temples everywhere in the world. It's just that I haven't seen it or not, so it's hard to say. ”

"I'll tell you, it's true." Shen Hanguang put his right hand in the sleeve of his left hand, and said with a serious expression,

"It's not a secret anymore, many people in the court know about it, but it's just a secret from the common people."

"Actually, our Damang Kingdom and the Water God have signed a contract. We built a water temple, people worshipped, and there was incense in the temple. Correspondingly, the water god also has to take responsibility for protecting the peace of the water and soil. Weather like this year was obviously caused by the dissatisfaction of the water god, so the imperial court sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to negotiate, and it must have been under some conditions to appease her. But what it is, I am no longer an official outside my family, and I don't know the specifics. I only know that the officials of the Ministry of Rites went to visit the water god at night last night, and the rain stopped this morning, which must be their credit. Xu Huaigu pretended to be surprised: "It turns out that there is such a thing in the world, I have never heard of it before, it is really a long insight!" Shen Hanguang looked at him kindly and smiled: "There are more things you don't know, young people should go out and learn more." But remember, you must have a home in your heart, don't do anything stupid, and put safety first. Xu Huaigu met Shen Hanguang's gaze, and he always felt that there seemed to be a tenderness in her eyes that should not be shown to him.

That kind of look, indescribable, like seeing a familiar person. Moreover, Xu Huaigu also felt that Shen Hanguang's attitude towards him was inexplicably too good.

Shen Hanguang was careful and sensed what Xu Huaigu was thinking, so she turned her gaze away, lifted the curtain of the carriage, and looked at the street outside the window.

"Speaking of which, if it hadn't happened, my child would have been as old as you." Shen Hanguang let the sunlight shine in through the window and fall on her clothes, while her eyes looked at the sword at Xu Huaigu's waist,

"He has loved to dance with knives and guns since he was a child, and he often has a sword hanging from his waist like you."

"My boy loves to learn martial arts and aspires to be a general. Chen Congming himself is a civil official, so he also wants his son to be a civil official in the future. The father and son were carved out of a mold, they were all stubborn and quarrelsome, so he ran away and went to the frontier to be a soldier, saying that even if Chen Congming did not help him, he would make his own achievements and become a general. Shen Hanguang's words stopped here, she lowered the curtain, withdrew her gaze, and stopped talking.

Xu Huaigu didn't ask, and he could guess what happened later, and it was not appropriate to ask her about this scene now.

She spoke slowly again, and said, "It's been a few years, and I've slowly seen it, and I'm used to the days when there were only two people. It's just that your eyebrows and eyes are really similar to my child, and when I see you, I can't help but think of him. Even if it's pity and pity my hard-working mother, don't be too surprised. Xu Huaigu's lips opened slightly, and he felt a little sad in his heart.

He looked at Shen Hanguang seriously, shook his head, and said, "What's the matter?" Shen Hanguang still looked at him gently, and Xu Huaigu suddenly panicked for no reason.

He thought of his parents who were far away in Dongfuyaozhou, who had been away from home for eleven years, and they should have forgotten about themselves.

Perhaps, there is already a younger brother or sister in the family. Letter? Xu Huaigu never sent a letter home.

A few years before I started wandering, I was dazzled by the flowers and didn't think about my home at all. When I go back, I sometimes think about it, but I feel that I haven't sent a letter home for several years, and I feel very guilty, and it seems that I have lost the qualification to send letters home.

I never received a letter from home. It's true that he is wandering around, and his parents are just two ordinary people, where to find his traces?

Now it seems that the only thing he can do for his family is to be there

The "suicide note" told Yu Qin took his parents away from Dongfuyaozhou, where the war was about to break out. carriage

"Bang" stopped, Shen Hanguang patted Xu Huaigu who was in a daze, and said, "The place is here, get out of the car." Xu Huaigu gathered his mind and got up and got out of the car.

The bright sun is shining on the body, and it is warm. Like many, many years ago, when he was playing in the river with mud, his mother grabbed the collar at the back of his neck, scolded angrily, and wiped the dirt off his clothes with a handkerchief, and the temperature of his mother's palms was like this.

He knew that his mother was not angry. He looked around, perhaps because of the good weather, and a large number of people had gathered in the square where the soup kitchen was routinely held.

They also feel happy because of this sunshine, and the barriers between people seem to be melted by the sun, they do not hide from each other as before, and some people get together in twos and threes to gossip.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?"

"yes, it would be nice to have a bowl of hot porridge. By the way, where was your original home? ”

"Chenjiagou, the one south of Huangpizi Mountain, what about you?"

"Huangpizi Mountain? Isn't that also near my house! I used to live in Niujia Village, only four miles away from yours. ”

"That's a coincidence! When the water recedes, we can go home together. ”

"Yes, when the water recedes, let's go home together! When the rain stops, the water will always recede, always. The small conversation kept coming into Xu Huaigu's ears.

When they saw the carriage of the Chen Mansion, they all hurriedly gathered and lined up in a long line, waiting quietly.

Shen Hanguang asked the servants to bring down the porridge, the lid was lifted, and a burst of hot water vapor came out. Everything was in order, and everyone in line took a bowl in their hands, took a bowl of porridge, and said thank you again, and then consciously went to the side to eat.

It didn't take long for nearly 100 people to get food in the hustle and bustle. Shen Hanguang watched from the sidelines, and the routine morning porridge was something she had done every day in recent days.

"See that girl in a light blue shirt over there?" Shen Hanguang pointed to a person to show Xu Huaigu,

"The woman you saw in the pharmacy yesterday is her mother, and she is the woman's daughter." Xu Huaigu looked in the direction she was pointing, and there was indeed a girl in blue clothes.

Probably because the clothes had been washed too many times, the faint blue color was mixed with the original gray of the linen cloth to become a light blue.

"If you want to know more about the woman, ask her, and she'll be back later." Xu Huaigu nodded and continued to look at the girl.

She drank the bowl of porridge she had obtained before, looked at the carriage from a distance, and stopped for a long time, as if she couldn't pull her face and wanted another bowl.

But there was a responsibility more important than hunger that trumped her face, and she slowly walked this way.

As she got closer, the edges and corners of her eyebrows became clearer. It was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years of age, with a dark yellow skin of wheat, a thin face and body, a light blue dress for her upper body, and a wide, obviously ill-fitting long skirt on the lower body, which did not appear to have been originally intended for her.

Perhaps she was still a little thin-skinned, and she was a little timid, so she walked up to the man who was scooping porridge and carefully held the bowl in both hands and stretched it out to him.

The person who scooped the porridge also recognized her and added an extra bowl to her, which was naturally instructed by Shen Hanguang in advance.

She thanked her softly and was about to go back, but Shen Hanguang stopped her and said, "Girl, wait first." The girl was a little scared, and when she turned around and saw that it was Shen Hanguang calling her, she panicked all of a sudden, and her eyes didn't dare to look at her directly, so she turned around and couldn't take a step.

Shen Hanguang stretched out his hand to her as an inviting gesture, and said in a good voice: "Come and sit down, let's talk." She was stunned for a long time before she reacted, and said in a tone that seemed like an answer command: "Yes." Shen Hanguang took a small bench from the carriage, let the girl sit on it, and asked in a casual tone, "Does the porridge taste good?" ”

"Hmm...... It's delicious, it's delicious. She fidgeted like a chicken invited into the house by a weasel, and suddenly she explained,

"Madam, I didn't mean to drink the second bowl of porridge, I wanted to bring the porridge back to my mother to drink. Well, she'...... It was not convenient for her to receive the porridge herself. But she seemed dissatisfied with the explanation, and felt that her statement did not hold water, as if the people in front of her would not trust her.

Then her ears and face were flushed, and she hated that there was no crack in the ground for her to penetrate. Shen Hanguang took her hand and said softly: "Don't be afraid, I know you are going to bring the porridge back to your mother, I believe you." Let's just talk, shall we? When the girl heard this, she finally felt a little better, and nodded slightly.

"What's your name? Where did the family live? ”

"My name is Su Mulan, and my family was originally in Sujiakou, Hulu Town. A few days ago, the Luhua River was flooded, and the entire Hulu Town was flooded, and my mother and I had no choice but to flee to Hemen. ”

"Is your dad still alive?"

"Daddy...... Daddy is gone. On the way to escape, my father fell ill and did not survive for a few days. My brother was sick too, and his mother took care of him day and night, so he couldn't come here. Speaking of this, it seemed that she had touched some painful place, and she couldn't hold back crying all of a sudden, and desperately wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Shen Hanguang stopped talking, just gently stroked her back and comforted her.

"If you want to know more, you might as well visit where they live." Shen Hanguang whispered to Xu Huaigu,

"There are many victims here, and it is too biased for me to visit one person alone. You go just in time, help them, blame the poor. Xu Huaigu nodded, and Shen Hanguang asked her, "Can this big brother go home with you to see your mother and younger brother?" Rest assured, he's a good guy, I promise. Su Mulan was a little flustered, opened her lips slightly, and wanted to say something but didn't know how to say it.

"Good boy, it's okay. You follow this big brother and ask him to fetch you some of the medicinal herbs you need, and bring them to your mother as well. Su Mulan looked at Xu Huaigu nervously, Xu Huaigu smiled at her and nodded.

She still felt that today's encounter was like a dream, not very real, but she finally took a step.

Xu Huaigu turned his head and thanked Shen Hanguang gratefully, and then left with Su Mulan.