The old beggar closed his eyes last night and never woke up.

He still didn't survive this winter after all.

His death came suddenly.

Suddenly, Xu Han was not half prepared for this.

The wind and snow outside are getting heavier and heavier, and there is no intention of stopping.

Xu Han sat beside the old beggar's corpse for a full hour before he slowly stood up.

He wrapped the old beggar in silence with the quilt that had been with him for several years, and then found a hemp rope in the thatched pile and trapped the quilt. Then, taking a deep breath, he put one end of the rope on his shoulder, bowed his body, and in this way, he pulled the old beggar's body out of the ruined temple in the face of the wind and snow.

Xu Han is only twelve years old this year, and his perennial begging life makes his figure look much thinner than his peers. Coupled with the fact that he had not eaten for a few days and dragged the corpse of the old beggar, this was not an easy task for Xu Han.

But he gritted his teeth and let the cold wind and snow blow across his face, while he stubbornly and slowly walked forward in the wind and snow.

Long.

The rope strangled blood on his shoulders, his knuckles turned a little white, and his face was even more red from the wind and snow.

He stepped into the snow step by step, and dragged the old beggar's body into Shangyun City.

A boy dragged a heavy quilt-wrapped object.

Such scenes are not uncommon in Shangyun City this year, and their purpose is not difficult to guess.

When a person dies, he can be safe when he enters the earth.

Selling one's body to bury one's father is a rare scene in previous years, but in this year when disasters are frequent, there are not many pedestrians on the street who can't raise the slightest interest.

The life of the small family is naturally miserable, but the big family has a lot of this little food, and they are happy to accept these children who are sold to bury their fathers, and they are clever enough to stay by themselves, to be a buddy or a maid, and to sell them elsewhere if they don't like it, which is also a business. A gambling house in the west of the city even hung a signboard, specially buying these children, male or female, but not too old, clearly marked price.

The owner behind the gambling house seems to have a lot of origin, and the yamen in the city also turned a blind eye to this and never asked. However, there are some rumors in the market that this gambling house buys so many children in order to carry out some evil arts, and someone once said in a wine shop that he saw the corpses of children brought out of the gambling house in the middle of the night.

But the drinker who said this was never seen again after that day.

When Xu Han walked to the gambling house, the strong man guarding the door was leaning on the threshold with his clothes closed, and he was drowsy.

The sound of the old beggar's corpse dragging on the snow pulled the strong man back from his sleep, he lowered his eyebrows and glanced at the ragged Xu Han, waved his hand, and said impatiently: "Go to the side of the little begging for food, grandpa has no money for you here." ”

Xu Han didn't care, he put down the rope in his hand with relief. Standing up straight in the snow, he looked at the strong man, and said in his young voice, "I'm here to sell myself." ”

"Huh? Prostitution? The strong man was stunned for a moment, and only then did he see the thing wrapped in the quilt behind the boy's back.

This surprised him a little, there were naturally many children who sold to the gambling house, but most of them were led by their parents, or they changed hands from elsewhere, and they ran to the gambling house to sell themselves, and it was the first time he had met them.

He looked at Xu Han again and looked at the boy in front of him seriously.

He was thin, as thin as a gust of wind could knock him down. His face was covered with dirt, making it difficult to see his appearance, but his dirty face gave birth to a pair of bright eyes.

Those eyes, looking at the strong man's gaze at this moment, were wrapped in something indescribable.

The strong man was excited, he was touched by that gaze, and asked: "Selling yourself to bury your father, there are many places to go, why do you have to choose here." ”

He knows very well what the gambling house behind him is, and he understands what happened to those children who sold themselves.

"If someone else sells himself, it will be a lifetime, and you here, I have heard, as long as you do it for five years, you can let me go free."

Xu Han looked at the strong man and said calmly.

The strong man was stunned again, he secretly felt funny, indeed, they have such a rule here. But until now, he had never heard of such a child.

"Five years? That's a desperate job. The strong man said.

When he said this, he was actually suspected of exceeding his authority. But maybe it was the boy in front of him who made him feel really special, so he couldn't help but tell the truth behind it.

"Other people's families pay seven or eight taels of silver, and once they do it, it will be a lifetime. You give fifteen taels of silver, but you only have to do it for five years, naturally, what you have to do will not be simple. Xu Han nodded, but his gaze was still calm.

When the strong man heard this, his face suddenly changed.

From Xu Han's words, it was not difficult for him to hear that this boy had been prepared for this before he came. Not to mention that it can be inferred from these few words, the boy has a very good heart, but he already understands the difference, and the fact that he still chooses them to sell himself in this gambling house is enough to puzzle him.

"Why?" He asked in a daze, his voice a little bitter for some reason.

"The old man said that if he died, he would let me sell myself to a rich and noble family, and if I could do it cleverly and please the lord's family, I might be able to get a good job, and I would have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of my life."

"He said, this should be my best life."

"But..."

The boy's brows furrowed suddenly, and there seemed to be a flash of determination in his eyes, and at that moment, he straightened his spine in the wind and snow, like a samurai who was about to die, and like a phoenix waiting for Nirvana.

He said. "I don't accept my fate."