Nan shan.

In the early morning, the mountain fog remained.

The streets were full of people and hawkers, and a man in a patrol armor stopped in front of the stalls and shops, and after eating too early, he headed for the mine on the hill in groups of threes and twos.

In the courtyard on the side of the street, the door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man wearing a patrol armor and a saber on his waist walked out.

The man walked out of the courtyard gate, as if he remembered something again, and turned his head to look at the courtyard: "Mu'er, Dad shouldn't come back at noon, you can get some food to deal with yourself, and Dad will take you to the restaurant to eat in the evening." ”

"Dad, then you give me some money, I'll take Xiaoyuan to Beifang at noon......"

In the courtyard, a teenager trotted out, looking at the middle-aged man with his head held high.

"Don't go out of town, ...... in the wilderness outside"

The middle-aged man casually admonished, took out a few banknotes from his arms, handed them to the young man, and walked out quickly.

As soon as the courtyard door was closed, the young man held the banknote, and suddenly jumped up and down with some excitement.

"Wangcai, let's go, let's go to Xiaoyuan's house, let's go to have a big meal today."

The young man hugged the dog cub who was lying lazily under the eaves, his eyes full of excitement.

The cub looks like it's only a full moon, and his eyes seem to be a little dull, but occasionally, a touch of agility emerges, looking at the young man's gaze, it seems to be a little intimate, but more, it seems to be doubtful and vigilant.

The boy apparently did not notice this, picked up the puppy cub, trotted open the courtyard gate, and went out all over the street.

The cub shrunk in the boy's arms, a pair of sluggish eyes have disappeared, it looks at the people coming and going on the street, especially looking at the young man's happy appearance from time to time, in the smart animal eyes, it is obvious that there is a bit of trance, and even, it seems to have some reminiscence.

As time passed, the teenagers playing on the street grew up, and the middle-aged man in the inspection armor also grew old little by little.

Until one day, under an order from the imperial court, Qinghe County was ordered to recruit 1,000 conscripts to the county seat to repair the river.

Such an order may not be much in an ordinary county, but it is obviously not an easy task in Qinghe County, which is overloaded with requisitioning and operation due to the existence of the Nanshan Iron Mine.

Since the order of the imperial court was issued, more than 1,000 inspection officers and soldiers from top to bottom of Qinghe County have hardly had the slightest leisure, and a team of inspection officers and soldiers have been armed with the requisition order in their hands and set off to the 53 villages of 15 towns and 53 villages in Qinghe County, and forcibly imposed this quota of conscription on the people of Qinghe County, who were already overwhelmed by the sword.

The young man's father, who is patrolling public office, is naturally so busy.

The boy is still carefree, playing carefree every day.

In order to inspect the family, the suffering of the people is obviously impossible to involve the teenager.

It took nearly a month for this conscription to be completed.

For the teenager, this is almost unbearable for the people of Qinghe County, and the only change in life may be that his father has been away for a long time and no one has controlled him, and he has become more and more comfortable.

Playing with a childhood friend all day long, the puppy in his arms is getting bigger and bigger, the puppy is different from those local dogs who are scattering around, but is extremely quiet and does not like to play.

Teenagers play together, and the puppies are often lying on the side, just like the old man who has seen a lot of things in the world, quiet and indifferent.

This kind of life goes on forever.

The boy grows up, and the puppy grows up. It wasn't until that night that a fast horse rushed from the county town completely broke the carefree life of the teenager, and also broke the order of the town, and even the county, which had been running steadily for a long time.

To the 1,000 conscripts in the county town, nearly 100 of them were responsible for escorting the conscripts, and all of them died.

And the final result was only a notice from the county seat, an official document instructing Qinghe County to deal with the aftermath.

Nothing else.

When the carefree boy learned of this shocking news, he fainted and fell to the ground, and with the help of his father's colleagues, he barely finished his father's funeral.

The young man was depressed for a long time, and at this time, the cub, who had been calm for a long time, was obviously a little restless, but if you look closely, you can perceive that the restlessness of the dog cub seems to be more of an expectation, as if he is expecting something to come.

It's just that, as time goes by, the cub's expectations, as always, slowly turn into disappointment.

After the loss of his father, the family alone did not qualify for depression.

silently took over his father's mantle and received the post of inspection, just like his father, in this Nanshan Town, day after day inspection......

Day after day, year after year.

Little by little, the boy grew into a young man, and the cub became quieter and quieter, more and more silent, as if he had lost his spirit.

On the day the boy turned twenty, the boy took a wife, and the next year, the boy had his first offspring.

Just as this Nanshan Town does not know how many inspections, generations have led the inspection duties here, and they have been passed down from generation to generation.

Spring goes to autumn......

The young man is slowly getting old, and he has also made some achievements in the inspection office, leading the post of Wu Chief, and the Chu family has become the Chu Mansion, and in Nanshan Town, he can be regarded as a small figure.

married two concubines, had both children and daughters, and his life became more and more complete.

Although the cubs are also unusually long-lived, they are obviously getting older and more silent with the passage of time.

And all this until a deep winter many years later.

The wind and snow were all over the sky, the dog cub lay next to the brazier, and on the bed in the room, the former teenager, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, was only the last breath of vitality.

The old man used his last strength to look at the old dog, who was also dying in front of the brazier.

The four eyes looked at each other, and they were all cloudy.

The old man was puzzled, but at this moment, he didn't have the strength to ask anything more.

Between these four eyes, the old man passed away.

There was a cry in the room, and the old dog lying in front of the brazier, there seemed to be tears flashing in his eyes, and it was obvious that there was a deep incomprehension and doubt, and even despair.

That one......

Leading it, from the mundane to the world of cultivating immortals, from being as insignificant as ants, to cultivating immortals, where did the famous people go?

Why, not the familiar smell of it?

Who is this person, and why is it both familiar and strange......

He...... Not him, absolutely not.

It's convinced.

But he ...... Where exactly?

It...... How long will we have to wait?

I don't know when, this old dog, who was jokingly called by the people of Nanshan Town, finally closed his cloudy eyes, his breath was silent, and he grew old in despair again......

……

(End of chapter)