In the narrow house, Hua Shi stood in the middle of the room, calmed down, and searched the room.

In the corner where he could hide, he searched carefully two or three times, whispered the name of the black cat, and waited for a while, except for the echo that came back from himself, there was no sound in the room at all.

Hua Shi twisted his eyebrows, his eyes fell on the open window on the side, and he stepped forward and looked out.

Behind the inn is a narrow alley, because the houses at the back are built closely, leaving only a long and narrow width, the position of the window is less than two meters high from the ground, and the walls on both sides are close to several equally open window lattices......

She looked carefully, the entrance of the alley was too narrow, and from top to bottom, pedestrians were reluctant to pass, but if they couldn't find it anywhere, Xiao Hei probably jumped from here......

"Ah Shi, didn't you find it?"

Xie Mingchi, who was waiting outside the door of the inn, came out of it when he saw the flowers, and he didn't hold the black cat in his hand.

Hua Shi shook his head, "I didn't find it, I guess it may have jumped from the window, I'll go to the back alley to have a look." ”

"I'll go with you."

Xie Mingchi followed behind her, one after the other, and went around to the alley at the back of the inn.

The alley was silent, and the footsteps of the two people were clear.

"Meow—"

An elongated kitten meow was heard.

His pupils shrank, and he squeezed sideways into the alley, walking slowly towards the source of the sound.

The weak cat meow was not Xiao Hei's meow, like an unweaned kitten, after hearing the footsteps coming from outside the alley, it seemed to be frightened and accidentally barked.

As she struggled to turn sideways, there was no sound from the place where the cat's meow was heard.

Approaching cautiously, the flower came into view of a litter of kittens wrapped in rags and hay, and with a cursory sweep, four or five variegated kittens the size of a palm.

Clung to each other, huddled together, sensing the shadows approaching, a few opened their eyes and looked up at her timidly.

"Meow...?!"

A familiar cat meow suddenly came from the alley in front of her, and when she raised her eyes, she saw the black cat standing on tiptoe, staring at her with round eyes, and looking at her with a surprised face.

"Blackie?" I was also a little surprised when I spent it.

The black cat seemed to accept the flower that suddenly appeared here, stepped on the light cat step, trotted over, "meow ......"

It expertly ran to her lap and rubbed it like a coquette.

"Where did you go?" Hua Shi squatted down with some difficulty and touched Xiao Hei's head, and this touch, the wet and sticky touch came from the hair under his hand.

She looked down and saw that it was red blood......

Hua Shi subconsciously pushed the black cat up from the ground with a little force, and came to the front to examine it carefully, "Xiao Hei, are you injured?" ”

"Meow ......"

The two front paws were grasped by the flowers, and the entire lower body of the black cat was in a long strip, soft as if it had no bones, and it drooped down for a long time.

The black cat seemed to be a little dazed, and the cat's eyes were round from the beginning.

Hua Shi groped for a long time, but did not find any wounds on the black cat's body, and handed the blood-stained palm to the black cat's basin to show it, "Where did this blood come from?" ”

"Meow meow."

The black cat struggled to jump off her hand, jumped slightly, and landed in front of a litter of kittens not far from the ground in front of her, and under the sight of the flower, she reached out and patted the kittens with her paws, "Meow meow...!" ”

I don't know if it's an illusion of the time of flowers, but from the two sounds of the black cat's barking, she seems to hear an angry tone.

"Meow meow meow...!!"

The black cat tilted its head and meowed several times, trying to think of something to express when he was with the flowers.

Hua Shi listened very certically, but unfortunately he didn't understand anything in its angry and angry screams.

"Meow! Meow ......"

"Alright, little black." Hua Shi interrupted its vigorous desire to express itself at this time, and asked instead, "Where did these cats come from?" ”

"Meow!"

The black cat, which was interrupted, looked a little unhappy, but it only snorted angrily at Hanashi's question.

"You say it's yours?"

"Meow!"

"I remember you're a tom, right?"

"Meow meow!!"

For some reason, when she mentioned the word male cat, the black cat was particularly angry.

She looked at Blackie, and then at the five kittens, which were almost curled up together and fused together.

"You don't want to tell me you're going to bring all five kittens back, do you?" Asked when it took a flower.

"Meow!"

The black cat meowed loudly.

…

In a daze, Hua Shi picked up the litter of little milk cats and moved them out of the alley.

Xie Mingchi, who had been probing his brain outside the alley, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her come out.

He was tall and strong, and even if he squeezed hard, he couldn't squeeze into this narrow alley, so he had to stand outside and watch, not knowing what was going on inside.

When he saw Qinghua holding a litter of unweaned kittens in his arms, Xie Mingchi was stunned, "Where did the kittens come from?" ”

"Little Black was born."

"Meow Meow!!"

The black cat, which was following behind Hanashi, barked twice unhappily.

Hua Shi glanced down at it with a strange expression, "Didn't you just admit that you gave birth to it?" ”

"Meow Meow!!"

Nothing!

Xie Mingchi's gaze subconsciously fell on the black cat's buttocks, with a thoughtful expression.

… Isn't it a male cat? Can male cats give birth to pups?

The black cat was a little hairy by his staring, and screamed twice, as if it had been provoked all of a sudden.

Hua Shi looked at Xie Mingchi's expression, there was a smile in his eyes, and he couldn't help but smile, "I picked it up from the alley, I don't know where it came from, I checked the surroundings and didn't see any trace of the female cat." ”

This time, I bought two people and picked up a litter of cats......

After the two of them and a cat left from the location of the alley, it didn't take long for a big light orange cat to appear at the other end of the alley, and walked into the alley with slow steps.

…

After finding Xiao Hei, the group got back on the ox cart, the rickety ox cart, slowly drove out of the city gate, and left towards the suburbs, a little away from the lively town.

After a long delay, not long after the ox cart drove out, it was dark, and the journey home was long and long.

The coachman lit an oil lamp, hung it in front of him, and continued to drive the car without any intention of stopping.

The ox cart rented this time said that it was going to go at night in the morning, so I didn't rest at night, and I rushed in a hurry, and if it was fast, I estimated that I would be able to return home tomorrow night.

The car moved away from Peach Blossom Town a little bit, and the heart that Hua Shi had been carrying slowly relaxed.

Now that it's gone, the tiger can't still smell and find it......

I don't know if I was strained all day long, but after the night was completely dark, blowing the cool breeze in the night, I gradually became tired when I spent time, tilted my head, leaned on Xie Mingchi's warm shoulder, and fell asleep groggy.

Before falling asleep, she unconsciously thought in her mind why Xie Mingchi's body was always hot, like a hand warmer......

The next day, Hua Shi was woken up by the bumpy ox cart, and when he opened his eyes, he found that his whole body was almost curled up in Xie Mingchi's arms, and the sky was already hazy.

"Ahh Are you awake? ”

Xie Mingchi had just woken up, and there was a hoarse voice coming from above his head.

"Hmm."

Hua Shi sat up straight, touched his hands, and touched his neck. Obviously, it had been separated by a short distance, and the blazing temperature beside her was still transmitted from afar, making her feel a little uncomfortable.

Hua Song and Hua Zhu sitting on the opposite side, in contrast, look out of place, there is a large gap between the two, Hua Song shrunk his hands and feet, his buried head was almost retracted into his shoulders, and every move seemed to be cringe.

Hua Zhu curled up, the whole person curled up, lying on his knees, burying his head, and seemed to be still sleeping.

In the middle, the litter of kittens was wrapped in strips of cloth when they were flowered, and the black cat lay on the side and shrunk next to the nest to nap.

The sky was completely bright, the field of vision was wide, and the eyes of the flower noticed the litter of kittens, and the five cats had five appearances, and the hair was completely different, yellow and white variegated, black and white variegated, black and yellow variegated...... It's all variegated, but it's obviously not the same color.

Although the kittens born in a litter will not look exactly the same, none of these various colors of miscellaneous hair are similar, and they should not be born from a female cat.

If you look closely, the black and white kittens and black and yellow kittens curled up on both sides are obviously larger than the three curled up in the middle, which also shows that this litter of kittens is not born in one litter.

Xie Mingchi's voice sounded in his ears, "This cat is a little strange. ”

"Strange? What's weird? "Flowers look at it suspiciously.

Xie Mingchi paused, and said, "It shouldn't be born in the same litter, the coat color is different, and the body shape is not the same." ”

How could such a small, unweaned kitten appear in an alley where no one knows......

"Click! Wow——! ”

The bullock cart was suddenly bumped by a stone on the road, making a muffled noise.

"When you wake up, sit tight!"

The coachman's voice sounded for a moment, and then he waved his whip, and the ox pulling the cart screamed, and the ox cart, which had been walking slowly all night, suddenly increased its speed and galloped forward.

Early in the morning, the coachman suddenly accelerated, he must have seen something......

When he looked up, he saw a long row of people on the empty tunnels on both sides of the front, with bags on their shoulders, ragged clothes, and haggard and tired faces.

During this period, there were men and women, old and young, dressed like refugees who had fled from nowhere......

The sound of the ox cart driving and the sound of the wheels attracted the refugees who were hurrying with their backs to look sideways and turn their heads to look this way.

Hua Shi clearly saw the tired look on their faces, and a pair of dark, empty eyes, staring directly at the ox cart, or rather, at the goods it contained.

The greedy and longing eyes that unconsciously revealed were clearly seen in the eyes when they were spent.

The ox cart sped by, quickly leaving the fleeing people behind.

"Who are those?" Hua Shi saw this vast man for the first time, fleeing with his bags on his back, and asked suspiciously.

Xie Mingchi paused before saying, "It should be some people who have fled." ”

The driver who was driving the car in front of him, the hand driving the car did not stop, he looked at the six roads, listened to all directions, and the words of the two came into his ears with a gust of wind.

He snorted and said in a loud voice, "Why don't you even know this?!" By the way, you are from Shoushan Village, and the place is far away and remote, so it's normal to not know. ”

When the coachman's half-understood words came, Hua Shi knew that he must have news that they did not know, and asked casually, "What do you know?" ”

The coachman did not hide it, but said when he had something to say: "Those are those who have fled from other places, and in the winter months, people have come here one after another, saying that there is a famine in their village, and there are people who have the plague and can no longer live, so they have moved their families from south to north, and they have fled all the way up." ”

"If you want me to say, this is just the beginning, you all look at the group of people on the road, let alone forty or fifty people, no food or drink, and no place to stay, it is not easy to get here, it will not be long after, there is nowhere to go, maybe they will run to your village to beg, there are people guarding the gate of our town, they can't get in, they can only go out, see if the nearby villages, can they settle down and live in......"

The coachman babbled on and on, and then said kindly, "... I suddenly rushed to the car, also because when I was out of the house, people were separated from their stomachs, and I always had to keep an eye on them, those refugees didn't know how long they were hungry, and the car passed by them slowly, in case they were ruthless and ran over to stop the car, just the five of us, where could we stop those forty or fifty hungry people, so we should be careful. ”

At noon, the ox cart stopped in a no-man's place, and several people got out of the cart to rest and reorganize, and only after they had eaten and drunk enough did they get back on the cart and continue to hurry.

After that, on the road, I didn't meet the refugees who fled, I don't think they came here so quickly, and this place is remote, there is not a single family within a radius of hundreds of miles, and those refugees may not have found that there is a village in front of this forest and mountain......

In the evening, before sunset, the galloping ox cart finally entered the area of Shoushan Village, and when he saw the familiar entrance of the village, the whole person relaxed when he saw it.

Truth be told, she's not a person who likes to leave her comfort zone, and once you're used to getting used to a place, it's hard to get out of it.

The humble farmhouse courtyard, unconsciously, had already given her a sense of belonging......

The ox cart swayed into the village, the sky was already dark, the road was a little unclear, and the village road was quiet and empty.

I saw the familiar courtyard of the Hua family from a distance, and I could see clearly through the low courtyard wall, there was no oil lamp in it, and there was no light at all.

The four of them jumped down from the ox cart, and let Hua Zhu stand on the side with the cat kennel in his arms, without helping to carry the things on the cart.

There are a lot of things, but in fact, there are not many things when they look at it the same, and the three of them quickly moved the things down after a while.

After paying the remaining half of the cart and taking the money, the coachman cheerfully waved his whip and drove the ox-cart away.

The fare of this trip cost one or two silver, because it was an exception, and the whole car was chartered, and there was not much rest halfway, and it was always in a hurry, and the fare was naturally high.

In the dark courtyard, Hua Xiao stood at the mouth of the well, bent over, with a mouthful of blood spittle, stretched her mouth to the mouth of the dripping water, and motioned for Hua Li to shake the water pump.

"Wow-"

The water gushing out of her mouth flowed into her mouth, and she was caught off guard, Hua Xiao's whole face was wet, and the clothes in front of her chest were also wet.

"Hmm!" He signaled that Hua Li could stop.

Hua Li leaned over nervously, looked at Hua Xiao's red and swollen half of her face worriedly, and asked in a low voice, "Hua Xiao, is it still bleeding?" ”

Hua Xiao had water in her mouth, and she couldn't respond to his words.

Hua Li frowned, stopped talking, pinched his fingers for a while, and then walked around Hua Xiao with his hands behind his back, his small steps were messy, and his expression looked very uneasy.

"Bang bang—"

There was a light knock on the door of the courtyard, and the two people in the courtyard were frightened, and in an instant, their faces turned pale.

No, no... It's going to come again......