In a daze, Li Yan was pushed to wake up, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that it was the fourth sister Li Xiaozhu, and the third brother next to him was no longer there, and the fourth sister looked at him with red and swollen eyes and said, "Fifth brother, the village chief is here, Dad will let you get up and go over."

Li Yan didn't sleep much last night, and he didn't fall asleep in a daze until the rooster crowed a few times. He sat up straight and said to the fourth sister, "Fourth sister, I'll go now."

Li Xiaozhu didn't move, still looking at him reluctantly.

Li Yan smiled and said, "Fourth sister, don't be like this, I'll come back to see you next time for the New Year, but I don't know if you're at home then."

Li Xiaozhu paused, then blushed and said "poor mouth", and then turned around and went out.

Li Yan looked at the back of the fourth sister, and couldn't help but sigh softly, he didn't believe what he said, the next time he came back for the New Year, although it was the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, don't say what will happen in half a year, that is, next year, the year after next, I don't know.

After a simple wash, Li Yan came to the front room, at this time there were five people sitting in the front room, father, mother, third brother, fourth sister, and a strong man in his forties, the strong man sat on a slightly taller and larger chair, with a Chinese face, full of beards, wearing a short-sleeved Orion suit, but in the early autumn morning in the mountain village, it did not look cold, the muscles on his body were knotted, and he also had a kind of momentum when he sat there.

Seeing Li Yan coming in, he smiled and said, "Li Yan, you're late."

Li Yan came to the strong man, bowed and said, "Uncle Guoxin, morning!"

The strong man's name is Li Guoxin, is the village head of this village, in addition to cultivating land and farming, he is also a good hunter, and often leads the young and strong men in the village to hunt in the outer parts of the mountain.

Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, and then looked at Li Yanniang, Li Wei, and Li Xiaozhu, and said, "Originally, I was going to go to the county seat in two days, and the second son of the old mountain family in the village and the eldest of the Li Tian family were going to the county seat to work as kitchen helpers and blacksmith apprentices, let me send them, and then give proof, last night Changbo came to my house and told Li Yan about it, and I decided to leave today."

Li Yan's father's name is Li Chang, and the people in the village call him Changbo, Li Guoxin glanced at everyone again, and continued, "Actually, I also told Changbo yesterday that it is okay for Li Yan to go to the county to work like them, this is Ansheng's work, but I have to explain this, working like you is a half-grown child must be inexperienced, you must start from the apprentice, the apprentice is to charge a fee, the second is to do all the work of the apprentice, and you have to sign a contract, if something happens in the apprenticeship process, the master family will not pay anything." But Changbo still decided to let Li Yan go to the army to eat food."

In fact, this is mainly a matter of money, Li Yan's family itself has little money, although the apprenticeship fee is only 500 yuan, but for this family of five with a monthly expenditure of only about 50 yuan, this is nearly a year's expenses, and it will definitely not be able to take it. The second reason is that apprentices are very hard, have no personal freedom, and have no dignity until they learn, and it is not uncommon for the master to injure and kill apprentices.

Chang Bo glanced at Li Yan and said, "Let's just decide."

Then he smiled at the village chief and said, "This time I'm going to trouble Guoxin."

When Li Yanniang, who was red and swollen in her eyes, heard this, she hurriedly said to the village chief, "Are you going to leave today?"

The village chief nodded and said, "Yes, although conscription is a regular thing now, but yesterday someone in the village came back from the county seat and said that Marshal Hong had begun to recruit troops yesterday morning, and this time the soldiers may be the guards guarding the city, this kind of guards are generally to protect the families of officials in the city and protect the granaries and armories in the city.

Li Yanniang was anxious when she heard it, "Ah, you still have to fight?" Li Xiaozhu also looked at Li Guoxin anxiously when she heard it.

After Chang Bo heard his daughter-in-law's words, he saw the anxious look of the four daughters, and slapped the table in front of him with his dissatisfied hand, "Didn't Guoxin say it, this is the guards, guarding the city and guarding the house, not fighting, look at what you look like."

Li Xiaozhu and Li Yanniang glanced at Li Guoxin timidly, Li Guoxin glanced at Chang Bo, then nodded, and then comforted, and then they put their minds at ease and stopped asking.

Li Yan has been silent since he entered the door and said hello, at this time, seeing his mother and fourth sister like this, his heart couldn't help but feel hurt, a sour breath blocked his throat, his eyes began to reddened slightly, thinking that if he made money in the future, he would go home to guard his father and relatives and no longer stay away, he wanted to see their satisfied smiling faces every day, and enjoy the warmth of happiness.

In fact, although the Guards do not need to participate in the war in peacetime, if the war comes, if the troops are insufficient, then it does not matter whether you are a Guards or not, at least you have to go to the city to defend the city, and the opponent's swords, guns, and arrows during the siege of the city are not long-sighted, and it is impossible to distinguish who is the Guards and who is the general.

But on the whole, the Guards were really much better than the other troops they usually recruited. Li Wei on the side looked at Li Yan worriedly. He vaguely knew that things were not as simple as the village chief said.

Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan and didn't speak, and said to him, "Do you have anything to ask?"

Li Yan said, "Uncle Guoxin has already said that the Guards are Marshal Hong's personal recruitment to guard the granary and armory, and even to take care of the officials' homes, so this errand is already very good, it is difficult to find, and it must be done well." ”

After Li Guoxin heard this, he frowned slightly, thinking that Li Yan really believed all his words, but said in his heart, "On the way, I have to tell this kid that he really believes in this risk-free errand."

Li Guoxin then said goodbye to Li Yan's family temporarily, "Half an hour later, we will set off, this time I went with the three descendants, and no one at home can see them off, these more than 200 miles of mountain road, the family went to see them off, plus the luggage, but the carriage couldn't run fast, but it was difficult to get to the place today."

There are only two good horses in the village, and after pulling the cart and adding the weight of the four of them, it is already the limit to rush to the county seat before sunset.

Soon after the sun rose, the carriage had already driven out of the village, and the mountain village was slowly pulling away from the rear, looking at the families still standing at the head of the village, and the women who were crying in the crowd, the other two children in the carriage, who were only thirteen or fourteen years old, began to cry and wipe their tears.

Li Yan looked at the crying fourth sister and mother in the crowd, as well as the third brother who was limping and supporting his father when he walked, silent.

Until Li Yan got into the carriage, the third brother and father didn't say a word, just laughed hard, but the fourth sister and his mother kept pulling most of the new coarse cloth corners for him, for fear that the clothes would not be smooth, crying and explaining all kinds of things, asking him to come back to see them when he had time, there were dry food and pickles in the package, and he would eat them when he was hungry......

Li Yan didn't cry, he just held back his tears, and his heart was sour, and he forced out a smile and waved his hand at them, "Dad, mother, third brother, fourth sister, take care, next time I come back to bring you a lot of things in the city, third brother, take care of the family"

"Old Five, remember, remember, let's go, let's go......"

"Fourth sister, when I settle down, I'll bring you the rouge gouache from the city."

"Fifth child, sister, wait, woo woo......"

"Old Fifth ......" With a heart-tearing shout, Li Yanniang fell into the arms of the fourth sister......

The other two families around were also crying, and the whimpering sound on the carriage was even louder, Li Yan couldn't control his tears anymore, and let the tears flow freely on his face.

The carriage finally slowly moved away, away from the place where he grew up, away from the foot of the big green mountain, away from the familiar grass and trees here. As the carriage turned a corner of the mountain, the village slowly turned from dark to small, and finally it was no longer visible, but the cries of the village seemed to be a little louder in the wind.