The midwinter wind is cold, blowing on the face like a knife blade.

The horse's paw rustled on the icy mud like the sound of chewing a puff pastry in the mouth.

The villagers don't hang lanterns at the door, because the village is as dark as ink, and there are only sporadic bits of light coming out of the house. According to these lights, the road can not be illuminated.

Duanmu Yulema stopped in front of a fenced courtyard and said with a smile: "I smell the smell of meat, why don't you go inside and take a look!"

Mu Yu had already smelled the smell coming from the courtyard, and after hearing his words, he hurriedly asked, "Childe, I'll ask." ”

"I'd better go. Duanmu Jing jumped off the horse first, and said with a smile, "Your appearance is not pleasing, don't scare people." ”

When everyone saw Duanmu Jing making fun of Mu Huan's rough appearance, they all laughed.

"Wang, Wang!" the two dogs in the courtyard rushed to the fence and barked at the group outside.

A young man's voice came from the house: "Dad, Xiao Gray and Xiao Hei are screaming so much, I'll take a look!"

"Yes, but it can't be the wolves from the mountains who have entered the village?" replied an old man, "with a kerosene lamp in your hand, and a fire-pounding stick at the door." ”

"Mother, come and give your father a hand, I'll go with my brother. A young man's voice said, "The barking of dogs leads all the way to our house, and I am afraid that there are really wolves or leopards or something." I'm going with my brother, I'm really going to come with wild beasts, hmph, kill those beasts to make cured vegetables!"

"Xiao Wu is right. Mother is here to help, you two go and have a look. Xiao Wu, you go to the stove room and get a firewood knife before you go. An old woman's somewhat serious voice came, "A few days ago, Gazi and his wife went up the mountain to fetch firewood and were attacked by a leopard, ouch, that miserable, finally his daughter-in-law was bold, and when it was critical, he slashed on the back of the beast, and only saved half of Gazi's life." Gee... How many years have been neighbors, Gazi's father broke his leg and couldn't go to water, and now he is like this again, how can he live in the days to come! His father, this winter, our family will work harder, go to the water a few more times, catch more fish to boil oil, and send half of it to Gazi's family when the New Year comes. ”

"It's not!" the old man's voice was full of sorrow, "My father and Gazi's grandfather are brothers, and I grew up wearing the same pair of pants as Gazi's father. Besides, the marriage between Dawu and Lan Lan has also been decided, which is a friendship of intimacy and intimacy. ”

The young man named Xiao Wu took a firewood knife from his room, hurriedly ran out, and said to the old man with a smile: "Dad, you go and talk to Uncle Tianbao and ask him to give it to me." If he agrees to this, his son will not stay at home for a day this winter, no, every winter in the future, and wrap his family's fish oil in a circle!"

"Hehe, you don't know how to think about your father and mother, and you have already planned for you. The old man smiled and said, "You go outside with your brother first, and then come back and talk to you." ”

When the brothers heard their father and mother talk about their marriage, they were full of energy, and they went out with fire-pounding sticks and firewood knives and oil lamps.

As soon as Duanmu Jing got off his horse and approached the fence wall, he saw two young men walking out of the courtyard with a lamp and carrying a thing, and Nai Lang laughed and said: "Two little brothers, we have been visiting here and want to borrow the stove to have a hot meal! ”

After speaking, he took out an ingot of five taels of official silver from his waist pocket.

When the brothers saw that it was not a wild beast, but a few men on horseback, they were even more vigilant in their hearts, and they were afraid that there would be thieves who would rob the house. After listening to Duanmu Jing's words, his face softened a little, and when he took a closer look, he saw that he was dressed luxuriously and handed over a silver ingot-like thing in his hand. He looked at the seven men and seven horsemen a few feet away behind him, all of them were tall and strong, and they all looked like robbers, so he finally let down his vigilance and replied in a native voice: "We can't do anything about this, we have to ask the father and mother in the house to get back to you." ”

"Naturally. Duanmu Jing replied with a smile, while handing over the silver ingot through the crack in the fence, "Little brother, I am tired of passing it on to your father and mother, just say that the eight of us want to have a full meal at your house tonight, and these five taels of silver are the food expenses." ”

The man's eyes widened, and he didn't know how to answer, let alone take the silver ingot.

Dahua Liguo Hou had a minting department, which was responsible for minting official silver and copper yuan.

There are five kinds of ingots in the official silver public, which are one tael, two taels, five taels, ten taels and fifty taels, of which fifty taels of official ingots are minted a lot, but the imperial court is not allowed to circulate among the people, and only the big merchants and the imperial court will use it when doing business.

The remaining one tael, two taels, five taels, and ten taels are also mostly circulated in the state capital, county capital, and capital, and rural villages are very rare. These five taels of silver ingots, the brothers are the first time to see them.

"Brother, you are here first, I went to the house to ask my father. Xiao Wu smiled with joy on his face, said Dawu, finished speaking, and didn't wait for him to reply, and walked straight in.

After less than ten breaths, I saw Xiao Wu leading an old couple in their fifties out.

"Oh, there's a distinguished guest at home today!" the old man stood still in front of the fence gate, and said with a smile on his face. Seeing that the eldest son was still standing beside him in a daze, he couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "Why don't you go and open the door and bring a few distinguished guests into the house!"

"Old man, I'm bothered!" Duanmu Jing said with a smile as he handed the silver ingot to the old man with both hands.

Five taels of silver, in this kind of county that is not rich, is enough to buy one acre of fertile land, which is a lot of money for ordinary people. You must know that the average rich peasant can save dozens of acres of land in three generations, which is already a great achievement. These eight people came here for a meal, and they shot five taels of silver, how to teach him, a villager who is not ecstatic.

"Hehe, there are no good dishes at home, only the fish and a few chickens, ducks, and dogs that have been brought back in the past few days, and the guests do not dislike it. The old man reached out and quickly took the silver ingot, squeezed it tightly in his fingertips, and checked its authenticity, and the smile on his face became more and more prosperous.

Duanmu Jing arched his hand and smiled: "Xiao Ke was fortunate to eat the seasonal flower mandarin fish and lake fish of Mulan Lake once, and the beauty of its taste has not been forgotten, and I would be grateful if I could eat it today." ”

"Haha... My house has a small pond around it, and there are a lot of lake fish and mandarin fish that have been brought back from Mulan Lake in the past few days.

"That's fine, I'll welcome my son-in-law in. Duanmu smiled.