Three rounds of silver-white laurel moon hang above the sky, and the city is full of lanterns and fireworks.

Zhang Shun faced the biting cold wind, and wrapped the tattered cotton clothes he was wearing more and more tightly, there were already several patches of different sizes on this cotton clothes, and the stitches on the patches were fine, although they were worn, but they were extremely clean, and it was obvious that some people often sew and clean.

"You said that we have a hard life, when is it a head? Peng Laosi snorted vigorously, and rubbed his rough hands together, wanting to remove a little bit of the coldness in this cold night.

Zhang Shun wrapped himself tightly in a torn cotton coat to warm up for a while, then pulled his hands out of his cuffs, re-exposed himself to the cold wind, shook his head and said, "Hurry up and work, otherwise when the overseer sergeant of Xiafu City arrives, I will be beaten again." ”

With that, he blushed, lifted a heavy and huge bluestone brick in front of him, and piled it on the stone platform in front of him.

Peng Laosi also tried to lift a bluestone brick, but he tried several times without success, and sighed: "Old, old, not as strong as you young people." ”

Zhang Shun stuffed his head, piling bluestone bricks one by one towards the stone platform, and Peng Laosi helped him sprinkle glutinous rice mortar, layer by layer and mix evenly.

As far as the eye can see, this bluestone long platform is actually more than ten zhang wide, stretching for nearly a hundred zhang, countless ragged coolies are piled up with bluestone bricks on this long stone platform, and from time to time someone is tired and falls to the ground, and the sergeant who oversees the work finds that the whip with hideous steel barbs will be pulled down fiercely, bringing up a splash of blood.

"Lord Zhizhou, according to this progress, this Qingtai can be completed within three days. A young general in black armor had a grim face and spoke respectfully to the old man beside him.

The old man, dressed in a gorgeous black robe, stood on the edge of the attic and looked down at the cyan long platform that almost spanned most of the city, and nodded.

The young general was very good at observing words and feelings, and after hesitating for a moment, he still spoke: "Lord Zhizhou, why are you depressed? ”

The old man looked at the brightly lit city at his feet, most of the people in it had fallen asleep, and only these poor laborers who had been conscripted from various towns were still toiling all night.

Turning around and entering the warm attic, he flicked his sleeves and sighed softly: "In five days, the two new envoys of Shangzong will come to Anxi Prefecture, and I am a little uneasy. ”

The young general lowered his head, casually glanced at the countless hard laborers who were still working on the side of the building, and then turned his head and followed the old man into the pavilion, and arched his hand: "Your Excellency, don't you need to be worried, isn't the envoy Liu who just left a few days ago always very important to the lord? Presumably, even if the two envoys are replaced, they will have to give the envoy Liu a face?"

The old man frowned and rebuked: "Confused!"

The young general was obviously a little unconvinced, gritted his teeth and said: "The head of the family has been in the innate peak realm for decades, and as soon as the envoy Liu came here, he directly made the head of the family the governor, and it has been several years since then, and my Xu family is already deeply rooted in the state capital, so the two new envoys will always be scruples?"

This old man in a gorgeous robe is named Xu Wenxuan, and in addition to ruling Anxi Prefecture, he is also the current head of the Xu family.

Xu Wenxuan glanced at him coldly and said, "You have been following me for two years, why are you still so confused?" In front of the envoy of the Shangzong, we are not even ants, and the previous envoy Liu just disdained to have any intersection with us. ”

The young general Xu Sheng's face changed, he wanted to speak again and again, and finally quietly shut his mouth.

Xu Wenxuan didn't care about what he thought at all, but shook his head again and sighed: "The two envoys this time don't know what their temperament is, they just hope to be like Envoy Liu, and disdain us to wait." ”

......

Three days.

Zhang Shun's shabby cotton clothes have several more deep cracks, from time to time there are inferior cotton wool flying out of it, and there are more crimson blood stains oozing out of it, and the body that is as strong as an ox on weekdays is already exhausted, walking in the city with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Looking at the tall houses on both sides of the main street in Fucheng, the envy in Zhang Shun's eyes could hardly be hidden, these people who lived in Fucheng were almost all rich squires, not only did not need to work, but also could gain the respect of others, and these were things that he had never gotten.

Touching a few coins and broken silver in his arms, Zhang Shun seemed to think of his wife and children who were still waiting at home, and his steps were much brisker, and a rare smile appeared on his young but weather-beaten face.

Walked out of the city, dragged his tired body along the official road for dozens of miles, and finally saw Zhangjia Village in the distance, Zhang Shun had not slept with his eyes closed for three days, and even the food he ate was the gruel provided by the state government, shaking his body, as if he was going to fall to the ground and fall asleep in the next moment.

Stretched out his hand and pinched his numb arm, cheered up his spirits, and walked towards Zhangjia Village.

A few days ago, all the villages and towns under the autonomy of Anxi Fucheng conscripted hard laborers to build a Qingtai to welcome the envoys, and there were a total of five young strong laborers in Zhangjia Village, and the rest of the people who went with them took the reward, either went to the restaurant to eat and drink, or went to the Qinglou in the city to have a good rest, only Zhang Shun dragged his already exhausted body, wanting to return home earlier, to see his wife who was waiting for him.

Touching a few pieces of silver in his arms again, Zhang Shun's heart settled down a lot, and pushed open the wooden door of his small courtyard, but noticed a trace of unusual quietness.

"Xiuxiu?" Zhang Shun's voice was a little more anxious.

No one responded.

His mother died early when he was a child, and even his father couldn't bear the work of taking care of the golden feather treasure flower in the spiritual field, and died of illness last year, Xiuxiu was just a weak woman, her parents died early, and Zhang Xiaoniu, who was only born for less than a year, where can she go?

"Xiuxiu?"

Zhang Shun searched the three simple wooden houses up and down, but still didn't find half of the figure, and his voice couldn't help but tremble a little.

Just as he was stunned and thinking, a noisy sound came from outside the courtyard, Zhang Shun's eyes gradually regained focus, and looked at several warrior evil slaves in short clothes who rushed in outside the courtyard.

A strong house slave took the lead, looked at the ragged Zhang Shun, his eyes showed a fierce light, and he flew forward and kicked hard.

Zhang Shun hadn't slept for three days, he was already exhausted, who was the opponent of this warrior's house slave, he was directly kicked by this powerful kick and broke several ribs in his chest, flew out a few feet away, spurting out a large mouthful of blood mixed with minced meat, his breathing became more and more rapid, and his mouth made a "ho-ho" sound.