The meal had been prepared, and the young man looked at Yang Hejiu with some surprise, as if he was curious about how he used those kitchen utensils with only one finger in his right hand.

Yu Ming did his duty this time, the fish on the shore did not take it to his own house, Xu Changan looked at the fish that had been pickled and hung in the yard and smiled a little proudly.

In his heart, he kept repeating what Liu Chunsheng said, happily thinking that his eldest brother Liu was really a god, and he could really make it true word by word.

After putting away the things that everyone had sent, he took out a steamed cake and soaked it in a bowl full of fish soup, and took a hard breath of the aroma.

For teenagers, there is nothing that can't be solved by eating a bowl of fish soup and soaking a steamed cake, if there is, then add a chicken leg and sprinkle two chopped green onions!

Yang Hejiu sat opposite and quietly ate the fish soup in his bowl, using his left hand did not affect his daily life, and the only index finger of his right hand did not mean that it was useless, at least he could hold a steamed cake steadily.

The young man hurriedly opened the coarse cloth bag, a little curious about what Brother Liu had given him.

Although the outside of the cloth bag was worn, it was unusually clean, and the inside had been stained with a thin layer of oil and water.

Open the cloth bag, and inside are two chicken legs!

Xu Changan was very happy, and gave Yang Hejiu one, and he took one and quickly took a bite like a hungry tiger.

After moving to Xicheng for nearly a year, most of the teenager's three meals a day were related to fish. Steamed fish, fish soup, grilled fish...... I think about all kinds of ways to eat by myself, and occasionally I will take a few fish and exchange them for some rice, flour, oil, vegetables and other things.

Since most of the fish caught by the boy were small fish, no one in the city bought them, and some people were willing to exchange something with him just out of kindness to help him, but sympathy was not enough, after all, it was a normal transaction. During the New Year, Yu Ming's mother came to ask Yu Ming to call herself to eat Chinese New Year's Eve, and the taste of that meal is still not forgotten by the teenager.

So the boy's next plan is not only to catch enough fish for himself, but also to take it out for some money, he has already thought about it, and when he is bigger, he will change to a bigger fishing net and catch bigger fish in exchange for more money.

Money is a good thing, and you can buy a lot of things that you can't get in exchange for fish and meat.

For example, the chicken leg he was holding in his hand at this time.

The chicken thighs were delicious, but the teenager couldn't swallow them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the oil lamp on his desk, looked at the chicken leg with little oil in his hand, and glanced at the things that everyone sent him in the corner of the wall, and thought about the bamboo pole that fell in the alley just now, and the beautiful little lady when he came back, like a fish in his throat.

Xu Changan put down the chicken legs, lowered his head and read: "I have a purpose, and I also use it to protect against winter......"

Yang Hejiu raised his head and looked at the young man's reaction a little puzzled, but he didn't ask.

The young man got up, found a few long strings of fish, looked at the pickled fish hanging in the yard by the moonlight, and asked Yang Hejiu, "I want to give these fish, can I give them away?"

Yang Hejiu nodded, smiled and said, "Naturally, it's okay." ”

Xu Changan silently took down the fish waiting to dry in the yard, skewered them with grass and put them in the bamboo basket that was vacated, found a few coarse cloths to pad on them, and the coarse cloth was full of some steamed cakes, and walked out of the courtyard door with both hands around the bamboo basket.

Yang Hejiu put down the soup bowl, stood on the threshold and looked at the back of the young man leaving, then turned his head and looked down at the middle finger section of his right hand and said softly: "I have no purpose, but I can also protect against winter." ”

After speaking, he walked into the courtyard and waved his hand in the direction of further north and bowed deeply.

......

In the moonlight, Liu Chunsheng was still standing on the west wall with the bald pen, his feet had been frozen red from the cold ground, and his face was already slightly pale, but he refused to put on the pair of blue-green boots, nor did he want to raise his hand to wave the stroke.

Xu Changan pushed open the courtyard door and shouted loudly: "Brother Liu." ”

Liu Chunsheng was slightly startled, and quickly came back to his senses and said: "Chang'an, you... Why did you come back again?"

panicked and wanted to put on those boots, but Xu Changan had already run in front of him.

Luckily, it was dark and there were no lights in the house.

Xu Changan came to the house, put the bamboo basket on the ground, bent his waist and gasped and said, "Brother Liu, I caught some fish from the pond in the afternoon, and I was afraid that it would spoil if I couldn't finish eating, so I pickled it and sent it to you." ”

After speaking, he seemed to feel that he was stepping on something, so he quickly retracted it backwards, frowning slightly.

Before Liu Chunsheng could speak, the boy had already run out of the house, and when he came to the yard, he said happily and loudly: "The chicken legs are delicious! Thank you, Brother Liu!"

At the mouth of the alley, the willow tree swayed gently, and the willow branches trembled slightly, as if they had regained their vitality at this moment.

Liu Chunsheng was stunned in place, a pair of willow leaves suddenly flashed with fluorescence, and he slowly walked to the bamboo basket with his bare feet, picked up a steamed cake on it and trembled.

Got up and looked at the words on the west wall, the gentle willow leaf felt a heat in his eyes, threw the bald pen in his hand to the corner of the wall, and laughed and said: "I have a purpose, and I also use it to protect against winter!"

As soon as he finished speaking, tears burst out of his eyes, the smile on his face did not decrease, and his heart began to warm up.

......

Xu Changan returned to his yard, and the fish soup that he thought should have been cold was actually warm, so he quickly finished eating the fish soup in the bowl and came to the next yard to knock on the door.

Yu Ming poked out his little head and looked at the person carefully, and saw that it was Xu Changan who breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Changan opened his mouth and said, "Borrow you two pairs of quilts." ”

Yu Ming slammed the courtyard door shut, locked it from the inside, and did not reply.

But the boy was not embarrassed, just shook his head and returned to his yard, staring at the earthen wall between the two houses, not knowing what he was waiting for.

Didn't wait too long. Suddenly two pairs of thick quilts were thrown from the yard next door, and Xu Changan subconsciously reached out to catch them.

"Thanks..."

Before he could finish speaking, a pillow hit him head-on.

Xu Changan grabbed the pillow around his neck and began to walk into the inner room.

From the courtyard next door, Yu Ming's slightly immature but cold shivering voice came: "Don't freeze to death." ”

......

Xu Changan was lying on a small wooden bed with the two pairs of quilts in his arms, giving the big bed to Yang Hejiu, but he couldn't sleep while holding the black sword.

Turning his head to look at the big bed by the window, Yang Hejiu was lying there straight, and the long black box was quietly leaning against the corner of the wall and seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Did you sleep?" asked Xu Changan in a low voice.

Yang Hejiu opened his eyes and returned: "No." ”

"The woman in red said my surname is Li, do you know why she is so sure?" the young man turned over and asked in front of Yang Hejiu.

"I don't know. ”

"Then do you know what the surname Li means?" Xu Changan turned over again, hugged the black sword and looked at the roof and continued.

"There is a country in the east called the Tang Dynasty, and the surname Li is the surname of the king of the Tang Kingdom. Yang Hejiu explained.

"So that woman in red thinks I'm the royal family of the Tang Kingdom?" Xu Changan thought of the mansion in Dongcheng, thought about what his Lao Tzu had said before leaving, and asked with some shock.

How is it that the rich ancestral industry can make their grandfather and son have endless money for eighteen generations?

"It should be. ”

"I think it should be a problem with this sword, do you know what the difference is with this sword?" Xu Changan asked again when he remembered today's picture.

At first, the strange girl in red seemed to be just asking so casually, and it was only after seeing this sword that she was so sure that her surname was Li.

Yang Hejiu thought about it carefully, then shook his head slightly and said, "I don't know." ”

Xu Changan was speechless, but this seemingly reliable person was so unreliable.

"Is that man in the north of the city a good man?" the young man asked, remembering the broad palms he had seen, and shrunk his neck.

"Kind of a good guy. ”

"Is he strong?"

"Very strong. ”

"Who is stronger than you?" Somehow, the young man said more and more, as if to alleviate something, whether it was fear or loss, which made his heart dare not calm down.

"I'm not as good as him. Yang Hejiu didn't hide or think about it, and went back directly.

"When are we leaving?"

"We don't have to go. ”

"What will happen when the army from outside the city invades?"

"The army can't get in. ”

The corners of Xu Chang'an's mouth twitched violently, he had seen the besieging army standing on the city wall during the day, and he knew that those guards in the city could not stop it at all.

But at this time, Yang Hejiu said that the army could not attack, this statement was not acceptable to a young man at all, he clearly remembered that when there was a fight in the city, two thin young men could beat a middle-aged man to stand up, let alone add those strong war horses.

It was hard for him to imagine why Yang Hejiu would say such arrogant and confident words, and the corner of his eyes glanced at the long black box erected in the corner of the wall, and asked in disbelief: "Because you are guarding the West City?"

Yang Hejiu smiled and said, "Because we are guarding this city. ”

"There are four gates in this city, but there are only two of you, what about the other two?"

"We'll do our best. ”

......

......

Xu Changan didn't ask any more questions and prepared to sleep.

But when he closed his eyes, his mind was full of images of the dark clouds that he had seen during the day. The picture seems to have advanced a lot, the war horses are galloping, and they are screaming everywhere.

He opened his eyes and looked at the roof, gasping softly, and heard the words he heard outside the tavern again.

"Eh, I heard that all the people in the city have moved away, and even Master Xu moved away overnight. ”

"If something really happens, can Master Xu run away by himself without taking his son?"

......

The boy's eyes moistened slightly, wiped away his tears, and shook his head fiercely, thinking, 'This must be a coincidence'.

I put on the quilt and wanted not to think about these things, but the red-clothed figure inexplicably appeared in my mind, saying that he must be surnamed Li.

The boy was disturbed by these things, and he couldn't sleep.

Turning over again, he looked at the sleeping figure on the big bed through the moonlight and asked softly, "Have you slept?"

"Nope. The voice soon came again, without any dissatisfaction or boredom, and still as neither gentle nor indifferent.

Xu Changan said hesitantly: "I can't sleep, I won't disturb your rest, right?"

Yang Hejiu lay there with his eyes open and smiled back: "No." ”

"Then will you talk to me for a while?"

"Okay. ”

Xu Changan was extremely happy and asked, "Why did you come to this city?"

"My teacher asked me to come. ”

"Why did the man from the north of the city come?"

"He came to protect the city. ”

Xu Changan sighed: "Then he is amazing." As if thinking of something, he added, "Of course, you're just as great." ”

Yang Hejiu shook his head and confessed: "I'm not as good as him." ”

is also here to defend the city, one is to protect, and the other is to respect the teacher.

Although they are both here to defend the city, the meaning is much worse, and the little boy naturally doesn't understand the difference, but he thinks that these two people are so amazing.

Xu Changan said very seriously: "The same, you are all amazing. ”

Yang Hejiu was lying there, the smile on his face that was neither warm nor indifferent, but only a polite smile began to become gentle for the first time.

After a moment, he said, "Thank you." ”

"We should thank you, what kind of person is your teacher?"

"He's a great guy. ”

"You must have a lot of respect for him. ”

"Yes. ”

......

The two of them asked and answered, and the morning light had quietly sprinkled into the room, illuminating the handsome and perfect face, and there was not the slightest dryness and boredom in a pair of eyes.

I could hear the young child's whisper in his sleep: "We'll all be alive." ”

"Yes. ”