Han Cai'er opened the door and saw Lu Xihua standing outside with a smile, and involuntarily wanted to pounce on Lu Xihua and hug Lu Xihua's neck. Lu Xihua took a step back and put his hands on Han Cai'er's shoulders, "Okay, don't make trouble, I brought you something delicious." You go and see if Guo Wen is awake, let her eat together. ”

After Lu Xihua finished speaking, he went into the room and picked out some food boxes in his hand and put them on the table, and then asked for some dishes and chopsticks, put them on the table, and sat aside and waited.

After a while, Han Cai'er pulled Guo Wen over, Guo Wen has suffered since he was a child and is not used to being treated as an equal, and he is somewhat afraid.

Han Cai'er looked at the roasted wheat and roasted steamed buns on the table, and couldn't help shouting, "Brother Xihua, you can eat it too." ”

Lu Xihua couldn't bear to disobey his sister's wishes, sandwiched two of them in the bowl, sat aside and looked at the street scene outside the window, "Cai'er, do you know how to get to Jingzhou?

Han Caier beckoned Guo Wen to eat, took a bite of Sanxian roasted wheat in her mouth, her mouth was a little hot, and she quickly picked up the cold water on the table and drank a few sips, and her little tongue spit out, which was better. Guo Wen was stunned when he ate the siu mai in his mouth, bowed his head and said nothing.

Han Cai'er said, "Brother Xihua, there is only a water and land route to Jingzhou here, and you have to go over the mountains and mountains by land, take a carriage or a sedan chair, I heard that there are bandits on the road, and it is not safe." If you take the waterway, the river is abundant at the moment, and the boat speed is fast, but you need to detour from Yueyang, which is almost twice as much as the land route. It is estimated that it will take three days to cross the mountains and mountains by land, and it will take four or five days to travel day and night by water. ”

After speaking, Han Caier picked up another roasted steamed bun, "Brother Xihua, this roasted steamed bun is delicious." Where did you buy it?"

Lu Xihua smiled and didn't speak, Guo Wen said, "Sir, this dish seems to taste like a Jingshi, I don't know if it's true or not." ”

Lu Xihua replied, "Exactly!"

"How is that possible? Could it be that there are snacks in Hankou that sell Jingshi? Didn't the gentleman go to visit a friend early yesterday morning? Could it be that the cook at his friend's house made it? However, this food box seems to belong to Jingshi. Guo Wen heard Lu Xihua's words, and after a few days of getting along, he felt that Lu Xihua had no fight, so he dared to speak.

Lu Xihua didn't answer, and after the two of them had breakfast and sat down in the guest room, Lu Xihua took out a cloth bag and handed it to Guo Wen.

Guo Wen took the cloth bag suspiciously, it was not heavy, only 3 or 4 pounds, and carefully put it on the table and opened it. Han Cai'er stood next to Lu Xihua with the yellow cat in her arms a little timidly, covering her eyes and not daring to look closely.

Guo Wen unbuttoned the cloth bag, and a human head leaked out in vain. Guo Wen was so frightened that he took a few steps back, and looked carefully at it, it was Jiang Yongan who cheated money!

Guo Wen stared at the head for a long time, and suddenly knelt in front of Lu Xihua and was about to kowtow, Lu Xihua sighed when he saw this, and helped Guo Wen up, "You and I are both sons and daughters of China, so there is no need for a big gift." ”

Guo Wen shouted, "Thank you, Engong!" Her eyes were red but she didn't shed tears, she was a strong woman, no matter how many times Lu Xihua helped her up, she insisted on kneeling down and kowtowing again. Several times in a row, Lu Xihua didn't do it anymore, so he had to give up.

After thanking him, Guo Wen said, "Thank you for taking revenge on the little girl." ”

Lu Xihua said, "I'm just going to go over and see, what are you going to do with this head?"

Guo Wen thought for a few moments, "The little woman wants to keep this Jiang Yongan's head by her side, and wait until she returns home to make plans." ”

"Okay. Lu Xihua could see that Guo Wen was a thoughtful woman, but due to the pressure of life, she fell to this point, if she could be literate at the beginning, she would not have been deceived to such a point.

The three of them rented a sailboat at the Hankou wharf and rushed to Jingzhou, but they didn't dare to find the kind of broken and small hand-cranked boat, but found a medium-sized boat with sails.

Lao Yu took his two and a half sons to work at the stern, and Lu Xihua and the three of them rested in the cabin in the middle of the boat. At noon, there was a burst of fragrance in the cabin, obviously the guests were ready to eat, Lao Yu pulled his trouser belt, on the naked chest of his upper body, the ribs were clearly visible, and there was no meat on his body. His two children, smelling the aroma of the food, swallowed their saliva in large gulps.

Lao Yu sighed in his heart, since the child left with his mother, the two children followed him to suffer on the boat. The child was sick, the family ran out of money, and the house was sold, leaving only the ship, whose sails were also tattered, and there was no money to repair them. The family of three could only move to live on the ship, and they couldn't take care of people without money, and they couldn't pay the fees, so they had a business for half a month. This time, I finally took an order to Jingzhou for a short distance business, the guests were generous, there was no counteroffer, and after surviving the past few days, I took the boat money, and I could have a full meal.

Seeing that his two sons were hungry and uncomfortable, Lao Yu lowered his head and prepared to take out vegetable cakes for his son to eat, he would be hungry today, and when he arrived at the county seat in the evening, he would buy something to eat with the money given by the guests. Lao Yu thought to himself, and heard a voice in front of him, "Lao Yu, come, take the child to eat something." We've troubled you all the way, and we still need to travel day and night, which is really hard. ”

Lao Yu looked back and saw that it was the polite-speaking young man, carrying three food boxes, standing aside, smiling at himself.

"Mr. Lu, you. Lao Yu saw Lu Xihua bringing food to the three of them, and he didn't believe his eyes, and his eyes moistened, "You are a good person, why do you still trouble you to make food?" I was shy in my pocket, and before I drove the boat, I said to the guests that I couldn't provide food, and I thought that the guests would be angry and left, but because of this, I had no business for more than half a month, and I originally thought that I had no choice but to mortgage the ship and borrow some money to start work.

Mr. Lu, who knew this politeness, smiled and said that it was okay, they could cook by themselves and bring something to eat. Only then did he feel relieved, and he was still a little reluctant to go, so he asked his two sons to take care of the things on the ship carefully, so that the ship could arrive in Jingzhou as soon as possible, so as not to delay Mr. Lu's trip. Who knows, not long after the boat sailed, Mr. Lu not only cooked by himself, but also delivered food to himself and his son, which was really annoying.

Lu Xihua looked at Lao Yu, who was timid and reluctant to take over the food box, looked at the two children next to him who were already hungry and panicked, and said with a smile, "You're welcome, you have more things to bring when you go out, it's getting hotter this day, and it's a waste not to eat it earlier." happened to take your boat, it's fate, nothing polite. After speaking, he handed the food box in his hand to the child, reached out and touched the child's bald head, and turned back to the cabin.

The eldest son, Yu Dong, replied, "Thank you, sir!" and couldn't wait to put the food box on the plank, carefully untie the rope, and pick up a box to open the lid.

As soon as the lid is opened, the fragrance of rice mixed with the smell of meat comes to your nose. A seven-inch square box is covered with snow-white rice, with beef, pig's trotters, mushroom greens, oily red meat with green vegetables, and rice with grains.

Yu Dong looked up at Lao Yu and shouted, "Dad!"

Lao Yu touched his youngest son's head and said, "You and the fine man eat first, and your father holds the oar." After speaking, he lowered his head, tears fell onto the sampan, and quickly wiped them away with his arm.

"Hmm!" Yu Dong was already hungry and panicked, didn't notice his father's tears, handed the food box in his hand to his younger brother, picked up another one, and when he opened it, it was still white rice, but the dish was changed to sauce elbow, tripe and bean sprouts. Yu Dong didn't use chopsticks, he picked up a piece of sauce elbow with his fingers and put it in his mouth, and he couldn't wait to chew it.

The delicious sauce has soaked into the lean meat, forming a beautiful pattern on it, and the fat between the skin and flesh has turned into transparent crystal flakes, with a natural fragrance. Yu Dong ate it in his mouth, the lean meat was crispy and mellow, and the fat bounced back and forth in his mouth with a strong aroma of medicinal herbs, making Yu Dong's teeth shake slightly.

"It's so fragrant!" Yu Dong, who had never eaten elbows since he was a child, felt that sauce elbows were the best food in the world at the moment, so he hurriedly picked up a slice and handed it to Lao Yu, "Dad, you eat it too!"

Lao Yu saw the smiling face of his eldest son, and also started a rare smile, "You eat by yourself, you and the fine lady exchange food, taste them all." Dad ate it when he was young, and you suffered with Dad and didn't eat it. Today, Mr. Lu is kind enough to take care of our three meals, so you can eat more. ”

"Hmm. Yu Dong listened to his father's words, turned his head and put the elbow slice in his hand into his brother's box, the younger brother is also sensible, and also gave the pig's trotters in his box to his brother, in his opinion, the pig's trotters are the largest, and his brother should eat more. The two brothers, you are humble and I don't delay eating, and the meals in the food box are rapidly decreasing.

When Lu Xihua returned to the cabin, the food had already been laid out on the table, and Han Caier and Guo Wen waited for Lu Xihua to come back to eat.

After eating, Han Caier and Guo Wen went to the bow of the boat to see the scenery along the river, and Lu Xihua came to the stern of the boat to chat with Lao Yu.

"Hello Mr. Lu!" Lao Yu saw Lu Xihua coming, and hurriedly got up to greet him.

Lu Xihua saw the busy family, and took out a few milk candy from his body and stuffed them into the busy little girl. The fine girl ate one, narrowed her eyes sweetly, and hurriedly ran to her brother, stood on tiptoe, and stuffed a piece of candy into her brother's mouth, "Brother, eat it, it's so sweet." ”

"Why didn't you see the child's mother, is it at home on the shore?" Lu Xihua chatted first, starting with his family.

"Alas, last year there was an illness, and people were gone. Speaking of this, Lao Yu was deeply helpless. In this year, the army was in chaos, the medicinal materials were extremely expensive, and the average person looked down on the disease, and his own family was not bad, but a serious illness of the mother-in-law in the family made the house sold. Some families simply have to sell their children and daughters, and the whole family can only sell their bodies in exchange for a few pairs of medicines, whether this human life is worth anything or not.