As night approached, the stars in the sky flickered and flickered, and a bright moon pierced the deep darkness. Li Shi felt that the world was big but didn't know where to go, Hengshan was in the west, but he didn't want to meet Yang Zhiqing, so he walked south. After walking for a few hours, the sky was hazy, and after being tired, seeing that there were no villagers in front of him, he sat down on a haystack by the roadside to rest. After a sleepless night, sleepiness hit, and he fell asleep on the haystack in a moment.

It was almost noon when Li Shicai woke up, rubbed his eyes, picked up the package, and continued to move forward. There are occasional carriages and pedestrians passing by on the road, Li Shi doesn't know where he is ahead, and he doesn't ask the passers-by, just blindly moving forward. As I was walking, I saw a food stall on the side of the road from a distance, the breeze blew, the fragrance wafted in, and I suddenly felt a hollow sound in my stomach. When he got closer, he first asked for a bowl of tea and asked the shopkeeper: "Boss, what is there to eat?" The shopkeeper was dressed in gray clothes full of oil stains, and said with a smile: "We don't have a store in front of the village or behind the village, so there are fewer drinks and dishes, and most of the pasta, two days ago, our young man just caught two rabbits on the mountain, do you want to have some rabbit meat buns?" Li Shi said: "Anything can be done, you can fill your stomach." The shopkeeper answered and laughed. After a while, a few steamed buns came up, Li Shi walked for most of the night, he was already hungry, and he ate a bun in three or four mouths, and praised: "Tsk, what a fragrant rabbit meat bun." The shopkeeper said: "The guest officer eats slowly, it's not enough." With that, another bowl of noodle soup was served.

Li Shi was eating with relish, and three men came from afar, and when they got closer, it turned out to be the three people who borrowed the inn from Li Shi yesterday. The leader walked closer and saw Li Shidao: "It turned out to be a little brother, I didn't expect to meet here again." Li Shi also felt that he had a fate with these three people, and said frankly: "It's past noon, why don't you rest here, I'll invite the three of you to have some light dinner." After that, he said to the shopkeeper: "Boss, here are ten more rabbit meat buns." The shopkeeper saw that there were three more people, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll be here soon." Li Shi said again: "There is no wine and food in this store, so you can eat some!" Seeing that Li Shi was so refreshing, the leader hugged his fists and said: "Little brother is too polite, but this meal must be invited by me Yuan Guotian, thank you for your guidance yesterday." ”

"It turned out to be Brother Yuan, little brother Li Shi, everyone met in Pingshui, yesterday was just a gesture, why thank you. ”

Yuan Guotian felt quite close to Li Shi, sat down and said, "Brother Li, where are you going?" Li Shi didn't know where to go, and thought for a while: "There is nowhere to go, just play at will." ”

"What do you mean? Where is my brother's house? But what kind of resentment did you have with your family and run out?"

"Huh...... Brother Yuan is really smart, just because the younger brother is stubborn and unwilling to study, his father is angry, and he teaches each other with a stick, and the younger brother can't stand the pain of flesh and skin, so he runs out. ”

"Haha! I see, the three of us are going south and back to Ye County, and if the brothers haven't figured out where to go, it's better to go with me for two days, and then go back after a few days to make the dignity disappear. ”

"Ah...... Having a few older brothers as companions saves a lot of loneliness, and the younger brother can't ask for it. ”

These three people Yuan Guotian is the oldest, one in twenty, and the other two are almost the same as Li Shi, between talking and laughing, they each reported their names, and they were called brothers in a moment. followed Yuan Guotian, one of the two was named Zhang Qianduo, and the other was named Shi Taiping. These three people were originally subordinates in an official family in the capital, but now the master has resigned and returned to his hometown, and he is originally from Ye County, so he also came back. Yuan Guotian usually serves the main family, and this time he was sent to Youzhou Tianwang Temple to deliver some things, and the distance was far away, so he asked Zhang Shi and the two to go together.

After the four of them finished eating, Yuan Guotian settled the account first, Li Shi was helpless, and thought secretly: "Brother Yuan said yesterday that there are not many entanglements, and he is reluctant to eat some wine and food, and when he stays in the township, he will invite them to eat and drink." The four of them walked all the way, seeing that it was almost dusk, and they still didn't see anyone's house, Li Shi frowned secretly, Yuan Guotian saw it in his eyes, and said with a smile: "Brother, don't worry, after this hill, there is another half an hour away, and there is Yi County in front, and when we get there, we can stay at the inn." Li Shi nodded: "That's very good!"

After about an hour, the four of them finally crossed the hill, and it was dark. As soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves from behind, and in a moment three red horses came near, and immediately three big men, one of whom was bearded and cheeky, with large shoulders and wide shoulders, and black hair that was fluffy and disorderly, and was very vicious. The other two are healthy, but they are also ordinary people. When the three men arrived at Li Shi and the others, they suddenly reined in their horses, and the bearded man swept the four of them again, his eyes stopped on Zhang Qianduo and Li Shi, and shouted: "Those two boys, what are they carrying?" Yuan Guotian shuddered when he heard this, and secretly thought: "Didn't you meet a robber?" I saw the big man snort, pulled out a big axe from his waist, and shouted: "Obediently leave the valuable things on your body, spare you from death." Zhang Qian was very timid, so frightened that he hurriedly untied the burden to the man, Yuan Guotian stepped forward and grabbed it first, and said: "King, there are only a few Buddhist scriptures in this burden, there is really no valuable thing, and the villain still has a hundred and ten cents, and he is filial to the king." As he spoke, he took out some copper plates from his bosom and handed them over. The man shouted: "Get out of the way, do you want to eat!" As he spoke, he grabbed the burden and pulled it violently, Yuan Guotian was small, and he was taken away by the big man when he landed. Another big man did the same, forcibly took off the burden on Li Shi's back, and was just about to take it away, but was caught by Li Shi, the big man saw that Li Shi was only seventeen or eighteen years old, he smiled, and dragged it hard, but who knew that he didn't get it in his hand. Li Shi was taken by the other party for a moment, for fear that the burden would be snatched away, and he also dragged back hard, but the big man couldn't hold it and was taken back.

When Li Shi and Yang Zhiqing left Shicheng, Gu Daihui gave the two of them some broken silver to wrap around, Yang Zhiqing had his own silver taels with Jingfeng, and refused to accept them, Li Shi repeatedly refused, but was forcibly stuffed on his body by Zhang Wentai, so he put it and his father's medical books in the same baggage. Li Shi didn't feel sorry for money, but he didn't want to give up those few medical books. The big man didn't get the burden, and when he lost someone in front of his companion, he took out a big knife from his waist and shouted, "It's a good man." Raising the knife and slashing at Li Shi, Li Shi would not resist, and hurriedly dodged to the side, but his steps staggered, and he was extremely embarrassed. The man raised the knife and slashed, Li Shi was just about to dodge, only to hear the sound of 'dang', it was the bearded man who jumped off the horse, took the axe and opened the knife, only to hear: "You don't have to hurt people's lives, do you think he seems to know martial arts?"

The big man didn't look like a poor man, he opened the package and checked, except for a few medical books, there were only some broken silver, and he was disappointed, when suddenly a dark copper piece came into his eyes. The big man took it out and spread it out in his hand, and saw that the copper piece was one inch long, and one side was tattooed with five thin lines, which were connected to each other, as if the principle of the five elements, and the other side was engraved with the word "Zhushui". When the man saw the picture and text on it, he was startled, turned his head and shouted, "Big brother, look!"

The bearded man didn't know what was going on, he took it and was taken aback, and hurriedly hugged his fist at Li Shi and said: "It turned out to be the brother of Zhenshuitang, and the younger brother Bishuitang is very righteous, and he is so offended!" The bearded man saw that Li Shi was only a teenager, but he had the bishop's order of the Zhenshui Hall, and he should be the person closest to the hall master, so he didn't dare to slack off. Li Shi took the copper sheet, and suddenly remembered that it was brought by the Five Elements Sect to send a letter, and he collected it casually on his body at the beginning, and put it in the package when he left his hometown. At this time, listening to what the bearded man said, he knew that these three people must be people from the Five Elements Sect, and remembered that the Five Elements Sect had tried to rescue his father, but at this time he was robbed by the people of this sect, and said angrily: "This copper piece was given by someone in your sect, but it is not a person from your sect. Gao Yifeng was stunned when he heard this, and said with a smile: "It turned out that I taught my friend, and it was really a big flood that washed the Dragon King Temple." Saying that, he gave Yuan Guotian's package to Li Shi, Gao Yifeng hugged his fists and said: "Today's elder brother has offended the four of you, and please Haihan, see that you are in a hurry, there are not many entanglements, there is a family in Yixian County in front of you, which is opened by our sect, and the four brothers can go there to stay and eat and live without worry." Gao still has other things to do, so he will leave first!" Yuan Guotian and the three of them looked at Li Shi in a daze, and Shi Taiping said first: "Brother Li, what is that copper piece of yours? It's so amazing that it scared them all away." Li Shi didn't expect this copper piece to save people, and said: "Little brother doesn't know, fortunately, everyone is fine, let's go quickly." Yuan Guotian came to his senses and wiped the cold sweat on his head: "Thanks to Brother Li just now, otherwise these scriptures would have been snatched away by those people, but the landscape residence should not be lived, so as not to cause more trouble." Li Shi nodded, after all, he didn't have much to do with the Five Elements Sect, not to mention that the three of them acted like bandits, and it was too late to dodge.

The four of them got back on the road, and after walking a short distance, they saw that there seemed to be candlelight in front of them, and Yuan Guotian said: "Brother Li, the front is Baita Village, this is the county border of Yi County, let's find someone to stay here." ”

"Everything is arranged by Brother Yuan. ”

The four of them found a farmer's house and gave the head of the household a few pennies to live in. There was nothing to say all night, and on the second day, the four of them went early in the morning, and after yesterday's events, Yuan Guotian and the three of them became more and more intimate with Li Shi, and they talked and laughed along the way. Although the north is not as prosperous as the south of the Yangtze River, the Yanzhao area is also a very prosperous place, Li Shi grew up in Liaodong since he was a child, and he has grown a lot of knowledge on the road. The four of them stayed day and night, and it took more than ten days to reach Ye County. Ye County, also known as Xiangzhou, is an important place in ancient times, and the Xia and Shang dynasties have moved their capitals here. After entering the city, Yuan Guotian and the three of them took Li Shi around a few streets and came to a tall wooden door, on which a plaque was hung with the word "Du Fu".