On both sides of the road, the snow is higher than the calf, and in the middle, the snow is just above the ankle, apparently due to the frequent pedestrian movement. Outside the store, there are a lot of gravel piled up on the left and right, and a row of bluestone slabs extends straight to the store from the broken place, and there is not much snow in the middle of the bluestone slabs, but the snow on both sides of the slate is raised, and someone must have swept the snow on it to both sides. This row of stone slabs divides the entire courtyard outside the store into two halves, and on the left is a willow tree, which is not tall, but very thick, and about two or three people hug it. In the cold winter, the willow tree has long been bare, and there are no branches that are tender to gold leaves and soft to silk in summer. Under the tree, there is a stone mill. On the right side of the slate is a thatched stable, which looks dilapidated, and it should have not been repaired for a long time. The snow at the top was several feet thick, as if it was about to collapse the entire stable. Three rows of horseshoe prints and two rows of human footprints on the ground lead neatly to the stables, and it is clear that there is business in this shop today.

According to this calculation, there were three horses in total, and the two rows of footprints that came and went should have been left by the shopkeepers. As for the customers, they must walk straight into the store along the bluestone slabs.

Inside, it is estimated that the number of passers-by has decreased due to the heavy snowfall, and there are only two square tables and a few benches. On the table near the brazier, three people, one in the appearance of a scholar, and the other two were bearded men, sitting on either side of the scholarly appearance, and the swords were laid flat on the table, presumably they were today's guests. On the square table, one pot of beef was steaming, and the other was larger, containing a whole cow's head, steaming hot. The man on the left is taller than the right, and I saw him pick up the whole bull's head, chew heavily, and ignore the two people next to him. The big man on the right looked at it, smiling silently. And the scholar looked thoughtful, staring straight out, ignoring it.

The shopkeeper shouted, "Three guest officers, the wine you want is hot." Before the words fell, the wine was placed on the table, and he skillfully placed three small bowls in front of the three of them, filled them with wine, and said, "Please use it slowly." He hurried to the back kitchen. This little two is about twelve or thirteen years old, and he has a good appearance, with delicate skin and thick black eyebrows.

I only heard the man on the right side say: "Yan Bin, let's drink a glass of wine and water to warm up your body first!" The scholar came to his senses, picked up the wine bowl and stopped in mid-air, put it down again, exhaled, and sighed: "Hey, that's it, that's it!" Immediately, his face became gloomy, and then he said: "Life and death have their own certainty, maybe, maybe her old man has long been ••••••, since her son is not filial, and she failed to fulfill her mother's wish." ”

The man on the right comforted: "Mr. Yan, don't worry, after eating, the three of us will look for it again, her old man must still be alive, maybe it is not impossible to move elsewhere!" The man saw that the scholar did not pay attention, obviously not believing his own words, so he continued: "Mr. also saw it, the house is cleanly furnished, there is no dust, and it is obviously often cleaned, which means that her old man must still be alive." ”

At this time, the big man on the left stopped the beef in his mouth, looked up at the scholar, and said: "Yes, yes, her old man must be rich and noble, and she can't help it." When the gentleman heard this, he didn't pay any attention, but his face became even more gloomy. The man on the right made a look at the man on the left and told him not to talk anymore, but the man on the left didn't understand, took a sip of hot wine, and wanted to speak again.

The man on the right hurriedly preemptively said: "Just eat your meat well, don't talk nonsense." The man on the left took a sip, looked unconvinced, and said in pieces: "There is only the greatest ability on the whole mountain, and you alone can speak, you can say better than the military advisor, okay?

The gentleman came back to his senses, and when he saw that the two of them were about to make a move, he scolded: "You two idiots, how did the eldest brother explain when you went down the mountain? You are so wanton to speak lightly, you clearly don't take the eldest brother's words to heart. The man on the right sat down and said, "What the gentleman said is that the blame for the little brother is too reckless." The man on the left glared at the man on the right, then ignored it, grabbed the cow's head, and ate it again.

It turned out that Mr. looked like him, his surname was Yan Mingbin, his father died early, and his mother also died of illness a year ago. His ancestors have lived on the border of the Western Xia, the Tibetan tribes and the Great Song Dynasty for generations. But in his generation, life was not as quiet as that of his father's generation, and Dajin, which was established by Wanyan Aguta, first joined forces with the Great Song Dynasty to destroy the Liao State with the "Maritime Alliance", and then found an excuse to break with the Great Song Dynasty and forced the Great Song Dynasty to move south. In this way, the place lost its previous stability, and several different forces clashed frequently here, making the originally peaceful place turbulent.

Before Yan's mother died, she called Yan Bin in front of her and said, "Abin, a few days ago, I met your aunt in the bazaar. When I'm dead, take your aunt into the city and take care of her! ”

Yan Bin was silent for a long time, but when he saw his mother's kind eyes, his whole heart softened, and he said lightly: "I don't know why my mother asked Abin to do this, but since it was my mother's order, Abin must do it." Then he said, "Didn't you say that it was my aunt and her husband who kicked my father out of the house and took all the property in the house?"

Yan's mother coughed and said in a low voice: "That's the case, but when I saw her that time, she was full of wrinkles and hunched over her waist to buy wild vegetables there, and she didn't have a good time over the years." What is the deep hatred and hatred, after so many years, what is there that cannot be relieved? Your father joined my Yan family, and often secretly went back to see your aunt, I just don't know, there is affection and righteousness, this is your father, and I like him just as well. Now, I'm leaving, and she's the only relative you have in the world. Our big house is empty and empty, and you have to do this for your father's sake. ”

Yan Bin said: "Okay, everything is arranged by Grandma." ”

In this way, after his mother died, Yan Bin searched for the address of his aunt's life according to what his mother said, but he returned in vain. In those months, the armies of Mongolia and Jin often harassed the small town where Yan Bin lived, and the family business that his mother had worked hard for many years was looted, and he couldn't stay anymore. Asked people again about the address of the aunt, the way to find relatives was robbed by the Jifeng Zhai bandits, there was only one calligraphy and painting on the body, and there was no silver two, the little guy grabbed him to listen to the creditor after the creditor fell, it happened that Mu Jianfeng, the owner of Jifeng Village, was also a person who read, and he liked calligraphy and painting. By mistake, he became a copycat military division. On this day, Yan Bin came to find his aunt to recognize his relatives, but he had no trace of his aunt, and he was hurting himself.

The man on the right is named Yang Yuzhong, Jifeng Village ranks tenth, and the man on the left side looks very weird, surnamed Dai Minghu, purple face, Jifeng Village ranks eleventh, brave and free by nature, and the nickname of the rivers and lakes is "Zi Xuan".

It was already night, but the snow did not seem to stop at all, and suddenly, there was a "crunch" sound outside, and the trampling sound was getting closer. When the shopkeeper saw it, he greeted him with a smile and said, "Brother Yin, I haven't seen you for a few days! What kind of game did you hunt today?" The man took a red tassel spear and handed it to the shopkeeper with a red tassel spear, and sighed: "The snow covers the mountain, and you can't enter the depths of the mountains and forests, so you can only hunt some roe rabbits and pheasants nearby, and the situation is not as good as before!" The second child counted ten pheasants, seven roe deer and a hare.

While talking to the shopkeeper, the hunter rubbed his hands, took off the straw hat, shook the snow on the tiger skin, walked in, first stood the spear on the side of the wall, and then hung the straw hat on the spear, and sat at the idle table away from the charcoal fire by the door, and sat opposite Yan Bin, who looked like a scholar, and the hound chased the wind and crawled under the table naturally and obediently. The second brother took the game from the hunter's hand and said, "Brother Yin, is it business as usual?" The hunter only said "um", obviously because he didn't want to talk much, or maybe he wasn't a talkative person in the first place.

Although he was dressed as a hunter, he clearly did not have the unique demeanor of a hunter, he was small, about 30 years old, with a square face and three wounds on the right side of his face, which looked like the paws of a tiger and a bear's paw, and as if he had been injured by a sword. The thick black eyebrows above the blazing eyes go straight to the temples, and the thick black lips under the broad nose are turned up, obviously looking like a hero. The mink fleece on the collar of the coarse cloth green coat looked out of place with the coarse cloth clothes. Above Tsing Yi is a colorful tiger skin. The most dazzling thing is his long boots, not to mention the quality of the boots, but the knee-length boots make him even shorter.

Yan Bin saw that it was a hunter and ignored it, while Dai Hu's eyes stared at the hunter's tiger skin and let out a few sneers. At this time, the hunter had already thought that the footprints in the family must be these three people. But at this time, he pretended not to know, and ignored it, and saw where they came from! Then he changed his tone and said to the shopkeeper: "The weather is cold, just borrow a fire and burn that rabbit to eat with me! Add an extra pot of soju and take it away later, it is important to warm your body, and the rest is still exchanged for food." ”

Xiao Er said: "Yes, Brother Yin, I'll go and order you to make it, I'll go and give you a hot pot of hot wine first." Xiao Er's tone was not particularly polite to the hunter, and there was no difference between the words, obviously meeting an acquaintance. But the hunter politely thanked him and said, "There is a lot of work!" The little second brother handed over the game to the back kitchen to the shopkeeper, and he skillfully peeled and washed the hares and handed them over to the cooking mother-in-law for steaming. Press not table.