Yang Gui left Yang Gui's hometown with Zhou Ping and came to a mining area.

At that time, the large and small forces in the interior of the dynasty fought for many years, and a large number of armies needed a large amount of steel to make weapons, so the interior of the dynasty was full of mining and iron-making mining areas.

The work in the mine is tiring, but it also makes a little more money.

Zhou Ping followed Yang Gui to the mining area, and the chief of the mining area looked at Zhou Ping and said: "The mining area does not accept children, and the heavy work of transporting ore is not something that a child can bear." ”

Although Zhou Ping is unusually tall, the seven-year-old Zhou Ping looks like he is no more than a teenager.

When Zhou Ping was helpless, two miners came with two bamboo baskets full of ore on their backs.

Zhou Ping ran to the two miners and asked them to put down the bamboo basket, and then Zhou Ping picked up a bamboo basket with one hand and walked in front of the chief.

Zhou Ping didn't put down the two bamboo baskets, and said to the chief: "Sir, you see, I can do this work." ”

The chief was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Okay, what's your name, register it, and I'll take you." ”

The miners worked together, and their accommodation was in a fixed area.

When he was working, Zhou Ping was not stunned at all, but he was worried when he was eating.

The miners ate a meal, and each miner received the same amount of food. The foreman who was responsible for cooking for the miners deducted the food money from the mining area every day, and the miners did not have enough to eat, and Zhou Ping, who had a larger amount of food, could not even eat half full.

A few days later, Zhou Ping couldn't stay up, and he was so hungry that he couldn't work.

Yang Gui saw that Zhou Ping was really unable to persevere, so he took him to the chief of the mining area to settle his wages.

The chief said, "Those who have worked for less than a month cannot be paid." ”

Zhou Ping stepped forward and asked: "If you can't eat enough, who can work for a month? We have been working for several days, you can't let us work for nothing, right?"

The chief glared at Zhou Ping and said, "I can't count a penny for you! If you don't do it, get the out of me."

When Zhou Ping heard this, his face turned red with anger and said: "You don't have enough to eat in your mining area, and you have to do such heavy work every day, who can last for a month? If you insist on not paying you for less than a month, are you obviously letting many people work for you in vain? Do you still have the royal law?"

Although Zhou Ping was not yet eight years old, his mother said that the daughter of the former emperor Zhou Tian, his father was the son of the great magician of the Miao clan who had been inherited for thousands of years, so Zhou Tian was extremely smart, and he listened to the words of the chief, and immediately saw that this mining area used this way to let people work for them in vain.

When the chief saw Zhou Ping publicly criticizing his employment system, he shouted: "Come on! Lock up this child who is deceiving the people with evil words!"

More than a dozen soldiers walked in in response, and Yang Gui stepped forward to stop him, but was pushed to the ground by the soldiers. Then the soldiers tied up Zhou Ping and put him in a makeshift cell.

Zhou Ping kept scolding the chief in his cell, and a day later, he was taken out of the mine by several soldiers.

Five soldiers rode horses to escort Zhou Ping galloping down the avenue, Zhou Ping was on a horse, and at first he was a little uncomfortable, but after a day he was able to control the horse freely.

Zhou Ping secretly calculated that they had been walking for ten days.

Zhou Ping became more and more scared, he knew that he was very far away from his mother and sister at home from the mining area.

Zhou Ping asked the soldiers around him, "Where are you going to send me?"

One soldier said: "The commander of our mine ordered us to take you to his house and not to go anywhere else." ”

Zhou Ping listened to the soldier's words and secretly calculated: I have to escape, once I get to the commander's house, it will be difficult for me to get out.

That night, Zhou Ping pretended to be asleep all the time. By the third watch in the middle of the night, he was sure that the soldiers around him were asleep, so he quietly escaped from the inn, and he did not dare to go on horseback, for fear of alarming a few soldiers.

As soon as he left the inn, Zhou Ping ran up, he didn't dare to follow the road he came from, for fear that the soldiers would catch up immediately if they found out that he had escaped.

ran until dawn, Zhou Ping was so tired that he couldn't walk anymore before he sat on the side of the road to rest.

After sitting for a while, Zhou Ping got up again and walked forward, he didn't dare to stay longer, for fear that the soldiers would catch up.

Zhou Ping gritted his teeth and walked for another day, he didn't dare to take the big road, he didn't dare to go to the villages and towns. On the evening of the second day after Zhou Ping escaped from the inn, Zhou Ping, who was hungry and tired, fainted on the side of the road.

When Zhou Ping woke up, he saw a man who was nearly fifty years old looking at him with a smile.

When the man saw Zhou Ping wake up, he said, "Don't be afraid, child! You fainted on the side of the road, and I carried you back home just as I happened to pass by." ”

Zhou Ping remembered it, but he was so weak that he found that he didn't even have the strength to speak.

When the man saw this, he hurriedly said, "Don't move, child! I have already shown you Lang Zhong, you are hungry, overworked, and not seriously ill." You wait for me to go and get you a bowl of gruel. ”

After a while, the man brought a bowl of gruel, and then helped Zhou Ping up and fed Zhou Ping one bite at a time and drank a bowl of gruel.

Zhou Ping's spirit immediately improved, and the man brought another bowl of gruel.

When Zhou Ping was about to eat, the man said, "Don't worry, child! You have been hungry for a long time, so I will give you food after a while." Tell me what your name is and where you come from?"

Zhou Ping said: "My name is Zhou Ping, and my family is a village dozens of miles outside the Nanling Wangcheng......

After observing the person in front of him, Zhou Ping decided that he was a good person, so he told everything he had experienced these days.

The man was a little surprised and said, "Nanling Royal City is two thousand miles away from here, how did you get here?"

Zhou Ping said: "The trafficker pulled me in a car for two days, and the father who bought me, Yang Gui, took me for many days to a mining area, and then I rode horses with a few soldiers for ten days from morning to night, and I walked around by myself for two days before I arrived here." ”

The man said, "I see! My name is Fan Chang, and I am a tenant in this village." Although my life is very difficult, I don't care about your child's mouth, you live in my house temporarily. After a few days, those soldiers can't find you and leave, and then you have to figure out how to get out of here. ”

Zhou Ping nodded, and Fan Chang also smiled with satisfaction.

Zhou Ping's body was extremely strong, he drank two bowls of gruel, and lay down for a long time, and his body fully recovered.

At dinner, Fan Chang brought a pot of rice and was eaten by Zhou Pingquan.

Fan Chang looked at Zhou Ping in a daze, Zhou Ping finished eating a pot of rice and looked at Fan Chang and said, "Uncle Fan, do you still have food?"

Fan Chang said: "I let you eat my portion, you haven't eaten enough!"

......

Ten days later, Fan Chang frowned and said to Zhou Ping: "Zhou Ping! You are so good at eating, you have already eaten up my little food." I don't have a penny left at home, and I borrowed food for the past two days. I can't afford to raise you, so you'd better go!"

Zhou Ping had already seen that Fan Chang's family was so poor that he didn't have a meal, and he wanted to leave, but he was always worried that those soldiers were still looking for him, plus he had no money, and he was more than 2,000 miles away from home, and he didn't know how to go home, so he kept hesitating and didn't leave Fan Chang's house.

Now when Zhou Ping heard Fan Chang say this, he immediately said: "Uncle, thank you for saving me and taking me in these days." I will definitely repay me when I have the opportunity in the future, and I will leave now. ”

After Zhou Ping finished speaking, he knelt down and kowtowed to Fan Chang three times, then stood up and left.

Fan Chang grabbed Zhou Ping and said, "Hey——! Zhou Ping! You don't have any money on you, how can you walk more than a thousand miles? What should you do if you meet a bad guy? Hey——! I'll give you a ride!"

Zhou Ping was happy in his heart, but said, "No need, uncle!"

Fan Chang said: "I kowtowed to you and called me uncle, I should give you a ride." ”

After Fan Chang finished speaking, he took Zhou Ping's hand and walked out of the house.

The two walked out of the village for a long time and came to a village, and Zhou Ping was so hungry that he couldn't bear it.

Fan Chang said: "Zhou Ping, wait a minute, I'll go to the village to ask for food." ”

After a while, Fan Chang came back with two steamed cakes.

Zhou Ping only ate one steamed cake, and he said that he would not eat the rest of the cake.

When it got dark, the two of them had no money to live in a hotel, so they fell asleep looking at the wall in a small temple outside the village.