At sunset.

On the rugged mountain road, a horse-drawn carriage moves slowly.

To say that it is a 'carriage' is really a bit of an exaggeration - it is actually just a two-wheeled flatbed car with rough workmanship, which cannot be compared with the usual car and canopy car. As for the horse that pulls it, there is only one, and it is still the kind of old horse whose ribs can be seen from a distance. However, since it has horses, wheels, and people, it is indeed impossible to find a more appropriate name than 'carriage' for a while.

Yes, this crudely made flatbed truck is not carrying goods, but people. It was not just one person, but three people: a thin old man sitting at the front of the cart with a reins in his hand and deep nasolabial folds, a tired woman sitting in the middle of the cart, curling her legs and puffing into her palms, and a yellow-haired girl sitting at the end of the cart, humming nursery rhymes and swinging her legs. The three of them were wearing cotton clothes that they knew at a glance that they had sewn and mended many times. The man and the woman looked thin and old, and the girl's clothes, though patched, were at least a little thicker.

The summer has passed, the hot summer has left, the white dew is coming, and the air is a little more chilly.

The rough wheels turned slowly, splashing the mud on the ground slightly.

Perhaps because of the heavy rain in autumn, the already uneven mountain road was a little more muddy, so that the old horse had to 'snort-'' and gasp a few breaths every time he dragged the cart up five or six feet. At this time, the old man in cloth sitting on the cart would gently pat its buttocks with the bamboo strip in his hand. It doesn't mean to urge it to move forward quickly, but it is similar to the feeling of patting the shoulder and comforting between old friends.

The old man's surname is Xu, a person from Meng Yue, who is over fifty years old at the beginning of the year, and he already knows the destiny of heaven. It stands to reason that since the advent of the Dameng Dynasty, whether it is a high-ranking official or a common person, it is very common to live a long life to the ancient rarity of the sixtieth century, and the Zhitian Destiny who still has the strength should no longer be called the word 'aging'...... But before this old man knew the destiny of heaven, he had already been nicknamed 'old man' by the neighbors. Maybe it's because as a carpenter, he always keeps a straight face when he works, or maybe it's because Xu Laohan's personality is as stubborn as an old man. Once he decides that he is dead, no matter how good others say, Xu Laohan will definitely stiffen his neck in the end and say the word 'no!'.

And at this moment, the reason why he sat on this 'carriage' was because when he was in Meng Yue City, he said 'no!' to one person.

The old man turned sideways slightly and looked at her sitting behind him with a slightly red nose.

The woman is the wife of an old man, who has urinated since she was a child.

It's not that the woman is the old man's child daughter-in-law, it's just that she was a childhood sweetheart when she was young, and she always played together.

Unexpectedly, I really entered the house.

The woman was not very good-looking, but the old man did not mind, because the old man was not very good-looking either.

The old man is always stubborn in his work, but the woman doesn't mind, because the woman is tougher than the old man.

It has been more than 30 years since the night of candles in the cave room, stumbling along the way, good and bad things are mixed, and they have gone quite smoothly, but their knees are thin, and they have never had a child. However, a few years ago, a woman who was almost 40 years old had a happy life and gave birth to a crying baby girl, named 'Like Lotus'. It can be regarded as an old couple who have a son who is overjoyed, and they want to treat her as a treasure, holding her in their hands for fear of falling off, holding it in their mouths for fear of melting, and trying their best to give her the best food, clothing, housing and transportation, as if they are afraid that they will not be able to pamper her.

But anyway, under the careful care of the couple, the baby girl did grow up healthy - otherwise, who is the yellow-haired girl at the back of the car?

It's just that I don't know which literati and ink artist who lacks heart and eye invented a word called 'blessing and misfortune depend on each other'.

At the end of last month, when the old man took the woman and the girl to the best restaurant in the city once a month, a storyteller dressed in a long robe, a hand-cranked folding fan, and a thin face was telling stories in the restaurant, telling the story of the defeat of the Yonghua Kingdom, and the story of the 30,000 dragon riders chasing the buttocks of hundreds of thousands of military soldiers. The girl saw the storyteller for the first time, her eyes widened, her ears straightened, and she listened attentively to the strange things that were obviously added to the vinegar, and when she heard what she didn't understand, she secretly whispered to her father, 'Daddy, what is the official position of the general?', 'Mother, is Xiangguo very big?' and so on, in short, it was a happy appearance.

If it's just a pleasure, it's not a disaster.

Woe, when the storyteller finished speaking, he said, 'Please wait for a long time', the diners from well-off families stepped forward to reward as usual, and the girl also asked the old man for a copper coin, and when he went forward.

It should have been just a "thank you, girl", or a playful "thank you, little woman".

But the storyteller, after taking the copper coin with both hands, looked up at the yellow-haired girl and was stunned for a moment.

Then, in a voice that was silent, but could be heard by everyone around, he said something.

"Girl, do you know that you are born with a knack?"

That's all there is to it.

In other places, this sentence would probably be taken as a joke by the gentleman.

But this is not the place.

This is Meng Yue City.

It is one of the four towns established by the people of the Qimen in the world.

Mengyue city people, 23 out of 10 for the Qi Gate, 45 out of 10 will be Qi Gate, 67 out of 10 will know the Qi Gate, 89 out of 10 Xiao Qi Gate, 10 out of 10 complete, Xin Qi Gate.

Xu Laohan understands the meaning of the so-called innate wonder and the consequences of being known by the Qimen family.

'It's all that storyteller talking nonsense!'

That day and night, he tossed and turned countless times in his dreams and cursed the big-tongued storyteller.

But the next morning, before dawn, there was a knock on the door of the old courtyard of his house that had not been repaired for a long time.

The old man hurriedly rolled out of bed, put on cloth shoes, and opened the door to look—it was a handsome boy with a maid.

The old man knew the boy.

It's not because the old man is popular, it's just because the boy is a well-known young master of Qimen in the county.

The surname is 'Yin', and the name is 'Shao'.

And the matter of being able to drive Young Master Yin to visit in person, the old man didn't think of the second thing. He invited Yin Shao into the courtyard with a complicated mood, and after going back to the house to see the girl and the woman who were still asleep, he talked to his son alone.

Yin Shao's suggestion was very simple - he wanted to spend fifty taels of gold to buy the girl and accept her as a disciple of the Yin family.

Xu Laohan stiffened his neck and said 'No!'.

He knows that most of the cultivation of Qimen will move people's lives, and the people in Qimen are all ruthless characters who eat people and do not spit out bones - if a girl born in a cold door enters Qimen, there is a chance that she will become the so-called 'furnace ding' in the end.

But after he said 'no', he regretted it.

It's not because of the price of fifty taels of gold - the girl is a priceless treasure in his heart!

It's just that the young master of the Yin family in front of him is also a person from the Qi Gate! Although he may not do it openly because of his own reputation, it is not easy for the people of the Qi Gate to secretly kill someone and take a person?!

Xu Laohan's heart suddenly rose to his throat.

I thought that this Young Master Yin would drop a cold look, and then laughed darkly, leaving a sentence, "Soft doesn't eat hard, okay, you old thing is waiting for me ......." Unexpectedly, the handsome young master showed a very embarrassed expression, and turned sideways to the maid beside him and smiled bitterly: "Shangshan, why do you say that I don't give anything I want recently, did I collide with some luck?"

And the maid threw a cold look as Xu Laohan expected, laughed darkly, and said: "Soft don't eat hard, okay, you old thing wait for me......"

Then she was pressed on her head by Yin Shao to apologize.

Then, the young master of the Yin family walked out of the courtyard, made a compilation, and left a sentence of 'I will come again', and left.

Although Xu Laohan, who was safe and sound, felt a little surprised, he still felt that something was wrong in his heart. So, he pawned all the valuable things in the house that day, exchanged them for dozens of taels of silver, and then escaped from Meng Yue with the woman and the girl overnight.

The stubborn old man always felt that a normal carriage would attract the coveted of bandits and thieves, so the carriage he traveled to was such a broken car.

Although starting from Meng Yue, the jurisdiction of the Western Regions, it will take thousands of miles to return to the Yonghua Kingdom.

Although the old man who has left Meng Yue and his hometown does not know what he has to do to make a living in the new city.

But to go, is to go.

Only by walking non-stop, can you be-

"Knock—"

A sudden bumpy stop pulled his thoughts back.

The flatbed tilted slightly, almost causing him to slip to the ground. But when I heard a childish 'ouch', I knew that the girl at the back of the car was already sitting in the mud.

"Girl, are you alright?!Are you hurt?!"

The old man and the woman immediately jumped out of the carriage, gathered around, picked up the girl, and dusted off her buttocks.

The yellow-haired girl grinned, missing a front tooth - not just knocked out, but the age at which she was indeed replacing her baby teeth. She patted her ass and waved her hand: "It's okay, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt!"

When the husband and wife saw her smiling like this, they also put their hearts at ease.

Xu Laohan walked to the inclined cart and slashed it - the wheels were stuck in a mud puddle full of muddy water.

It's pretty deep.

Xu Laohan frowned, holding the handrail of the cart with one hand, trying his best, and picked up the bamboo strip with the other hand and patted the old horse's buttocks.

The latter gasped and raised his leg to try to step forward, but was pulled back by the reins.

The wheels in the mud were only about half an inch forward.

"Hoo ......"

Old man Xu let out a long sigh.

After all, it's past the age of knowing the destiny of heaven.

But when he turned to look at the woman and the girl, he only said, 'It's okay, it'll be fine in a while.'"

Then, change hands and keep pushing harder.

The cold dew is coming, and there is a cold wind in the mountains and forests, blowing the leaves with a 'rattle-' sound.

The woman took the girl into her arms and put her arms around her neck to prevent the cold wind from blowing into the hem of her garment.

Looking up, it was already early.

The wheels still only moved an inch or so.

It's a flying disaster.

However, I don't know which warm-hearted literati and writers invented a word called 'blessing and misfortune'.

"Sir, do you need a hand?"

Listen to a clear male voice first, coming from the front.

Look up.

A handsome boy, dressed in a white robe and holding a simple iron sword, walked up.