Chunhua five years, August 15. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Today, Jiangning Sikong Mansion is a little deserted, and the once bustling atrium is now set up with several tables of wine and food, and under Sikong Wu's orders, many domestic slaves and maids can also sit at the table with the masters to eat. The only difference is that the main table is larger and the rest of the tables are smaller.

In fact, every Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival such a festival, it is also the norm for the servants of the Sikong family to eat on the table.

Legend has it that Sikong Yuan, the first head of the Sikong family, was the servant of a prince in the previous dynasty, that is, the Tang Dynasty has long declined, but the high door is still a strict door, and the general servants and slaves in the family are not only not allowed to enter the house, but also there are strict prohibitions everywhere, that is, there are strict regulations on the angle of the master's low eyebrows, if it is one inch higher, it is disrespectful, if it is one inch lower, it is disrespectful. Just because in the eyes of high-ranking households, one inch higher has the implication of looking down, and one inch lower is suspected of insincerity.

However, these royal palaces did not have these rules in the Zhenguan and Yuanhe periods, but these rules were gradually established in the Tianbao and Xiantong periods. The funny thing is that there was the Anshi Rebellion during the Tianbao period, and there was the Huangchao disaster during the Qianfu period. But when the Huangchao army broke through Chang'an, Sikong Yuan had already been driven out of the prince's mansion because of disobedience to the lord, and it was precisely because of this that Sikong Yuan was not implicated and was able to escape from Chang'an as a beggar.

After that, no one in the rivers and lakes knew what Sikong Yuan had experienced, but when Sikong Yuan took a few brothers to open a sect in Jiangning, there were more rumors about Sikong Yuan in the rivers and lakes for a while.

Some people say that Sikong Yuan joined the beggar gang, and the beggar gang is behind the Sikong family; some people say that Sikong Yuan became the king of the mountain, and then met a master to change his mind and eventually become a generation of grandmasters; some people say that Sikong Yuan does not know martial arts at all, but when Sikong Yuan defeated the four masters of Jiangning in a row, these rumors gradually lost their credibility and eventually did not pass down.

After Sikong Yuan started a career, he did not forget the hardships of being a slave back then, and instructed his juniors not to punish domestic slaves, and the most serious family punishment was to give him enough money to return to his hometown. The next few heads of the Sikong family also obeyed the orders of their ancestors, because the Sikong family was deep in the rivers and lakes, so these shocking things were also spread in the rivers and lakes. And Sikong Yu, the fifth head of the Sikong family, further changed the door rules to be relaxed, which is why more than 40 people from the Sikong family gathered in the backyard to drink and have fun.

"Where's A-Yuan?"

After putting a plate of steamed fish on the table, he didn't know where his naughty only son had gone, but he didn't want to be angry at this festive season, so he could only hold back his anger and ask his wife.

He didn't know where he was going, A-Yuan, this kid was good anywhere, but he was making a fuss. Mrs. Sikong looked at her husband with a smile, she had just printed two glasses of light wine, and her face was slightly flushed, and under the warm light of the lantern, it was suddenly gratifying.

"You don't have to say these good things for him, Ah Yuan, this kid has mediocre martial arts talent, and he refuses to practice martial arts hard, he doesn't even want to read books on weekdays, so he fights with children, and he laughs and laughs all day long better than ordinary children. Sikong Wuya snorted, his tone extremely unkind.

"What if you don't want to study and practice martial arts? Is it fun to be busy in the outer courtyard all day long like you?"

There was a faint sense of resentment in these words, and Sikong Wuwu had to smile bitterly, so he raised his wine glass and toasted to several uncles, not looking at the flower that had become light red for some reason.

There was a long and short knock on the small wooden door in the backyard of Sikong's house, and at this time a small black shadow was looking left and right, as if searching for something, and after a while, it seemed that he had already got the answer, and the little black shadow hurriedly pushed the wooden board away.

In the deserted backyard of Sikong's house, a child no more than three feet old was secretly opening the latch, and when the child pulled the door open, a dirty little face poked in from the outside.

"Why is it so quiet here today?"

asked the little master of this mansion, but the little beggar's body had already entered the backyard of Sikong's house.

"Come on, my father and mother and several uncles are drinking, but I can't take care of you. ”

"That's fine, that's fine, did you bring what I want you to bring?"

"You give me what I want first. ”

"No, let's say that we want to exchange one thing for another, since we are friends, then we must keep our promises and not break the contract. ”

"You didn't say that last time you borrowed a book, I remember it was like saying, 'As a friend, you have to tolerate each other's mistakes,' but now how has it changed?"

"You must be mistaken. ”

"I didn't!"

"I have a better memory than you, do you recognize it?"

The child dressed in a gorgeous costume and wearing a jade crown frowned, knowing that the "friend" in tattered clothes in front of him had a memory that was many times better than his own. I still remember that my father strictly ordered him to memorize those awkward formulas, and he memorized them by rote for half a month before he would memorize them, but he could memorize them after only listening to them once, if he wasn't illiterate, I am afraid that he would be able to memorize the book that his father let him memorize.

Just when the child in gorgeous clothes remembered the past in his heart, the little beggar had already seen the expression of the 'friend' in front of him through the clear moonlight, and immediately understood that he must have not kept the promise and did not bring things, so he immediately pursed his lips and held the small cloth bag in his hand to leave the backyard of Sikong's house.

"Wait, wait, little lone!"

The boy in the fancy clothes saw that the little beggar wanted to turn away, and saw the cloth bag in his hand, and his voice couldn't help but be louder.

"Be quiet! fool!"

The little beggar heard the screaming of the child in Chinese clothes, and immediately wanted to run out of the door, but he didn't know why he couldn't open the door, and turned his head to look around for a while, and when he saw that no one was coming, he immediately took a long breath and knocked the head of the child in Chinese clothes.

Before the child in the costume could scream, the little beggar covered his mouth again, and the rich fishy smell immediately rushed from his nose to his brain, and he was even dizzy.

When the child in the Chinese costume came to his senses, he saw that the little beggar's two bright eyes were full of anger.

"How many days have you not washed your hands? What does it smell like?"

"We're begging for a living on the street, where can we be like your son-in-law? Why are you so loud just now? Are you going to call your family?"

"Don't worry, they're going to eat and drink now, it's so lively, no one will notice here. ”

"Hey, what if you have some kind of Fluttershy, Sister Chan hears about it?"

"No, they're eating too. ”

When the little beggar heard this, his mouth grew up, and the anger in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a look of surprise.

"You mean, they're eating and drinking today?"

"Of course, we are 'friends', how could I lie to you. ”

"Aren't they your maidservants, and how can they eat and drink at the feast?"

"This is the rule of our family, although it is not possible on weekdays, but every festival, Sister Xiaochan and they can be served. ”

"Rules?" the little beggar whispered these two words, but sneered, "What a rule, it seems that no one in your family has ever tried to escape, right?"

"Of course! My family is so good to them, what reason do they have to run away? Every year, there are still many people who want to work in my house, but my father won't let them......" At this point, the child in Chinese clothes seemed to think of something, patted his little head, and said: "By the way, Xiaogu, I can ask my father to let you come to my house to do things, so that I won't be so bored every day!"

When the child in Chinese clothes was happily whispering, "Why didn't I think of it before", the little beggar snorted, and his voice unconsciously high-pitched: "I won't go to your house to work, I'm at ease now, it's good that I'm at ease, why bend down to others and let others drive it? Other people's family rules are strict, it is a hard knife to kill pigs, pigs will hurt, and they will bark." Your family kills pigs with soft knives, pigs don't hurt or scream, and happily sacrifice flesh and blood to their masters, which seems to me to be no different at all, and the latter is much more cruel. Besides, we are 'friends' now, and if I come to your house to do things, we will become master and servant, and then I will help your father to take care of your studies and martial arts, so will you be happy?"

Although the child in Chinese clothes didn't understand the meaning of the first half of the little beggar's words, he heard him say that if he entered his own house, he would help his father manage his own studies and martial arts, so he waved his hand and said: "Then don't want it, don't want it, let's still be 'friends'." ”

But when the child in Chinese clothes said that, the little beggar did not move, and the child in Chinese clothes did not know whether he was happy or angry, but he did not dare to make this only child who called himself his "friend" angry, so he had to wait silently for him to respond.

After waiting for a few breaths, the little beggar suddenly looked around, and asked, "Did you hear any sound?"

The child in Chinese clothes shook his head, thinking that it was too dark, and the little beggar would not be able to see his movements, but when he was about to open his mouth, he heard the little beggar say: "It seems that something has gone inside." ”

At the same time, the child in Huafu shook his head and said, "You are probably wrong, right? ”

"No, you can't be wrong, it's definitely a person, I heard it. ”

"Why can't I hear the slightest?"

The little beggar didn't answer him, and a moment later, in the surprised expression of the child in the fancy costume, the little beggar pulled the little wooden door hard, but no matter how hard he tried, the wooden door did not move.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?"

After the little beggar heard this, the movements in his hands also stopped.

"We're not friends. ”

The little beggar didn't look back, his tone was very calm and calm, in this strange atmosphere, this calm tone stopped in the ears of the children in Chinese clothes was extremely abnormal. But although he was strange in his heart, the child still obediently responded:

"Of course!"

"Since we are 'friends', it is necessary to stick a knife in both sides of our friends, right?"

"This ...... What are you ...... little lonely?"

Before the child could react, he was hit by the latch on the top of his head, which made him forget to scream.

In the frightened gaze of the child in Chinese costumes, the latch in the hand of the little beggar hit the head of the child in Chinese clothes again, and this time the little beggar felt that he had slapped something wet, and the body also fell back.

Suddenly, and again, it wasn't until the black-clothed man with the bloody sword walked up to the little beggar that the little beggar raised his head.

Half of the black-clothed man's body seemed to have been soaked in something, and although the little beggar could distinguish objects in the night, he could not see the color. I can't see it, but I can smell it.

It was the smell of blood, in fact, the little beggar had just heard it clearly, it was the sound of metal cutting through the flesh, and vaguely he heard the majestic voice say, "Don't be afraid, everyone, he only has one ......"

Then no one spoke, only a faint scream, a hiss......

"Sikong's house is finished. ”

The little beggar's first reaction was this, and when he couldn't open the wooden door, he thought again:

"What they're going to kill is the people of the Sikong family. ”

When the little beggar looked at the "friend" who didn't know if he was deaf or not, he already had a calculation in his heart.

Obviously, the man in black was also stunned by the scene in front of him, and under the faint light of the lantern in his hand was a corpse without a head.

"Please let me live, I just want to steal a steamed bun......"

The little beggar's expression changed from vicious to astonished, and then from astonishment to despair, and his knees bent and his head thumped to the ground.

"Disguised as a thief, a thief who helps them deal with their enemies, maybe they can survive. ”

This is the last reaction that the little beggar can make, although there is a haystack next to him and a dog hole next to the wall, but the little beggar knows very well in his heart that people dare to enter this mansion single-handedly, where can he escape?

"Nice kid. ”

This voice is very old, but it is very sonorous, as thick as the stone mill in the old Hu family's house.

"I beg the hero to let me live......"

The little beggar's head slammed louder.

"Isn't this kid your 'friend'? Why are you so ruthless? Am I going to have trouble with a kid?"

Hearing this, the little beggar knew that every word he had just said to the child in gorgeous clothes had been heard clearly by the man in black.

But he didn't kill himself, which means that he still has a chance to live?

"'Friends' are meant to be sold, and it's up to them to see if they can be sold for a good price. ”

"Oh?"

He seems to be interested? good......

"The kid begs the hero to spare a cheap life, although the kid can't be a cow and a horse for the hero, but it's also harmless to the hero, as long as the kid is left with a cheap life......"

"How old are you?" said the old man in black's voice with a little more joy.

"The boy has lived to be ten years old. ”

The man in black raised the lantern slightly, and also took a few steps closer, although the little beggar did not dare to raise his head, but he also guessed in his heart that the man in black should be looking at himself.

"Ten years old, stand up and show me. ”

After that, the man in black didn't wait for the little beggar to stand up by himself, he immediately leaned down and helped him up, and then his right hand touched up and down. The little beggar was covered in stinky mud, but the man in black seemed to be more and more excited the more he touched it, and after pressing the back of the little beggar's neck, he immediately dropped the lantern and clapped his hands and shouted: "Heaven does not live up to me!

Although the little beggar didn't understand what was happening in front of him, he also knew that he had probably escaped this fate.