Zilong returned to his mother's grave, kowtowed to his mother, put incense on her, and then cleaned up a place to sleep.

The horse was grazing leisurely, not feeling the depression around it, and Zilong lit a bonfire, eating something while remembering his childhood.

When I was a child, my adoptive father died early, and I and my mother and eldest brother depended on each other, and my mother's health was not good, but she still worked hard to maintain the livelihood of the whole family every day.

In Zilong's memory, there is almost only one feeling, and that is hunger. Every day, my mother counts the grains of rice and eats, and I can't eat enough at every meal. Zilong didn't look at the pot at all when he ate, because he knew that there could be no extra rice in the pot.

Occasionally, the eldest brother will catch a hare or a few voles from the mountain, at that time the whole family is like a festival, and the mother's face will also show a rare smile, Zilong remembers that the mother's appearance was so good-looking at that time, but more often he saw sorrow, a lonely woman's helplessness to a difficult life.

My mother always ate very little, and then allocated the little rice in her bowl to herself and her eldest brother......

"Zixiong, Zilong, you eat more, my mother is already full. "A neighbor told her mother that if she was the peiyu worn by Zilong's neck, she could get a lot of silver, and she could eat meat every day, but her mother always refused, but she always refused to say why.

Zilong didn't understand why his mother refused to change the jade into meat, and then his mother refused to let go of Zilong in order to prevent himself from being caught by the officers and soldiers to do child labor, and when he was dying, he held Zilong's hand tightly and said: "Zilong, listen, no matter when, don't throw away this piece of jade, you know? If you lose it, your mother won't be able to find you! Remember! Remember?!" Zilong's hand hurt very much, and at that moment, he suddenly understood how important this piece of jade was to him, and understood his mother's painstaking efforts.

"You have to be strong to live, find your mother-in-law, do you know?" the boy cried and said, "Mother, I remember, I remember!" In the days of begging in the future, he had not eaten for three days, and spent the whole winter next to each other under the eaves of others.

Whenever he was so hungry that he wanted to be gone, his hands began to hurt, and he immediately remembered his mother's eyes when he was dying, and there was an indescribable pain in his heart when he remembered his mother's eyes!

Zilong looked at the dancing bonfire, and the tears in his eyes couldn't help but cross his face.

There is also the eldest brother, I don't know if it is life or death. When Zilong was a child, he liked his eldest brother to go to the mountains, and when he came back, he always brought some wild vegetables, wild fruits, and occasional hares, as well as abrasions and bruises. When the eldest brother went to the fields, he worked for a day, just to keep more food for the family after paying the land rent.

In the evenings, the eldest brother would tell stories to himself, and sometimes he would take himself to the town to play.

And whenever the children in the village scolded themselves for being wild seeds, the eldest brother would fight with them until his nose was blue and his face was swollen.

There were so many stories lingering in Zilong's heart, and it took him a long time before he fell asleep with tears in his eyes.

He didn't sleep for long, and the nightmare that had been repeated many times appeared in Zilong's dream, and in the dark night, the fire was shining. The cries of the villagers and the angry scolding of the people were all resounding.

"He's still too young, Lord, he's still too young," Zilong's adoptive mother, Cuigu, held Xiaozilong tightly in her arms, and begged the catchers who came to recruit Ding, "He's so thin, he doesn't have the strength, ...... Official."

"Stinky lady don't talk nonsense," a catcher said viciously: "The county commander has an order, all men must serve the country, no matter how young they are, they are also my subjects of the Ming Dynasty! Unless you take fifty taels of silver, you must go with me!" said he reached out and pulled the boy dragon.

The little dragon stared at the big eyes, and shouted in a childish voice: "You get out, I won't go with you!"

"Official, I am a country woman, how can I have so much silver, you can do well, let my child go, he is not yet thirteen years old, he can't work as a laborer at all, he will be exhausted to death!" Cui Gu begged bitterly.

The catchers were immediately furious, and one of the catchers pulled out his knife and shouted: "Stinky woman, can you do what the laborer Lao Tzu said, what are you!"

Cui Gu begged for mercy in fear: "Official, official, you are doing well, I am not sensible, I should not contradict the official, please let us go...... Cui Gu said as she glanced at the pyre in the corner of the courtyard, where Zilong's elder brother Zixiong was hiding, because Zixiong was taller than his peers, and he was afraid that the officers and soldiers would mistakenly think that he was an adult, so he hid, but he didn't expect them to catch the underage Xiaozilong back.

"Hmph, this kid is so arrogant, he dares to scold this official, then he will pay it back when he grows up!"

Before Cui Gu begged them, the little dragon spit out on the body of the catcher, and the other catchers laughed, and the other catchers laughed, and the other catchers laughed at the other catchers, and they were annoyed and angry, and they cut it down with a knife.

Cuigu did not hesitate to protect the little girl, and the knife was right on Cuigu's back, and the little girl immediately cried: "Mother......"

"Mother......" Zixiong screamed and jumped out of the hiding pyre, and rushed straight to the mother who was vomiting blood.

The crowd saw a young man rushing out, and said happily: "Okay, okay, there is one more strong man now, and it's good to make a difference." ”

Cui Gu looked at Zixiong, and before she could speak, a group of catchers quickly pulled Zixiong up, Zixiong's eyes were red, and he struggled desperately.

Cui Gu held Xiaozilong's hand tightly and said, "Mother, it's no good, Xiaolong, you have to live well, go find your mother!"

"Mother, mother......" The boy Zilong trembled all over, watching his mother's eyes dim, and a heart-rending pain and fear took over his body, and he shouted.

Zixiong saw that his mother was out of breath, and desperately bit the hands of the officers and soldiers, the officers and soldiers screamed in pain, Zixiong took the opportunity to break free from the body that pounced on the mother, and cried, and the leader of the fast hunt shouted: "Arrest them all, if it weren't for the errand, I would kill you and not be able to resolve the hatred, oh my hand." ”

Zixiong said to Zilong: "Brother, I'm entangled with these catchers, you take the opportunity to escape." ”

Zilong cried and said, "No, brother, I'll cover you to go!"

Zixiong comforted Zilong and said: "Silly brother, you don't have the strength I have, how can you cover me, you go quickly!"

Zixiong desperately resisted with the three of them, and the other two went to catch Zilong, Zixiong shook off the three, chased the two who hugged one person's thigh, and grabbed a stone with the other hand, which hit the back of the head of another person in front of him, Zilong took the opportunity to jump down the hill and roll down, those officers and soldiers thought that the thirteen-year-old child rolled down such a steep hill, not dead and crippled, and it was useless to catch it back, so they took Zixiong alone.

Zilong woke up from a coma for a long time, but after waking up, he felt fear that he had never felt before, and hurriedly ran home, tears scattered all the way, and everyone on the street was crying.

Zilong ran to the house and saw his mother's body lying on the ground, and when he landed on his chest, he threw himself on his mother's body and cried until he couldn't breathe.

With the help of the villagers, Zilong buried his mother, and Xiaozilong looked at his mother's grave and muttered over and over again: "Mother, mother, mother!"

"Mother, mother......" Zilong woke up in a nightmare again, and his forehead was in a cold sweat. He looked around, it was almost dawn, and the horses were still wagging their tails leisurely.

Zilong sighed and said, "I really don't know when I will be able to find my eldest brother and my own mother!"

As a beggar for so many years, he went to the construction site of the Great Wall many times to look for the whereabouts of his eldest brother, but he did not find it, he did not believe that his eldest brother was dead, Zilong always felt that he would definitely see his eldest brother in the future.

After kowtowing to his mother, Zilong wanted to say goodbye to the village chief and the villagers, and then left.

When he walked towards Xiaohe Village in Wutian Town, he felt that something was wrong. The fog was heavy, and there was a strange and bloody smell in the air. There was a small ditch in front of him, and when Zilong was leading the horse across the river, he suddenly saw that the water in the river was slightly red!

Zilong's heart was not good, and he hurriedly rode to the village.

Everything in front of Zilong shocked Zilong, there was fire smoke everywhere, many houses were still burning, everyone was crying, some were holding their children, and some were injured and lying on the ground dying.

Zilong felt a grief in his heart, he seemed to be in hell, and tears were about to pour out again.

The corpse of the village chief was lying in the courtyard, with six or seven wounds on his body, and a pool of blood on the ground.

"Zilong, is Zilong you?" Zilong opened his eyes to look at the people, his eyes were already full of tears and anger, and it was Uncle Wang, "Zilong, why are you here?" "Uncle Wang, what's going on?" "Just last night," Uncle Wang cried, "a large group of officers and soldiers surrounded the village, saying that there were traitors here, and they wanted to take all the men. As soon as the village chief said two words, they were hacked to death with several knives, and they also set fire to the house, and a few people resisted, and these officers and soldiers killed them mercilessly, and finally they died, and all the men were taken away as traitors!" Zilong said sadly: "I hurt the villagers!"

"Zilong, where are you going?" asked Uncle Wang.

"Uncle Wang, you take care of yourself. I'm going to avenge the villagers!!" he rushed out.