Wu Sheng starts from strengthening

Chapter 53
"Don't mind them."

Lao Zhang didn't look back.

Back at the old woman's house, the aroma of rice and meat came to the tip of my nose in bursts.

Zu Wei shrugged her nose and swallowed.

"Three, come back, come and eat quickly."

Seeing them, the old woman greeted them with a smile.

"coming."

In the slightly dark kitchen, there was a plate of pickled vegetables, a small plate of shredded red ginger, a few sweet potatoes, and three bowls of white rice.

"The chicken is still stewed in the pot. If you are hungry, let's eat first."

"This, the old man spent a lot of money."

Rongzhou is a mountainous environment, and there are not many fields where rice can be planted freely. Ordinary people usually eat rice with sweet potatoes and pickles.

The rice is not the white rice in front of me, but the rice that has not been fully threshed, like the white rice that the old woman put out to entertain Pan Ye and the three of them, it must be a treasure that I can't bear to eat on weekdays.

Lao Zhang knew very well how difficult it is for the poor, so he immediately gave the old woman a piece of silver without any explanation, and greeted the two of them:

"Eat, eat."

"Why don't you eat, old lady?"

"I've eaten it, you can eat it."

The old woman sat on the pony tie next to the earthen stove, snuggling up to the fire to keep warm.

Seeing her like this, Pan Ye thought of his grandma, who also didn't like to eat with others at the table, and would only go to the table to eat the leftovers left by others after they had finished eating.

The three of them greeted each other many times, but when they saw that the old lady refused to serve, they gave up.

Tired from running around all day, without a drop of water, the three of them were a little hungry, and they didn't think the food was simple, so they picked up their rice bowls and ate happily with pickles and red ginger.

Although Zu Wei is not a martial artist, his appetite is quite astonishing. A large bowl of white rice is eaten in two or three bites in his mouth.

He ate the last grain of rice in the bowl, licked his lips, put down the rice bowl, and looked helplessly at the pickled vegetables and sweet potatoes in front of him.

"Aren't you full?"

Lao Zhang asked with a smile.

"Uh, since I stepped into the eighth rank, I am in the stage of refining and transforming gas, and my appetite is bigger than before."

Zu Wei smiled a little embarrassedly.

"Here, take all the sweet potatoes and eat them."

"You don't want to eat?" Zu Wei swallowed.

"If you don't eat, you will get flatulence if you eat too much."

"Then I'm welcome."

Zu Wei picked up a red sweet potato in his hand, just like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, one bite at a time, swallowing the dates whole, stuffing them into his mouth in two or three bites.

"Is anyone there? Is anyone there?"

"Hey, here we go."

The old woman sitting by the stove heard the sound, braved the wind and rain, walked into the yard and opened the door.

Pan Ye looked through the wooden window of the kitchen, and it was indeed those three people.

"This old woman, can I borrow a place to stay for one night?"

This time it was the girl in red who was talking to the old woman.

"It's gone, what's going on today, usually no one will come for ten days and a half months, but today they came here again and again."

Obviously, the three of them found the old woman's house after going through various obstacles.

"It's...it's getting dark, and it's windy and rainy outside. Please help me, old man. We just need a place to shelter from the rain."

The young girl put on a miserable and pitiful expression, took out an ingot of white silver, and handed it to the old woman.

The old woman was kind enough to accommodate Pan Ye and the three of them, but she couldn't see the little girl acting like a baby.

"Here, can you allow me to go back and ask the previous guests?"

"Okay, please go ahead, old lady."

The three people sitting in the kitchen heard the movement and watched the old woman walk into the kitchen.

"Several guests, there are three travelers coming outside. It's not easy for everyone. See if you can squeeze with them?"

This was not their home, and the three of them, Pan Ye, had no objections.

When the old woman ushered the three of them into the kitchen, Pan Ye looked at the three of them with a smile:

"Have you guys eaten? Let's eat together if you don't mind."

"it is good."

Without waiting for the other two to speak out, the green-robed man smiled slightly and agreed.

In the shabby kitchen, six people crowded in front of a small round table, and the old woman put the stewed soft chicken in a large bowl and served it on the table.

The yellow chicken soup is shiny with oil, and the firm meat of the local chicken is golden under the candlelight.

"Eat, eat, eat."

"Old man, you come to eat too."

Unable to shake the enthusiasm of the crowd, the young girl even took the old woman's arm and forced her to the table.

"Guys, let's get to know each other again. This is Li Wuchen, from Jinzhou. This is my own sister. This is Xie Sheng, Brother Xie."

Li Wuchen, the man in white, sat down and introduced himself to Pan Ye and the others.

"Hello, brothers, my name is Li Nian, just call me Nian'er." The girl smiled, not timid at all, which was quite a bit of a hearty Jianghu heroine.

"Thank you, people from the Golden State." The man in green robe thanked him still taciturnly.

The three of them, Pan Ye, also reported their names one by one. Except for Zu Wei, they all used pseudonyms.

Pan Ye's name is Pan Changhe, and old Zhang's name is Zhang Ye.

"Golden State? What a place."

"Where is Jinzhou?"

The old woman who never walked out of Rongzhou in her life asked.

"Jinzhou is located in the south of the Yangtze River, the source of the Qianjiang River. It is only four hundred miles away from Lin'an, the 'land of fish and rice, and the home of silk'. It is a truly beautiful place in the south of the Yangtze River."

Lao Zhang explained while twisting the fake beard on his chin.

After chatting, the atmosphere became a little more lively. After all, it was a girl's heart, and I couldn't bear my curiosity.

"Old lady, that big sister at the head of the village, what happened at home, why did you refuse to let us live in?"

This time, although there is a suspicion of discussing other people's family affairs indiscriminately, the girl expressed everyone's doubts.

The house at home is clean and tidy, and only the mother and daughter came out. The woman is not a hard-to-talk master. Under the offensive of money, why do they refuse to let them move in?
"Hey, you're talking about the Zhou family with a very rich yard."

The old woman let out a long sigh and spoke slowly:
"Speaking of which, she is also a hard-working person. Her husband is a merchant in the village. Over the years, he has earned some money by doing mountain goods business in Rongzhou. He has built several spacious houses in the village and gave birth to a lively and lovely little girl. But the scene is good. Not long, her husband has been missing for two months."

"Didn't the village send people into the mountains and into the city to look for them?"

"Why not? I searched Rongzhou City, the surrounding villages and towns, and our village within a radius of [-] miles, but I didn't see anyone."

"This is really strange. Logically speaking, even if you die, you have to see the body. Did you leave Rongzhou and go to another state?"

"Impossible. I heard that he went back to the village with the same village peddler that day. He was more than a dozen miles away from the village. After going out to pee, he disappeared. Do you think it's strange that a group of people, just He disappeared."

"People in the village said that her husband was eaten by wild beasts in the mountains while he was relieved. In the first month before the beginning, she ran to the mountains every day during the day, and when she came back at night, her body was covered with scars and her hands were empty; Why, she suddenly changed her temper and stayed at home all day, and no one in the village saw her go out. As for why she didn't let you in, maybe there is something unspeakable."

(End of this chapter)