lying down

"Brother Ouyang Yu?" Hearing a low but concerned question, Qilang had already walked in.Followed closely behind Yunniang, the two scanned around the temple and saw the boy sitting on the ground in a daze.

"Brother Seven, Sister-in-law Seven, why did you get up so early?" He raised his eyes to look at the sky through the entrance where half of the door was missing, and asked strangely.

Qilang chuckled, and was about to say something, but Yun Niang grabbed two pancakes from the package on Qilang's back, leaned down, stuffed the pancakes into Ouyang Yu's arms, frowned and said softly, "Hurry up and eat while it's hot." gone."

Qilang was taken aback, looked at Yunniang who turned her head and gave him a sideways glance, smiled and said: "Forget, forget, look at my bad memory."

The kid called "Ouyang Yu" slowly squeezed the pancake in his hand, but did not rush to stuff it into his mouth.Looking at the steaming pancakes with two eyes, I was very moved, thinking that I have been in this world for three days, and this is the couple who found me, and I had to go to live at home by myself on the first day, but I was rejected by myself. Tianlai brought some food over every morning and evening. He wanted to give himself a set of clothes to keep out the cold, but after seeing the patched winter jacket on Qilang's body, he himself declined.

After staying for a while, I saw Qilang and Yunniang looking at me suspiciously, and then quickly said, "Brother, sister-in-law, I won't say more thanks. I'm not hungry now, so I eat the pancakes slowly. Why did you two get up together?" So early?", in fact, he is very hungry, but since he saw the situation in this village, he knows that food is precious, and he can save as much as he can. The food squeezed out of people's teeth is so easy to swallow next?

Qilang and Yunniang looked at each other and smiled, wondering why this boy Ouyang Yu didn't eat as ferociously as when he was discovered the day before yesterday, he felt like he could swallow a cow.After hearing Ouyang Yu's explanation, he was relieved.

Seeing that it was still early, Qilang sat down next to Ouyang Yu and said, "Today is the day for fur purchases by a large family in the village. As hunters, we all point to this annual purchase to earn some money. You too You see, our village doesn’t make a living, so we only have a few acres of fields to support our family, and they will be thrown into grass by the Turks. We can’t save any money at all, so we can only buy some from the skins of this year’s roots. Money. Besides, at home..." At this point, Shichiro stopped talking.Turning his head to look at the wheat threshing field outside, his brows twisted into the shape of "Chuan".

Ouyang Yu looked at the distressed look on Qilang's face, and he could think of his family's urgent need for money.Anyway, since I have nothing to do now, I might as well accompany his husband and wife to do this thing, and it can be regarded as repaying the kindness of others.

Thinking of this, Ouyang Yu moved closer to Qilang and said, "Seventh brother, would you and my sister-in-law add me? Anyway, I have nothing to do, so it would be good to help you."

When Qilang and Yunniang heard this, they couldn't help shaking their heads. Qilang said: "Ouyang Xiaolang, it's not that I'm afraid that you will share the money together. We don't mean that. It's just that you seem to be young, how can you get along with us?" Going deep into the mountains to hunt? Although the grass is not fertile and the forests are lush this winter, there are big bugs and wolves in the nearby forests. If there is an accident, our husband and wife will not be at ease for the rest of our lives!"

Ouyang Yu shook his head and smiled wryly, it was all the fault of his youthful appearance, and said again: "Seventh Brother, don't you remember what I said when we met the day before yesterday? As for causing trouble to you in the mountains, I just sit in this temple all day doing nothing, eating and drinking for nothing, it’s not a big deal.”

Qilang thought about it for a while, then looked back at Yunniang, and when he saw Yunniang nodded subtly, he said seriously: "You can follow me if you want, but you have to be careful when you are in the mountains, and do as I say. Otherwise, we would never have taken you there."

Ouyang Yu knew that he was doing it for his own good, so he agreed wholeheartedly.The three of them tidied up a bit and walked towards the threshing field.

The three of them had just stood in the threshing field for a while, when they saw someone walking over.

The leader is about fifty years old, with a big red tumor growing on his neck, and he walks with his head tilted from time to time, for fear of crowding the six children. It is not for nothing that the village calls him "Zhang tumor" in private. .The two behind him should be servants, dressed in green clothes and wearing small caps.

When everyone saw Butler Zhang coming, they cheered and surrounded him.The housekeeper, however, looked like he enjoyed it five-fifths and disliked it five-fifths. He tilted his head and stroked the goatee with his hands, and stopped still.The two housekeepers behind him walked forward with a bluff, dispersed the tight circle surrounded by everyone, and stood behind Steward Zhang to pretend to be a door god.

Zhang Tuzi glanced at everyone, smashed his mouth, and said in a loud voice: "This year's procurement will be discussed later, the old rules, boys under sixteen, go back, folks, if something happens during the procurement, it's not good. We The reputation of the master has also been ruined."

Hearing this, the half-sized men in adult clothes but small stature in the crowd started to quarrel with dissatisfaction. Zhang Tuzi put his hands in his sleeves and didn't pull them out, he just raised his elbow and pointed at them. He pointed and said: "Don't shout, don't shout, with your small body, it's two things to say whether you can get out of this mountain or not. How many years have the rules set by the master, don't make it difficult for the old man! Leave early, and we will also come out sooner." Start buying some."

Everyone looked at these half-children, there was some pity in their eyes, but there was more joy, one less person fighting for one more chance, no one would like to make the whole family eat a few more meals, let alone this Panshan Village is short of food.

Those boys hesitated for a while, seeing the eyes of the crowd getting more and more dissatisfied. Although they were from the same village, but when they fought for food in the same pot, they provoked the anger of the crowd. .

Zhang Tuzi waited for the people to walk away, then turned around and said with a smile: "This year's purchase is still the same as last year, 20 pieces of fox skins, 10 pieces of wolf skins, 5 pieces of mink skins, and 100 pieces of hare skins. It's just that the master has shown kindness. This year, we added something special, a tiger skin!"

"Master Zhang and the butler are good people! We all know it."

"Yes, Steward Zhang is merciful and merciful, no one in our village knows that!"

When everyone heard that the number had not changed, and Zhang Hupi was added, they couldn't help but feel a little excited, and the scene of flattery was naturally inevitable.

Zhang Tuzi nodded in satisfaction, and the red tumor became more colorful. He took his hand out of his sleeve and gestured, "It's just that the price needs to be changed."

"How to change, please tell the housekeeper Zhang."

"Steward Zhang, please speak quickly, lest we be anxious."

Zhang Tuzi chuckled and said, "Except for the tiger skin which costs 3 pennies, the other prices are halved compared to last year."

"what!"

"Steward Zhang, don't be joking! It's only been a year, and the purchase price has been reduced by half! What do you want me to do?"

"Yeah, I waited to enter the mountain to take risks, how can this half of the price be enough to pay for my life?"

Everyone clamored, the price is so low, just buy some rice and wheat mixed with some wild vegetables to eat for a while, the dream of living a beautiful life for a while is shattered, no one feels comfortable.

"What happened last year? What happened this year!" Zhang Tuzi flicked his sleeves, how could he be the one to suffer?He said fiercely: "Let's not talk about last year's chaos today. Have you ever calmed down this year? This year Wang Junkuo rebelled, Li Yi rebelled, you don't know

road?Don't you know that the Turks keep blowing the autumn wind?My master is merciful. He kept half of the price because of the friendship with the same village for many years. If it was changed to other people, who would use this money to buy it?Stop talking nonsense, take a step forward if you want to do it, and get out of the way if you don't do it! "

Hearing this, there will eventually be those who are difficult to get rid of in the family who are willing to do it. It is not so easy to find a job in this poor place.Five or six people glanced at the crowd without saying a word, and walked forward silently. Zhang Tuzi smiled triumphantly. He was not worried that no one would take over the job. People always have to eat and spend money. Find something to make money for these idlers this winter, and that is to accumulate virtue!

Yunniang looked at Qilang in embarrassment, as if asking.Many hunters also turned their heads to look at him. He, Li Qilang, is one of the best hunters in this area. If he can nod his head, he will follow suit.

Qilang didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, and listened quietly, but the more he listened, the hand holding the hunting fork became tighter. When he heard that he accepted the purchase at half price, he was also a little angry, but he was under the eaves and had to Bow your head, the old lady's illness is still pointing at this money, so I can only accept it, not to mention that I and Yunniang have found tiger tracks several times in the past month, so I won't rush away.

Qilang bulged his cheeks, and poked the hunting fork in his hand hard on the ground, and a few words popped out of his mouth: "I will do it! I took that tiger skin!"

The voice was like thunder, and the surrounding villagers jumped to the side in shock, and they all turned their heads to look at him.The others tightened their belts, and the soup in the morning melted away.People are like iron, food is like steel, if you don't eat a meal, you will feel hungry.Li Qilang, the number one hunter in Panshan Village, has come out. What else can the others say?They clamored and clamored to take over the procurement job.

Ouyang Yu followed behind Qilang, with both hands in the sacks covering his arms, still unable to block the chill in this cold day, watching the farce of the group of men and Zhang Tuozi in front of him, but his eyes were a little lax, as if he was thinking wearing something.

"Don't argue, Li Qilang, come here, you are the leader of the hunter in Panshan Village, and you are the first to call for the purchase of the tiger skin, then the tiger skin will be handed over to you, the old rules, you and your people fight each other After taking this job, life, death and disability have nothing to do with the old Zhang family, but for the sake of your shouting, I will spare you a bucket of rice when you are done, and remember to come to the mansion to weigh it!" Zhang Tuzi saw Everyone turned their minds around, thinking that this errand would always satisfy the master at home, so they couldn't help being lenient, and gave Qilang some special care.

Ouyang Yu shook his head secretly when he heard this, the Zhang family, who cannibalize people without spitting out their bones, has to weigh Doumi by the catty!The wet rice and the good rice are both a whole bucket, but the weight is different.If it is over-scaled, the same bucket of wet rice is more than 1 catty heavier than good rice, and that 1 catty is full of water. I didn't expect Steward Zhang to even calculate this. It is really "well-intentioned".

The others didn't care about thinking so much, they all secretly regretted that they didn't say yes just now, and they could win the benefit of a bucket of food, and the mother-in-law could give a good face when they returned home.

Qilang nodded, and Zhang Tuzi said that he had taken over the errand of buying tiger skins, and the 3 pennies were 3 taels of silver, and he could still have a little extra money for his old mother's medical treatment, so he took a bucket of money. Bad rice is a bit of a fortune.

Since we are going to fight tigers, if there are fewer people, it is a gamble. If there are too many people, the money will not be enough.Needless to say, Qilang is a well-known headhunter in the neighborhood, even Yunniang is also an excellent hunter. Her family only has her father and a younger sister. She lost her mother when she was young. Her father took her to hunt in this mountain when she was young, and she has also practiced her skills.Qilang called a familiar hunter, Zhao San'er, to help out, and agreed to give him seven slings of money if he got the tiger skin, and split the fur of the wolf mink, rabbit and fox in the rest of the time, and each went home to get the hunter. Carrying water bags and dry food on their forks, the three of them took Ouyang Yu to the middle of the mountain.

Note 1: In the Tang Dynasty, a dou was ten liters, and 1 liter of rice is now about 1.25 jin, so a dou is about 12.5 jin.

注2：1两黄金=10两白银=10贯钱=100吊钱=1000串=10000文，1石=10斗=120市斤左右，可想而知奖励很丰厚了！