Water Margin Survival

At this time, it was the hour of the game, and the sun was scorching hot. Everyone stayed at home to cool off, so as to wait for the sun to get weaker, and then go to the fields to farm.

It's just that unlike the quiet Dongxi Village, Xixi Village across the river seems to be much more popular. No, the village head just sent away two old women with flower scarves on their heads. Maybe it became a marriage again.

At this time, Xixi Village is very different from before.Thinking about the village by the lake, it would take half an hour to gallop to the county town on horseback. Ordinary people would run here if they had nothing to do. In this village, no new faces were seen for a long time.It's just that this year, the village has become more lively, not only more relatives are visiting, but even the matchmaker mother-in-law is running here in groups.

Now this unmarried young man in Xixi Village is very pretty in these ten miles and eight villages.The big girls in the surrounding villages who have not left the cabinet are willing to marry here, why?Not only can I have enough to eat, but I can also bring some grain and broken money back to my mother's house every now and then.Only those neighbors who don't have daughters in their families, or whose daughters are married early, are envious.

Gossiping aside, let's say that two middle-aged men came in from the entrance of the village at this time, and saw that these two men walked inside without asking for directions.

"Old man, let's take a rest first, don't get sunburned in this hot day, I will come to see old man when I have time!" At this moment, a man said his farewell very politely.After the man finished speaking, he waved his hand towards the room, and then he came out, and bumped into two people as soon as he went out, the man saw this and said: "Chao Baozheng, you are a rare visitor!"

The two people who came were Chao Gai and Wu Yong. Chao Gai cupped his hands and said, "Ma Baozheng, congratulations!" He knew that this person was the new Baozheng of Xixi Village. It took three to five months before the man surnamed Ma took over the post of Baozheng.

Seeing this, Ma Baozheng turned around and shouted, "Old Grandpa, Chao Baozheng from next door has come to visit the old man's house!" After speaking, he bowed his hands to Chao Gai and left.He didn't want to talk too much with this person. After all, this person offended the great kings on Mount Liang too much. As the new Baozheng of Xixi Village, he didn't want to get too close to this person from the bottom of his heart.

Chao Gai hurriedly returned the salute, and when Ma Baozheng left, he brought Wu Yong into the room, and saw an old man in his eighties who was still in good spirits sitting on the main seat in the living room, waiting for visitors. The old man thought about it: "It is often said in the opera that you can go to the Three Treasures Hall if you have nothing to do. Although this person lives in the next village, he has never visited the house for 800 years. Now that the two of them are here, there must be something wrong!"

At this time, Chao Gai and Wu Yong met the old man Ma, and they went forward to give two big gifts. When the old man saw them, he helped them up quickly, and shouted to the back room: "Take the tea that the king entrusted me with Jiangong Jianye to give me." Come out to entertain the distinguished guests!"

Chao Gai and Wu Yong looked at each other and shook their heads. Now in Yuncheng County, everyone has to mention this person in three sentences when they meet, otherwise they seem to be ignorant.

Not long after, a family brought two bowls of tea, and Chao Gai and Wu Yong took them, and thanked them again and again. Everyone said a few polite words, and Chao Gai took a sip of the tea in the bowl. Thinking of the urgency, he said: : "Grandpa, this junior hasn't come to see the old man since he took over Baozheng. The last time he was fascinated and almost fought with the old man. Now that I think about it, I'm really ashamed!"

The old man laughed and said: "We are all from the village. After today's war and tomorrow's peace, we all live in the same place. We grew up drinking the water of this stream. What kind of hatred can we have? Don't you think so?" , little lid!"

Hearing this, Chao Gai even claimed it was true, only to hear the old man say again: "Young man, you are the most outstanding man in this generation, why did you have no wink and found such an opponent for yourself? The king led him to be kind and kind." , being kind to the common people, making an enemy of such a person, isn't it forcing yourself to be a villain?"

The old grandpa saw Chao Gai's attitude was very good after he finished speaking, but he just nodded and didn't reply back, he sighed, and continued: "I know why you came today, those young people in your village, I also I asked my two great-grandchildren, and they said that although your farmers are a little tired on the mountain, they eat well, live well and wear warm clothes, and no one bullies them! Not only you, but also your village Others have come to my place, but I can’t talk about this matter! The leader of the king clearly said that he would train them for a year and a half, and there is no shortage of them to eat, and there is no shortage of them to wear. Although they have to work, I If the peasants don’t work one day, Chief Wang promised me that they will never be killed, so I advise you not to worry, they will naturally go home after a year or so!”

Wu Yong had been looking down at the big eating bowl in his hand for a long time, and seeing the old man chattering away, he felt anxious, and said: "Old man, we didn't come to see old man today for this matter! "

The old lady was puzzled when she heard the words: "Then what are you doing for?"

Chao Gai sighed, thinking that he never begged for help all his life, but now he not only asks for help, but also asks for someone to introduce himself to his former enemy and ask him to protect him. When he thinks about this, he feels aggrieved, but there is nothing he can do now. Fortunately, this old man is two generations older than himself, and it is not shameful to say soft words in front of him, not to mention it is for the sake of his brother. Thinking of this, he calmed down a little, and said:

"Old Master Ma, you know that Yanjing stays behind. He is a corrupt official named Liang. He is the son-in-law of Cai Jing, the great annihilator of the dynasty. He will give a big gift every year on his old man's birthday. It was dirty money from land scraping, and our brothers were upset, so we robbed him halfway, and now..."

Before Chao Gai could finish speaking, the old grandpa was startled and said, "I heard that there was a big case on Huangnigang not far from here. You really did it!? You just did it, but came here again What do you want to tell me, a person who is about to enter the earth?"

Chao Gai sighed, and said: "Now that the incident has happened, we have nowhere to go, so please tell me the way!"

This old Ma is over 80, there is still something that he can't understand, just now when Chao Gai said such a confidential matter, he felt strange, only to see that he also sighed at this moment: "Little Gai! If you want to say that you are old, you shouldn't talk too much, but now that you have come to the door, I will just say a few words, what you did in the twelfth lunar month last year is not authentic! The king's leader is to eliminate harm for the people and make decisions for his subordinates, let alone this person It’s even your enemy, so it’s fine if you don’t help. You were still bullying others and thinking about them behind your back. What do you mean by what you do? You said that you were only so young when you were born. He has grown into a man of eight feet, and we folks like to make friends since he was a child, we all see it, but why do you let such a person not make friends, but always offend him instead!"

When Old Madam Ma said this, seeing that Chao Gai just lowered his head, he sighed and said again: "You want me to talk now, how can I have the face to say anything, you brought people to block people two months ago Come on! Don't say that the king is angry with you, even the folks in our village can't be angry. It's easy to add a crime of thieves to you! I said, little Gaizi, do you know what a real thief is? The leader of the king loves us people so much, but you call him a thief! I see, those gentlemen who wear official clothes and do nothing about human affairs are thieves!"

Chao Gai was overwhelmed by the old man's words, Wu Yong hurriedly said: "The old man is too right, we were wrong in the past! Isn't that the day that the king also said, all festivals will be written off, right?" Now those dog thieves in official clothes are coming to catch us, you old man has high morals and prestige, you can't just watch us let them catch you!"

"Professor Wu, you said that you are a teacher, so you teach well. They beat and kill you, and you always follow blindly. Now you are wanted by the government. Is this the life of a scholar like you?" Taigong sized up the middle-aged Confucian scholar who rolled his eyes, and couldn't help but said.

The old grandpa's two sons were accompanying him at this time, and they were over 60 years old. Seeing their father scolding these two strong men like this, their hands were sweating coldly, but the Chao Gai in front of him was also abnormal. It's strange to be scolded with your head down, without a word of rebuttal.

At this time Chao Gai sighed again, and said: "Grandpa, to tell you the truth, I will die when I die. When the king leader let me live, I never thought that I can say Now I earn one day if I live one more day, and it doesn’t matter if I die! It’s just that I have four brothers following me, I can’t ask them to die with me, grandpa!” At this point, the iron man’s eyes were red, and there were tears in the sockets of his eyes. A few teardrops appeared.

Old Madam Ma thought he was dazzled when he saw this, but after rubbing it with his hand, he realized that it was not an illusion. To be honest, it was the first time in his life to see this tough man cry.Seeing this scene, he also sighed, and said: "Everyone has his own destiny, anyway, I watched you grow up, now life and death are at stake, how can I watch you and let the officials arrest you? You say Come on, tell me what to do?"

Wu Yong was overjoyed when he heard the words, and excitedly glanced at Chao Gai, who was secretly sad. Seeing that he hadn't moved, he had no choice but to get up and pick up the gift they had prepared when they came, and said to the old lady: "Please accompany us up the mountain, and follow us." Leader Wang said a few good words, we will only stay on the mountain for half a year, and we will go down the mountain now, and we will never drag Leader Wang down! We will never dare to be enemies with him again in the future! Here is 100 taels of gold, and I hope the old lady will accept it!"

Hearing a "pop", the old man slapped the table with one hand, trembling with anger, and said excitedly: "You pedant! Who do you think I am? I want to speak for you, that's the same." For the sake of the folks! What do you want to do with the gold now, to do business with me!?"

Wu Yong saw the opportunity quickly, quickly put away the gold, apologized and kowtowed, and said in his mouth: "Xiao Ke doesn't have any other intentions, I just want to show filial piety to the old man, since the old man is so righteous and the villain dare not blaspheme, so he took the gold! "

The old grandpa sighed, glanced at the silent Chao Gai, and said, "Forget it! For the sake of my folks, I sold my old face to beg the king's leader, but don't blame me if it doesn't work! I've been waiting too long!" It’s weird not seeing my two great-grandchildren!” (To be continued.)