Zheng Anping saw that everyone was unwilling to go, so he said: "In this case, I will tie myself to the beam and use my body as a torture instrument in the hands of the prisoner."
Cao Bao said: "Guan Ling is also relieved to die, brothers, please don't worry about his position. I have something to say, and I will wait for you to listen. When Brother Zheng left, Cao guarded the gate of the mansion and ordered brothers not to enter. He only said Brother Zheng He was suddenly ill. Three days later, the envoy arrived, and Cao introduced him to his residence. He then learned that Brother Zheng was dead. I am clothed in cloth, and I have no title to wear it, but I can live in the grass. Brothers, please blame me for your sins. I, The Yi Cheng is also in the same room as the governor, and there is no way to escape the guilt. He is rescued by the king again, and he is dismissed from the official position and returns home. He can also return to the mansion of Mr. Wei! "
Brother Su said: "If you sit together according to the law, I will probably be punished!"
Cao Bao said: "Brothers, I just said that the laws and regulations are very strict, and no official would dare to violate them. Even if they sit together, the crime will be light."
Brother Su thought for a while and said: "Two evils are incompatible, so let's take this as the lesser of two evils. The current plan is to make Brother Zheng retreat quickly."
Zheng Anping said: "Brothers have been kind to you, I am deeply grateful. I will repay you later!"
Zheng Anping stood up, turned around the screen, and saw Xiao Nu and Gai Nie sitting together, hugging each other, with tears on their faces.
Zheng Anping said: "Unexpectedly, a storm suddenly arises, affecting women and children!"
The young slave stood up and said, "I am a lowly woman who can fill ravines. Fortunately, I met the king and gave me a concubine and a son. She has returned to her body. If the master runs away, I will naturally accompany him."
Zheng Anping said: "When I leave, I really abandon you. Your Majesty has been very kind to me. Now that I have not repaid your great kindness, I will die out of fear of sin. I am unfaithful and unjust. I dare not take any of what you have given me. I am willing to take it with you." Use old clothes to perish.”
Both Xiaonu and Gai Nie followed Zheng Anping to the back house. They each took off their clothes and took out the short brown clothes they wore when they were poor and humble. Zheng Anping didn't even wear the scholar's clothes, and also wore short brown clothes. He looked around and held the wooden coffin he took from Masan in his hand. He took a bowl from the kitchen and put it in his arms. After everything was done, Zheng Anping returned to the front hall and said goodbye to everyone. At this time, Wu Wang suddenly ran in and said, "Father Zheng, do you want to do it? How can you abandon Wu Wang?"
Zheng Anping said: "It's not abandonment. I'm leaving here to live in exile. It's hard to know the future. I'm afraid I'll mislead you. You can stay at home and make your own arrangements."
Wu Wang said: "No. The king is worried about the humiliation of his ministers, and it is righteous for him to humiliate his ministers to death. Wu Wang is not an unjust person. I would like to be Zheng's father and go to the ends of the world!"
Zheng Anping thought for a while and said, "In that case, you can change the old coarse cloth to a short brown one, and we will go together."
After a while, Wuwang also finished his work and returned to the hall. It was already time, and there was no fire or moonlight in the hall. Only a faint glow could illuminate the figures. Cao Bao had escaped before and was quite experienced in the wilderness. He opened the back door with Zheng Anping and left. He sent them out of the west gate of the city and headed south along the lush grassy fields.
Cao Bao pushed the back door open and entered the hall through the front door again, saying: "Guan Ling is suddenly ill and his personnel are unconscious. All the princes must find out the truth. I hope everyone will perform their duties and don't slack off even a little bit because of Guan Ling's illness!"
Brother Su asked: "Should we report it to the city?"
Cao Bao said: "If nothing happens after three days, it is a retribution."
Everyone said: "Here!" and dispersed. When he got home, he told his wife that Guan Ling was suddenly ill and unconscious. Everyone was fine, except Sister Ba who wanted to come in to see the doctor. Cao Bao was forced to tell the truth. Sister Ba heard this and praised her repeatedly: "I didn't expect you to be so loyal!" She slapped Cao Bao on the back and almost knocked him off his feet. Realizing something was wrong, I hugged him again...
Zheng Anping and four others took advantage of the darkness of night to sneak into Zosan's house, and unexpectedly found that there was another person living inside. It was not an outsider, but Chen Si.
Chen Si was a little surprised when he recognized it was Zheng Anping. He let everyone into the room and asked: "Father Zheng is not in charge of the city, why are you here?"
Zheng Anping said: "I was forced to flee. Why did Fourth Brother Chen end up like this?"
Chen Sidao: "Mr. Che called me, so I went to help him."
Zheng Anping said: "Mr. Che? Where are you?"
Chen Sidao: "Maybe he is in Chu, or maybe he is in Qin. I don't know where he is. Why did my brother flee?"
Zheng Anping said: "Fourth Brother Chen is not an outsider, so he is telling the truth. A few years ago, under the orders of Brother Hou, I secretly carried Mr. Fan back home and has been hiding there ever since. Later, Mr. Fan secretly visited Mr. Chu and was spied on by others. I have to flee. Now Lord Xinling has found out, and the Prime Minister of Wei has found out that Mr. Fan is hiding in my house, so we are forcing each other. I have no choice but to flee."
Chen Sidao: "Father Zheng also knows about the third brother's house?"
Zheng Anping said: "Three brothers told each other that Mr. Fan was a guest in Qin, and he wanted to greet me. I was in distress and wanted to surrender to him. So I visited the house of third brother. I didn't expect that third brother was also a friend of brother Hou. . Chen Si is leaving here, when should we set off?"
Chen Sidao: "The schedule has not yet been determined."
While he was talking, the back window opened and someone got in, startling everyone. The man came into the house, walked directly to Zheng Anping, and asked, "Does Guan Ling have a humble ambition?" Zheng Anping seemed to vaguely remember that he was one of Shansan's clerks, so he said, "How dare he be Brother Shansan?" Friend, but I don’t know the honorific title.”
The man said: "Just order him to call us a common man, Meng San."
Zheng Anping said: "We desperadoes, be careful not to treat us like a common people with orders."
Meng Sandao: "That's what Brother Zheng said. Brother Zheng cannot be called Zheng's family."
Zheng Anping said: "It can be called Masan instead."
Chen Si smiled and said: "Zhu San, Ma San and Meng San are all three, which is rare."
Zheng Anping said: "My friend Masan is from Nanmayi. I have no doubts."
Meng San asked the names of the other three. Xiao Nu and Wu Wang were all fine, but only Gai Nie stood out too much, so he changed his name to "Xiao Zai". Everyone was asked to remove their crowns, let down their hair, take off all their clothes, smear their whole bodies with soil, and roll on the ground a few times. They were all dirty and smelly. Put on the clothes Meng San brought.
Meng San said: "Brothers, it is God's will that we gather together tonight. Follow me tomorrow, but don't show any acquaintance. When the rooster crows, I pass by the door. Fourth brother Chen takes the cub out of the front door and follows me. "The third brother Ma led the two of them out of the back door and followed the fourth brother Chen. Each group must be hundreds of steps apart. They don't know each other and don't talk to each other." Everyone said they understood. Meng San packed up everyone's clothes and went out through the window again.
Not long after Meng San left, the rooster crowed. It's summer, it's dawning early, roosters are crowing for the first time, and the sky is already bright. Chen Si took Gai Nie and the two wandering brothers out of the front door; Zheng Anping, leaning on a wooden stick, took Xiao Nu and Wu Wang, a family of three, also out the door. It was still early, and the summer farm work was not very busy, so everyone got up late. Meng San seemed to be catching up on business, and the two groups behind him were all wanderers, coming to Huayang together.
After walking for a day, I haven't eaten anything. When I feel thirsty, I find a nearby small ditch and hold two handfuls of water to drink. I feel hungry and tired. Watching the sunset, when we arrived at Huayang Pavilion, we saw Meng San turning into a bamboo forest. Seeing the dense bamboo forest, everyone hurriedly followed. But they saw that Meng San had already stopped in the bamboo forest, waiting for everyone. Seeing everyone come in, Meng San said: "We'll take a rest here today." He turned around and led everyone through the bamboo forest, only to see a piece of grass, a small river, and a thatched cottage.
The thatched cottage was empty, without any items, like an old house abandoned by its owner; but it was very clean, so it must have been abandoned not long ago. Meng San seemed to be very familiar with this place and asked everyone to rest on the spot. He called Chen Si and Wu Wang to come to the back of the house and get water from a small boat covered by weeds. A fire broke out on a gravel beach by the river. Everyone was very thirsty, but only Zheng Anping brought a bowl, and everyone took turns scooping up river water from the bowl to drink. The river water here originates from a groundwater, is crystal clear, has a sweet taste and is refreshing. After drinking the water, while waiting for the porridge to be cooked, many people took off their clothes and jumped into the river to wash away the dirt on their bodies. Even the slaves found a secluded place to wash themselves off with Zheng Anping. Gai Nie got to know Chen Si very well along the way, and the four brothers and Xiao Zai were very affectionate. Not long after, Meng San called out: "The porridge is ready!" This ended the group's play in the water.
Since there was only one bowl, the six people could only take turns to drink the porridge. There was enough salt and plum in the porridge, which was very refreshing. The five of them actually finished the small pot of porridge, and they were still not satisfied. After hunger and thirst passed, sleepiness set in. Meng San gave up the thatched cottage to Zheng Anping and the others, and he, Chen Si, and Wu Wang slept on the grass. The weather was hot anyway, so sleeping in the open air was cooler.
When they woke up, it was already broad daylight, and everyone felt sore all over. Meng San carried another baggage from the boat, took out a set of Chu clothes and asked everyone to change into them. He balled up the smelly clothes and put them into the baggage. Although these Chu clothes also have narrow sleeves and thin waists, they are made of coarse cloth and are not brightly colored. They are basically plain colors with only a green or red border on the cuffs and collar.
Meng San piled a bunch of utensils onto the boat and stuffed the changed clothes under the boat planks. Get everyone on board. He took a punt and pushed the boat out of the river mouth.
When they arrived at Zheng Guocheng, Meng San docked the boat, took everyone ashore, found a boatman, agreed on the location, paid the fare, and let Zheng Anping board another slightly larger boat. Zheng Anping and his party of five had no luggage. Only Zheng Anping was carrying a wooden stick, which was too thick to be used as a walking stick and too thin to be used as a pole. I don't know what it was used for. It looked like an ordinary person from Chu State came to visit relatives in Zheng State.
Zheng Anping didn't hear clearly the location mentioned by Meng San. In fact, even if he heard clearly, he didn't know where it was, so he could only resign himself to his fate and get on the boat. Looking back at Chen Si, there was a look of expectation on his face. Zheng Anping asked in a low voice: "Does Si'er know what's going on?"
Chen Sidao: "Return to Chen Kingdom!"
Zheng Anping understood that Chen Si's surname was Chen, so he naturally came from Chen State. This ship was going to Chen State, and it was going to a place that Chen Si knew, which might not be far from his hometown. This made Zheng Anping completely relieved. The boatman swung the boat and headed downstream. It enters the chasm from the Jishui River and goes straight down to the state of Chen. Due to the smooth flow of the river, the boat travels very fast, and the waterway of nearly 300 cities can be reached in one day. Abandoning the boat and landing, Chen Si was indeed familiar with the roads and led Zheng Anping and his party straight to a city. On the outskirts of the city, Chen Si found a counter-tourist room and told the master of the counter-tourist a name. The master of the counter-tourist immediately went in and brought out a person.
