Yi Xiaodao opened his eyes, and what he saw was a dilapidated tile house. A few broken tiles on the roof were crumbling, and straw blown from nowhere was draped on it, making it look a bit desolate.
Yi Xiaodao slowly got up and moved his body. There was a pain all over his body, but soon he was filled with a feeling of full strength.
"This fire energy regenerates after exhaustion. It seems to be inexhaustible. It's really good. If I see that old beggar, I really have to thank him." Yi Xiaodao muttered to himself. Suddenly he remembered something and touched his chest. Fortunately, Apple Still there.
When we got out, everything was devastated, and there was no one on the street.
"That kid...by the way, Man Yong! Man Yong? Man Yong!" Yi Xiaodao stood at the door of this dilapidated house and shouted loudly.
There were footsteps behind me, and when I turned around, Man Yong ran out of the backyard: "Big... Big brother, you... you... wake up!"
Yi Xiaodao looked at Man Yong's thin body, frowned and asked, "Did you save me?"
Man Yong nodded, then shook his head: "I...I didn't...didn't save you, I just carried you...back." He spoke intermittently, but he actually stuttered!
Yi Xiaodao felt a little guilty, but he didn't notice it before. After groping around in his arms, he took out all four apples. They were already rotten and I don't know where they were knocked.
"Here, it's a bit rotten. Just make do with it and share it with your sister. By the way, where are your parents?"
Man Yong swallowed, stretched out his hand, hesitated, and only picked up an apple: "My father...Dad...was taken away. He hasn't come back for a long time. My mother...mother...was beaten." died…"
When Yi Xiaodao heard this, he sighed softly. This was not the first time that he had encountered such a thing. Even though he was now the Duke of the country, there was nothing he could do about it. But seeing that Man Yong only took one apple, he asked curiously: "Why did you only take one?"
Man Yong opened his mouth and was about to bite. When he heard Yi Xiaodao ask, he put it down and said, "I... just one... is enough."
"Where is your sister?" Yi Xiaodao prepared for the worst, but still asked.
Man Yong was stunned for a moment, lowered his head, but quickly raised it again, took another apple from Yi Xiaodao's hand, turned and walked towards the backyard.
Yi Xiaodao followed.
When we came to the backyard, we saw a small mound of earth standing in the yard. There was also a small wooden sign standing in front of it. It clearly looked like a grave mound, but there was no writing on the wooden sign.
Man Yong placed an apple in front of the grave: "Yao... Yaomei'er. Brother... brought you... brought you an apple. You... are full..."
Yi Xiaodao stepped forward and gently touched the wordless wooden tablet. Man Yong gnawed on the apple in his hand and said, "I...I am illiterate and can't write..."
"I know." Yi Xiaodao interrupted Man Yong and couldn't bear to listen to him anymore: "What's your sister's name?"
"Ping'er." This voice was crisp, without any stuttering.
Yi Xiaodao stood up, returned to the house, grabbed the Siqing Sword from the edge of the bed, and turned back. Drawing out the sword, with a few dexterous movements of his wrist, a few large characters were left on the wooden tablet: "The tomb of my younger sister Ping'er."
Man Yong was illiterate, but he also knew that Yi Xiaodao had carved a tombstone for his sister. He put the half-eaten apple into his arms, knelt down and kowtowed three times to the grave. After knocking, he turned around and hit Yi Xiaodao again.
Yi Xiaodao stood upright without any obstruction, allowing Man Yong to kowtow to him.
Man Yong knocked once and was about to get up when Yi Xiaodao said calmly: "Kowtow two more."
Upon hearing this, Man Yong paused for a moment, then knelt down again and continued to finish the remaining two that Yi Xiaodao asked for.
Just after he kowtowed, Yi Xiaodao quickly helped him up, looked into his eyes and said, "You kowtowed to me three times, then you will be my apprentice from today on. Follow me."
Man Yong seemed to have not heard anything and looked back at Yi Xiaodao's eyes, just standing there in a daze.
"What? You still don't want to? Follow me and you won't be hungry, you won't get hurt again, and no one will bully you. I can also teach you martial arts, and you can protect yourself. If you don't have a family, your master will be yours in the future. Your family!" Yi Xiaodao said patiently.
Man Yong curled up his lips and cried loudly: "Wow wow wow...ahhhhhhh!" This cry was very loud. At first glance, it didn't sound like it was coming from a hungry and skinny little boy. cries.
The enemy situation in this city is unknown, and such loud cries are very dangerous. Maybe it will attract the Xigui Army, or other people with evil intentions. But Yi Xiaodao didn't stop him, but let him cry.
Yi Xiaodao could hear that this cry was the cry of the people at the bottom who had suffered from war and lost their loved ones. Over the past thousands of years, such cries had been heard on this land countless times. No one wants to listen, and those who have heard have been forgotten...
What are the crimes of the people...
Man Yong cried for a long time, and Yi Xiaodao also waited for a long time. Finally, he had cried enough, and slowly stopped crying with sobs.
"Master..."
"Well, come with me!" Yi Xiaodao reached out and held Man Yong's hand. Man Yong held Yi Xiaodao, took out the half-eaten apple from his arms with his other hand, and continued to eat it.
Yi Xiaodao stuffed another two apples in his hand into Man Yong's arms. He took the last remaining one and started to chew on it.
One big and one small, gnawing their own apples, walked out of the house and headed towards the city gate.
…
"Report to the Second Young Master, some of General Li's people... have escaped."
"How many more? I sent people to work day and night to open up the secret passage to Chu, Xiang and Chongqing, but we can't win? Except for Wang Jingwen who brought back a general's head, only a few of the other ambush soldiers came back?" Zou Tao, the second son of Xigui, couldn't bear it any longer and shouted angrily.
"This time is unusual. They also brought back two women." The primary school who reported the news said hurriedly.
Hearing this, Zou Tao raised his eyebrows, looked at the primary school and asked, "Woman? What woman? Does she have any status in the imperial court?"
"They fled back in such a hurry that they didn't even have time to ask questions. They were waiting for the Second Young Master to interrogate him personally."
Zou Tao waved his hand: "Bring them up." There were more than a dozen ambush troops, although they did not bring many people. In addition to charging head-on with Wang Jingwen's 10,000 troops, the other ambush troops ranged from hundreds to thousands, and the losses were not counted. Too big. Now he was even more curious about what kind of woman they had captured.
After a while, He Yue'er and Fu Qing were pushed and escorted into the Xigui Army's main tent and brought to Zou Tao.
Zou Tao looked at the two girls and looked them up and down: "Who are you?"
"Master Jun, our sisters-in-law seem to be running away, but the war is in chaos. How dare you stay here in Sichuan and Shulang? What are you going to do with us?" Fu Qing spoke first and said with a smile.
Zou Tao looked at He Yue'er, who turned away without saying a word.
"Pfft, hahahaha. Who did you learn this Sichuan dialect from? Why did you only learn half of it?" Zou Tao couldn't help laughing and looked back at Fu Qing.
"Ah?" Fu Qing was a little confused.
"Do people from Sichuan and Shu call this place Sichuan and Shu? Come and learn from me, house!" Zou Tao seemed to be having fun, and taught him how to pay attention seriously.
Fu Qing nodded repeatedly: "Ah, yes! The roof of the house! Is it possible to stay at the roof of the house? I can't wait any longer!"
Zou Tao stood up and circled around He Yue'er and Fu Qing twice. He Yue'er kept moving out of the way, not wanting to run into Zou Tao. Fu Qing pretended to be casual, stopped in front of He Yue'er, and smiled apologetically at Zou Tao.
"Well, ask the prime minister. There are also big gangs in the world. They are far away in Donglu and have no enmity with us in Xigui. What are you doing here to stir up this muddy water?" Zou Tao revealed Fu Qing's identity with one sentence: "Even if we dominate the world, what does it have to do with whether Wen Xiangge's well is not invading the river?"
"It's you, you have a good figure and outstanding appearance. But you walk upright, like a peasant girl. Even though you have some nobility, it didn't take long to develop." Zou Tao has an extraordinary eye and figured out all of He Yue'er's experiences. One or two.
"When the two armies are fighting, they are most afraid of spies. Unidentified people like you will be beheaded immediately if caught. But I am not a person who is easy to kill, and I don't want to kill a good person by mistake. I think... I might as well give it to you. Take him back to Xigui, and then send someone to interrogate him slowly, what do you think?" Zou Tao said with a smile, and it seemed that his mood suddenly became good.
The people around him felt uncomfortable when they heard Zou Tao say that he was not a person to be killed, but they did not dare to move and stood upright.
"I'm not going to Xigui!" He Yuer said loudly.
Fu Qing quickly took a big step forward and blocked He Yue'er's face completely: "Since the Second Young Master has figured out my identity, how can we still be unknown persons? Yes, our sisters are disciples of the Prime Minister. , Xigui is at war with the imperial court, and there are also some Jianghu people involved. We are just here to take a look, what's wrong?"
"I said, you are asking the prime minister, she is not. Tell me who she is, and I...let you go." Zou Tao paused intentionally or unintentionally.
Fu Qing shook his head and said with a smile, "I don't know about that. She and I were not on the same road. We just happened to be captured by the Second Young Master's people."
Zou Tao stood up: "Okay, I won't argue with you anymore. I guess you won't say it so easily. But it's okay. I'm about to break out of the camp and go to Rongcheng to escort you to the front of the formation. It will naturally be clear what his identity is."
"You...!" He Yue'er was furious. If Yi Xiaodao saw that she was caught, he would try his best to save her. She was not a fool. She knew that she would definitely be used as a hostage and bait. In that case, it would be dangerous for Yi Xiaodao to come.
Fu Qing quickly reached out and covered He Yue'er's mouth: "Hey, hush! You can't say it! The most important thing for people in this world is curiosity. The more he wants to know, the less we will say anything. We are anxious to kill him!" As he said that, he glanced at Glancing at Zou Tao, the meaning was very obvious.
Zou Tao looked at the expression on Fu Qing's face, showing that his treacherous plot had succeeded. Instead of feeling dissatisfied, he smiled and said: "Okay, I will know sooner or later anyway, hahahaha. Don't make it difficult for them if they are taken into custody. I want to take a look. I picked it up." What a treat these two are.”
He Yue'er and Fu Qing were escorted out of the tent. Zou Tao looked at their backs with a smile on his lips that he never put away for a long time...
