Boom boom.
"Who?"
came a soft voice.
The old wooden door creaked, and a little head poked out.
"What a handsome little girl."
Li Shimin's eyes lit up and he reached out to touch it, but the girl hid inside.
"Who are you?" She opened her big dark eyes and looked a little wary.
Crunch.
"Green grass, come back."
The wooden door opened from the inside, and a young woman was seen holding a handful of chicken food in her hand, waving to her daughter.
At the same time, she also looked at the visitor.
"You are……"
She said a little doubtfully.
Looking at the style of this dress, it looks a bit familiar.
"Sister-in-law, I...well, we are from the military camp."
Li Shimin held his hand slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable when he changed his words for a moment, and introduced himself,
"Liu Wu...is your husband, right?"
After that, he glanced at the list in his arms.
"Yes Yes."
The young woman hurriedly responded twice, welcomed everyone into the house, and continued,
"Brothers, please come in, please come in."
"Qingcao, go pour a few bowls of water for your uncles and uncles. They are your father's comrades in arms. Go quickly -"
The girl's eyes lit up, and she twisted her neck to look at her mother while entering the house to pour water.
"Is daddy coming back?"
She was full of joy and said expectantly,
"He said he would make toys for me when he comes back!"
The young lady was slightly startled.
"Should...should be."
For some reason, she felt a little guilty in her heart, so she responded to the child, then turned to look at Li Shimin and Xu Fenglei.
Seeing them looking at the house, I couldn't help but blush and felt a little embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, brothers, I didn't know you were coming, so I didn't clean up the house or prepare meals..."
The young woman said apologetically,
"Brothers, wait a moment, I'll go collect firewood for the stove."
After that, she raised her legs to go out, but as soon as she raised her legs, she was stopped by Li Shimin.
"Sister-in-law, you don't have to be like this, you don't have to be like this...we are here..."
"Why."
Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh when he saw that she was so gentle and polite in treating guests.
He was a little embarrassed to talk.
This sigh made the young woman startled again, and her heart tightened for no reason.
"What...what's wrong?" She looked at Li Shimin, and seeing his expression, she couldn't help but ask, "Is it Liu Lang, something happened to him?"
Li Shimin was silent for a moment, looked at Yuchi Gong, and pursed his lips towards the girl.
Yuchi Gong understood, with a smile on his face, he smiled at the girl and said:
"Girl, do you have well water at home? My uncle wants to wash his face. Can you take me there?"
The girl nodded.
"have!"
She pointed outside the house and said,
"That's the well outside in the yard. The water in my well is so clean!"
"Let's go, I'll take you there!"
Yuchi Gong laughed.
"Then I want to try it."
He followed the little girl to the yard.
Seeing this, the young woman's face turned pale.
Li Shimin looked at Changsun Wuji beside him.
"Sister-in-law..."
Changsun Wuji cupped his hands and said,
"Brother Liu Wu fought bravely against the enemy in the Yinshan Baidao blockade and beheaded six Turkic traitors! But he himself was stabbed dozens of times and died a heroic death."
"His military exploits have been recorded by the Ministry of War. Both you and your heirs will be protected."
"We are here today to distribute double the gifts in accordance with His Majesty's decree."
"Please accept it."
After saying that, he waved behind him, and Xiao Yu handed the wooden box over.
Snap.
The wooden box was opened, and inside were three pieces of silk cloth, an ingot of silver, and a pile of copper coins.
Snap.
When the wooden box was opened, the young woman's feet also slipped, her face turned pale, and she fell down.
"Hey, sister-in-law!"
Li Shimin hurriedly went to help her, but saw that she was barely holding on to the stool to straighten her body.
"A total of three pieces of silk cloth, eight taels of silver, and three thousand coins."
Changsun Wuji was like a ruthless reading machine, reading out everything in the wooden box.
The young woman's eyes were red, she was holding on to the bench with both hands, and her whole body was trembling involuntarily...
"……Please grief."
Li Shimin didn't know how to comfort people, and he didn't know what to say at this moment, so he could only bow slightly.
He looked at Xu Fenglei on the side, who also had a wry smile on his face.
In the war against the Turks, I really tried my best.
But in war, people will always die. No matter how powerful the strategy is, no matter how beautiful the ambush is, no one will die in battle.
His battle loss ratio can be said to be the highest. When reading the battle report and seeing the number of hundreds of people killed, everyone was even elated, thinking it was a perfect victory!
But now, Xu Fenglei felt it.
The accumulated number of people is not just a cold number, but a living person! There is also a family behind him!
At this moment, his heart was heavy.
"Sister-in-law, we know you are sad, but..."
Xu Fenglei said with some difficulty,
"Brother Liu has sacrificed his life, you still have to cheer up, even for the sake of your child..."
"you……"
He didn't know how to comfort him.
No matter how you comfort me, it feels like adding salt to the wounds of the family members!
laugh.
The young woman sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"I know I know……"
"Thank you, thank you for coming, I..."
Her eyes were still very red, but no tears fell. Instead, she still had a forced smile.
"Is his body still there?"
Li Shimin shook his head.
"The Turkic thieves were too ruthless. Brother Liu Wu's injuries were too serious. The body could not be collected and could only be buried on Yinshan Mountain..."
he whispered.
In fact, this is already a euphemism.
The real situation is - Liu Wu was almost chopped into a pulp, it was really difficult to distinguish, and in the end he could only be buried together with a few equally tragic soldiers.
"There are no remains..."
The young woman's figure couldn't stop trembling. She managed to hold on and said in a trembling voice,
"What about...the clothes? Are there any clothes left?"
Li Shimin was silent again.
"Yes, there is some, but it's already broken into pieces."
He said,
"I think……"
"Can you... give it to me?" The young woman stretched out her hand toward Li Shimin and asked.
Li Shimin gritted his teeth and nodded.
Wow.
Fang Xuanling behind him handed over the package in his hand.
"Inside are the relics of Brother Liu Wu, including pieces of cloth from his clothes, a broken knife, and a piece of wood carving that has not yet been carved."
Fang Xuanling said softly,
"Sister-in-law...please express my condolences."
The atmosphere in the thatched house was extremely surprising.
"Thank you, thank you, sorry for bothering you..."
The young woman took the package and held it in her arms, her shoulders twitching more and more violently.
"It's time for us to leave. Sister-in-law, I would like to express my condolences and say goodbye..."
Li Shimin held his hand again, comforted him, and turned around.
He didn't want to stay any longer, he wanted to escape from this place.
If he stayed any longer, he was afraid that he would also shed tears with his red eyes...
Tsk, tsk.
The young woman lowered her head and sniffed several times. Then she stood up and lowered her head and said:
"I'm sorry for the poor reception..."
"I'll send you off..."
When the group of people went out, Yuchi Gong was still playing with the little girl in the water.
"Kekeke, splash you, splash you!"
Qingcao splashed water on Yuchi Gong's face, giggling with a bright smile.
"Well, you bad girl, you sneak attack!"
"watch out!"
Yuchi Gong also grinned and splashed water on the grass, but his movements were much gentler.
"Jingde."
Li Shimin called out and said,
"gone."
"Okay." Yuchi Gong clapped his hands, stood up and put his hands on his hips, smiling, "Girl, will you be our daughter? You are much cuter than my troublesome children."
Thinking of Yuchi Baolin's stupid boy, he rolled his eyes.
"don't want."
Qingcao also stood up and hummed,
"I have a father, why should I be your daughter?"
"Go ahead! I'm going to accompany my mother to cook!"
The little girl clapped her hands and turned around gracefully, just like a little adult.
"Farewell."
Li Shimin walked to the door and held his hand again.
As the emperor, he saluted more times today than in the previous year combined!
"Thank you, big brothers..."
The young woman knelt down to salute, lowered her head and whispered,
"take care……"
After saying that, she gently opened the door, turned around slowly, and returned to the house.
Li Shimin looked at the old wooden door with a complicated expression.
"The poor bones by the Wuding River are like those in a spring boudoir's dream."
Xu Fenglei murmured softly,
"She is very strong for being able to hold on and send us out."
"Let her cry happily. Let's go to the next house."
"The poor bones by the Wuding River are like those in a spring boudoir dream..." Li Shimin was slightly startled, chewing this poem while walking, and couldn't help but said, "It's so cruel..."
At this moment, everyone present felt the young woman's state of mind, and a feeling of sadness came from their hearts.
"Aren't we a bit like the god of plague when we are like this?"
Li Shimin suddenly stopped and asked.
The group of people walked slowly, and when they heard Li Shimin's question, their expressions became a little stiff.
Now, they are indeed just like the mourning crows, bringing grief to people.
"Jingde."
Li Shimin looked sideways at Yuchi Gong and said in a deep voice,
"That girl is very cute. You can adopt her as your adopted daughter."
"Be nice to her, and I will pay attention to her."
Yu Chigong looked stern.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
He grinned and said,
"I do have this intention, but that girl is so clever... But I will come back with some gifts when the time comes, to polish her off, and to coax her, I believe she will agree."
Li Shimin nodded and left.
…
Inside the thatched house.
The young woman stared blankly at the gray-brown package, her eyes blank.
"Mom, mother! The food is cooking, the child is hungry!"
Qingcao yelled and threw herself into her mother's arms. She naturally grabbed the package with her hands and said curiously,
"Mom, what is this?"
Wow.
The package was loosened and a lump of wood fell to the ground with a muffled sound.
"It's a wood carving..."
Qingcao's eyes lit up, he bent down to pick up the lump of wood, held it in his hand and rubbed it twice, and suddenly said in surprise,
"Is this a toy that daddy gave me?"
"Mom, mother! Is this a toy that daddy gave me?"
She shook her mother's arm and shouted excitedly.
"right……"
The young woman didn't know what to say to the child, so she nodded, supported the stool with her hands, and said with a forced smile,
"Your father asked your uncles to send it to you."
"You can play with it, go ahead... Mom is a little tired and wants to go back to the room to rest for a while..."
The green grass was playing with the wooden knots, and she couldn't help but pout.
"Hmph, dad is so careless. This little rabbit is clearly not finished yet!"
She snorted softly and chuckled,
"Stupid daddy! I'm going to get a file and carve out a beautiful little bunny. I'll show it to daddy when he comes back!"
Da da.
The little girl held the unfinished rabbit in her heart and skipped towards the yard.
The young woman watched her daughter leave, then stood up and slowly stepped into the door.
boom!
The door of the old room was pressed by her body and closed tightly with a muffled sound.
The young woman leaned against the wooden door, holding the package in her hands tightly, and her body kept sliding down, and then down again.
The corners of her mouth, which were still smiling, curled down, and then down again.
Snapped.
His body hit the ground and turned into a puddle of mud.
"Liu Lang, Liu Lang..."
Her voice was like murmuring in a dream, and two lines of clear tears fell down.
Tick tock, tick tock.
…
Boom! Boom!
In front of a courtyard, Li Shimin and his party stopped again.
This family is even simpler than the previous one, with no wooden door and only a fence.
Leave a gap in the middle of the fence and hang a piece of wood to make it a gate.
"Is anyone here?"
Li Shimin shouted.
no response.
"Is anyone here!"
Yuchi Gong shouted at the top of his lungs.
With this shout, there was finally movement in the courtyard.
I saw an old woman walking out tremblingly on crutches.
"Who is it?"
The voice was deep and hoarse.
"Old madam, is this Zhang Sanlin's home?"
When Li Shimin saw that the other party was an old woman, he felt suddenly and followed Yu Chigong's example and increased his volume.
The old man is deaf, so if you speak louder, people won't hear you at all!
"San Lin? Is San Lin back?"
The old woman raised her head, with a bit of excitement in her voice, and even her walking speed increased a lot.
"Hey, old lady, please take it easy and don't fall!"
Li Shimin hurriedly unlatched the door, stepped forward quickly, supported the old woman, and said.
"Where is Sanlin? Where is Sanlin?"
The old woman hunched her back and groped forward, expecting the familiar voice to appear.
"Sanlin didn't come back, old lady."
Li Shimin leaned close to the old woman's ear and said loudly,
"We are his...his comrades-in-arms, and we are here to visit you!"
When the old woman heard this, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
"Why hasn't he come back yet? You've all come back, why hasn't he come back yet..."
She whispered,
"Come on, come on."
"Come in and have a drink of water. Old lady, I have something to ask you..."
After saying that, she leaned on the cane again and lit forward.
"There is a threshold here, please be careful..."
The old woman walked to the front of the house, crossed the threshold, and gave a reminder.
"Okay, okay, we'll watch."
Li Shimin nodded and responded repeatedly.
The old woman smiled.
"Yes, yes, you can see it, no need to remind me...I, the old lady, can't see it, so I keep tripping."
She walked into the house and said,
"Please come in. There are a few of you. I'll get you some water."
Li Shimin looked at Xu Fenglei and pursed his lips.
This old lady is actually blind...
(End of chapter)
