The next moment, Xie Le leaned against the wall and slumped to the ground little by little, with his mouth open and his throat choked, unable to make a sound.
The afterglow of the sun shines into the room, and the shadow of the Eight Immortals Table lengthens little by little.
The stains on the floor that were slightly darker than the surrounding areas stabbed Xie Le hard like a sharp sword.
Xie Le fell to the floor and curled up into a ball. In an instant, all the pressure accumulated before was poured on him like a torrent.
He could only feel his stomach rising, squeezing his lungs and heart, making Xie Le almost out of breath. The choking in his throat was amplified infinitely, and the feeling was so clear that it seemed to occupy all of Xie Le's sensory abilities.
His mind flashed crazily, and something spewed out the next moment.
I recalled everything Uncle Qi, Uncle Liu, and Uncle Liu said.
Recalling the silver sword shining in the moonlight that night when Uncle Qi was stabbed.
Recalling that there was so much movement in the alleyway, so many things were destroyed, but nothing about the alleyway was heard. Just like today, there was always someone to restore things to the way they were.
My body was shaking uncontrollably, and my tears were flowing down to the floor. Why? Why?
Have we done anything outrageous? I have been saying in my heart that I want to take revenge. Have I taken action? Who doesn’t want to live a stable life? Why should we be driven out to death?
What did Uncle Liu do wrong? What did Liu Yucheng do wrong? Someone please tell me!
Xie Le clenched his fists, and the feeling of powerlessness that flooded his whole body bit by bit from the bottom of his heart made him unclench his fists again.
Time after time, Xie Le beat his thighs hard, hating his own weakness until he had no strength left.
After a long time, Xie Le stood up holding on to the wall, found the bag given by Uncle Liu and carried it behind his back. He stood in front of the door, looked at Liu Yucheng's favorite dishes on the Eight Immortals table for a while, and then walked out of the room.
"Sir, do you really want to check out? The Dragon King Festival is coming soon. There are no other free inns in the city now. If you check out, it will be difficult to find accommodation. Do you want to think about it again?" The waiter listened. Xie Le said he wanted to check out, but he didn't know whether it was out of good intentions or for some reason.
Xie Le nodded.
The waiter sighed and started playing on the abacus.
"Be careful!"
"How do you walk?"
"What are you doing? Can't you see? You bumped into me!" A young man in gorgeous clothes pushed Xie Le to the ground.
Xie Le sat on the ground, looking dazed. After a while, many people watching the excitement gathered around him and started talking.
"What's going on? Why did the man sitting on the ground offend that useless young master of the Yang family?"
"I don't know, I just came here."
At this time, someone who knew the cause of the incident immediately came over to explain the cause of the incident.
"Yes, yes, he hit me just now." After the man finished speaking, someone else came out and said.
"And me, and me."
More and more people gathered. Xie Le picked up his luggage and still staggered outside.
"This young master is talking to you!" The young man saw that Xie Le was about to leave, and shouted to step forward and hold Xie Le.
One person hurriedly stopped the young man and advised him: "Master, Master, the Dragon King Festival will be held soon. It is not appropriate to conflict with others. Besides, if the master finds out, you will be scolded again when you go back."
When the young man in Chinese robe heard this, he thought about it and thought it made sense. He gave Xie Le a fierce look and said, "You are lucky. Don't let me meet you next time."
As he spoke, he patted himself and muttered: "What a bad luck. As soon as I went out, I met a blind man, or a deaf man."
Seeing that it was over, the people watching the excitement began to disperse as they felt it was not enough.
"No, who just said that I'm useless? Stand up!" The young man seemed to have thought of something and said angrily.
However, no one paid him any attention.
Outside the city gate.
Xie Le redeemed the horse and rode on it. The legs were clamped hard, and the horse galloped.
There is no direction, no idea where to go, it’s all up to the horse to run on its own.
Two days passed, and Xie Le was on the horse's back the whole time, letting the horse run and stop, without eating anything.
Passing by a stream, Xie Lele immediately stopped and wanted to drink some water by the stream. When I got off the horse, I stumbled, but luckily I caught the horse in time and didn't fall.
Walking to the stream, Xie Le, who had not eaten for several days, finally unscrewed the kettle and squatted down to fill the water. When he stood up, his vision went dark.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang."
"boom!"
My heart beat around my ears, and there was a sudden loud bang. Xie Le slowly opened his eyes and looked at the dilapidated roof.
"Why is it so heavy? I don't know how to go lighter."
"Hey, hey. Isn't this too heavy?"
Xie Le sat up from the bed and looked around. There were very few things in the room. There was a hanging kettle in the center of the room. There was burned firewood with a little embers under the kettle. There was a small amount of firewood piled in the corner, and there were other firewood next to it. A larger bed.
With a creak, the wooden door was pushed open. An old woman walked in with firewood in her arms and opened her mouth in surprise when she saw Xie Le sitting. Stack the wood in the corner and trot out.
"Old man, oh, old man, that child is awake, that child is awake!"
Xie Le could hear obvious joy in her tone.
"ah?"
The next second, a stooped old man also came in carrying wood. Putting the wood away, he walked to Xie Le, with the old woman behind him.
The two looked at Xie Le happily. The old man held up Xie Le's hand with one hand on top and the other on the bottom: "How do you feel? Is there anything uncomfortable?"
Xie Le opened his mouth but said nothing.
The old woman hit the old man in the back, and the old man turned around and rolled his eyes.
"I just woke up. Look, I'm scared."
The old man put down Xie Le's hand: "Yes, yes, look at me. Hehe."
The old woman found a bowl, turned on the kettle, scooped out a bowl of porridge, and walked to the bed: "Are you hungry? This is fish porridge. Don't dislike it. Come and I'll feed you."
Seeing Xie Le trying to take the bowl, the old woman raised her eyebrows and said, "You've been unconscious for two days. Get more rest and open your mouth."
"Here, add some more." The old woman still looked at Xie Le with a kind smile, and handed the bowl to the old man without looking back, "My child, where did you come from? How could you fall by the peach stream? ?”
"Go away, go away, you are still talking about me, let the child eat and rest well, can't you ask again?" The old man was holding the porridge and pushing the old woman with his other hand.
"No, no, I'll do it. I'm worried because you're so lavish in doing things. I'll ask you to do something stupid later." The old woman also pushed the old man with both hands.
Seeing this scene, Xie Le raised the corners of his mouth involuntarily.
"Hey, look, old lady, look, old lady, the child is laughing."
"Really..."
This is a place called Wuling Village. The village is backed by green mountains and faces Taoxi River. The village is not big, with only about ten families, all with the surname Wu. The houses are distributed along the stream and lined up. The villagers have been fishing for generations.
"Old lady, is the food ready?"
The old woman looked up at the two people who were paddling back on the raft. She wiped the water droplets off her body with her hands and cursed at the old man: "Use it, I know it, why don't you cook?"
Then he looked at Xie Le and said with a smile, "It's already good. I'm just waiting for you to come back."
The old man looked back at Xie Le: "Look at her, she's not unreasonable at all."
The three of them sat around the pot. They still had fish and meat porridge, but there were more side dishes than usual.
"Old lady, you don't know. Thanks to Wu Xi in the past few days, otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to catch so many fish." The old man took a few bites from the bowl.
"It's not because of Wu Xifu. When did you catch so many before Wu Xi came? Right, Wu Xi." The old woman looked at Xie Le with a smile.
Xie Le, no, Wu Xi took the chopsticks and smiled.
"Hmph, when I was young, I was one of the best fishermen in our village. Isn't that why you agreed to marry me?" The old man took two more mouthfuls of rice unconvinced.
That night a week ago, after dinner, the old man asked about Xie Le's origins and found that Xie Le could not speak and could not remember anything. The next day, Xie Le saw an old man and an old woman chopping firewood at the door, and wanted to get out of bed to help. When the old woman found out, she hurriedly came in and put Xie Le, who was still unsteady in walking, back on the bed and sat down.
Later, the old man said that for convenience, he gave Xie Le the name Wuxi. It had the same surname as his own, and he picked it up by the stream. The moment Xie Le nodded in agreement, the old man and woman seemed very excited for some reason.
The three of them had dinner in a cheerful atmosphere. Wu Xi wanted to help wash the dishes, but the old woman stopped him: "Go on one side and the other, don't compete with the old woman for work."
"Let her go, you go and feed your horse." The old man also said.
Wu Xi nodded, went out to the back of the house, picked up a pile of hay, and came to the white horse.
The white horse swung its tail and ate grass, while Wu Xi stroked its mane. I heard that it was found with him, right next to him, and there was no one else nearby. It should be his, so I brought it back with him.
But Wu Xi had no impression. He also had a suitcase with him, and Wu Xi also opened it and looked at it. There weren't many things, a few taels of broken silver, a huge banknote, an envelope hidden in the dark, and a stamp with "Thank you" engraved on it. .
Wu Xi had no intention of using these things until he understood them clearly.
Wu Xi returned to the house and took a rest.
"Wuxi, go to the market with me this afternoon, sell all these fish, and then buy some things back."
Wu Xi nodded and followed the old man out of the door.
Basically, we use rafts to travel. The mountain roads are rugged and the water routes are much easier to travel.
The two put the fish basket on the raft and set off.
"Wu Liu, Wu Liu, who is that person next to Uncle Qu? He doesn't look like he is from the village." A young man asked another young man next to him.
Wuling Village has always been poor, and all the girls in the family are married off, while the boys in the family have been unable to get married, and only people come in and out.
"You don't know yet? I heard that he is Uncle Qu's nephew. He came to see them and stay for a few days. It seems to be called Wuxi. Uncle Qu has taken him around the village several times." That was called Wu Liu's young man said.
"Wuxi? The same name as his son who fell into the river and died young? Why have I never heard of any nephews he had?"
"The wording must be different. I haven't heard it before, but it looks like this. Why do you care so much?"
"I'm not bored, just gossip, hehe."
.....................
Tonight, the meal was particularly sumptuous, with several more dishes and a bottle of wine, which Wu Xi and Wu Chengqu bought at the market this afternoon.
The three of them sat together. The old man and the old woman were still arguing with each other, while Wu Xi smiled in agreement from time to time.
"Oh, I'm exhausted. I wonder if we can get rid of them?" one person asked, holding on to the tree.
A person behind him said: "Boss, if you ask me, I don't know if I got rid of him."
"Did I ask you? Idiot!"
"...."
"How many brothers do we have?"
"Back to boss, there are less than thirty people."
"Hey, boss, look."
Looking in the direction of the man's finger, "I didn't expect that in this wilderness, there are villages at the foot of the mountains. Come on, kids, we will be caught sooner or later, maybe we can be happy."
"Okay boss."
"Okay boss."
.......
