83.
Ilona came back from the market a bit late today, but at least she got home before dinner. Prices have risen a lot recently. The money that could have bought a bag of flour can only buy half a bag now, and it is still coarse flour that has not been sifted through a fine sieve. The money that I originally planned to buy a new hair rope for my daughter is not enough. She wondered if she could take on another lace-making job at night, and was afraid that the money she would earn would not be enough for gas. When he tasted blood, he realized that he had already reached the door of the house.
She called her daughter's name twice, but there was no answer. She thought it was her daughter who had gone to play in the backyard again, so she put down the flour bag to fetch water, but before she reached the well, she suddenly saw her daughter talking to a young man. . The young man turned his back to Ilona, and his back was very strange, while her daughter didn't notice her mother at all. The girl stared at the stranger intently. Her braids, which she tied up in the morning, became a chicken coop again. The corners of her mouth and There was still a gap in the back of the hand, but he looked up at the opponent's little face flushing.
Seeing this scene, Ilona seemed to think of some bad memory, her complexion suddenly became ugly, the woman's pupils showed a light of resentment, she threw the barrel away, picked up a wooden stick and was about to shoot at the man's body The head was smashed—but before the sound of the wooden stick piercing the air could be heard, the young man turned around abruptly, not only swung the wooden stick away, but at the same time thrust his right hand forward like a poisonous snake, and spit out a sharp blade from between his fingers. Just a hair's breadth away from Ilona's blue eyes.
"what!"
Ilona screamed and fell to the ground with her feet limp.
"Sorry." The young man immediately put away the knife after seeing the attacker clearly, "Didn't hurt you?"
The woman stared at him in surprise, her chest heaving violently.
"Mom?" The daughter stuck her head out from behind the man.
"This is your mother?" The man became more and more apologetic. "I'm sorry to scare you. I heard footsteps behind me... I used to be a mercenary, so I was more vigilant. Are you okay? I'll help you up."
"Don't touch me!" Ilona shook off the man's hand.
"I passed by here," the young man withdrew his hand in embarrassment, and he was still explaining, "I want to go to Wanlin to find a job. Do you know how far it is from Wanlin?"
"..." Ilona patted the ashes on her skirt and stood up, and then she took a serious look at him. The other party was a foreign man, but Tisu spoke extremely fluently. He was younger than she expected, with a handsome face and a thin body. Except for a knife wound at the end of his eye, there was no way to connect him with the word "mercenary". . She frowned, unwilling to answer the other party's words, turned her face and called out her daughter's nickname, grabbed the little girl's hand and turned her head to leave.
"Mom, he's not a bad person," the daughter staggered two steps, and wanted to explain in a low voice, "Today they called me a bastard from Fanshui people, beat me, and threw stones at me. chased away."
Ilona pursed her lips hard.
"Really, Mom..." the little girl said anxiously.
"—Didn't I tell you not to talk to people you don't know!" Ilona's anger burst out instantly, "If I meet another Fanshui person who lied to you, what do you want me to do? Husband A spy, and so is your daughter? Why do you go out, and you will be beaten and stoned if you don't?"
"I didn't... Mom..." the girl defended with tears in her mouth, "I won't talk to people I don't know anymore, really..."
Behind the two, the young man pursed his lips tightly as he watched the mother and daughter leave.
"Their family?" The hotel owner brought a bowl of wine to the guests, "It's always been like this."
The guest took a sip of the wine. After getting used to the wine at sea, he was a little uncomfortable with the bad wine in the border village hotel: "Did something happen to her family?"
"Her man is a spy of Fanshui. He sent a lot of information to Fanshui during the Battle of Jiayang, and he was caught and lost his head." The boss lowered his voice mysteriously when he said this, "I know who executed the execution It's her father!"
The guest did not show surprise as expected by the boss, instead he looked unsurprised, and he took another sip of wine: "What happened next?"
"Later? Later, I don't know. Anyway, her father came once, but she refused to see him. Her father left a sum of money for her and left. He never came again... Maybe he died on the battlefield. "
The guest remembered the girl's patched old clothes and Ilona's rough hands just now: "Since I left a sum of money, why does it seem that she is not doing well?"
Just as the boss was about to answer the call, the door of the hotel was suddenly kicked open. Two men walked in from outside, laughing and swearing at each other, while urging the boss to serve wine. It can be seen that it is a woman's purse.
"The two of them are the reason." The boss whispered this sentence to the guests, and then walked towards the two with a flattering smile.
The distance was too far, and the young guest couldn't hear what the boss said to the two of them. When the fatter man raised his voice, he just finished drinking the wine in his hand: "... how could she have no money, she If you really have no money, you can still go..." The fat man made an extremely obscene gesture, and laughed viciously, "Sell her yourself! Anyway, she is a bitch dumped by Fanshui, and she is still with her. Her little bastard is in the village, we've already given her face!"
There was a lot of laughter around him, but no one refuted him.
The guest put the wine glass on the table: "Boss."
"Come here," the boss You said with a smile on his face, "Do you want to drink something, or try our specialties?"
"No, I have to go on my way." The guest threw the drink money to the boss, he thought for a while, and asked again, "Is there no one to help her?"
The boss spread his hands towards him: "Who would do such an offending thing? Besides, many men who joined the army in our village died back then. Isn't it all because her men sent information to Fanshui?"
The guest was noncommittal, and when he got up, he glanced at the two hooligans: "Which gang do those two belong to?"
"Gang... What is it?" The boss looked confused.
"It seems that small places in the countryside don't talk about this, that would be better." The guest smiled slightly.
※※※
Asha guessed that she might not have had dinner today. Just before the two villains entered the house, the mother pushed herself into the backyard. The little girl didn't dare to go anywhere, so she had to squat in the corner and watch the ants. She heard the laughter of the villains, the mess of the kitchen utensils thrown to the ground, and the suppressed crying of her mother.
Asha thought about whether ants have a father. If its father is an ant from the other side of the mountain, will the little ants born be "hybrids"? Will there be bad ants throwing stones at it, robbing it of money, and destroying its home
She poked the ant with her index finger, and the little thing slipped away from her fingertips, leaving only a dirty ring of dust between her fingers, and her stomach growled. She was so hungry that she was dizzy. When someone called her name, she was stunned for a while before she realized it. When she followed the prestige, she met a pair of bright eyes—it was the beautiful brother from before.
"Mum said I can't talk to you anymore." Asha made a shush gesture.
"It's okay, I'll leave right away." The beautiful brother's voice seemed to be a little different from that in the evening, light and airy, but with an excited smile, "I picked up your mother's purse on the road, please help me return it to her Go." With that, he threw the money bag over.
Asha's hand sank, and when she raised her head again, the other party had already disappeared into the twilight.
The girl carefully handed the money bag to her mother, and Ilona opened the money bag dumbly. Inside were not only the pitiful copper plates that were taken from her, but also two shiny gold coins and a note . There are only two short lines on the note, one line of text, and one line of signature.
Move with your daughter.
Captain Kapok's loyal subordinate.
"Kapok... Dad... No!" Ilona exclaimed, she threw the note away and looked at her fingers. The woman's fingertips have deep grooves due to long-term labor, but at this moment, under the light, they reveal an extraordinarily bright and beautiful color.
Words are written in blood.
84.
Fang Tinglan had returned to Jiumeng City four days ago, and the first thing he did after entering the city was to drag Zhou Buyi out of the pile of red and green jade.
"I thought your lord Fang wouldn't be coming back, so I wondered where I could find someone else to cheat me out of money." Zhou Buyi was not angry that the other party disturbed his good affairs, and wiped the pimples on his face leisurely. Rouge powder, and handed a box of candied fruit to Fang Tinglan, "Would you like to eat? This brothel is not very good, but the dim sum is delicious."
Fang Tinglan took a candied fruit in one hand, and stuffed a letter into Zhou Buyi's open lace collar with the other: "Contact that sheriff named Faluko tomorrow and give him this."
"No problem, anything else?"
"Just wait for the reply from over there. This is a great gift from me."
Zhou Buyi raised his eyebrows, and stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth.
"By the way," Fang Tinglan said again, "One more thing, have you written the report to King Liang this month?"
"Not yet, I always put off writing until the last day, why?"
"Tell him about Tisu's plan to seize Sand Ghost Bay." Fang Tinglan took a sip of the syrup sticking to his fingertips, "He and the staff behind him are not stupid, they know what to do."
"You are muddying the water." Zhou Buyi reminded.
"Qin Weishen will know sooner or later, I just asked them to send troops a few days earlier," Fang Tinglan smiled, "Besides, I am not from Tisu, how could it be possible for Tisu to take Shaguiwan so comfortably. The Qin family and The more Tisu argues, the more turbid the sewage will be, and the more sincere my begging will be."
"...Fang Tinglan," Zhou Buyi admired sincerely, "You are really bad."