The first rays of dawn slowly rose in the east, the hazy mist in the air began to dissipate quietly, and the clear chirping of birds came in twos and threes from the branches not far away.
A lame girl came to the small river outside Liujia Village to find her relatives.
"Sister-in-law, do you know Liu Dahai?"
Mrs. Liu, who was washing clothes by the river, heard the sound and looked over. She saw a ragged girl looking at her eagerly and asked.
But Liu Dahai
Mrs. Liu thought about it for a long time, but she had never heard of this name. She shook her head and said, "I have never heard of this person in the village. Girl, did you come to the wrong place?"
The lame girl is Mingyue.
Mingyue's eyes were filled with disappointment. She stumbled and murmured in despair, "How could we have found the wrong place? Isn't this Liujia Village? My mother clearly told me that my uncle lives in Liujia Village..."
Most villages in this world are named after surnames. The most common surnames such as Liujia Village, Zhoujia Village, and Wangjia Village are almost everywhere.
So Mrs. Liu did not doubt Mingyue's words, and just thought that the village where her uncle lived was also called Liujia Village.
So Mrs. Liu kindly reminded her, "Five miles ahead, there is another Liujia Village. Why don't you go to that Liujia Village and ask again, young lady?"
"Okay, I understand. Thank you, sister-in-law." Mingyue wiped her tears with the back of her hand, turned around and took two steps before she fell to the ground with a "ah" sound.
"Ouch." Seeing this, Mrs. Liu quickly threw her clothes into the basin and came over to help the man.
"Hey? Girl, are you okay?" Mrs. Liu held Mingyue's arm and asked with concern.
Mingyue covered her stomach and her ears turned red. She lowered her head and said embarrassedly, "I, I haven't eaten for two days."
"Ah!" Mrs. Liu suddenly realized, no wonder, it turned out that he was hungry.
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Mrs. Liu hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke: "Girl, why don't you go to my house to rest your feet and drink some hot water?"
Mingyue's eyes moved, she pursed her lips and nodded: "Then I'll trouble you, sister-in-law."
Mrs. Liu's family was not wealthy, with only two mud-walled and tiled houses, but she had five children, big and small. When they saw their mother coming back with a strange woman, they all ran over to see the novelty and watch the fun.
Two of the children were people Mingyue had seen outside the village before. Liujia Village was also mentioned when they were arguing with the children from the neighboring village, which suddenly made Mingyue interested.
There have been no major wars between Song and Wu in the past two years, but small wars have continued. In particular, villages near small border towns like Fengcheng have been frequently affected by innocent people.
When the war broke out, the people suffered the most. There are more and more refugees now, and Mingyue is now playing the role of a poor orphan who has come to seek refuge with her uncle.
It just so happened that her clothes were torn by the thorn bushes, her feet were injured, and her face was covered in dirt, so no one doubted the authenticity of her identity.
Mrs. Liu's family were all kind-hearted. Not only did they give Mingyue a set of clothes to change, they also bandaged the wound on her foot and specially cooked two big sweet potatoes for her to eat.
After Mingyue had eaten and drunk well, Mrs. Liu said that she would do her best to be a good person, and seeing that Mingyue had difficulty walking, she helped her go to the neighboring Liujia Village to look for someone.
Mingyue did not refuse, but thanked her sincerely and let Mrs. Liu go to another Liujia Village to find someone.
However, Liu Dahai was just a name that Mingyue made up, so naturally this person could not be found in the village.
Mrs. Liu felt a little depressed after making a wasted trip, but she still tried to comfort Mingyue with kind words, saying that the village might be farther away.
Mingyue forced a smile, but shook her head and sighed: "Since I can't find my uncle here, I can only go to my sister who married out." Mrs. Liu was stunned: "But your feet..."
"It's okay," Mingyue took out two taels of silver from her bosom, pleading, "It's a long journey, please help me prepare some dry food, the rest is just to thank you for the meal."
Mrs. Liu was stunned when she saw the two taels of silver, and then she waved her hands vigorously: "How can we take so much? We don't have any good things at home. This is too much, really too much."
Mingyue stuffed the silver in, "Yes, if it weren't for you, sister-in-law, I don't know what to do."
Mrs. Liu held the silver and swallowed, but finally took it with some embarrassment.
The family was really poor, and two taels of silver were enough for them to live on for several months.
Speaking of the silver, it was thanks to Jiang Yunqi who suggested that we should not put all the silver in the hands of one person, lest we lose everything if something unexpected happens.
This is the same principle as not putting all your eggs in one basket, lest you lose all of them if you are not careful.
This saves Mingyue from worrying about money.
But Mingyue didn't have much silver on her, only eight taels and three cents in total. Now that she gave two taels of silver to Mrs. Liu, the remaining money was even less.
However, good people should be rewarded so as not to let their character down and to stand up again when encountering problems next time.
Mingyue looked at Mrs. Liu and her family who were busy with work, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
*
At this time in the town, a group of pursuers asked questions here and there and finally found their way to the horse market.
The horse market clerk, who originally thought he had made a small profit, turned pale upon hearing that Jiang Yunqi was a murderer and fugitive.
"He, he, he stole my top-quality horse and ran away!" The horse dealer slapped his thigh and stuttered with anger.
He thought that Jiang Yunqi knew the market price, so why was he willing to pay two cents and be cheated
It’s all his fault because he thought she was an old acquaintance and didn’t ask for the deposit!
It turned out that he was the fool.
After hearing this, the pursuers were furious.
"This damn Jiang Yunqi is so cunning. He actually got away."
"Oh, you see, this horse market guy is in such a pity that he actually used two taels of silver to exchange for a very good horse. He is really unlucky."
"Hey, aren't we unlucky too? We chased him across mountains and rivers for such a long distance, but in the end he ran away. What a waste of time."
"But didn't Jiang Yunqi leave with his wife? Why did the horse market clerk say he was alone?"
"Isn't this simple? It's obvious that he asked his wife to hide him, tricked Ma and then went to pick him up!"
"That's the same reason..."
No one really thought that Jiang Yunqi would abandon his wife and run away alone. After all, they had been chasing him all the way but had not seen any woman alone.
Moreover, men judge others by themselves. The world is in chaos these days and it is not easy to get married. Unless it is a matter of life and death, no one is willing to abandon his young and beautiful wife.