On the second day after the capture of Yunzhou City, Wei Mingyan sat on the grand teacher's chair, holding the little girl in his arms, watching her eating snacks one bite at a time, eating with one hand, and picking up the crumbs with the other. Can't help but smile.
"Eat slowly, before you choke."
Xiaoyi was wearing new green clothes, with a beautiful braid on his head, he buried his head and finished eating, looked up at him with red and swollen eyes, his white and tender face was full of expectation, "My lord, you found my mother and kissed me!" ?"
Wei Mingyan coaxed her softly, "Father is a scholar, mother works in the fields, and there is a grandma at home. What you said is too common. I am looking for someone to sell you to. When I find her If you do, you will be able to find your mother."
The little girl nodded gratefully and expectantly, "Thank you, sir."
Qing Ziyu walked in with the letter, and said respectfully:
"My lord, there is a letter from my sister."
"bring here."
Wei Mingyan gently put the little girl in his arms on the ground, patted her little head, "Go and play with your little sister, don't go to the lake."
Qing Ziyu looked at the cute look of the little girl in brand new clothes and a skirt stepping out of the threshold, with a smile on her face, "Do you like Xiaoyi very much?"
"I don't know why, but I like her when I see her."
Wei Mingyan smiled lightly, "Maybe because she looks a bit like my sister."
"Is there a sister in your family?"
Speaking of this, the handsome man sitting on the teacher's chair smiled expectantly, "Yes, there is a sister."
"Now that my foundation has been stabilized, it's time to bring my family back."
Wei Mingyan opened the letter, looked at the content on it, his eyes gradually softened, "I have wronged your sister, in order to accompany my wife, I went to a place as far away as the capital alone."
Qing Ziyu couldn't help laughing, "My lord, Miss Ji never agreed to marry you."
"You don't understand, we have exchanged tokens of love, and she must be thinking of me the way I think of her."
Wei Mingyan looked at Ji Xiawan's every detail recorded on it, food and daily life, and attached a page of scriptures written by Ji Xiawan's hand, the smile on his lips never fell.
He carefully took out the page of scriptures and put it in his arms, his expression was rarely soaring.
"Send some soldiers and come back home with me."
"What about Mo Da? Let him go with me."
Qing Ziyu smiled, "He has found his daughter's whereabouts, and I will accompany him in a while."
***
Yunzhou City was breached, and the people were panicked and hid at home one after another. Except for the Miaocheng army, the streets were empty.
Everyone hid at home, whether it was the elderly, the middle-aged, the women or the children, the whole family hid in a room with fear. Those who had a man at home felt more at ease, and those who had no man at home and only women were left. I was so scared that I didn't even dare to breathe out.
Widow Song’s family was like this. Both she and her husband lost all their relatives in a flood. Her husband was her only support, but the conscription took her husband away. When he left, she was already pregnant. She was pregnant, but after her husband left, she supported herself and accidentally miscarried.
It was already very hard, but within two months, the person who went with her returned with a broken leg and brought news of her husband's death.
There is no male in the family, and there is no elder to help her. Under such circumstances, Widow Song quickly changed from a gentle woman to a taciturn woman who just keeps her head down and does things all day long.
She became a widow, there were no elders in the family, and the child was lost. The neighbors persuaded her to remarry, but she grew up with her husband, so how could she be willing to leave him.
Later, everyone did not persuade her to remarry, but worried that she would have no children and what would happen when she was old. Widow Song just laughed and said that when she was too old to work, she would find a rope to end herself, so as not to suffer.
Everyone said she was stubborn, so she just kept thinking about herself. In the end, she picked up a dying little girl who was beaten up from nowhere. She used all her savings to hire a doctor to treat the child and prescribe medicine. When people asked her, she said In the future, this will be the daughter of myself and her husband, so that she will not be burned by every man.
The child was too young, so she only cried and said that a bad person beat her, and she couldn't ask about the history, so everyone ignored it, and the two unrelated mother and daughter lived like this.
Widow Song is known for being timid and fearful among her neighbors, but now most of the people are simple and honest. Seeing her as a woman pulling poor children, she will not bully her, and sometimes she will help some. There is only one gangster who always faces her Talking nonsense, the neighbors saw the gangster talking dirty to Widow Song, and the grumpy woman would help to drive him away.
That gangster also grew up with his parents washed away by the flood when he was young, and he was raised by the neighbors around him. At that time, everyone couldn't eat. He was able to survive well because the neighbors deducted a mouthful from his own ration. Come out and give it to him.
Therefore, although this gangster grew up and didn't learn to follow others to be an idler, he never did anything to the neighbors. He loves to talk, but he has never acted in practice. He was said to be cheeky. Two sentences, do not hold grudges.
Once Widow Song's daughter had a cold and was haggard to take care of her daughter. The gangster didn't know, and when he saw her, he flirted with her as usual, and he either walked away quickly in embarrassment or anger, or ignored his Widow Song Suddenly broke out, holding a pole and crying while beating.
It's not easy to scold him, but he still treats her like this, what a beast.
The gangster seemed to be frightened after that time, and he never dared to flirt with women again. When he saw Widow Song, he even avoided it from a distance. The neighbors told Widow Song that this kid It's a guilty conscience, after all, he was brought up by everyone, and he himself knows how difficult it is to live alone, so he will definitely not bother her again in the future.
Sure enough, after that, the young gangster never appeared in front of Widow Song again, even if she appeared and avoided it after a glance, she gradually let go of her heart and lived her own life.
Unexpectedly, not long after the loosening, Yunzhou City was actually broken.
Widow Song hid at home with her daughter. Her family was already poor, and she had no land to farm. Every day she embroidered and paid back the money. After changing the money, she went to buy food. In the past few days, Miaocheng called, and many people called her. I can't come out to sell vegetables. They didn't buy vegetables yesterday, so they can only eat the leftovers from before.
Yesterday, she ate a little bit all day, and today she didn’t even eat all day. Widow Song has suffered a lot. Although it is uncomfortable, it is not unbearable. But her daughter is not yet ten years old, and she has been hungry for two days. How can she suffer? Got it.
"Hey, bear with me, mother will pour you some water."
Widow Song watched her daughter cover her stomach with a pale face, and quickly got up to pour water, almost unable to hold back tears.
Her daughter was badly injured at the beginning, and the doctor said that she should use good medicine to nourish her body, but it was useless for her, and she had no money to take good medicine, so she could only live like this.
My daughter was not in good health, but now she hasn't eaten for two days, she is really afraid...
No matter how much suffering she felt in her heart, when she turned around, Widow Song hid her tears and handed the water to her daughter.
The girl took the water and thanked obediently, "Thank you, mother."
She drank it one sip at a time, her pretty face turned pale, her stomach was cramping, the pain was like being pricked by thin steel needles, but she still held back her silence, not wanting to yell out and worry her relatives.
But she didn't shout, and Widow Song could still see her pale face and lips without any color.
She has raised this child for seven years, and she has long regarded it as her own flesh and blood. How could she bear to see her suffer, so she gritted her teeth and decided to go out to buy some rice from her neighbors.
"Mom, don't go."
The girl's icy fingertips grasped her sleeves weakly, and she managed to force out the words, "There are Miaocheng officers and soldiers outside now, don't go."
"I'm fine, I'm just hungry for a few days, it doesn't matter."
"But what will you do if you go hungry with this body!"
Widow Song couldn't help but shed tears, "Mother is the only one left..."
The girl shook her head, and before she could say anything more, there was a sudden knock on the door.
The two of them stopped suddenly, and their eyes were filled with panic at the same time.
The door was knocked lightly again, and after there was no response, a gangster's voice came from outside, his voice was very soft, "Sister Song, it's me."
Widow Song grabbed her daughter's hand tightly in fear, took a step back, and looked at the door as if she was looking at some kind of scourge.
"I know your family has nothing to eat. Here is a small bag of food. I put it at the door. You can take it and eat it."
After the gangster finished speaking, he gently put down the food, looked around carefully, and tiptoed back to his home.
His house was close to Widow Song's house, and he disappeared after a while.
In the house, both mother and daughter were afraid to go, for fear that the man who had molested Widow Song had some conspiracy.
After a stalemate for a while, seeing her daughter's pale face, Widow Song gritted her teeth and took her into the inner room to hide her. Regardless of her obstruction, she opened the door.
There was indeed no one outside the door, only the food on the ground, waiting quietly.
Widow Song's heart was beating like a drum, and she didn't even know how she took the food back to the house. When her daughter asked, she realized that she had already cried tears all over her face.
The bastard returned home, rubbed his hungry and aching stomach, scooped up a spoonful of cold water and drank it. He stood quietly outside the window. From this angle, he could clearly see the door of Song's house.
Widow Song is very good-looking. Although her face has become haggard due to the housework these few years, she still stands out among women. This kind of appearance may be very good when she is a girl, but when the man is gone, she will be very eye-catching up.
The gangster has always been courageous. When the people were hiding at home and dared not go out, he had already sneaked into the street several times. He found that the city gate was wide open, and was accidentally seen by the soldiers of Miaocheng. He did not pursue him. They didn't drive them away either, as if they were originally the defenders of Yunzhou.
But the gangster did not relax his vigilance. He used to know a lot of people of various religions and ranks, and he had heard a lot of animal things that the Huns invaded the Jin Kingdom, and he knew how the defeated side would be treated.
He was alone, and he was a big man. Fortunately, there were two beautiful women in Widow Song's family, and there was no man in the family to support him. In this situation, it was the most dangerous.
He sneaked out last night and knocked on the door for a long time before buying this bag of grain from the person he had traded with before. He just noticed that the Song family was out of food.
The gangster was hungry, but he didn't take it seriously. Man, he was hungry when he was hungry. He stared at the door of Song's house with a pair of small squinting eyes.
Looking at it, he couldn't help but want to sleep. He closed his eyes, and he didn't know how long he had slept, when he suddenly heard the sound of uniform footsteps.
The gangster trembled in his dream, and suddenly opened his eyes to look over, but when he saw it, he was horrified to find that a group of soldiers wearing Miaocheng clothes stopped at the door of Widow Song's house.
A tall and strong person in the front seemed to be the leader knocking on the door of their house.
The gangster felt chilled, what would happen to a woman if she fell into the hands of soldiers, he had heard many people talk about it, if he didn't mind it, his life might be in jeopardy, no matter...
Finally, he gritted his teeth, opened the door and walked over.
Listening to the knock on the door outside, the mother and daughter hugging each other in fear heard a familiar voice.
"My lord, my lord... Do you want to find this family for something? I know this family well. If you need anything, just ask me."
Mo Da frowned, and looked carefully at the person who suddenly appeared in front of him, "Do you know this family? Is there a woman and a ten-year-old child living in it?"
The gangster's eyes changed, beads of sweat gradually formed on his forehead, and he still smiled shyly, "Guard, look at what you said, no one has lived here for a long time, and there are no women or children here."
"What's the matter with you? I grew up here, you can just come to me directly."
Mo Da looked him up and down, "Is there no one living inside?"
"Come on, knock the door open for me."
"Don't don't!!"
The gangster who was trying to stay calm just now panicked, and subconsciously rushed over to block the door, "Master, just tell me if you have anything..."
"I'll ask you again, is there a mother and daughter living here?"
"Yes! Yes!"
When Widow Song heard this, her eyes were filled with despair, and she carefully protected her daughter in her arms.
if…
Then she would rather die than let those people succeed!
But immediately, the voice of the gangster came from outside again, "Master, those mother and daughter look ugly, I'm afraid you'll see the poor, what do you want to do with them, just tell me!"
He had a flattering smile on his face, but he kept guarding the door, holding on tightly, always on guard against the person in front of him breaking in.
Mo Da was already anxious in his heart, seeing that he was still refusing to give way, so he simply stepped forward, "Let them come out, I have something to ask."
"Master!! Master!!"
The gangster's voice immediately became tense, "If you like beautiful girls, hello girls from our flower house in Yunzhou. I have some silver here. You can take it to drink. The widow here is a widow. I'm afraid it will be bad luck for you..."
What and what.
Mo Da frowned, and was about to rush in, when Qing Ziyu followed, whispered, "Lord Mo, he thought you had taken a fancy to the woman inside."
"I?"
Mo opened his eyes wide, and then he came to his senses. He looked up and down the gangster in front of him. He was dressed sloppily, looked ordinary, and his eyes flickered. He was willing to risk his life to protect someone who had nothing to do with him.
"Okay, let me ask you directly, did the woman inside pick up a baby girl seven years ago?"
The gangster was on guard, but he didn't expect him to jump here directly after opening his mouth.
He was puzzled, thinking that the little girl was beaten so badly when she was picked up, he was a little afraid that the person in front of him was an enemy, so he said cautiously, "Our neighbors all know that Mrs. Song has a daughter. It looks like it should be my own."
The light in Mo Da's eyes suddenly dimmed, he clenched his fists, his expression lost.
Qing Ziyu looked at Mo Da who had no doubts and believed directly with some headaches, and looked at the gangster, "Master Mo's daughter was lost seven years ago. She was only three years old when she lost it. Now she is ten years old. We found out What’s more, it was picked up by this woman back then, if you know the truth, tell it quickly, if you don’t tell the truth, we still have a way to check it.”
The gangster immediately hesitated, Mo Da saw the hope, and said hastily, "My daughter's nickname is Xuan Niang, and she has a small red birthmark on the back of her neck..."
The girls in the room were still afraid, but Widow Song opened her eyes wide. She looked at the daughter in her arms, and there was a small red mark hidden on the back of her fair neck.