"What's going on? Hasn't it been dealt with yet?"
It took the officials a bit too long.
Captain Yang's already limited patience was exhausted. His horse's hooves stepped on the puddle, splashing muddy water. He rode forward, wearing a ferocious beast-head armor, looking down at the hunched old man, giving him great pressure, and his shoulders were shaking with fear.
"These two?"
The official answered truthfully.
Captain Yang glanced at the old man with a vicissitudes of life and the skinny shepherd boy. The grandfather and grandson had sunburn scars on their faces from years of hard work and exposure to the sun, and their fingers had frostbite. The old man wore a broken hat with a broken corner, and the shepherd boy wore a large, old raincoat.
No matter how he looked at them, they were just ordinary people in this world, not the thieves he was worried about at all. Captain Yang's tense nerves relaxed a little, but the anger in his heart was still there.
"Why are you two running around in the mountains instead of going home at this hour?"
The old man moved his lips and said in a panic and aggrieved tone: "Soldier, please understand. It's not that we don't want to go home. It's really..."
He looked at the direction Captain Yang and the others were coming from, hesitating to speak, hesitating to speak again, although he didn't speak, but his cloudy eyes had already told all about his vicissitudes and embarrassment. Captain Yang was furious, he snorted coldly: "Are you accusing me of blocking your way, old man?"
The old man said in fear and trepidation: "I dare not, I dare not."
He was frightened by Captain Yang's words.
The shepherd boy on the cow bit his lower lip tightly, lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, looking pitiful and helpless. Captain Yang did not want to embarrass the old and weak grandfather and grandson in front of so many people. He pointed to the road with his whip and said, "Go over there, don't delay our business."
Upon hearing this, the old man felt as if he had been pardoned. He nodded and bowed repeatedly to thank Captain Yang, while also saying flattering and auspicious words.
Perhaps he felt that what he said was not enough, so he tugged at his grandson's torn trouser leg, indicating that he should also be grateful to Captain Yang for his magnanimity.
The shepherd boy hesitated and couldn't finish his sentence.
Captain Yang secretly thought it was bad luck that he was still a stutterer.
"Alright, alright, get out of the way!"
The old man nodded and struggled to pull the unruly old cow to the side of the road to clear the way. The tax and silver team continued to crawl slowly like a snail, and the old cow also carried the shepherd boy and walked slowly forward under the guidance of the old man, until -
"Wait a minute, old man!"
Zhai Le smiled and walked forward to stop the old man.
The old man's hearing seemed to be not very good. He was a beat late to come back to his senses and bowed to him: "Hello, soldier, what can I do for you?"
Zhai Le asked, "Does my father-in-law sell dates?"
The old man was speechless. Although he was extremely puzzled, he still answered respectfully: "My family has never sold dates, but there are two trees planted behind the house, one is an orange tree, and the other is also an orange tree. If you don't mind, please stay here and I will bring them to you."
Zhai Le didn't stop the old man just to eat oranges, but he felt a little embarrassed by the old man's enthusiasm.
"Give it to your grandson."
The old man tried to please Zhai Le, glanced at his grandson, and sighed, "He can just eat two. We are not worthy of them. If you want to eat, send the rest to you. We have dried orange peels at home. Soaking them in water is quite delicious."
Seeing that the old man was serious, Zhai Le hurriedly stopped him.
The old man looked at Zhai Le suspiciously, as if he was completely confused, and said, "Soldier, you stopped us not to eat oranges... but to eat dates? But there is no date tree at home. Why don't you go further, maybe someone will plant date trees."
Zhai Le: “…”
Zhai Huan couldn't help but smile as he watched this scene.
Zhai Le was shy, and when he heard the laughter, his face turned red with embarrassment. He said angrily and annoyedly, "Brother, don't laugh!"
Zhai Huan was very insincere: "Yes, yes, yes, don't laugh, don't laugh."
Seeing that he really wasn't smiling, Zhai Le turned around and asked the old man again.
"Does the old man's family make wine?"
As a loyal fan of "Water Margin", it is a rare experience to see the novel reflected in reality. The tax silver is equivalent to the birthday gift. Captain Yang and the hero Yang Zhi, the Green-faced Beast, have the same surname. The birthday gift was robbed at Huangnigang, and they are now on a similar mountain road.
At this moment, a grandfather and a young boy were walking towards us.
It’s not that Zhai Le suspected that the grandfather and grandson were criminals in disguise. If they were really disguised, how could his cousin not see through it
He just wanted to collect the same elements as his idol.
If the old man's family had a business of selling dates or wine, he would be satisfied with just one of them. But no one understood his little thoughts, and his brother laughed at him. The old man looked at the handsome, richly dressed but mentally ill young man, and said slowly: "We don't sell wine at home, but my son loved wine when he was here, and he could drink three jars at a time."
Zhai Le pursed his lips regretfully.
The old man asked again: "Soldier, do you have any other instructions?"
Zhai Le concealed his disappointment and gently warned: "It's gone, it's gone, old man, go ahead. The mountain road is slippery, please be careful."
The old man thanked him, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Bing."
After that, he led the old cow and continued on his way. He did not dare to get too close to the tax collector team, but he also did not dare to get too far from the mountain road, for fear that he would get lost in the dark night. The tax collector team went forward, and the grandfather and grandson went backward. The two walked towards each other, and it took a full half a quarter of an hour before they separated.
Zhai Huan looked at the backs of the grandfather and grandson leaving in the distance and frowned slightly.
After a while, he borrowed a scout from Captain Yang.
Captain Yang was not very satisfied: "What for?"
Zhai Huan said, "Let's follow the grandfather and grandson and see."
Captain Yang snorted, "A white-haired old man and a yellow-haired child, are you worried that they are the outposts of the bad guys?"
If you really suspect it's an outpost, just catch it and kill it.
Why send scouts to track and investigate
Zhai Huan did not say it explicitly, but just said calmly: "It is better to be safe than sorry. If the grandfather and grandson are really innocent and it is just a coincidence, there is no need to disturb them, so as not to ruin the good reputation of the captain. If they are suspicious, wouldn't arresting them alert the enemy?"
Captain Yang was no match for these scholars.
They have arguments for both sides of the sentence.
Because of the heavy rain, the tax and silver team could not move fast, so Captain Yang adopted Zhai Huan's suggestion for the sake of caution.
Zhai Le asked his cousin privately: "The grandfather and grandson..."
Zhai Huan knew what he was going to ask, and said softly: "I'm not sure if it's them, so I just used the way of the scholar to investigate..."
Zhai Le's expression suddenly changed: "What happened?"
He knew the ways of his cousin the scholar.
Eight Days
A divination can be made every eight days.
The seemingly heaven-defying way of the scholar also has many limitations, such as being unable to specify the object of the hexagram, only displaying the hexagram, and consuming a lot of literary energy. Due to various limitations, he generally doesn't use it very often, and this time he used it out of caution.
He said: "The minefield is difficult to start with."
Zhai Le's relaxed expression disappeared, and was replaced by a solemn look: "Tun Gua, the worst... Zhen represents thunder, Kan represents rain, thunder and rain are coming together, and there are many dangers. This is not a good sign..."
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