"Looking for me?"
Shen Tang pointed at himself.
It felt like winning a small lottery prize.
It wasn’t much money, but it was unexpected.
However, Shen Tang's attention is always very strange. She pondered Gong Xichou's words carefully and found something wrong: "Wait, when I heard you ask the boss lady about He Yin, I thought you came to visit me specially. So I was just a by-product?"
At first I was quite touched that my friend remembered me.
Thinking about it again, it turned out that she was wrong
Gong Xichou was not embarrassed by being caught. Instead, he was confused by Shen Tang's question: "Isn't this all the same?"
Shen Tang said firmly: "It's different!"
That-
Gong Xichou tilted his head in confusion.
Ask in a soliciting tone: "Then I apologize?"
Shen Tang admired his wisdom.
"Well, okay, I accept it."
You can't break up with your soulmate just because of a small conflict.
Gong Xichou apologized straightforwardly, and Shen Tang accepted it as a matter of course. Only the onlookers could not understand the logical connection. This, this might be the reason why they could become close friends, while outsiders could only be confused
"Parent, please have some tea."
The "servant" brought a pot of tea.
Shen Tang looked at the ear holes on the "boy's" plump earlobes, smiled meaningfully at Gong Xichou, and asked, "Yours?"
She raised her pinky finger.
Gong Xichou looked at his little finger in confusion.
"What does this... mean?"
Gu Chi: "The little finger belongs to water, which refers to children and younger generations."
With Gu Chi's erroneous explanation, Gong Xichou hurriedly explained, "This is not a younger member of the clan. She was given to me by my adoptive father. I saw that she had a pitiful life and was smart, so I kept her by my side as a maid to help with her living expenses."
Originally, the people who took care of him were his servants.
With this maid, Gong Xichou no longer had to worry about not being able to find the pearls that were randomly thrown away. He didn't want to take her with him this time, as the pressure of traveling day and night was a bit too much for a weak woman. But considering that if he was not there, someone might come to cause trouble, he thought about it and decided to take her with him.
Shen Tang: “…”
One dares to explain, the other dares to answer.
Her gossipy heart was forced to extinguish.
Let's turn the topic back to the strange boy.
"You said that the young man came to me just now. Did he come to seek refuge with me or to seek revenge on me?"
Shen Tang is very confident in her charm, but there are not many people in the world who can appreciate her. In addition, her reputation has not yet been fully established, so she should not be able to attract high-end talents to join her amateur team. The boy has excellent bones. Although he looks shabby, the details of his breathing and walking all show that he is a martial artist with a solid foundation.
With these conditions, why would you bother looking for her
The chance of surrendering is low, but the probability of seeking revenge is high.
Gong Xichou's answer was unexpected: "He should have gone to seek refuge. When I saved him, he kept saying that he wanted to find Mama to repay her. He said it was his sister's last wish before she died. It's a pity that he doesn't know the way..."
"His sister?"
There is absolutely no impression in my mind.
Have you ever saved his sister
Gong Xichou saw Mama's reaction and knew that she was also surprised, so he suggested: "Why don't we call someone over to ask?"
"That's fine."
Gong Xichou asked the servant to go to the stable in the backyard of the inn to call for help. After a long while, the young man finally came over step by step, dragging the heavy chain. Gong Xichou pointed to the empty seat and said to the young man, "Sit down. I have something to ask you."
The boy hadn't taken a bath in a long time.
The exposed skin was covered with dirt and had an indescribable sour odor. Although he was in rags and barefoot, he was not at all embarrassed in front of outsiders. When Gong Xichou asked him to sit down, he sat down openly.
"She's the one you're looking for."
Gong Xichou pointed at Shen Tang.
Hearing this, the boy's calm eyes finally changed, and he turned his head sharply in the direction Gong Xichou pointed. He opened his mouth with three words without any reason: "It's you?"
Perhaps because he hadn't spoken to outsiders for a long time, the boy's voice was much deeper and hoarser than those of his peers.
"What is me?"
The young man immediately asked, "You bought my nephew with forty coins? Where is he now?"
Forty cents
Buy his nephew
When did it happen
Shen Tang felt vaguely familiar with this, but couldn't remember it for a while. Gong Xichou helped Shen Tang sell Amway for free, and wanted to force the following words into the boy's mind: "As expected of a mama, you are really kind and compassionate, with a heart of a bodhisattva! It turns out there is such a connection. Don't worry, your nephew will definitely live a good life with me, your mama!"
Shen Tang's forehead throbbed: "Shut up!"
Gong Xichou didn't expect that he would be scolded. He lowered his head with a look of grievance and quietly raised his eyes to observe Shen Tang's reaction.
Shen Tang: “…”
She remembered the incident of "buying a nephew for forty coins". Last year, when he was still in Xiaocheng, Sibao County, Shen Tang's base was in the bandit camp on the mountain. In order to further expand the bandit camp's manpower, Shen Tang decided to go down the mountain with Qishan to buy, and it was on that trip that he bought Lu Jue.
Before meeting Lu Jue, Shen Tang saw a woman holding a child in her arms on the side of the road. The son's skin was cold, and he had died in the woman's arms long ago. However, the woman was obviously unconscious, or she refused to accept the fact that her son had died, and looked crazy.
Shen Tang felt pity for the woman's motherly love, so he spent forty coins to buy the body from her and buried it in the back mountain.
There is nothing else except this matter.
Shen Tang swallowed his saliva and thought to himself that this was way off the mark!
That woman should be the boy's elder sister. If you look closely, there is indeed some resemblance between their eyebrows. But why didn't that woman tell him that his nephew had died
Where could she get a nephew for the boy
"Ahem, actually..."
Shen Tang looked embarrassed.
Gong Xichou knew something was wrong when he saw this. He pretended to adjust his sitting posture, changing from kneeling to a very casual and rude sitting posture, with his body tilted and his center of gravity resting on the low table. The muscles under the dark tights were already in a "ready to go" state.
Shen Tang chose to tell the truth.
"At that time, your sister was holding him by the road. I thought the child was sick and still had a breath, so I went to check on him. But when he stopped breathing, I realized he had passed away. His stomach was huge, so he must have been suffocated by the Guanyin soil. Your sister asked me if I wanted to buy him. I saw that he was unconscious and felt sorry for him, so I paid for him and buried him properly after I bought him back... I said all these things with absolute sincerity! If you don't believe me, I can tell you where your nephew's grave is."
As she spoke, the boy's eyes dimmed little by little, his eyes turned red and misty, he did not have any doubts or anger, he was obviously mentally prepared, choked up slightly: "A sister's family only has this few blood relatives, I thought I could find him and raise him well, and then I heard about Shen Jun's news... I didn't expect it to be like this..."
It’s just that he came back too late.
No wonder other people.
Why didn't the boy doubt Shen Tang's words
Of course, it was because after he returned, he saw his sister, who was skinny but with a big belly, and then he realized what happened to his family. Except for his nephew, all the other five members of the family looked dead. The boy had a glimmer of hope that his nephew was still alive, but reason told him that the possibility was not high.
My nephew is too young, and the two older ones died young. Can he survive until a kind-hearted person buys him and raises him
Shen Tang's answer made him feel relieved, but the heavy sound made him sad.
"My condolences."
Shen Tang had no choice but to comfort himself in this way.
After hearing this, Gong Xichou roughly understood what happened. He couldn't help but bring up the issue. With a slightly dissatisfied look on his face, he started to criticize the young man: "You are a brave warrior after all. Don't you even have the ability to protect a few ordinary people?"
Shen Tang rolled his eyes at Gong Xichou.
He said: "The customs of the outside world are different from yours."
In the Gongxi Chou tribe, infants are usually raised by their mothers and their maternal uncles. The tribe members live close to each other and it is convenient for them to take care of each other. But in the outside world, when a woman marries into her husband's family, it is impossible for a boy to marry into the family as her brother-in-law.
Even if you want to seek asylum, it is difficult.
The boy was good-tempered and not angry.
He just lowered his head silently without saying a word.
In fact, this matter really can't be blamed on him.
The young girl was lucky. Her talent was discovered when she was still a child and she was taken in as an apprentice. Because there was a brave warrior in the family, it also brought honor to her parents and sisters. Her elder sister even found an excellent marriage because of this.
The man was considered a wealthy man in the nearby village.
The boy returned home once every three years, and every time he went back, he saw that his family was doing well. Even when Sibao County was conquered by Zheng Qiao for the first time, his family fled in time. Over the past few years, except that the living conditions were not as affluent as before, everything else was fine.
Letters home only report good news, not bad news.
The young man studied with peace of mind and achieved some success in his life.
As soon as he came out, he heard that the rebel army of King Zhui was wreaking havoc in Sibao County. The harvests in the past two years were poor and God was not kind to him. He was worried and went home while asking for information.
Only then did I realize so many things had happened at home.
His parents were blackmailed and forced to death by a bully on the way to escape. He buried their bodies again with tears in his eyes and went to look for his sister. When he found her, the stench of corpses filled the simple and dilapidated house. His sister, who used to have bright eyes and a kind look, looked like a dead skeleton holding her belly, curled up beside her rotting husband.
The boy had just recovered from the shock of his parents' death, but he was devastated by the sight of several bodies in the broken house. He felt dizzy. The elder sister was still breathing. After drinking the hot soup, her spirits improved significantly, and her gray skin turned slightly red.
But the young man knew that this was a last burst of light.
The elder sister was conscious and told him that her nephew was bought by a kind-hearted person and lived a good life. If there was a chance, please help take care of him. She kept describing the kind-hearted person's appearance, clothes, and voice, and her cloudy eyes were full of gratitude and expectation.
She was grateful for Shen Tang's kindness, and hoped that her son could live a happy life. She died with such expectation of happiness.
The young man suppressed his grief and settled his sister's family.
From then on, he embarked on the journey of looking for his nephew.
Having lost all his blood relatives in just a few days, the boy was filled with grief and anger, unable to vent. He forced himself to ask around for bits and pieces of information about Shen Tang as if nothing had happened. He happened to run into the bully who had forced his parents to death and bullied women and children.
The nerve called reason broke.
He punched the bully's head into a pulp with one punch after another, and was finally caught and exiled. During his exile, he heard the officer talking about the governor of Ha Yin Fu Gu, and unexpectedly found that this person might be the one he was looking for, so he attacked and injured the officer and escaped.
As a result, he fainted from hunger and was picked up by Gong Xichou.
When the latter heard that he was looking for the governor of Heyin County, he agreed to take him with him without hesitation. The young man stayed and worked as a temporary groom, just to repay Gong Xichou's kindness.
"He also has a rough life." Shen Tang looked at the boy with pity and said gently, "Do you have a place to go? If not, why not follow me? I will move your nephew's grave here later. Although Heyin is a small place, it is also a place to stay."
The boy pursed his lips, seeming to be hesitant.
He originally went to Shen Tang to take care of his nephew, but now that his nephew was gone, he didn't have to stay. It was just that Shen Tang's invitation touched his soft spot, and he wavered.
Gong Xichou crossed his arms in dissatisfaction and said, "What are you hesitating about?"
The boy looked at him and said, "It's more appropriate to follow the parents."
Gong Xichou was also a brave warrior. His intuition told him that this man was very strong and he might not be able to defeat him even if he confronted him head-on.
In comparison, Shen Jun seems too gentle and weak.
But Gong Xichou didn't welcome him at all.
He muttered in a barely audible voice: "Follow me? I don't even know when I will die suddenly...
He patted the boy's shoulder and laughed loudly, "I can assure you that Mama is absolutely the best person in the world. If you miss her, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Even if you follow someone else now, you may still want to follow her in the future. Why go through so much trouble? It's better to do it all at once, don't you think?"
Boy: “…”
He didn't quite believe it.
But judging from Shen Tang's act of buying a corpse just to comfort a loving mother's heart, he is indeed a good person. A good person may not be a wise leader for knowledgeable people, but it is a great thing for the common people.
After a long while, the young man said, "My last name is Xianyu."
"Salted fish?"
The boy didn't hear the question.
He just pretended to submit: "Xian Yujian."
"I am willing to obey Mr. Shen's orders."
————
"I didn't expect that I could actually pick up a brave warrior on this trip, and he's a good one at that." Privately, Gu Chi and Shen Tang joked, "It seems that the master's daydream was not in vain."
Shen Tang curled his lips: "Enough teasing?"
Gu Chi knew what to do and stopped talking.
Shen Tang asked Yu Zi to find a set of clean clothes to send to Xian Yujian. Since he was now his subordinate, he needed to be treated well, and the most basic thing was to maintain personal hygiene.
"Have you prepared the visiting card for Zhang Yongqing?"
This business trip is limited in time.
The makeshift team had too few people, and almost everyone had multiple duties. She had been away for too long, and the scholars in the nest were ready to rebel. She planned to make a quick decision and resolve the matter here as soon as possible. Gong Xichou had similar thoughts.
The next day, we made an appointment to go there together.
Although he did not reveal his purpose and true identity, Gong Xichou's Wudan Tiger Talisman was enough for Zhang Yongqing to receive him personally. To be honest, which man could refuse a 15th-rank Shaoshangzao
Even if the other party didn't come to seek refuge with him, what if? Shen Tang thought he had figured out Zhang He's thoughts.
Unexpectedly, when they met, the latter's eyes were always on her face - he kept looking at her.
Shen Tang: "... Why is Mr. Zhang looking at me like this?"
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