Uncle Zhao walked ahead with a few soldiers, and with his hand on the handle of his knife, he carefully entered the small village beside the official road.
The village was quiet, with more than a dozen dilapidated mud houses in a mess, sitting together piecemeal, separated by a cross-shaped aisle in the middle. Form a simple street.
The sound of Uncle Zhao's crowd clamoring was very clear in this small village.
"Is anyone there?" Uncle Zhao walked to the entrance of the village and yelled inside.
The sound echoed inside, and there was no movement for a long time.
"Is anyone there?" he called again.
The village was still quiet.
The soldiers who followed also frowned, followed his gestures to disperse, and quietly entered the village to check.
House by house inspection, one by one slowly walked by.
Slap.
A soldier accidentally touched a stone handle for grinding flour, and the wooden handle broke and fell to the ground.
Immediately, several lines of sight hurriedly looked towards this side, Uncle Zhao took a few steps at a time, and went to the stone mill to examine carefully.
He reached out and touched the broken part of the handle, and his fingers were immediately stained with some finely divided yellowish-brown wood powder.
"This village has been around for quite some time. Who of you has been here before? This place is near the official road, so people passing by should see it from time to time."
The assembled soldiers shook their heads as they looked at each other.
"I've heard my father mentioned that he went to Yanshan City when he was young, and stayed overnight in a village on the way. I don't know if it's here." A thick and thick soldier said in a rough voice.
"Your father is sixty now, wasn't it decades ago when he was young?" Another soldier said speechlessly.
"It was more than 30 years ago. It's been so long now, it's useless." The strong soldier replied with a smile.
"It seems that there is no one in this village." Uncle Zhao stood up straight and looked around, "Go and check again. If there is nothing abnormal, you can stay here temporarily."
Due to various accidents these years, the entire village has been relocated or most of them fled to the sea. Empty villages are nothing unusual.
In many cases, an epidemic may cause a village to be completely relocated and dilapidated.
"yes!"
A group of people split up and started to check around. They swept all the 18 mud houses in the village, and half of them were broken. Either there were big holes in the roof, or there were dangerous walls in the house.
Uncle Zhao led people to clean up the remaining earthen houses, and then sent people back to inform Lu Quanan who was waiting on the road.
Lu Quan'an also brought a group of family members, drove the cattle and horses slowly into this small village.
"There are a few larger earthen huts. Let's look for them and allocate them. We will rest for one night and go on the road tomorrow. The rest of the night watchmen have been arranged." Lu Quan'an directed everyone to put down their things and set up camp.
This earthen house alone is naturally not enough to live in. The main people who need to be resettled are female relatives and children. The Northland is no different than other places. The temperature difference between morning and evening is huge, and it gets cold at night and even freezes. An accidental wind chill is easy.
"There is a well in the middle of the village, you can go to fetch water. There is a forest on the side, take someone to pick up some dead branches. Also check if there are game mushrooms nearby, don't go far and pay attention to safety."
Lu Quan'an had traveled far and wide before, so he naturally had relevant experience, so he quickly arranged for dozens of people, big and small, in the Lu family.
"Send someone to hurry up and go to Yanshan City to report the news. They say that the axle is broken halfway, so we have to go slowly and we can arrive a few days later." Lu Quanan called a soldier and ordered.
"Understood, master." These soldiers are all city guards arranged by Lu Anping. This trip to work is originally assigned by the boss, and the Lu family treats them well. They can earn five taels of silver each for this trip. . It's already equivalent to their two months' interest. Such an extra trip can get some extra rewards, so naturally there is no dissatisfaction.
The soldier got on his horse, brought enough food, and galloped away in the direction of the mountain city.
At this time, a bonfire has been lit in the village, and a big pot of soup is ready to be cooked.
Lu Chenxin got down from the carriage and moved his body. He originally planned to go out to study with Lu Yiyi, but with his tired and lazy personality, he couldn't bear the bitter cold life in the academy, so he tried every means to find excuses to pretend to be sick , finally failed to go, missed the departure time, and in the end only Lu Yiyi went to Xichuan Mansion.
"Hehe, Yanshan City is much more prosperous. Compared with Xichuan Mansion, what is there to do? Brother Sheng must have a great time there, and I heard that there are many red boats there, so there must be something to enjoy." Lu Chen thought in his heart. Hey hey waved, and looked around.
He was in the carriage with Zhang Xiuxiu, a distant relative of the eldest lady, and Lu Tianyang was with him, so the carriage was a little crowded.
However, Zhang Xiuxiu had a charming face, a soft body, and a very good touch, but he had a very comfortable life along the way.
Zhang Xiuxiu is a distant relative's daughter of Lu Sheng's grandfather's branch, and actually has no blood relationship with him, Lu Chenxin.
It was just because her father was not doing well, so she defected to the Lu family with a big business, and made a living at the house.
Zhang Xiuxiu was originally born by her father who didn't know what woman she had outside. There were rumors that she was a brothel girl. Anyway, she was only raised by her father when she brought her back.
This girl has grown up and has a very open temperament. Because she is beautiful, she always flirts with each other, and she has some ambiguities with Lu Jia, Lu Tianyang, and the former Sun Bajun.
Now that the rest of the people have left, Lu Chenxin finally tasted the meaty taste that he had never tasted before, so he naturally felt at ease.
He got out of the carriage, and Lu Tianyang got out of another car on the other side.
The two looked at each other and hurried together.
"How is it? How does Xiu'er taste?"
"It's not bad, it's more active than Yuelan, and the taste is strong enough." Lu Chenxin whispered with a smile.
"One room at night?" Lu Tianyang was born to Lu Quanan's fourth concubine, and he was also a well-known son-in-law in Lu's mansion. Originally, he, Lu Chenxin, and Sun Bajun were collectively called the Lu Family Sanxiu Unfortunately, Sun Bajun disappeared unexpectedly later.
"It's a pity that Eight Horses...."
Thinking of this, Lu Chen felt a little sad, "Yanshan City is prosperous like a brocade, if Brother Bajun is here, I don't know how happy it will be, and then our Lu family Sanxiu will have a good time drinking and playing Songbai River, how happy it will be."
"Let's not talk about that, what about Jiaoyan? Have you seen her?" Lu Tianyang recently fell in love with a little maid at home.
"I'm helping to tidy things up. Daddy's car, do you dare to go?" Lu Chenxin pointed in the direction.
Lu Tianyang stuck out his tongue immediately, not daring to answer.
Chengshui Gate along the mountain city.
Large tracts of gray and white bungalows along the mountain city are layered like fish scales, and they are divided into two consecutive pieces. The light red Songbai River is in the middle, dividing the urban area into two.
Lu Sheng and Chen Yunxi stood on the stone arch bridge in front of the sluice, watching the weeping willows by the river swaying in the wind, they didn't speak for a while.
After being silent for a while, Lu Sheng smiled when he saw that the long-legged girl in front of him hadn't responded.
"I haven't been to this place before. The air is good and the scenery is good. How did you come here for a walk?"
Chen Yunxi looked at the gate of the sluice where the water was flowing out continuously. Several white strips of water, like white silk, flowed continuously and rattled into the Songbai River.
"The third renovation of this sluice was paid by my father. At that time, a lot of manpower and material resources were used. The first time it was repaired and the water was released, I came to see it. I was really excited at the time.
Seeing the turbid torrential rain, the water formed by the Chengshui sluice becomes a clean and clear river after being filtered by the Chengshui sluice. The shock... You don't understand. "
"It's okay, I've seen such a scene before." Lu Sheng stroked his bald head, wondering why he didn't grow his hair for so long.
"Brother Sheng, tell me, do you really dislike me?" Chen Yunxi turned around, looking at Lu Sheng with a pretty pale face.
"You are so beautiful, well educated and well-off, who can dislike you?" Lu Sheng shook his head and said, "I just don't want to settle down so early."
He knew that his future path was destined to deal with ghosts constantly. His character determined that he had the dark blue modifier, and it was impossible for him to be willing to do nothing for a lifetime.
And this kind of life is destined to be unacceptable to Chen Yunxi. All she thinks about is to find a lover, live a good life, have children, inherit the family business, or obtain fame.
And these are not what Lu Sheng wants.
Since you can't give people a future, don't let them have hope, and don't delay others.
Lu Sheng knew it very well, so after the sacrifice, he didn't hide from Chen Yunxi who approached, and came here with her.
"I know you are different from us." Chen Yunxi lowered her head and her voice became softer. "My father also advised me not to be too persistent. From the changes in you, brother Sheng, I can also guess what kind of life you lived before."
"Then you still pay?" Lu Sheng asked helplessly.
"But, I feel safe only when I'm with you..." Chen Yunxi stepped forward and approached Lu Sheng lightly.
She wore a light long-sleeved white shirt, a large milky white tulle, and a pink tube top inside. The legs are a white flounce skirt, and a bow is tied with a rope from the right side. The skirt only reaches the knees, which highlights the slender and perfect white legs.
"You..." Lu Sheng looked at Chen Yunxi who was approaching, and was slightly taken aback. Even in the extremely open Northland, there are very few women who are so close to a single man.
"I like you. Brother Sheng." Chen Yunxi looked at Lu Sheng tenderly with beautiful eyes, and looked into his eyes.
"Even if you lose your eyebrows, even if you become bald, even if you gain more and more muscles, I still like you."
Lu Sheng felt weird, and always felt that something was wrong.
"So." Chen Yunxi took another step forward, her chest happened to touch Lu Sheng's chest.
"Marry me."
Snapped.
An exquisite jewelry box was taken out by Chen Yunxi from nowhere, and gently opened. Inside was a white jade finger ring, engraved with a phoenix about to fly.
"......" Lu Sheng's heart froze for an instant.
Countless similar pictures kept flying in his mind, but those pictures were all about men proposing to women, and what he didn't expect was that such a beautiful woman as Chen Yunxi would take the initiative to customize it for this purpose. Such an exquisite white jade finger puller proposed to him.
Feeling helpless, Lu Sheng still calmed down.
"Sorry, I can't give you the life you want." He gently closed the jewelry box and pushed it back.