Author: I have a pot

South of the city.

A dilapidated arch bridge.

After crossing this bridge, go south and walk all the way to Chuzhou.

Chuzhou is a prefecture with outstanding personalities and great places. There are dozens of literati and talented people, and countless mountains and rivers are numerous. It just so happens that there are many rich people in Qingcheng, and they often take horse-drawn carriages to cruise to Chuzhou.

Some vendors are flexible in mind. They collect Chuzhou's specialties and use cars to sell them. They can often sell them without leaving any left. Qingcheng and Chuzhou are only a hundred miles away. In their spare time, the people of Qingcheng often go to Chuzhou to visit relatives. The place they must pass is this arch bridge.

After all, this arch bridge has years and years, countless wheels of carriages have been rolled over here, the railings are gone, the blue bricks are incomplete, and the bridge deck is uneven. Whenever a carriage passes by, a layer of soil can be shattered.

When it was built at the beginning, two carriages were able to move forward in unison. Although they are now broken, the glory of the past can still be seen from its skeleton.

There is a winding river under the arch bridge. This season, the river water is not deep, but it is very turbid. The whole river is earthy yellow, and a bunch of bubbles appear from time to time. There are probably no fish or shrimp inside.

Occasionally a broken bamboo basket or an old felt cloth floated over the water. Decayed wood floated through the river, and sometimes a piece of wooden stake with tree roots. Looking closely, there was a dead cat hanging on the stake. The fur had rotten and fell off, and the eyes were hollowed out by something, leaving only two black holes.

The river is covered with artemisia, which grows more than half a person tall. The highest place is flooded with an adult man's head. In summer, cicadas fly here and take off their shells. Now cicadas are flying there. Now they are flying there. Dozens or hundreds of cicadas are hanging on the artemisia, swinging in the wind, occasionally rubbing against each other, making a "hurrying" sound.

There is a deep bridge hole under this arch bridge, which is less than two meters above the ground.

The coachman put away the reins and the carriage stopped steadily on the river bank.

Xiang Suining got out of the car and took a look at the bridge hole.

There was originally a sound of conversation in the bridge hole, and the sound of "snoring" when the water was boiling. When you looked closely, a trace of smoke came out of the bridge hole, like a deformable snake, drilling through the green artemisia and rushing directly into the air, becoming lighter and lighter, leaving only a smell of fireworks burning.

Perhaps I heard horses neighing on the shore, and the sound of talking in the bridge hole suddenly disappeared, and even the sound of water boiling and the smoke was less.

If you remember correctly, this is the bridge hole in the south of the city. The woman who begged with her children that day should have lived here.

"Girl, be careful of the steep slope under your feet. Be careful of sliding." Mingzhu held Xiang Suining's arm with concern.

The steep slope is right, there are clearly several soil steps next to the arch bridge. The steps lead to the bridge hole. The steps are very shallow and are almost impossible to detect when hidden in the weeds.

The bridge is indeed inhabited.

A small head came out of the bridge hole, and soon a big hand stained with dust pulled him back.

After a while, a woman poked her head slightly, and just took a look, she pulled open the weeds and greeted her: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's our benefactor."

As soon as he finished speaking, several heads poked out from the bridge hole, just like hungry birds and others feeding them.

The woman's face was a little better and her hair was washed. She restrainedly asked Xiang Suining to sit in the bridge cave: "Since the girl is here, I'm really uneasy if I don't invite her in to sit. But the bridge cave is dirty and messy. A girl who is like a fairy is really wronged to go in."

The woman rubbed the corners of her clothes with some inferiority.

"I'm just about to go to the bridge hole to see it, but I don't know if it's convenient for you."

"It's convenient, and today my fellow villagers and my men secretly went to the temple to receive alms. There were only a few women and three or four children in the bridge hole. They heard that a kind girl gave us money, and they all wanted to thank the girl in person."

"Then I'll go in and sit down."

"Girl, be careful, I will guide the girl in front of me." The woman walked up the steps happily, and turned back from time to time, staring at Xiang Suining with concern.

Mingzhu was a little worried.

She came from a poor family, and she knew very well what would happen in these pickled places.

But before she could open her mouth, Xiang Suining shook her head.

When I went down to the river bank, I found that artemisia almost blocked the hole.

Because of the artemisia, the light in the cave during the day was not very bright. You could vaguely see seven or eight people queuing up on the straw mat. The children could not sit still, crawling around the straw mat, and crawling all over the soil.

On the other end of the bridge cave, there are also weeds, and the grass is hidden at the entrance. When the wind blows in, there is a "whimper" sound, like a child crying at night.

The furnishings in the cave are very simple. Apart from a few straw mats, there are blankets with no color. After washing a few clothes and supporting them with bamboo poles, they dare not dry them outside. I guess they are afraid that passers-by will see them.

A large pot was built with three large stones. On the smaller stones, there was a black teapot. Half of the teapot was covered by a piece of rag, and firewood was burned under the teapot, as if it had just been splashed with cold water.

Maybe they noticed someone coming in the cave, for fear of being discovered, so they extinguished the firewood in desperation.

In order to survive, they have already survived.

There is no dining table in the cave, and there are a few large large porcelain bowls in the corner of the wall, mosquitoes on the pot, in the bowl, and children are still living in it, densely packed.

Fortunately, a willow basket covered with a basket of steamed buns and pickles. Although there is no oil and water, it can still satisfy your hunger.

Naturally, they fled, with almost no clothes and jewelry. Most of the women here broke a branch and pinned it behind their heads as hairpins.

There were no cages. At the beginning, I was in a hurry to escape, but I first hired a carriage to pull things. Later, I couldn't afford to hire a carriage, so I could only throw away some trivial things. Later, people were so hungry that they were even more worried about things outside.

The woman wanted to pour water for Xiang Suining. When she brought the bowl, she saw that the bottom of the bowl was filled with green-headed flies.

The woman felt a little embarrassed.

"I'm not thirsty, you don't have to be busy." Xiang Suining smiled.

The woman smiled awkwardly.

Her child cried and got up from the straw mat. The woman picked up the child with one hand and held it in her arms. While coaxing him, she also fed him.

She looks very strong, but she seems to have nothing to do with her health.

On the prudent side, Xiang Suining asked her: "How are you doing lately?"

"Okay, okay, although it's dirty and messy, the last time the girl gave her a lot of money, we often buy some food, and the children are not hungry."

This is very good.

You can buy some food yourself. When the wind is tight, go begging less and you won’t be caught by the yamen runners.

"The children have something to eat, so they no longer make trouble at night. They used to be unable to eat enough, so they always look for milk in the middle of the night."

After saying a few words, I heard a rustling sound, making my hair stand on.

Then I saw something with a long-tailed black tail passing through my feet. The woman kicked it very skillfully, and the thing was kicked far away.

It's a mouse.

At first glance, there were about 70 or 80 people, who were leisurely and leisurely, and jumped into the thick porcelain bowl and jumped around, as if they were the owners of the hole.

The mouse's eyes are small and bright, and when staring at people, it makes people feel scared.

"The girl must be scared. The conditions here are poor, so it makes the girl laugh." After the woman finished breastfeeding the child, she took out a stick to drive away the rat.

The mouse fled in panic, and cried out and went into the artemisia bush on the other end.

"Is there something wrong with a girl coming to see me?" the woman asked with her face raised. Her cheekbones were very high and her eyes were more dazzling than the previous few days.

"You must be careful of your safety and not be captured by the yamen runners."

"What the girl said is that it was all rich families who gave alms, so we sent fellow villagers to collect some. They didn't dare to run around at other times. The girl didn't know that Qingcheng's control has become increasingly stricter. No matter big or small, as long as they are refugees, they will be taken out of the city, starving to death and thirst, and they don't care about them. In the past two days, the old man who used to beg with us has disappeared. I think he was arrested." The woman sighed: "If this continues, there will be fewer and fewer refugees in Qingcheng."

I hope that several prefectures near Changzhou, Luocheng and Anzhou can get better quickly and avoid the people being displaced and have nothing to rely on.

"How are you doing well recently? But who is uncomfortable?"

"No, we roll in the mud every day, have a poor life and good health. A fellow villager, who fell a few days ago, broke his head and bleeded. However, after lying down and raising it for two days, he won't faint. Now, I can't lie down today and I'm even out."

"No one vomits blood with high fever, right?"

"No, no, if we are a pariah like us, if we have high fever or vomit blood, how can we survive?"

What the woman said makes sense.

They still lack food and clothing. If they get plague, they will naturally have no money to get medicine, and they will most likely die.

I knew they were fine, so I felt relieved.

The woman personally sent Xiang Suining out of the bridge hole and watched Xiang Suining onto the carriage.

"If there is a home, I will definitely ask the girl to come and sit there often, but we are not at this place, so it is hard to say that the girl will come again next time." The woman rubbed her hands again and lowered her head restrainedly.

"What's your name?" Xiang Suining asked her through the curtain of the car.

I have met twice, but I still don't know her name.

"My name is Caihong, and my mother's surname is Qi. When my mother gave birth to me, she had difficulty giving birth and could not give birth. The weather was not good. It rained. Later, the rain stopped and my mother gave birth to me. She had been born for a whole day and a night and suffered a serious crime. It happened that there was a rainbow in the sky after the rain. My parents had never read any books. I thought I would call me Caihong. The rainbow looked good. Unfortunately, I lived like this..."

"The rainbow will pass."

"Thank you for comforting me. Everything can be passed, and I will borrow the good words of the girl. The girl is really kind-hearted." Caihong smiled: "Miss cares about our safety, but does she care about him?"

“He’s very good.”

"The heaven has eyes."

The carriage walked slowly.

The road leading to the south bridge cave in Chengnan is not easy to walk, the grass is deep and the road is narrow, and the bustling eyes are fascinated.

The carriage staggered for half a day, and it was very bumpy.

Mingzhu took out a round fan and sang Xiang Suining. The scenery outside the window was so beautiful, with lush branches and leaves, red flowers and green willows. The lady in front of her also returned to her former charm, with red lips and white teeth, long hair and waist, and the small beads and flowers dotted between her hair all exuded dazzling brilliance.

"Who is Rainbow talking to the girl?" Mingzhu was puzzled.

"you guess."

"Is that?"
To be continued...