At dusk, light rain began to fall on the road, mixed with the faint sound of thunder.

There is a temporary pavilion next to it. In the shed, two coir raincoats are sitting opposite each other. There is a chessboard on the table with a nine-square grid.

One person holds the white piece in his hand carelessly, while the other holds the black piece in concentration.

"Brother, wait for me!"

The two of them looked along the road where the sunspots fell, and saw a boy and a girl running towards them. They looked about ten years old. The boy was older and the girl was younger.

"Huh!"

The man holding the black chess piece in his hand whispered softly, but a black chess piece fell silently on the road next to it, causing a little ripple.

There was a thud on the road, and the girl suddenly fell hard on her butt.

Seeing that the little girl's tears were about to slip out, the boy quickly put down his little backpack and turned around to comfort the little girl.

Unexpectedly, another white stone fell to the ground, and the ground made a clanging sound. The boy's foot slipped, and he fell down with a thud.

As a result, the boy took advantage of the situation and stretched out his two little paws to swim on the mud surface. Then he turned over and made faces at the little girl, which made the little girl stop crying and burst into laughter.

The boy's surname is Yang, and his name is Yang Shengzi. In this place called Qingwa Town, the land is barren and unbearable. The family has been making a living selling pottery and earthenware bowls.

Yang Shengzi has an old father and younger brother at home. The old father's name is Uncle Yang, and his younger brother's name is Yang Shengxian.

Yang Shengzi looked at the girl who had stopped crying and was smiling. Yang Shengzi changed into a weird face again, her face was covered with mud, which made the girl mutter:

"The Yang-born son is ugly!"

The girl with a round face is named Huaichun. Yang Shengzi's next door neighbor, her father passed away and her mother is a widow named Huaijia.

Huaichun's muddy hands shook and he pointed at the ugly creature in front of him, as if today's rainy day full of bad moods had cleared up again.

Yang Shengzi stood up and bent down to help the little girl Huaichun. He looked carefully at the two chess pieces, one black and one white, on the ground. He picked them up, took the little girl's hand and ran quickly to the pergola.

The kettle in the pergola was boiling, and the man holding the white coir raincoat picked up the teapot and served the two little guys who were hiding in the pergola without making a sound, gesturing "please".

Yang Shengzi held two chess pieces in his left hand, took two cups of hot water with both hands, gave one cup to the girl, and poured the other cup into his stomach.

After getting wet on a rainy day and drinking hot water, it was like drinking a glass of strong wine, burning and very satisfying.

The girl took the tea carefully, exhaling into the tea cup from time to time. After taking a sip, she held the tea cup obediently and quietly looked at the man in black and white in front of her.

Yang Shengzi took out the two chess pieces that had fallen to the ground with his left hand and asked, "Sir, you have dropped these two chess pieces."

The man in charge of the coir raincoat nodded and still didn't say anything. He just raised his right hand and pointed at the abandoned chess pieces in front of him, indicating that he could put them here.

Yang Shengzi put down the two chess pieces and took the little girl to squat aside, waiting for the weather to clear.

Strangely enough, both the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard are in an offensive position.

Neither side intends to leave a way for them to retreat, and even if they use up their last soldiers, they will still surround and destroy the other side.

This is the first time Yang Shengzi has seen this kind of chess game, and his horizons are wide open.

When the game of chess pieces from both sides reaches the point where only one chess piece is left for each player, the white cloaked man is about to fall, and there seems to be a trace of lightning and thunder swimming across the sky.

At this time, a carriage drove slowly over and stopped on the roadside a mile away from the pergola.

Yang Shengzi looked around and saw that this person was Wei Qing, the cart driver in Qingwa Town.

Wei Qing, a middle-aged groom, is tall and muscular, but has a scar of varying depths on his face.

The man wiped the rain from his face, put the bamboo hat on his head with the back of his hand, and turned to look at the two men in raincoats who were playing chess.

"Two adults, do you want to go to the brothel's red archway or to drink tea at the pavilion?"

The coir raincoat guest who had never spoken to Yang Shengzi and Heizi coir raincoat never turned his head, but just stared at the chess game in front of him, but his voice was sonorous and powerful:

"Old man, look how much silver we have on our bodies. Two bamboo hats and two raincoats only cost two taels of silver. How can I have the money to go to the brothel archway or the pavilion to drink tea?"

"But." The black-clothed ruffian paused for a moment, and then continued: "It's okay to take a ride to the town." The black-clothed ruffian turned his head and glanced sideways.

Bai Zi, who didn't say anything, threw Bai Zi to the ground and said, "That's right. You two should be respectful and obey your orders. But we have agreed that when we get to town, we won't be a swindler and ask for your share of the fare."

The two old men, black and white, stood up immediately and got into the carriage.

The horseman Wei Qing smiled and said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I will never deceive the market."

Then Wei Qing, the horseman, casually found two small bamboo hats and two raincoats from the carriage frame, and threw them to the two Yang Shengzi in the pergola.

"Little guy, please quickly put on your bamboo hat and go home. Why are you messing around in the rain?"

The horseman Wei Qing did not forget to nod and bow to the man in the car:

"Sir, please sit still, the road is bumpy!"

The coir raincoat guest remained unmoved and nodded.

The carriage sped toward a small town not far away, and waves of mud gradually rose up on the mud surface as it sped away.

Only the two Yang Shengzi and the girl Huaichun were left. They looked at each other, then took the girl's hand, put on their bamboo hats, carried bamboo poles on their backs, and walked towards the town.

From a distance, Qingwa Town looks like an eclectic place under the Huangshan Plateau. However, up close, you can see that Qingwa Town is surrounded by a circular city wall. The city wall is in dilapidated condition, and pieces of the wall will fall into pieces with the slightest touch.

The only things that are famous in Qingwa Town are the Brothel Red Archway and the Pavilion Flower House.

Lost wanderers who have passed by like to stop here, and the admirable courtesan alone makes people fascinated.

Now, only the madam is left sitting on the couch, waving her fan and sighing, wearing a gorgeous robe, her chest rising and falling slightly.

All I have to do is beg these adults with tears in my eyes to come in and sit down.

Yang Shengzi raised his head and looked at the madam sitting sideways on the balcony on the second floor, tugged his face with his hands, and silently said in his heart, "See no evil, hear no evil..."

Yang Shengzi called the old bustard Sister Shang, but he only knew her surname was Shang. Anyway, he had always seen her alone since he was born.

Sister Lao Madam Shang glanced at the two little kids walking by and joked:

"Is sister good-looking?" Old Madam Shang's breasts twitched twice as she spoke.

The girl Huaichun blushed, and Yang Shengzi's forehead felt hot. He quickly replied "good-looking" and wanted to quickly walk out of the old madam's eyes.

"Don't bother me, I'm just teasing you, little guy. Hey, two taels of silver will help me carry water for me tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've had a happy and comfortable bath."

Two taels of silver were thrown down from upstairs, and Yang Shengzi caught it. As a result, Huaichun gave him a hard look, and he cursed in his heart: "I am a money addict," and then walked out reluctantly.

The heavy rain has not stopped, and the two children have already taken off their shoes and are barefoot. They step on the bumpy dirt road, causing a crackling sound, and they enjoy it endlessly.

It’s not that relatives are better than relatives.

Passing by the Pavilion and Flower House, compared to the Brothel and Red Archway, this place is much more lively. Life is full of excitement.

(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page)

It is very nice to sit in groups by the window and watch the rain and sip tea during the rainy season.

Everyone looked at the two Yang Shengzi who were passing by, nodded slightly and smiled. Yang Shengzi waved to everyone upstairs and shouted:

"Hello uncles!"

Of all the people in front of him, he only recognized the middle-aged man at the front by the window. Yang Shengzi called him Uncle Chen.

Uncle Chen caught sight of this boy. He stopped holding the abacus in his hand, looked at the boy on the second floor and said:

"Boy, I'll ask your damn dad to bring you some pots and pans tomorrow. The shrew at home doesn't look the same every day. It's really annoying."

Everyone on the second floor of the Pavilion laughed loudly, almost spitting out the tea they had just drank, and directly praised the good wife.

The man who saw the joke responded, then picked up the abacus in his hand and started tapping it.

At this time, a bolt of thunder seemed to be flying out of the sky, and the harsh sound of thunder resounded throughout Qingwa Town!

Everyone raised their heads to look at the thunder in the sky.

We arrived at Yang Shengzi's home just ahead, in a remote alley with twists and turns.

The daughter Huaichun and Yang Shengzi were neighbors, so when Huaichun walked into the house and Yang Shengzi also walked in, they looked at each other and smiled, and they parted ways.

Yang Shengzi stepped over the threshold and stepped into the small courtyard made of loess. It seemed as if the courtyard would collapse when the wind blew.

As soon as I came in, I saw this damn old man sitting on a bamboo chair made of bamboo baskets, shaking his cattail leaf fan, and staring blankly at the sky.

"Hey, what are you daydreaming about, brother?" Yang Shengzi's younger brother Yang Shengxian appeared quietly behind him.

Yang Shengzi, who only came back to his senses after being patted on the shoulder by his younger brother who came out of the blue, responded:

"Isn't this the young man from Yushu Linfeng? When will he take us to live a luxurious and extravagant life?"

"Come on, stop dreaming about spring and autumn. Today I am going to court with my school teacher again, praising me for my great talent." This young man, who is regarded as a genius at home and in school, straightened his clothes in a leisurely manner.

, high-spirited.

"Gunduzi, hurry up and make dinner. I want to have a good drink with my youngest son." Dad gave the eviction order, and Gunduzi was naturally referring to the eldest son, Yang Shengzi.

Only my father and younger brother Yang Shengxian were left in the hospital.

Third watch time.

A deafening thunder resounded through Qingwa Town again, and the people in the town woke up one after another but fell back to sleep.

In another remote alleyway of Yang Shengzi's house, it was dark and raining continuously, but he could vaguely see that these were the three people Yang Shengzi saw in the pergola.

Black man, white man, coir raincoat guest, scarred horseman Wei Qing.
To be continued...