In the pavilion, Chen Jiu and the old man sat opposite each other and tasted wine.

The old man was afraid that Chen Jiu would not be able to drink it all, so he took another bottle out, so the two of them drank and talked.

From the old man's words, Chen Jiu also learned the old man's name, Cao Hua, and the guys in the tram called him Lao Cao.

Lao Cao was an abandoned baby when he was a child. He looked ugly and was taken in by a woman in the tramp. Since then, he has been a servant in the tramp. When he was young and strong, he ran errands in the tramp. When he was old, he would guard the pavilion outside. His salary was reduced a little, only one tael of silver, which was not enough to drink every month.

Maybe it was because the pavilion had a long time ago, and Lao Cao said a lot, so Chen Jiu drank a small wine and listened to him.

The two nominal security guards began to drink and sing about the geometry of life.

Lao Cao was tired of talking, so he took a sip of wine, showed his yellow teeth, smiled, and signaled Chen Jiu to speak.

Chen Jiu was so excited that he was not an idle person, and the stories he told must be bizarre and tortuous, so he planned it for a while and began to preach slowly.

“Abin’s high school grades are not ideal…”

A "dongdong" knocked on the door suddenly from outside.

"Old Cao, lead this horse to the stable!"

When Lao Cao heard this, he felt excited and stood up immediately, ran outside quickly, nodded and bowed to the man outside who looked like he was dressed as a servant.

"I'm going to lead the stable right now, right? No problem!"

The young servant looked at Lao Cao and frowned, "You are drinking again, haha, your rotten wine is like a horse pee. I really don't know what it feels like. In the future, you might as well go to the stable and have a sip of horse pee directly."

Lao Cao just lowered his head and led the horse without saying a word.

The young servant shook his head, "I see you are here as a security guard, just to support you. The ladies are still very kind. I want me to tell you, just give you some silver every month, just starve to death, how can you still get one tael of silver?!"

Lao Cao's head was even lower, and even his waist bent down, making him look even more insignificant.

The servant also felt bored, so he glanced at Chen Jiu lightly, turned around and left.

Chen Jiu glanced at the back of the young servant, ran to the old man quickly, and whispered: "Old Cao, I'll help you."

The old man didn't look up, but just kept shaking his head, "No, no, I'll do it myself."

So the two of them walked by the river and walked to the stable. Lao Cao was short and could not take the horse in, and refused to ask Chen Jiu for help. So when the two of them finished and were about to return to the pavilion, it was already dark outside.

The two of them stayed on the riverside at dusk for a while.

The Huai River in the distance looks sparkling under the dusk and sunshine. Occasionally, the waves are gurgling, and the sounds of the waves are gurgling. I feel refreshed and happy when I hear it.

Old Cao stared blankly, not looking at the Huai River, but looking at the sunset.

When the sun sets and the sky and the earth are dark, Chen Jiu whispered, "Let's go."

The two walked back to the pavilion along the riverside. There was a bed inside the pavilion, which was Lao Cao's sleeping place.

The old man said he wanted to sleep with Chen Jiu. He kept watching the bed at night and could sleep during the day. Chen Jiu refused to do it and insisted on sleeping halfway by himself, so the two of them slept together.

The old man was afraid that he would rob the quilt in the middle of the night, so he didn't cover it too much.

Chen Jiu was crowded with a man and couldn't sleep well.

In the end, neither of them slept well, and they opened their dark circles in the morning and stared at each other with big eyes.

After that, the old man went out to buy breakfast and asked Chen Jiu what he wanted to eat. Chen Jiu said whatever he wanted.

So when the old man came back, he brought a few big meat buns and gave them all to Chen Jiu. He didn't eat any of them, saying that he was full.

When Chen Jiu ate, he always felt uncomfortable.

After that, the work was easy, and the two of them sat in the pavilion and chatted together.

Some of the servants from the yard came here and asked Lao Cao to do some trivial things. The old man just smiled flatteringly and lowered his head to do it.

Chen Jiu lay on the window of the pavilion and watched quietly.

At noon, Lao Cao, who went to work, came back with the food, with a bruise on his face. He placed two meals on the shabby table in the pavilion. The old yellow teeth were wide open and smiled at Chen Jiu and said, "Eat, eat."

Chen Jiu was speechless, nodded, and lowered his head to make rice.

The old man only ate half of the food and didn't eat it. The half left was mostly meat.

Chen Jiu looked at it and was quite confused.

After midday, an old yellow dog came outside the pavilion. Seeing that he was walking, his limbs were inconvenient and his fur had taken off a few pieces, which made him look a little ugly.

Lao Cao dug all the food in the bowl to the ground and smiled and watched the old yellow dog finish all the food.

The old yellow dog stuck out his tongue and wagged his tail frantically, lingering for a long time, and finally ran away reluctantly amid the old man's shouts.

The old man turned to look at Chen Jiu again, smiling a little embarrassedly.

Chen Jiu blinked and smiled, "I like dogs very much, too."

The old man was stunned, and then his old yellow teeth became even more open.

I guess I was a little happy.

His daily work was to sit in the pavilion and look at the passers-by. Every day, there would be servants from the railings to ask Lao Cao to do some things. Every time Lao Cao came back, he would mostly have bruises or palm prints, which were on his face, the most conspicuous.

The elderly drink less and less often. After half a month, Chen Jiu almost never saw the elderly drink.

As for the reason, Chen Jiu didn't know at first, until one night when Chen Jiu woke up from his dream in the middle of the night, he quietly saw the old man counting copper coins carefully. After counting one, he solemnly put it in the pocket of the old clothes.

Chen Jiu looked at it, didn't say anything, and after closing his eyes, he didn't fall asleep again that night.

Another day, the servant in the railing pushed open the door of the pavilion with force and shouted rudely: "Old Cao, get out of here quickly and move this thing to the warehouse!"

The old man was shocked and quickly got up, but was pressed down by a palm.

Chen Jiu looked at the servant and whispered: "I'll do it."

The young servant was stunned for a moment, looked at Chen Jiu for a while, and hummed, "If you come, come on, don't break this thing, otherwise you won't be able to hold back!"

Chen Jiu didn't say anything, just held the box of items, got up and walked towards the warehouse.

Before leaving, the young servant glared at the old man.

The old man shivered in fear and kept his head down, not daring to look at the young servant.

The next day, the young servant came to the door again and asked Lao Cao to do things. Chen Jiu still took it over and did a good job according to the servant's instructions.

On the third day, the servant came to the door again. Chen Jiu stood up and asked what happened. After that, he went to do something without saying a word. However, after that, the young servant ordered Lao Cao to do another thing.

After Chen Jiu came back from doing his job, the old man was not in the pavilion. He sat quietly and lay on the windowsill.

The old man came back at dusk, kept his head curled up and walked into the pavilion. When he raised his head slightly, he showed the two long bruises on his old face.

Lao Cao said that his legs were not good, so he fell twice.

Chen Jiu didn't reply.
Chapter completed!