It was a September day and the wind was quite strong. If the thieves hadn't broken the string, it would have been difficult for the night watch maid to discover that the thieves had sneaked into the backyard. The two thieves pulled them to the front yard and kept begging for mercy.
Li Chang and a group of servants did not torture the two thieves, because the maids in the backyard just caught the two thieves and broke the legs of the two thieves with their scabbards. Under the severe pain, the two thieves quickly He just poured out all his origins.
They turned out to be two thieves. Li Chang asked clearly about their origins and was not prepared to lynching them because the place under his feet was Chang'an, and everything under the emperor's feet must abide by the king's law.
Early the next morning, Li Chang sent four servants to send the two men to the Chang'an County government office with ten guan of money.
The two thieves did not steal anything last night. According to the Qian law, those who steal will not get rich and will be punished with fifty floggings. They asked the servants to take the money, not because they wanted to bribe the government officials, but because the maids in the house were too heavy-handed last night, and these two people's legs I was interrupted. The money was for two thieves to hire a doctor.
Although he was a thief, he caught someone and then broke his legs later. This was already close to lynching. So in order to avoid other troubles, Li Changtong reported to Su Ce and left the Su Mansion. He needed to follow up. The matter is settled.
On the first day after moving into his new home, he encountered thieves entering the house. Logically speaking, Su Ce should be very angry, but what Li Chang said in the morning made Su Ce interested.
However, due to his status, it was impossible for Su Ce to follow Li Chang. He saw Li Chang leaving the house and first joined Su Zhuang's wine transport team to go to various restaurants and delivered Baiguo Niang to the restaurants.
When returning home, Li Chang deliberately took a detour to the West Market. There was a very shabby shop in the West Market. This shop made mutton soup. All kinds of people came in and out, but these people had never made it. Stay longer.
Li Chang walked into the shop, walked to the table in the southwest corner, and asked the waiter to bring two bowls of mutton soup and a plate of cakes. However, Li Chang did not eat the mutton soup and cakes, and took the wooden spoon out of the mutton soup bowl. Aiming at the opposite side.
After a while, I saw a strong man in a brown short coat walking from the back door of the shop. He came straight to Li Chang. He was not polite, pulled out the chair opposite Li Chang and sat down.
"Last night in the southwest, two newbies, young and trying to make a name for themselves, stepped on the wrong beam. Their legs should not have been broken. They will have a hard time in the future!" The man looked at Li Chang and said in a low voice.
Li Chang sneered: "If you stand up high with a halberd, you deserve to be blinded and have your legs broken!"
The man's eyes narrowed, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes: "I stepped on the beam, and I definitely didn't stop talking."
Li Chang pushed the two bowls of mutton soup on the table to opposite sides, took out two gold nuggets weighing one or two from his arms, pressed them with his fingers, pushed them forward, and said: "It's not a loss to exchange gold for legs." !”
There was a trace of hesitation in the man's eyes. He reached out and took the gold ingot, put it in his arms, pointed at the bowl of mutton soup and said, "There is no meat in the soup. I'm hungry!"
Li Chang smiled, took out two more gold nuggets from his pocket, placed them next to the bowl, pointed at the mutton soup and said, "The meat is here!"
The man nodded and said no more. He took one of the two bowls of mutton soup pushed to the middle of the table by Chang Li with his right hand. He took two gold nuggets into his hand with his left hand and stuffed them into his arms. Then he grabbed the cake on the table. He took big bites of the cake and took a sip of mutton soup from time to time.
Li Chang picked up the remaining bowl of mutton soup, took a sip of the soup, and praised: "The soup is rich and delicious. I have something else to do, so go first!" After speaking, Li Chang took out ten coins from his pocket. He put the copper coins strung with hemp rope on the table, got up and left the shop.
From the time Li Chang entered the shop to the time he left the shop, he only had less than a cup of tea. After leaving the door, Li Chang walked around the West Market. When he saw a stall with fried chestnuts, he walked over and started eating fried chestnuts.
I took out one chestnut from the store, tasted it in my mouth, asked about the price, and bought all the dozen or so kilograms of chestnuts fried by the stall owner.
The stall owner put the chestnuts in a linen bag with a smile on his face. Li Chang did not reach out to take it. Next to him, a young man in short clothes walked quickly to Li Chang and said: "You need to work hard, noble man."
!”
Li Chang nodded, took out two strings of copper coins from his arms, a total of two hundred coins, and threw them to Li Fu: "The rest are yours."
By the time Li Chang returned to Su Mansion, it was already past noon. In the afternoon, Su Ce came to the front yard with Dudu in his arms, and Li Chang told Su Ce what happened at noon.
There are state-owned laws and regulations.
In the city of Chang'an there are princes, generals and ministers, and there are three religions and nine streams below, as well as ordinary people. It can be said that there are people of all kinds.
Half of Chang'an City is temples, and most of them are rivers and lakes.
Su Ce is a man who stands in the temple, but when he meets people in the world, he has to act according to the rules of the world.
It's not that I'm afraid, it's just that there are some troubles that I don't need to get involved in.
The small shop that Li Chang went to at noon today is the den of thieves in Chang'an County. The owner of the shop is the leader of all thieves in Chang'an County, but they will not steal anything. All thieves in Chang'an County will pay the leader of the thieves.
.
There are two uses for this money. One is to seek asylum. If someone is bullied by his peers, the leader will step in to smooth things over. If he is caught by the government, the leader will try his best to get people.
Li Chang went to contact the leader of these thieves and gave him four gold nuggets. It seemed like he was weak, but in fact, he saved enough face for the leader of thieves.
There are two types of thieves in Chang'an City: those who steal things on the street and those who steal things inside homes.
The former are just little thieves who will be beaten up if caught, but the latter have a nickname - Liang Shangjunzi, and these people are also called "chivalrous thieves".
The so-called grand robbers are people who can steal into homes. They can be regarded as strange people and strangers. These people only steal from rich households. The money they steal is divided into three parts. One part is kept for themselves and one part is handed over.
Give it to the leader, and the other portion will be distributed to civilians.
Although they did something illegal, there was a sense of morality in it, so when two thieves had their legs broken, Chang Li would give them money to hire a doctor.
Today, Li Chang went to see the leader to find out more about the matter. The thieves who were able to break into the house had all learned theft skills from the leader since they were young. Last night, the maids broke the legs of several thieves. If the legs were not cured, what would happen?
Even if the two of them were useless, they had no skills and could only become beggars, so the leader asked for an extra amount of money.
Four taels of gold, converted into copper coins, amounted to forty guan. With this money, two small stalls could be set up. The two thieves whose legs were broken could be regarded as making a living and would not be unable to survive.
On the other hand, if Li Chang does not go to the leader of the thieves to settle the matter today, as long as the leader of the thieves still wants to hang out in the world, he must regain the face he lost in the Su family, and the thieves under his command will probably follow suit.
Come to the Su Mansion until you steal something from the Su Mansion. It doesn't matter what you steal, the important thing is to earn enough face.
Su Ce was eating the fragrant chestnuts in her mouth. She pouted and looked at Su Ce with drool. However, the chestnuts were too unappetizing, so Su Ce didn't dare to give them to her.
After listening to Li Chang's explanation, Su Ce felt that he had learned a lot. As the old saying goes: "You can only be a thief for a thousand days, but there is no way to prevent a thief for a thousand days." Because no matter how good the defense is, there will be times when there is negligence. Li Chang's handling of it is really good. Su Ce After chatting with Li Chang, Su Ce walked around the new mansion with Dudu in his arms, and walked to the pavilion on the small lake in the mansion. Su Ce stared at the lake with Dudu in his arms and was stunned.
Su Ce's memories of his past and present lives have long been mixed up, but this is still Su Ce's biggest secret. He keeps the secret in his heart. In fact, Su Ce has never dared to open his heart and integrate because he was too defensive. , Su Ce has always been very closed-minded.
After going to the battlefield, the mental illness that was more serious than others is an obvious example. He didn't know enough about Daqian. When he was a child, Su's father took care of everything at home. Su Ce studied all day, and later entered Zhechong Mansion. , all I learned was the ability to kill enemies on the battlefield.
In his previous life, Su Ce's weakness in dealing with people was Su Ce's weakness, and it was the same in Daqian. The reason for not fighting or grabbing was because Su Ce didn't know how to deal with people, so Su Ce could only stay away from them.
In the past two years since he came to Chang'an, Su Ce always liked to chat with Li Chang, precisely because Li Chang could tell Su Ce many things that Su Ce didn't know or didn't bother to know in the past.
The earlier someone matures, the more late they mature, and Su Ce thinks this is the case for him.
When it comes to killing enemies on the battlefield, Su Ce considers himself to be no weaker than others. In fact, Su Ce, who has not experienced fighting for a long time, does not know how powerful he can fight with all his strength. Su Ce is not well-known in the army, but he has The label of a heroic general shows that Su Ce's personal strength is recognized as one of the top ranks in the military, otherwise Su Ce would not be honored when he was awarded a title for meritorious service.
The main reason for the title of Jingyang County Count was that Li Sizhe saw Su Ce's potential, coupled with the military reserve general, the succession of saints and nobles, and various factors led to Su Ce's title as a young boy.
During the year and a half of recuperation, Su Ce felt that his strength was still growing slowly and had not yet reached its limit. The killing moves he had learned had become instinctive. Su Ce felt that he now had the ability to kill enemies and capture flags, but There was no chance to show off, so Su Ce used his scheming efforts to seek an official position for the first time. After all, no one wants to be mediocre.
Being taciturn in front of others is because he is not good at sociability, and being cold-faced is because he doesn't know what expressions to use. Su Ce has always been cold and stern towards everyone except his family members. Over time, this coldness has become a disguise for Su Ce's self-protection.
It's just that he's too disguised, and Su Ce doesn't have many close friends recently. Although Li Chang and others are closely connected with Su Ce, in terms of status, they are just followers who are attached to Su Ce and cannot be considered friends.
In fact, Su Ce has always been lonely. Su Ce has already discovered this, but Su Ce doesn't know how to solve it. Su Ce once thought that Zepao in the army was his friend. But after a few years, things have changed and people have changed. , killed in battle, lost contact, alienated, this kind of loneliness Su Ce can only use family affection to alleviate.
Su's father, Su's mother, and his wife Wang Lan have long been accustomed to Su Ce's temperament, and they don't understand Su Ce's loneliness.
"Dad, Dudu, eat!" Suddenly, Su Ce's soft and soft voice from Su Ce's arms brought Su Ce back to his senses. He looked at his daughter's small hands holding a chestnut, and her baby teeth were biting the chestnut but could not bite it open. She was anxious. He couldn't even finish his words, so Su Ce kissed his daughter's little face hard.
Su Ce patted his forehead with a wry smile, almost going crazy. He helped Dudu peel off the chestnut, pinched a piece of chestnut the size of a grain of rice, and spread it on his daughter's mouth.
Dudu's little mouth pursed after eating chestnuts. Human beings' special sense of satisfaction with carbohydrates made Dudu narrow his eyes.
Su Ce threw the missing piece of chestnut into his mouth and looked at the squinting Dudu in his arms. For the first time, Su Ce had a destination for his soul. He had parents, a wife, and such a lovely daughter.
The pull of the blood connection made Su Ce's heart suddenly feel relaxed. He was carrying his own blood and his own child. The memory of his previous life should no longer interfere with him.
At this moment, Su Ce didn't think about anything, he only felt that his heart was full, and the loneliness buried in his heart was swept away. He was Su Ce, the uncle of Jingyang County, Daqian, who was born in the government army. He felt at ease and worked hard. It's the place to return.
In the evening, when the sun set and Su Ce's family was having dinner, Su's father and mother Su only felt that Su Ce had undergone some changes, but the change was still his own son. They thought that Su Ce was happy because he had something to do, so they didn't think much about it.
But as his wife, Wang Lan noticed the changes in Su Ce. The two grew up together. Su Ce knew that his changes could not be hidden from Wang Lan. It was just that Su Ce had trouble to talk about it, but Wang Lan took the initiative to mention it: "In the past I always feel like you are a kite, I am holding on to the string, but the string is broken, I am afraid you will fly away."
"What now?" Su Ce moved his arm to keep Wang Lan close to his chest.
"Now!" Wang Lan tilted her head and listened to the beating heart of Su Ce's chest and continued: "This string can hold the kite!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I have wanted to write this part for a long time, and I have been thinking about it. If I were to travel through time, I think I would probably not be like the protagonists in the novel, who wield a golden finger, gain power over the world, and lie drunk on the lap of a beautiful woman. That feeling of loneliness that I don’t belong to this world and that my heart has no place to belong is likely to drive me crazy. So let’s use this chapter to solve this problem.