A deserted beach outside the market was chosen by the father and son as a place to spend the night.
The beach is covered with pebbles, and occasionally grass sprouts from the cracks in the stones, becoming a delicious dinner for the skinny horse.
Zhu Guoxiang took off his shoes and socks, sat on a big stone, washed his feet, and reviewed various events today: "That Orion Zhang was a little too enthusiastic."
"That's not the case." Zhu Ming really didn't think so, because he himself is this kind of person. As long as it doesn't harm his own interests, he will always help those who are in trouble.
Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "The salt I have eaten is more than the rice you have eaten. Zhang Orion gave me the feeling that his village is in short supply of people, or in other words, there is a shortage of people with some ability."
Zhu Ming didn't like his father's reliance on his old age, so he immediately retorted: "You eat so much salt, why don't you keep you alive?"
"Forget it if you don't believe it." Zhu Guoxiang was too lazy to defend.
After washing his feet, he wiped them dry on his trouser legs and picked up the socks lying next to them.
The socks had holes in them, and there was a sour smell. Zhu Guoxiang came closer to smell them with some disgust, and threw them away on the river beach.
"Crab!"
Suddenly seeing something in the water, Zhu Guoxiang jumped out and shouted in surprise: "Quickly move the rocks in the water, there might be crabs!"
When Zhu Ming saw the river crab in his father's hand, he immediately became excited. He took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trouser legs, and rushed into the water to catch crabs.
The thin horse raised its head when hearing the sound, looked at them doubtfully, and walked slowly towards the water. Passing by the place where Ju Ming took off his shoes, he was instantly frightened away by the stench, and the horse ran away with a sad cry.
After turning over more than ten rocks, Ju Ming finally caught a crab. Although it was small, it was still edible.
I kept tossing until it got dark and caught twelve large and small crabs.
Zhu Ming went to collect firewood nearby, while Zhu Guoxiang stayed on the river beach to build a stove. He piled several large pebbles together, filled the pottery pots with water, and removed all the crabs' internal organs and threw them in.
After a while, Zhu Ming came back from collecting firewood and set up a pot to boil water to cook crabs.
Yesterday afternoon and this morning, they all had vegetable porridge at Tian's house. In the afternoon, Orion Zhang treated him to a treat and had a bowl of noodles in the town. At least they had enough oil, salt and carbohydrates to go down their stomachs. They were not as greedy as the previous few days, but they were still hungry at this moment.
Lulu was so hungry that she panicked.
The river water boiled for a while, and Zhu Ming asked: "Is it ready?"
"It should be ready." Zhu Guoxiang held the grass as a rag and carefully held the pot to the side.
Zhu Ming used a small stick as chopsticks, quickly picked out the crabs, and stuffed them into his mouth regardless of how hot they were. It was saltless and tasteless, but extremely delicious. He even swallowed the crab legs with their shells.
Zhu Guoxiang was also devouring the crab soup. After waiting for the crab soup to cool down a little, he just put his head down and opened his mouth to drink.
After finishing the crabs quickly and filling his stomach with soup, Zhu Ming touched his belly and said, "I feel strong. I will catch crabs tomorrow."
Zhu Guoxiang recalled the past: "I have been hungry since I was a child, and my childhood dream was to have enough to eat. I remember when I was in junior high school, a wealthy classmate from the county treated me to a treat, giving each person a bottle of beer and two kilograms of braised pig heads. That was
It was the first time I drank beer and the first time I ate braised pork. At that time, I thought, if I could drink beer every day and eat braised pig heads every time, I would have nothing else to pursue in my life.”
"It's a good ambition in life." Zhu Ming smiled.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Your generation is blessed, and you are born with no worries about food and clothing. It would be great if you traveled through time, so that you can experience what it feels like to be hungry."
Zhu Ming suddenly said in a strange tone: "Am I lucky? It depends on who I compare with! My mother and I both ran off to engage in scientific research, leaving me to roam around in the countryside. I am a child of a high-level intellectual family.
What's the difference between them and left-behind children? Other parents of migrant workers will at least go home during the Chinese New Year. It's better for you two, you don't know what you are busy with during the Chinese New Year."
Zhu Guoxiang was immediately speechless. As a father, he had indeed failed to fulfill his responsibilities.
The thin horse wandered over at some point, and there was still some soup in the clay pot. The beast was not polite, and he started drinking. He even found a crab leg, which he bit into his mouth and slowly chewed the taste.
Zhu Guoxiang looked up at the stars and sat by the campfire in a daze.
"The old rule is to keep vigil in turns." Ju Ming sat down cross-legged and put the sword across his knees. "I exposed my wealth in the pawn shop during the day, so I have to be more careful tonight."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Then I will sleep for a while, and you will wake me up when the time comes."
"Go to sleep." Zhu Ming said.
There were a lot of dead branches and leaves by the river. Zhu Ming got up and picked up some more, slowly adding fuel to the bonfire.
On the river bank farther away, several gangsters were lying there.
The father and son were both strangers, so it was easy to find out where they were. The pawn shop clerk found a few gangsters and came there in the evening, planning to wait until midnight before taking action.
The gangster leader named Bai Er was discussing the issue of dividing the spoils: "These two foreigners are so hungry that they are catching crabs to eat. I'm afraid they don't have half a penny on them. The only valuable things they have are the skinny horse, a writing brush, and
There are weapons on my back. I’ll let you take the writing brush and give me some points for the rest.”
But the pawn shop clerk was not happy: "We agreed to split the money equally, so how come the thin horse belongs to you? Brother Bai, you are a bit unjust."
Bai Er said: "What's the use of that horse? It's so skinny that it has no strength to pull and grind, so it can only be killed for meat."
"It's only a few kilograms of meat." Another gangster interjected.
The pawnbroker said: "Even if you kill the horse for meat, you still have to give me a piece of horse meat."
Bai Er said impatiently: "Point by point, your mother, you are so poor and crazy!"
The pawn shop clerk then smiled and didn't mind that his wife was being taken advantage of.
Bai Er added: "When they fall asleep, rush up and hit them with the stick. Save some strength before you start, otherwise no one will be killed."
"What should I do if I accidentally kill someone?" asked a rogue.
Bai Er said: "If you beat them to death, it will be bad luck for them, and they will be thrown into the river to feed the fish."
…
At another place on the river bank, Zhang Guangdao was sitting in the rapeseed field, munching wheat pancakes leisurely.
Two strangers, with a horse, were wandering around the market, and Zhang Guangdao was sure that they would be targeted.
If you let the father and son suffer and then go up to rescue each other, won't you just make two good men up the mountain?
Why is he a hero?
Although the father and son's clothes and trousers were dirty and torn, they behaved with their own temperament and grace. Standing among a bunch of villagers, they seemed to stand out from the crowd. They must have a good background.
He is really in need!
The village is mainly divided into two factions, one is the local faction headed by the village owner, and the other is the outside faction headed by the second master.
The local faction has a large number of people, a deep foundation, and controls the county government relations and channels for selling stolen goods.
Although the number of outsiders is smaller, their personal abilities are outstanding, and the second boss is very charming.
The local faction only wants to live a stable life, while the outside faction is more radical. The second leader has repeatedly proposed killing officials and rebelling. Zhang Guangdao is ranked fifth. He also supports killing officials and rebelling, and before killing officials, he must first kill the people of Xiabai Village.
The novice member was killed outside!
The little white member became more and more greedy. He collaborated with the counterfeiters to smuggle tea, and the share he asked for continued to increase. He helped sell the stolen goods at very low prices. He also monopolized the nearby private salt business and prohibited other private salt sales.
The dealers went to the cottages to sell goods... All these things made the bandits increasingly dissatisfied.
After wiping his hands after eating the wheat cake, Zhang Guangdao took out a hatchet and took off the stick to assemble it.
The simple knife was assembled and inserted into the soil.
Immediately afterwards, he took off the hunting bow and put on the bowstring with a little force.
The factional fighting in the village has become more and more obvious, and Zhang Guangdao is eager to recruit more foreign heroes.
"Kill this thief, kill him!"
From the river beach in the distance, a shout suddenly came.
Zhang Guangdao knew that a gangster had taken action, so he stood up slowly, picked up the knife and groped over.
He is not in a hurry, they are just a few rogues and will not kill them easily.
…
Zhu Ming was sitting cross-legged by the bonfire, his back facing the river, and his eyes looking everywhere on the shore.
The skinny horse was lying on its side on the river beach. Not only was it asleep, but it was also snoring.
This made Ju Ming doubt his life. Shouldn't horses sleep standing up?
Suddenly, the thin horse turned over and stood up, looking towards the grass in the distance. The horse's paws were scratching the pebbles and kicking them in front of Ju Ming.
Horses are animals whose vision is not very good, but their hearing and smell are extremely sensitive.
After traveling through time, Ju Ming also had keen senses. He noticed something strange about the thin horse, and immediately held his breath to listen, and gradually heard the footsteps getting closer and closer.
Zhu Ming poked his father with the hilt of his sword: "Dean Zhu, get up and start working."
Zhu Guoxiang woke up with a yawn, stretched his waist and said: "You go to sleep, I will watch you for the rest of the night."
"A guest is here," Ju Ming said.
Zhu Guoxiang was instantly alert and picked up a wooden stick in one hand and a pebble in the other.
Bai Er, who was walking forward at a stoop, saw the movements of the two men clearly through the firelight, and knew that he had been exposed, so he called out: "Stop dawdling, everyone stand up."
The gangsters stood up one after another, six in total.
The main weapon of battle was a whistle stick, and two of them carried daggers.
Bai Er walked at the front carrying a stick and said with a smile: "I feel very alarmed. When we reach Bai Er's territory, if you want to survive, get out of here and hand over all your belongings!"
There was no light on the opposite side, and only the silhouettes of people could be seen.
But Ju Ming also breathed a sigh of relief: "There are not many people, so we can fight. It's just a good time to test our strength."
As early as the beginning of the journey, when climbing the cliff, Ju Ming found that his strength had become stronger, and his reflexes seemed to be sharper.
The six ruffians dispersed as they walked, seemingly trying to surround the father and son.
"Hey!"
Zhu Guoxiang let out a muffled scream and actually took the lead in attacking, throwing out the pebbles in his hand from afar.
The pebbles were not only thrown extremely far, but also quickly and accurately. Bai Er narrowly avoided the attacks.
The air flow from the stone was still lingering in his ears. Bai Er, who was almost hit, was frightened and angry. He picked up his stick and shouted: "Kill this thief, kill him!"