The picture starts from Purple Mountain and goes into the distance.
Passing by the mountains, passing by the solemn mausoleums of meritorious officials, passing by the magnificent imperial mausoleums, we stopped at an ordinary mountain village next to the imperial mausoleums.
The winter sun is a little warm, and the village under the sun is particularly peaceful.
Old people in twos and threes leaned against the wall bathed in sunshine, chatting and laughing in low voices. A few lazy fat cats either curled up and slept at the feet of the old people, or stretched themselves comfortably.
There are still farmers working in the empty fields. After the Chinese New Year, spring plowing begins. The head of the family should know how to prepare for a rainy day.
Children were running wildly in the streets and lanes of the village, and a group of people chased a child holding a kite high.
But these were all male children, while the female children were helping their mother wash clothes while looking at them with envy.
Suddenly, this tranquility and tranquility were broken by the slight sound of horse hooves.
A young and honest young man, who looked like an army officer, appeared at the entrance of the village on horseback, looking at the village suspiciously.
He was leaning against a tree branch, laughing and chatting shamelessly with a few women doing laundry. Rizheng was startled when he saw this.
Then he swung his legs and ran over. The women washing clothes and the old people sunbathing all stretched their necks and looked this way.
"My lord, what are you doing...?"
The young man on horseback looked at Li Zheng, "This...this...this...is...Zhao...?"
As soon as he opened his mouth, the women watching the excitement all murmured regretfully in their hearts.
"What a good young man, but he's just a jerk!"
Seeing that the young man couldn't say anything for a long time, Li Zheng smiled and said, "This is Zhaojiazhuang!"
"Oh... Oh..." The young man on the horse nodded, looking a little shy and embarrassed, "Then... Li.
.........big........"
"Li Dawang's family?" When Li Zheng heard this, he knew who he was looking for. There was only one family named Li in Zhaojiazhuang. So he pointed to the village and said, "The first family in the west!"
"Many...thank you!" The young man raised his hands on the horse, then slowly rode the horse and walked towards the depths of the village amidst countless doubtful eyes.
People watched him go away, and when he left, they immediately started talking about him.
"Hey, why is this good young student such a stammer?"
"Looking for Lao Li's house? It looks like the young man is dressed like an army officer!"
"Could he be a relative of his family?"
"Bah, if his family had relatives who were officials, they wouldn't have left their hometown and joined the army!"
"That's right. If his family had relatives who were military officers, how could they all have died in the war!"
As he said this, everyone was suddenly stunned.
A woman bravely said, "Li Zheng, this time we go on an expedition, the great wang of the Li family also went with us. Could it be..."
"Don't tell me, old sister-in-law, maybe this is really what happened!" Another woman beside her said, "Last time, the eldest son of the Li family died in battle, and the last time the head of the Li family died in battle, not all officers came to deliver messages.
Is that so? I heard that it’s still a hundred households!”
"No way!" an older woman said, "The young man who was riding the horse just now, with such a simple and honest spirit, and a stammer, can also be an officer? When you are an officer, you have to look at your appearance!"
"Old aunt, you don't understand this!" Li Zheng said with a smile, "Officers in the Ming Dynasty were based on military merit, not on who was good-looking! I think this young man is definitely an official. He is wearing iron armor under his clothes.
You can’t be too small an official!”
"To say he stuttered, maybe someone chopped off his tongue on the battlefield, haha!"
Hearing what he said, a woman next to him smiled and said, "Li Zheng, why don't you join the army? Wouldn't it be honorable to honor your ancestors if you change half of your tongue into an official position? If you lose half of your tongue, our Zhuangzi can also be clean and pure!"
"Haha!" Li Zheng said with a smile, "It's okay if it's chopped on the tongue, but if it's chopped in half, sister-in-law, you're going to cry to death!"
"I'll tear your mouth apart!" the woman scolded with a smile, and everyone around her burst into laughter.
"Shut up!" an old man basking in the sun angrily scolded, glaring at the joking crowd, "Keep your mouth full of virtue!"
~~~
The war horse moved forward slowly in the village, and when it was about to leave the village, a courtyard appeared in front of it.
This courtyard is not like other houses in the village, which are all next to each other. Instead, it is slightly distanced from other houses, making it seem a little distant.
The young man got off his horse and looked at the gate of the courtyard for some reason, with a little fear and deep hesitation in his eyes.
"Hoo! Hoo!"
After a while, he gritted his teeth, exhaled two breaths, took off the saddle bag and put it on his shoulders.
"Mother, mother, how long will it take for uncle to come back? It's almost the Chinese New Year!"
Before the young man opened the door, he heard the sound of children talking from inside.
Looking through the crack in the door, a young boy was sitting on the threshold with his chin in his hands, looking longingly at the sky.
"I'll be back when it's time to come back!" A nice voice came from the room.
Immediately afterwards, a woman with a wooden hairpin, who was obviously taller than the Jiangnan woman and wider than the military attaché, came out of the house carrying a wooden basin.
"Come, help me wash my clothes!" The woman's hands were very red, and the water must be very cold.
Mother and son gathered around the wooden basin and began to wash clothes.
"Mom, why do you have to wash clothes during the Chinese New Year?" the boy asked.
"After the New Year is the New Year, the New Year brings a new atmosphere, whether you are rich or poor, you must have a new look!" The woman said with a smile, "According to the rules of my hometown in Shandong, you have to wear new clothes during the New Year. If you don't have new clothes, just wear them.
Put on clean clothes, sit together as a family, and eat dumplings together!"
The boy was listening with great interest, but when he heard this, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared, "Mom, only uncle, me, and you are left in our family!"
As he said that, he lowered his head and let his tears fall into the basin for washing clothes, "If uncle can't come back, you and I will be the only ones left! I heard from people in the village that a lot of people died in this war!"
"That's nonsense!" the woman became angry, "Quickly, take a few breaths, these are the unlucky things people say during the Chinese New Year!"
Outside the door, the young man who listened silently burst into tears in an instant, biting his lip with his teeth and bleeding.
"Mom!" The boy at the door of the room was choked with sobs and was about to cry, "I'm afraid! My grandfather died the year before last, my father died the year before that, and this year my uncle went to fight with me, I'm afraid!"
The woman's washing hands were stiff and she looked at her son blankly.
~~~~
Outside, on another road, the figure of Li Zheng in Zhaojiazhuang appeared. He nodded and bowed to guide several servants in the direction of the Li family yard.
When the young man outside the yard heard the footsteps, he wiped away his tears and turned around. He happened to see a few guards walking over with documents and a wooden frame in their hands, looking dejected.
Suddenly, the young man understood.
He looked at the yard in fear, then looked at the guards hastily, and then strode forward to meet them.
"Stop!" he growled.
Several officers were blocked and were about to get angry, but when they saw the young man's clothes and the armor exposed from his sleeves, they changed their faces and asked, "Who are you?"
"You...you..." The young man's face turned red and he was speechless.
"They came to report the funeral. Dawang of the Li family died in the war, and the officials gave him a pension. Wow, it's really a lot!" Li Zheng said with a smile.
Snap, a mouth flew towards me.
There was a buzz in Li Zheng's head, and he fell down. At the same time, he saw blood spurting from his mouth and nose, as well as a tooth.
Immediately afterwards, he was so frightened that he almost peed his pants.
A short knife was pressed directly against his Adam's apple, and the stuttering young man's face was as ferocious as he had ever seen.
"You...get out!" the young man growled.
"Put down the knife, I have something to say!" The officer was also startled.
The young man ignored them, took out a waist badge from his waist, and threw it over.
The "Li Mansion" officer looked at the back of the badge suspiciously, then looked at the front again, and immediately took a breath of air.
"Gong Cao Guo!"
Then, as if the badge was hot to the touch, he quickly returned it.
The young man in front of him turned out to be a member of Duke Cao's family. He couldn't be offended. The commander-in-chief who had just returned from the establishment was none other than Duke Cao. Who would dare to offend anyone in their family?
The murderous spirit probably came back from the border with Cao Guogong.
If you don't do it right, there may be many Tatar lives on your body, and it will be filled with evil spirits!
"Get out!" the young man said coldly.
"This..." the officers were puzzled, "a small responsibility..."
"Get out!" The young man compared the knives in his hands and punched and kicked several police officers.
"Hey, I have something to say, let's go!" Several officers ran away with their heads in their hands, but the young man was still angry and asked them to carry the things they were carrying and get out of here.
~~~
"Who is outside?" The woman in the courtyard opened the door in confusion when she heard the noise outside.
In an instant, the stilted young man put away his knife and stood upright.
"Are you...?" The woman revealed half of her face behind the door and asked in confusion.
"I...I..." The young man spoke as if he had bitten his tongue, "I...Dawang's...Paoze...come home..."
Ding clang, as if some sound fell to the ground.
The woman's body instantly leaned against the door, and everyone in the room fell down.
The eyes looking at the young man were full of misery and despair.
She pursed her lips so tightly that her nails were digging into the wooden door, and shook her head slightly. A tear fell quickly down her cheek.
He came from the army and was a comrade-in-arms of his brother-in-law Dawang.
He is back, but there is still no news from Dawang, which means...
"Don't, don't!" the woman cried, her voice as weak as a mosquito, "Don't, don't!"
The young man turned his head away fiercely, holding back his tears, and then turned his head again with a stiff smile.
"Sister-in-law...sister-in-law?"
"I... Da..." the young man stuttered, and suddenly bit his tongue hard, "Da Wang... Liaodong... Guards... Can't come back
Come...let me come home and see...I...Li...Xiaowai...his...
"
As he spoke, Li Xiaowai punched his chest heavily with his fist, "His brother!"
Hearing this, the woman's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"My family is not dead!" she asked.
Li Xiaowai nodded quickly.
"Are you still stationing troops in Liaodong?"
Li Xiaowai nodded heavily.
"Then when will she come back?" she asked anxiously.
Li Xiaowai bit his tongue again, "Ah...it should be...May..." As he said that, Li Xiaowai took off the trousers on his shoulders and put them at the door.
, "He... asked..."
"He asked you to bring it back?" the woman asked.
"Yeah!" Li Xiaowai nodded, "Chinese New Year... spend... eat... wear... him..." As he said this, he was annoyed that he was a stammer, and Li Xiaowai hesitated.
He gave himself a mouthful, "He... is thinking about you in his heart!"
He has stuttered since he was a child, and the more nervous he is, the more he stutters when he lies.
"Brother, why are you beating yourself?" The woman smiled bitterly, her face looking much better.
No matter what, it is a good thing that my brother-in-law is still alive. If you come home later, you can come home later. As long as you are here, you will always have time to go home. As long as you are here, this family will still have hope, and it will still be a home.
She slowly opened her robe, but her color suddenly changed the next moment.
"Why so much?" the woman exclaimed.
In the bag, there were always heavy copper coins, as well as exquisite silver coins that she had never seen before, and even half an eight-piece and two-piece gold cake.
She has never seen so much money!
Her hands were trembling.
"Military...military merit...reward!" Li Xiaowai said loudly, "He...has made a meritorious service!"
The woman couldn't believe it. She just looked up at Li Xiaowai, her eyes becoming more and more confused.