Han’s Son is Not a Slave

Chapter 10: Officials

When he went out, Zhou Shixiang caught a glimpse of his own blood-stained rattail braid thrown on the ground, so he picked it up and put it in his arms. Song Xianggong and the others didn’t care about it.

The body has skin, and his parents, although the Manchus forced his hair to tick, the money rat tail is really ugly, but after all, it is the hair and skin on the body. Perhaps it is the ancient thinking of the former owner of the body that is worshipping it.

Along the way, several more men appeared from the forest, and then silently followed behind the team. By the time they got to Boss Hu and the others’ stockade, the number of people in the team had reached a dozen. Judging from the agile movements of these men and their familiarity with mountain roads, it is obvious that they are used to drilling valleys.

The mountain road went round and round, and the surroundings were dark again. Although there were torches illuminating it, Zhou Shixiang almost fell a few times. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough, and the two Ge brothers behind him rescued him in time, so he was shocked. risk.

After walking around in the mountains for more than half an hour, Boss Hu and the others brought Zhou Shixiang to a valley, and the stockade was in this valley. Zhou Shixiang looked around and found that he couldn’t judge the exact location of this place at all.

After entering the stockade, someone came to say hello. Boss Hu ordered the big blue horse to be led over, and then asked Zhou Shixiang to rest first. He didn’t say that he would host a banquet, nor did he mention other things.

Zhou Shixiang was naturally happy with this arrangement. He was awakened from a dream, but at the moment, he was still very tired.

On the other hand, Zhao Sihai complained a little about Boss Hu’s arrangement, but he didn’t dare to say anything to Boss Hu, so he could only pull Zhou Shixiang aside, and whispered apologetically that it was too late today and would invite him for a drink tomorrow. Zhou Shixiang hurriedly said a few polite words, and then someone led him to the guest room to rest.

It is said to be a guest room, but it is actually a simple room with no furniture, just a bed, two stools, and a square table with a corner missing. Shabby is a bit shabby, but the hygiene is good. The bed is covered with a quilt and it looks clean, and the house is spotless. Obviously, the house is often cleaned.

The guests follow the host and live with the situation. Zhou Shixiang naturally does not care about the shabbyness of this house. Compared with the shack made of bamboo, this condition is already very good. At least there is a bed to sleep in and a quilt to cover.

After He Yi lay down, just as his eyelids were closed, there was someone knocking on the door. Zhou Shixiang was alarmed, turned over and took out the fire stick to light the oil lamp, and then he took Yu Yunlong’s waist knife before gently stepping forward to open the door.

When I opened the door, I saw a little girl standing outside the door carrying a basket. In the basket was a bowl of rice, a plate of fried meat, and a bowl of soup that I didn’t know what to make.

The little girl was wearing a paddy field coat that Han women often wore in this era. She was not tall, only about the size of Zhou Shixiang’s chest. She also looked very thin, and her development was obviously much later than that of girls of the same age in later generations. Due to the dim light at the door, the little girl lowered her head again, so Zhou Shixiang couldn’t see her appearance for a while, so he could only guess that the little girl was about thirteen or fourteen years old.

Since it was the meal delivery, Zhou Shixiang was not polite, turned around and let the little girl enter the house and put down the food, and then asked casually when she lifted the basket to leave, “What is this place?”

The little girl didn’t want to say anything. Zhou Shixiang thought she didn’t hear clearly, so he asked again, but the little girl still didn’t speak.

dumb?

Zhou Shixiang was a little stunned, and only then did he notice the little girl’s appearance by the light of the oil lamp in the house. Looking at her face, it was a bit cute, very similar to the girl next door in later generations. Unfortunately, there was no red on her face, but a vegetable yellow color. , thought to be caused by chronic malnutrition.

Seeing Zhou Shixiang staring at her, the little girl was a little scared, and lowered her head slightly, not daring to face Zhou Shixiang’s eyes.

Seeing this, Zhou Shixiang stopped staring at her, so as not to scare her. He has lived in two lives, and he has just experienced the tragic death of his parents, wife and children, so naturally he will not have any wrong thoughts about a little girl who has not grown up. Not to be angry with this little girl.

“Can you speak?” Zhou Shixiang didn’t dare to ask the little girl if she was dumb, and tried to keep his voice softer so as not to irritate her.

The little girl had a reaction this time, but she didn’t raise her head, she just shook her head.

Really dumb?

Zhou Shixiang was startled, and when he wanted to speak again, the little girl had already picked up the basket and turned around and walked out.

Ugh.

Zhou Shixiang sighed, and after closing the door, he felt pity for this little girl. She was dumb at such a young age. After regretting it, with the thought of not being able to waste it, he devoured the food that the little girl had brought, and wiped the oil on his mouth and fell asleep again contentedly. No one came to disturb him this time, and he didn’t wake up until dawn the next day.

When he sat up from the bed, Zhou Shixiang saw that the dishes on the table were still there, so he didn’t go to clean them up, thinking that since the little girl had brought food, she would definitely come to clean up later.

After doing a few simple movements in the house to relax the muscles and bones, Zhou Shixiang pushed open the door and wanted to find Mr. Hu and Duke Xiang of Song. First, he wanted to thank them for their hospitality, and secondly, he wanted to borrow a guide from them to go out to Guangxi to join the army. .

After coming out of the house, Zhou Shixiang could really see everything in the valley. The stockade was indeed not very large. There were only a dozen or so rooms. There is a stream at the foot of the mountain not far away, and I vaguely see someone washing clothes there. From the attitude of the laundryman, it seems that they are all women.

The women in the bandits’ den are naturally all women from good families who have been captured. Thinking of the dumb little girl last night, Zhou Shixiang shook his head, knowing that this little girl must have also been captured, and he couldn’t help worrying about their fate. But then I think about it, I am not able to protect myself now, so why bother to worry about these women, the sense of justice in later generations is worthless now, and now the army is in a panic, It seems that it is not a bad thing for these women to stay in the bandit den, at least, they can save their lives. Compared with life, chastity is nothing.

I looked up and searched around, but I didn’t find Boss Hu and the others, not even the other men in the stockade.

Zhou Shixiang was surprised, where did this person go?

Just when she was about to look for it, the little girl came with a basket. She didn’t stop when she saw Zhou Shixiang, she went straight into the room and put away the tableware and chopsticks on the table.

“Wait.” Zhou Shixiang grabbed the little girl’s hand and asked her, “Do you know where Boss Hu and the others are?”

The little girl’s little hand was grabbed by a strange man, and she was in a hurry, but she didn’t dare to cry, so she hurriedly pointed to a slightly larger room in the distance. Then he walked away blushing.

Zhou Shixiang was taking care of his own affairs, and he didn’t pay attention to the little girl’s shyness. After getting the instructions, he hurried to the house to find someone, but the little girl didn’t even look at where she went.

When they got outside the room, Zhou Shixiang heard someone talking inside. It was noisy, and it seemed like they were arguing about something.

Zhou Shixiang didn’t know what was going on, he hesitated whether he should go in. When he was hesitating, Duke Xiang of Song saw him and beckoned him to come in. Zhou Shixiang had no choice but to lift his legs and enter the house.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw 20 or 30 men standing inside, including Boss Hu and Peng Dazhu. There was still one person sitting in the room, but it was a young man dressed as an official of the Ming Dynasty. Behind him stood four swordsmen. of the Ming Army.