Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 929 1 piece

The rain in late autumn was cold, and the bluestone road was shining. Zhou Mingyuan huddled in a faded blue cloth gown, the Analects in his arms was wrapped in three layers of oil paper, and the inkstone in his arms hurt his ribs. He hurriedly crossed Zhuque Street on the puddled water, and saw the crooked lintel of his house from afar. His heart was about to fall to the ground, but he was startled by a loud shout and staggered. "Stop!" Five or six armored soldiers rushed out from the corner of the street, and the scabbards clattered against the bluestone. The black-faced man in the lead had a face full of flesh, and the wine gourd hanging from his waist was still dripping wine. "Where did this poor scholar come from? He has no eyes?" Zhou Mingyuan clenched the oil paper bag and bowed: "General, please forgive me, my student lives here, just..." "Live here?" The black-faced man kicked him in the knee, and Zhou Mingyuan fell to his knees, and the oil paper bag fell into the muddy water with a "pop". The man bent down to pick up the soaked book, and the yellowed pages were stained with ink. "What's so great about knowing how to read? When I was killing bandits on the city wall, you were still chewing pen tips in your mother's womb!" "Military, this is what my father left behind..." Zhou Mingyuan reached out to grab it, but the man slapped him in the face, causing a burning sensation on his cheek. The soldiers laughed, and someone picked up the inkstone and threw it around, splashing ink on Zhou Mingyuan's newly patched patch. "Do you know where this is?" The man grabbed his collar, and the smell of alcohol sprayed on his face, "West Market Military Grain Depot! All outsiders will be..." Before he finished speaking, crying and shouting suddenly came from the corner of the street. Two soldiers dragged an old man into the alley. The old man's cloth shoes fell to the ground, revealing the soles of his feet covered with calluses. "Dad!" The crisp female voice tore through the rain. The girl with a red hairband rushed over holding an oil-paper umbrella, but was stopped by another soldier. Zhou Mingyuan recognized that it was Ah Xiu from the tofu stall at the corner of the alley. The day before yesterday, she had smiled and given him two pieces of hot tofu. "General, spare my life!" Ah Xiu knelt in the muddy water, her hair loose, "My father paid the city defense donation, really paid it!" The black-faced man let go of Zhou Mingyuan and tilted his head to look at Ah Xiu. The red rope around the girl's neck swayed, with a silver lock hanging from it. "Paid it?" The man grinned, and lifted her chin with the tip of his knife, "Commander Wang said that each family must pay another stone of brown rice, otherwise..." Zhou Mingyuan's blood boiled, and he staggered to his feet: "General, the court has issued a clear order..." "The court?" The man turned around suddenly, and the tip of the knife was against his throat, "I only recognize Commander Wang!" The cold blade pressed into his flesh, and Zhou Mingyuan could smell the sweet smell of rust mixed with the smell of alcohol. Ah Xiu's cries, the soldiers' laughter, and the dripping of autumn rain all mixed together in his ears. Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves came from far away. The young general on the green horse lifted the rain curtain, and the golden unicorn on the black cloak shone coldly in the rain. The soldiers immediately straightened their backs, and the tip of the black-faced man's knife trembled slightly. "What's the noise?" The young general's voice was clear, but it was chilling. Zhou Mingyuan recognized him as the newly appointed garrison general Lu Huaijin, who had lectured on military tactics in the academy half a month ago. "Reply to the general," the man laughed, "this unruly citizen resisted the tax, and..." "Student Zhou Mingyuan, meet General Lu." Zhou Mingyuan saluted with his fists, regardless of the blood oozing from his neck, "This is a good citizen, and the city defense tax has been paid long ago. These soldiers..." "Shut up!" Lu Huaijin's face sank, "How can a scholar interfere in military affairs?" He waved his whip, "Take the person away! Those who resist taxes will be put in jail!" Ah Xiu's crying gradually faded away. Zhou Mingyuan looked at the general's back and suddenly felt bitter in his throat. The oil-paper package was trampled to pieces, and the five characters "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" on the Analects of Confucius were soaked in the muddy water. Three days later, Zhou Mingyuan ran into Ah Xiu in the dilapidated temple in the west of the city. The girl's hair was disheveled, the silver lock was gone, and there were blood marks on her wrists from the rope. "My father..." Ah Xiu choked and took out half a cold steamed bun from her arms, "He had a high fever in prison, and the military officer said that he needed twenty taels of silver..." Zhou Mingyuan took out the only silver in his arms, which was the money he was preparing to take the exam. The sound of the gong patrolling the streets came from outside the temple. He looked at Ah Xiu's empty eyes and suddenly remembered Lu Huaijin's lecture on "protecting the territory and the people" in the academy, and his nails dug deep into his palm. On the tenth day of the winter month, a notice was posted on the city gate: Due to the tense war in the northwest, the whole city will levy "help silver". Zhou Mingyuan squeezed in the crowd, looking at the dragon-flying and phoenix-flying handwriting on the notice, and suddenly heard a discussion behind him. "Have you heard? Commander Wang's niece is getting married, and the betrothal gifts alone are thirty loads!" "That's right, the brown rice in the military grain depot is all moldy, and they are forcing the people to pay new grain..." "Shh! General Lu is here!" Zhou Mingyuan turned around and met Lu Huaijin's eyes. The general was riding on a horse, and his black cloak was replaced with a more luxurious sable. The jade pendant on his waist was dazzling in the sun, which hurt people's eyes. The moment their eyes met, Lu Huaijin frowned and turned his face away, and whipped the horse's buttocks heavily with the whip. Late at night, Zhou Mingyuan squatted under the oil lamp to copy the petition. The window frame was clanging in the north wind, and the ink in the inkstone froze into a thin layer of ice. He wrote and tore, tore and wrote, always feeling that the words "king's law" and "justice" were too pale. Ah Xiu's crying, the books left by her father, and Lu Huaijin's indifference when he turned around, intertwined into an airtight net in front of him. When it was almost dawn, he went to the prefectural government office with the petition in his pocket. A thin layer of snow fell on the claws of the stone lion in front of the door. Two yamen runners were dozing off against the door frame. "Beat the drum!" Zhou Mingyuan clenched his fists and hit the cowhide drum hanging under the eaves. The sound of the drum startled the crows on the eaves. Zhou Mingyuan knelt in the hall, watching the prefect sipping tea leisurely. "You said that Commander Wang embezzled military pay? Do you have any evidence?" The prefect knocked on the gavel, "General Lu is not strict in managing the army? Empty words are not enough!" "Sir, the people in the west of the city..." "Enough!" The prefect put down the teacup heavily, "The war in the northwest is tense, and it is a time to use people. You scholar, don't spread rumors to confuse the people!" The gavel fell again, "Come on, kick this man out!" The yamen runner dragged Zhou Mingyuan's arm out, and the petition in his arms scattered on the blue brick ground. The cold wind rolled up the paper, and the word "fairness" turned over in the air and fell into the snow pile in the corner. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Mingyuan ran into Ah Xiu at the ferry crossing in the south of the city. The girl was wearing a wedding dress, and there were whip marks on her neck exposed under the red veil. She was followed by several soldiers, escorting a carriage full of dowry. "Mr. Zhou," Ah Xiu lifted the red veil, and tears streaked two white marks on her face, "Commander Wang said that as long as I marry his nephew..." Before she finished speaking, the black-faced man whipped her: "What are you hesitating for! If you don't leave, your father's head..." Zhou Mingyuan rushed forward, but was held down by two soldiers. The man's fist landed on his abdomen, and he heard a slight crisp sound from his ribs. Ah Xiu's crying, the soldiers' laughter and scolding, and the whimpering of the river water all mixed together in his ears.