Qin Official

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When Dongmen Bao returned to the east gate, it was already dark. Fortunately, the inner prison door had not yet closed the inner door. Dongmen Bao quickly squeezed in, groping in the dark amidst the curses from the inner prison door. Walk in the direction of home.

Dongmenli is located within the east gate of the county, so the roads in the middle of the village are straight, connected to every household, and the houses are lined up in lanes and arranged neatly. However, most of the houses on the left are simple and simple, and are inhabited by farm laborers and tenant farmers called "Luzuo". These people have no land and can only make a living by farming. The one on the right is better, and there is even a mansion with whitewashed walls and red tiles, which is the home of a certain county official.

Dongmen Bao's family also lives in Luyou, but the house is not grand, just ordinary. Although the original structure is good and has the foundation for a second entrance to the courtyard, it can be seen that the walls have not been painted for many years, and the stains on the door All the paint was peeling off, giving it a decaying look.

Fortunately, everything in front of and behind the house was clean. The fallen leaves were collected in the corners and pressed with stones. It was difficult to find firewood in the city. Sometimes, you had to rely on these dead branches and leaves for cooking.

Dongmen Bao took out the yuè, which is the key, from his arms and fumbled to open the door.

At this time, the door suddenly opened, and a thin woman in her twenties and wearing a black hairpin skirt stood inside and said in surprise: "My beloved is back?"

This is the wife Dongmen Bao just married last year. She lives in the north of the city. She is the daughter of a mediocre farmer. She has an ordinary appearance but a gentle personality. She has no jewelry on her body and her clothes are old. They have been washed white and her cuffs are wet. Broken.

The Dongmen Leopard hummed calmly, then lowered his voice and asked, "Are you ready to eat? Can I have a rest?"

Although he looks like a ferocious-looking person, he is also known as a filial son. After his father was drunk and fell into the river and drowned, it was his mother who went through all kinds of hardships to raise the East Gate Leopard.

The bride said weakly: "My mother took a rest after eating, but she didn't sleep yet. She said that today is the end of your service and she has to wait for you to come back. I will cook the remaining corn with hot soup. It’s hot, let’s eat it with my beloved…”

"I was full at the restaurant with Tongshi's Paoze. You can eat by yourself."

Dongmen Bao took off his dirty clothes covered with mud and put on clean short brown clothes. He handed a heavy bag of money to the bride's hands, raised his eyebrows and said, "Go to the market tomorrow and buy some silk cloth. You and grandma make new clothes!"

The bride picked up the bag and was shocked to find that there were at least four to five hundred dollars in it. Although after a year of getting along with her, she knew that her husband was a kind-hearted person, but his aggressive and aggressive temper also made the bride worried. Now that she saw so much money, she thought it was stolen by Dongmen Leopard. , his face turned earth-colored, and his lips trembled as he said:

"Where did this come from! My dear, have you done something illegal..."

"Don't think blindly, Shi Chang gave this to me..."

At this time, an old woman's voice came from the next room: "But Abao is back?"

"Mother, it's my son who has returned from service!"

Dongmen Bao responded quickly and told his wife: "I'll tell you later, I'm going to visit my mother, and I have something to discuss with her."

With that said, he walked towards his mother's house. Before he entered the door, he seemed to have changed. His movements became lighter and his voice became softer: "Mom, Ah Bao came back late, and I miss you so much... …”

Then there is the sound of bowing down.

The bride ate a few mouthfuls of cold rice in a hurry, then boiled a basin of water and brought it in. Although she had not seen her for more than a month and had many things to say to her husband, she still wanted to serve her mother and rest first.

Unexpectedly, in the house, the bride was washing her mother's feet while listening to Dongmen Bao talk about what happened in the past few days and his plans for the future. As Dongmen Bao became more and more excited as he talked, the bride's face became more and more expressionless. pale……

"Thank you, mother. With mother's permission, there will be no worries!"

After a while, after finishing talking about the matter, Dongmen Bao retreated with a relaxed expression. Just now he told his mother that Hei Fu asked him to go to Huyang Pavilion to be a thief. His mother was very generous. Seeing that her son wanted to go, she agreed to the matter.

But the bride was a little resentful.

"My beloved also said that Huyang Pavilion is half a day's journey from the county seat, and we can only come back three or four times a month. Once you leave, my mother and I will be the only ones left at home..."

While making the bed, she whispered: "Besides, I heard that Huyang Pavilion is very dangerous and is often haunted by murderers and thieves. Is it appropriate to go there just because of a word about that?"

"A woman's view!"

Dongmen Leopard was angry and the birthmark on his face was red. He slapped the table and asked the bride to keep silent. However, he was afraid of disturbing the mother next door, so he had to lower his voice and scold:

"When a man makes a promise, he will keep it. How can he break his promise? Besides, I am also a civil servant. As a thief, I can receive a bucket of five liters of rations every day, which is more than four stones a month, enough for the whole family. Eat and drink, you and your mother will never go hungry. As for danger? Ha, compared to thieves, we are the most dangerous people in Anlu County. And you don’t know, this five hundred dollars depends entirely on the black husband Only then can I get it. If I follow him from now on, I may still have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Isn’t it better than being hired by someone to carry sacks at the dock? "

As Dongmen Bao spoke, he stared at the bride, his eyes seemed to be on fire. Finally, he couldn't help but pick up his thin wife and put her on the couch. While untying his belt, he muttered: "I have made up my mind. I will apply for the position of thief tomorrow, and you will not make any noise about this from now on!"

…

On the other side, on the afternoon of the next day, November 1, Ji Ying, Hei Fu, and Xiao Tao said goodbye at the fork in the road and returned to their home in Jinshui Township.

Like Dongmen Bao, he also lived in Liju Nei, but it was located outside the township, between mountains, forests and fields. Because the land was mostly rice fields, it was called "Daohua Lane".

When Ji Ying came to the inner door, two men in brown clothes were squatting by the inner wall to bask in the sun. When they saw Ji Ying approaching from a distance, they shouted.

"Isn't this Ji Ying! He's back?"

Ji Ying knew them. These two were soldiers in the village, and they were also his former companions and friends. In winter, when there was no farm work, they liked to idle around, pick up lice and chat. If it weren't for serving in the army, Ji Ying would be one of them.

The two men came up to you, their faces full of banter. One of them smiled and said: "You are back from the service? At the beginning of last month, officials from the county came to check your household registration. We thought you had committed a crime and were caught."

Another person also pretended to be mysterious and said: "Those county officials still asked you whether you had committed a crime, but we concealed the fact that when you were ten years old, you and I arranged to climb over the wall and steal your chickens... "

"Go! Go! Go!"

Ji Ying was so angry that his father almost broke his legs just because of that skinny chicken. This incident became known to everyone. Fortunately, his father did not report the matter to the government in a moment of confusion. Otherwise, Ji Ying and the three of them would still have to face lawsuits even though they were minors at the time.

But Ji Ying was still chased by his father into the rice field that had just been fertilized by his family. In order to avoid the stick, he plunged into it...

Since then, Ji Ying, with his head full of mud and his face full of excrement, has become the object of ridicule and ridicule in Daohua.

But after returning this time, Ji Ying thought he was no longer the same.

He coughed and said to the two of them: "You don't know something. The county officials came to check my household registration not to punish me, but to reward me!"

As he spoke, he suddenly opened his tightly covered winter coat, only to see that it was filled with strings of copper coins, covering his entire chest and abdomen. There were as many as a dozen strings! No wonder he kept ringing like wind chimes as he walked.

At first glance, this scene was quite shocking. The two strangers were shocked. One of them gasped and said, "I'm afraid it's one or two thousand dollars! Ji Ying, tell me the truth, which luxury store did you pry open?" , or stole the pigs and sheep to sell?"

The other one had a richer imagination: "I'm afraid he sold himself as a vassal. I heard that in the county market, an adult vassal is worth more than 4,000 yuan. Ji Ying was afraid that he was too thin, so he only Sold so much..."

"Your knowledge is as shallow as a sparrow! This is obviously the reward I got!"

Ji Ying was so angry that he screamed. Seeing that the young companions in the room were gathering around him one after another, he sat down in the corner and started talking in the usual manner. All the matters such as winning the first prize in the Japanese military exercise were told.

He was not good at anything else, but his eloquence was good. During the narration, at every exciting moment, the young people in the room would exclaim repeatedly, and Ji Ying would deliberately pause and look at everyone with pride.

After he finished speaking intermittently, everyone said in disbelief: "So it's you who captured the thief with that strong man and was rewarded! I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it."

"That's natural!" Ji Ying raised his head: "Brother Heifu fought one against three, and I restrained another thief for him. Afterwards, I received a bounty of 2 taels, and on the tenth day of the military exercise, I received another 300 taels. Money, that’s where all this money comes from.”

Someone else curiously asked: "Who is that black man? I heard from people that he is nine feet five inches tall, has a strong back and a strong waist, and is extremely strong. He can dismantle doors with one arm and tear people open with his bare hands... "

"Not only that, Brother Heifu is even more capable than this!"

Ji Ying began to brag about Heifu endlessly, and finally said: "My brother Heifu is not only a celebrity in the county now, but also has the respect of the official temple. He was recruited by the county magistrate and county lieutenant as the chief of the pavilion. Next time Yue is about to take office!”

"He knew my skills, so he invited me to apply as a pavilion soldier. Although I repeatedly refused, he begged and begged. Finally, I had to agree to assist him and manage the ten miles of Huyang Pavilion together. In the future, I will establish a Greater power!”

After finishing speaking, Ji Ying glanced at these sad and envious companions with a smug look on his face, as if he already had a government background and was one step ahead of them.

Unexpectedly, happiness brought about sorrow, and a cold voice came from beside him.

"Ji Ying, you just said, where are you going to be a pavilion soldier?"

Turning around, Ji Ying was shocked to find that his father was carrying farm tools and standing aside with a dark face...