stubborn thief

Chapter 146 Saburo
Nightmare.

Du Qiaoer was like having a nightmare.

She just turned sixteen after the new year, and was born in Fanjiayu, Yonghe County.

The whole family does not do farming. It is a well-known Lehu family in Xi County. It can be traced back to the time when King Xichuan was not transferred to Zezhou.

Although Fanjiayu's surname is Fan, the local area has experienced several droughts and has become a village with mixed surnames.

She has three brothers and two older sisters. Among them, the eldest brother, the second brother and the eldest sister are all married. The second sister was married three days ago by her sister-in-law, and she became the younger one for the scholar master in the neighboring village.

Although he is a concubine, the whole family is very happy. The old man has opened doors to the big merchants in Xizhou City. He is a very capable person. The family can tide over the difficulties this spring, and even Du Qiaoer can be sent to Xizhou plays the pipa.

Although the talented gentleman is old, he is not a bad person. He said to his elder brother and second brother that Du Qiaoer was born beautiful, so don't rush to marry, because in this world, marrying an ordinary family will make life difficult.

Wait and see, when a gentry in Xizhou dies, try to find a matchmaker to see if you can make a sequel.

All of a sudden, Du Qiaoer became the hope of his family because of this illusory continuation.

Seeing that the family was getting better, even though they were poor, they took out some food, bought some wine and food, summoned more than ten relatives and friends, and set up two tables to celebrate the happy event. Even the second sister came back wearing a colorful dress with sleeves.

The poorer people are, the more they need such celebrations, otherwise how would they struggle in a miserable life.

The book said that day was an auspicious day, a good day for doing business.

Despite the difficult times in the world, as a Lehu family in the village, the relatives and friends who were invited all had smiles on their faces.

The eldest brother said that because they are Lehu, others will be very happy to be invited.

Du Qiaoer knew that it was not because they were happy households, but because everyone would die, and the elder brother played the suona.

People were laughing and making noises, and those old wretches pointed at Sister Du, who was serving water and tea, and said that she had a big belly again, and some people went crazy after not drinking much.

They are happy households, they are used to ridicule and ridicule, no one will care or get angry.

As long as everyone is happy, it's really an auspicious day.

Halfway through the banquet, a loud cry came from the north of the village, and the guests rushed out. They saw a man with disheveled hair and a shoe missing, and rushed into the village like a whirlwind, shouting that the North Zaowang Mountain had entered the army and was killing people.

For a while there was chaos in the village, people rushed home, closed the doors and extinguished the lights, only the two dogs of Mr. Liang's house barked violently.

The elder sister-in-law married from Zaowang Mountain, and she was even more anxious and scared when she heard it. The elder brother took a stick and went out of the village to see it. The second elder brother and the younger brother would have followed, but the elder brother said that there were many women in the house, and someone needed to watch .

It takes two hours to go.

At midnight, the eldest brother came back.

The horseshoe was buckled heavily on the dirt road in the village. Through the crack of the door, Du Qiaoer saw her eldest brother on the cavalry belt holding the torch high.

The blood in one eye and half of the face is missing, but she can still recognize the eldest brother among the three heads.

She didn't cry, but felt that her blood was frozen.

The butcher, who had been drinking at home in the evening, was nailed to the door by an arrow through his neck just as he walked out.

There was a knock on the door, and the second brother asked the woman in the family to run down the hill from the backyard, and climbed down the wall by himself, yelling as he ran, and when he ran out for four or five breaths, a familiar scream came from the south.

They had just run out when the elder brother-in-law who ran ahead said that there were soldiers at the foot of the mountain, so they had to retreat to the village again, and they wanted to run to Liang Chang's house.

Before reaching Liang Chang's house, an old soldier in an iron helmet flashed out from the shadow of the courtyard wall, holding a knife and blocking the eldest brother-in-law.

As if he knew someone was going to run here, he raised the knife not too early or too late, and the eldest brother-in-law bumped into the knife with his neck stretched out.

The little brother continued to rush up and wrestled with the old flag army, his head was pressed into the soil, and he still yelled at them to run.

The younger brother was also killed soon, and the elder sister fell to the ground with a big belly, unable to run, and fell to the ground, begging for mercy.

The eldest sister couldn't struggle, and was kicked by the old banner army, who dragged her back by her hair.

Du Qiaoer's second sister went crazy with fright, and ran down the mountain suddenly yelling, unable to stop her.

The full-sleeve gown with make-up and flowers was particularly conspicuous. Du Qiaoer ran a few steps after her, but she was afraid after all, so she could only see the red under the moonlight rolling down the hillside and falling into the fire lighted by the soldiers below.

Du Qiaoer didn't know where to go, she got into the ditch beside the village and rolled around, covered with dirt, she didn't dare to cry or scream, when she heard footsteps approaching, she tensed up, her heart was pounding.

There were chaotic sounds on Zhuangzi Street. Some people smashed tiles on the roof, some people fell from the roof, and some people shouted to arrest people. There were shouts, cries, laughter, and shouts.

I don't know how long it took, these voices gradually became heard, and suddenly someone not far away whispered: "Qiao Niang?"

For a while, the hair on her body stood on her head, and after a while, the voice whispered again: "Qiao Niang?"

Du Qiaoer timidly looked up and breathed a sigh of relief.

That was Zhuangshang's brother next door, a few years older than her.

When they were young, they often played together, always riding a wooden horse and people called him a general, but when they grew up, he and his father learned carpentry.

There was a drought the year before last, so he went to Ningwuguan to eat food.

Du Qiaoer's impression of him has faded, only remembering that he loves to laugh.

You will laugh at good things, and you will laugh at bad things. When you smile, your eyes are like crescent moons.

I heard from a neighbor that he waited for her outside the house for a day before leaving home as a soldier, but that day was the winter solstice, and she and her parents went to Xizhou City to welcome the Shensai Shrine to play drums. When she came back, the elder brother had already joined the army.

Du Qiaoer is very familiar with his mother, she is a kind old lady, she is willing to help others even though she is poor, she has no other problems except bragging.

The old lady is always very proud when distributing food to the widows and widows on the farm.

It was always said that her family's Saburo killed the northern captive Tartar outside the mouth, and if the court wanted a reward, she wanted to accumulate virtue so that her son could become a general.

Are the northern captives so easy to kill?She always brags.

When the old lady passed away, Du Qiaoer cried and thought to herself, she always brags.

If it wasn't for bragging, how could the old doctor and craftsman in Zhuangshang say that she died of starvation?
The imperial court will not refuse to reward the heroes who killed the northern captives.

Before the new year this year, her son came back, but the people in the village didn't want to see him, and he didn't want to see others either. He guarded the empty house and always went out with a straight face, either to buy wine or to get drunk.

Du Qiaoer is afraid of drunk people from the bottom of her heart.

In particular, this person has only two fingers on his left hand for carrying the flagon.

Some people in the village said that he was trampled by a horse's hoof, and he followed the general army into Juyongguan to fight against the Eastern captives. He is the best hero in Shanxi.

But some people said that he was a deserter, saying that the story spread in Xizhou, and all the Shanxi soldiers who went to the capital Qinwang had mutinied, and they were all deserters.

Said that he must have fallen into the grass, otherwise where would the money to buy wine all day come from.

After all, the old people in the village watched him grow up, and even if they thought he was a loser, no one would sue the officials.

Anyway... Anyway, even if you sue the government, the government didn't reward you.

Du Qiaoer got up from the ditch with a bow, looking at her familiar yet unfamiliar childhood playmate, holding a knife in a bloody hand under the moonlight, making her afraid to answer.

"Who is speaking!"

Someone rushed towards Wen Xun, and she heard the sound of bowstrings snapping, and the elder brother next door raised a knife and smashed the arrow, and rushed into the alley with the knife.

After a few moments of screams, he turned around and brought out the knife again, with more blood on his body, he continued to search left and right and whispered: "Qiao Niang?"

Du Qiaoer was dumbfounded, the old lady didn't brag.

Her son can really kill the northern captives.

Du Qiaoer climbed up from the ditch, and called out timidly, "Brother."

San Lang was surprised that she was right next to the ditch, and then raised his smiling face in relief, followed by vigilantly looking around, and then said: "Follow me!"

They climbed over the wall and entered the old lady's house. The yard was full of dilapidated, empty wine jars piled up all over the floor.

Saburo put her into the well and said don't be afraid: "I know there will be thieves sooner or later. They dug a hole in the well. There is water and food. Don't make a sound. I won't call you. Don't come out."

Du Qiaoer held the well rope tightly for fear of falling: "What about you?"

"I'm fine, go down quickly."

The shaft of the well turned round and round, the rope of the well fell down one foot at a time, the moonlight above her head became farther and farther away, and Du Qiaoer fell into the bottomless well.

Not long after descending, the well rope stopped falling, and Saburo's hollow and echoed advice came from above his head: "Feel along the wall, climb in and be careful."

Du Qiaoer groped the wall of the well, and soon felt that some bricks and stones in the well had been thrown off, and there was a small hole where people could hide. In the hole were a few leather water bags from the frontier army, and some tightly wrapped bricks. .

Thinking of her elder brother, sister and younger brother, she couldn't help but feel sad, which made her slowly move to the entrance of the cave, raised her head and stared at the sky at the mouth of the well with her big eyes.

It's okay not to look, but it's even more sad to hear the intermittent screams and crying from outside the well.

I think about what I have and what I don’t, the old lady next door, the relatives and friends who participated in the simple banquet, and the pipa left at home.

Think, think about why the big brother next door went out from the house.

Think of what he wanted to say to himself but didn't say when he joined the army.

She unpacked a pack of bricks and tasted it, um, it wasn't bricks, it was fried noodle bricks, mixed with tears, the saltiness was just right.

Shocked, frightened, tired and sleepy that night, Qiao Niang fell asleep with a few bricks in her arms.

I don't know how long I slept. In my dream, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the common people wore red hangings and carried the gods' statues through the streets and alleys. The eldest brother played the suona, and the eldest sister beat the gongs and drums. Someone called her to play the pipa for the official.

Suddenly the voice changed, which made her wake up suddenly, and the neighbor Saburo called from the well: "Qiao Niang, Qiao Niang, come up."

Looking up again, the sky outside the well was already bright.

Turning the well rope was more difficult than at night, and Qiao Niang also tried to climb up, but she couldn't climb up, and finally was dragged by the well rope to see the sun again.

The village is very quiet, the black ashes from the burning are blowing in the wind, and the air is shrouded in an inescapable burnt smell.

There was another corpse in the yard, and he was killed with a knife on his back. The neighbor Sanlang sat by the well with his head bowed, his body bleeding on the ground. .

"Brother, where are you hurt?"

He raised his head, a broken arrow stuck in his collarbone, his clothes were cut open on his chest, he shook his head with his pale lips pursed, leaned on his waist knife to stand up again, and wobbled before standing still.

He walked into the house, and Du Qiaoer followed.

There was another corpse in the middle hall where the wine jars were piled up. Saburo asked her to enter the house to change clothes. There were clothes he wore when he was a child. The old lady kept them very well and washed them very clean.

When she walked out of the room again, Saburo who was sitting on the wine jar smiled, the corners of his crooked eyes were shining, and said, "It looks good."

There was a blue cloth package on the table, and Saburo asked her to carry it on her back. Qiao Niang didn't know what was inside, but felt very heavy.

It was so heavy that she didn't want to recite it, but Saburo didn't care and just walked out slowly.

The thieves in the village had left, and the streets were littered with dead bodies. Some houses were burned to the ground, and some houses were still on fire.

Passing by an open door, she saw the eldest sister lying naked on the table in the middle hall, with her stomach open.

Saburo didn't let her look, and forced her to walk outside the village.

They walked towards the cemetery, Sanlang walked more and more slowly, and his clothes dripped blood on the ground again.

Walking all the way to the place where the villagers helped to bury the old lady, the burnt smell disappeared from the nostrils, and the black ash in the air also disappeared.

The wooden tombstone has long since disappeared, but there are a few wine jars next to it, which can still be recognized.

Saburo knelt on the ground, holding the knife and didn't stand up again, so he sat down and wiped the knife with his clothes, carefully looked at the waist knife with the words "made by Ningwuguan officials in the sixth year of the apocalypse" written on the blade, and put it into the scabbard.

Then he pushed the waist knife and the unstringed bow together, and while digging the grave with his hands, he said: "You put on the leather belt and the knife. Use it and sell it.”

Du Qiao'er's lips were murmured, she had no strength in her body, her brain was eaten by monsters, and she couldn't say anything.

Saburo was still digging, digging his hands full of dirt, digging out gold bracelets and silver ingots from the grave.

He turned his head and handed over the gold bracelet and silver ingot. Du Qiaoer stepped back instinctively, but saw a great sadness on his face: "Qiao Niang, I didn't desert. The imperial court killed the Tartars of the East, and they robbed them, I, I will not lie to you."

Du Qiaoer's eyes were blurred and she couldn't see anything, so she could only nod her head with tears in her mouth, each time getting heavier: "Qiao Niang knows, Qiao Niang knows that brother is not a deserter."

The gold bracelet and silver ingot were stuffed into her hand, and Saburo's hand went away as soon as she touched it, as if she had been scalded by her, but she clearly felt that there was no warmth in that hand, and she must have been iced.

He ordered: "In the bag is a change of clothes, shoes are also available for replacement, and there is also a reward card issued by King Qin, which is of no use but... take it."

Saburo's speech became slower and slower, but thinner and thinner: "You cut your hair short and tie it into a scarf. Don't say you are a woman when you go out. If someone robs you of money, give him the bracelet. If it doesn't work, you can also give him silver ingots."

"There is also a tael of silver hidden in the change of clothes. It was the military salary of the first month of last year issued by the military department in the twelfth lunar month. I want to take it back to my mother. I came back late. Is it enough to buy a pipa now?"

He couldn't sit still, and slowly leaned against the grave, his face showed unprecedented weakness, and transparent tears flowed slowly from the corners of his eyes, and said, "Qiao Niang, I'm going to die."

Before Du Qiaoer stepped forward to say anything, San Lang covered his left hand with the severed finger with his right hand, and begged urgently: "You go, I don't want you to see me die, you go, I'm going to accompany my mother. "

Du Qiaoer didn't want to leave, she stepped forward step by step, but at this moment, Sanlang suddenly got strength from where he came from, and quickly sat up, sitting upright, which shocked her.

"Qiao Niang, I, you..." Saburo finally hesitated to speak, and finally smiled brightly: "Live well."

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)