On the third day of the fifth month, Ding Dabao rode out of the west gate of Shangrao County, and galloped along the official road to Xujia Village, he went to send a message to the patriarch of Xujia Village, and Xu Jin will return to Xujia Village on the eighth day of May to worship his ancestors.

Dabao is a clever person, and he often goes out with the housekeeper Zhou Heng to run errands, so he is very good at riding and driving, and the task of delivering a message to Xujia Village, sixty or seventy miles away from the city, is more than enough for him.

The official road that had just rained yesterday was muddy and shallow.

Just as Dabao rode his horse through a mountain col, a black shadow suddenly appeared in the grass beside the road and stopped in the middle of the road. Dabao hurriedly pulled the reins, the horse neighed and stood up, and Dabao on the horse's back suddenly fell down and rolled all over the mud.

Dabao got up like a monkey, and was about to scold, a cold and shining Pu knife had been put on his neck, and the sentence "straight lady thief" suddenly swallowed back, and said with a smile: "A good man spares his life, he has something to say, just take it away if he wants money." ”

Standing in front of Dabao was a man about thirty years old, with a full beard, big and convex eyes, messy eyebrows, and a fierce look, obviously not a good person.

At this moment, another man flashed out of the grass, also carrying a steel knife, with a scar on the left cheek, which extended to the ear, and a piece of the left ear was missing, looking ugly and hideous.

The bearded man spat thick phlegm on the ground, patted Dabao's cheek with a knife, and said with a smile: "You kid is quite interesting, Scarface, search him!" ”

The man with a scar on his face stepped forward and searched the treasure inside and out, took out the money bag containing dozens of copper coins and threw it, shook his head imperceptibly at the beard, and scolded: "Damn, I thought I had caught a big fish, but I didn't expect it to be a small shrimp!" ”

Dabao rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "The small one is a subordinate who runs errands, what money can he have, if the two heroes are too little, just take the horse away and leave a way for the small one to live." The youngest one has an eighty-year-old mother to support, and the younger one has a one-year-old child waiting to be fed......"

"Phew, don't come, I hear this kind of thing dozens of times a year, if you want to live, be honest, Lao Tzu asks you what to answer." The beard pressed the dozens of pounds of Pu knife on Dabao's shoulder, and the latter's figure suddenly became a little shorter.

"Hero, you ask, just ask!" Dabao laughed very undisciplinedly.

The bearded man glared at the fierce eyes and asked, "Where are you going?" What do you do? ”

"Go to Xujia Village to send a message, Xu Gongzi, the head of the government trial case, plans to return to the village to worship his ancestors in a few days, and inform the village to prepare."

"Bah, damn it, isn't it just that I got a child, and I deserve to be a thief and show off, and I ...... Lao Tzu"

Before the beard finished speaking, the scarface next to him raised his hand and slapped Dabao, interrupting the beard's words, and then scolded: "Bastard, there is only a few dollars on him, and Lao Tzu is busy working in vain, if it weren't for Lao Tzu's good mood today, let your kid get in and out with a white knife, get out!" ”

After Scarface finished speaking, he flew up and kicked Dabao over, Dabao didn't let go, he got up and ran, as for the horses, he naturally didn't dare to ask for it, and his life was more important than anything else.

Watching Dabao crawl and disappear at the bend of the mountain road, Scarface glared at his beard and scolded: "You almost fucking leaked your mouth just now, but fortunately Lao Tzu reacted quickly!" ”

The bearded man said disapprerovingly: "What's the matter with leaking your mouth, it's a big deal to cut off that guy with one knife and save trouble." ”

Scarface scolded: "You know a fart, don't worry about letting the two of us keep an eye on the Fei family, but I didn't say that I wanted to startle the snake, cut this family, the Fei family will be aware, and I am afraid that they will be more cautious in the future." ”

The bearded man knew that he was at a loss, so he no longer stiffened his mouth, and scolded and scolded: "The surname Xu Na sour is a lot of shit, isn't it just that he took the first place in the government examination, and he was guilty of running back to the village to worship his ancestors, and asked the Ding people of the Fei family to send him a message, damn it, the road was slippery in the rain this day, and our brothers drove dozens of miles in vain." ”

Beard and Scarface are both outlaws raised in King Ning's mansion, and now they are working under Mo Guan's hands. This morning, staring at Fei Fu's eyeliner, he said that Fei Fu had a subordinate riding a horse to leave the city, so the two of them rode fast horses to catch up, took a shortcut to intercept Dabao, and pretended to be a thief who robbed the road, but in fact they wanted to intercept and inquire about the news.

……

At noon, it rained heavily, and the raindrops beat the banana leaves outside the lecture hall, making a low horn sound.

In the lecture hall, Xu Jin, who had just finished lunch, was preparing to take a nap and then continue to study hard to prepare for the college examination in August.

At this time, someone walked from the heavy rain to the eaves outside the lecture hall in a robe, leaned to the window and called coldly: "Xu Jin! ”

Xu Jin turned his head to look and suddenly saw Fang Jiaoxi's old-fashioned old face, the latter's robe was still dripping with water, and there were also water droplets on his eyebrows.

Xu Jin was a little surprised, why is this old pedantic looking for himself? Standing up and walking out suspiciously, he symbolically bent slightly: "Fang Jiaoxi is looking for students, is there something wrong?" ”

"The mountain chief asked you to go to Yueweiju!" Fang Xingsheng said lightly.

Yueweiju is the usual office of the mountain chief Lou Wei, which is equivalent to the principal's office, and Xu Jin has been there a few times before.

Xu Jin nodded and said, "Xie Fang has informed me that I will go over now." ”

Fang Jiaoxi didn't make a sound, turned around and walked into the heavy rain, and walked in the direction of Yile Hall.

Since it has entered the rainy season now, the caring little girl will remember to put an umbrella in Xu Jin's book basket every day, and now it comes in handy.

Yuewei lives on the west side of the academy, and a few Buddha belly bamboos are planted outside, and the environment is quiet and elegant.

Xu Jin came to Yuewei Ju with an umbrella, put away the umbrella and rested it on the edge of the corridor, and then went straight to the curtain.

I thought that as usual, I would see Lou Wei, the mountain chief wearing a short coat and holding a big sunflower fan, but the people in the house at this time made Xu Jin slightly stunned.

I saw Liu Qingyuan, the county honorian, dressed in civilian clothes, standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, looking at the bamboo blown by the wind and rain outside the window, but the mountain was not there.

Xu Jin stood for a while, and when he saw Liu Qingyuan still standing in front of the window with his hands down, he couldn't help but be a little speechless, pretend, you just continue to pretend, Xu Jin didn't believe that Liu Qingyuan didn't hear the footsteps and the sound of lifting the curtain when he came in.

"Ahem!" Xu Jin had to cough lightly in cooperation, and Liu Qingyuan turned around and said with a smile: "Case Chief Xu is here!" ”

Xu Jin arched and saluted: "Xu Jin has seen the old county lord!" ”

Liu Qingyuan waved and said: "Don't be polite, take off your official uniform, Liu is just a scholar, come and sit here!" ”

Liu Qingyuan walked to the coffee table and sat down, a trace of doubt flashed in Xu Jin's eyes, seeing that this posture did not seem to be the mountain chief looking for himself, but Liu Qingyuan.

Xu Jin sat down at the coffee table, glanced left and right, and said tentatively: "Lord County, isn't the mountain chief here?" ”

Liu Qingyuan smiled and said, "There is no doubt that I called you here in the name of Master Lou!" ”

Xu Jin sighed quietly.

Liu Qingyuan glanced at the calm young man in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and asked, "Don't you ask why this county is looking for you?" ”

"The county lord will naturally say, why should the students ask more."

Liu Qingyuan couldn't help laughing and said, "Xu Jin, sometimes the county is a little suspicious of whether you are fourteen years old. ”

"Why did the county lord say this?"

Liu Qingyuan shook his head, pointed to the wind and rain outside the window, and changed the topic: "The heavy rain doesn't stop, the sky is not beautiful, it seems that this year's Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Race is going to be postponed!" ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be a little surprised, he thought that the Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat race would become popular in later generations, and he dared to love the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat race can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the south of our country, and even the cities near the rivers and lakes in the north have the custom of Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat racing, until modern times, Shangrao County will hold a grand dragon boat race every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, and the location is in the Xinjiang River section.

"Maybe tomorrow the rain will be over!" Xu Jindao.

Liu Qingyuan retracted his gaze and said with a smile: "I hope that this year, Qincha and Ning Wang Shizi are both in Shangrao County, and the prince also donated a huge amount of money on behalf of Ning Wangfu to reward the athletes of the dragon boat race." Therefore, this year's Dragon Boat Race will be more lively than in previous years. ”

Obviously, this is another measure by King Ning Shizi to enhance the reputation of the palace and buy people's hearts, Xu Jin still doesn't understand Liu Qingyuan's intention to find himself, so he didn't answer Liu Qingyuan's words, so as not to be bored.

Liu Qingyuan smiled bitterly in his heart, and felt more and more that he was dealing with an old fritter, this kid was not yet an adult, but he was so calm that he didn't leak, so he had to cough lightly and said straight to the point: "Xu Jin, there is something in this county that I want you to help." ”

Xu Jin nodded and said: "Lord County is polite, please speak, students should do their best!" ”

"Actually, it's not a difficult matter, there is a letter here in this county to trouble you to hand it over to Fei Ge Lao." After Liu Qingyuan finished speaking, he took out a letter from his arms and pushed it in front of Xu Jin, the cover was empty, and there was no signature.

Xu Jin's heart moved, and he said tentatively: "Why didn't Lord County Zun come to visit by himself and personally hand over the letter to Master Fei?" ”

Liu Qingyuan said: "There are many inconveniences in this county. ”

Xu Jin suddenly understood, and quietly put the letter in his arms, Liu Qingyuan smiled slightly, dealing with smart people is worry-free.

The two chatted for a while, and Liu Qingyuan said: "This county will not delay your time to study, and go!" ”

So, Xu Jin got up and said goodbye and left, and returned to the lecture hall to continue studying.