When Tang Ning woke up again, his nose was blocked and his eyes were astringent. Snot ran down my nostrils, and my throat and eyes felt tight.

The stove under the stove is burning, and there is no chimney in the house, so smoke will come out of the stove and fill the whole house.

Fortunately, the location of the stove is very close to the door, and most of the smoke that comes out of the door wafts out. Although there were not many left in the house, Downing was still choked by the smoke. I don't know what was boiling in a big pot on the stove, it was steaming.

He was covered with several layers of sheets, and the sky was bright. Tang Ning sneezed, and the woman walked in through the door, squatted beside Tang Ning and asked with concern, "Are you awake?" ”

After saying that, she took a black bowl from the stove, scooped a bowl of water in the bucket, handed it over, and said, "Are you thirsty?" Would you like to drink some water? ”

Downing snorted hard and leaned his head closer to the bowl the woman had brought over. At this time, it doesn't matter whether it is clean or not, the throat and eyes are already on fire, and it is urgent to extinguish the fire.

He gulped down the water, drank two or three sips, and drank all the bowl of water. The woman went to scoop another bowl and handed it again. Tang Ning still drank two or three sips, and when the woman got up again and was about to scoop up the water, Tang Ning said loudly: "No need, I have drunk enough, thank you Auntie......"

The woman stopped, turned her head to look at Tang Ning, and wondered, "What did you say?" ”

Tang Ning smiled bitterly, how could he forget that people can't understand what he says, but he can't understand it either, and the communication depends on guessing.

When the woman saw Tang Ning smiling bitterly, she was quite puzzled. Still, she walked over to the stove and brought the cauldron out.

Tang Ning craned his neck to look over, only to find that it was boiling water. This disappointed him a little, and his stomach was hungry now.

The woman took a basin from outside the house, poured some hot water into it, poured some cold water from the bucket in, tested the temperature of the water, and beckoned to Downing.

Tang Ning knew that this was to wash his face, and he didn't need to look at him to know how embarrassed he was, splashing and rolling on the ground with his bare ass, not to mention that when he walked through the bushes at the beginning, he was scratched in many places.

He stood up, folded the sheet around his waist, blocked his lower body, and walked over.

Seeing Tang Ning's movements, the puzzle on the woman's face became even heavier.

Tang Ning walked to the basin and stretched out his hand to test the temperature, feeling just right, so he took the water in both hands and washed his face a few times, and washed the back of his ears and neck, and then heard the woman ask in a tone that Tang Ning was very familiar with: "Have you ever read?" ”

Tang Ning almost didn't cry, just now he was thinking about finding a way to communicate with the woman, but the woman opened her mouth to say this, Tang Ning heard it very clearly.

The ancients spoke very differently than they do today. Because the words spoken by the ancients are divided into two systems, one is the official language, and the other is the folk dialect.

The official language was equivalent to Mandarin in later generations, but it was only used by emperors, ministers, and scholars. Ordinary people who are illiterate, or who are less literate, communicate in the local dialect.

Before that, the words spoken by the woman to the Orion or the villagers were all in the local dialect, and the woman's sudden voice made Tang Ning feel very cordial.

The reason is that the tone of this sentence is clearly similar to Cantonese.

Downing had a roommate in Guangdong when he was in college, and his Mandarin was not standard at first, so Downing, who was often tortured by Cantonese, wanted to die.

Tang Ning is a northerner, and Cantonese sounds similar to a foreign dialect to the ears of many northerners. So Downing struggled to speak Cantonese, but with the good foundation laid for him by that roommate, listening to Cantonese was not a problem.

Since Mandarin was spoken in Cantonese during this period, it is possible to roughly deduce the current dynasty. If it was the Tang Dynasty, it would be more difficult to understand what others said, but in the Song Dynasty, it was basically this accent.

To the Song Dynasty?

Tang Ning sighed in his heart. Then he raised his head and nodded heavily at the woman, "Yes, yes! I've read books! I finally understand what you're saying! ”

Although the woman could understand Downing's lame tone, she still felt strange. Hearing Tang Ning say that she had read books, she became a little cramped. Listening to Tang Ning's last sentence, she couldn't help laughing again.

"How did the little minister fall to this?" The woman began to talk.

Downing sighed, wondering how I know. But right now, I need a reasonable identity to fool this woman. As soon as he rolled his eyes, he replied in a thick nasal voice: "I originally lived with the master in the mountains, and I was an abandoned baby picked up by the master.

Master passed away a few days ago, and after I buried him, I continued to live in the mountains. But after a few days, the food was all gone, so I had no choice but to go out and look for something to eat.

On the way, I happened to come across a stream, I didn't take a bath for a few days, and my body itched badly, so I was about to go down to take a bath, but I was targeted by a tiger.

At this time, a bear came out and had a fight with the tiger, and I took advantage of this opportunity to swim to the other side, and a leopard suddenly appeared.

Luckily, Uncle Orion showed up, shot the leopard, and saved me, which allowed me to get out of the leopard's mouth.

By the way, what about Uncle Orion? I haven't thanked him for saving his life......"

"Poor child......" The woman listened to Tang Ning tell this thrilling story in a flat tone, and couldn't help the flood of maternal love, and took Tang Ning into her arms.

At this time, Orion Niu San came back from hunting, and as soon as he entered the door, he bumped into such a scene.

After Tang Ning washed his face, his originally handsome face was revealed. Niu San was stunned for a moment when he saw it, and muttered to himself in his heart, could it be true that he picked up a little girl doll and went home?

When the woman heard the movement, she looked back at Niu San and said, "This child is so pitiful, if he hadn't met you, he would have been eaten by a leopard." ”

"It's just a matter of hand." Niu San's voice was muffled: "I chased the leopard all morning, and it was not easy to wait until it was ready to hunt." Sooner or later, I couldn't save him. ”

When Tang Ning saw Niu San, he broke free from the woman's arms, knelt down in front of Niu San with a plop and said loudly: "Thank you for saving your life!" "If you say that, you have to kowtow.

Niu San picked up Tang Ning and said with a smile: "You don't have to make this big gift, when your injuries are healed, just leave from here." ”

“……”

Tang Ning was a little speechless, and the woman said on the side: "You want to drive this child away?" Where can this kid go? People live in seclusion in the mountains with the master, and the master is gone, where can he go as a child?

Then you might as well not save him at that time and let him be gnawed by the leopard. ”

Niu San was also a little speechless, as a mother-in-law, everything is good, but her compassion is too heavy, and she has been more or less influenced by her.

In the past, he would even use Downing as bait, and only when the leopard began to eat Downing when he let down his vigilance that he would shoot the deadly arrow.

Besides, the origin of this kid is unknown, and the mountain behind Rooster Ridge is a complete deep mountain and old forest, and no one dares to enter it.

Don't say it's a human being, even if a beast goes in, you have to be careful, there are too many other kings in the mountain.

The appearance of a little doll more than ten years old in that place was originally an extremely strange thing. If there was no one to protect him, he didn't believe that this little doll would be able to walk to the mountain behind Rooster Ridge by himself.

Not to mention the beasts in the mountains, just the robbers who are all over the mountains on the South Mountain will not let such a white and tender little baby into the mountains.

Sighing, Niu San asked, "What is the origin of this kid?" ”

The woman said: "He has read books, and he wants to learn a lot from his master in the mountains...... At that moment, she repeated what Tang Ning had just said to Niu San.

Niu San frowned and said, "So, he and his master themselves have been living in the back mountain?" After speaking, his sharp gaze turned to Tang Ning.

Who is Downing? I also worked in sales for a while, naturally my face was not red and my heart was not beating, and Niu San looked at Niu San blankly with big black eyes, Niu San looked at it for a long time, and he didn't see anything wrong, so he sighed and said: "Okay, then keep him here."

You can also teach Xiao Shi and Xiao Nizi to read and write by the way, which saves you a lot of effort. ”

The woman laughed and said, "It doesn't work if you don't keep it." ”

“……”

Niu San depressedly took off the longbow and hung it on the wall, and heard the woman say behind him: "You, you are too suspicious. What can he think about as a child? Look at his size, he is not as tall as Xiao Shi and Xiao Nizi, why do you always treat everyone as a member of the government. ”

"Can I not think so?" Niu San smiled bitterly and said: "You and I, together with the people in this village, are all runaways, and they are still the kind of fugitives who are most disgusted by the government and can't pay taxes before entering the mountains."

People like us, once discovered by the government, it will be a dead end, how can I not be cautious.

And you don't know what happened in the city recently, some time ago, the new governor took office, and we must also start to rectify it. Don't you see that lately, I have rarely gone down the mountain anymore? ”

"Nanshan doesn't care about him, he wants to take care of us, where is the reason!"

"It doesn't make sense, it's the government's reason." Niu San sighed, turned his gaze to the sneezing Tang Ning and said, "Forget it, don't talk about these things, since you want to keep him, then stay." After a few years, just let him go.

He's a scholar, and he can't mix with us fugitives. ”

The woman looked at Tang Ning with pity and said, "Poor child, he has been abandoned by his family since he was a child, and the master didn't wait for him to grow up, so he ignored him......"

Niu San smiled: "It's much worse than him, and many people haven't met a master who can pick them up."

Don't feel sorry for this kid, I think this kid is lucky. He was able to be picked up by his master and did not die in the wilderness. I was rescued yesterday and didn't die under the mouth of a leopard, can this kind of luck be bad? ”

"You'll say it!" The woman snorted: "A stinky hunter, two mouths are quite moving!" What did you hit today? ”

Speaking of this, Niu San was proud, patted his chest and said: "Good luck today, I hunted a wild boar and came back, everyone is blessed today!" ”