The woman to the left of Sima Qiudao, presumably his eldest wife, was smiling and leaning on her husband's shoulder. The younger-looking woman on the right is probably a little wife, just pursed her lips and smiled down. When Kuang Taiping looked around at everyone, he made eye contact with Sima Qiudao's little wife, and the other party quickly lowered his head, and Kuang Taiping immediately looked away.

"Good luck guy for this thief." Kuang Taiping said again in his heart.

"Oh, yes." After stopping laughing, Sima Qiudao pointed to the woman on the left and introduced, "This is my mother-in-law." Then he nodded to the woman on the right: "This is my sister!" ”

"Sister-in-law." Kuang Tianping felt as if his heart had suddenly jumped twice, and after he saluted the two women, his body unconsciously deflected a little, and he was originally heading towards Sima Qiudao's toes, and inadvertently pointed to Sima Qiudao's sister: "Sister." ”

Few people in Sichuan have younger sisters, and even if they do, they are generally married early.

When Kuang Taiping was guessing in his heart, Sima Qiudao added: "Wife and sister." ”

"Oh." Kuang Taiping gently adjusted the posture of his body again, and once again completely faced Sima Qiudao, and his gaze that had just wandered around the girl twice was also withdrawn, fixed on Sima Qiudao's square face - his wife and sister are not his own sisters, and it is normal for his sister-in-law to marry her brother-in-law in the end, which can also explain why a very good-looking little girl has not found her in-law in Sichuan, a place full of singles.

"The eldest brother of the two of them is from Zhejiang, and he saved my life during the battle of Hangzhou. When I arrived in Wuchang after a lot of hardship, I got sick, and the people were gone, so I entrusted the two of them to me before leaving, and asked me to find a good family for this little girl. But the time was too tight, and she didn't worry about staying alone in the capital, so she said that she would go to Jiangyou with me and her sister first, and then find her there, and her relatives would be close to her. Sima Qiudao spoke quickly, and without waiting for others to ask, he confided all the causes and consequences.

"Oh." Kuang Taiping moved his gaze to the little girl again. It turned out to be a new immigrant from Zhejiang, so it's no wonder that the tips of his boots unconsciously began to favor Sima's wife and sister.

"Well, I was so hungry that time." Kuang Taiping took the initiative to speak very rarely, and told his story endlessly: "After wandering in the mountains for more than ten days, I froze to death, and several brothers as strong as cattle didn't carry it...... When I was caught by the Admiral, who was still called Admiral, I would not move anything but my mouth and a few fingers of my right hand...... I remember very well that I was stuffed with a steaming steamed bun in my mouth, and later gave me a bowl of vegetable soup, and when I took a bite of the steamed bun, tears were about to come out - this is probably what Western Elysium tastes like. ”

The three men and four women all laughed and leaned back. Kuang Taiping glanced at Sima Qiudao's wife and sister, only to see that the girl's eyes narrowed into two lines with a smile, covering her mouth and trying not to make a sound, forgetting to avoid Kuang Taiping's gaze.

"It's noon." The gendarmes called.

"Let's go!" Sima Qiudao helped his wife and sister-in-law into his car: "When we get to Jiangyou, let's talk about it to us." ”

……

Every day after camping, the companions gathered around the campfire and talked until they were driven back to their tents by mosquitoes and drowsiness. So without waiting to get to Jiangyou, Kuang Taiping told his companions about his experience in Sichuan.

"Before coming to Sichuan, Governor Gao said that when he took the capital, he would reward us with land. At that time, I thought: Okay, I will kill men when I see them, and rob ...... women when I see them" Kuang Taiping felt a little wrong after saying this, and glanced at Sima Qiudao's little sister, and sure enough, he saw some fear on the other party's face, and he coughed and skipped the next psychological description: "But we were restrained by the admiral." At that time, everyone was cold and hungry, almost like ghosts. The Admiral didn't distinguish between the armored soldiers and the unarmored soldiers, and he couldn't do it anyway, and I didn't know where my armor and broadsword had gone, and there was no difference between them and the auxiliaries who carried food. After being sent to the capital, he stayed for a few months, and heard that Governor Gao was put back, and Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong were killed by the admiral, and 20,000 people were captured...... By the time I arrived at Gaoyou Lake, I was the negative soldier in the army, and I shot more than a dozen arrows at the camp of the Tartar Emperor! ”

The companions around him listened quietly to Kuang Taiping's story, and he was the only one of these people who had participated in the battle of Gaoyou Lake.

"When the Dog Emperor of the Tartars broke through, I happened to be standing in the front row. I'm not right, these guys are going to run! He picked up a stick and rushed forward......" Kuang Taiping saw the look of reverence in the eyes of the audience, and naturally Sima Qiudao's little sister was also one. Kuang Taiping was seriously injured that time, but he was also commended for this and was promoted to a soldier: "The injury is too serious, the admiral wants to spend money on us to beg his mother-in-law, but we don't have this blessing." It was only after returning to Sichuan that he was able to walk on crutches, and later bought a horse with the bounty he was given. ”

"Where's the horse?" Sima asked.

"It was handed over to the government, and they said they would help me transport it. When I get to Jiangyou, plus this horse pulling the cart, I will be able to have three horses, and I will definitely be much faster than you in clearing the wasteland. Kuang Taiping couldn't help but start showing off his wealth: "I can't use so many horses alone, if you want to use them, I can lend them to you." ”

The last time the Ming army marched east to the south of the Yangtze River, Kuang Taiping followed the troops again. However, the proceeds of this war were hundreds of thousands of new immigrants, and the army could no longer afford to marry soldiers or give large bonuses, and Kuang Taiping also completed his service years.

The others yawned and went to sleep, Kuang Taiping holding a knife in one hand and pulling a bonfire in the other to keep vigil.

A moment later, the snoring of the three male companions rang out like thunder. Kuang Taiping was the first person to take turns to keep vigil tonight, he sat silently for a while, and when he heard the sound of small footsteps beside him, he glanced back, it was Sima Qiudao's little sister who walked gently.

The girl sat down next to the campfire and spat out three words in a thin voice: "I can't sleep." ”

Kuang Taiping glanced around and said to the girl: "There are too many mosquitoes, don't stay outside, go and hide in my tent." When your brother-in-law gets up for me in a while, you can go back. ”

"Then you're still out there."

"What if the wolf comes?" Kuang Taiping asked rhetorically, and the two fell silent after saying this.

Whether it was in the army in the past, or in front of a few newly acquainted companions and future neighbors, Kuang Taiping has always maintained the image of a tough guy. He followed Gao Mingzhan to Sichuan, just to kill people, get promoted and make a fortune; saw the imperial guards break through at Gaoyou Lake, although he had no armor, he bravely pounced on it to block it, for the sake of wealth and danger; In the subsequent battles, he worked desperately for promotion, for praise, and for medals, and he did get his wish; Even this time I signed up to go to Jiangyou for a reason: for the 350 acres of land; Hurriedly set off, of course, also to preemptively enclose a good piece of land.

In fact, Kuang Taiping has other reasons in his heart, but he is unwilling to say this, he thinks that talking too much will make him look sentimental, like a mother-in-law.

"Actually, I didn't come to Jiangyou for 350 acres of land." Now that there was only Sima Qiudao's little sister by his side, Kuang Taiping found that he did not want this girl to think that he was just a vicious person, as if all his actions were just to get a reward.

"Then why did Brother Kuang come to Jiangyou?" After Kuang Taiping broke the silence, the girl quickly asked rhetorically.

Kuang Taiping did not give a reason. When he was captured by Deng Ming and returned to Chengdu, he thought he would become a slave and work hard until he died tragically. If he had been the victor, he would have treated the captured Sichuan soldiers in the same way. But the Sichuan army did not go as he thought; Later, when he participated in the Eastern Crusade, Kuang Taiping had never been mistreated as an auxiliary, and if he made any requests, the commander would also consider them at his discretion; When he heard that the Tartar Emperor was going to surrender in the First Battle of Gaoyou Lake, Kuang Taiping was happy with the victory of the Ming army from the bottom of his heart, so he noticed that something was abnormal on the battlefield and stepped forward to participate in the battle without thinking; During the period of recuperation from serious injuries, Kuang Taiping was well cared for; After returning to Chengdu, according to Deng Ming's preferential policy, he bought a horse, so that he could proudly ride it on the Chunxi Road to show off - he enjoyed all the due treatment of Ming soldiers, and he was never discriminated against because he came with Gao Mingzhan in the Shaanxi Green Battalion.

After returning from this expedition to the south of the Yangtze River, Kuang Taiping felt that he was so good that he could open up the frontier for the empire, monitor the Qing soldiers in Baoning Mansion in Jiangyou, and ensure the safety of those comrades-in-arms who went to Mianzhu. As for the compensation of 350 acres of land, it is indeed very impressive, but it is definitely not the only reason for Kuang Taiping to make this choice.

However, Kuang Taiping still did not say these words after all. Although he didn't want the girl next to him to misunderstand that he was a mercenary person, he still felt that these thoughts seemed to be a bit mother-in-law, which damaged his masculinity. So in the end, Kuang Taiping simply said: "This empire treats me well." ”

The girl snorted, no more questions.

In this empire, Kuang Taiping not only had the status of a fellow showman, did not have to kowtow to officials, but was also respected, the gendarmes would salute him for his past ranks, the owner of the blacksmith shop would sincerely thank him for his service to the country, and the companions who traveled with him would admire his bravery. Not only does he own a large tract of his own land, but he may even get a home of his own.

"I have three horses," Kuang Taiping looked sideways at the girl by the campfire, moved his body, moved closer to the girl, and whispered in her ear, "Your brother-in-law has only two horses over there." His current cart puller is going to pull three people, and his horse will be tired. You see, I'm the only one in my car, or you can take my car from tomorrow onwards and let your brother-in-law save on horsepower, how about it? ”

The girl did not dodge, but listened motionlessly, lowering her eyes in the flickering light of the fire.

"You can go talk to my brother-in-law tomorrow." The girl replied quickly, as if prepared for the question, and ran away as fast as she could.