In July of the second year of Yongchun, Guangzhou Mansion.

On the long street, countless pedestrians, business travelers, and stalls crowded the otherwise spacious street.

Scholars with wide robes and big sleeves, bearded people with narrow sleeves with lapels, and civilians in short brown cloth shirts walked among them, and it was very lively.

On both sides of the road, there is the Tianzhu man with shoulder cloth and earrings who sells his sandalwood in the broken Tang dialect, the Kunlun from Nanyang walking barefoot on the street, selling painkillers made from aloe vera, and some people keep boasting about how fresh his clove slices can make the breath fresh.

There is also the Persian man in a small sleeved robe and a flowered fur hat, selling Persian dates for makeup and saffron pollen for perfume. Of course, the stalls are indispensable for the popular condiments of the Tang people: black pepper and thick mustard.

Even the vendors selling pistachio kernels pushed the cart and tore out their loud voices, all the way to the effect of pistachio kernels that can make men tonify the kidneys and aphrodisiac, and women feel comfortable and happy, which attracted countless women for a while: who doesn't want their man to be an Angzangwei husband, whether it is outside or in bed.

Behind the stalls on both sides of the road, there is a clear river. A small stone and wooden bridge rises over the river, and the banks of the river are planted with plantains, and behind the plantain trees are a sake shop, from where the lingering aroma of wine wafts out and merges into the bustling scene of the street.

But the living and prosperous shijie is not as good as the shijie on the book after all. On the book and painting, you can erase everything you don't need, but you can't in the real shijie, there are still poor people at any time, a little beggar in rags is running barefoot at the moment, running desperately, chasing two men-inspiring men in the middle.

The little beggar fled into an alley, and finally exhausted his strength, and was chased by two strong men, and under a punch and kick, the little beggar held his head, curled up like a puppy, and was kicked up one by one, neither begging for mercy nor crying out for pain, until he was kicked and flew into the ditch on the edge of the alley, and then he snorted and fainted.

The two strong men put down their sleeves and walked away, scolding and scolding in their mouths: "Stinky beggar, dare to steal something to eat, and then let Lao Tzu catch it, and kill you alive!" ”

The road was full of pedestrians, but no one paid attention.

I don't know how long later, a woman in a shabby skirt led a little girl from the narrow alley, and the little girl saw the beggar lying lying on the side of the stream, and there seemed to be a little dispute between her and her mother, and the little girl was victorious, and she carried the shabby little dress, and ran as fast as she could to the stream.

The little girl squatted down to look at the fainting boy, then took a broken crockpot from her mother's hand, and carefully fed him porridge.

The little beggar woke up. When he opened his eyes, there was a sudden feeling of swelling pain in his eyes, one of his eyes was beaten blue, and the swelling was only a slit, and after a dizziness, his slightly open eyes fixed on the little girl in front of him.

The girl was six or seven years old, with a thin, dirty little face, messy hair that was a little yellow due to malnutrition, and only a pair of eyebrows that were black and thick.

The little girl was wearing a moon-white short undergarment, the shoulders had been opened, faintly revealing a touch of skin, her lower body was a chest-length bamboo leaf skirt, she was squatting in front of the little beggar at the moment, so that two slippery knees were exposed in the hole in the skirt. …,

The little beggar quickly figured out his situation and understood the identity of the other party, he didn't thank him, just looked at the little girl in a daze, the little girl grinned at him, probably because she was changing her teeth, the teeth in her mouth were not complete, and she looked ugly.

The little girl tilted her head and thought for a while, took out a bun from her bosom, carefully broke it in half, compared it, put the larger half in the little beggar's arms, grinned at him again, and stood up with the jar, and the woman came and took her little hand, and looked at the boy indifferently, and the mother and daughter walked away along the deep and narrow alley.

The little beggar struggled to get up, and his bones ached. He tore at the silk rags, looked left and right blankly, and subconsciously walked behind the mother and daughter.

The girl took her mother's hand, and looked back from time to time, and the boy who dropped out not far from them seemed to be in a more difficult situation than their mother and daughter, his tattered clothes barely covered his body, his collarbone was exposed at the open collar, his cheeks were thin and yellow, his face was bruised and swollen, and new wounds were layered on top of old ones.

The girl grinned at him again.

Gradually, the road became more and more remote, and a ruined temple with a half-collapsed wall appeared in front of it.

The woman led the little girl into the ruined temple, and the little beggar stood outside the ruined temple for a while and followed in.

There was more than one beggar in the broken temple, an old beggar sat in the sun, took off his torn jacket, revealing a skinny body, and was holding fleas there, and the other beggar was stronger, lying on a pile of firewood and grass, humming and singing with Erlang's legs crossed.

The woman took the little girl and sat down in the leaky ruined temple, and the little girl began to eat, while the woman grabbed a handful of flexible weeds and began to weave something.

The little beggar looked at everything in the temple with some vigilance, like a frightened little beast, but he still stubbornly leaned towards the mother and daughter. He was seldom treated with kindness, and the little girl's kindness to him made him feel very dear, and he was helpless, instinctively wanting to approach what he felt dear.

The little girl struggled to nibble on the bun with her mouth that was missing two front teeth, and gnawed for a long time, until the saliva was wet, and then she took a bite hard, she happily swallowed the bun, looked at the boy, and asked softly, "My name is Niuniu, what is your name?" ”

The little beggar seemed to be a little dazed, and after a while, a touch of bitterness flashed through his eyes, and he replied softly: "I...... It's called Ugly. ”

"Ugly, sit down!"

Niuniu patted the straw beside her, and Ugly looked at it and sat down gently beside her.

Niuniu bit the bun, tilted her head to look at him, and asked in a low voice, "Why are you beaten like this?" ”

Ugly replied, "Because I stole from them to eat." ”

"Oh! This is not good, just begging for food, you will always meet kind-hearted people. ”

Ah Chou was silent for a while, and said softly: "Begging, I can't do it, I ...... Can't reach out ......"

Niuniu's two front teeth have fallen out, and the bun has been left for a few days, dry and hard like a stone, gnawed for a long time, and the gnawing is wet and full of saliva, and the next piece has not been gnawed. Hearing Ugly's words, she gave up her efforts to continue nibbling on the bun, opened her mouth wide in surprise, and asked, "How come?" Isn't there a shame in stealing? ”

Ah Chou thought about it seriously and replied, "I don't know, although stealing is also reaching out, but ...... It just doesn't feel the same. Steal, I just need to be ready to be beaten, and begging, I just can't reach out, and I can't say the words to beg......"

Niuniu blinked, thought for a long time in confusion, shook her head and said, "I don't understand!" ”

Ah Chou smiled bitterly, slowly raised his head, looked at the sunlight cast from the hole in the temple roof, and the light dust flying in the sunlight, and said faintly: "Actually, I don't know ...... myself"...,

Niu Niu laughed and said, "Ugly, you are such a strange beggar. ”

Ugly stubbornly emphasized: "I'm not a beggar!" I've never begged! ”

Niu Niu had a good temper and gave in: "Okay, okay, you're not a beggar, you're a strange thief, okay?" Hee-hee. ”

"Hmm!"

Ah Chou thought about it, nodded solemnly, and recognized her evaluation.

Niuniu turned her head, pulled her mother's sleeve, and begged: "Mother, is it okay to knit a pair of shoes for Ugly?" ”

She turned her head again, blinked, and asked, "Ugly, would you like to stay here?" ”

“……”

"Huh?"

"Hmm!"

Niu Niu grinned again with her incomplete teeth and laughed, looking ugly.

At this time, a pair of straw sandals was gradually taking shape in Niu Niuniang's hands......

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Ugly is really a strange child.

He has always stubbornly refused to beg, preferring to steal.

Because of his poor stealing skills, Ah Chou was often beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, if it weren't for Niu Niuniang's help, maybe he would have starved to death.

There are more than ten beggars living in the broken temple, and they all think that Ah Ugly should be called Dumb, he must be stupid, only Niuniu doesn't think so.

When Ah Chou was full, he never sat in the sun like other beggars, taking off his shirt and clutching fleas, and telling jokes in a yellow voice, he always sat on the half of the stone mill in the backyard of the ruined temple, holding his chin and looking at the sky alone in a daze. Niuniu felt that Ah Ugly must be thinking about something.

Ugly can think, will others?

Another time, Niuniu secretly saw Ugly holding a branch in his hand, drawing something on the sand, when he walked away, Niuniu walked over and compared with the half of the stele for a long time, and recognized that Chou wrote the words on the half of the stele, remembering that he was writing like water when he moved, Niuniu was very envious in her heart.

If you can write, can someone else?

Ah Chou will also go up to the tree to dig out bird eggs, will use branches to flutter dragonflies, will go down to the river to catch small fish, whether it is bird eggs, dragonflies, or small fish, zuihou has become fragrant food without exception, although they are all baked without exception, but Niu Niu eats very deliciously.

In those days, Ugly's face was always bruised, and Niuniu's lips were always black.

In Niuniu's childhood of begging for a living, suffering from white eyes and hunger and cold, this time with Ugly has become her most beautiful memory.

P: On the first day of today, three chapters were posted in a row, and two updates were made every day in the future, all of which were updated during the day, so as not to make friends stay up all night and wait.