At the beginning of the year of famine, the lucky girl of the farm family used cheats to support the

The old man said in disbelief: "Who are you talking about?"

Fu Bao turned to him and said word by word: "Zheng Hesong!"

The old man half-raised himself, shaking with excitement: "He's still alive!"

Fu Bao nodded: "He is doing well now and has become a general."

Old Master Ye's hot tears finally rolled down, slid down his wrinkled face, and finally disappeared into his thick but messy beard.

Ye Xuan came back to his senses, and was shocked as if he had just woken up from a dream: "Is it my father? He is alive... why didn't he come to find us."

Fu Bao pursed his lips and said, "This is a long story. Anyway, his movements are restricted. You guys follow me first and we'll talk about it when we get to a safe place."

This time Ye Xuan did not refuse. He was uneasy, and all his energy was focused on the fact that his father was still alive. When he went out, he tripped over the threshold.

Fubao: "Hey - be careful!"

Ye Xuan was already kneeling on the ground, supporting his upper body with his hands: "Hiss——" Then he quickly stood up and said with a smile: "I'm fine..."

Fu Bao looked at his relaxed and innocent smile and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps because he had been too depressed during this period, Ye Xuan's entire state was not quite right. Now, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Qing Heng jumped out early in the morning and carried the old man on his back, carrying him to the carriage he had driven over. Several people sat in the carriage together and walked slowly home.

Fu Bao lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and whispered, "You drove the carriage to follow us, why didn't you come over and let me sit for a while when I was tired?"

Qing Heng: "You didn't say you wanted to sit..."

Fubao curled his lips speechlessly. No wonder Qingyang always scolded him. He deserved it.

Since Mr. Ye knew that Zheng Hesong was still alive, his spirits had improved a lot. He half leaned on the side and asked, "Is he okay?"

Fu Bao nodded, looked at his expectant eyes, and said, "He missed you very much, but he was being watched, so he didn't dare to come to find you." After that, he took out five hundred taels of silver from his arms and handed it to the old man: "This is what he gave me, and he asked me to pass it on to you."

Mr. Ye took the banknote, and when he saw a small tree drawn with charcoal on the back of the banknote, tears filled his eyes again: "It's Song'er, it's him."

Fubao: "What happened after you moved away?" She could see that Mr. Ye and Aunt Ye's conditions were more serious than most people outside, and they seemed to have been sick for a long time.

The two men had completely lost their ability to move. They were sweating every time they stood up from lying on the ground. No wonder they left Ye Xuan alone to find food.

The old man paused for a moment and said, "You don't know people well enough..."

Fubao originally thought that Qingyang's notification was too hasty and they had no time to prepare, which led to this. But after hearing what he said, it seemed that there was another hidden story.

The carriage slowly stopped, and for safety reasons they made a big circle, and only returned to the house after making sure that no one was following them.

There are many rooms here. In order to prevent them from getting sick, Fu Bao placed the two of them separately on the second floor. Ye Xuan lived next to his mother so that it would be more convenient for him to take care of them.

After settling them down, Fubao asked carefully, "Who did you run into? How did you end up living in a dilapidated temple and contract the plague?"

The old man coughed painfully a few times, cleared his throat and said, "Daoist Qingyang sent someone to deliver a message, asking us to leave our residence quickly, otherwise it would be dangerous. Then, the three of us only took a few clothes and silver and hurried to an inconspicuous inn outside the city."

Fubao nodded. Qingyang must have noticed some unusual movements in Linzhou and discovered the clues.

The old man continued, "We stayed in the inn for five days and never left the house. But one day, a group of people suddenly came..."

Fubao: "Are you staying here?"

The old man shook his head. "As soon as they came in, they started to make a fuss about the drought and locust plague in Linzhou, and that it was a punishment from heaven. Later I learned that this group of people came over the mountains to escape the famine."

Fu Bao: "Linzhou is suffering from a severe drought, and King Li is indifferent to it. It makes sense for them to run away."

Mr. Ye: "They had no money, and some of them didn't even have a pair of straw sandals. As soon as they entered the door, they knelt down in front of the shopkeeper."

His face was calm, and he calmly described the scene he saw: "There were too many people, the shopkeeper didn't dare to make an offer, so he refused. He only gave a few children, each of them a steamed bun."

The inns outside the city were cheap and the profits were not high, so she could understand the shopkeeper's approach, but she didn't understand what this had to do with the Ye family.

The old man looked at her puzzled look and continued, "These people are starving. They can't sell their misery, so they smash other people's shops and rush into the kitchen to grab food."

Fubao felt a little uneasy. Even if these people were very hungry, they would not smash other people's shops.

The old man paused, as if he was recalling the scene at that time, and his aged voice continued: "After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the officials had surrounded them. They immediately knelt down to apologize, crying that they had not had any food for many days and that they were really starving, so they acted like this."

The more Fubao listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He had an indescribable strange feeling.

Mr. Ye: "I believed them. They cried sincerely. The child was crying because he was hungry. I went to plead for mercy. The shopkeeper is also a good person. He warned them once and let it go."

Fu Bao could almost imagine everything that happened later: "They took all your silver, didn't they?"

Mr. Ye lamented, "I just want them to have a full meal..."

Fubao knew that the old man was a military general who would not bear to see the people suffer, so she was not surprised that he would help these people.

Fu Bao said: "You have never experienced famine. In famine years, no matter who has food or money, they will not show it. Once someone finds out and you open a hole, everyone will grab you and suck your blood until you are dry..."

The old man sighed and said, "I have lived for most of my life, but I am still not as thoughtful as a little girl like you. No matter what, I am the one who has dragged them down."

Fu Bao shook his head: "It's not a burden, it's just that those people are greedy and have no bottom line. It has nothing to do with you."

Then he added: "What does this have to do with the epidemic?"

The old man said, "Those people started coughing about seven or eight days after they moved into the inn, and some even coughed up blood. They got scared and started asking us for money one by one. If we couldn't get it, they would rob us and go get medicine or see a doctor."

Fu Bao: "Yes, there is a disaster in Linzhou. It is the end of summer, so it is normal to have an epidemic."

The old man coughed for a long time and said, "When we had money, those people coaxed and deceived us every day, saying that their children had a fever today or they needed medicine to treat an illness tomorrow. They asked us for money every day. When they really emptied us out, they drove us out without mercy."

Fubao: "The innkeeper..."

Old man: "He's missing."

Fubao frowned slightly, wondering how these people could act like this.