The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 560: Good Deeds Lead to Good Results

The moon quietly went behind the mountain, and the eastern sky turned pale. The morning mist in the mountains was like a spread veil, feeling cool and wet on the face. The warhorse under him was panting heavily, and the heavy hooves sounded in the silent valley.

Jia Huan raised his sore right hand and wiped his face. The dried blood on his face was wet by the morning mist, and his hand was immediately covered with reddish-brown liquid.

Mandarin took out a handkerchief and handed it to Jia Huan. Jia Huan took it and wiped his face. Seeing that her face and golden hair were also stained with blood, he reached out to wipe it for her. A sweet smile appeared on the tired face of the foreign maid, and she closed her sapphire eyes comfortably.

After a fierce fight, everyone finally succeeded in breaking through. After running for half the night, they finally managed to temporarily shake off the pursuers. Although they were exhausted, they felt a sense of joy at surviving a calamity.

A red sun finally emerged from the horizon, and the morning mist in the mountains was shattered by the sword-like sunlight. Walking out of the valley, the view in front of me suddenly opened up. The wheat fields that had just been harvested seemed very empty. Groups of sparrows were foraging in the fields, sometimes flying up and sometimes swooping down, like a giant net that was changing its shape.

"Take a break for two quarters of an hour and count the number of people." Jia Huan's tone was calm and composed, giving people an inexplicable sense of stability. This was the quality of a qualified commander. Someone who was always startled by things couldn't do this job.

The exhausted men dismounted to rest and tend to their wounds. Ten palace guards were lost in last night's breakout, and now there were only eighteen left, all of whom were injured to some extent. Even Tie Niu was hit in the thigh, but fortunately the wound was not serious, and he had thick skin, so he was able to move without any problems after a simple bandage.

"Master Huan San, come here." The leader of the guards, Xu Sheng, suddenly waved and called out.

Jia Huan walked over quickly, and Xu Sheng whispered with a worried look on his face: "The situation of His Royal Highness Prince Min is a little bad."

Jia Huan carefully looked at Xu Wenhou, who was slumped on the ground. His fat white face was pale, his eyes were closed, and he looked like he was dying. His condition was extremely bad. He frowned and asked, "Is His Royal Highness Prince Min not injured?"

Xu Sheng shook his head and said affirmatively: "No, I have checked it all."

Jia Huan felt relieved after hearing this. He squatted down next to Xu Wenhou and asked with concern, "Seventh Master, what's wrong with you?"

Xu Wenhou seemed unable to even open his eyelids, and only hummed slightly. Jia Huan reached out and touched his forehead, only to feel it was icy cold. He also heard the gurgling sound from the fat boy's stomach, and he couldn't help but ask, "Seventh Master, are you hungry?"

Xu Wenhou nodded slightly. Yes, it turned out that the little fat boy was too hungry and had hypoglycemia. He had to eat quickly, otherwise his life would be in danger. However, after running all night last night, the tents and dry food that everyone brought were all abandoned. Now everyone had nothing to eat.

Jia Huan glanced at the wheat fields around him and guessed that there should be people living nearby, so he said, "Jinbao, Muye, go look around to see if there are any people living there. Come back quickly."

Jin Bao and Mu Ye hurriedly supported their exhausted bodies and climbed onto the horse's back. About ten minutes later, they returned and pointed to the northeast and said, "Third Master, there are more than a dozen families in the mountain village two miles away over there."

Jia Huan hurriedly ordered his men to help Xu Wenhou onto the horse and hurried to the northeast. After turning a corner, he saw a small village at the foot of the mountain. A small river flowed out from the mountain, and a small valley was formed around the entrance of the village. It was planted with mulberry trees, melons, and vegetables. At this moment, farmers were working in the fields.

This was a remote little village, and it was estimated that few outsiders came here normally. So as soon as Jia Huan and others appeared, they immediately attracted the attention of the villagers. The brave ones stood at a distance and looked at them curiously, while the timid ones ran back to the village and closed their doors.

When Jia Huan and others walked to the village entrance, a little kid suddenly fell from a tall mulberry tree beside the road and sat on the ground. Probably because he was hurt, he covered his butt and cried loudly. His hands and face were covered with mulberry juice. At first glance, you thought he was bleeding.

Jia Huan exclaimed softly, vaguely feeling that the little brat looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but couldn't remember where for a moment. At this moment, an old woman ran out of the village in a panic, calling out, "Ban'er Ban'er, go home quickly!"

Jia Huan took a closer look and couldn't help but think what a coincidence. It turned out that the old woman was actually Granny Liu who had come to the Jia Mansion to beg for money some time ago.

At this time, Granny Liu had already come close. She was probably afraid and did not dare to look at Jia Huan and the others. She just pulled up her grandson who was crying on the ground and tried to run away. Jia Huan hurriedly called out, "Granny Liu!"

The old woman was startled for a moment, then she stopped and turned to look at Jia Huan, squinting her eyes to examine him carefully. Suddenly she exclaimed, "Isn't this Brother Huan?"

Jia Huan smiled and nodded, "So grandma still remembers me."

Granny Liu grinned with her broken tooth mouth and said happily: "How could I not recognize him? Oh, no wonder I heard the magpie calling this morning. I didn't expect that a distinguished person really came to visit. Ban'er, quickly kowtow to Master Huan San." While holding her grandson down, she made him kowtow.

Ban'er was only about four or five years old, and was very stout. He was shirtless and wearing open-crotch pants, with his buttocks and penis exposed. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Jia Huan.

Jia Huan took out two silver beans from his sachet and gave them to him as a reward. Granny Liu thanked him repeatedly, and was so happy that her teeth were not visible on her eyes. She asked curiously, "A golden phoenix has come to this poor mountain valley. Master Huan, why are you here, stepping on this humble land?"

Jia Huan smiled and said, "We were originally out hunting, but we got lost in the mountains and unknowingly walked here. The dry food we brought is all gone. Grandma, can you give us something to eat?" Granny Liu suddenly smiled and said, "So that's how it is. This is easy. Everyone, come with me home quickly. The village is narrow, so we can tie the horses here. I'll ask my son-in-law to bring some wheat straw to feed them later."

Jia Huan thanked them immediately and led everyone to follow Granny Liu and her grandson into the village. Granny Liu said with a smile, "Before, our family was so poor that we couldn't afford to entertain so many people. Thanks to the help of Third Master, we can live a good life. This year, the crops from the fields are abundant, and we have all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I am looking for a car to load into the city and send it to your house for the old lady and brothers and sisters to taste."

"Grandma, that's thoughtful." Jia Huan said with a smile. When Grandma Liu came to his house to ask for money, he asked Qingwen to give her one hundred taels of silver. He didn't expect that the good deed he did casually at that time would bear good results today.

The villagers here were very simple and honest, and had never seen the world. They all came to watch and inquire. Granny Liu was very proud and spread the news as she walked. Fortunately, she didn't know the identity of the little fat man, otherwise she would have beaten drums and gongs.

When they arrived at Granny Liu's house, her son-in-law Wang Gou'er and daughter-in-law Liu came out to greet them and kowtowed. When they learned that Jia Huan and the others had not yet eaten, they hurriedly started to make preparations, slaughtering chickens and sheep to entertain them, and were very enthusiastic.

After a night of fierce fighting, everyone was tired and hungry. Now they finally had some good wine and good meat, and they wolfed down the food like whirlwind.

Wang Gou'er noticed that many people had injuries on their bodies, and he couldn't help but secretly become suspicious. He called Liu Laolao to the kitchen and whispered, "These people are very strange. Why are they all injured just because they were hunting?"

Granny Liu said, "I saw it a long time ago. It looked like the result of a fight."

Wang Gou'er said worriedly, "Could it be that Master Huan San's enemies are looking for trouble? If the enemy comes here, wouldn't it bring disaster to our family?"

Granny Liu whispered, "Gou'er, thanks to the 100 taels of silver that Huan gave us after the New Year, our family was able to get through the difficult times and buy a few more acres of land. We are living a good life now. Since we have encountered this, we will naturally help if we can. We should always be conscientious."

Wang Gou'er said awkwardly, "Mammy is right."

At this time, Xu Wenhou, who had eaten his fill and recovered his strength, was enthusiastically tinkering with the rope pulley used to draw water in the yard, trying to draw water from the well. As a result, he almost fell because the well platform was slippery.

Wang Gou'er had a daughter named Qing'er, who was about ten years old. Although her skin was dark, she was very pretty, with a pair of bright eyes that made people like her. When she saw Xu Wenhou's clumsy appearance, she couldn't help but laugh and walked up to him, saying, "You are so stupid. Let me teach you. If you keep working like this, I'm afraid you will starve to death one day!"

As Qing'er spoke, she deftly lifted up a bucket of water, poured it into the water tank with one hand, and then handed the bucket to Xu Wenhou, saying, "See? Come and try it!"

The little fat boy actually blushed a little and said with a wry smile: "I can't believe that you are so strong even though you are so thin."

Qing'er smiled proudly and said, "We farmers do farm work every day, so of course we have a lot of strength. We are not like the young masters of your wealthy families, who have luxurious clothes and delicious food, and naturally have no strength to even tie a chicken."

Xu Wenhou laughed and said, "I'm not the son of a wealthy family... Oh, by the way, what's your name, girl?"

"My name is Qing'er, and that's my younger brother Ban'er!" Qing'er said generously, and pointed to the little boy with his butt exposed in the distance.

"Oh, why is your brother wearing torn pants? Is it because he is too poor? It's very indecent. I will ask Brother Jia to send some money to your family later."

"You are poor because you want to stay cool. Our family has ten acres of land. We are not poor at all!" Qing'er rolled her eyes and ran back into the house angrily.

"I'll hit you for being so dumb!" Xu Wenhou slapped himself lightly on the mouth in regret. When Jia Huan saw this, he couldn't help but laugh.

Boom...

A dull thunder came from afar. Jia Huan and Xu Sheng stood up at the same time and looked into the distance. They saw a large mass of dark clouds coming from the southeast and flashes of lightning. It turned out to be thunder.

Jia Huan and Xu Sheng both breathed a sigh of relief, as they had both mistakenly thought the sound was the sound of horse hooves.

At this time, Granny Liu came out of the kitchen, put her hands on the awning and looked at the sky, muttering, "The weather in June is like a baby's face, it changes at any time. This heavy rain will come. That little fat boy, don't stand at the well head, come into the house quickly, it's going to rain."

"Hey!" Xu Wenhou put down the wooden barrel and walked into the house quickly, calling grandma all the time, but his eyes were looking everywhere for the little girl named Qing'er.

(End of this chapter)