Chapter 15: Disheveled in the Wind

It started to drizzle the next day.

Chen Ming did not ride a horse, but left home in a carriage. Liu Wu did not sit with him, but sat in the carriage behind him, a carriage hired by the Chen family from the carriage and horse shop in the south of the city. The driver was not very old. There were a lot of boxes and cloth in it, all of which were to be taken back to Tumen Market.

It was about 10 to 20 miles from the county town to Xinji. Even if there were rain gear on rainy days, Chen Ming would not leave the carriage and ride a horse.

The two carriages rolled out of Lushan County. Chen Ming leaned against the carriage and soon felt drowsy. The swaying of this two-wheeled carriage really made people "carsick".

In the drizzling rain, Lushan County seemed much more desolate than in the past, especially except for the East Gate, where there were almost no pedestrians on the official road. Going northeast, there were no farmers in the fields on both sides of the road.

In autumn, it rains and it gets colder. It's late September now. It will snow in a month at most.

The time and space of 1765 is much colder than the 21st century. A small charcoal stove has been lit in the carriage.

The official road is relatively flat. After all, the Qing Dynasty is in its heyday. The government will allocate some money and grain every year, plus donations from the gentry, to repair and maintain the official road.

Chen Ming closed his eyes and didn't care about the official road at all. What he was thinking about now was how to face his cheap brother.

Scholar. What if Chen Gang comes to show off his literary talent? Chen Ming can't handle it. And it just happened that from Xinji to Tumenji, the 40-mile road couldn't be completed today. After Chen Ming picked up his brother in Xinji, he couldn't set off for Tumenji immediately, right? Lunch must be eaten in Xinji. When he set off in the afternoon, he didn't know if it would continue to rain. 40 miles, even if everything goes smoothly, it will take until the evening to get home.

Thinking about having to accompany this cheap elder brother who is not very close to him for almost the whole day, Chen Ming's head hurts.

Chen Gang is not handsome, but in the memory inherited by Chen Ming, Chen Gang is really a bookworm. Gao said that Chen Gang is a bookworm, which is a bit of a generalization, but it is not groundless. Such a person should be ashamed of Lushan's current "complex situation", so what kind of "power" will an ashamed scholar "explode"? Chen Ming is very worried that he can't handle it.

This is the last "bunker" that Chen Ming must conquer since he traveled through time, his half-brother.

But if you don't think about it, you won't know. When Chen Ming thought about Chen Gang, he suddenly realized that he was really too distant and didn't know this half-brother. He didn't know what kind of food or tea Chen Gang liked to eat, what kind of 'Four Books and Five Classics' Chen Gang was most proud of, and Chen Gang's revenge ambitions. Chen Ming couldn't think of any difference between Chen Gang and the most representative image of a Confucian scholar.

It turns out that his younger brother is not as 'good' as he thinks. In his previous impression, Chen Ming felt that he was just not close to Chen Gang. Now, the so-called 'not close' is just a superficial phenomenon. The real feelings hidden under this mask should be described as 'indifferent'.

"Alas..." Chen Ming opened his eyes, but his head felt even more painful.

There was a small pot of hot water on the stove. Chen Ming opened the dark box beside the carriage, took out a water cup and poured half a cup. The warm feeling from the water cup to the palm of his hand slowly calmed Chen Ming's uneasy heart. Why did he worry too much about Chen Gang? This cheap elder brother is now a loser in life. Compared with me, he has no qualifications to catch up. Why am I so entangled?

It has been more than three months since I traveled through time. Chen Ming has experienced the hardships of the countryside. It is normal for people to change. Even if Chen Gang feels that the current Chen Ming is different from the previous Chen Ming, Chen Ming thinks that he will not think of changing the core of his cheap younger brother.

Chen Ming suddenly felt that he really didn't need to worry too much about Chen Gang. After Chen Gang was cheated, he no longer had the power and potential to threaten Chen Ming in the Chen family and Lushan County.

Suddenly, the voice of Lao Sun came from the north of the carriage, "Master, there are two people in front and two people in the back."

Lao Sun's name is Sun Youfu, but he didn't have a trace of happiness in the first half of his life. He was originally from Shandong. In the twelfth year of Qianlong, the ninety-eight counties and guards in Shandong were flooded. He took his parents, wife and children to escape to Henan. Along the way, Lao Sun's relatives and friends died or scattered. When he finally entered the gate of the Chen family, it was already the nineteenth year of Qianlong. Sun Youfu was already in his forties, and the couple had only a son who was in his early teens and a girl who was less than five years old. When he fled from his hometown in Shandong to Henan, Sun Youfu brought six children with him.

So Sun Youfu had no luck in the first half of his life. He drove a carriage for twelve years in the Chen family, his wife managed the kitchen in the Chen family, and his children were not very capable, but now they all live in peace and stability on the Chen family's farm.

So even though the Chen family has few servants, their loyalty is definitely extraordinary. Such servants are far more loyal than the servants and maids that the big families buy from the traffickers every two years.

Sun Youfu is already half a century old, and has experienced the hardships of family breakdown and the end of the road. Such people are very sensitive to some things. Although Sun Youfu has been living a stable and peaceful life in the Chen family for twelve years, he still quickly noticed something wrong today. The two horsemen behind him followed the carriage from Qili Bridge, and now two people dressed in the same way appeared in front.

Four big men sat on four horses, with bulging waists and a knife hanging under the saddle. Although the whole knife was wrapped in black cloth into a "strip", the width and length of the strip showed that it was a waist knife. And the four men were holding wooden sticks in their hands.

Chen Ming was extremely shocked. Was this a kidnapping? Or a robbery? How did a very tender and affectionate script suddenly turn into a typhoon?

This is still Lushan County, okay? After leaving Qili Bridge, the road to Xinji is halfway gone... Uh. Chen Ming got out of the car door and looked around. There was no one in the drizzle. It was really a good place for kidnapping and robbery.

He looked up, looked forward, and then looked back. The carriage behind had already arrived beside him. The driver, who was not very old, was completely numb. Liu Wu got out of the carriage behind, "Master." His expression was nervous.

"Who are you?" Looking at the four big men who rode their horses to the front and looked at him with a look of looking at a fat sheep, Chen Ming was not afraid, but more curious. Who wants to play? They want to kidnap me? What's their purpose? What's their purpose?

Chen Ming was in a mess because of the sudden change of the typhoon and the wrong script.

The typhoon had been very 'peaceful' before, but now it suddenly became a battle of swords and sabers?

"Young Master, you are ready. Even if the old man risks his life today, he will take you out." As Old Sun was talking, Chen Ming saw a sharp sickle in his hand. This sickle looks like a farmer's sickle for mowing grass, but it is made of pure iron, with a pole.

"Do you know who I am?" Chen Ming's voice trembled a little. This kind of scene was the first time he had seen it in his past and present lives. Whether he was afraid or not, he had to be nervous. The four riders in front of him looked at him with a very determined look, and there was a sense of confidence in their eyes. "Do you know me?" Or they have seen Chen Ming's portrait. Chen Ming asked again.

"Young Master Chen, don't worry about your life. All we want is the bone china formula!"