Everyone else had gone on their missions. Hua Yuezhu maintained an excellent standing posture and stood beside Zhang Xiaohou.
Hua Yuezhu is the captain of the bodyguard himself. He is only responsible for Zhang Xiaohou's personal safety and is not involved in other affairs.
"I want to go to those villages to understand the situation, but if we wear such attire, I'm afraid many villagers will be a little scared. It's best for us to wear casual clothes." Zhang Xiaohou said to Hua Yuezhu.
"Afraid? Why are these villagers afraid of our soldiers? Could it be that they have done some shameful things?" Hua Yuezhu said.
"Not entirely. Most people have a sense of awe and caution towards the police and soldiers. If you go to talk to them while concealing your identity, you will only ask a question and they will answer. The answer you get is often not what we want. If you are a plainclothes person, If they do, they will treat us as passers-by and what they say will be more casual. Of course, we need to distinguish what is real and what is their own fiction." Zhang Xiaohou said.
When he was in Qinling, Zhang Xiaohou was also responsible for many incidents related to villages and towns. It was not convenient for the Magic Association to handle them and could only be handed over to the country and the military.
Therefore, Zhang Xiaohou has gained experience. When dealing with local people, keeping things official often does not have much effect.
…
Putting on casual clothes, the two of them pretended to be the kind of artistic young people who travel by bicycle to see the world.
There was electricity in the village, but everyone went to bed very early. It was only a little after eight o'clock, and there were not many people walking in the whole village.
Zhang Xiaohou was wearing a windproof and sun-blocking fur coat, which was also a very ordinary warm base. It was quite cold at night at the beach, especially in April and May, when it was a bit damp and cold, so he couldn't withstand it without a coat.
Hua Yuezhu put on jeans and a one-shoulder shirt, with a relatively close-fitting slim sweatshirt on top.
Zhang Xiaohou has not known Hua Yuezhu for a long time. The Hua Yuezhu he saw in the past were all in straight military uniforms, not the kind of military skirts worn by military secretaries, but rather loose nylon pants.
But after putting on this outfit, Hua Yuezhu's temperament immediately changed. Instead of the bravery and vigor of a soldier, she became more gentle and charming like an urban beauty.
"What's wrong?" Hua Yuezhu, the captain of the guard, looked confused and didn't understand why General Zhang looked at him with a different expression.
"This is the first time I've seen you wearing clothes other than military uniforms. I think you quite fit the mold of our artistic youth." Zhang Xiaohou said truthfully.
Hua Yuezhu thought that Zhang Xiaohou would praise her for her beauty, but when she heard such a sentence, she became stern.
…
There should be no tourists here, not even a place to stay.
They could only find a house with a small stone yard and walked in.
This family's house is very old and made of wood. It has seen some age and the wood has turned black.
"Baby, did you go to the wrong door?"
There was an old man in the courtyard, smoking a bag of cigarettes and drinking tea.
At this time, the dog in the yard started barking wildly. The old man gave the dog a fierce bark and then turned his attention to Zhang Xiaohou and Hua Yuezhu.
Zhang Xiaohou showed a silly smile, scratched his head and said to the old man: "Old man, my classmates and I were riding long distances. We thought this place was very beautiful, so we crossed the wetland and entered the island. Little did we know that the sea water rose and flooded the road. We can't go back."
"Oh, let me tell you why you two look so strangers to each other. Do you have no place to spend the night?" the old man said.
"Yes, yes, we didn't find the hotel either." Zhang Xiaohou said hurriedly.
"It's normal. We rarely have outsiders here. If you don't mind, you can stay here with me. I'll ask my son to clean up the room upstairs... Well, is it okay to sleep on the wooden floor? Put down some warm mattresses." The old man Shake off the cigarette ashes.
"Okay, okay, thank you, uncle."
"Thank you, uncle."
"It's a small matter, come and drink tea. I see you are tired too. Sit, sit... Hey, little comrade, your wife is very beautiful. She is blessed, she is blessed," the old man said.
Hua Yuezhu was very happy when she heard other people's praise. She glared at Zhang Xiaohou, thinking that Zhang Xiaohou should have said similar things before.
"Old man, we just came all the way and found that there are many factories and some pits here. What are they used for?" Zhang Xiaohou asked as if he was chatting normally.
"What else can you do if you are drying salt? In many of our villages, in addition to growing sugar cane, most of them are salt farmers. If you take good care of your own land and dry the salt well, people from the factory will come and harvest it. Come and pay for a pound of salt." The old man poured a few cups of tea.
"Where do you get this salt from?" Hua Yuezhu asked.
The old man immediately burst out laughing and said, "You are still students and don't know the difference between edible salt and industrial salt. Ours is sea salt, which requires very complicated processing before it can be eaten. The sea salt we sun-dry is different." the use of."
"Other uses?" Zhang Xiaohou felt that he had asked the right question.
The old man didn't say any more. It was obvious that he would not talk to outsiders easily.
Hua Yuezhu was a little anxious and wanted to ask more questions immediately, but Zhang Xiaohou immediately stopped him with his eyes.
If you keep asking like this, people will definitely become suspicious. If you don’t tell me, there must be a reason why you don’t tell me.
However, this made Zhang Xiaohou question the factory here even more.
Although salt has a wide range of uses, there is no transportation at all here, so the farmers produce so much sea salt for their own use?
…
"Dad, the room is ready." A dark-skinned man in his mid-twenties said.
"Go and have a rest. You can walk around and take a look tomorrow. That road probably won't be visible in the past few days," the old man said.
"good."
Zhang Xiaohou led Hua Yuezhu to the second floor of the house, and the old man's son's eyes were staring at Hua Yuezhu the whole time, as if he had never seen such a beautiful girl.
As a result, the old man hit him on the head with a pipe and scolded him: "What are you looking at? She is my daughter-in-law. If you are capable, you can marry one. If you say you don't like the three girls at the entrance of the village, then go to the big city." Ah, what can you do in a big city? You can’t do anything but dry salt!”
"Dad, don't I want to stay here to honor you? If I go to a big city and you are alone, I will give up my good life to be here with you." The old man's son said.
The father and son were talking so loudly that they could still be heard in the room on the second floor. Hua Yuezhu burst out laughing when she heard the old man and his son bickering in the yard.
"They're so funny."
"This old man should know a lot of things." Zhang Xiaohou said.
"How did you tell that he was just an ordinary old man?"
"He is a mage."
"Huh??" Hua Yuezhu was confused.
She didn't see how such an ordinary and simple old man looked like a mage who knew how to use magic!
(End of chapter)
