As soon as I stepped onto the official road, I immediately felt a sense of enlightenment.
Then Qingyan discovered that when they came this way, they happened to bypass a somewhat dilapidated stone bridge.
Because the river crosses the road, a bridge was built there. However, it looks like it has aged a lot, and the stone bricks have fallen off in many places. It looks like a dangerous bridge in later generations.
And when they crossed the path, they happened to bypass the bridge. The path was just a few dozen meters away from the stone bridge.
Qingyan looked around, not sure if it was because of the middle of the day. After getting to the official road, it was actually empty and she didn't see anyone.
Qingyan said to Chou Chou in confusion: "Chou Chou, what's going on? Isn't this not the official road at all, but another way? Are we going the wrong way? Didn't the magpie say that on the official road? Are there many people? There is no one here."
Chou Chou lazily turned over in his satchel to make himself more comfortable, and then replied: "I did nothing wrong. This is the official road, and there are people there. There is a group of people not far in front, and there are a few over there." There is a big tree where those people eat dry food and enjoy the shade.
Further forward, there was another group of people who, like this group of people, also found a place with trees to eat, and a few spread a mat on the ground to take a nap and rest. "
Qingyan raised her eyebrows, thinking that those people were not in a hurry and wanted to wait until the sun was not so bright before leaving. She felt a little envious.
In fact, now that she's here, she's not worried about whether the Chen family will come after her. They can also find a place to rest and wait until it gets cooler before leaving.
It's just that she doesn't have much time in ancient times. The earlier she gets to the capital, the earlier she can help Xue Minghua and the others settle down, which saves too much time.
So they walked in the direction Chou Chou said. After reaching the official road, even if Chou Chou didn't show him the way, they wouldn't go wrong. As long as they didn't go to the side road, they wouldn't go wrong.
After walking a few hundred meters along the road without any trees, I saw the man Chou Chou mentioned sitting under the tree enjoying the cool and eating dry food.
It should be a large family, including men, women, old and young. At a rough look, there are about twenty people. The family's family conditions should be good, with two ox carts and a mule cart.
Don't ask Qingyan how she knew it was a mule. There were horses and donkeys in Xiangxiang Space. She had seen them since she was a child. The mules looked different from the donkeys and horses, but they all had similarities. She could tell at a glance. It seems to be a combination of two types.
She heard from her grandparents that mules are stronger than donkeys. They are cheaper than horses and easier to feed. They are very popular in rural areas. The only disadvantage is that they cannot reproduce.
She remembered that when she went back to her hometown, she heard an old lady scolding someone as a second chair. She went back and asked her grandma. Grandma said that it meant a mule, which could also be interpreted as a person who is neither male nor female, meaning a person who will not have offspring.
Qingyan had never seen a mule before, and this was the first time she saw it. As she drove the car closer, she looked at it again.
Well, it does look very powerful, bigger than a donkey, and slightly longer than a horse's ears.
The family was eating together. When they saw a car passing by, they all looked over. When they saw a young woman driving the car, they all looked surprised.
Then their attention was attracted by the shed on the donkey cart. They stopped eating and looked at the donkey cart.
Qingyan didn't feel embarrassed about being noticed. She was already used to this kind of attention. She experienced it every time she returned to her hometown or went to Hong Kong City. She was already used to it.
Anyway, he was not going to stop communicating with the other party, so he just drove the donkey cart past them in an easy manner.
After walking some distance, they heard discussions coming from behind.
A young man whispered: "Brother, look at the donkey cart. The shed behind it is quite nice. It looks simple, but it can block the sun. Sitting there, you won't be exposed to the sun even if you are on your way."
Another young man replied: "It seems quite practical. Our three cars don't have any shelter. We sit in the sun and get sunburned. We have to be careful not to drop things. We have to worry about our children. It's really unreasonable." Safety."
"Why not, let's use a mat to make a shed out of it and cover the top."
"Yes, yes, let's build a shed too, otherwise we will get the heat if we don't wait until Bianzhou." A middle-aged woman agreed actively.
"Then let's set up a shed in front. Our ox cart is not as good as other people's donkey carts. It's so slow. It's so hot when I sit in the front and drive the cart. If we can get a shed like that, I can stay cooler." The young man from before said.
A more mature voice said: "You can do it as you say, it's not that easy. We do have the mats, but do you know how the skeleton inside is made?"
The shed that sticks out in front of the shed is easy to say. It is made of grass and wicker at first glance, but the curved shape on the car shed is so rounded that it is definitely not made of ordinary wooden frames. "
Another young man said: "It's not ordinary wood? Is it specially bent? It can't be made of iron, right? It's impossible even if you think about it."
"Could it be that the mat was just bent and tied up like that? Maybe the mat itself is hard, and it held itself up by itself."
the woman said.
"How is that possible? It's not a bamboo mat. A reed mat can't hold it up." The middle-aged man said.
"Don't we have bamboo mats? Just give it a try," the woman argued.
However, the young man was led to have more ideas, and he said excitedly: "Mom and Dad, do you think it is supported by bamboo inside?"
"It's really possible. Don't we have a bamboo chair at home? The armrests of the bamboo chair are curved.
It's just that we are not at home, and we don't know where to find bamboo. Even if we find it, we don't know how to bend it. People all have knacks, and this kind of thing will not be spread outside... "
Qingyan walked forward while listening to their conversation with her ears. She was a little surprised after hearing the content. Sure enough, you can't underestimate anyone. If you look at this person, you can think of what materials they are made of. .
When she first came here, she felt that she was from a later generation and had gone to school for nine years, so she should be much more powerful than these ignorant ancients. Later, when she met the people in Yangjiaping, she also had a sense of superiority.
Later, after in-depth contact, she gradually stopped thinking that way. Although she didn't know a single word, whether it was blacksmithing or salt refining, she just said it and they did it.
He is much better than me who only has theoretical knowledge, especially his practical ability, which is really amazing.
The ancients only had limited education and poor communication, so they had little knowledge. As long as they saw a shed like hers once, they would be able to guess the principles and materials inside it.
Thinking about future generations, many things have not been passed down from ancient times, so we really cannot underestimate the ancients. How many people in later generations are picking up other people's wisdom.
Qingyan adjusted her mentality again and felt that she still had a lot to learn. When she returned, she must study history carefully.
He turned back to Xue Minghua, mother and son and said, "Are you hungry now? If so, let's find a place to rest in front and eat something before leaving."
She didn't know what the three of them had for lunch, but she also knew that they usually had two meals a day. Before, Fu Lai had a hot breakfast, which probably wasn't too filling. She should be hungry now.
After hearing this, both children looked at their mother.
Xue Minghua shook his head and said: "It's still early, let's go a little further. I ate an apple before, so I'm not very hungry. Let's stop to eat at Shenshi."
Qingyan did some calculations and found that this time should be at the end of Wei Shi, and Shen Shi is two hours later, which is four or five o'clock. The sun is quite bright at four or five o'clock in the summer, of course.
He nodded and said to them: "There are egg pancakes in that basket. If you are hungry, you can just take it in your hand and eat it. You don't have to wait until you get to the place to eat."
She had eaten in the morning and at noon, so she was really not hungry, so she was afraid that her mother would be embarrassed, so she gave her instructions.
Xue Minghua said with a smile: "It still doesn't work. It's uncomfortable to eat while bumping like this. It's better to wait until the time comes and find a place to eat in a down-to-earth manner."
After hearing this, Qingyan said nothing more.
She chatted with them about other things, because they had just met, but they didn't really talk much. They mainly talked about some things she had encountered on the road before, and talked about what she could in detail.
After that, Xue Minghua introduced the capital to her, and also let the two children listen.
Of course, these were all situations more than ten years ago. In fact, after so many years, there will definitely be changes, but the big changes should not be too big.
The three people listened attentively. They were talking about the prosperity of the city back then, and which gates they civilians had to enter and leave through, and where they were not allowed to wander. Also, there was no curfew in the capital before.
It's just that there aren't many people hanging around outside at night. After all, all the shops are closed, and there are no street lights in the future. It's dark everywhere outside. No one will wander around outside unless there is something urgent.
After that, they also talked about the general layout of the capital city. The layout there is not much different from that of Handan City. It is worth mentioning that the capital city they have been talking about is not Luo City, the imperial city of the Later Tang Dynasty, but Weizhou, the Xingtang Prefecture in Tokyo. It was the Daming Mansion in later generations, and it was the place where the Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty proclaimed himself emperor, so the people here were called the capital, and the place where the emperor was was called the imperial city.
The city there is not big, but because of its special significance and special geographical advantages, it is more prosperous and more valued.
Qingyan also just knew this. She was a little vague about the timeline of this era, and many of the numbers didn't match up.
From Handeng to Xingtang Mansion, according to later generations' calculations, the distance was eighty or ninety kilometers, nearly two hundred miles. At their speed, they should be able to reach it if they didn't rest for an entire afternoon.
Qingyan calculated the time fairly accurately based on the distance mentioned by Chou Chou, so she felt that what Xue Minghua just said, finding a place to rest and eat at four or five o'clock, was a good idea.
They can still travel a little longer now, and they won't be very far from their destination when the time comes, and they can also rest in a down-to-earth manner.
Of course, they can't waste too much time. After all, they still have to settle down after arriving in the capital tonight. They have to plan what to do if they can't enter Xue Mansion.
Always set aside time to find an inn to rest.
And she had to go to the bank to exchange the gold for silver notes.
Fortunately, there is still one day tomorrow to help settle in, otherwise it would be too late.
After walking another two hundred meters, we met the second wave of people. This wave of people no longer looked like a family like before.
These people looked a bit like the people in Yangjiaping, acquaintances from the same village gathered together and were on their way.
This group of people had no livestock, only three wheelbarrows, and the others were carrying bundles on their backs or carrying baskets on poles.
The wheelbarrows and pole baskets are now standing aside. Some of the people are eating, some women are packing things, and a few elderly people are lying on the straw mats spread on the ground to rest.
The clothes these people wore were ragged, which was similar to what everyone in Yangjiaping wore before. The patches were patched, and some of the children just had two rags hanging on their bodies to cover the front and back.
The younger ones were simply naked, not even a pair of straw sandals, just running barefoot on the ground.
Qingyan was thankful again. Fortunately, although these could be considered refugees, they were not escaping from the famine. If they really encountered that kind of refugees fleeing from the famine, it is estimated that their donkey cart and the four of them seemed to be helpless. Women and children who are weak are likely to become the target of the other party.
Those people, like the big family before them, saluted their donkey cart with attention. They probably saw a little girl Qingyan driving the cart in front of them, but they didn't have any malice. They were just ordinary villagers.
Qingyan smiled and nodded at the women and children who had been staring at her, then reached out and patted the donkey's butt, signaling it to speed up and quickly passed those people.
The little donkey seemed to understand what she meant, and its four short legs began to jump faster, causing Qingyan to lean back.
Although the road is much smoother, due to the wooden wheels of the donkey cart, it is still bumpy. At least it is not like before, and the bumps in the internal organs are like shaking the river, but it is still within the acceptable range.
After some distance, Qingyan still listened to the conversations of those people. It was not that she liked listening in the corner, but mainly because she wanted to understand the situation of this era through these passers-by.
Who told her that she still knew too little.
As a result, I listened for a while, until I could no longer hear the sound, and did not hear any useful information. They were all talking about her, a young woman driving a car, walking outside, and then discussing their car shed, with a strong tone. Strong envy, nothing else.
