Early the next morning, Xu He asked the housekeeper of the other courtyard to take everyone to the lake.
The housekeeper is an old man in his fifties. It is better to say that he is a housekeeper, but it is better to say that he is an old man who looks after the yard that the Xu family found locally.
No one lives in the other courtyard permanently. In addition to looking after the house and occasionally asking people to clean and maintain it, the old man drives a boat on the lake to make a living on weekdays.
Lu Heng stayed up late last night and watched Xu He's story. He got up early in the morning and yawned repeatedly, complaining: "Why did you get up so early?"
The butler smiled and said: "This distinguished guest, Mr. He, told me that he will lead everyone to see the fairy birds. Morning and evening are the best times to see water birds. If you get up late, you won't be able to see them!"
When Lu Heng heard this, he stopped moving, apparently listening to the old man's words.
When we arrived at a swimming pool, because it was still early, the old housekeeper took out a piece of clapper, and then hit the clapper with a wooden stick, making a strange sound in his mouth.
Seeing this, Gu Hengbo asked curiously: "What is he doing?"
Xu He stretched out his hand and said "Shhh", then pointed at the water surface with his finger.
When everyone saw this, they all curiously looked at the surrounding lakes, but saw nothing on the slightly turbid lake water.
Just when the two children and Lu Heng were about to lose their patience, suddenly, a water line was drawn from the grass. Everyone looked intently and saw a piece of wood appearing on the water for no apparent reason.
The old housekeeper smiled and said: "Mr. He, is this what you are talking about?"
Only then did everyone realize that the thing on the water was not wood at all.
It has a slender body, gray armor-like scales on its back, four limbs, and a big tail, and it swims very fast.
"Hey, Xu He, what is this ugly thing!" Lu Heng was a little scared and asked Xu He while looking at the water curiously.
Xu He smiled and said: "Isn't this a big turtle?"
When the two children saw this, they became excited before the adults. Li Sikui was surprised and said: "This is a turtle!" There is a poem about "a turtle with a drum and a puff" in "Daya·Lingtai" of "Poetry". No wonder the housekeeper just said The sound coming out of my father's mouth is a bit like a drum, this is to attract the big turtle and make it think there are similar people here!"
The giant crocodile is actually a crocodile unique to China, the alligator, and one of the smallest crocodile species in the world. Its existence is very ancient. Unfortunately, in later generations, the ecology of the Yangtze River system was severely damaged, and this rare animal was once on the verge of extinction.
However, in this life, these ancient creatures still tenaciously inhabit the major water systems along the Yangtze River.
Just looking at wild animals, without some stories to accompany it, always feels like something is missing.
Xu He said at this time: "Have you ever heard the story of Zhou Zi, the minister of the Jin Dynasty, who hid himself from the three evils?"
As soon as this statement came out, everyone on the boat suddenly became interested.
Xu He said: "Zhou Chu, whose courtesy name is Ziyin, was born in Yangxian, Wu County (now Yixing, Jiangsu). When he was young, he indulged in lust and caused trouble to his hometown. Later he changed his ways and visited celebrities Lu Ji and Lu Yun. The prodigal son turned back, studied hard, and stayed there. The legend of the three evils will be eliminated next week.”
At this point, Gu Hengbo, who had read the most among them, already knew what Xu He was going to say, but she didn't want to spoil the fun, so she smiled and followed everyone to listen to the story.
Although Xue Xiaohou knew about Zhou Chu, he had never heard of the "Three Pests", so he urged Xu He to talk about it.
The story is very simple, that is, when Zhou Chu was a boy, he did not practice any chores and liked to go hunting in the fields. The villagers thought that he, along with the Nanshan tiger and the Changqiao dragon, were called the "three evils".
Zhou Chu later changed his ways and decided to help the villagers get rid of the other two evils.
He first went into the mountains and shot the tiger to death, and then jumped into the water to fight with the dragon. The dragon sank and floated, swimming for dozens of miles, and Zhou Chu also fought with the dragon for dozens of miles.
Just when the villagers thought Zhou Chu was dead and were celebrating, unexpectedly Zhou Chu came back after killing the dragon.
When he saw the villagers celebrating, he realized how much they hated him, so he changed his mind and eventually became a famous official in the Eastern Wu and Western Jin Dynasties.
Lu Heng watched the old housekeeper feeding the big cat with minced meat and asked curiously: "Xu He, let's feed the big dog, why are you talking about Zhou Chu?"
Xu He said with a smile: "Think about it, no one has ever seen a dragon, and Zhou Chu is from Yangxian. How big are the turtles in the water in Yangxian? Could it be that Zhou Chu killed the giant turtle at that time?"
Lu Heng was stunned when he heard this, turned to look at Xu He and said in surprise: "I thought that Zhou Chu was so powerful, but I didn't expect that such a little guy could fight with him in the water for such a long time. Are you fake? Unfounded!"
Xu He nodded and admitted that he was also speculating.
Because before the Song Dynasty, there were crocodiles in China.
For example, the description of crocodiles in "Liang Shu·Funan Biography":
The big crocodile is more than two feet long, shaped like a deer, with four legs. Its beak is six or seven feet long, with teeth on both sides. It is as sharp as a sword. It often eats fish. It also eats deer and people when it encounters it. It is found south of Cangwu and in foreign countries. Of.
This kind of long-snouted crocodile with a "beak length of six or seven feet" is probably the Gulf crocodile that still exists in the coast of Southeast Asia and northern Australia.
The crocodile is a relatively primitive giant crocodile that is suitable for both saltwater and freshwater. Its distribution range in history was much wider than it is today.
Moreover, Yu Xi from Jin Dynasty also mentioned in "Zhilin" that there is a kind of long-mouthed crocodile in the south that can eat people, and it usually attacks people on boats in autumn:
There are crocodiles in the south with beaks eight feet long, and they are most serious in autumn. When people are on the side of a boat, fish may come out to eat people, so people hold a gun on the side of the boat to guard against it.
Autumn happens to be the peak period of crocodile hunting activities. Crocodiles are particularly ferocious at this time, so tragedies of capsizing and killing people often occur.
Xu He recited these historical records for everyone.
But in the end he still smiled and said: "Zhou Chu is a student of Lu Yun. I remember reading it in a book, [Lu Ji tasted the Chinese bream]. At that time, the guests were full, and Hua Faqi said: "This dragon meat also】. "When everyone didn't believe it, Hua said: "Try to wash it with bitter wine, there will be a difference. Then five colors of light appeared. Ji asked the owner of the bream, and Guo said: "I found a white fish under the grass in the garden. It has a special shape and is used to make bream. It is too beautiful, so I offer it to you." "
Lu Yun's brother Lu Ji once ate dragon meat with Zhang Hua and others.
Of course, Zhang Hua recognized it as dragon meat before.
Lu Ji might be there too. Maybe just a few gossips. When my student Zhou Chu was butchering dragons, he didn’t know what the meat tasted like.
Where is Zhou Chu's relationship? If the crocodile is regarded as a dragon, he will probably be laughed at by the generous family.
"So..., who can say clearly about this kind of thing?" Xu He said with a smile.
Gu Hengbo nodded and added: "Xiaohe said that no one has ever seen dragons, but the ancients have seen them. "The Records of the Year of the Prince" says: Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty often traveled to the Wei River, making his officials enjoy fishing. From time to time, there were doctors Ren Xu caught a white dragon, [three feet long, like a big snake, without scales, with one horn on the head, two feet long, soft as flesh, with teeth like the outside of the lip]. The emperor said: \"Pole fish <fish and> such as. Not precious. \"He ordered the eunuch to make a bream, with green bones and purple flesh, and a very delicious taste. The emperor and the empress thought about it and sent the fishermen to look for it again, but in the end they couldn't find it."
Xue Yongzhi said with a smile: "You two have quoted a lot, and I can't say anything. Xiaohe, I look after everyone and I am your destined confidante!"
When Gu Hengbo heard this, he smiled slightly and kept silent.
Xu He smiled secretly in his heart, what a perfect confidante!
Everyone looked at the giant deer, and then waited for the sun to rise, and the red-crowned cranes flew up to look for food. The sight of all the birds flying together caused Lu Heng to scream in surprise again and again.
It wasn't until the bird disappeared that she said with lingering excitement: "Xu He, is there anything interesting down there?"
At this time, the old housekeeper said: "Young master told me that I will let my father-in-law take all the nobles to the fisherman's house for dinner today!"
Lu Heng was immediately excited and said: "This is good, this is good, I have never eaten at a fisherman's house!"
Xu He secretly laughed, these princes' families were accustomed to fine clothes and fine food, and were confined to a small world every day. Although they lived a worry-free life, in terms of knowledge, they may not have as many street vendors as they did.
So when he arrived on the island, he immediately asked the butler to make arrangements.
But what he didn't expect was that just an ordinary meal of remembering hardships and thinking sweet things would lead to a big problem!
