Jing Shi said: "He only asked me to go to the island with him tonight, and he never mentioned anything else."
When Gu'er Wan heard this, he was immediately relieved. He jumped to the end of his couch and said, "It's fine if you don't ask. It's fine if you don't ask. New Guan'er is going to the island tonight, so he needs to wear two more layers. It can be cold on the sea at night." "
Jing Shi saw that although he praised him, his expression was quite depressed. He casually handed him the fruit in front of the bed and said, "You are not going tonight."
Gu Gu'er held the fruit in the bowl and said, "Of course I won't go. There are no animals, no ditches, and no dangerous places on the sea. It's useless for me to go. The new official should not look at the white hair of the old man in the waste boat, but his legs and feet are nimble. If that old man Even if I can beat him with a stick, I won't be able to beat him with a stick. You go with him and you'll be at ease." After saying that, he ate the fruit and seemed to be very hungry. In the blink of an eye, he ate it all and sat down on the thorn stone again. Beside the couch, combing hair and licking palms. Jing Shi leaned on the head of the couch and saw that he was enjoying himself, but he didn't open his mouth to chase away the guests, so he just watched quietly.
After the bone bowl had picked up the golden retriever several times, he finally couldn't hold it back any longer. He glanced at Jing Shi's expression again and again and said, "Xin Guan'er, are you planning to go out to patrol the island tomorrow?"
Jing Shi looked as usual and said: "Since I'm patrolling the shore with Mr. Huizhou tonight, I probably won't be able to travel tomorrow. We'll see the rest of the place later."
Hearing this, Gu'erwan showed disappointment on his face. Jing Shi had been trying to figure out his thoughts earlier. Seeing him like this, he spoke again: "I will stay here for the next few days and will not go to the mountains again. Although you have been ordered by the two gentlemen to take care of me, you can also If you leave for a few days, you don’t have to follow him all the time.”
Gu'erwan immediately cheered, jumped to the end of the couch, patted Jingshi's chest, then somersaulted out of the window, shouting: "New officer, have a good rest, I come here every morning." Look, if you want to go to the mountains, you must tell me first." By the end of the words, the sound had already gone far away.
Jing Shi sat on the couch and looked down at the new clothes he had just changed into. There were wet marks on the lapels, which were palm prints from the Gu'er bowl stained with juice and saliva. He couldn't help but be speechless. He stretched out his hand to pick away a few stray hairs, then fell down and fell asleep. It wasn't until dusk that the door kept banging, and I woke up from my dream. I stood up to open an account and saw that it was not a bone bowl, but the big and small peach brothers standing outside the house.
As soon as the two brothers saw him appearing, they started chattering happily, not knowing what the fun was. They also made gesticulations and pulled him out. At this time, Jing Shi could already recognize the word "Huazhou" in the Yuhui language. He expected that the two brothers were sent by Huazhou to invite them, so he followed them to the outside of the village and saw Huazhou standing in front of the road. At that moment, Jing Shi stepped forward to pay his respects, and Hui Zhou said, "Now that your Excellency has arrived, let's set off." After saying this, he walked towards the road with his stick.
Jing Shi looked at the way he walked and immediately remembered what Gu'er Wan said in the daytime. However, when he saw the abandoned boat walking slowly leaning on his stick, his gait was slow, just like the old man from the mainland, but it was nothing like what the golden retriever said.
He was staring so intently that he couldn't help but slow down a bit. Suddenly he felt someone pushing him gently behind him. He turned around and saw the big and small peach blossom brothers following him quietly. Although the steps of the two of them were light, their four claws were beating each other back and forth. Because they were so close to the thorn stone, it was inevitable that the thorn stone would also get hit a few times.
As soon as the two brothers were caught by his gaze, they both put their hands behind their backs and grinned at him. The abandoned boat in front seemed to have noticed the movement. He stopped and turned around and said, "Sir, do you have anything else to do?"
Jing Shi said: "Nothing." After saying that, he turned sideways slightly, revealing the two people behind him, and then said: "The two of them seem to want to go together, but Mr. Huizhou has given orders."
Huizhou looked at the peach blossoms, and there was no surprise on his face. He nodded and said with a smile: "I am old and stupid, and I may not be able to do things alone. Bringing these two little ones to help me will be a nuisance to you."
Jing Shi snorted and said, "It doesn't matter." He turned around and saw that the two brothers were still patting me and me pushing you, fighting quietly. He simply stretched out his hand to hold the two brothers' necks and pushed them to him. In front of you. When the two brothers turned to look at him, they simply said "go forward" according to the words taught by Guerwan yesterday. Fortunately, the tone of these words was not high in Zuohui's language. Although he did not have a golden voice, he could still squeak.
As soon as the big and small peach blossoms heard what he said, their four eyes widened immediately, pointing at him and jumping and laughing. But after hearing Hui Zhou coughing slightly in front and tapping his wooden stick twice, he stopped his excitement and started walking hand in hand.
The four people formed three rows in front of one another and walked towards the east. At first, the big and small peach blossoms were still walking in the middle, but when they got bored, they rushed to the front of the abandoned boat to pick flowers and grass, climb trees and touch birds. Hui Zhou let the two of them play around, but instead slowed down a few steps and landed next to Jing Shi, chatting with him to relieve his boredom.
The last time they talked, they all talked about the general situation of the island. This time during the night chat, Jing Shi accidentally asked about it, and then he found out that Huazhou was not born on Hamosuluo Island, but grew up in Ban Ming City.
A Juhui person has neither father nor mother. If he is born on the archipelago, he will be raised by the troublemaker. If he comes from the semi-underworld city, he will be dealt with by the priest. Since Huaizhou came from the city, he had been very smart since he was a child. He learned to manage various affairs from the priests. When he reached adulthood, when an official died on the island of Harmosuluo, he came to take his place. It has been more than a hundred years now. Among the three officials on the islands, most of them came from the same background as him, and a few were originally islanders who were selected by their former officials and sent to the Ban Ming City to be trained and serve.
There is another difference between the people in the island, which is called homesickness, but it is very different from the feelings of the people on the mainland. If those born on the island do not return for a long time, they will be depressed all day long, not thinking about food and drink, and will eventually die of illness. . However, if they are born in a semi-underworld city, they do not suffer from the disease of missing the island, but their life span is usually shorter than that of the islanders, only similar to that of mainlanders. It is rare for those who are healthy at seventy, and those who die at twenty are not uncommon. Therefore, the residents of the city There are also many people who voluntarily moved to the island.
The two of them walked along and gave an overview of the various situations in the half-underworld city. He also said that the island should pay tribute to the city every year, and the rules were the amount of grain, fruits, vegetables, and livestock. If all the affairs were done inland, they would certainly require a lot of manpower and material resources. However, since the Yi people are few and simple, and the tribute they have to pay is not large, they raise it from public fields and pastures every year, so it is not that difficult to do it. . This kind of affairs was previously handled by the troublemaker Hui Zhou, but now that Jing Shi has come here to serve as an island official, he naturally has to take over all the responsibilities. Fortunately, the tribute payment period on Hamosuluo Island is scheduled for June every year. It has already been done this year, so there is no rush to prepare for the coming year.
When Jing Shi came to take office, it was a standard practice in the Ruohui Kingdom to introduce people from mainland China as officials to show respect for the emperor of China. However, Jing Shi himself should hold a large-scale official examination and use his political achievements to determine his merits. . From the time he landed on the island to this time, although he had a little understanding of the customs of Ruohui, he still didn't know what he should do. When he heard Huizhou talking about the annual gift, he guessed that it was also one of the performance evaluations for his junior island official. He then asked a few more questions about the details, and Huizhou answered them all, explaining in great detail the properties of the island's products. When the full moon reaches its peak, the stars and rivers reach the top of the sky, and the sound of wind and waves can be heard in the distance. After walking a little further along the trail, the forest ends and the tidal flats appear, where you can see the vastness and vastness of the sea.
That night, there was a heavy rain, and the condensed clouds disappeared, and the bright moon rose over the sea, and stars filled the sky. Thousands of broken lights were scattered between the waves, as bright as silver. Although there was no candlelight, it was enough to see the way. When the four of them walked to the beach, they saw the Peach Blossom brothers, big and small, pulling out a small boat from under the trees by the forest and pushing it to the beach. Huaizhou and Jingshi boarded the boat first, and the two brothers pushed the boat into the sea, then jumped on the stern of the boat and paddled. At this time, the tide surged, submerging most of the original tidal flat. The two brothers paddled skillfully again, and in a short time they were dozens of feet away from the island.
The four of them had always been heading east from the time they left the village to going out to sea. Now they were drifting in the river, and they saw a silver plate rising in front of them, and the moon was shining coldly in their eyes. The sea and dome reflect each other, and the atmosphere is melancholy, floating like clouds flying in the sky.
The full moon hung above the sea waves, looking a bit bigger than usual, causing Jing Shi to look at each other for a long time. Just when he could see where he was from, he suddenly heard Hui Zhou beside him saying: "My lord, I'm feeling homesick."
Jing Shi withdrew his gaze, shook his head and said: "No, it's just that I have never seen such a sea view before." Then he looked at the other party and said: "Mr. Huizhou, why do you think I am homesick?"
Huizhou smiled and said: "Although I am a humble citizen of a wild country, I still know a little about the literary classics on land. A wanderer has traveled far away and has nothing from his homeland. Only this bright moon is as old as before. How can he not think about it?"
Jing Shi said: "As before, it's not just the lunar sky. The sun during the day and the stars at night are all seen by the whole world. Why do we only think about the moon when we see it?"
Hui Zhou thought about it for a while, looked at the moon sideways and said, "I think it's more quiet at night, and it's easier to think too much. The moon waxes and wanes, so it can't always be the same, which makes it more sad."
Jing Shi remained silent. The two of them were looking at the sea and the sky. Suddenly they heard the screams of the big and small peach blossom brothers behind them. Looking where they pointed, they saw dots of silver light in the waves to the north, like moonlight and broken snow. However, the waves stopped and did not melt when they touched the water. , obviously there is another real thing.
When Hui Zhou saw this, he immediately said, "This is sea foam. Sir, please pay attention and take a closer look."
As he spoke, the wooden boat was already sailing towards the place where the silver light shone. Jing Shi leaned against the railing of the boat and stared at each other. When they were three or four feet closer, they could see clearly that the silver light was actually about a dozen white pills, about the size of clam beads, translucent and bright, resembling cloud crystals and sea jellyfish. It clearly has no fins or eyes, but it can appear and disappear in the waves, neither scattering nor sinking, but it is unknown whether it is a living thing or dead.
He looked to himself, but the big and small peach blossoms next to him had opened the secret cabin under the boat and took out the net basket. The net bag was thin and soft, with the holes as small as beans. It seemed to be woven with hair, and the inner bones were made of tough materials such as wicker. The branches are very flexible in expansion and contraction. Now, one of the two brothers was driving the boat and the other was holding the net. When they reached the destination, they gently dropped the net where the silver light gathered. The dozens of pellets looked extremely smooth, but as soon as they touched the net, they seemed to be coated with a layer of paste and firmly stuck to the bottom of the net, and were picked up by the little peach blossoms one by one without missing a thing.
