Xicheng is the capital of the Fusang Kingdom, the largest seaport city in East Fuyao Continent, and the largest commercial hub in the entire East Fuyao Continent. These titles all belong to this prosperous city, and they are well-deserved.
But when it comes to why Xicheng is so prosperous, it must be attributed to Qishui.
Qishui is a Zhengshui in East Fuyaozhou. It flows from south to north through the four countries of Dayu, Yamato, Liusu and Fusang. All kinds of precious specialties from the four countries flow to Xicheng by water transportation, and then are transported from Xicheng to Xicheng as needed. Go to other continents. In the same way, goods from other continents are also transferred from Xicheng to major cities in East Fuyao Continent. After all, the two major capitals of Qiyin and Xingqing are both on the banks of Qishui River.
Fuyao Sect and Xicheng were very close to each other. Xu Huaigu and Gu Sanyue only walked for one day and had already reached the foot of this behemoth.
It was evening at this time, but probably because of the long sunrise time in the north in spring, the sky was still bright, and Xu Huaigu could see the face of Xicheng at a glance.
Xicheng does not have as tall a city wall as Xingqing. The city wall here is only about ten feet high, but there are many more soldiers guarding the city than Xingqing. Lightly armored soldiers holding spears patrolled the city wall in formation. From time to time, spies on fast horses would enter through the side gate with their fast horses. At the city gate, there were several soldiers checking the passing pedestrians and caravans. It was very strange. tight.
Fortunately, while Xicheng is prosperous, there are also many strange people and strange things. Therefore, although Xu Huaigu was dressed strangely, carrying a strange cloth bag and a sword on his waist, the soldiers were used to seeing all kinds of people and did not make things difficult for him, so he and Gu Sanyue entered the city smoothly. , ready to find a hotel to stay.
Xu Huaigu planned to spend two days in Xicheng. After all, he was a Fuyao sect who traveled all the way north. It would be inappropriate to not stay in such a famous city as Xicheng for two days.
The two of them shuttled through the busy streets, but they saw that in the streets and alleys, in addition to the snack vendors selling food along the street, there were also many small shops filled with lanterns of various shapes, red and green. , the patterns are all in the shape of butterflies flying and magpies building nests, which is very festive.
Gu Sanyue was not squinting, but Xu Huaigu was quite interested in these lanterns. He looked around, looking here and there, and Gu Sanyue was afraid of losing him, so he had to speed up and follow closely. With Xu Huaigu.
Xu Huaigu was very curious about the exquisite lanterns here. As expected, every city has its own characteristics. The characteristics of Xingqing are the bustle and excitement, the characteristics of Qiyin are the quietness and elegance, as well as the local camellia wine, and the characteristics of Xicheng seem to be the lanterns.
"I say, little brother, buy a lantern for your lady! My lanterns are the most expensive and of the best quality. Look at the intricately carved gold patterns and the patterns painted by a master of painting. They cost only five taels of silver each. Zhan, you definitely won’t lose money if you buy it!”
An old shopkeeper laughed and boasted. When he saw Xu Huaigu wearing a sword and a woman following behind him, he naturally mistakenly thought that Gu Sanyue was Xu Huaigu's wife.
He smiled smartly and said: "Look at this lantern, it looks like a mandarin duck playing in the water. There is also a ball of rich peonies, which means that the two of you will have a son early! And there will definitely be a prospect of great wealth in the future! For five taels of silver, I will definitely I won’t bully you about the price, how about I buy two of them, brother?”
Gu Sanyue blushed and turned her head away, wanting to leave quickly, but Xu Huaigu was still there chatting with the old shopkeeper, so she couldn't leave.
Xu Huaigu disagreed, but asked: "Old shopkeeper, why are there so many lanterns in Xicheng today? Have you sold them all?"
The old shopkeeper smiled and said: "Why can't we sell them all? Tomorrow is March 17th, which is the triennial Lantern Festival. Even though I still have more than forty lanterns here, they will be sold out in less than two hours." ! This little brother, buy it on a first-come, first-served basis!"
Xu Huaigu nodded in confusion and said, "Lantern Festival? That's it. No wonder there are so many lanterns."
When the old shopkeeper heard what he said, he asked, "Isn't this a local?"
"No, my sister and I are just passing through Xicheng and don't know the customs here."
The old shopkeeper looked a little embarrassed and said with an unnatural smile: "It turns out to be my sister... Haha, I'm blind."
He was in high spirits and talked eloquently: "Brother, you should return
I don’t know, this Lantern Festival is a major event held every three years in Xicheng. Speaking of which, it is even more lively than the Spring Festival! Legend has it that on March 17th, the lantern gods will come to Xicheng. As long as you make a wish on the lantern and let it fly, the lantern gods will choose lucky people to realize their wishes! "
"Hey, let me tell you, this is true. There is an old man Wang next door. He is a censor in the imperial court. He is over sixty years old. He received a salary of twenty in the past few years. My beautiful concubine, who was 20 years old, always wanted to have a child, but she couldn’t give birth to a child despite taking all kinds of medicines. As a result, during the Lantern Festival that year, he bought me ten lanterns and put them on all night.”
The old shopkeeper said happily: "Guess what happened? Not long after I returned, the concubine was really happy and gave birth to a big fat boy. The old man Wang even gave me a banner. I didn't want him. Neighbor It's normal for a neighbor to help, and I didn't expect him to thank me!"
Xu Huaigu looked at him like an idiot and said seriously: "That kid must not look much like him."
The old shopkeeper's eyes lit up and he said in surprise: "How did you know? Old man Wang has always been very thin and weak, but the child is very strong. He even said that the djinn was blessing the child!"
Xu Huaigu laughed and said, "I just made a random guess."
The old shopkeeper thought that Xu Huaigu had to buy it, so he pointed at the lantern and asked: "How many of these lanterns do you want to buy?"
Xu Huaigu waved his hand, and Gu Sanyue quickly stepped forward and gave him the pocket containing the silver.
Xu Huaigu took out a few pieces of broken silver from his pocket and was about to give it to the old shopkeeper when he suddenly remembered something. He turned to Gu Sanyue and asked, "The lanterns can make wishes. Do you want to buy one?"
Gu Sanyue lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Fifty taels of silver is a bit expensive. Why don't we go to other shops to see if it can be cheaper."
When the old shopkeeper heard this, he became anxious and said hurriedly: "Oh, girl, how can you say that? Other lanterns are not as effective as mine! Five taels of silver is definitely not a loss!"
After saying that, he quickly grabbed two lanterns and tried to put them into Gu Sanyue's hands.
Gu Sanyue took a few steps back in fear. The old shopkeeper stretched out his hand to grab her, but Xu Huaigu's hand came up at this moment and held the old shopkeeper's hand tightly with astonishing strength.
The old shopkeeper looked at him angrily, and Xu Huaigu glanced coldly at the sword at his waist. He suddenly felt excited and quickly let go of his hand tremblingly, cursing the bad luck in his heart.
Xu Huaigu said in a cold voice: "If you have a good conscience, how can lanterns be effective? Let's go!"
He simply turned around and left. Gu Sanyue called him hurriedly, but Xu Huaigu didn't respond, so she had no choice but to catch up with her bag.
Xu Huaigu's expression was not very good, which made Gu Sanyue feel like he was walking on thin ice. She asked cautiously: "How about going to another shop to see the lanterns? Although the old shopkeeper was talking nonsense, maybe the lanterns can really make wishes. Let’s each buy one and put it away tomorrow?”
Xu Huaigu asked her, "Gu Sanyue, what wish would you make?"
Gu Sanyue had a vague wish in her heart, but she couldn't express it in front of Xu Huaigu, so she told a little lie and said, "I don't have anything to worry about in this world, so just let me make more money." , live well."
Xu Huaigu said: "I thought you wanted to make a wish to become a powerful mountain man."
Gu Sanyule said with a smile: "Of course I want to be a mountain man, but it's too difficult. Even the djinn would be embarrassed if I made such a difficult wish. It's better to make the wish simpler and have a greater chance of coming true."
Xu Huaigu didn't say anything and turned down an alley again. As a result, the two of them met a skinny old alchemist who was chewing on steamed buns.
The old alchemist, who was as thin as a bamboo pole, was holding up a steamed bun and eating it with big mouthfuls. Behind him was a skinny boy of eight or nine years old, who was carrying a book box that was taller than the others. A bamboo pole was inserted with four large cursive characters written on it. It seems that these two people should be a master and apprentice pair, traveling around the world as fortune tellers.
Xu Huaigu glanced at the two of them hastily, and was really disgusted with the way the alchemist asked the little boy to carry everything on his back. He thought about walking past the two of them, but the old alchemist suddenly shouted loudly and said
: "Wait!"
Xu Huaigu said that he was talking about him, so he stopped and looked at the alchemist with an impatient look on his face. But the person the alchemist was talking about was not him, but Gu Sanyue, who was following behind him.
Gu Sanyue was frightened by the sudden drink and looked at the alchemist in confusion. The alchemist frowned and stared at Gu Sanyue for a while, then said with fear: "The girl's fate is so dangerous recently. Life or death." There is only a thin line, and you have to go through two such disasters before you can turn danger into safety and turn danger into good fortune. I see that you have already survived the first disaster, but you still need to be more careful about this second disaster!"
Gu Sanyue listened in confusion, and then met Xu Huaigu's impatient eyes. He couldn't care less about this talkative alchemist, so he quickly followed Xu Huaigu.
The old alchemist was anxious and hurriedly chased after him and said, "Girl, I haven't finished speaking yet! If you want to get through the disaster smoothly, I have some methods here. I only charge you ten taels of silver. Hey... don't run away. !」
"Girl, I have never been that deceptive fortune teller, but girl is indeed in trouble! These ten taels of silver are just capital, I won't make a penny, girl, please stay!"
Gu Sanyue had already run to Xu Huaigu and looked at him in panic. Xu Huaigu just said coldly: "Let's go."
The two of them turned around and left. The old alchemist was heartbroken and said, "Oh, you obviously have good intentions, why don't you believe me? Little Xingzi, let's follow!"
The little boy responded in a daze, shook the bookbox on his back, put it on his back again, and then ran towards the place where Xu Huaigu left with small steps.
