It was pitch black on the shore, but Chang Shun seemed to have discovered something. He opened his mouth half-open in surprise, gasping and staring at the dark place where even the torch could not shine.
"Changshun," a crew member who was sitting on the deck eating lapu called to him, "did you see anything?"
"Shh, something's wrong." Seeing that the situation was different, an old sailor stopped him and said, "Shut up."
Changshun didn't respond to them, he just stared at the dark forest. Several sailors also looked over, but saw nothing but darkness.
Another senior sailor stood up when he saw the situation: "There's something strange..." He stepped lightly closer to Changshun and saw that his eyes were confused and his pupils were wide open, with firelight swaying in his dilated pupils.
Suddenly, Changshun threw the peel at his feet, quickly climbed onto the side of the boat, jumped off as everyone screamed, and fell into the water with a splash.
"What the hell?" Liang Daoqing was shocked and hurriedly ran to the side of the ship to watch. The other sailors immediately took the landing board, the reins, and the inflated cowhide bag. Only Yunkong slowly walked to the side of the ship and stared at it. The dark place where Changshun just stared.
Changshun struggled to get up from the shallow water, staggering across the shallow water and stepping on the sticky sand under the sea water. As soon as his feet touched the dry sand, he immediately ran towards the dark forest.
"Changshun! Where are you going?" A young sailor shouted, but his mouth was immediately covered by his companion.
The senior sailor whispered, "Don't call him by his name!"
Several sailors who were usually friends with Chang Shun hurriedly set up the landing board and ran onto the Banqiao of the pier without asking the ship owner's permission. However, they saw that Chang Shun's figure had disappeared into the forest. They hesitated for a moment, hesitated and froze on the Banqiao. .
The crew watching on the boat watched Changshun running into the dark woods, too surprised to say a word.
"Ship owner." The sailor standing on the bridge demanded: "Let's go find Changshun and come back."
Liang Daoqing shook his head: "Come back."
"It will be too late until daybreak," they pleaded again.
"We can't lose more people." Liang Daoqing said firmly: "Come back."
The sailors walked back to the merchant ship angrily and put away the landing board.
"Changshun has been following me for more than ten years, and I want to rush forward more than any of you!" Liang Daoqing waved his fist excitedly, "Do you understand?"
In fact, the sailors also understood that they were just temporarily impatient and confused.
If you think about it calmly, you don't know what would happen if they chased in.
Yun Kong approached Liang Daoqing: "Liang Weng, what happened?"
"We also want to know," Liang Daoqing gritted his teeth and said, "Anyway, let's wait until dawn." He turned back and looked at the forest: "Light and darkness are divided, and we can't fight the darkness."
It was night, and the old sailor kept telling others not to look outside.
※※※
The crew spent the night with a heavy heart, eager for dawn soon.
When the vigilant crew sounded the gong at dawn, all the crew members eagerly boarded the deck and waited for the captain's orders.
Liang Daoqing didn't sleep well all night, and his eyes were red. He glanced at the crew and saw that many crew members had dark circles and red eyes just like him.
Liang Daoqing said to everyone: "We have thought about it all night. Our family has family rules and the country has national laws. We can't just go to anyone, lest we anger the Tibetan leaders and think we don't understand etiquette." Before everyone started to boo, Liang Daoqing hurriedly continued. : "I have a cousin who lives in Tibet locally. The goods will be delivered today. He is familiar with the Tibetan leader. When he comes, please ask him for help."
"The ship owner is too careful." Some crew members commented privately.
"Be careful when sailing for thousands of years," Liang Daoqing heard. "We are here to do business, not to stir up disputes." Changshun is also his old follower. He will not abandon it, but he reminds himself not to be emotional. .
The crew had no choice but to spread out and work.
Sure enough, when the sun was just heating up the ground, a strong black man appeared leading several Tibetan people and carrying loads of goods. He was dressed like a Tibetan man, with a sweat-blocking turban on his forehead, a scarf around his waist, and a waist knife as long as an arm hanging on his waist. If he hadn't been wearing a Tang man's short coat, he would have been thought to be a Tibetan man.
He lived in Bo Ni and spent a whole year collecting goods for Liang Daoqing. When the merchant ship came, he could quickly board it and transport it away. Some goods are difficult to collect, such as dipterocarp, which is only found in forests, and must be processed first, or honey, bird's nests, agarwood, and other goods that need to be found inland.
After he ordered the Tibetan people to unload the goods, he enthusiastically stepped forward to hug Liang Daoqing and patted him hard on the shoulder: "Brother, did you bring any wine?"
"Yes, yes," Liang Daoqing blushed with joy when he saw his cousin, "the Eighteen Immortals from our hometown, the bone-changing jade spring from Shaozhou, and the snow fermented grains we finally got from Lin'an Mansion."
The cousin immediately licked his lips and said, "I'm so greedy. The coconut wine and millet wine here are always hard to drink. How can the wine and taste be as good as those in our hometown?"
Liang Daoqing's eyes flickered, and he didn't want to continue this topic, so he turned around and shouted: "Uncle Zhang, please order the goods."
Uncle Zhang is a member of the family who sailed with Liang Daoqing's father. He is responsible for loading and unloading goods. He is already in his early fifties and is highly trusted by the Liang family. He responded, got off the boat, and first gave each Tibetan a few copper coins. When the Tibetan people got Tang copper coins, they were all so happy that they opened their mouths from ear to ear and looked forward to going back to show off.
Liang Daoqing took his cousin to a corner, also called Yunkong, and introduced: "This is Taoist Master Yunkong."
His cousin asked in surprise: "Taoist priest? How come there is a Taoist priest following you?"
"Taoist Master, this is my cousin. He also has the same surname of Liang and his first name is Daobin." It turns out that naming by generation became popular in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is easy to distinguish peers. Both of them belong to the generation of "Tao".
After the introduction, Liang Daoqing said seriously: "To be honest, something happened last night." The captain then told his cousin the whole story, "You also recognize Changshun, what do you think we should do?"
After hearing this, his cousin Liang Daobin suddenly looked serious and changed from his playful expression just now: "I'll go find the leader immediately and ask him to find someone."
"If you want to find a wizard, that's fine," Liang Daoqing said urgently, "We'll do it quickly, I'm afraid we'll miss the ship's schedule."
Liang Daobin shook his head: "You can't cross the line. Find the leader first." He turned around and left.
The captain held him back: "Wait a minute, please take this Taoist priest with you."
"Do you want the Taoist priest to go too?" Liang Daobin asked in surprise.
Liang Daoqing said, "The Taoist would like to get to know each other." Every time he arrived at a new place, Yun Kong would ask to get off the boat to explore, so Liang Daoqing was already prepared. In order to prepare for disembarkation, Yunkong also gathered energy the night before so as not to let the disappearance of Changshun affect his mood.
He understood that Liang Daoqing also hoped to use his ability to find Changshun.
Liang Daobin looked at Yun Kong for a moment, and seeing his kind expression, he waved his hand and said, "Taoist Master, please follow." Yun Kong followed him off the boat, not forgetting to take the yellow cloth bag with him.
Liang Daobin got off the boat and said: "Uncle Zhang, I still have goods at home. It needs to be transported four or five times. I'm afraid we can only transport half of it today." He pointed to an older Tibetan man, "Please ask this Gu Dong to lead the way." , he knows my family."
Gu Dong asked Liang Daobin why he didn't follow along? He replied that he wanted to find the leader, so he led Yun Kong across the wooden bridge of the pier and onto the beach.
As soon as he stepped on the land of Bo Ni, Yun Kong suddenly felt a strange feeling.
"Will the red leaves be here?" he wondered.
"Do you remember where Changshun ran into the woods from last night?" Liang Daobin strode aggressively, completely different from his gentle and elegant cousin.
Yun Konghui first confirmed the location of the merchant ship, then pointed somewhere, and the two of them walked towards the forest.
The sand on the beach was extremely fine. Yun Kong's shoes sank into the sand, and the fine sand flowed into the gaps in the shoes and rubbed against the rough soles of his feet.
Liang Daobin pointed to the sand: "There are footprints." Sure enough, there are still footprints from last night! Perhaps the sea breeze was not strong and the sand had not been completely flattened. The shallow footprints extended all the way from the direction of the merchant ship and entered the thorny bushes. One bush was broken. It seemed that Changshun rushed over desperately. The legs must have been slashed and stabbed.
They crossed the beach, walked through the bushes, and entered a quiet forest.
As soon as we entered the forest, all sounds seemed to be absorbed in an instant.
Liang Daobin felt a chill in his heart and stopped suddenly, listening to the sounds around him.
There is no sound.
He looked directly into the forest and saw a lot of space between the trees. The sunlight slanted into the forest. It seemed peaceful, but it made him feel inexplicably creepy.
