The villagers from the three villages took Liangchuan to the edge of the Nanxi River. The five people walked slowly across the pontoon bridge, turning back every three steps. The north bank was full of villagers. No one among them wanted to see this. of foreigners left. When the group arrived at Fengshan, Liang Chuan hired two carriages, and he, Xiaopin and Zhaodi took one.
Fengshan is still the same Fengshan, but there are a lot fewer people these days. Many local people in Fengshan have fled to other places to avoid disasters. The originally bustling countryside has become deserted. The Wanda store at the corner of the street has no business. Liang Chuan entrusted this store to He Baozheng, and the business still needs to be continued. This is a business card, a business card that belongs to him.
Two cars passed by the lower pavilion, and Liang Chuan asked Ye Xiaochai to go in and buy some dried meat. I wonder if there is a place to sharpen the meat on the way. If there is no dry food, it will taste bad. Liang Chuan also passed by Miss Zheng's door. He hadn't seen this girl for a long time, and he didn't know if she was doing well. He wanted to say hello to her before leaving, but when he thought about it, his father didn't like to see him. Forget it, go quietly and don't leave any regrets, you will come back sooner or later anyway.
Moreover, she also signed a sugar-making deal with her. This matter was also the top priority in Liang Chuan's plan and there must be no mistakes.
The two carriages rushed along the post road to Quanzhou Prefecture. After leaving Xinghua, the two areas were separated by rolling mountains. The trees in the south do not lose their leaves all year round and are green. For thousands of years, man and nature have lived in harmony. Since this dynasty, the south has gradually developed, and each granary supports the continuation of the dynasty.
In the rural areas of this dynasty, except for settlements like Fengshan Township, where you can occasionally see one or two muddy houses outside the county seat, other inhabited areas are difficult to come by, and various wild animals appear on the official roads. There are not many pedestrians on the road, but the merchant's courage is still great. If he encounters a Li Gui on the road, he can only wait for death.
The neighboring county to the southeast of Xinghua is Luocheng County, which is the hometown of Xiaopin. This is a beautiful and magical place. The sea breeze brings warm and moist water vapor from the ocean. Logically speaking, it should be warm and fertile, but the land here is thinner than Xinghua. Not only is he thin, but once the top of the mountain is opened, it is all made of hard granite and marble. The material is of high quality, but he lacks the tools to break the mountain and break the stone. He can only use his big hands to hold a handful of iron drills to break the stone from the mountain. come out. There are only stones all over the mountain and not much soil. The mud tree cannot take root even if it wants to grow even two inches.
This kind of condition has also forced out the creativity of the people in Luocheng. Their men have the most exquisite house-building craftsmanship in Fujian. Even the shells of sea mussels and oysters can be made into houses. After thousands of years, In later generations, many ancient houses of this style can still be seen. Even the women in Luocheng can chop mountains and carry stones, wearing a red and blue scarf on their heads and carrying long stones on their shoulders under the scorching sun.
It was the first time that Liang Chuan stepped out of the small world of Fengshan. Everything about the local customs and customs outside was new to him. When passing through Luocheng, not only were the styles of the houses new, but even the people's clothes were different. Liang Chuan sat next to the coachman, his eyes constantly looking around. The feeling of a countryman entering the city was particularly obvious.
It is rare to see men on the road in this place, but there are many women and children. Women work in various jobs, from farming to picking rocks. The carriage has been traveling for a day and a night, and there is still no trace of the county seat. Liang Chuan looked like this, and fell asleep as soon as he got tired and lay down in the carriage.
Not to mention, sleeping in the carriage is like a cradle. If you use the baggage you bring to cushion it, you can sleep until dawn. The carriages rested at the post station at night. This kind of ancient guest house was quite good. In the era when communications were underdeveloped, these post stations were relied upon to keep the messengers delivering messages alive.
This place could be reached in two hours' drive in later generations, and the highway might be even faster, but it took us a whole day. The next day we arrived at Wangsun Village, Zhao Xiaopin’s hometown. Liang Chuan also thought about going into the village to visit Zhao Fafa, but the village was empty, and they were all women. When he asked, the men had gone out to build houses. Since returning from Xinghua, they had taken over the work of a big house for the New Year. Yes, this time of year is the busiest time.
"Would you like to go home and watch the skit?"
Zhao Xiaopin had a sense of pride on his face. After following Liang Chuan for half a year, he felt a change that made him completely different: "If you want it, I'll take the money back and give it to my mother. You guys can wander around, boss."
Where to turn? The entire village is close to the official road, but there is not a single decent shop. You can see from the beginning of the village to the end of the village at a glance. The entire village is empty, not at all what a farmhouse should look like.
A group of people sat in the carriage, not going anywhere, just waiting. After a while, Zhao Xiaopin came out of his home. It was a not-so-gorgeous house, which was quite decent in the village. It could be seen that the situation of Xiaopin's family was not bad.
Zhao Xiaopin's mother also followed him out, holding a bag of things and preparing to stuff it to Liang Chuan: "There is nothing decent at home. If I don't have a little pickled hairtail, you must accept it, boss, and take good care of Xiaopin for me. His father is gone." He got there early and didn’t teach him anything, so I left everything to you.”
The two girls did not dare to accept Xiaopin Niang's hairtail, so they refused a lot and insisted that Liang Chuan accept it. Liang Chuan made a gesture before accepting the hairtail. In counties close to the sea, many people rely on the sea for a living, and there is naturally a lot of seafood. In this era, a steady stream of seafood could be caught offshore, which was completely unmatched by later generations. A small sampan is about to go out, and when it comes back it will bring a lot of seafood.
"Don't worry, aunt, I can do this without you having to explain it. Xiao Xiao is a great hero who saved the lives of our whole village. You will be proud of him in the future."
Because Zhao Fafa and his party were not in the village, Liang Chuan did not stop much and continued to drive towards Qingyuan.
"Why don't you chat more with your mother? You haven't been home for so long." Liang Chuan broke off a piece of dried pickled hairtail, put it in his mouth and started chewing it. Not to mention, this natural game flavor itself has a unique flavor. The flavor of sea salt is more refreshing in your mouth than machine-made dried fish. Naturally, one cannot enjoy this kind of good thing alone. Liang Chuan shared a portion with others. They are also people who have lived in inland mountainous areas for a long time. Where can they eat dried hairtail fish? After following Liang Chuan, everyone's mouths have become tricky. You can still eat good things.
"I gave the money I earned these days to my grandma. My grandma doesn't talk much and doesn't like to gossip. I sat with her for a while." Zhao Xiaopin's mother just saw the money earned by Xiaopin. At that time, I was also extremely surprised, because a young apprentice at this age would definitely not be able to earn so much money. Could it be that the sketch had done something else? After asking, the sketch told the story.
The junction between Luocheng and Qingyuan is a river called Wan'an River. The water surface is surging and the width of the river at its outlet is actually three to five miles. There is only a small ferry next to it, called Wan'andu. The surrounding residents make a living on this river, fishing and clam fishing by boating on it. This has been the case for generations.
This river can be called a river or a river, because where the official road goes to Qingyuan, there are only boats but no bridges. This place is located right at the intersection of the river and the sea. The waves are intrusive and the waves are erratic. No matter how strong the bridge is, it cannot withstand the waves. The only means of transportation is a boat, or you can go around a certain distance to cross the river.
After riding a carriage for such a long time, it is naturally impossible to take a long detour. There are many oars on the river, and the crossing fee should not be expensive. When the group of people arrived at the river, the sun was already setting, and the sky was covered with colorful clouds. The day was about to end. Most of the boatmen on the river docked their boats, tied them up, and lit up lanterns. Smoke slowly rose from the river, and the fishermen began to sing evening songs on the river.
There were so many flying mosquitoes on the river that sleeping in the wilderness at night was almost as uncomfortable as death. The two carriage drivers took their wages and returned to Fengshan the same way they came. Their carriage couldn't move forward if it was inconvenient to cross the river. Ye Xiaochai kept complaining about the difficult conditions here. Although Shen Yuzhen frowned, she never complained. Liang Chuan also knew that if he didn't cross the river now, it would be even more difficult at night. But looking at it, most of the boatmen crossing the river have stopped their boats. Even after asking several boatmen, they refused to cross the river. The wind and waves are even more dangerous at night. Once you fall into the water, you can't even distinguish between east, west, north and south, which is extremely dangerous.
The group of people stood at the ferry and jumped anxiously. Liang Chuan asked several boatmen again: "Master, please carry us across, and we will give you an extra portion of the fare."
These old boatmen waved their hands and continued to do their own thing without raising their heads.
At this time, a boat floated leisurely on the river. On the deck of the boat, there was a boatman lying upside down, his face covered with a bamboo hat, and he was enjoying the last sunbathing with his feet in the air. He had a half-day of leisure.
The ship hadn't even finished work yet, so Zhao Xiaopin caught him and shouted: "Wu, that boatman, don't sleep now, business is coming!"
Zhao Xiaopin yelled at him for a long time, and then the boatman stretched his hands, stretched out his waist, took off his bamboo hat, put it on his head, looked at the group of people on the shore with sleepy eyes, and said warmly: " Crossing the river?" A hint of cunning flashed in his eyes.
The group of people rolled their eyes in unison. This was still a young ferryman, not an old boatman yet. They all cursed in their hearts, "Of course we are going to the other side of the river. Do we need to call you when we go to other places?"
Zhaodi is still good-tempered: "The boatman will take us across the river. It's getting dark and there's no place to stay."
Seeing that a group of people were planning to board the boat, several boatmen next to them didn't even raise their heads. They all raised their heads and looked at the group of people in surprise and concern, but they stopped talking. Everyone is lamenting in their hearts, these are fat sheep delivered to the door, and they will soon become bait for fish in the river. They also bring many female relatives with them, which makes them look like wealthy owners. They are like sheep entering the tiger's mouth.
