In the blink of an eye, the two of them arrived at the cave. Ling Yun blew the fire stick and looked around.
This cave is at the foot of a mountain. It is arched as a whole. The highest point is about one foot high. The walls of the cave are made of rocks, as if they were dug manually. It is not a naturally formed cave. There is a pile of burned firewood in the middle of the cave. The carbon ash left behind and a few regular-shaped stones were scattered on the ground.
It seems that someone has been to this place. It must be that people in the past deliberately dug out such a cave to rest overnight. After all, this place has no village or shop, so it is great to have a cave to protect it from wind and rain.
Li Haoyang looked around for a few times and said to Ling Yun: "Ling Yun, stop looking now. Let's go find some firewood and light a fire so that no wild beasts come near at night!" Ling Yun nodded, put away the fire bag, and put it down on his body. luggage, the two began to look for something that could make a fire.
As luck would have it, the forest was lush here, and there were indeed a lot of fallen branches and leaves. They looked around in the dark for some dry and wet branches, and piled them in the center of the cave.
When the collection was almost complete, I gathered some drier branches, lit them with fire sticks, and built a fire.
After finishing their work, they didn't care about the many things and sat down on the stones on the ground. Li Haoyang opened the package, took out two pieces of dough and handed one to Ling Yun.
The two of them were eating the bread and adding firewood to the fire. Li Haoyang said: "After eating later, rest early, and set off at dawn tomorrow morning. Taking advantage of the cool weather, we can drive a few more miles and stay there until noon." Then find a shady place to rest."
Ling Yun said: "Brother Yang, I just listen to you. By the way, can the dry food we brought last to Jinling City?" Li Haoyang replied: "Listen to my father, we can see it if we walk a hundred miles further. We’ve arrived at the village. If it’s not enough, let’s find another village and buy some from someone!”
After hearing this, Ling Yun said "Oh" and suddenly asked: "Hey, that's not right. Since your father knows the way to Jinling City, why didn't you hear him mention that there is a cave here?
Li Haoyang said: "Who knows, maybe when they went to Jinling City, they took the bus with the people in the town and wouldn't stay here overnight. Hey, no matter how much it is, just eat quickly. Let's spend the night together. Take turns to keep vigil, I'll keep vigil for half the night, you can keep vigil for the rest of the night!" Ling Yun said, "It's up to you!"
After the two simply finished their dinner, Ling Yun and Li Haoyang lay on the ground with their heads raised, looking up at the stars in the sky, chatting wordlessly, and more than an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Li Haoyang said to Ling Yun: "Ling Yun, it's getting late, you should go to bed first, you have to keep vigil in the second half of the night." After saying that, he turned over and stood up, stretched his waist, and rubbed his face.
Ling Yun said "hmm" but did not answer. He was indeed sleepy and dizzy. Then, he slowly closed his eyes, and the fire beside him swayed brightly and darkly in the wind.
Li Haoyang came outside the cave and sat down, looking at the dark mountain forest in front of him. The mountain wind blew on his face, feeling a little bit cold. He has followed his father through the mountains and forests since he was a child. He has a unique emotion for the mountains and forests, and he is also sensitive to the dangers lurking in the mountains and forests that ordinary people do not have.
But this place seemed unusually quiet. Although he was confident that he could deal with any danger, such a night still made him feel a little uneasy.
He stood up and went to the package, took out a coat from inside, covered Ling Yun, took another coat and put it on himself, then walked to the edge of the cave, tightened the collar on his chest, and sat against the stone wall of the cave. superior. At this time, his brain was already feeling sleepy, but he couldn't sleep. He had to persist until the latter half of the night before Ling Yun got up to keep watch.
In this way, Li Haoyang sat leaning against the cave wall for a while, and walked to the entrance of the cave to check. During this period, he added firewood to the fire several times. He forced his eyelids to survive the ugly time, and he was already very sleepy.
Li Haoyang rubbed his eyes, stood up and came to Ling Yun's side, squatted down, gently pushed Ling Yun, who was sleeping soundly, and shouted softly: "Ling Yun, Ling Yun!" He repeated it several times before finally waking him up.
Ling Yun sat up with his eyes covered in confusion, and said: "Brother Yang, what's wrong?" Li Haoyang said: "Get up quickly, it's your turn to keep vigil, I'll take a nap!" Ling Yun rubbed his eyes and looked Looking around, he asked, "What time is it now?" Li Haoyang looked up at the sky and said, "I don't know. Judging from the sky, I guess it's already past three o'clock. Get up quickly and let me get some sleep." With that, he He added some branches to the fire.
Ling Yun stood up, put his coat on his body, rubbed his palms, breathed out, and said, "Go to sleep!" As he said that, he yawned and sat down next to the fire again.
Li Haoyang was worried and reminded: "Ling Yun, you can't doze off. I think this forest is very strange. It's surprisingly quiet. I'm afraid there may be beasts approaching at night. You must watch carefully. This fire cannot be extinguished. !”
Ling Yun was still yawning and said, "I understand, Brother Yang, just sleep peacefully, I'm watching!" Li Haoyang then lay down on the other side of the fire.
After an unknown amount of time, Ling Yun heard Li Haoyang's voice ringing in his ears: "Ling Yun, Ling Yun, get up quickly, why are you asleep?"
Ling Yun stood up with squinted eyes and looked around. It was already dawning, the trees outside were clearly visible, and the fire beside him had already been extinguished. He looked up at Li Haoyang. Li Haoyang shook his head helplessly and asked, "Why did you fall asleep when I asked you to watch the night?" As he said, he glanced at the firewood pile beside him and asked, "Ling Yun , you won’t fall asleep again right after you wake up at night, right?”
Ling Yun touched his head and said hesitantly: "No, no!" Li Haoyang pointed to the firewood pile on the side and said: "Look at this firewood pile, it is exactly the same as before I went to bed. You fell asleep without adding more firewood?"
Ling Yun smiled sheepishly and said, "Hey, I'm sorry, Brother Yang, I don't know when I fell asleep."
Li Haoyang sighed helplessly again and said: "Oh, you, fortunately no wild beasts came near at night, otherwise we would have ended up here!"
Ling Yun didn't know what to say when he saw Li Haoyang turned around and took out two pancakes from the package, handed one to Ling Yun, and said, "Forget it, it's fine. Let's fill up our stomach first. We have to go on the road soon."
The two of them ate two baked pancakes with water from the bamboo tube, then packed up their luggage on the ground, carried it on their backs, each took their swords, and continued on their way.
Along the way, they climbed over mountains and ridges. When they encountered a village, they went in to exchange for some dry food. When they encountered an ox cart or a horse-drawn carriage along the way, they asked someone to take them with them.
After walking for an unknown amount of distance, the soles of my shoes were almost worn out. Finally, after climbing over a hill, I saw a big city appearing in the distance. It was so spectacular. Looking at the endless city wall, it must be the Jinling City they are going to.
Li Haoyang and Ling Yun had never seen a house bigger than the Lu family ancestral hall since they were young. This time it was an eye-opener.
They took out a pair of spare new shoes from the package and put them on, stuffed the old shoes into the cloth bag, and strode towards the city in front of them that they had longed for for a long time.
This place seemed to be right in front of them, but it took them more than half an hour to reach the city gate.
The city wall is five feet high, and there are four guards at the city gate. It was already midday, and there were not many people coming and going at the door. The two of them had already finished eating the dry food on their bodies, and they were so hungry that their chests pressed against their backs.
So, the two men hurriedly ran to the guards and asked: "Sir, may I ask, where can I eat in this city?" The guard did not look at them and said arrogantly: "This is Jinling City, there is food anywhere in the city. Find something to eat!”
The two of them were so happy after hearing this. They didn't realize the sarcasm in each other's words at all. They said "thank you" and ran all the way to the city.
The guards glanced at their backs, and one of the guards said: "Hey, it's strange, the little beggars now all carry swords!" After hearing this, the other guards laughed happily.
The two walked into the city, and it turned out to be the largest city in the area, with many pavilions and busy traffic. The streets are full of stalls selling all kinds of items.
There are people selling kites, hairpins and jewelry, folding fans, and candied haws, and the cries keep coming and going.
In the street shop, I know Tanghulu Lingyun. When I was a child, I saw someone in the town bringing it back from outside, but I never tasted the taste. I only knew that it was sour and sweet. Thinking of this, my saliva couldn't stop flowing.
Ling Yun wiped the corner of his mouth and said to Li Haoyang: "Brother Yang, let's buy two bunches of candied haws on a stick and try it out?" After saying that, he walked towards the old man selling candied haws.
Li Haoyang grabbed his sleeve, pointed to a restaurant not far away and said, "I'm going to starve to death if I'm still eating candied haws at this time of day. Let's go eat there first!" Ling Yun touched it Then he chuckled and said, "I almost forgot!"
The two of them looked up and saw that the restaurant in front of them was the most luxurious. Look at the decoration, with carved dragons and phoenixes, it's really majestic.
Ling Yun pointed at the restaurant and said, "Let's go to that restaurant!" After saying that, the two of them walked towards the restaurant together.
As soon as they reached the door, they were stopped by the waiter. The waiter said: "Go, go, where are you beggars? There is nothing for you to eat here. You need to go somewhere else to ask for food!"
Li Haoyang was about to argue with him, but Ling Yun didn't care about that. He pushed the waiter away and walked in. He said, "Who is asking for food? We are here to eat!" With that, he walked straight to a seat by the window. Sat down.
Li Haoyang patted the bag on his waist and said to the waiter: "We have money!" The waiter saw the bulging satchel on Li Haoyang's waist and looked at the swords on their backs. He immediately changed his expression, full of joy. With a smile on his face, he said: "Hey, I'm sorry for my poor eyesight, but I'll invite you two guests inside!"
Li Haoyang didn't have the energy to pay attention to him. He crossed the threshold and walked in. He came to Ling Yun's table and casually placed the knife on his back on the table. The waiter then came to the table with a smile on his face and asked, "What would you like to eat?"
Neither of them knew what delicious food there was in Jinling City, so Li Haoyang said: "First, four big steamed buns and two bowls of noodles!" Then, he looked around and pointed to a plate of meat slices on the table next to him. : "Just give us a portion of that meat!" Then he said to Ling Yun: "Ling Yun, what do you want to eat?" Ling Yun also looked around, raised his head and asked the waiter: "What good do you have here? food?"
The waiter's face changed when he saw the things Li Haoyang ordered. After hearing this, he immediately put on a smile and said: "Sir, we have everything you want in our store. If you can't think of it, we can't make it." Yes, you can order whatever you want!" Ling Yun said: "I asked you what delicious food you have, forget it, just have one of each of the five most delicious dishes in your store!"
When the waiter heard this, he looked them up and down again, thinking: "Who are these two guys? If I can't get so much money, the shopkeeper will kill me! I don't think they look alike." No one who has seen the world can give them something simple to fool them!"
So, the waiter said to them: "Two guests, let me give you a portion of braised live carp, a portion of steamed donkey meat, and a portion of braised lion's head. You two can use it first. If there is not enough, we will give it to you. How about adding some more?"
Li Haoyang asked: "Just these few dishes, plus the ones I just ordered, how much do they cost?" The waiter replied: "It's a total of one, two, and fifty taels. I'll give you two a discount, even if you have one Two!"
Upon hearing this, Li Haoyang subconsciously touched the cloth bag on his body and whispered to Ling Yun: "Ling Yun, my father gave me three taels of silver before going out. If we use one tael for this meal, in a few days I'm going to be hungry!" Ling Yun said: "Brother Yang, don't worry, don't I still have some jewelry? I'll just pawn it later!"
Li Haoyang said: "Who knows how much your scrap metal is worth? Let's save some money. I saw someone selling sesame cakes on the roadside just now. Otherwise, let's eat some sesame cakes first." Fill your stomach and let’s take a walk around the city!” Ling Yun nodded: “Brother Yang, I’ll listen to you.”
Li Haoyang stood up and said to the waiter: "In my opinion, your store is just showing off, and you can't even bring out a decent dish. Ling Yun, let's go!" With that, he picked up the knife on the table and walked out the door. Go.
When the waiter saw him, he was very angry. It could be seen that the man in front of him was tall and had a knife in his hand. He knew that he was not easy to mess with, so he could only watch them leave. When he saw the two of them walking away, he cursed: "I can't even get out a tael of silver. What kind of fat guy can I pay for if I don't have money? Ha, ugh!"
The two of them went out and came to a sesame biscuit stall. They pointed at the sesame biscuits being fried on the stove and asked: "Old man, how do you sell these sesame biscuits?" The old man selling sesame biscuits replied: "One penny each, two little brothers, How many do you want?"
Ling Yun rushed to say: "Come on ten!" Li Haoyang said: "Such a big piece of sesame cake, ten? Can you finish it?" Ling Yun said: "Brother Yang, how long have we not eaten? Hurry up. Come on, I’m going to starve to death!”
Li Haoyang shook his head helplessly and said to the old man: "Then let's have ten!" The old man selling sesame seed cakes wrapped the sesame seed cakes one by one in the kraft paper bag that had been folded and handed them to them. Ling Yun took them one by one. in hand. Li Haoyang took out ten cents from the bag on his waist, handed it to the old man, turned around and left.
As Ling Yun walked, he took one of the sesame cakes in his hand, put it in his mouth, took a bite, and said, "It tastes so good!" Then, he picked up six more of them, handed them to Li Haoyang and said, "Brother Yang, you are big, you can eat six." I'll eat four!" Li Haoyang pointed at Ling Yun and smiled bitterly: "You!" After saying that, he took the sesame seed cake and started eating it too.
The two of them devoured the sesame seed cakes in a blink of an eye. Ling Yun licked his fingers and said to Li Haoyang: "Brother Yang, where should we go next?" Li Haoyang raised his sleeves and wiped the corners of his mouth, burped, and said: "First find a pawn shop to sell your pile of broken coppers. You’ve pawned the rotten iron, so let’s find an inn to rest in!”
Ling Yun reached out and took out the cloth bag on his body and said: "Brother Yang, don't look down on my pile of scrap metal, gold and silver. I think I can exchange it for a lot of silver!" Li Haoyang said with a smile: "Okay, okay, okay. , in exchange for some silver, I’ll treat your foreign brother to a nice meal for me!”
Ling Yun pointed to the restaurant where they had just come out and said: "Brother Yang, it's agreed that we can exchange it for silver in a while, and we'll go there for a good meal tonight!"
Li Haoyang didn't answer anymore, turned his head and looked at a shop in the distance and said, "Ling Yun, what a coincidence. Look, is there a pawn shop there!" Ling Yun followed his gaze and found that there was indeed a pawn shop at the corner of the street. There was a shop with a gold-rimmed flag hanging at the door, with a big word "pang" written on it. Although they were illiterate, they could tell from the appearance of the shop that it was a pawn shop! Ling Yun said: "Let's go and take a look!" So without saying anything, he walked over quickly.
The two came to the door of the pawn shop and saw two large curtains hanging from the door frame, covering the door. The two of them looked inside through the gap in the door curtain, and saw a square table inside. Sitting next to the square table was a young man wearing a long black dress, drinking tea.
Seeing the two people poking their heads in, the man in black didn't move at all. Instead, he poked his big, fat head out of the high window, waved to them and said: "Go, go, go somewhere else to beg for food. This is not a restaurant!" It was the owner of the pawn shop who spoke.
Li Haoyang opened the door curtain and walked in, followed closely by Ling Yun, who was the first to say to the fat shopkeeper with a smile on his face: "Shopkeeper, we are not here to beg for food, we are here to be pawned!"
The shopkeeper opened the small door and walked out. He looked them both up and down and said, "Oh? What do you want to pawn?"
Ling Yun patted the cloth bag on his body and said: "It's inside!" After saying that, he came to the square table, took off the cloth bag on his body, and said to the man in black: "Brother, I'm sorry, I need to borrow a place!" Before the man in black could speak, he dumped all the items on the table and said to the shopkeeper: "Look, that's all! Oh no, wait a minute, this is not for sale!" As he said that, he took his hands off the table. The admiral took back a jade pendant and put it into his arms.
The man in black on the side looked at it, frowned slightly, and immediately continued drinking tea as if nothing had happened. The shopkeeper walked over disdainfully, squinted his eyes, and glanced at the table. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and said with gleaming eyes: "Are you going to pawn all these things?"
As soon as the shopkeeper finished speaking, he seemed to realize his gaffe, and immediately changed his expression, crossed his hands and put them into his cuffs, cleared his throat, and said: "Ahem, these are some ordinary jewelry, those gold bracelets and The gold ring is worth a few silver taels, please give me a price!"
