The Story of Leaping from the Dragon Gate

At noon the next day, Mu Ping delivered lunch to his room.After Song Wei finished eating, she rinsed her mouth, beat her lower back, and walked slowly outside the door.Mu Ping didn't want him to go out, so he asked: "Young Master Song, don't you want to rest for a while?"

Song Wei shook his head and stretched his waist: "No, go down for a walk."

Mu Ping knew he couldn't keep him, so he could only follow him outside.Almost at the door, he suddenly said: "Actually, Young Master is very kind to Mr. Song, please be more considerate, Mr. Song."

Song Wei nodded: "I understand, I should understand that he didn't tie me to the bedside chamber pot like an animal with an iron chain."

Mu Ping's expression was as if someone had stuffed a stinky sock into his mouth.

Seeing that Song Wei didn't take much time, he greeted him in a circle, sat on the bench in the middle hall and chatted with others, and felt that it would be embarrassing and a waste of time to accompany him, so he put a few copper coins in the hands of the clerk on duty to ask for help Staring, I went back to my room to do business, and occasionally came out to take a look.

Most of the people in the hostel are people who have traveled far and wide, and it is easy to chat in full swing.It was relatively deserted in the afternoon, but there was no shortage of people.Song Wei took out five cents, ordered a pot of tea, a large plate of fried snails, chatted with a few seafarers who traveled to the South China Sea, and listened to their adventure stories at sea, very happy.

It was almost dinner time, yesterday's entertainer father and daughter surnamed Lai came in from the outside. Younger sister Lai looked around and saw no one watching, so she bounced up to Song Wei and took out a big clam from her pocket.

"Brother Song, Dad and I are leaving tomorrow, this is for you."

Song Wei took it over and said with a smile: "Give me another meal? It's a bit too little."

"It's not for you. It's filled with Wanying Ointment. You can rub it on when you fall or get bitten by insects. But if you have diarrhea, you can eat a little. It's very effective."

A Haike next to him knew the goods, and interjected: "This is a good thing. Nanling Wanying ointment has miraculous effects on bruises, insect bites, and general unknown swelling poisons." He asked again, "Little girl, what else can I do?" Is there, can you sell me two boxes?"

Lai's father and daughter talked about business with several Haike.Song Wei thanked them, asked them to wait for him for a while, went upstairs to the room, came down with a small bag, and opened it on the table.In the baggage are the scraps left over from his stall all the way before, especially the northwestern gadgets that he exchanged for the basket of green plums and the Mu's caravan guys.

He smiled and said, "If I want to take the money, I will probably be beaten. In this way, little girl, you can choose by yourself, and take whatever you like, and treat it as a thank you gift from my brother."

His baggage is not very valuable, but most of it is rare in the local area.Not only the little girl was curious to see it, but also a few Haikes followed suit.

Lai Xiaomei looked around and finally settled on the furoshiki—a turban embroidered with Huihe patterns.Pinching the corner of the scarf embarrassedly, she looked at Song Wei.

Song Wei laughed loudly, dumped a bunch of things on the table, and pulled them away with her hands: "You want to take away my baggage, isn't this forcing me to sell them?" Stuff it into little sister Lai's hand.

Another two passing customers were attracted by the movement here, and gathered around to pick and choose the price.Song Weidao: "You can give money, you can exchange things, whatever suits you." He simply started doing business on the spot.

The Haike business next to them was not settled. It turned out that the Lai family wanted to keep some Wanying ointment for their own use and refused to sell more.A sailor untied a fish-shaped pendant from his waist: "I'll exchange this with you, see if it's worth it." He yelled at the buddy to bring a basin of water and put the small tin fish in it.Because the belly of the fish is hollow, the small fish float on the water like a boat.No matter how he fiddled with it, the head of the fish always pointed south.

"How about it? This one is called Si Nan Yu, it's from the Cochin Kingdom, it's fun and practical."

Everyone in Sinan was familiar with it, but he had never seen such a small and interesting one, so he was amazed.It's a pity that the barbarian man surnamed Lai was unmoved: "We mountain people can tell the direction with a pair of eyes, which is no better than guests living at sea. We don't need this. I'm sorry."

Haike was helpless, but he couldn't force it.Song Wei glanced at Si Nanyu floating on the water, and suddenly said: "I think it's quite interesting, I like it very much. I wonder if big brother can give it to me?" In the end, a few things came out, and I added some money to buy it down.

After being manipulated by them, the central hall became a temporary small market.In the afternoon, which was the busiest time in the hostel, Song Wei gave the shopkeeper another ear-picking spoon to enjoy, so no one interfered with them setting up a stall anywhere.In the middle, Mu Ping came out to check and saw a group of people with Song Wei as the center, bargaining and starting a small business, he really didn't know how to react.I thought that the young master must take this person on the road, it seems really not a good idea...

After two days passed, Dugu Mian suddenly asked Song Wei to pack her luggage and prepare to leave.Originally, he thought about finding an opportunity to take Song Wei out for a stroll before leaving, but he canceled it in his heart because of the latter's disobedient words and deeds.As a result, Song Wei lived in Yucheng for half a month, and the only two times she left the hostel were to go to the Han Mansion with Xuanqing, and the second trip was to wear a sad female Taoist costume and a veiled hat to cover her face .I didn't have time to take a closer look at what the city looked like.

Song Wei rode on Nang Ang's back, looked left and right, seized the last chance to see something new, regardless of the speed and direction of the three people in front.

The donkey is much slower than the horse. Dugu Mian looked back twice, and hesitated for a moment between the two ideas of lifting him on his own horse and getting him a horse, but he felt that neither was appropriate, and it was better to maintain the status quo.After staring at him for a few times, he realized that he would not be able to discover his existence without urging the other party loudly.Seeing his excited look, he opened his mouth, but he didn't shout out.Forget it, I'm not in a hurry anyway, so just slow down.

Young Lord Dugu and Master Ouyang Minzhong made an appointment to set off on the same day, and the destination was Heyang Town under the jurisdiction of Yucheng.They go the same way but go their own way.

Because of the open atmosphere, traveling abroad has become the fashion of this dynasty.Scholars believe in "reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles", and it is even more common for knight-errant prodigal sons and entertainers to trade in business.Even if Dugu Xian and his party came to a border town like Heyang, they might be conspicuous, but they weren't conspicuous.

Heyang is the key inspection site selected by Ouyang Minzhong.Yushui, a river that passes through Yucheng, forks outside the city, one of which is called Hexi, and Heyang is located to the north of Hexi.The local people dug a number of ditches and diverted water for irrigation, covering a radius of hundreds of miles, forming a fertile farming area.

Dugu Mian first walked around the bank of Hexi River.Even if he is a layman, he will still look at whether the embankment is firm and the water level is high or low.I looked at it as if I was wandering around, and felt that the local officials were not lazy, and the river embankment and ditches were pretty decent, and they should be repaired on time.It's just that there is more rain this year than in previous years, so the water level is high and the color is cloudy.I chatted with a few farmers who were fishing and catching shrimp, and found that they were all quite optimistic, thinking that no matter how long the rainy season was, it should be over and it was no big deal.It's just that there is too much water in autumn, and the rice harvest in the second season may not be harvested.However, the harvest in the first season of this year was good, and there was enough food anyway.

Song Wei bent down to look at the river surface, feeling a little dizzy.He was not afraid of water at first, but in this life, he grew up in the north. Although there are rivers and lakes in the western capital, it is a pity that playing in water is not popular, so he has no chance to learn swimming.He thought, if he finds time to practice, he should be able to pick it up.

Ask the old man fishing: "Old man, you can't see the water clearly at all, can you catch fish?"

The old man spoke a dialect, but he could understand official Chinese.Dragging the bamboo basket in front of him, he said proudly, "Look." Most of the silver-white fish in the basket were still jumping.

Knowing that they were foreigners, the old man spoke very slowly: "Rising water catches the mouth of the river, falling water catches deep pools. There is another saying, rising water fish stay on the side, falling water catches the middle. Where do you think I am sitting?"

Song Wei took a look, there was a river in front and a canal behind, and the old man happened to be sitting at the intersection of the canal.The water flowed from the river to the ditch, and all the fish and shrimp followed.He was slow at catching big fish, while those who caught small fish and shrimp with nets poured them into the basket one by one.

Seeing that he was having fun, Dugu let him go.Coming back from a circle, Song Wei saw two fish in one hand, and a copper coin in his arms with the other: "Uncle, let's have some prawns, just for one meal, how much do you think?" Mu Ping didn't wait for the little lord Open your mouth and give the money in the past.Song Wei immediately said thank you and stopped.

The prawn farmer asked: "Where does the guest stay overnight? I can't take this wet one. I'll send it to you."

Song Wei had no choice but to look at Young Master Dugu, he couldn't decide on this matter.

The farmer was a clever man, and immediately said: "My eldest daughter is married, and the second son has gone to the city to become an apprentice. There are two vacant rooms at home. If guests don't mind, they can stay here."

There is no special hostel in Heyang Town, tourists usually find a farmhouse to stay and give some compensation.Dugu Mian nodded, the farmer was all smiles, and welcomed several distant guests to his home.For dinner, I cut fish sticks and boiled river prawns, which were very delicious.During the meal, I heard from the host's family that the mayor's house welcomed an imperial envoy to watch the water, so Dugu immediately knew that it was Ouyang Minzhong who had arrived.

He Yang had never received an imperial envoy here before, and the people were very excited, and it was still dark after eating, so they all went to the mayor's house to see the imperial envoy with their old and young.Song Wei also followed the master's family out, looking very curious.Dugu Mian hesitated for a moment, feeling that his indifference would arouse suspicion, so he simply went along.When I saw a large circle of bare feet and mud legs surrounding Mr. Ouyang, watching and discussing, and women covering their mouths and laughing, I felt from the bottom of my heart that it was very wise for me to choose unannounced visits in disguise.

That time at the official station, Song Wei didn't see Ouyang Minzhong's face.But this matter doesn't require much IQ, even if Young Master Dugu doesn't say a word, he can deduce that the imperial envoy is with him.It is estimated that wherever the imperial envoy goes, the young master will go there, and then he will have to follow there.

The next day, Song Wei was still lying in bed when she suddenly heard someone shouting outside, after careful identification, she understood that the shout was: "The water is rising! The water is rising!"

As soon as he got up, the bedside was naturally empty.Put on your clothes and rush out the door. The farmer got up early and there was no one in the house.I packed the few things I had on the donkey's back, led Nang Ang to the gate, paused for a moment, and then came back.Looking at the luggage of Dugu Mian and the two guards, he was thinking about what to do best, when the master and his family came back, skillfully set up the bamboo ladder, and pushed aside a board on the roof.It turns out that there is a three-foot-high attic on the roof of the hall, not only for storing things, but also for temporary residents.

The master and his youngest son climbed up, and the rest of the people passed on underneath, and quickly moved household and light objects that could not soak in water to the attic.Hurry up slowly, and finally finished when the river water pouring into the room did not reach the feet.

The terrain of Heyang Town is high in the west and low in the east, so the host took everyone to the west without locking the door, allowing the river to flow into the house.Song Wei wanted to take all three horses and one donkey with him, but the mounts of the young master and the head of the guards were too individual, and it was because he had some tricks to get close to them, but he couldn't take them away no matter what.Simply untie the reins and let them go, anyway, the beasts have become spiritual and cannot be lost.

In the end, only the horses of An Ang and Qin Xian were taken, and the hostess arranged for him to carry some food utensils, especially two large wooden basins that could float.On the way, I met some low-rise houses with no attics, so the two animals carried all their belongings on their backs.

The house Song Wei stayed at was some distance away from the river bank, and his location was westward, so he withdrew smoothly and arrived on the west slope not long after.There are already many people on the slope, and they just listen to the people who live on the shore dancing and gesticulating where the water is.Everyone commented that fortunately the water was not too strong and the embankment was crossed during the day, so the patrolmen found it in time.He also said that the weather had been good in the past two days, and the water suddenly rose, which must have been heavy rain somewhere upstream.Several men and women built stoves and buried pots on the spot, ready to cook.The children screeched and ran around the luggage like it was a festival.

Song Wei couldn't help but asked the host of the house where he was staying: "Will the water not flood the west slope?"

The man waved his hand: "It's been hundreds of years, and the highest has only been there." Pointing to an old tree stump that was cut off by lightning at the bottom of the slope, "At most, I flooded that tree stump, and never came up again. The longest flooded In seven days, but that is during the rainy season. This season is a day or two at most."

Song Wei also calmed down.

From the east of the town to the west slope, there is a low-lying land.The water level gradually rises, and it only reaches the calf in other places, but it reaches above the knees here, making it difficult for people with limited mobility to wade over.Many people drove their cattle, and the elderly and children sat on the back of the cattle.Steady is steady, but it is cumbersome and slow, and it is still soaked in water for a long time.

Song Wei took off her coat, her trousers were rolled up to her thighs, and she handed Nang Ang to the host's 15-year-old son. He led Qin Xian's horse by himself.

Dugu Mian hurried over on horseback, just in time to see this scene.

He accompanied Ouyang Minzhong to watch the water along the river early in the morning, and walked several miles upstream.Finding that the water potential was not right, he ran back in a hurry to evacuate the residents by the river.After being found by Ma'er, he remembered that Song Wei had been left behind, so he came over to take a look first to say hello.

After watching for a while, Song Wei never found him.The young master turned his horse's head with a blank expression, and went back to help the imperial envoy mayor.