Virgil and the merchant stared into each other's eyes like two bulls, clamping their buttocks as if they could fight with each other at any time, they both looked like losers in this trade on the surface, but they both smiled happily in their hearts.

As he was leaving, Virgil reached out and plucked the tinkling iron bell from the neck of the leading horse, and shouted at the merchant

"This is an addition to our business!"

The merchant scolded Virgil for his head and face, saying that he was unruly, and that if he was caught, he would definitely be beaten, but his feet did not move, and he was as steady as a rock standing on the ground. When Virgil had gone away, he took another bell from his bosom and sent a man to tie it around the horse's neck.

With a triumphant smile, Virgil put the exchanged things in the warehouse, took the bell he had just replaced, and handed it to Vedia as if he were offering a treasure.

Vidia took the bell, shook it in her hand, and asked casually

"How much did you pay for this, Virgil?"

"It didn't cost a penny, it was given to me for nothing. ”

Vidia put down the bell in her hand, looked at him deeply, and then said another word, so that Virgil could not answer for a long time.

"How much did they cheat you to give you for nothing. ”

In the distance, a thick puff of black smoke burned from the merchants' tents. The little boy who helped Virgil take care of the charcoal did not dare not help him take care of the charcoal, but in retaliation, the little boy poured a soak of urine on the pile of charcoal after eating the cheese in his hand.

As for this loss, it is not within the scope of the merchant's plan to deal with Virgil.

Looking at the charcoal rising high, Vidia said thoughtfully

"I just saw the Norman son running south, and it seems that he has saved you a lot of money this time. ”

For merchants, these damp charcoal have not had much effect, at most they have a little taste and are harmless. The point was that he had already vacated more than half of the wagons by selling things along the way, so that by the time he reached Valuno, he estimated that he would have less than a third of the goods left.

The merchant touched his neck, which was starting to hurt again, and muttered to himself

"Earn less money and free up the carriage for those people, it's probably not a loss of conscience. ”

Conan had already taken refuge in the carriage by this time, and the first long journey had temporarily destroyed his health, and many people from the northern part of the southern national road could not bear the sudden cold weather, and lay down in the carriage. This has greatly slowed down the speed of the caravan, and people are lying in the carriages, naturally unable to go fast.

Yubang saw all this in his eyes, in order to take over this "fat difference" in the eyes of everyone, he spent more than 1,000 gold coins to get through the upper and lower relations, and fattened the messenger along the way, which cost him almost 200 gold coins, and the duty-free transaction from Abbasquia to Seprustinian only made him reap about 2,000 gold coins from it, in fact, it was far from the huge benefits imagined, and now every extra day the convoy travels is the cost of one more day.

But looking at those who were sick, and Conan had questioned those words, he was so reluctant to abandon those who couldn't walk.

What Conan said is very close to the truth, for the sake of profit, Yubang is even ready to wait for the time when he is about to arrive in the local area and then go to the surrounding villages to get a few people to fill the head, as long as the few maids he brought can serve the messenger well, he can guarantee that the messenger will not know anything, they are all white-skinned, blue-eyed big Prussian people, who can recognize whom?

If it weren't for the boys in the caravan, it would have begun to reduce the number of people on a large scale now, Youbang had a little self-deprecation on his face, and somehow, when he saw those young people, his heart softened. Now I can only count on the Northland to have something good worth exchanging money to make a fortune for me.

Conan lay crookedly on the car, he didn't have any strength up and down, and it was very difficult to even raise his head. It took him a long time to stick his head out of the carriage and get a breath of fresh air, but he happened to be smoked back by a black smoke mixed with the smell of urine.

The smell of smoke choked Conan as he sneezed and shed tears. When he first entered the Northland, life was far from what he had imagined, and the life in the carriage made him even begin to miss the days when he was tired and stinky in the sun.

The unfamiliarity in front of him made him start to become scared from the bottom of his heart. There are no wide avenues here, and there are few legendary stories, and everything about my past seems to be far away from me. The waiter at the bar, Davis who always smells of alcohol, the Grey Priest in the moonlight, Mr. Seth, the owner of the cloakroom at the corner of the street, and the bakery master who always secretly adds jam to the bread...... The convoy made its way down the leaf-covered path, only the occasional creaking sound in his ears reminded him that the wheels continued to turn forward and another branch broke off on the road.

In Conan's eyes, the roof of the swaying carriage began to spin faintly, and the corners of his eyes were slightly moist, perhaps he never thought that there were so many people and things worth remembering in his hometown, before he set off, he always felt that he was unaccompanied, but now it seems that even the smell in the small alleys that used to smell was amiable.

Suddenly, the little boy lying in the alley appeared in front of Conan's eyes again, he was still the same as six or seven years ago, so thin, so small, with dirty hands stretched out, and a faint voice "Help...... Please...... Help me". Seeing the little boy crawling towards him, Conan cringed, for some reason, he no longer had the ability to step over the little boy as hard as he had been a few years ago. He scrambled backwards, only to find himself in the middle of an alley, and there was no way out.

In Conan's frightened eyes, the boy's eyes turned white little by little, but his lips turned jet black, as if the boy had already swallowed his breath. The boy's mouth opened, but there was no trace of blood, only some gray or white, some sounds as if from hell came out of his mouth, Conan used those filthy words to piece together the words, and then formed the sentence "You abandon me, you are afraid of ......" while reaching out and grabbing Conan's ankle, Conan closed his eyes in fear, trying to avoid all this, but his body involuntarily sank, as if he was going to fall into hell with the boy.

The few good clothes he had brought with him from Abbasquia had nothing to show off, and now they were all haphazardly draped over his body to keep him warm. According to Amy's thoughtful words, there are still many people who are sicker than him now, and Conan should try to avoid the cold and drink plenty of hot water. In order to restore Conan's body as soon as possible, Amy asked for some ginger powder from the cook, a spice from the far East, and the cook would only put a little seasoning in the pot during the holidays. At first, Miguelson also had a pack on his body, but the loser drank these things, and Conan could still recall his eyes that lit up after drinking, which was called "aristocratic flavor".

Conan felt like he had drunk all the ginger water in his life, and he wanted to vomit it now when he smelled the ginger. But the bad thing is that everyone in the caravan doesn't think so, they treat ginger powder as a great thing, and pour bowl after bowl in his mouth.

"Are you feeling better? ”

A voice came into Conan's ears, and Conan opened his eyes in surprise, but saw no one.

An upward force lifted Conan up and dragged him out of the abyss where he would continue to fall.

"Have you ever seen the stars in the sky? I once looked up at the starry sky in a desert, when the world was full of vastness, but the stars were so bright, they hung in the sky, like eyes, like immortal souls. It's like a pair of eyes looking at me, we, that's the source of our strength, never look back!"

It was the voice of the Greyfriar. Conan remembered that he was a little ignorant at the time, but the words now filled his heart with strength, and he felt his body fill with strength again, and a bodily fluid stirred in his veins, the same excitement he had felt when he had just left Abbasquia, and it came back to him at this time.

In the haze, Conan opened his eyes again, and the little boy, the monk, everything was gone. He was still wearing a blanket to keep warm, instead of several layers of clothing as he had just done.

"Are you feeling better? ”

The man who spoke was Montgomery, the man from the mountains who spent the most time watching over him. During the time when Conan was ill, Amy was performing the duties of a doctor and a monk at the same time, and he had to treat people and hold funerals, and he was busy with his hands and feet on the ground. Mitchelson seems to be moving in the direction of his father, who is helping Amy with female patients. Only Montgomery seems to be an idler.

Conan touched his head almost subconsciously, and the temperature there seemed to have returned to normal, and cold sweat was pouring out of his forehead layer by layer. There has been a clear turnaround in his condition.

Montgomery cheered and ran outside the carriage, ready to tell Amy the good news, and then Amy would use it to save more people.

Conan was a man again, and he heard some movement outside through the carriage.

"I knew that ginger powder was a good thing, and I drank it and wrapped it. ”

"yes, a lot of people can't drink it if they want to. ”

Conan pouted, he would rather not hear the movement outside.

The news that ginger powder could cure colds spread, and the entire caravan set off a storm of rushing to buy ginger, and in just a few weeks, the price of ginger powder increased more than ten times, and the cooks in the caravan became the biggest beneficiaries. The cook spent 100 gold coins on a batch of inferior ginger powder in Abbasquia, and he sold the rest of the ginger powder at a high price, except for a third of what he used, which made him earn 500 pieces.

The cook had never seen so many years ago, when the civilians in the convoy had sprinkled their savings on the table until they had emptied their already deflated purses, and then shoveled out a pitiful bits of the ginger powder sack with their little spoons and put them in their pockets as if they were holding the most expensive diamonds in the world.

For a long time to come, the pioneers even began to experiment with ginger powder instead of currency, and by chance, Mitchelson overheard such a conversation in the camp late at night.

"Hey, I want your ducks, you can make a price. ”

"You don't even know what I call that duck I raised, I won't give it to you. ”

"Well, then what is it called. ”

"Listen, it's Don Pu, you bastard. ”

"Only the more thorough bastard would give a duck a name, and give it a surname, why, do you want it to be the emperor of the ducks in the caravan, or is it inherently nobler than the others?"

"It's the best duck out there. ”

"You unreasonable guy, I'll exchange ginger powder with you. ”

"Ginger powder, well, tell me to think about it. Well, what do you think of the price of five pieces of ginger powder?"

"Three, but I can give it to you right now. ”

"Then I'll have to hand over my Don Pu to you. ”

"No, from now on, it's called Old Don, and I'm not in the habit of naming ducks. ”

Mitchelson was deeply concerned about the scene, and he remembered the last time there was such a rush to buy, the farmers in the territory raced to stock up on peppercorns, and by the time the next ship docked, the whole shipload was full of peppercorns, and the farmers sold them as fast as they hoarded, and then they went bankrupt.

Even the best-looking girl among the Pioneers couldn't interest him, because the girl had turned to ginger powder before she took off her pants.

In the past, for every person who fell ill, there was a chance that that person would lose their life. And now, that person will go bankrupt before dying for buying ginger powder.

In two months, Amy has presided over three funerals where the deceased could not even get their clothes together.

The cook also witnessed this scene, and he felt that the money he earned was getting hotter and hotter, and finally he gave all the money he had earned to Yubon.

Yubang patted the cook on the shoulder and returned 200 of the 400 gold coins to the cook.

"Do it well, take them and make more money. ”

The cook thoughtfully used the money to buy more ginger powder in the villages along the way.

It can be said that as long as the caravan passes through, there is a common feature, that is, before the caravan leaves, the ginger powder there will be swept away. That is until they came across a village that had tried to grow a little ginger many years ago.