7. On the road
Because the food was almost eaten, the luggage became much lighter, and the four large back baskets were filled with clothes except for two, one for pots and bowls, and the other was almost empty. So they brought five live pheasants, three rabbits that had been pickled and dried, and if it weren't for the fact that there wasn't much salt left, they could have brought more pickled products. After all, here, Ah Hao can easily hunt these small wild animals.
"Ah Hao, where are we going?" Geng Qiu asked tentatively. After spending two months in this wilderness, he began to miss the modern and convenient life, and he also remembered his grandparents. It was not good for him to directly refuse to go to the so-called small mountain village of Sanyin with Ah Hao. But he doesn't know anything about this era, so he has to follow Ah Hao, but it is more comfortable to go to a prosperous place than to live in a remote mountain village.
"Didn't we say we were going to San'in? It's a long way from San'in. Ah Hao said that his mind was sometimes clear, clear and confused. There were some things that he remembered very well, and some things that he couldn't understand at all. But fortunately, he actually knew the way, it may be innate, or it may be that Ah Qiu once sued him.
"Out of this big mountain, there is a small village at the foot of the mountain, and we can rest there for a few days and find someone to get some food." Ah Hao pointed ahead and said.
"But we don't have any money?" Geng Qiu subconsciously said that although there were banknotes in his pocket, they were things that Ah Hao had used to think of as a picture.
"I have." Ah Hao smiled and took out a small purse and a small piece of silver.
Of course, Geng Qiu remembered that there were only more than twenty taels of silver here, and he didn't know what the purchasing power of silver was in this era, but he instinctively thought that the family property of more than twenty taels of silver was very small.
"How much rice can you buy for this small piece of silver?" Geng Qiu pointed to the little white rice that was left and asked, he had to figure out the price first, so that he could know how much he could do with twenty taels of silver.
"This is a tael of silver, at least you can buy about ten catties of polished rice, but brown rice can buy dozens of catties. Rice is expensive. But we can exchange things with people. Ah Hao said. He didn't seem to be worried at all, he didn't have enough money to spend.
"What do we have to change?" Geng Qiu asked puzzled. I looked left and right, and I couldn't find anything of value other than the two mules.
"Prey, this is a big mountain, just hit the first one or two hundred catties of wild boar, it can always be worth two or three taels of silver, find someone to exchange some rice noodles, coarse food, just do it." The silver still has to save flowers, and I heard that San'in City is far away. Ah Hao looked very shrewd, which made Geng Qiu feel a lot more at ease.
"Two or three hundred pounds of wild boar, will you fight?" Geng Qiu asked again.
"Of course, my Ah Hao can be a famous archer, what is it to hunt?" Ah Hao finished speaking with confidence, but he pondered thoughtfully, subconsciously covered his head with his hands, muttered something in his mouth, and screamed in pain after a while.
"Alright, alright, don't think about it, let's get something delicious first." Geng Qiu hurriedly shifted the topic, and tried to comfort him, massaging his hands and shoulders very experienced, and slowly calming him down. After getting along for so long, it is the third time that this kind of thing has happened to Ah Hao, as long as he thinks about things seriously, he will have a headache. So Geng Qiu already had experience with his illness.
It didn't take long for Ah Hao to be appeased, the two talked and laughed, but it was really like a family, Ah Hao had regarded Geng Qiu as a husband, and he especially liked to stick to him, for fear that he would leave himself, and from time to time he would say a few words to him, through these incompatible chats, Geng Qiu figured out a lot of things, knowing that this is Daxingguo, this year is the fifth generation of Daxing emperor in the dynasty, the country surname is Li, this year is the twelfth year of Daxing Chengtian. This place is a remote mountainous area of the Daxing Dynasty, and it is estimated that it will take a month to reach the nearest Shanyin City, of course, this is Ah Hao's estimate. With just two pairs of feet, and a small baby, and of course, two mules, Geng Qiu estimated that he would only be able to leave this mountainous area in a month, and he didn't know how long it would take to get to Shanyin City.
Geng Qiu was not surprised by this dynasty that he had never heard of at all, after all, he didn't know which dynasty in history had the gender of Xianggong, and Ah Hao was Xianggong. In this era, there are three genders of human beings, male, female, and Xianggong. He has never seen it normal for a man to have a child. So it's not surprising that I haven't heard of a dynasty.
They packed their things, Geng Qiu tied most of the luggage to the mule, took a jacket to make a pocket, and put Ah Niu in his chest, Ah Hao led the mule and left the place where they had lived for two months.
The pheasants cut their wings, tied them to a basket with a sturdy vine, and from time to time took them out and tied them to the tree, and when they rested, they let the pheasants come out to find food. After walking for ten days, I finally met a small village, few families, these people are also hunters, and they don't need pheasants and hares at all, and finally Ah Hao took out a handful of copper coins and exchanged them for ten catties of thick noodles, a few handfuls of fresh vegetables and ten eggs. However, Xiao Ah Niu ate a few meals of milk from other people, and finally fed his fill. They rested here for a day and a night and then left.
Five more days had passed on the road, and on this day, they had just rested and had eaten their fill, and had walked for more than an hour, when they heard the terrible howl of wild beasts, mixed with the cries and curses of men.
"There's something going on up front, shall we go take a look?" Geng Qiu asked nervously, it was obvious that the crowd in front of him had encountered a large beast. Along the way, because Ah Hao is extremely experienced, he has never encountered a beast. But in the sparsely populated mountains and forests, there must be a lot of fierce beasts. So Geng Qiu was very nervous, after all, his own force value was very poor, and he was still carrying a small baby. No matter how powerful Ah Hao is, the two of them are extremely cautious along the way, just for fear of encountering hordes of fierce beasts.
"I'll take a look, be careful yourself." Ah Hao frowned, listened carefully, and after speaking, ran over quickly with a bow and arrow.
Geng Qiu watched his figure disappear with blank eyes, carefully hiding himself and the baby.
After more than half an hour, Ah Hao came back, and Geng Qiu came out of hiding and asked, "How is it?" ”
"It's not a big deal, just a few wild boars, and I've killed them." Ah Hao said indifferently, and walked forward with Geng Qiu.
"Is that okay?" Geng Qiu was startled when he saw four or five big wild boars lying on the ground, as well as three or four wounded people of varying degrees of severity. He didn't expect Ah Hao to hang like this, and the corner of his eye involuntarily glanced at the bow and arrow in Ah Hao's hand several times. The big wild boars on the ground had an arrow on each of them, and it was obvious that these wild boars had died at the hands of Ah Hao. Although the two have been living together for more than two months, he knows that he is capable, but he did not expect him to be so capable.
"Thank you, benefactor." One of them, a middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader, knelt down as soon as he saw Ah Hao, and thanked him again and again.
"It's okay, are you the hunters under the mountain? How far is it from your village? Ah Hao waved his hand and asked. He wants to find someone as soon as possible now, so that he can get some rice and grain for Ah Niu to eat. The two adults can still eat some meat and wild vegetables, but Xiao Ah Niu can't even drink enough rice soup.
"We are from Xiaobang Village, two days away from here, take advantage of the spring to hunt before the busy, after the harsh winter, every family is short of food, but I didn't expect to meet a herd of wild boars, we are too greedy, if not to meet a benefactor, our group of people are afraid to explain here." The middle-aged man is a good man, and he will explain it clearly in a few words.
The middle-aged man's injuries were relatively light, one of the older men's arms was full of blood, which was very scary, Ah Hao thought about it and took out the medicine powder and asked the middle-aged man to bandage him, and the other two young men were only slightly injured, anyway, the six big men in this line were basically all injured.
"And how are you going to bring these wild boars back?" Geng Qiu asked. He couldn't imagine how six injured people could carry this wild boar weighing a thousand pounds.
"Besides, this commotion is too loud, I'm afraid it will attract other beasts, you have to get out of here quickly." Ah Hao said again.
"What then?" The middle-aged man was also anxious, it was impossible to throw away the wild boars that he had in hand, but their people would definitely not be able to get these wild boars back.
"Benefactor, without you, not only will we not be able to save our lives, but it will also be impossible to hit so many wild boars, now please beg the benefactor to help us, send a message back to the village, and let some people come to help." The middle-aged man said and told them to go down the mountain. Anyway, their village is the closest village to here.
"Well, let's help you move these wild boars to a place first, this place can't stay for long." Ah Hao said and Geng Qiu put down their luggage, and a few people who were not seriously injured, lifted the wild boar, and got it to a place about two miles away from here, but this process took more than three hours, and the two people were tired and half dead, after all, this group of people was already tired and injured, and suffered a lot of fright, except for the middle-aged man and two young people, the others basically couldn't help, so the five of them went back and forth several times before they got all the five wild boars over, and also covered the blood stains in this place with mud to block the smell of blood.
"Benefactor, seeing that the sky is getting dark, and you are tired, rest with us in this place tonight, and go down the mountain tomorrow." The middle-aged man was obviously familiar with this area, and there was a small cave in this resting place, and there were some necessities they had left behind before. Geng Qiu and Ah Hao were also tired, and when they looked at the sky, they agreed.
Soon a young man made a fire, cut down some large pieces of fine meat, and began to cook dinner. He boiled a large pot of broth in a large clay pot, and threw in several coarse grain and vegetable cakes they had brought with him, and boiled them into a pot of meat paste, and another man roasted large pieces of meat, which they quickly shared. Geng Qiu and Ah Hao felt that this meat paste tasted good, mainly because they had only eaten meat for more than ten days, and they missed the taste of food very much, so although it was rough, the two of them still drank two bowls each, and they hiccuped until they were full. As for the little cow, he was only fed a small bowl of sugar water.
After eating a full stomach and resting for a while, everyone replied a little, and the middle-aged man looked at Ah Niu and said with a smile: "Such a small doll, it's really good, why are you running outside with a little milk doll, and you are not afraid of starving the baby." ”
"I can't do it. We've got to rush home, outside San'in Castle. Geng Qiu said. Now everyone recognizes Ah Hao as a husband, and more and more feel that he has experienced harm, although Xiang Gong is about the same size as a man, a countryman, marrying a Xiang Gong and going home is also for multiple laborers, but Xiang Gong is still not as good as a man because of pregnancy and childbirth, but he is still a lot stronger than a woman, but like A Hao, he can also hunt, and his strength is the same as that of a man, they have really never seen it.
"Shanyin City, I'm afraid it's only more than 500 miles away from our village, you have to spend a while." The middle-aged man, the village chief of Xiaoshi Village, is also the most knowledgeable person, he has never been to Shanyin City, but he has heard about it.
"yes." Ah Hao replied indiscriminately, yawning, he was really tired today, this is the most work in more than a month. The middle-aged man gave up a small clean place inside to the three of them, and Geng Qiu didn't dare to take his things out, so he took two big robes, hugged Ah Niu with Ah Hao, snuggled together and fell asleep.
Lighting the fire, the middle-aged man and his party only left a vigil, and the others quickly fell asleep, in the middle of the night, Ah Niu cried, Ah Hao slept too soundly, and he didn't wake up. Geng Qiu quickly changed the child's wet clothes, and then made a bowl of sugar water on the boiling water on the stove.
"You baby, it's so easy to bring." The middle-aged man stayed in the middle of the night and chatted with Geng Qiu for a few words. "Hehe, as long as you are full, Ah Niu is generally sleeping." Geng Qiu said with a smile. If it weren't for this, just because they were two novices, and they lacked this little and that, the child didn't know what he would bring? As a cow is so easy to bring, Geng Qiu has been tired and thin. However, watching the child grow up day by day, he still has a sense of accomplishment in his heart.
The next day, at dawn, Geng Qiu and A Hao took A Niu and a young man away, they brought a live wild boar of about 200 catties, this wild boar has not yet died, this kind of weather, live to the market, whether it is to kill and sell meat, or sell the whole head, the price will be much better. But although the wild boar did not die, it did not live long, so Geng Qiu agreed to use a mule to carry the wild boar.
The young men helped carry their luggage. The middle-aged man said that the pig was a thank you gift to Ah Hao, Ah Hao and Geng Qiu did not agree, but they did not refuse, they were going to the village to see the situation before talking. But the middle-aged man was because their village was very poor, and these meats were the best things, and he privately instructed the young people to let them entertain Ah Hao's family in the village, and try to send them some things.