"Uncle, I'm fine. In three or five days we should be on the island, and then I will leave one ship at your disposal, and the other two ships will be brought back. These people in the family are going to worry about you all the time. ”

When Old Man Cao heard Dong Ping say this, he quickly nodded his head, "Don't worry, although we old bones have been blessed and fattened a lot over the years, our brains are not confused." Even if you go back to Daqi to find someone, you must find Sister Rong and Zhuzi. If there is news, remember to send a letter early, and save us all day long. ”

"That's nature."

After a few words, the old and the young stood side by side in the bow of the boat and said no more. Both of them were generally heavy in their hearts, and no matter how cool the sea breeze was, it couldn't blow away the worries in their hearts. Until Mrs. Cao poked her head out of the stove and shouted to eat. The two of them quickly put away the solemn look on their faces, pretended to be relaxed and smiled and walked back.

Although the red horse boat went against the wind all the way, the Chen family was experienced, and the speed of the boat was not much slower. On this day, I saw that the island of Philippines was ahead. A boat full of young and old gathered on the deck to see a fresh sight. Except for a few boatmen who have been here, Mr. Cao and others are all for the first time, thinking that they will start living here again in the future, maybe a few months, maybe half a year, maybe decades, and there is a complicated feeling in everyone's hearts.

Of course, this does not include children, more than a dozen girls from the servant's family are vying to stretch their necks to look at the island, chattering and talking, obviously very excited about this move.

"Brother, my dad said there are a lot of wild monkeys on this big island."

"I also heard from my father that the ground here is paved with gold!"

"Ah, that's not like you don't have to work for the rest of your life if you bow your head and pry a gold brick! How many pounds of pine nut candy can you buy? ”

The children's fairy tales spread with the wind, and the adults were amused when they heard it, and their hearts were relieved for a while. Old Man Chen specially instructed the boatmen to slow down and enter the port only after it was completely dark.

Dong Ping got off the ship with two cronies and shipwrights, and soon disappeared quietly into the dark night.

In the backyard of the Dong family's shop, the lights were brightly lit at this moment, and the young shopkeeper with a somewhat cold face was sitting behind the desk with a frown, looking at a letter in his hand.

At the beginning, he was just a small steward in the trading house, because he was serious, stubborn and stubborn, and did not know how to be flexible, he was often scolded by his distant relatives at home, that is, the shopkeeper.

Unexpectedly, one day he was suddenly sent to the head office to deliver a letter, and then he took this errand. Not only is the monthly salary unimaginably rich, but even at the end of the year, there is a sum of more than 100 taels of hard silver, needless to say, it is very easy to save for three or five years, buy a yard and marry a daughter-in-law.

If there's one thing that's not good, it's that it's a little too lonely to stay here. Although the island is becoming more and more prosperous, it is still much worse than Daqi. However, the family often had merchant ships coming and going, and he was also busy with work at hand, so he did not find it too boring. But in the past two months, the firm piggybacked on the news that the business would be suspended for a few months, and even asked him to act in a small play, claiming that he had changed the owner.

The shops in this port were originally a fleet of merchant houses, which were opened for the convenience of stopover or transshipment. There are risks in sailing at sea, and there are often things like ship wreckage or cargo robbery, and the owners of these shops are often exchanged, but these little shopkeepers, because they are familiar with local affairs and understand Filipino, will always be left behind to continue to stay. Therefore, his previous actions were not eye-catching.

He vaguely guessed if something had happened to the master's family, so his biggest mission here was about to start?

Thinking like this, he squeezed the envelope in his hand and tightened it tightly. For that secret mission, not even the slightest risk could be taken. Although he intuitively thought that the woman who left the letter must have no malicious intent, and that she might really have something to do with her own trading house, she couldn't prove anything if she couldn't take out the seal. But this letter can be kept for a while, and then someone from the family will bring it back so that the wiser treasurers can distinguish it.

He was opening the drawer to put the letter in, when he heard a local native hired by the shop report outside the door, "Someone is knocking on the door of the shop to see the shopkeeper!" ”

The young shopkeeper subconsciously glanced at the dark night outside the window, and then replied with the same Filipino sentence and walked out of the study quickly. When he got the shop in front of him, he saw that the person was Han, and he inevitably felt a little close in his heart, so he hugged his fists and asked, "A few objective, it's getting late, and our shop is closed." If you have a business to help with, why don't you come over early tomorrow. ”

Dong Ping looked the young shopkeeper up and down a few times, and saw that he was smiling kindly, and there was no discoloration on his face, so he guessed that he really didn't know himself, so he nodded secretly, and then said in a low voice, "This shopkeeper has worked hard, I am from Peach Blossom Mountain, and I ask the shopkeeper to borrow a step to speak." ”

When the young shopkeeper heard this, his eyes lit up. Peach Blossom Mountain is the code word that he made an appointment with the big shopkeeper when he first took over the task, it is said that the two proprietors of the firm lived on Peach Blossom Mountain before they were rich, since this person can say this name, it must be someone from the family.

"Good, good. This guest officer has come all the way to the study with me to rest for a while. ”

Dong Ping nodded, waved his hand to signal the two boatmen to stay in the shop, and then followed the little shopkeeper to the backyard. He was anxious to settle down the elders in the family, and then returned to Daqi, so he didn't bother with words, and directly took off a small gold ring hanging around his neck and handed it to the young shopkeeper.

The young shopkeeper respectfully took it, then dipped some ink on the ring surface, took out a box, turned out the bottom piece of paper, and carefully printed the ring face next to the original pattern on it.

When he got it to the lamp and checked it carefully, he saw that there was no mistake, so he quickly knelt down, touched the ring with both hands, and said excitedly, "Little Wu Youde, I have seen the owner." ”

"Shopkeeper Wu, please get up, it's hard for you to stay here all the year round, it's really hard." Dong Ping didn't have any false words, he opened his mouth to tell the truth, but he heard Wu Youde's heart warm. He bowed down again and again, and said modestly, "This is all small things that should be done, and it's okay to work hard." It's just that there is no news at home recently, and the little one is worried about something at home, and finally looks forward to the owner. If the proprietor has any trouble, just command. ”

Dong Ping was also not polite, and whispered the purpose of this trip, and said at the end, "These people are all relatives of the housekeeper, and you need to take care of them more when you live on the island." ”

"The proprietor is serious," shopkeeper Wu hurriedly responded respectfully, "The little one has been staying here for this purpose, and now that he has finally waited for the opportunity to serve, he will definitely not live up to the trust of the proprietor." ”

"Okay, we'll talk about the rest tomorrow, and settle the women and children for the time being." Dong Ping got up as he spoke, and the shopkeeper Wu was just about to go out with him, when he suddenly remembered the letter in the cabinet, and said hesitantly, "The owner, the little one still has something to report." ”

"What's the matter?"

"Half a month ago, a woman came to the shop to inquire about our trading house if any ships had been in or out of here lately. The small one lied that he had changed the owner, and he didn't know the arrangement of the firm. But five or six days ago, she came again and left a letter, saying that it would be okay to transfer it to any of the big stewards of our Dong family firm. You see......"

Dong Ping didn't know why, his heart suddenly tightened, and he immediately turned around and asked, "What about the letter, show it to me!" ”

"Yes!" Shopkeeper Wu hurriedly walked to the back of the desk, took the letter and delivered it to him.

As soon as Dong Ping saw the familiar black characters on the front of the envelope, he felt a bang in his head, and Venus was popping up in front of him. Like a drowning man who had been saved a life, he grabbed the hand of the shopkeeper Wu and asked in a trembling voice, "What about people, where is the person who delivered the letter now?" Say it, say it! ”

The shopkeeper Wu's arm was scratched very painfully, and he subconsciously felt as if he had made a big mistake, so he hurriedly responded, "The woman who delivered the letter has been gone for five or six days, and now I'm afraid it's at sea." ”

"Oh, eldest sister, I'm late!" Dong Ping's regretful intestines were about to turn green, and he raised his hand and gave himself two slaps, if he was in a hurry on the road, would he be able to meet his sister who was floating outside.

Shopkeeper Wu was frightened, even a fool could guess that he was in trouble at this time, so he knelt down with a puff, "The owner, it's all the fault of the villain, I don't know that the woman is my own family." ”

Dong Ping slapped himself in the face hot, but his brain seemed to be much clearer. He took a few breaths, pulled up the shopkeeper Wu, and then walked to the lamp with the secret letter to read it carefully.

Dong Rong was bitten by a snake for ten years and was afraid of the well rope, and she was killed on her own boat before, and she no longer knew who else she could trust. When she left the letter, she was afraid that the secret words of her family would also be stolen, so the letter was written very short, only reporting safety, so that the family did not have to worry about her safety. In addition, he asked the family to be careful against Maitreya, but as for her future whereabouts, she did not mention anything.

Dong Ping read the letter three times, and his heart was filled with joy and sorrow. The joy is that my sister's life is worry-free, and the sad thing is that she is outcast, and I don't know when we will be able to meet again, and during this period, she will inevitably have to suffer a lot of hardship. As a younger brother, he can only reddened his eyes to this letter, how useless is it?

Shopkeeper Wu cautiously looked at Dong Ping's expression, and after thinking about it, he stepped forward and asked, "Dongjia, is this woman who delivered the letter really from our firm?" The little one saw that she couldn't take out the seal, and it was a big deal, so she didn't ......"

Dong Ping sighed and waved his hand, and said in a low voice, "You did the right thing, you don't have to explain." The woman who delivered the letter was the one I was anxious to find, but I didn't expect to end up here and pass by, which is really embarrassing. Tell me in detail what you saw that day. Does she look good? Whose boat did you take here? Do you have any injuries? ”

When the shopkeeper Wu heard this series of questions, he felt even more guilty, and quickly explained the situation of the two meetings carefully, and finally said, "The little one once sent someone to follow her to the port, and saw that she was on the merchant ship of the Liu family in the north, as if she was in charge, and it did not look like she was suffering. ”

Dong Ping breathed a long sigh of relief and muttered, "That's good, it's really lucky!" ”

With that, he carefully carried the letter into his bosom and said again, "Hurry up with me to settle my relatives and prepare food and water supplies, and I will return as soon as possible." Maybe you can catch up with the Liu family's merchant ship on the road. ”

(My fragile cervical vertebrae, writing two shifts a day, it rebels, and it is difficult to pant when I bow my head.) I'll pay it back for a while, and I'll keep the five more I owe, and then pay it back slowly. It's uncomfortable to die, but it's good to live without a neck. ）R638