Although there was an extra injury, the speed of the pack team was not slowed down, but the weather was not beautiful, but it rained at this time. It rained for three days, making the already rough and difficult road even more muddy. In this kind of weather, it is impossible to rush the mountain road, and the pack team has no choice but to find a place where there is barely shelter from the wind and rain and set up a simple camp, and do not return to the road until the wind and rain stop. According to the original plan, it would only take three days to pass through this bandit-infested area, and this time it would take twice as long, and by the time everyone could look through the rolling hills to the boundless green plain below, it was already the morning of the eleventh day of leaving Nanzheng. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief when they glimpsed a large river as clear as a silver snake meandering through the green like a picture scroll through the gap in the light veil-like clouds.

Seeing that they would soon be able to get out of this place where they eat people without spitting out bones, people's emotions gradually became excited. The chief steward generously promised to enter the territory of Quzhou tomorrow, regardless of where, but whenever the first wine shop the pack team encountered, he would pay for it from the warehouse and invite the packmen to eat and drink it raw; Good wine, good food, good food, no matter the price, just eat and drink with your belly open.

When starting from Anpingyi, the pack team only brought four days of dry food, but this way went for seven days, not only did the food per person every day be halved, but also had to take the dry and hard wheat cakes that were not enough for people to feed the livestock, and the pack team was so hungry that the front chest was attached to the back of the back, and the walk was shaking. Moreover, the time on the road has been delayed for a long time, and there is only more and no less to live every day, and a group of hard-working packmen are even more hungry and hungry with Venus in front of them, and when they hear the chief steward promise to eat and drink well when they arrive in Quzhou, their tired bodies are extremely tired and have some strength. A few merchants who went south with the caravan also came to have fun under the leadership of Yuan Da merchants, and gathered five pieces of money to send it over, only saying that it was to distribute tea with the packers. The heavy copper coins clanged in his arms, and then he thought of staying up until dark and being able to eat and drink with his belly open, and his steps, which were as dead and heavy as a cotton coat soaked in water, suddenly became brisk.

After passing the cave, it is all paved with stone strips and stones, and it is very easy to walk. The green trees on both sides of the mountain road and the cool breeze blowing from the low plains made people feel refreshed, and several young packmen were in a good mood, and they couldn't help but let go of their voices and sang folk songs.

"The snow is falling,

Fall down and climb on your own.

Relatives and friends pull a hand,

Wine for wine, tea for tea......"

That Zhao Ji's Xiangyong Zhao Shifang sang, and the aftermath was still lingering among the mountain beams, and a warehouse guy picked it up again:

"The shade of the east is poured into the shade of the west,

I didn't think it would be long to sit down with my sister.

Wild finches landed on the banks of the hemp edge,

I can't finish talking about it.

I'm going to sit with my little sister for a long time,

I don't feel hungry.

……”

The long tail note has not yet fallen, and another folk song has risen:

"The wild pear tree blossoms and bears eggs,

The egg is the tip of our heart;

Half a bowl of soybeans and half a bowl of rice,

I picked up the rice bowl and thought of you;

I think you're confused,

Looking for firewood fell into the rice and noodle cellar;

I want to give my brother an upper,

Tears drip on the toes of the shoes;

……”

As soon as the man's voice fell, a vigorous and deep sigh rose from the ground:

"Hey, hey, ......hey,

The thick and long sigh was like a curtain falling from the sky in an instant, and like a continuous thunder rolling over the tip of people's hearts, every note that gushed out of Shang Cheng's mouth hit everyone's heart heavily, making people's heartbeats rise and fall with the tone of his aria, and each note taught people to be tied to the soul of God. The sound is constantly involved in the sound, and the sound is endless, as if crying and sighing......

No one can understand what Shang Cheng is singing, but everyone knows what he sang, thousands of years of vicissitudes of life are in a sigh-like aria, the long loneliness in this bloody tragedy penetrates people's hearts, the trills like songs and weeping are like trampling on the tips of people's hearts, snatching people's souls but teaching people's hearts to be intoxicated......

Everyone is immersed in this melodious sorrow that soothes people's hearts. The long years, the shortness of life, the vastness of heaven and earth and the eternity of nature...... It's all in the song. Until the song has faded, the sigh still lingers in everyone's ears. All the people walked with their heads bowed without saying a word, and even the pack horses seemed to sense this quiet **sacredness, as quiet as a well-behaved puppy. All that remains in the forest is the occasional clatter of horseshoes colliding with gravel on the road.

I don't know when, Yuan Da Merchant has come to Shang Cheng's side and walked side by side with him in silence.

After walking a long way, Yuan Da asked sneeringly: "This is a song on the grassland, right?" It's so nice. ”

"Yes." Shang Cheng didn't hide it and honestly admitted it. Anyone who hears this rough and rich tone can think of the vast grassland, can see the mighty galloping horses on the grassland, and can hear the cry of the eagle soaring freely in the vast sky......

The merchant was silent again, and after a long time, he asked, "What are you singing?" ”

"The song is called 'The Lonely Camel Lamb.'" One by one, the cold wind blew, and poor my camel wandered in the wilderness; Old mother, I miss you, I'm the only one in the open field! ”

There was another long silence.

"You've been to the grasslands to the north?"

This question is difficult to answer. Shang Cheng hesitated for a moment before he said, "I guess I've been there." He sighed wistfully.

Yuan Da Merchant showed a yearning look on his face: "Is there really as beautiful as you sing in your song?" ”

“…… Maybe. "The prairie he had been to had a sky as blue as the ocean, boundless green, the sheep on the prairie as white as the white clouds in the sky, the horses galloping freely, the horse-head fiddles murmuring all night, and the herdsmen singing old pastoral songs around the beating campfires...... I don't know if the grassland here is the rich and fertile land he remembers......

Such a brief reply will certainly not satisfy the merchants of Yuan Da. But he didn't know what to say. Until now, an inexplicable throbbing still hit him over and over again, making him tremble and at a loss, and he couldn't wait to put on the wings of an eagle and fly to the grassland to enjoy the magnificent scenery of heaven and earth...... Even he couldn't tell, he asked this because of the beauty of the grassland, or because of the shock in the depths of Shang Cheng's soul. For a while, he had countless questions to ask Shang Cheng, and it seemed that he had countless words to talk to someone, but looking at this mountain, this tree, this day, and this place, the sad and lonely tune echoed in his ears, but he didn't want to say anything, and he didn't want to ask anything. He sighed and walked silently beside Shang Cheng.

Yuan Da merchant's real name is Yuan Lan, he also went to private school for a few years when he was a teenager, and he passed the township test at both levels of the county government, and he is also a person with status. But he was the eldest son in the family; The family has been in business for many years, and he is one of the richest people in Shangjing Plain Mansion, and there are also uncles and nephews in the clan who work in the official mansion, so although he went to school, he has never sought an official position. Two years ago, he was eating and drinking in the flower building, and had a dispute with someone for a female singer, and he spent a lot of money on it, and ransomed the female singer with 200,000 yuan to get home, which provoked a person he couldn't afford to provoke and offended the little grandfather of the Yiguo Mansion. Afterwards, he also regretted it, and asked someone to offer a generous gift to intercede, hoping that the little grandfather could not remember the villain and forgive him for his recklessness. But the little grandfather has a big temper, and he ignores anyone who tries to persuade him, gritted his teeth and said cruel words, wanting to get back face. Soon, someone whispered a message to him behind his back, telling him to hurry out to avoid trouble. Of course, when he received the message, he ran away in a hurry in the evening, so he left Shangjing and went to Yanshan Weilai to join an uncle in the clan who was a marching senator in the Yanshan Admiral's Mansion. He thought, Yanshan is a border area in the north, far away from the capital, no matter how long the little grandfather's hands are and how powerful he is, he can't take care of it here, and besides, he has money on him, and someone takes care of him behind him, so he won't suffer in Yanshanwei; After waiting for two years, the matter has been forgotten, and the little grandfather's anger has also disappeared. Last month, a letter came from the capital, saying that Xiao Yi Guogong had been ordered by the Ministry of War to take charge of the Jinggi Weizhong Army and Cao, and he would go to Yanshan on business in the near future, so that he could "see the letter and make a quick decision". He was restless when he received the letter, and in the end his uncle gave him an idea to do business one by one, pretending to personally escort the goods to Quzhou, and then quietly turned from Quzhou to Qingzhou east under the guise of doing business. The Yuan family has a friend who is an official in Qingzhou, or can take refuge in him......

He knew that his uncle's idea wasn't necessarily very clever. Since Xiao Yi Guogong can catch up with Yan Shanwei, he can naturally catch up with Qingzhou City, where should he avoid at that time? But he also knows his own problems, he is good at planning and making quick decisions, knowing that his uncle's method can only help for a while, but he can't come up with a better response, so he can only go to Qingzhou to avoid the limelight first. This incident also made him feel once again that there were not enough people around him, especially the few people who could make decisions for him. Since he hit Yanzhou, he has always wanted to recruit a person with ideas and insight to help him. But how can such people be so easy to find? Even if he was lucky enough to meet one or two, how could others take a fancy to him, a businessman who hid in Tibet all day? It was also his luck that he bumped into Shang Cheng, whose reputation spread all over Yanshan, in Yi County; What's even better is that this monk actually lost his degree of fear of sin and returned to vulgarity, and became a coolie who worked hard to eat. At the moment when he met Shang Cheng, Yuan Lan simply felt that God had finally opened his eyes, how could a pampered monk endure the hardships of hard work? As long as he shows a little bit of mercy, the monk still doesn't come over to do things for him? Besides, this is a monk who has traveled all over the world, even if his knowledge is shallow, at least he is more insightful than the two retinues around him who can only punch and kick, right? Even if you can't make an idea for yourself, you have a person to discuss when you encounter something. But things were beyond his expectations, this monk was too smart, the price he offered was so high, and hundreds of ten people were recruited elsewhere, but the monk only used excuses to shirk it, and he didn't let go of his promise. Where is this keeping promises and keeping promises, it is obviously bargaining with him! He originally thought that he would leave Shang Cheng aside first, and after a few days, Shang Cheng would naturally be flustered and send him to the door, who knew that Shang Cheng had never taken the initiative to talk to him. Not only did he not talk to him, but he didn't even look at him very seriously, as if he, a great merchant of Yuan, was not as important as the pack horses around him......

Seeing that Quzhou City was close at hand, he was going to go to Qingzhou in two or three days, and the packmen were going back to Yi County, but he still didn't have any eyebrows about recruiting monks. He was already as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he didn't know how to deal with the monk, just like now, he was walking next to the big monk, and if he had an empty stomach, he didn't know where to start......

It wasn't until the pack team went down the hill and saw a big wine guise picked out by the lush woods at the foot of the mountain that Yuan Lan let out a long breath, as if he was saying to Shang Cheng, and as if he was swearing a curse, and said hatefully: "I must go to the grassland to see in this life!" ”

Shang Cheng held the reins of a pack horse in his hand and did not answer.

"I ...... Can you come with me? ”

Shang Cheng glanced at Yuan Lan, and the words "Let's talk about it then" had already poured into Shang Cheng's mouth, but he looked at Yuan Lan's eager gaze, and unconsciously swallowed all the words back, and changed his words: "Okay." ”

Hearing Shang Cheng's promise, Yuan Lan immediately smiled with joy, rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "Okay! I promise you, when we come back from the grassland, I'll ......" He suddenly blushed and cut his mouth. Shang Cheng promised him to go into the grassland together, without mentioning a word of money, if he said what kind of reward he would give Shang Cheng now, not only would he fall in front of Shang Cheng, but he would also look down on himself. But the words had already been spoken, and in a hurry, there was no room for turning, and he couldn't get off the stage with his mouth open.

"You're going to invite me to drink?"

"That's right! I'll treat you to a drink! Yuan Lan immediately went down the steps along the ladder handed over by Shang Cheng, and grinned, "The four corners of the world are fine wines, as long as you want to drink, let's drink whatever you want, as long as you can bring it up, I will let you drink enough!" ”

Seeing that he said it categorically, Shang Cheng couldn't help but be happy. At another time and place, if someone said this to him, he might still be able to believe it, but when this came out of the mouth of Yuan Da Merchants, it was inevitably a little funny. However, Shang Cheng was still very grateful for his enthusiasm, so he smiled and nodded: "Okay, gentleman's word!" He stretched out his palm.

Looking at Shang Cheng holding up his outstretched palm, looking at the big slap of the cocoon stacking the cocoon and the blood crushing the blood, Yuan Lan hesitated. He didn't know whether Shang Cheng wanted to shake hands with him or something else, he hesitated and raised his hand, seeing that Shang Cheng had a look of approval on his face, knowing that he had learned well, he also showed a smile on his face, and his two hands snapped to the ground, and he finished the half of Shang Cheng's words in his mouth: "...... Horses are hard to chase! ”