This is the forty-fifth day that he has crossed the Chijiang River, and he has been like this all the way, stopping and stopping, finding a place to sleep when he is tired, drinking stream water when he is thirsty, looking for some wild fruits when he is hungry, and occasionally using that bow to hunt some wild animals, but even so, he is still thin and not human-shaped, because the bow is too soft, and the power of the arrow shot is too small, as long as the distance exceeds twenty paces, even a hare may not be able to shoot to death, and it is also for this reason that his last arrow, with a small wild boar, disappeared into the dense forest.

When there were still two miles away from the village, a heavy rain suddenly fell without warning, and Su Jingchen wore the shabby hat that could not hide much rain, and slowly walked through the rain curtain. In the wilderness, smoke was rising from a lonely house, and a shepherd boy in a cloak was playing piccolo on the back of a cow, and the sound of the flute occasionally came to Su Jingchen's ears through the rain curtain.

The room continued to enlarge in Su Jingchen's eyes, and the wind hunted, he held down the hat, put the cane aside, and gently knocked on the rotten wooden door that looked like it would fall in the wind at any time, and through the door panel, he also smelled the strong smell of medicine.

"Here," it was a woman who opened the door, she looked at Su Jingchen, her face was full of surprise, and there was some resentment in her tone, as if the mother cared about her son, "It's raining so hard, why are you still outside?" Come on in. ”

"I'll wait for the rain to stop and leave." Su Jingchen smiled embarrassedly, walked in and closed the door, isolated the wind and rain outside, and then stood at the door and didn't know what to do.

"Come and sit here," the woman pointed to the small stool next to the table, returned to the bed and sat against the wall, then covered most of her body with the quilt, and began to sew female red again, "I am weak and can't stand the cold, let you laugh, little brother, but you, where did you come from?"

"I'm coming from the north." The wind that blew through the gap swept through Su Jingchen's almost soaked clothes, and a chill rushed up to his bones, and he couldn't help but shrink his neck and curl up in a ball.

"If it's cold, go and sit down at the door of the stove, it's better if there's a fire," the woman paused, and then asked, "what are you doing in the south?" ”

Su Jingchen walked to the door of the stove, as close to the fire source as possible, "Someone told me to go south, and I had no place to go, so I came south." ”

"Are you alone?! Looks like we've suffered a lot. ”

"Sort of."

The small room suddenly quieted down, but the rain outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, and the two of them were silent, Su Jingchen's stomach suddenly screamed, and his face turned red, as if this would stop the screaming of his stomach.

The woman suddenly burst out laughing, she pointed to the pot on the stove, and said, "There are three steamed buns in it, if you don't dislike it, you can take it and eat it." ”

"Well, thank you." Su Jingchen slowly stood up, grabbed two steamed buns from the pot, one in each hand, and returned to the position just now to gobble it up.

"You eat like my son," the woman laughed again, "how old are you?" ”

"Fifteen."

"Three years younger than my son," the woman raised her head, and wanted to ask something more, but saw Su Jingchen leaning against the wall, already asleep, she smiled, "It seems that I am really tired." ”

......

Su Jingchen slowly opened his eyes, there was no light outside the window, the room was lit with an oil lamp, he couldn't tell whether it was day or night, there was a man who was a head taller than himself, talking in front of the woman. He hadn't slept so comfortably for a long time, there was no harassment from snakes and insects, no invasion of cold wind, only warm firelight, he had just gotten up, and a piece of clothing suddenly slipped off his body, "No wonder you sleep so comfortably." Su Jingchen thought.

"Thank you," Su Jingchen raised his head, put his clothes on the table, and smiled at the two people, "I should go." ”

"It's so late, where do you want to go?" Lou Qi turned to look at Su Jingchen, "There is no inn in the village. ”

"Yes, just stay at my house, but there is no extra bed, you can only squeeze with my son." The woman put down the work in her hand, looked at Su Jingchen and said.

"But ......"

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Lou Qi stepped forward and hugged Su Jingchen, and said to himself, "Let's go, I'll take you to the tavern in the village to eat!" The cucumber shoot there is a must! ”

Su Jingchen was brought to the tavern in the village by Lou Qi in this way, Lou Qi probably didn't eat, they ate thirteen bowls of rice with soup and three side dishes, the tavern owner was probably very familiar with Lou Qi, he was not annoyed by such a loss-making business, but said to Lou Qi with a smile, "Just eat, the food is enough!" ”

Su Jingchen ate the seventh bowl of rice, burped, and couldn't eat anymore, "It's been a long time since I've eaten so full." He said, touching his round belly.

"Me too!" Lou Qi ate the eighth bowl of rice, wiped the corners of his mouth, turned his head and said, "Shopkeeper, settle the bill." ”

"Twenty-four copper leaves." The shopkeeper crackled on the counter and made an abacus, without raising his head.

"It's a bit expensive," Lou Qi muttered quietly.

We've all eaten so many bowls of rice, it's still expensive, Su Jingchen thought.

But Lou Qi still walked to the counter, took out a worn-out money bag from his arms, and poured out all the money, all of which were copper leaves of different colors, even the variegated silver leaves were missing, he ordered them one by one, and handed them to the shopkeeper, "Uncle Zhang, give you money." ”

"Well, I'll come back next time." The shopkeeper said lightly, he turned his head slightly, and sure enough, his daughter looked at Lou Qi blankly at the door of the back kitchen, he sighed, lowered his head and began to fiddle with the abacus.

Lou Qi walked up to Su Jingchen and naturally hugged his shoulders, as if they were brothers who had been together for many years, "Speaking of which, I just patronized the meal, and I haven't asked you what your name is." ”

"Su Jingchen."

"My name is Lou Qi! We'll be friends from now on! Lou Qi laughed and said, "Listen to my mother, you are from the north? ”

"Well, I went all the way south, and someone told me to go south, but he only told me to go south, not where I should go south, and I don't know where I am going."

"That must be Huaiyang! This is the richest place in the world, and the person who called you here must be referring to this place. ”

"Yes," Su Jingchen smiled, "Even if not, I'll have to stay here for a while, I'll have to earn some money in case I need it, I don't want to experience hunger anymore." ”

"Okay, then you will follow me tomorrow, and I will take you to Huaiyang City to find some work." Lou Qi patted his chest, looking confident.

"Thank you, Lou Qi."

……

The next day, Huaiyang City.

Su Jingchen and Lou got up early in the morning, they had gone out before dawn, and now the sun has climbed out of the sea, and the market has gradually begun to be lively, the pedestrians and hawkers on Danyang Street are endless, and the sound of selling is higher than a while, the largest restaurant in Huaiyang "intoxicating the world" because of the vermilion lacquer decoration and the swaggering signboard, it is particularly conspicuous in the large and small shops, and the side street bluestone is a little deserted compared with Danyang Street, because most of the old shops on the bluestone street, and most of the workers who pass by there are also workers who go to Qingpu Port. As far as the eye can see, there are traces of time everywhere here, the bluestone floor has become smooth and fine after being polished by wind and rain, there are still three or two points of moss growing wantonly in the inconspicuous corners, the noodle stall restaurant is steaming, the burly men are three or five in a table, holding the sea bowl and feasting, some acquaintances will see Lou Qi and beckon him to come over to eat together, Lou Qi smashed it and smashed it, but they all refused one by one, and then went straight to the dock.

Don't owe favors to others at will, favors are sometimes difficult to repay, this is what his mother taught him.

"Lou Qi, are you going to come to my ship to help today?" On a large, terrible ship, there was a young owner standing at the bow of the ship and waving vigorously at him.

"Boss Chen, do you have a lot of goods today?" Lou Qi trotted towards the boat, and Su Jingchen also followed behind him, walking over unhurriedly.

"A lot, a box of goods can't be lifted without two or three men," Boss Chen looked at the thin young man who was following Lou and asked, "This is your friend?" ”

"Yes, my friend," Lou Qi smiled, "I'll come here to help him find an errand, Boss Chen, can you take him today?" ”

Boss Chen looked at the young man and frowned, a little hesitant, "Looking at his appearance, I'm afraid he doesn't have much strength, it's useless for me to look for him." ”

"Really? Then there is no way," Lou Qi sighed, turned his head to look at Su Jingchen, and was about to walk away, "Let's go, Brother Su, I'll take you elsewhere." ”

"Hey, hey," Boss Chen hurriedly stopped Lou Qi, "You can discuss." ”

Lou Qi is a big celebrity at the docks, he is alone with four or five sturdy men, but he doesn't ask for much wages, most of the shipowners on the docks want to follow him to the sea, but Lou Qi only comes to the docks during the day to help unload the goods, no matter how good the conditions they offer, even if they marry their daughters to him, he never agrees.

"How to negotiate?"

"I will pay your salary, as for the young man, I will reluctantly accept it, look at his help, if he has the strength and is willing to contribute, I will naturally not be less of his salary, if he has no strength, then I can only give him a few pennies to send him away."

"How? Su Brothers. Lou asked.

"I'll try." Su Jingchen smiled, he couldn't live up to the kindness of others, and he would trouble others again.

The two of them boarded the boat one after the other, and there were small boxes scattered in the corners of the ship, and several sailors were gathering together to chat, "Is that all?" Lou Qi was a little puzzled.

"The goods are all in the hold, and the two of them can't move a box of waste on my ship, so I can only rely on you." Boss Chen patted Lou Qi's shoulder with an expectant look.

"Then lead the way."

Boss Chen took Su Jingchen and Lou Qi into the dim cabin, a few torches lit up the corridor in an orderly manner, and a few people who wrapped themselves tightly in black cloaks walked out of the furthest darkness, Lou Qi looked at those who couldn't even distinguish their genders, turned his head and asked, "Boss Chen, are they?" ”