The capital of the Kingdom of Khotan is located on the shore of the Great Lake of Qingfengze, and the walls are very low, and the narrow gate building can only accommodate two horses walking side by side.

After entering the city, it is a different kind of world.

The wide streets are all paved with wool from natural pebbles and jade from the Khotanese River.

Under the light of the sun, it shines brightly.

Walking on it is like walking on a golden strip to heaven, and you can't help but feel like you're in a trance.

Since ancient times, there are many strange jades in the Western Regions, and it is really luxurious to pave the road with such precious stones.

Everything is rare and expensive, and in the hometown of Kunlun Meiyu, you can kick out a jade lump with any kick.

Therefore, jade wool, which seems to be more precious to outsiders, is regarded as an ordinary stone here.

Growing up in a wealthy merchant family, my grandfather, who was accustomed to seeing the world's treasures, was also amazed to see such a scene for the first time.

"Lu Yu, let's get rich this time! Ha ha! Grandpa laughed happily at Lu Yu beside him.

"Young Master! This is called a mouse falling into the rice tank, and there is no life to eat! Lu Yu replied with a wry smile.

"That makes sense!" The grandfather, who had just survived the catastrophe, nodded with deep feeling.

Such stone can be safely transported to the Central Plains and Handi, and it can indeed make a lot of money in the Taiping era.

But in the sea of Huanglong sand outside the city, which stretches for thousands of miles, a skin of drinking water is better than countless jade treasures.

Houses, shops, government offices, and temples on both sides of the road are scattered in an orderly manner.

It is either a stone and wood structure, or a mud brick structure, with a distinctly exotic style.

Probably due to the lack of rain all year round, all the buildings are flat-roofed structures, and there is no roof ridge common in Han architecture.

The few courtyards in the city with ridges and wooden shingles are undoubtedly the courtyards of the Chinese people living here.

Tall and dense poplars and fruit trees are dotted among them, making the whole royal city full of life.

Most of the pedestrians on the street had towering noses, blond hair and blue eyes, and there was not much difference in language and clothing from the merchants from the Western Regions that Grandpa had seen in the Yi's Inn in Jincheng.

They were full of curiosity about Grandpa and Lu Yu, two newcomers to Middle-earth.

A group of local urchins followed closely behind the two, and from time to time passers-by took the initiative to greet them.

The women or girls they met would smile and pass by with their hands folded.

It seems that the Mahayana Buddhism of compassion and compassion has blossomed in the folk customs of this kingdom.

The friendliness of the indigenous people made Grandpa and Lu Yu, who had fled here after a lot of hardships, feel like a spring breeze, and also strengthened their determination to settle down in this kingdom.

But if you want to survive for a long time in this kingdom of the Western Regions, which is incomprehensible and separated from your homeland, you should first find an errand to make a living.

After being familiar with local customs and customs, and getting acquainted with the neighbors, officials and officials, can you plan for future development.

Otherwise, as soon as you come here, you will use the golden sands in your hand to buy a house and land and run a business, which will attract the envy of the locals and lead to unwarranted disasters.

So the two of them first found a hotel down the street and stayed there, and made a gesture for the Tocharian men to serve a large pot of cooked beef, a whole pot of goat's milk wine, and a few large pieces of freshly baked naan.

Grandpa and Lu Yu feasted and drank heartily, they hadn't enjoyed such a sumptuous meal for a long time.

After eating and drinking, the two of them slept beautifully, and this sleep was a full two days and nights.

When they woke up again, it was already noon on the third day of the royal city of Khotan.

The sun is shining outside the window, and the warm breeze of early summer is mixed with the smell of young poplar leaves and the fragrance of peach, plum and jujube flowers.

The fatigue and trauma left by the wind and food, sleeping in the open and dancing in the yellow sand all the way from Jincheng County have been completely soothed by the hearty dreams.

The gang brought a wooden bucket of cool well water, and after the two of them finished washing, they went to the front hall to order some barbecue naan cakes to eat.

Turning around and changing into the silk hanfu he brought from his hometown, Grandpa felt that he had finally come to life again.

is still the beautiful young man of Yi Jiamei who rode a horse and hung a bow on the bank of the yellow water and in the mountains of Qilian.

The successive wars in the Central Plains and the Han Dynasty also deeply affected this royal city of the Western Regions, which flourished due to the trade between the East and the West.

The business of various shops in the market has withered, and many businesses have chosen to close their doors.

Or move to an oasis in the suburbs and resume the rural life of fishing, hunting and grazing.

Or choose to go far away and go to more distant places such as Rouran, Sasanian, and Kushan to do business.

Therefore, it is indeed not the right time for grandfather Lu Yu and his wife to come to the city of Khotan to find a living and seek a place to live at this time.

After lunch, the two of them went out into the street, walking from the south to the north and then from the east gate to the west gate.

Whether it was the groom of the official family, or the apprentices and men of the shop, none of them were willing to take them in.

"Two little brothers, please stay!"

Just as the two of them were about to return to the hotel full of disappointment and exhaustion, suddenly a long-lost country voice came from behind, obviously greeting them.

Looking back, there was a carriage unloading parked at the corner of the street next to it, and an old man with a Han face should be the owner of the carriage.

He was smiling and waving his cane to them, and Grandpa and Lu Yu suddenly came to their senses.

In this distant Hudi, they can also meet the elders of their hometown, and hearing this familiar Longyin makes them overjoyed, and they also hurry forward to bow and salute.

"The two little brothers are extraordinary, and the jade tree is in the wind, and at a glance, you can see that they are the children of a family from Middle Earth, why do you want to come here?"

After the greetings were finished, the old man stroked his silver beard and asked with a smile.

"Hey! The Hu people of Zhongtu rebelled, and their hometown Jincheng County was burned to a white ground. In order to avoid the catastrophe of extermination, our Yi clan had to flee with our family! ”

Speaking of sadness, thinking of those relatives who will never see each other again in this life, grandpa can't help but cry like rain from sadness.

"Jincheng Yi's! Look up for a long time, look up for a long time! ”

"The old man also knows about our Yi family in Jincheng County?" Lu Yu asked in surprise.

"I don't just know! Lao Suo Murong Qiu, a person from Wuwei County. I think that when the Han Dynasty was in full swing, our two families were friends for hundreds of years! I can still meet the descendants of the Yi family here today, what a fate! Old man Murong Qiu sighed and laughed.

"Uncle Shi is above, please allow your nephew to bow down!"

In the early years, I heard the elders talk about a lot of past events of the Murong family and their Jincheng Yi family, since the end of the Han Dynasty, not only the Yi family has gone through ups and downs, but the huge Wuwei Murong family has since evaporated from the world, and there is no more news.

So after hearing that the old man in front of him reported to his home, his grandfather was also full of emotion, and hurriedly pulled Lu Yu to kneel and worship, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw.

"Hurry up, get up, get up!" The old man Murong Qiu helped the two of them up, and pulled his grandfather and Lu Yu to the shop on the side.

Grandpa noticed that the large jade shop on the street was decorated with a color of Han land, and the three black seal books of "Chang'an Fang" on the lintel of the shop were particularly conspicuous.

A few men were unloading pieces of freshly mined jade wool from the ox cart and moving them into the workshop behind the shop.

Grandpa also remembered that the main business that Wuwei Murong had been running for generations was the jade business between the Western Regions and Chang'an and Luoyang in the Han Dynasty.

I didn't expect that the family business in Wuwei County was completely destroyed, and today, a hundred years later, this Uncle Murong Shishu in front of him can still re-establish the ancestral inheritance here.

In the future, when the smoke of the Han land dissipates, the beautiful jade produced in Chang'anfang in the Western Regions will definitely be a treasure that the upper class society of the Central Plains is vying to play with.

Looking at the Kunlun jade piled up in the window, as white as mutton fat, Grandpa felt sincere admiration for the old man Murong Qiu, and further strengthened his own determination to revive the Yi family.

"If you come here, you will be safe, and don't mention the sad things of the past! I wonder what the two of you plan to do in the future? Should you stay here, or will you find another job? ”

After taking a seat in the store, the guy served hot milk tea to the guest and host, and Murong Qiu looked at the two juniors who met in Pingshui and asked with concern.

"Don't hide it from Uncle Shi, we originally planned to go to the Green Mountains Guishan Country and defect to our relatives over there. But along the way, not only the accompanying Kushan caravan fell into the tiger's mouth of the Huns, but also more than a dozen brothers who accompanied them were all buried in the Huanglong sand sea outside the city. ”

Grandpa took a sip of hot tea and said, "The people here in Khotan are mellow, and they are far away from the disasters of Wuhu. So we decided not to leave, and to live the rest of our lives here. In the future, if there is an opportunity, the journey back to Middle-earth from here will be shorter. ”

"But in this huge royal city, I can't even find a horseman's job! Can Master Murong help us? Grandpa Lu Yu scratched the back of his head and pleaded.

"Khotan is lonely on the edge of the sand sea, and the country is safe and secure, and it is indeed a good place to go dormant in troubled times." Murong Qiu stood up and personally refilled the tea bowls of the two juniors with milk tea.

"Thirty miles from here out of the South Gate, at the junction of the Khotan River and the remaining veins of Kunlun Mountain, there is a Murong Villa, which is the property left by my ancestors when they first arrived here. If you don't dislike it, you can go there and stay temporarily. ”

"That's great, we're worried that we don't have a place to stay! Uncle Shi's great kindness and great virtue have been written down by the younger generation! Grandpa stood up overjoyed.

Murong Qiu touched his beard, and said with a deep meaning: "Where, where!" The world is not peaceful, and the old man and his family have moved to this royal city! There is only an old housekeeper and a dozen guys who help me pick jade all the year round, and you two will help me take care of them after you go there, I won't treat them badly! ”

As he spoke, the guy outside the door had already moved all the jade seeds in the carriage into the warehouse.

"That's it, I'll wait for you outside the south gate! You two go back and pack up, and I'll take you two to my villa tonight!" ”

Murong Qiu stood up and prepared to send off the guest with a smile on his face.