For as long as I can remember, this ancient road in front of the "Seifuze" gate has been getting busier and busier.

Every day, merchants from all over the world come and go, driving a long camel caravan slowly through this trade route.

The well-funded inn would drive the entire caravan directly into the backyard of the inn, gesturing to our fellows in unintelligible language and gestures.

Help unload the goods from the camels, and prepare enough oats and drinking water for all the camels.

Then they would go to the antechamber and exchange Roman gold coins or Sassanid and Sabbatical silver coins for a table of delicious food and drink.

When meeting old customers who have passed by in previous years, everyone will call each other's names affectionately and give them a warm hug.

Greeting the recent situation of the business and the experience and hearing along the way.

There are also some poor merchants who have insufficient travel expenses, or who have encountered natural disasters on the road and have no return, and they cannot afford to live in inns, so they set up tents and bury pots to cook by the poplar forest not far away.

After a short rest here, embark on the long journey home.

Whenever they came across such a caravan, my mother would ask the shopkeepers to bring them some forage for the livestock, hot naan freshly roasted, and clean drinking water.

If you encounter some injured and sick strangers, you will also invite Langzhong to make a decoction to give necessary assistance.

Sometimes, I will encounter some ownerless deceased, who are hastily buried on the side of the trade road.

As long as her mother met her, she would ask the monks of Zanmo Monastery to do things for these poor deceased people to overkill the souls of the dead, and help their souls return to their hometown as soon as possible.

Mahayana Buddhism teaches people to be compassionate and save sentient beings.

As a devout Buddhist, although my mother has always been strong in her work, she has always had a compassionate and charitable heart.

In my mother's own words, it is to cross others and oneself, accumulate merit for the next life, and seek good fortune for the family.

And some of these charitable efforts have borne a lot of good results in this life.

Those foreign caravans who came out of the predicament later, as long as they passed through Khotan, my family's "Qingfengze" inn was their best choice.

And every time I come over, I bring a lot of strange gifts to my mother and our children.

They have come to regard us as relatives and "Qingfengze" as their home in their business journey.

Growing up in such an environment, the sound of camel bells in the distance under the sunset or in the early morning fog has become the most familiar music for me.

Fighting the sword and traveling thousands of miles has also become my greatest ideal in life.

In my childhood impressions, the first caravan that came into my heart and made me curious about the merchant was from distant Constantinople, led by a young man called "Charlie".

It was an early winter afternoon, and a few friends and I were climbing trees in the poplar forest to dig birds' eggs.

At this time, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves in the distance, from far to near, and finally stopped in front of the yard of "Qingfengze".

At first, I thought it was the forbidden army of Wangcheng passing by, many of whom were friends of my grandfather and grandfather, and they often came here to fight tooth sacrifices.

Then there was a burst of muttering that they had never heard before, and everyone stopped climbing the trees and ran out of the woods to the other side of the yard.

There were a dozen brown and black horses parked in the yard, snorting and panting, each with a long, heavy leather bag on its back.

At this time, five foreign men with vicissitudes of face and dust were communicating with my mother through a translator who knew Tocharian in the country of Rouran.

Long brown-red hair, thick beard, purple round neck, striped linen jacket, white or gray sheepskin shoulders.

They were tall and mighty, with short swords at their waists, and they looked murderous.

But judging from the mother's expression, there was not the slightest panic or fear.

It can be seen that this is still a group of foreign businessmen who came from afar.

After several negotiations, the guys led the group into the backyard to find accommodation.

"Grandma, are they from that country?" I took my mother's hand and looked up curiously.

"They are Roman merchants, who have come from their capital, Constantinople, and have come to find your grandfather!"

My mother lovingly rubbed my hair and that of my younger brothers, and instructed the maid sister beside me to take us to the bath and change our clothes.

After a long day of rolling and crawling in the woods, we were covered in sand and moss from the trees, and a small amount of bird droppings.

At dinner time, when the group of Roman merchants reappeared in the dining room, they had completely changed their appearance.

The thick beard and dirty mane have been cut off and turned into a short hairstyle that has never been seen before, and the entire contour of the face is completely exposed.

In addition to the two middle-aged and elderly men, the other three were all handsome young people who were full of vitality.

I've never seen such blue eyes, like the autumn sky.

The original scruffy clothes had been changed, and now the five were dressed in white and black cotton robes.

The style of his clothes is completely different from the costumes of the Han region and the countries of the Western Regions, like a whole piece of cloth wrapped around the body, simple and light.

Judging by the respectful attitude of the other four towards one of the young men, he should be Charlie, the leader of the caravan.

At this time of year, it is the time when "Kiyofuze" has the most guests.

Those merchants from all over the world who went to Chang'an and Jiankang to purchase silk at the beginning of the year, or in summer and autumn, have already crossed the Huanglong Desert of the "Sea of Death" at this time, and are doing a short rest in the royal city of Khotan or our inn.

So now at dinner time, the living room is full of merchants from all over the world, their men, translators, and caravan guards.

A variety of skin tones, a variety of styles of clothing, a variety of tones, a variety of novel gadgets, dazzling.

Even the beards of the merchants were divided into many types, ranging from white, black, or brown, to chest lengths, or to short beards.

People also have different moods and mentalities when eating.

Those merchants who have just gone south often bring the joy of business success and the rest of their lives to talk and drink happily there.

Some generous leaders will also take the initiative to invite some acquaintances to drink and pay for their drinks and food.

And those merchants who are preparing to go north are much more apprehensive, especially those who walk this Silk Road for the first time, and they all have a feeling of walking on thin ice.

Either they gathered there and ate silently, and after eating and drinking, they quickly left the venue and returned to their bunks.

Either gather around some merchants who are going north, respectfully invite these old rivers and lakes who have come over to have a drink, and consult them about the dangers that need to be paid attention to along the way, the current silk markets in Chang'an, Luoyang, and Jiankang.

For such a lively scene, our dolls will not miss it.

Usually my two younger brothers, my two younger brothers, and a few relatives' children would sit in a row on the stairs at the bend of the second floor, engrossed in observing the movements of the exotic adults below, and would not miss any of the interesting parts.

There is a Kunlun slave like black charcoal, standing behind a certain merchant, patiently serving his master.

The naughty second brother Wu Wei will ask him if his skin is stained with ink, why are his teeth so white?

The Sassanid merchant, with a nose as big and straight as an eagle's rafter, his eyes as sharp as lightning, and his voice in a tone like a turnip in his mouth, made people laugh when they heard it.

Some Roman merchants were almost drunk, and would take out a spherical crystal artifact from a cloth bag with them.

I heard that as long as someone puts his hand on the top of this crystal ball, he can divinate your future fortune and fortune.

Some drunkards will pester their mothers and ask her to introduce a few beautiful girls from the Western Regions to accompany them for a drink.

There are more than a dozen beautiful sisters who live here all the year round in the inn, and they will happily play and play games with us children in their spare time.

The mother would smile and turn back and tell the men around her to call a few sisters who could sing and dance to come over and sing and dance for these strangers who had wandered to the end of the world.

With the joyful melody of the pipa and tambourine sounding, accompanied by the fast-paced beat of the drums, these guests and their beautiful sisters danced.

It also pushed the joyful and relaxed atmosphere of the hall to the climax.

Every now and then, we kids would be there with our cheeks in the middle of the crowd.

But my mother had a strict rule before, and the children of our inn family must not disturb the activities of the guests.

So come to think of it, we're all going to have to sit there and live by pitifully.

The boys' dream of becoming a trader was slowly cultivated during this period.