Deng An looked at Wei Chong's back as he disappeared into the crowd and said, "If Old Wei can find the boat, I will watch the door and catch the car for him in the future, and I won't talk big in front of him again." In fact, he and Wei Chong have had a good personal relationship for most of the past six months, but this is just a joke.

Fang Jinshi got off the station and looked at the scenery by the river for a while, only to see a small canopy boat parked not far from the center of the river, and the boatman saw them waiting on the shore, so he shook it to them, and when he reached the shore more than a foot away, the boatman at the bow of the boat collected the wood pulp, and said to Fang Jinshi on the shore: "Do you want to cross the river?" ”

Fang Jinshi looked up at the boatman, he was only twenty-three or four years old, thin and tall, dark and shiny, he was only wearing a jacket that he would wear in summer on such a cold day, and he was also half-open, he looked at people with a little slanted eyes, which made the person being looked at very uncomfortable, and the strange thing was that this boatman actually had a white cloth wrapped around his head, and he was still in mourning.

The black canopy boat had a sheathed knife hanging on the bulkhead, which did not match his old wooden boat, and there was a small stove in the bow, and white smoke was rising from the kettle, and I did not know what was cooking.

Deng An said to the boatman: "Your boat is too small to cross many of us, and there are carriages." ”

The boatman said to Fang Jinshi: "Someone asked me to ask this son if he wanted to cross the river, but I won't cross the river." Fang Jinshi couldn't help but be a little strange, and said to the boatman: "May I ask who Fang is a friend, please let me know." ”

The boatman said, "If you want to cross, I'll swing closer to cross you alone, and if you don't want to, don't ask." ”

Fang Jinshi looked at his entourage who went to Jiangnan together, and Deng An said: "Childe, it's better for us to cross the river together tomorrow." Fang Jinshi was just curious about who asked this boatman to cross him, but this boatman was obviously a little wrong, and he wouldn't cross the river alone, so he arched his hand to the boatman and said, "I still have some friends here, thank you for this big brother." ”

The boatman didn't insist, and didn't even pay any more attention to him, and said to the back of the boat: "I asked, but he didn't dare, so let's go back." "I think there is another one at the stern of the canopy boat, that is, the boatman said that he asked him to ask Fang Jinshi, but the person behind him did not answer the boatman out of sound, and the boatman rocked the boat and gradually went away.

Fang Jinshi thought about it for a long time and didn't figure out who this friend would be, Deng An suddenly said, "Old Wei is back." Fang Jinshi turned his head to look, only to see Wei Chong and a middle-aged man walking from the distance of the ferry, this man is short and fat, fat head and big ears, always laughing first when talking to people, he is still twenty or thirty steps away from Fang Jinshi, so he sped up his steps and walked over and said: "Leader Fang came to Sizhou and no one informed him in advance, and he didn't go to greet him. ”

He spoke very politely, and called Fang Jinshi "Leader Fang", which has not been called that for a long time, Fang Jinshi said: "Be polite." Looking back at Wei Chong, Wei Chong rushed up and introduced Fang Jinshi: "This is Shi Hu, he is the person in charge of the business in the Surabaya area of Xiuwang, and he is also the brother-in-law of Uncle Shao. ”

Fang Jinshi hurriedly said: "It turned out to be Brother Shi, disrespectful and disrespectful." "This Shihu turned out to be King Xiu's person, Wei Chong wanted to find a boat to cross the river, so he naturally thought of King Xiu's people, this Huaidong is the fief of King Xiu Zhao Ziyan, although at this time it is no longer like before the Han Dynasty, the king of the fief can be said to be the same in his own territory, but King Xiu has lived in Huaidong for a long time, and his power is also very large.

Shi Hu said: "The name of Leader Fang, my brother has long been like thunder, and when I saw it today, it was really extraordinary." ”

Fang Jinshi saw that this fat man could really speak, and he liked it very much when he complimented him, Deng An said to Wei Chong on the side: "Can there be a boat to cross the river?" ”

Before Wei Chong could speak, Shi Hu preemptively said, "This brother looks down on the Xiu Wangfu, right?" When you arrive at Sizhou Mansion, will you still let Leader Fang not be able to cross this small Surabaya? Although he said this a little politely, he said it with a smile, but he clearly regarded Fang Jinshi as his own family, Fang Jinshi said: "Then it will trouble Brother Shi." ”

Shi Hu said: "It's just a trivial matter, what is the trouble, tonight the leader of the square will return to Sizhou City with me, I will call some friends to take the leader of the square to pick up the wind and wash the dust, and send you all the way down the river with a big boat early tomorrow morning, and you don't need to go ashore until you reach Pingjiang Mansion." ”

Fang Jinshi said: "Brother Shi is too polite, but my brother has an urgent matter to Pingjiang Mansion, it is best to arrive as soon as possible, I don't know if I can find a boat to cross the river tonight, and then I will invite Brother Shi and the other brothers to have a good drink." ”

Shi Hu said: "It's okay, since Leader Fang has an urgent matter, then I will drink well in the future, and I will ask people to arrange a big boat immediately, at least send you out of Hongze Lake." ”

Fang Jinshi thanked him again, Shi Hu immediately arranged for someone to do it, he and Fang Jinshi Wei Chong went to a nearby restaurant and sat for an hour, and sure enough, a tall ship stopped on the shore.

Fang Jinshi said a few more kind words to Shi Hu, Deng An had already arranged for Fang Jinshi's entourage to start boarding the ship, Shi Hu insisted on sending them out of the Hongze Lake area, Fang Jinshi saw that if the big ship left his entertainment arrangement, it would not work, so he agreed and boarded the ship together.

The ship was divided into two tiers, and there were more than 20 boatmen on board, with tall masts hoisting their white sails and sailing down the river in the river breeze.

The big boat walked for two hours, the sky was getting late, the sun was setting, sprinkling ten thousand rays of light, at this time the river turned a corner, the river suddenly became very wide, the water flow also slowed down, the embankment on both sides of the river was almost inhabited, and there were very few houses.

Shi Hu shouted: "Cheer up, Broken Shiji has arrived." Some of the boatmen answered, climbed the mast with their flags, and looked around.

Fang Jinshi was also in a tight spirit, went up to the bow of the ship and looked around, Shi Hu came out with a spear from the cabin and said: "Twenty miles down the waterway here, there are often river bandits, robbing passing merchant ships, it is better to be careful." ”

Fang Jinshi nodded, he suddenly regretted it, why did he follow Shi Hu's advice so much, abandon the land route and take the water route, these people he carried, except for Wei Chong, were all weak people who couldn't fight, especially with a woman like Yun Nu'er who was physically inconvenient.

After the boat passed a mountain cliff, Fang Jinshi saw three red characters carved on the stone wall "Broken Stone Rock", there was always an ominous feeling, since ancient times, the general committed a place name, Fang Jinshi saw such a place name, his heart was a little uncomfortable, he went down to the cabin, and said to Wei Chong: "There are many thieves here, beware." Wei Chong didn't know what he was thinking, and it took a long time to raise his head and ask, "What?" ”

Fang Jinshi said: "I heard that there are often thieves in this section of the river, we have to be careful." ”

Wei Chong said: "Son, rest assured, everything has me." ”

Fang Jinshi patted him on the shoulder and walked into the cabin, Yun Nu'er inside had already heard him talking to Wei Chong, and when he came in, he said with concern: "What's wrong?" ”

Fang Jinshi said: "Something is wrong, but it may be that I am too careful." ”

Yun Nu'er snorted, and said after a while: "Will you promise me one thing?" ”

Fang Jinshi said: "What's the matter?" ”

Yun Nu'er said: "I want you to promise me that if something bad happens, you will never put yourself in danger for me." ”

Fang Jinshi looked at her face, and said for a long time: "Okay, I promise you." ”

Yun Nu'er was stunned for a moment, because she thought that Fang Jinshi would say something to her that she would never give up, but she didn't expect him to agree so happily, and she couldn't help but feel a little lost in her heart.

Fang Jinshi looked at her expression and smiled: "What's wrong?" ”

Yun Nu'er shook her head and said, "Nothing. ”

Fang Jinshi took her hand and said: "There are many disadvantages about the surname Fang, such as being a good woman, sometimes timid, afraid of causing trouble, and having no ambitions, but I have one good thing, that is, I will never give up my woman to run for my life at any time." ”

Yun Nu'er couldn't help but say, "Then you agreed to me so quickly?" ”

Fang Jinshi said: "Because here and now, there is no way back, what if I don't promise you?" ”

Yun Nu'er changed color and said, "What do you mean by this?" You think I'm betraying you? ”

Fang Jinshi looked at her in a daze, and paused for a moment before saying: "If I doubt you, I won't say such things to you, wait until he appears, and then see how you do it, wouldn't it be up to you to see it more clearly, I tell you this because I believe that you will never betray me for him." ”

Yun Nu'er said: "It turns out, it turns out that you know everything. ”

Fang Jinshi said: "A woman of mine who is very good at inquiring about news, although she often scolds me, she will never harm me. ”

Yun Nu'er said: "I always hurt you." Fang Jinshi said: "That was before, I know that you have been serving me very hard in the following days, and you want to be with me in the future, right?" ”

Yun Nu'er lowered her head and said, "Yes, but...... But I ......" Before she could speak, she heard someone shouting at the bow of the boat, "The pirates are coming." ”

Fang Jinshi's expression was closed, and he said to Yun Nu'er: "Don't come out here, I'll go up there and have a look." ”

He quickly ran to the bow of the boat to look, only to see twenty or thirty bamboo rafts floating out of nowhere on the river, and there were three or four people on each bamboo row, all of whom were holding weapons, shouting loudly.

Shi Hu stood on the bow of the boat and shouted, "Is it the one in charge of the platoon gang?" Sizhou Shihu is here. ”

A man on the bamboo row on the left put his hand into his mouth and whistled loudly, the big men on the bamboo row quickly quieted down, this man stood on the bamboo row with his left hand and his right hand on his waist, and said to Shi Hu: "Shilibo's surname is Qu, does Uncle Shi recognize our countrymen?" ”

Shi Hu looked him up and down a few times, and then said: "It turned out to be Qu Laosan, a long-time celebrity, and I am fortunate to see the real three lives today." ”