Speaking of which, Bajie smiled, stared at the old man intently, and said disdainfully: "I said that you are a little old man guarding the temple, and the style is quite big, it seems that the people in the village have to listen to your arrangement, and they have a nose and eyes, as if they are the village chief." ”

As soon as the words came out, all the villagers laughed and said: "The elder has spoken, Lao Li Tou is really our village chief, and he is the one who has made the greatest contribution to the village among more than ten generations of village chiefs in the past hundred and ten years." ”

"It must have been one day forty years ago, when a child in the village was playful and accidentally strayed into the Temple of the Great King of Inspiration, knocked over the tribute fruit in front of the table, and provoked the anger of the Demon King, who threatened to flood the village as a punishment. At this critical moment, Da Li Tou, who had just taken over the position of village chief, stepped forward, groveled, and made a generous statement, and finally persuaded the demon king to dispel the anger in his heart, and returned to Tongtian River after accepting the worship of the villagers. Since then, the village chief has been stationed in front of the temple gate for a long time to prevent ignorant children from accidentally entering the temple and bringing unnecessary disasters to the villagers. This is a full forty years, regardless of the cold winter and heat, marriage and funeral, the village chief has never left the temple gate half a step, from the blood and gas, the big plum head in his early thirties has grown into the old Li head who is now close to the old and old, this perseverance and perseverance, let me and other villagers moved, now the demon king has gone, the village chief should also return home, enjoy the blessings. ”

Bajie was shocked when he heard this, and his eyes when he looked at the old man couldn't help but be a little awe-inspiring, he stretched out his tongue thoughtfully, and exclaimed: "I didn't expect this old man who is only promised, greedy for life and afraid of death, to have such glorious deeds, it is really impressive, no wonder he stopped us from entering the temple in front of the door, and he has been stationed here for decades to prevent the Demon King Statue from being violated and causing unnecessary disasters, such a perseverance is really admirable." ”

Being a little overwhelmed by the old pig's sudden praise, the old man's face was slightly red, and he waved his hand quite embarrassedly: "Don't dare to be, don't dare to be, in fact, it's not as hard as everyone says, I've been like this for decades, and I'm used to it. ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone laughed, bowed their hands, and saluted the old man, the old man waved his hand, and said: "It's July, the east wind is healthy, it's a good day to cross the Tianhe River to the west, since the elders are in a hurry, and it is inconvenient for me and other villagers to keep more, so I choose the athletes, serve the holy monks on the road, but I don't know how many people are needed for such a big ship to operate?"

Tang Sanzang narrowed his eyes, counted his fingers, and replied, "If you just pull the sails, lookout, paddle, and rudder, twenty people are enough." But my husband, the poor monk still said that, if you go west with the wind, the ship is supported by my apprentices, even if the wind and waves, demons and monsters, are all sent by them together, there is no worry about your life, but you want to return to the ship, such a strong wind and waves, in case the fishing boat unfortunately capsizes, you don't know how to water, isn't it to send the poor monk a ride, and take your life for no reason, how can I feel at ease?"

Speaking of which, the old man smiled and said calmly: "The holy monk is too worried, as the saying goes, people walk on the shore, how can they not wet their shoes, I and other villagers are determined to make a living on the Tongtian River, there will always be strong winds and waves, how can we retreat lightly because of lack of experience, this time to send the holy monk to the west, it is a precious practice experience, the opportunity is rare, how can you miss it in vain?"

However, the holy monk's concern is not unreasonable, since it is a water operation, not being able to swim is really a fatal injury, and it needs to be remedied in time before it can be done. The old man ordered thirty sturdy and studious villagers for the holy monks, twenty of them were used to maintain the various operations of the voyage, and the other ten people followed the elders to learn life-saving skills such as swimming and first aid. ”

Sanzang couldn't help but nod his head when he heard this, and folded his palms together and said: "The wisdom of the elders is beyond the reach of the poor monks, since this is the case, please ask the elders to assign, and the poor monks are just waiting here." ”

As soon as the words came out, all the villagers cheered like thunder, and scrambled to say: "Village elder, this time the opportunity to repay the favor and practice is rare, the quota of thirty people is too small, and I have to add thirty or fifty people, it is best for everyone to send all the elders across the river, so as to repay the gratitude of the villagers of Tongtianhe." ”

Hearing this, the old man waved his hand slightly, and scolded with a smile: "Nonsense, this is a sailing, not a sightseeing tour, there is a certain danger, how can there be so many people to go, there are only thirty people, but there can be no more." ”

"Old Dingtou, your second boy is a smart and capable person, even if he is one, the two boys of Lao Liao'er's family are not bad, let's all follow, as well as my family's Han'er and Sha's second brother's stone, go and ......"

With the roll call of the old man, it only took a few minutes to select all the thirty people, and the young people who were named were naturally overjoyed, smiling, and inevitably lost in their hearts, but they felt that they were indeed inferior to these thirty people, but they were also convinced, and there was no complaint.

Seeing that all the villagers were happy and convinced, Bajie nodded in admiration, and said with envy: "Although this old man is timid, he is indeed a piece of material for the village head, and it only takes a moment to do things properly, but he really has a bit of charm of pointing out the country." ”

Now that the quota has been decided, the villagers no longer quarrel, and carry the fruits and vegetables they have picked in advance onto the ship, and the deck of the building ship is full of piles of several square feet, and the boat can barely accommodate the boatmen and the Sanzang army who are rocking the sails and the Sanzang army standing, and they can no longer find the slightest gap.

Although Sanzang has the heart to push it, but he didn't dare to say it for a long time, you must know that these melons, fruits and vegetables, are the villagers of this side in order to repay the Sanzang army for solving the problem, get up early in the dark, from the field to pick hard, although the gift is light, the affection is priceless, if you insist on not receiving, it will inevitably hurt the hearts of these simple and kind villagers, but if you laugh at all, the hull draft is too deep, the speed must slow down, and his plan to catch up with Xiuning at full speed is completely contrary, how can this be good?

After all, it is a long 800-mile route to the Tianhe River, and there are as many as 30 people on the boat, and the daily diet is also a large amount.

Amid the cheers of the crew, Tang Sanzang waved goodbye to the villagers on the shore, set sail, and headed towards the west bank of the Tongtian River. Under the supervision of Bajie and Wujing, the ten athletes who have learned swimming skills for the first time use various postures to flutter vigorously in the water, but they can barely keep up with the progress of the boat upstairs. Tang Sanzang saw it in his eyes, and couldn't help but feel like he had an understanding, and secretly sighed, it seems that the way of heaven is vast, and there are antecedents, and the boat is moving at such a slow speed, I am afraid that it is really in order to let the Tongtian River athletes learn water skills and restore the glory of their ancestors as soon as possible.

The athletes on the boat really worked hard, tried their best to learn various skills, at the end of the day, the amount of food was quite amazing, but only a few days of work, half of the food piled up on the deck was wiped out, and now the boat was able to move at a faster speed with the wind, and the wind and waves on the river were extremely strong, shaking the whole hull non-stop, bumping and swaying up and down, like riding a roller coaster. Tang Sanzang, a saint monk who had always been dignified, was in a situation again, and was shaken by the swaying hull of the ship, dizzy, clutching the railing tightly, and vomiting vigorously.

Seeing the consternation in the eyes of the athletes, Bajie gloated, and explained with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, it's just a little seasick, and it will be fine when the boat is stable. ”

"I said Li Han'er, beckon the sailors to pull up the mast, lower the iron anchor, and make the hull of the ship stable, otherwise our holy monks will vomit. ”

Li Han'er, who was elected as the captain of the ship by the athletes, heard the words and made a respectful gesture, and immediately beckoned the sailors to pull the rod to anchor, this class of athletes really worked hard, sang the trumpet in unison, pulled up the mast, and gradually straightened the hull of the ship under the impact of the waves several layers high, and moved forward safely and smoothly.