On the second day of the second month of February, Lan Yi and Wen Xuan were sent to the dock by Zhou Weiji in a carriage under the eighteen phases of everyone. In the spring, the river is stable, and it will reach Meixian in seven days, which is faster than riding a horse-drawn carriage.

"Maybe in another month or two, we will get to Dengzhou faster from here." Zhou Weiji drove the carriage and preached to Lan Yi.

Lan Yi patted Wen Xuan, who was still crying, and asked softly, "Have you found another shortcut?" How much faster? ”

"Maybe it will be there in two days," Zhou Wei said with a mysterious smile, "I still remember the last time the bandits were troubled, it only took five hours for the bandit leaders to reach Shamen Island through the underground dark river, and it would only take two hours to reach Dengzhou by boat or carriage." ”

This is good news, now to Dengzhou to take the post road to ride a fast horse also takes more than half a day, it takes two days to walk the waterway, not because the road is far away, but the mountain road is rugged and difficult, the waterway has several dangerous places, if you can reach Dengzhou in five hours, it is excellent news for Huang County from both a military point of view and an economic point of view. Shamon Island is the main route to the sea, Dengzhou is one of the 80 states of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the economy is prosperous, the population is large, if the goods from Huangxian County can be transported to Dengzhou within seven hours, there will be more business opportunities for Qingshan Shangji.

It's a pity that Meixian and Dengzhou are one east and one south, and they are no longer in the same direction.

"Is that dark river safe?" Lan Yi is afraid of the dark, and there is an instinctive fear of the dark river that does not see the light of day, if it is dangerous, it is not suitable to sail.

Her worried tone seemed to please Zhou Weiji, and he laughed, "Safety, the Xiang army has been discovered." The width of the dark river is more than ten zhang, and the narrow place is also six or seven zhang, and the water flow is gentle. The river is deep. Although there are many tributaries of the dark river, as long as the road signs are marked, it is not easy to make mistakes, and this dark river is not always underwater, and there are more than a dozen places where you can still see the sun. One by one, if a torch is lit in the dark river, it is extremely beautiful. When the river is repaired, I will take you and the children to take a boat to see, you must like it. ”

Underground river. It is a river below the ground, a kind of underground karst landform, which is formed by the collection of groundwater or the infiltration of surface water into the ground along the cracks of underground rocks, and the formation of rock attachment, collapse and water transport. Karst is how beautiful the karst landscape is. Lan Yi naturally knew. She also dreamed of it. With Zhou Weiji by her side, she is not afraid of dangerous places in the world.

"Second brother, then let's say it, when the river is repaired, we will come back from Meixian, and the second brother will take us to see the dark river, okay?"

Zhou Weiji shook his head with a smile, "I'm afraid it's difficult to make the trip in a short time." Forgot about jì one by one. I'm going to build a new house, and you're going to have to prepare a dowry. Maybe we won't have time until we get married. Don't worry, since the dark river can be sailed in winter, and it is no problem in other seasons, we can go at any time. ”

Lan Yi blushed, yes, she is also very busy, and she hasn't embroidered the wedding dress yet.

There are four merchant ships that set off from Qingshan Shangji this time, and the ship's steward Li Datou is the steward of Qingshan Fresh Fruit, and the ten-person escort team of the Cheng family who was invited to escort the dart division team, which is safe and sound.

Xia Shun and the others went to the dock in person, and under Xia Chongxiao's advice and Cheng Xiaoqi's envious gaze, Lan Yi's mother and son boarded the boat and left. Sailing, it is a completely different feeling from taking a carriage, fortunately, Lan Yi and Wenxuan are not seasick, they bring enough food along the way, and they will rest at the riverside inn at night, the two of them are strange all the way, and the journey is not as difficult as imagined.

Along the way, only encountered a light rain, and arrived at the Meixian wharf safely. Wang Chengde and his son were already waiting at the dock to take them back.

After Lan Yi and Wen Xuan arrived, they took a carriage to the Wang family's inner house, the residence of Old Lady Zhou.

Mrs. Zhou's yard is the same as in the past, and the tall osmanthus trees in the courtyard have begun to sprout buds, showing a strong sense of spring. The two mothers-in-law who were waiting at the gate of the courtyard saw Lan Yi coming over with Wenxuan, and immediately greeted them and saluted, and some people ran back to inform Mrs. Zhou.

Lan Yi raised her eyebrows, there were several newly added servants and maids in Mrs. Zhou's courtyard, all of them were very neat and bright, and their attitudes were also very deferential, it seemed that Mrs. Zhou's life had also improved greatly in the past six months.

Lan Yi's mother Zheng and Mrs. Zhou greeted the door of Duoshan Hall, Lan Yi saw Zheng, her nose was sour and her eyes were full of tears, and she greeted her, "Mother! ”

Zheng also had tears in his eyes, grabbed Lan Yi's hand tightly, and turned to salute Wenxuan with Mrs. Zhou, "Young Master, you can come back, the old lady is waiting for you." ”

Wen Xuan obediently shouted, "Mother Zhou, grandmother is good", and then followed Lan Yi into Duoshan Hall. The curtain of the main house has been opened, and Mrs. Zhou is supported by the maid, wearing a dark purple embroidered black twig flower skirt, wearing a forehead guard of the same color inlaid with emerald green stones the size of pigeon eggs, with a smile on the corner of her mouth, tears in her eyes, and shouting: "Good grandson has grown taller again, come over and let grandmother take a look." ”

Wen Xuan took two steps forward, knelt on the ground and bowed, "Grandmother, my grandson has come back to see you." ”

After standing up, he put on his new clothes and respectfully bowed to Mrs. Zhou.

Old Madam Zhou burst into tears and laughed, "Wen Xuan, this scholar is so good, who did you learn from?" ”

Wen Xuan was praised and said with a smile, "With my brother, grandmother, and brother go to school every day, the baby also wants to go, and my mother said that the baby is small and can only go when he grows up." ”

Lan Yi also stepped forward to greet Mrs. Zhou, and added with a smile: "Yu'er entered the village's Yixue at the end of the month, Wen Xuan was very envious, and he learned a lot of things with his brother, and he chattered every day. ”

Seeing her grandson learning like this, Mrs. Zhou touched his little face with relief, "Good grandson, this is most like your father, your father learned words with Mr. when he was five years old." Tomorrow is your father's death day, and Grandmother is very happy that Wenxuan can come back. ”

Mrs. Zhou mentioned her son who had been dead for two years, and she became sad again, and Mrs. Zhou hurriedly persuaded: "Old lady, the young master has just come back by boat, and he must have not eaten yet, so the old slave ordered someone to prepare the meal." ”

Mrs. Zhou wiped her tears, hugged Wen Xuan and said: "People are chattering when they are old, Wen Xuan, Tao'er, come into the house with me, although it is spring, but the wind is still very cold, and if it blows too much, you will get sick." ”

The furnishings in the hall are the same as last year, and the first three pillars of incense in front of the Buddha statue have burned more than half, filling the room with Buddha incense. Mrs. Zhou took Wen Xuan and Lan Yi to kowtow to the Buddha and burn incense before using vegetarian food in the hall.

After all, Wen Xuan was a child, and after eating, he slept peacefully on Mrs. Zhou's couch, and Mrs. Zhou quietly looked at the child beside her, her eyes were full of love and joy, and she burst into tears when she looked at it.

"Although this child looks like his mother, the bridge of his nose and eyebrows are exactly the same as his father's, and his temperament is more like Zhe'er. (To be continued......)