Chapter 14 The Wharf

When I first saw the port of Kudan, I was greatly disappointed

I had thought that Fendra was a dirty port, and that the dirtiest place in the world could not be worse than that, until I saw the port of Kudan that I realized that I was mistaken, and the sight I saw at the mouth of the river was just a microcosm, and the port of Kudan was crowded with almost everything that looked deplorable and dirty

As soon as the ship came to the port, countless beggars swarmed in, and these people blocked the exit of the boat, and they refused to disperse until the soldiers of the dock came to drive them away, and every one of these men's rags was dirty, as if it could be boiled out of oil

**The woman on the upper body held the child and yelled at us, her shriveled rube was attached to her chest, and the child kept chewing**, but she couldn't suck a drop of milk, many people sat cross-legged under the shack on the side, sitting on the ground full of mud, most of them had no shoes, these people stayed here all day and night, just waiting for someone to come out and pick up some odd jobs to do: move the goods that the truck could not finish; Carrying some women or children who are unwilling to step on the mud floor, of course, only the clean ones have this opportunity; What they look forward to most is to carry a dead man and drown in the water, because no one wants to cause bad luck and curse, and because of this, the wages of carrying a dead man can be exchanged for a few days of food

Numerous small boats shuttled between the large ships of the wharf, their sails sewn from scraps of cloth, and in the middle of the canvas were embroidered the patterns of the things they were selling: sewing needles, fried onion rolls, linen shorts, skin kù, indulgences, all sorts of things

But these things don't make this pier look any more colorful, on the contrary, these things turn Kudan Pier into a crowded rat nest I didn't smell the aroma of Fandra's kind of food, only the smell of feces and rotting garbage, countless mosquitoes rushed madly towards everyone, I saw a cow being bitten and couldn't stand it, and simply rolled into the muddy water, showing only two eyes, blinking from time to time, the cow's tail swept over and slapped on the buttocks, it was a tail's dirty blood, But the mosquitoes rolled into a ball and did not disperse in the slightest

The sailors of the Falcon were already familiar with the scene, and they wore long-sleeved leather jackets and shouted loudly to and fro with the people who came to pick up the ship from the shore

An old man waited for us on the shore for a long time

I heard Alexei tell him loudly, "We have a healthy boy."

I think this should be talking about me, in fact, he should have said that there are two, didn't Renault also go east with us?

There wasn't even a boarding board on the pier, so we had to get down from the big boat to the small boat, and then we were taken to the shore, where we had to walk through dozens of yards of stinking and sticky mud to the shore, where hundreds of hungry people were roaring and waiting for us

The sky was dark, the clouds were heavy as if it was going to rain, and the grass was overgrown on the tidal flats around the pier

A bare-bottomed child was chasing a frog, and when he had caught the little trembling thing, he grabbed its two hind legs and tore it open, tore out the entrails and threw them to a big goose that followed him, and put the rest of his body and legs into a pocket hanging from his waist, which was dirty and seemed to be moving, and he didn't know what was inside

The sound of brass trumpets continued to be heard on the shore, and the boiling voices roared, resonating with the river behind them

A group of emaciated men came to us with huge stools on their backs, and wanted to carry us across the mudflats of dozens of yards to the shore, and each man collected five ti, and now the market on the dock was thirty tid, a small silver coin, and seven tid could buy a hard loaf of bread, the kind of thing that sailors used to fight

After negotiating the money, Alexei, the bookkeeper, and Renault's governess sat on the backs of those people one after another, these people were dirty, but their stools were cleanly cleaned, and they looked like the least valuable part of the stool

Carrying me was a panting old man, his white beard shaking, he squatted down tremblingly, waiting for me to sit on the stool on his back, he was so thin, I could barely see his body, my stool swayed forward, like a dogtail grass blown to the side

I could hear his gasp, and it seemed louder than all the noise around him

"They are not in the table"

This voice suddenly pierced, and I instantly felt depressed, and I didn't dare to spend more brains on this Kaja's story also made me pity, Alyosha said to me: Mercy is a double-edged sword, it can turn a boy into a man, and it can also turn a man into dry bones I don't know if this sword will cut off the impurities on my body, or if it will cut off my head one day, I am not so romantic, I feel that this kind of thing is really possible, and it seems to have been born next to me

The old man with the white beard put me down tremblingly, took the five dings that belonged to him from the hands of the clerk in the bookkeeper, bowed his head and walked away, carrying his huge chair on his back

He had just walked away, and a man in a woollen jacket stood in front of me, this man was the same age as the old man just now, but it was clear that this man was not as depressed as the old man just now, he had a full face and a stubby neck, his skin was tanned and oily, and his head was gray, but he looked very refreshed

"Alyosha," the man smiled and hugged Alexei, "you brought back a boy?" Kindness? ”

"Yes, Daddy Vladimir" Alexei touched the comer's cheek with his face, "it's him, Viktor"

Alexei pointed at me

Vladimir put away his smile, he came over and pinched my face, and then slapped it twice

"Is life clean?"

"Well, almost an orphan"

Vladimir raised his eyebrows, he turned me around and compared my shoulders with his two hands, "Well, this is not enough for orphans, there are many orphans, there are those who are worry-free, and there are also troublemakers This kid has very wide shoulders, and it is not a problem to raise his sword and draw his longbow in the future, En, some thin, some legs are a little short, like a southerner, is it a Rhodok?" Alyosha? ”

"I don't know, Daddy Boy can speak Swadia, you know, he speaks as well as the students of the academy and knows the zenda alphabet uh, Daddy, don't look at me like that, yes, he may be a Rhodok"

"Are you confused? People can speak Swadia from the womb, and they can speak this language."

"The point is that it took him dozens of days to talk to me about women in Wiki dialect," Alexei said with a smile, and when Vladimir turned to look at him, Alexei immediately smiled, "Our Lady of mercy, I'm telling the truth"

"Well, I kind of understand why you came back with this kid" Vladimir turned his face to stare into my eyes, his eyes were pale green, I saw his nose fluttering, he said to Alexei, "What did you mean when you said that this kid was 'almost' an orphan?" ”

"Well, that's right, Victor doesn't remember anything, forgets cleanly, if he keeps doing this, then he's a complete orphan, only Our Lady knows where his family is, but Mr. Gil says that he may be from somewhere in the province of Swadiasuno, because this kid's accent is very close to that one, of course, if Victor suddenly remembers, then maybe his parents are a stone's throw away from us, it's not impossible"

Vladimir was not too satisfied with Alexei's words, but he didn't say much, "Well, Alyosha, I have to get to know everything about this kid at night, and there are too many people who don't want to believe it now, you know?" Hundreds of years ago in Swadia, the Altaïr family once took in a boy from their old enemy, the Norman family, who disguised himself as a commoner and defected to him, a wonderful story, first the fire boy, then the stableman, then the shì slave, the captain of the manor guard, the captain of the knights, hehe, and then what? The little Norman later hanged all of Altaïr in a tree, leaving no one behind, just as Altaïr did to Normans back then, and now Normans are all descendants of the fire boy, but have you ever heard of an Altaïr? No, not a single one."

Listening to Vladimir's words, I remembered the memories of Katyusha's father: his son had a scorched head; wives and daughters wander in the wilderness with their bodies exposed; The grandson was hung under the eaves and a flock of crows pecked at his eyes

Vladimir pinched my chin, "Hey, boy, are you a little Norman?" Kindness? We have a lot of enemy families, and none of us have cleaned up En? Say, boy? ”

I slapped Vladimir's hand away, "Some families have only one daughter left and are not afraid, are you afraid of a boy?" ”

Vladimir exhaled, turned his face to Alexei and said, "What is this little thing talking about?" ”

Alexei looked at me suspiciously, then slowly turned to Vladimir and said, "I think, I think it's better not to talk about Daddy here because Viktor knows something, I brought back a priceless treasure this time, in addition to the support of the White Dove Business Association."

"Won't it be this kid?" Vladimir said

"If you count him, it's a priceless treasure plus a 'victory'"

"Well, no, I hope Viktor brings good luck as his name" Vladimir looked at Alexei with a curious expression, "Okay, let's find a place to sit down and talk about the carriage is more secret than any room, isn't it?" We're going to Southtown tonight, and we're talking in the wagon."

"We just got off the boat and everyone wants to rest"

"Tell them that there are women and good wine in Southtown, and that there are only beggars and dirty water here, just tell them so, and let them choose"

"No, there is a person who really can't stand such a toss, and he is another priceless treasure I told you"

Vladimir pouted, "We have to rush back to arrange the last autumn harvest, and then cross the mountain pass before winter, a day later you may have to stay on the mountain for one more day Damn Emperor, give us one more year and we can come out in the spring, okay, let's find a place to stay but before tomorrow night, we have to leave"

We stayed at a small inn, which we almost stuffed with sailors who had broken away from the Romanov family, who kept coming to bid farewell to their old owners, bringing fresh fish and liquor, and pooling money to get a few girls to make the young men of the team happy, while Christopher went out into town to visit some of his old friends, and every one of them found his own thing in this extra afternoon, and I had nothing to do, and I was so sleepy that I fell asleep

Outside the inn was a noisy market, I listened to the distant sound and slowly fell asleep, I dreamed of the valley, the valley I saw on the frescoes of Fendra, I also dreamed of Jill, Jill was standing beside me, he grabbed my injured hand, and put ointment on it, and it felt as if he had been there, from before the time began, until the day the time ended, the castle in the distance was like a white dove, it combed its chest, and perched peacefully

On the other side of my room, Vladimir, guided by Alexei, listened to Daddy's narration

In the yard, a dirty little boy gave Kaja a little crab Kaja squatted on the ground, poked the crab with a small wooden stick to play, and played with boredom

When I was thirsty and looking for water to drink, I saw Kaja sitting on the mud floor, and the crab took the opportunity to escape, her head hanging from the side of her face like a waterfall after a spring rain, and her eyes shimmering like an autumn lake

I walked to the front hall, and now Renault was dealing with a bunch of peaches, and his tutor kept fanning himself with a small handkerchief, and then instructed Renault: "Eat, the peaches here are very good, that is, the guy who sells peaches must be short of my catties, but forget it, it's sweet and wipe your mouth, what does Renault eat?"

When Renault saw me coming, his mouth was full of peaches, and he couldn't speak, so he handed me a slightly larger one

I thought for a moment and said, "Can you give me another one?" ”

The governess snorted, Renault waved his hand, asked me to pick one myself, and then washed the peaches in the water tank outside the door, and then turned back to the courtyard

She was still sitting where she was, and the crab had just fled, and she was looking left and right with a branch

I walked straight up to Kaja and stretched out my hand holding the peach, "Do you eat peaches?" ”

She looked up

There was once a girl who was as beautiful as a summer day, and her tips were full of sunshine