The days are actually like water, especially like a river of spring water, gurgling towards the end of nowhere, most of the time calm and gentle, occasionally encountering stubborn rocks, or splashing a torrent.

It has been ten years since Situ Xi came to this world, nothing has happened here, a few days ago several doctors took a look at him, his body is not a big problem except for some weakness, during the Huaiming Mansion sent servants to send them some silver taels, although it is not much, but it is enough for three people to eat and wear more than a month, but I don't know why the three aunts have not come to the door again.

Chu is located in the southeast of the mainland, the capital is called Xuan'an, Situ Xi also likes to go around the city in recent days, as a proton, he is actually quite free, there are no imaginary officers and soldiers to supervise him, but every two days there will be small officials to "ask" his recent situation.

whispered that this small courtyard was on the outskirts of the city, and Situ Xi thought that it would be in a similar area outside the city.

But it's impossible to think about it, he is forbidden to go out of the city, the courtyard is only located in the area of the remote point on the east side of the city, surrounded by trees, no one cares, aside from the fact that it takes half an hour to walk to the center of the city, such a quiet place is also livable.

After collecting some information in these days, he also almost understood his situation, in short, the relationship between Chu and Zhao has been a bit stiff recently, and there are often frictions in the border region, which is not much different from what he thought.

But this courtyard is his own request, maybe the predecessor is really extreme social fear, or in the thinking of "there are always people who want to harm me", he must live in a place where no one is in order to feel at ease.

In fact, his life was even more difficult for a period of time before marriage, starvation and cold were just commonplace, but after getting married, he got better, and he lived quite steadily in the past ten days.

As for why he was able to get married when the relationship between the two countries was deadlocked, it was because the wedding date was finalized a long time ago.

A gentleman is a promise, and he is still a daughter; The king promises, and the words are true.

In any case, the marriage appointed by Emperor Chrysostom of Chu went ahead as scheduled, perhaps in the sense that it could ease tensions between the two countries a little, but this factor may not account for a large proportion.

"Proton, God is really humorous." Situ Xi was standing by a river with no edge in sight at this time, and the gusts of river wind gently lifted his long hair.

Proton people, hostages, especially like him, the safety of life is controlled by others, in the end, he is just a fish on the chopping board at the moment, and when necessary, he will be slaughtered by others.

But wanting to change is by no means an overnight thing, and he knows very well that the more difficult it is, the less he can be anxious.

When I first arrived, there are only four things I can do now: go with the flow.

……

Xuan'an is a port city, these days after shopping, Situ Xi more and more feel that this Chu capital is like the ancient Jiangnan, as long as you put aside the excess emotions and bear the heart to feel, you will definitely agree that the scenery and atmosphere here are picturesque.

Xuan'an City is quite prosperous, and the development of commerce has exceeded Situ Xi's expectations.

Su Qin once praised Linzi and said: "Linzi is very rich and practical, and its people are all flutes, drums, playing the piano, fighting cocks and dogs." On the way to Linzi, the car hub hits, the shoulders are rubbed, the curtain is even formed, the curtain is raised, the sweat becomes the rain, the family is full of people, and the ambition is high. ”

But this is, after all, a description of the city during the Warring States period, and today's Xuan'an City is more like Jinling in the Song Dynasty.

The crowd on the street is either hurried or leisurely. There are men with burlap bags on their shoulders, friends chatting and laughing, men and women bargaining for their favorite goods in the shops on the street, officials in red and blue robes on the official road riding horses, servants holding the reins for them in front or holding blue canopies for them in the back.

There are pharmacies hanging banners of "curing incurable diseases" everywhere on the streets, and there are many people waiting in front of the stalls of fortune tellers waiting to ask for fate.

The people of Xuan'an seem to love to enjoy the coolness, and it is about to be March, the sun is mild, and the pavilions and pavilions by the mountains and rivers are full of yellow hair wearing hats.

Situ Xi has also liked to come to the pavilion by the river to sit recently, in addition to blowing the river breeze, he can always hear a lot of singers singing here every afternoon.

The six kingdoms have coexisted for many years, and the state of Chu has been relatively stable in recent years, and the occasional wars on the frontier seem to have nothing to do with these leisurely people in the capital city of Xuan'anli.

was staring at the merchant ships coming and going on the river, when suddenly a paper kite crossed Situ Xi's shoulder, and he was about to fall into the river after staggering over the railing.

A short boy was running and eagerly pulling the ball of thread in his hand, and Situ Xi grabbed the paper kite, and the child came to him panting.

Seeing that the paper kite was in his hand, the boy froze in place with his little face held high, looking at him timidly with a pair of big eyes, and did not speak.

It seems that he is a child who is afraid of birth, Situ Xi will hand the paper kite in his hand in front of him, seeing that the child is quite cute, he subconsciously raised his right hand and was about to rub his hair, but the boy's head shrank, took half a step back, grabbed the paper kite and held it in his arms and ran towards the place where he came.

Bear child, not cute at all, Situ Xi retracted his opinion just now.

"Hah, I've finally taken the bait."

A river bird crossed the water, its paws went in empty, and the waves came out empty, but it failed to catch fish. On the contrary, an old man in cloth on the right side of Situ Xi raised his fishing rod, and a yellow catfish on the hook was struggling to swing its tail.

"Young man, old man, I deserve half of your credit for this harvest, and if the paper kite falls into the lake, I'm afraid I'll have to wait for another half a day." The old man in cloth was very happy, and after a day of fishing here, he finally caught a small fish five or six inches long.

"Oh? This boy is serious, the old man must give me half of this fish today, otherwise I will not leave. ”

Situ Xi also chuckled and joked when he heard this, it was not the first time he had seen this old man, he would come to the pavilion by the water to stand for a while every noon in the past few days, this old man in cloth was fishing in this position every day, but Situ Xi also saw him catch a fish for the first time.

"Jokes, how can they be taken seriously!" The old man didn't expect Situ Xi to really want a piece of the pie, so he quickly picked up the fishing net next to the small stool, put the fish into a small jar, glared at Situ Xi, and then compacted the mouth of the jar with a perforated lid.

This old man was funny, his expression and tone were quite like an old naughty boy, and Situ Xi wanted to talk to him a few more words.

"The old man is a ship dealer?"

"How do the petty officials know?" The old man re-attached the bait to the hook, tilted his head to look at Situ Xi, and looked puzzled.

"I see the old man here every day, and there are several batches of merchant ships unloading at this wharf every day, and I see that those helpers will whisper a few words in your ear every time they finish counting the goods, so I guess that the old man is doing this transshipment business." Situ Xi respectfully told the old man his speculation.

"The petty officials are good at observing, but not necessarily, although the old man is a businessman, but he is not only engaged in transshipment business, but also involves agricultural handicrafts. Although my fishing skills are somewhat ordinary, when it comes to business wealth, I can also be called rich Taobai. ”

When the old man in cloth talked about this, he sat cross-legged and puffed up his chest and looked at Situ Xi, his pride and pride overflowing.

It is said that wealth is not exposed, but this old man has a very loud voice at the moment, as if he wants everyone in the world to know.

When the old man saw Situ Xi chuckling, he only thought that he didn't believe it, and he didn't care, so he threw the fishing rod towards the surface of the lake and continued:

Zi said: Those who know are happy with water, and those who are benevolent are happy with mountains. Old man, I especially love fishing, I should be a wise man, I have the hand to hold the fog and clouds, and the merchant is not able to catch it by hand. ”

Hearing this, Situ Xi was a little happier, not to mention that there are multiple versions of the understanding of Confucius's words, how can the words of the sage be literal. He was "impressed" by the old man's self-confident demeanor, and he said bluntly with a smile:

Confucius also said: Be wise and wise, and keep it foolish. He also said: Rich from all over the world, keep it humble. The old man is not going to vent his wealth. ”

It was just this joking remark, but it made the old man's expression dimmed a little, he was silent for a while, stared at the river with a rod in both hands, and said calmly for a long time:

"You kid, you really don't want to be pitiful, you shouldn't say such unlucky things to the elders you know for the first time."

"It's the kid who is abrupt, and I hope the old man is not strange." Situ Xi noticed the change in the old man's expression, and hurriedly bowed his hand and apologized.

The old man in cloth smiled at this time, and grinned: "It's okay, that half of the catfish will be used as an apology." ”

It turned out to be waiting for himself here.

"Xiao Langjun, it's not the first time I've seen you, little old man, I've been watching by the river these days, and you seem to want to ask me something earlier today, no need to be polite, just say it." Without waiting for Situ Xi to continue talking, the old man spoke first to Situ Xi.

"The old man's eyes are like a torch, in fact, it's nothing, the boy saw your merchant ships coming and going these days, and the goods were transported batch after batch, I naturally believe that you have a lot of money, just those are just jokes. I saw that the thousands of bags of goods seemed to be the same thing, all sealed by cloth bags, and I wondered what was in them. Of course, if you don't have the convenience to tell us, that's fine. ”

After Situ Xi finished asking, the old man looked him up and down for a while, and then slowly spit out a single word: "Grain." ”

"Okay boy, after asking, I will stop standing next to the old man, since you came here today, the old man has also caught this little fish, it must be at your disadvantage!"

With a smile, Situ Xi bowed his hand and said goodbye, but he was quite surprised in his heart, these days there has been a steady stream of merchant ships on the Qishui River, and they are all the same kind of goods, but he didn't expect it to be all grain, this old man may really be as rich as he said.

The common people are often in a state of flux, and ordinary grain merchants are not able to get such a large amount of grain and grass in March and April.