"Okay, okay, we will quarrel as soon as this matter is mentioned, let's think about it, how to go back to Tudong Town." Lan Ruling turned to Ren Peacock: "Sister Ren, what do you think?" ”

"We're going to disguise ourselves as salt merchants and take the waterway to the cave, what do you think?" As soon as Lan Ruling heard that he was pretending to be a salt merchant, he immediately retorted: "If you really pretend to be salt merchants in the mountainous areas, if you really pretend to be them, you have to be caught and served without a grain of salt in your pocket, so you might as well change your identity, such as a merchant." ”

"Good!" When the peacock came, he didn't know that these salt beaters had been arrested a lot, and he could only change his mind temporarily, but fortunately, he hadn't left Yueyang City yet, so he had the opportunity to change his disguised identity, so he simply pretended to be a merchant: "Then we will prepare everything this afternoon, rent a boat and set off tomorrow." At this time, it was close to noon, the spring sun shone on the windowsill, evaporating countless dense fogs, Dongting Lake began to become clear, the lake light connected to the sky, the water green trembled and the sky was bright, and the flowing silver light could be seen in the lake light.

A few people took advantage of the sunny weather to have a rough meal at the inn, followed the road outside the inn to the nearby wharf, and came closer to see, countless steamers and ferries raised their white sails to anchor at the wharf, and in the shadows, the white tower was no longer visible in the distance.

"It is not profitable for a few people like us to return to their hometowns alone, and most of the boatmen are reluctant to make the trip, so we are afraid that we will have to rent a boat and follow us." After saying that, the peacock shouted at a strange-looking boat in the distance, and the boatman noticed that someone was calling them, and rushed towards the lake.

When he got closer, there was a boatman in gray clothes and gray pants with a hat on the ground, who looked middle-aged, he carefully observed the people on the dock, and said in a Huxiang accent: "Sister, you called us?" You have to go there by ferry, this is our Dongting boat, and we don't accept outside passengers. ”

"Cauldron, it's you who we're looking for, we want to go to Tudong, you might rent a boat for us?" As soon as the boatman heard that he was going to the Tudong, he hurriedly waved his hand and excused himself: "Tudong? Don't dare, there are many bandits in the three nearby counties, we went but we still had our lives back. ”

"Big brother, how about we give double it?" Ren Peacock knew that although this kind of raft was a family boat, it also carried passengers, so he had to give twice the silver, and the boatman was really moved when he heard it, but he was afraid that the bandits would not speak, so he stopped in place, and promised to be uncomfortable, and it was uncomfortable if he didn't agree.

"Big brother, how about we give one too? How about giving you three times the money, taking us to Tudong, and then walking the Sichuan-Shu River when we come back? Seeing that the boatman was hesitant, Song Siyuan must still care about this money, and hurriedly gave a share of the money, which can be regarded as a contribution to Ren Peacock.

The charter fee is one piece of ocean per person, plus three yuan of benefit fee, and if they sail far and there is also money for the boat, they add up to at least 12 yuan of ocean, and at least 40 yuan at three times the price of a round trip, which is the income of rowing in Dongting Lake for several months.

The boatman's eldest brother was still hesitating, and a woman behind him pushed him away, and he agreed crisply: "Okay, sister, let's just go on a trip, but it can be said that it is three times the ocean." Everyone looked at it, and the boatwoman was wearing a bright red floral gown, black bloomers on her legs, and the waist of the pants was tightly tied to show a plump curve, her face was dark and ruddy, and a fishbone hairpin was inserted in the back of her head in the braid, and the fish scales on the apron were dirty, probably the boatman's mouth.

"Sister-in-law, that's good, just a few of us, don't bring anyone else." Ren Peacock is afraid that these boatmen will make less money, and take advantage of the return to the earth cave to recruit more people, so that they can not only return to the earth cave but also earn more, some boatmen even if they are chartered, meet guests who are willing to take along the way, they will also stop the boat and call people on the boat, which is called a ride, but it is nothing more than to take a little less money.

The woman of the boat family nodded honestly: "Sister, don't worry, we also have to see your bright atmosphere before we plan to run this boat, don't say anything else, when do you plan to go back?" Ren Peacock was scheduled to go back tomorrow, so he simply told them: "Tomorrow, tomorrow morning, do you have time?" ”

"Yes, yes, you will come to this dock at that time, we must be here, but we need to put off tomorrow's work, and according to the rules, we must give a deposit first." The boatwoman rubbed her hands and said, probably embarrassed to withdraw the money directly.

"Well, it deserves, it deserves!" After speaking, Ren Peacock counted out three oceans and handed it to her, and the boatwoman Mali took out a strip from her apron and stuffed it into her, which was considered to be the deal.

After this matter was done, several people left from the dock and walked through the antique Yueyang Tower to Meixiqiao Street. Here, it is the most prosperous commercial street in Yueyang, Republic of China!

Since the opening of Yueyang, Dongting Lake has become the hub of inland shipping in the southwest, with long-distance cargo ships and passenger ships flowing all year round, and the commercial port market ushering in explosive prosperity.

Countless foreign businessmen and foreigners came here to set up a business to set up a foreign bank, bringing gauze, kerosene, sugar, pigments, hardware and other foreign goods, and the merchants of the Shanghai and Han provinces of their own country also set up a serial number shop in Yueyang City, transporting away local specialties such as tung oil, grain, tea, fresh fish, medicinal materials, and raw cowhides.

Meixi Street is very close to the port wharf, relying on the geographical advantages to become a gathering place for shops and merchants, Baili Yi old freight yard, Wanshun old medicine, Xie Wenji pharmacy, Yukang silk cloth shop, Fubi silk section Pi No. 1, Yongxiang and cloth shop, Jinyu makeup silver building, Wuqing sauce garden, Weizi restaurant...... The hotel's foreign goods, needles and threads, eating, drinking and playing are here.

Ren Peacock took them to Meixi Bridge and went straight to the old freight yard, which is a square concave stilted building. In the past, it was an inner canal port, and later after the opening of the port, it was squeezed out by the new canal, and some businessmen built a stilted building here, and countless bamboo bridges were built to connect the canal into the stilted building, forming a prosperous department store.

Walking between the bamboo bridges in the old freight yard, you can see the people in short clothes everywhere walking and staying, the water in the canal attracts the lake water, the damp smell of stinky fish and rotten shrimp spreads up, mixed with the fragrance of the snack stall, the taste is very strange.

Ren Peacock introduced the situation of the old freight yard while walking: "There are many defective foreign goods here, the price is cheap, ordinary people can afford it, if you start with the wholesale price, it is even more affordable, go to the southwest mountainous area of the merchant, probably here wholesale things into the mountain to sell." ”

"If we want to pretend to be a merchant, we have to buy a batch of foreign lamps, foreign yarn, foreign soap, hairpins, headbands, sugar, kerosene and so on, and sell them to pretend to be in the local area."

"Sister Ren, those drifting boats just now are really the boatman's home?" Song Siyuan recalled the hull of the ship, the ship was about 30 meters long and 15 meters wide, with a pointed head and a pointed tail, a draft half cabin, three sets of treacherous poles in the front and rear, and wooden plank boathouses were set up on the board, seven or eight rows were in pairs, and there were a lot of sundries piled up behind the boat.