"Sell pies, sell pies, hot mutton pies, six cents a piece." Before dawn, the hawkers' cries were already ringing in the alleys of the western port city.

Pie merchant Zhang Erhei pushed a small dilapidated wooden cart and stepped on the uneven loess road slowly. The white mist intertwined with the heat of the pie in the cage drawer and the cold wind of the early morning gently slapped on the dark face of this western man, and the warm feeling brought by the meager mist was the only comfort in Zhang Erhei's daily work, and the other was naturally the sound of the copper coin falling into his pocket.

The countries of the Southern Wilderness basically have a special relationship with the major countries of the Eastern and Western Continents, and the major forces are intertwined, which can be seen from the currency circulating in the countries of the Southern Wilderness. Some of the currencies circulating in a country in the Southern Wilderness are minted by the government, but most of them are shoddy, and they are more recognized by the ordinary people of a country, and they are often the currencies of the foreign powers with which the country has the closest relationship. In addition to this, there are also currencies of other countries brought by foreign merchants. Zhang Erhei's favorite is the Shunning Tongbao minted by the Wei State of the Eastern Continent, which is commonly known as the Ten Coins in the Western Desert, this currency has a beautiful appearance, and it is also the most commonly used trade settlement currency in the entire Southern Wilderness and even the whole world.

"Brother Erhei, why has the price of pie gone up again." A young man dressed as a boatman poked his head out of a door.

"Third brother of the Li family, don't you know, food prices have risen again recently." Zhang Erhei said helplessly, "Small business, third brother, you can also be considerate." ”

"This grain price is the same as the nose of the old bustard in Cuichun Lou when he looks at us boatmen, why is it getting higher and higher?" Li San muttered a few words dissatisfiedly, and took out a few pennies from the tight trouser belt, "Brother Erhei, I'll give you these first, and I'll have two pies as usual." My owner will settle the monthly money the day after tomorrow, and the rest will be delivered to your door the day after tomorrow. ”

"Alas......." Zhang Erhei sighed, wanting to say something, but finally swallowed it, "Okay, but third brother, don't forget to send it as soon as possible, it's not that my brother is stingy, and there is really an urgent need at home recently." ”

Li San responded, took the pie wrapped by Zhang Erhei, and hurried to the dock.

"Pie, pie, hot mutton pie, six cents a ......" Zhang Erhei pushed the wooden cart, passed by a family at the end of the alley, turned the head of the car, and walked to the next alley. In the courtyard of the house he had just passed, a lazy rooster poked its neck out of the coop and crowed at the rising sun that was emerging from the sky.

I don't know how many alleys I have walked through, Zhang Erhei is also a little exhausted, so he sits next to an inn to rest. He looked at the copper coins in his pocket, which were less than yesterday, sighed, thought of his sick wife and young son who were waiting to be fed at home, gritted his teeth, and stood up to continue pushing the cart forward.

At this moment, a young man with the face of a Western Continent man walked out of the inn. The young man's clothes were simple, but he behaved like a well-bred rich boy - if you don't look at the ugly face. Looking at the scar on the young man's face, Zhang Erhei couldn't help but feel a sense of empathy in his heart. When he was about to go up and ask the young man if he wanted to buy the pie, the young man came up to him.

The young man is Shi Cheng, probably because of the rise in food prices, the inn where Shi Cheng lives no longer provides breakfast, so he has to go out to eat. As soon as he left the store, he saw a pie vendor.

"God treats me well." Shi Cheng touched his somewhat rumbling belly, planning to buy some pies and go to Baiji Cloth Village.

"Brother, how do you sell pies?" Shi Cheng walked to the front of the car and sniffed the aroma coming from the cage drawer, and his index finger couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"Six cents a piece, the price of grain has risen sharply recently, little brother, you can take care of it more." Zhang Erhei was a little embarrassed, and subconsciously touched his head.

"It doesn't matter." Shi Cheng took out the money from his pocket, "Pack me six, do you think these are enough?" ”

"It's... This is, so much when ten! Zhang Erhei's eyes lit up a little, "It turns out that you are the son of a big family, I am really clumsy, clumsy!" To tell you the truth, these are more than enough for ten, for sixteen pies. ”

"Uh....didn't you say six wen one."

"Gongzi has just arrived in the Western Desert Country, the black iron money cast by the government is not the same thing as the ten of the Great Wei Dynasty, and the six texts I said are the black iron cast by the government."

"I remember." Shi Cheng patted his head lightly and smiled self-deprecatingly, "You can look at how many pies are worth ten and take them." ”

"Hey, okay." Zhang Erhei happily took seven of those dang ten, carefully put them in his pocket, and then handed the wrapped pie to Shi Cheng, "Childe eat it while it's hot, mutton won't taste good when it's cold." ”

After taking the pie, Shi Cheng turned his head to the east and set off towards Bai Ji Buzhuang, nibbling on the pie in his hand as he walked.

As the sun rose, there was less chill in the air, and the men in twos and threes wore turbans and walked towards the docks, presumably sailors who were going to work. After walking through a few narrow alleys, Shi Cheng's eyes suddenly opened up, the streets gradually widened, and the houses on the roadside became more neat, and he had arrived at the market in the east of the city.

After walking along the street for a while, Shi Cheng turned around and looked at a small building in front of him, "Baiji Buzhuang, this is it." ”

The small building is two storeys high, and the façade is quite magnificent, which makes it stand out from the crowd in this bazaar.

There weren't many people in the store, and as soon as Shi Cheng stepped into the door, a guy greeted him. But when he saw Shi Cheng's face, the whole person was stunned for a moment, and the polite words he was going to say were swallowed back immediately, and when he looked at Shi Cheng's dress, he was neat but could not hide his shabby, and his attitude was cold.

"Do you want to buy anything?" The guy asked lightly.

"Lao Jia asked, is the place to apply for the Baifu Nursing Home here?" Shi Cheng asked.

"You're here to apply for a nursing home?" The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect Shi Cheng to come for this.

He looked at Shi Cheng for a moment, and then said lazily: "The Bai family's request is that the applicant is good-looking, did you hear someone say that the Bai family ran over in the recruitment home?" ”

Seeing that Shi Cheng didn't come to buy anything, and his appearance was ugly, this guy didn't have too many scruples in his heart, and his expression became more and more contemptuous, "Also, you're from the Western Continent, right?" Foreigners who want to work in our Western Desert need permission from the government, what about your voucher? Show it to me. ”

"I don't even know where the notice of your nursing home is, how do you know these twists and turns? But I'm not here to be a nurse. Shi Cheng said expressionlessly, "I'm here to see the old man of the Bai family." ”

"Seeing a doctor? When did the Bai family say that Bai Lao was sick? ”

"Old Man Bai is a well-known old ticket holder in the city, but he hasn't been to the theater for many days, and the people outside have already guessed one, two, three, why don't you, the person who works in the industry of Baifu, know?"

was asked by Shi Cheng like this, the guy's face turned a little red, he was recently being supported by the shopkeeper to be responsible for the transportation of a large number of goods, and he was busy with his feet not touching the ground, plus he was only working in the Bai family's industry, and he could not be regarded as a person within the Bai family. Therefore, he really didn't know anything about the actual recent situation of the head of the Bai family.

Looking at the young man in front of him with a calm face, a nameless fire suddenly surged up in the man's heart, "What are you talking nonsense about, you bird barbarian?" Old Man Bai has been cultivating martial arts all his life and has always been in good health, how can he be sick? Master, I just want to cheat you. Hugh is going to talk nonsense again, get out of here, get out! ”

Shi Cheng's ears moved slightly, and then he glanced at the back door, the corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly, and said loudly: "A family in the poor countryside, the guy in the shop under the door has a lot of temper, Shi will leave, the illness of the head of the Bai family, wait for the gods to cure it!" ”

With that, Shi Cheng turned around and left.

"You!" The guy wanted to say something, but the curtain on the back door had been pushed open.

Two middle-aged people walked in, led by a face with Chinese characters, quite not angry and arrogant, and the one who followed him was dressed in a long shirt, with neat eyebrows, and an elegant scholar's bearing.

"Who's making a noise in the store?" The middle-aged man at the head walked into the front hall, and when he saw Shi Cheng's face, he and the middle-aged man dressed as a scholar behind him both frowned slightly.