More than 20 miles to the west of Xiangyang City, there is a mountain, named Longzhong, which was the hermitage of Zhuge Liang of Wolong in ancient times. Here, "the mountains are not high but elegant, the water is not deep and clear, the land is not wide and flat, and the forests are not large but lush." Ape and crane blind date, pine fence intertwined. "Surrounded by mountains, quiet and peaceful.

In a deserted temple in the mountains, the Tang Dynasty is mostly a resting place for people who go up the mountain to mourn Wolong. The incense is burned, but it is very orderly, among which the monk is not high, but it is peaceful and light, loves Zen and calligraphy, and there are many brushes and inks left on the wall in the temple. Although the troubled times were occupied by robbers and the monks in the temple were gone, these brushes and inks were still intact.

The literati and artists who pass through this place have many watching, sharpening, and staying overnight, but no one takes care of the abbot, and it is inevitable that they will end up in a messy and disorderly after a long time, and there will be fewer people who gradually enter. Later, only the people in the rivers and lakes who are not dirty or troublesome will go inside to rest.

Early in the morning, a group of people from the north passed through the mountains and saw that this small temple was a good place to rest, so they looked for it.

Who knew that there was already a group of people in the temple, as if they had stayed here for one night, the ground was covered with dry grass and robes, and it had not yet been cleaned up, several men were surrounding a bonfire, and they also brought iron pots, and a pot of rice porridge was boiling, which was filled with vegetable leaves and rabbit meat, and the rabbit was thrown aside with gray fur and blood.

Under the seat of Manjushri in the innermost part, only a white cloak was spread on the stem of the withered grass, and a man and a woman reclined on it.

The woman wore a purple chaste dress, with pleated tassels at the hem, high slit, two smooth legs, slender and sturdy, bare feet, and a pair of beautiful embroidered shoes on the side.

She has her back to the outside and can't see it, but her long hair is coiled, her jade neck is fragrant, and her waist is thin and her hips are round.

But looking at the behavior of this man and woman, it makes people feel extremely weird.

The man was dressed in a colorful linen dress, made of patches of patches, so it was not pretty, but very awkward. He was needle-embroidering on a dough fan, and it was hard to imagine a man seriously doing the work of threading needles and threads in a deserted temple, like an embroiderer, but with a solemn expression.

And the woman held a ball of thin thread, and as he tugged, she carefully let go.

"Friends on the rivers and lakes, we went to Xiangyang to do business, passed through here, and borrowed the open space outside to loosen our legs. Take Luoyang's wine and jerky with you, and if you don't mind, you can come and get some. ”

The group of people from the north, although they wore the costumes of the Han people in the Central Plains, and they were a group of dusty businessmen, but as soon as the middle-aged man who took the lead opened his mouth, he was heard by these people inside.

Sitting by the campfire was a young man, with a goatee and a vicissitudes of life, with a large pair of scissors half an arm's length lying at his feet. He was scooping out the porridge from the pot, holding the bowl and saying, "Don't worry, although we are not good people, we are not villains who want to make money, and we will not come to rob your old ginseng." ”

Another fat man who was about the same age as him said with a smile: "You are from Changbai Mountain, but there is a king of ginseng? Why do you have to work hard to go to Xiangyang, our eldest brother is sick all the year round, and he is very short of the treasures in the mountains of the Northland, but if there is anything, you can take it out, I guarantee that everything you pick will give you more than Xiangyang in silver!"

"Nonsense, which of the treasures we brought is not hard to find, are you still ...... It's one more percent, do you have that much money?" A young man in this group of northland visitors recklessly scolded, and the middle-aged man who took the lead had no time to stop him, and secretly complained in his heart.

This young man was covered with hair and a strong body, his name was Peng Yi, and he was a Khitan, from the remnants of Murowei. He has no experience in business, if he is in the deep mountains and old forests of the north, it is a sharp and good knife, but when he comes to the rivers and lakes of the Central Plains, he is a little clumsy, and he can't help but look like a fluttering landlubber.

The middle-aged man who took the lead was named Yu Wencheng, his ancestors were Han people, and he was also a scholar, and at the end of the Tang Dynasty, he provoked the enemy, it was difficult to resist, and the family fled to the north, and later the family intermarried with a Xianbei remnant clan in the Changbai Mountains.

The scholars in the big city of the Central Plains combined with the tribes in the deep mountains of the north, and they started to participate in business, and they knew the customs of the Central Plains here, and the depth of the rivers and lakes was well understood.

This time, he took two clansmen, as well as a group of mountain visitors and young hunters, to the Central Plains, and exchanged the harvest in the mountains in the spring for gold and silver, and then returned to the Tokyo Road in Daliao, exchanged supplies, and went into the mountains for the winter.

All the way can be said to be running through the north and south, trekking through mountains and rivers, not only the natural dangers on the way, the infestation of diseases, but also the unpredictable rivers and lakes of the Central Plains, bloody rain and bloody wind at every turn, life and death.

He didn't expect Peng Yi to expose the details of himself and others so easily. It is said that when you go out, your wealth is not exposed. Even if the other party is a person on the right path, in the face of a treasure that is hard to find, will he be tempted, will he be interested in seeing wealth, who dares to guarantee it?

It's a pity it's too late......

In fact, Yu Wencheng is not worried about the old ginseng and old skin on his body, he is a descendant of the scholar clan, how can what he has learned and used be comparable to ordinary mountain barbarians?

"Ladies and gentlemen, my little brother is not very good at talking, and if he has offended, I will make amends to you below. We, the vulgar people of the mountains, go from south to north just to earn some silver. Yu Wencheng saluted a few people by the bonfire, then took off the baggage, did not open it, put it on his chest, and said: "If there is something that catches the eye, it will be negotiated according to the market, and I will never dare to charge an extra percent!"

But the young man with the goatee went inside, took two dusty packages, and handed them to the fat man.

The fat man came to the front of the stairs with a smile, faced Yu Wencheng face to face, generously placed the package on the ground, and opened it.

These two packages contain several golden Chunhua ingots, which are tied with ropes and made into a bundle. There is also a thick stack of silver tickets, it seems that this fat man really has so much money!

The people on Yu Wencheng's side took a look, yes, it was enough to buy all the treasures on his body. looked at Yu Wencheng for a while.

He was slightly relieved in his heart, if the other party had evil intentions, why did he take out all the gold and silver tickets in front of him?

I saw the fat man untie the rope, carry a chunhua ingot, and hand it to Yu Wencheng.

He also untied the burden in his hand, there was a layer of oiled paper inside, the bag was airtight, and after opening it carefully, the old ginseng inside was revealed.

At this time, a short companion stepped forward and opened one of the burdens on his body, but it was a few soft and silky mink furs.

The fat man's eyes lit up, and while Yu Wencheng took the Chunhua ingots to check it, he also grabbed an old ginseng and weighed it in his hand.

After a while, the fat man sighed, "What a good thing!"

The young man with a goatee in the back had already eaten a bowl of porridge, and then he said loudly: "Since it is a good thing, let's buy it all!"

The fat man threw the old ginseng back into Yu Wencheng's baggage, looked at the mink, and then at the person holding the mink - this person is obviously a woman, very young, dressed as a man, but her skin is white and beautiful, how can she hide it?

He turned around and took out a few more ingots from the package on the ground, and threw them in the hands of several people on the other side, "Look at them, such a beautiful Chunhua ingot, I will use these in exchange for your old participation and old skin, will it be?"

Yu Wencheng angrily asked everyone to return the ingots, and to do business, the rules must be said.

The other party is stupid and has a lot of money, but they can't break the rules, and if the business is not negotiated, they will divide the other party's money, what does it mean?

The fat man smiled and said, "Not enough? You can also get a few silver tickets, all of which are five hundred taels." ”

"Enough, enough. At this price, if you think there is no mistake, we will close the deal. Obviously, the other party is very good at talking, and generous and decent, but Yu Wencheng always feels frightened and faintly uneasy, so he doesn't seek to make more money, but only to be stable.