Chapter 8: Descending the Mountain
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The world is snowing heavily under the mountain, and few people in the village go out to cut down trees, and the transportation is inconvenient, and it is difficult to transport the trees back. People are staying at home, waiting for the end of winter. They don't know exactly how long this winter will be, but they know for sure that this winter will be longer than the previous one, and as for how long, there is a lot of debate, but there is no definite answer.
Shen Bing returned to the old house, it was still a bleak scene, no one lived in it for a long time, the heavy snow was about to seal the door, and the snow in front of the door was not cleaned, it was several feet thick. Fortunately, the herringbone ridge worked, and the heavy snow did not collapse the roof.
Shen Bing looked at the old tree in front of the house and was full of emotion. The tree had been planted with his father ten years earlier, and now it is in full bloom, but his father, who planted it with him, has not heard from him.
He walked under the tree and stroked the cold trunk as if he were caressing an unforgettable time. Things are not people, but that's it. He didn't plan to go into the house to have a look, because he was afraid that once he entered the house, he wouldn't want to leave. Although there is nothing left in the house.
Sometimes, when we like a city or a house, we don't like the city or the house itself, but the people in the city or the house. Now that there was no one in the room, Shen Bing's heart was empty. He kowtowed a few times to the door, then turned and left.
Mingliang has been standing next to him, but he doesn't know what topic to say, he wanted to go back to his house to see, maybe his parents who have been dead for many years have come back, but he knows that everything is impossible, people can't be resurrected after death, so he saw Shen Bing walk away, so he followed.
The wilderness is white and uninhabited, only the distant forest is still green, showing the vitality of life. When Shen Bing walked to the depths of the forest, he saw a few people, who seemed to be from the village, so he stepped forward to take a look.
There were five middle-aged people who were cleaning up the trees that had been cut down, and when they saw Shen Bing coming, they stopped what they were doing and asked, "Didn't you two go up to the Ethereal Peak? Why did you go down the mountain? It's not easy to go down the mountain at this time, you should hurry up the mountain!"
"Uncle Jiang, why did you come out to cut down trees when it snowed, how could you take them back?" asked Shen Bing.
"Now the weather is getting colder and colder, the price of trees has also risen, anyway, idle at home is idle, it is better to cut a few small trees, our family is more than Ding, there are many people, and we can move a few small trees back a day, but it's a pity that this tree, if you wait until next year, it is estimated that it can grow a lot." Uncle Jiang said.
"It's not early, you guys hurry back!" Shen Bing said.
Mingliang glanced at the trees piled up on the ground and asked, "Uncle Jiang, you cut so much, can you move back in a few days?"
"There are five of us, and we can carry one tree at a time, and if we carry two or three trees a day, there is no problem. Uncle Jiang replied.
"It's not like it's not enough to pay for food. Mingliang said.
"No matter how small a fly is, it's still meat, and it's better than staying at home. After Uncle Jiang finished speaking, he wiped the sweat from his face. I sweated in such a cold weather, which showed that it was very hard.
Mingliang did not answer his words, but grabbed a tree casually, weighed its weight, and saw that it was not very heavy, so he grabbed one with one hand and said, "I'll help you carry two back!"
The five eyes lit up when they saw it, and they were incredulous: "Fat man, you have only been practicing in the mountains for a few months, why have you become so strong?"
Shen Bing also remembered at this time, he was no longer what he used to be, he looked at the pile of trees in front of him, used his martial arts, and carried the remaining thirty or so trees, those trees seemed to be as light as a feather on his shoulders, but because there were too many of them, they were not easy to stack, and the weight was not a problem at all. Those few people were even more surprised to see Shen Bing carrying so many trees at once, and they were even more speechless.
"Bingbing, you're amazing, incredible!"
Shen Bing carried the tree and said leisurely: "Uncle Jiang, I have piled the tree in front of your house, you should go back early!" After speaking, he walked towards the village like a fly, leaving only the people behind him running and saying: "You walk slowly, be careful of hitting your feet!"
When Mingliang looked at the tree on Shen Bing's body, he suddenly felt dwarfed, and said, "Learning from the head is different!"
They soon arrived at the village, and after lowering the tree, they silently disappeared from the sight of the men. It is a long way from the Ice Palace, and you must hurry as soon as possible.
They didn't know where the Ice Palace was, but they just heard Mr. Void say that they were going all the way west and asked about people. Without the sun, discerning direction becomes a problem.
After Shen Bing's martial arts improved, his eyesight also became very good, and he found a distant reference, Ethereal Peak was in the east, so the opposite direction was the west.
Looking back at the Ethereal Peak getting farther and farther away, they knew that they were getting closer and closer to their destination.
After walking more than a thousand miles to the west, Bright felt very tired and wanted to find an inn to rest. Shen Bing flew to a towering tree and looked into the distance, and found that there seemed to be people more than a hundred miles ahead.
"Fatty, hold on a little longer, there's a small town in front of you, and it seems to be quite prosperous. Shen Bing said.
"Can you see more than a hundred miles away, what martial arts have you learned here, teach me!" Mingliang said.
"It's really hard to run continuously these days, and we have picked a shortcut that is deserted, this time let's go to the town in front of us to have a good rest for a day, eat a few bites of hot food, and get a good night's sleep!" Shen Bing said.
"Great, I'm going to eat sweet and sour tenderloin, a big plate!" The fat man almost drooled when he heard that there was something delicious.
When I arrived at the town I thought I had been, it was already dusk, and it was almost dark.
It turned out that this was a city, called Yancheng, which was the largest city within a radius of five hundred miles. The reason why it is called Yancheng is because there is a volcano on the mountain in the center of the city, which once erupted fire. The volcano has long since died down due to the weather, but the temperature is still much warmer than in other places, so the scene here is very different. There is no snow in the sky, and the four seasons are like spring. This is the only place where you can still see the sun occasionally in winter.
Scarcity is expensive, and so is the city. There are not many cities with such a pleasant climate on the frozen continent, so many people come here, so that some problems arise.
The population of a city is limited, and it is impossible to live an infinite number of people, and at first the city gate was open to the public, and almost as long as anyone could enter and leave freely. Since the population in the city was small before, no one cared, so they came whenever they wanted. Within a few years, as the weather got colder, people in the neighborhood moved to the city. Later, many people from other places flocked to the city, and gradually, the population density of the city became a little too large. There are more monks and less meat, which leads to rampant ruffians and hooligans, and the law and order in the city is very unstable. After several serious law and order incidents, the government decided to take action to restrict the movement of people.
As a result, the government ordered the implementation of census registration, which was carried out door-to-door, and the residence permit was issued uniformly. Soon after, the population of the city stabilized and law and order stabilized, but some problems arose.
When many dignitaries in society heard that it was good here, they also expressed their desire to live in the city. If you refuse, you will offend many people, and it will not be beneficial to your career, let it go, and you are afraid of arousing the public anger of the people and causing riots, besides, there are so many dignitaries and nobles in the world, and they can't tolerate it if they are let go.
The prefect of Yancheng saw that the situation was not good, and after looking for his staff, he came up with a good solution.
Those who have received a residence permit before, whether rich or poor, are counted, and for those who want to come in in the future, there is a fee, and the number of people is stipulated.
In this way, those dignitaries and nobles will have a competition, of course, whoever is willing to spend money will be able to get a residence permit. Of course, Kumon should emphasize fairness and allow everyone to participate. However, in fact, only people who spend a lot of money can enter, so that the prefect makes a lot of money and makes friends with some famous gentry and magnates.
Shen Bing didn't know all this, and when he and Mingliang came to the city gate for inspection, they were unsurprisingly denied: no one was allowed to enter without a pass.
Seeing that the city gate was about to close, Mingliang felt very unhappy, as if the sweet and sour loin that had reached his mouth flew away. Of course, it would be very easy to rely on martial arts to forcibly break in, but Shen Bing would not do this. He and Mingliang retreated and decided to find a good way to sneak in.
After thinking about it, it was dark, and I didn't come up with it. The bright stomach growls with hunger, and although it growls with hunger every day, this time the feeling is the most painful. In the past few days, because I was busy on the road, I didn't encounter any towns, and I could only be next to each other when I was hungry, but now it is different, a prosperous city is in front of me, but I can't get in.
It is the disappointment of hope that makes people despair.
Bright eyes looked at the bustling scene of the city, and circled meaninglessly in place.
Seeing that the gates of the city were about to be closed, a man came out. Shen Bing hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Big brother, you just came out of the city, can you tell me why you didn't let people in?" We came from afar, passing by here, and we don't understand what the situation is!"
"If you want to enter, you have to have a pass, and if you don't have a pass, you can go in and pay a little money for the gatekeeper. The man said.
"How much is appropriate?" asked Shen Bing.
"It's up to the people, a few hundred gold coins are fine, and a few other gold coins are fine. Then the man hurried away.
"At least a few gold coins, should we ......," Shen Bing said.
"A few gold coins! It's too expensive! It's enough for me to eat for a year." Mingliang said.
The upper beam is not correct and the lower beam is crooked, the prefect collects money by collecting household registration fees, and the guards at the bottom rely on collecting tolls to make money, and the toll is not even 10% of the official fee, so there are still many people who do not have residence permits in the city.
Shen Bing thought that since the guards didn't let him in, he was a person who could fly, although he couldn't fly very high and far, but it was more than enough to climb over the city wall a few feet high. He has learned too many martial arts in the past few months, and he is not used to the role of being a martial arts master. He said to Mingming, "Why don't we fly straight into the city?"
"You can fly, don't you say it sooner! I've been hungry for so long, I'm going to eat two plates of sweet and sour tenderloin later!" said Mingming.
Ps. chasing more children's shoes, are there any free appreciation tickets and starting coins~ The countdown to the 515 red envelope list is over, I'll pull a ticket, ask for an increase and appreciation vote, and finally rush a handful!