The Three Spirit Stones

They walked for another two days and found a river. Great! People would live where there is a river.

The river is crystal clear, probably the result of the melting snow on the mountain. There are some small fish and shrimps swimming around in the river.

Cheng Yu made a bowl of fish soup for Acai. She took a bite and exclaimed that it was delicious!

They walked downstream along the river.

As I guessed, where there is a river there are people. From afar, there is a small village downstream of the river, with probably only about twenty households.

They were very nervous. After enduring so much hardship for several days, their success or failure depended on who these people were!

As they approached the village, they found that most of the houses were thatched huts. Smoke was rising from a few houses, a few children were playing, and some women were washing clothes in the river. They were wearing ancient coarse cloth clothes, and their hair was messy. Some of them had wooden hairpins, and some just had branches.

The two were very excited. It seemed that they had succeeded, but they didn't know what year it was?

They were just about to walk over to say hello to them, but when they saw them, they all ran away.

"ah???"

Ah Cai opened her mouth in surprise.

"Forehead!……,"

Cheng Yu was a little embarrassed. He felt like some country men who went to the city and brought their city wives back to their poor and remote countryside.

"...They are a little shy,"

"...I think so too,"

After a while, they saw the women with seven or eight men walking and pointing in their direction.

Oh! So he went to call someone.

The group of people were a little scared when they saw the two of them in strange clothes from a distance. The woman hugged her child and dared not approach.

The men were brave and walked over slowly. One of them should be the village chief. He bowed to Cheng Yu and asked, "Where are you from? Where are you going?"

They spoke a Northern Song dialect, which Ah Cai could not understand, but Cheng Yu did.

He bowed to them and said, "My husband and I came from the capital Bianliang to look for someone, but we got lost and now we don't know how to get back. Could you please give us some advice, big brother?"

Oh! Beijing!

It turns out he is a guest from the capital, no wonder he is dressed so strangely!

These men whispered to each other.

They knew that the capital was where the emperor lived, and they might never step out of the village more than ten miles away in their entire lives, so they thought that people in the capital were like this.

"My dear brothers, we have been out for a long time. I wonder what time it is now?"

"Oh, it's just the beginning of winter, and it hasn't snowed yet."

A man said,

"I mean the year,"

"Year? You have to ask the scholar in our village. Ah Gou, go and invite the scholar here."

"Thank you for your help,"

After a while, the man named Agou brought an old man over, who should be the scholar in their village.

The old scholar squinted his presbyopic eyes, looked at the two of them from top to bottom, and then from bottom to top for a while, then bowed and said, "Two distinguished guests from the capital, do you want to know what year it is now?"

"Yes, we left the capital to look for someone. We have been wandering around for a long time. I don't know how long it has been. I would like to ask the scholar for guidance."

"Oh, no, no, it's the fifth year of Xiangfu now."

Cheng Yu heard this.

The fifth year of Xiangfu!!!

I died in the second year of Xiangfu, which means it is now the third year after my death.

After knowing the date, he felt relieved. He bowed deeply to the old scholar and said, "Thank you very much, old scholar."

"Oh? Your Excellency, you can't do that."

The old man hurriedly returned the gift.

On that day, the old man warmly invited them to stay overnight at his home and even invited them to dinner.

This family should be the richest in the village. Others have three huts, but this family has six. He also treated them with rice and pickles, which was the highest standard.

In order to thank him for his sincere hospitality, Cheng Yu broke off a small piece of gold and gave it to him when he left.

But what about Acai?

First I heard them talking in a low hut. At first I thought it was a toilet and refused to go in. Later I found out it was the main room for entertaining guests.

She looked at the bowl of yellow rice and the black pickles and couldn't bring herself to eat.

The host thought she was being polite and kept urging her to eat. Cheng Yu quickly explained to the host that she had already eaten and didn't need to eat anymore, so he made some noodles for her to fill her stomach at night.

The next morning, the two set out for Bianjing according to the route given by the old scholar.

Early in the morning, everyone came out to see them off.

There haven't been any outsiders coming to the village for ten or eight years, and the two of them are so weird. They stayed at the old scholar's house last night, and the villagers were already watching them.

They looked at Acai with curiosity, and Acai looked at them with curiosity. She didn't understand why they were smiling so happily when their living conditions were so horribly bad?

She felt that this living condition was worthy of the word "horrible".

When leaving, he secretly asked Cheng Yu whether he should give more gold to these villagers?

Cheng Yu shook his head slightly at her and said goodbye to everyone.

On the way, he told Ah Cai that money requires ability to control. If one has a lot of treasure without the ability to protect it, the treasure will become a murder weapon.

He secretly gave some gold to the old scholar, not only to repay his kindness of letting him stay and giving him food, but also because he was a highly respected person in the village and no one dared to take advantage of him.

And, if you think they live a bad life, they may not think so.

They have lived here for generations, working with their own hands, having food, drink and shelter, and not having to suffer from the turmoil of war. They are already happier than many of their contemporaries!

After listening to this, Ah Cai seemed to be thinking about something!

Cheng Yu thought to himself, this child grew up in a honeypot, and this trip to the Northern Song Dynasty must have brought about a great change in her values. I wonder if it is a good thing or a bad thing?

They walked for about ten days, and began to see traces of pedestrians on the road.

When passers-by saw the two people in strange clothes, they would look at them with fear and curiosity. Ah Cai felt very embarrassed and refused to be carried, saying that she would walk by herself. However, the roads in ancient times were small, rotten and dirty, and she could not walk at all. Cheng Yu had no choice but to carry her.

Along the way, we encountered robbers and man-eating beasts...

But with Cheng Yu here, these are not problems.

After walking for more than ten days, they finally arrived at a town. Cheng Yu found a donkey shop in the market and bought a donkey cart through the shop's relationship. It was her first time riding a donkey cart and Ah Cai felt very fresh. She kept urging Cheng Yu to hurry up, but the novelty soon wore off.

The wheels of ancient carts were all made of wood, without shock absorbers. If the cart went a little faster, it would shake the rice so much that she would vomit it out. She finally got angry and refused to sit on it.

Cheng Yu finally found a fur merchant and bought a lot of furs for making shrouds, and filled the car with them. However, she disliked the strange smell of the furs and refused to sit in the car. Cheng Yu then made her a double-layer cloth mask stuffed with some dried flowers picked on the road, and only then did she reluctantly sit in the mask.

That’s how it was. After more than three months of hesitation and stopping, we finally arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.

At that time, this was the Song Dynasty, and there was no distinction between the north and the south.

It is now the Lantern Festival, and the streets are very lively, with colorful tents set up everywhere, various kinds of performances, and the city is bustling with people and traffic.

Restaurants, brothels, teahouses, theaters, street food stalls, handicraft stalls, etc. were all packed.

There are countless businesses: ginger business, yarn business, cattle business, horse business, fruit business, fish business, rice business, meat business, southern pig business, northern pig business...

Ah Cai sat in the donkey cart, opened the curtain of the small window, and watched without blinking.

She sighed secretly in her heart!

No wonder history books say that the Northern Song Dynasty was the world's largest economic center at that time. During this era, those places in Europe should still be in the midst of war, but here it is a scene of prosperity and civilization!

Hu~

Cheng Yu parked his donkey cart in front of a restaurant, and immediately a waiter came over to greet him warmly.

"How many guests? Would you like to have dinner or stay at the hotel?"

"You two, have dinner first and stay the night,"

"Okay!"

The waiter called out, and then arranged for someone to come and drive the donkey cart to the donkey stable at the back.

Cheng Yu put down the donkey whip, walked to the back, opened the curtain, and put the two backpacks on one side.

It was early spring, and the ground was covered with rain, snow and mud. Ah Cai was not used to walking on this kind of road, so he simply carried her into the restaurant.

When I entered the restaurant, there were seven or eight tables of guests. When I saw them, they all looked over, glanced at me for a few times, and then lowered their heads to eat.

At that time, shipping in the Northern Song Dynasty began to develop, and it was an era when all nations came to pay tribute. The residents of Bianjing City were accustomed to all kinds of exotic people and things, so they were not very curious when they saw the two of them.

After they went to the room, the waiter brought them food and hot water. They soaked their feet and then had their meal.

A Cai asked Cheng Yu, why did you still want to stay in a hotel when you were already home?

He said it was already dark and it would be dark when he got home. His mother would be scared to death when she saw him come back!

"ah???"

Seeing that she looked confused, he analyzed it with her carefully.

Counting from now, he disappeared three years ago. Although his body is not found, his family must have thought he was dead for so long. It would be okay if he went back during the day, but wouldn't they be scared if he went back at night?

Moreover, the two of them had to give their statements against each other, so he had to find a plausible explanation. Otherwise, how could he explain to them that he had come back to life?

Another thing is that Ah Cai can't call him dad anymore because they are husband and wife now.

"What do you call me?"

"My courtesy name is Cheng Xuzhi. You can call me Xuzhi. That's what my relatives and friends call me."

"Or call me husband,"

"Xuzhi? Xuzhi!"

"Okay, Dad, I'll call you Xuzhi from now on,"

"You called me dad again,"

"Oh, yes, Xuzhi! Xuzhi, I have to read it several times, otherwise I will forget it again,"

"How about I just call you husband?"

"My husband,"

"Hey~,"

Cheng Yu agreed and smiled so well that his eyes were curved!