Misty rain and heavy flowers accompany the king's return

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Lanting's message:

Misty rain and cold river curtain, rivers and mountains thousands of miles of dust;

The lonely cliffs fall and flowers fade, and the rivers and lakes splash ink.

Standing in Wushizui outside Longkou Village, Shen Bai watched the surging lake, the heavy rain blowing the grass and trees in Wushizui on the lonely cliff, and the safflower forest behind the cliff.The whistling mountain wind shuttled between the cliffs, Shen Bai looked into the distance in his unlined clothes, the pen holder-like peak between the cliffs on the opposite bank went straight up into the sky, it was the highest peak of Luoying Lake, Chuanyun Peak.

"A Luo, what are you doing standing here again? I'm so stupid to read, this torrential rain is pouring down, it's the famous 'chasing clouds and rain', blowing from the mouth of the lake, going west for a hundred miles without stopping." Shen, a fisherman The third brother tugs the boat ashore in the harbor under the cliff, stands below with his head raised, looks at Shen Bai and shouts.

"What are you talking to him about? You're a fool. You're just a fool when you study. Hurry up and get on the rope and go home." Third Brother Shen's elder brother cursed at the side, looking at Shen Bai with flattering eyes, he screamed people tremble.

This is a strange world. In the Dafeng Dynasty, there is no woman. The men are called boys or men, and the women are brothers. They look exactly like men, but they can bear children and pass on the family line.

If the pirated version of Shen Bai's 'Xihantang' came here, knowing that this is Yelu Anqi's hometown, he would definitely pull Xiao Qi into laughter: "No wonder Yelu Anqi never married, it turns out there is something wrong at root."

Shen Bai stood on Wushizui until his whole body was drenched before turning away. In the Gaofu Temple, a stone statue with a sword guarded the front hall, and in the side room of the back hall, the dilapidated courtyard was tidied up in small pieces. In the vegetable field, eggplants, peppers, vegetables, and radishes grow lush and vibrant.

"A Luo is back." Master Asong, who was dressed in rags, bowed his body and was boiling water under the eaves with a broken pot.

"Hurry up and wipe it off. What are you doing all the time going to see the rain these days? Be careful of getting sick. These days, poor people can't even afford to get sick." Master Asong said, "I'll pour you some hot water." , let's, just this water and the firewood all over the mountain don't cost money, what else do we need money for?"

Shen Bai didn't speak, he turned and went back to his room, it was a simple little bed, the bottom was covered with straw, and the gauze curtain on it was made from the tattered cloth in the temple.A small bookcase with scattered books and papers inside, a low desk near the window with a pine oil lamp bowl on it, and half of the armrests missing from the refurbished chair.

On the yellowed wall, the words written by Shen Luo, the original body, "There is no way out of the sea of ​​bitterness, and the sea of ​​books crosses this life."

"How much do you want a way out?" Shen Bai couldn't help laughing at the strong handwriting on the wall.

The words are the same, the language is the same, the clothes are the same, only the world is different, there are men and no women, there is no distinction between yin and yang in the world, Shen Bai really can't understand why there is such a world.

"Ah Luo, I brought you a bucket of water. If you soaked in lukewarm water, you can wash it." Master Asong brought a wooden bucket, which contained white steaming lukewarm water.

"Master Asong, I can do it myself." Shen Bai got up to pick up the bucket.

"Well, the year is not good, and it rains continuously. Fortunately, we are so tall that there is no danger of flooding. You are a scholar, and you have been exempted from tax for five years. Our half acre of land can fill our stomachs. " Master Asong said with a smile: "I secretly put a fish cage below today, if only I could catch some fish and shrimps, and I could also exchange some oil and salt for a good living."

Shen Bai didn't speak, picked up the rag and threw it into the water.

"You take a break. I'll go and light a fire. I'll send you some fire to dry your clothes later. Although it's August, it's still cold enough even with the rain." Master Asong went out with a bow and gave him Close the door.

This Shenluo belongs to the nearby Shenjia Village. Shenjia Village is the smallest village here, with eight families, so poor that you can't laugh at it.

Here at Luoying Lake, it rains for half of the year, and there are few paddy fields. Although it is in the same area as the south of the Yangtze River, it is astonishingly poor.

Especially the people on the shore of the lake, with nine floods in ten years, most of them make a living by fishing, or do some other livelihoods, and they will definitely not be able to support themselves purely by farming.

Shen Luo's father was the leader of the boatman, and he belonged to a small household in Shenjia Village, but he died unexpectedly in the storm. When he was ten years old, his young mother left with his younger brother. He grew up eating a lot of food. , but very smart, relying on a few years of reading, he was 15 years old and self-taught to become a scholar, but there has been no change for two consecutive years.

There are imperial examinations here every year. The size of the Dafeng Dynasty was more than three times that of the Song Dynasty. Under the huge dynasty system, the required officials were far from enough.

At night, Lord Asong lit the pine oil lamp on the main hall. The fire flickered and gave off a warm color, but the pine oil lamp had a large smoke point, and the thick black smoke blackened the beams. Oil lamps often smoke so that the walls are pitch black and shiny.

"Let's eat!" Master Asong brought a pot of sweet potato porridge. Shen Bai had never seen such a thing in his previous life, but there are a lot of sweet potatoes here.

A small bowl of pickled peppers, a small bowl of bad fish.

Shen Bai has never eaten chili before, but the people here eat it every day, every meal, that is, after eating and removing moisture, it is a staple food for people in the water town.

"Is our trouble gone?" Shen Bai looked at the bad fish and asked.

"There is still one jar, and it can be made into three jars. Don't worry, if one day the boat capsizes again, we are not hoping for others to capsize, but the bay below Wushizui is too evil." Master Asong said.

"But some people say that Feng Shui is good here?" Shen Bai said.

"That's what people from their Long family said. Of course they are good. They have a lot of people, and they occupy the best position. Longkou, it used to belong to the Gaofu family." Master Asong chatted with him and said, "Gaofu Home, a second-rank general from the previous dynasty, we have such a big man here for hundreds of years, but you see, after Longkou was occupied, Gaofu Village was flooded three times, and now they have moved to Bawan Mountain I went, hey, 'Bawan Mountain, the wind blows and the eight roads stand in half of the bay', tell me, what a bitter place, with half of the sandy mountains, nothing can be planted."

Shen Bai nodded, didn't continue talking, he couldn't eat or sleep, if he didn't have amnesia, he didn't have much information from the owner, so it wouldn't be the case.

In the room at night, light the pine oil lamp, and the mountain behind is full of pine trees. If there is no pine worm disease, there will be endless firewood and pine oil in a lifetime.

Find a few books, this Shen Luo scholar must be a dead book, or too poor, most of his books are hand-copied, from the handwriting, it can be seen that the person who copied it is Shen Luo himself.

And the contents of the books are basically the examination files of the imperial examinations, which are boring. For the young master of the Shen family who had no worries about food and clothing in his previous life and collected countless books, these books are almost all books that Chen Bai would not even read in his previous life. Shen Bai sighed softly.

I don't know what will happen to Ajie and An An. Shen Bai read the book for a while, but he didn't even have basic historical records, so it was really useless to read.

Close the book, lie on the straw bed, look up at the beams in a daze.

"Master." Myolie looked at Shen Bai and smiled.

"Little Xing'er?" Shen Bai looked at Xing'er and pulled him: "What's the matter, what do you want the young master to see?"

Xing'er pulled him by the water: "Look."

"What are you looking at?" Shen Bai asked curiously.

"Look at the young master falling into the water to catch fish." Xing'er smiled and pushed him down.

"Xing'er, I can't swim, Xing!" Shen Bai sat up in a startled state, sweating profusely.

"Are you having a nightmare again?" Master Asong walked by, and the sky was already clear outside the window: "I forgot to blow up the lantern yesterday, but I did it. Get up and look at the fish I caught."

Shen Bai got up, washed water in the water tank under the eaves, and walked to the courtyard in front of the side hall. There were small fish in the big wooden basin, and a big mullet swimming.

"I'll sell the mullet later, and I'll get some paper back to write for you." Master Asong said with a smile.

"Master Asong, let me go to the county seat today, I want to have a look." Shen Bai said.

"Are you going? It's thirty miles to and fro, and it's raining again, can you walk?" Asong asked worriedly.

"Go slowly!" Shen Bai returned.

"Then you carry the wooden box, put on the coir raincoat, and bring a cane, and be careful of snakes and insects on the road." Master Asong said.

"Okay!" Shen Bai agreed.

"Then eat something, go early and come back early." Master Asong went to serve food, people here have two meals a day, sometimes one meal a day in famine years.

Master Asong brought sweet potato paste and a plate of spicy cabbage.

When leaving, Master Asong spread a small piece of torn paper from an oiled paper fan on the back box to help keep out the rain.

Wearing a coir raincoat, a bamboo hat, and carrying a wooden box, without a cane, it is really difficult to walk.

Shen Bai wears straw sandals, it is too easy to wear his feet, but there is no way, in this weather, his cloth shoes are really reluctant to go out.

Descending from the back of Wushizui, we walked through the valleys of Shenjia Village. White smoke was coming from the thatched roofs and a few tile-roofed houses inside. Many people were cooking breakfast and boiling water.

Under the cliff at the foot is Luoying Lake, the yellow lake water slaps on the rocks under the cliff from time to time, making a crackling sound.

In this kind of weather, there are almost no fishermen, so it is too dangerous.

On the big lake, only big ships were sailing, and the tall canvas moved quickly along the wind and waves, and soon became a black spot on the lake.

After all, there are only a few such large ships, and most of the cargo ships did not come out, hiding from the nearby ports to avoid the wind and waves.

Shen Bai walked slowly among the ridges, and walked through a big mountain road. At the other end of the mountain was a huge village, that is Longkou Village. The village was full of buildings with white walls and black tiles. A two-story ancestral hall was in the middle of the village. , The eaves and hanging feet are the style of Jiangnan villages.

Huzhou County, where Shen Bai lives, has the word state in its name, but it is an out-and-out small county with a small population, less than 10 people in the county, but it is the throat of Luoying Lake.The name Huzhou County can be called because the county seat is on Huzhou next to Luoying Lake, that's all.

Merchant ships coming and going unload goods here, and there are many shelters from the wind and rain, so the commerce and trade of the county is prosperous.

Between the misty rain and the rain, the mountain road is rugged, but fortunately it is a muddy road. Although it is a bit difficult to walk, it has already hardened and there is no silt.

Under the mountains, there are many old houses in deserted villages. The collapsed houses are reflected in the shadows. You can see that the houses that have been demolished with tile roofs are only left with incomplete walls. is scary.

This is the old site of Gaofu Village.

When we reached Huzhou County, half of the morning passed.

Inside the county gate, the old soldiers guarding the city didn't check anything, just sat in the gate, watching people coming and going, with a teapot in hand and an old huxianqin under their feet, their eyes glazed over and motionless.

When Shen Bai walked into the city, there was an endless stream of people coming and going on the Qingshi street in the city, without being affected by the misty rain at all.

Holding the mullet in hand, he walked to Fuyuan Restaurant.

Shopkeeper Ge saw Shen Bai and walked out: "Shen Xiucai is here, why didn't Master Asong come today?"

"It's raining too much, I'm here." Shen Bai replied.

"Is this fish from this morning?" asked the shopkeeper.

Shen Bai nodded: "It's in the fish cage."

"How about one tael?" said the shopkeeper.

"Thank you." Shen Bai handed him the fish.

"It's raining heavily outside, sit down inside, have a rest, drink a cup of tea before leaving." The shopkeeper and Mr. Asong are acquaintances, and took good care of Shen Luo and led him over.

Fuyuan restaurant is divided into one and two floors, and the first floor is full of footlovers sitting, drinking tea and eating noodles, just looking for a place to rest their feet.

But there are private rooms on the second floor, and you can also see the scenery of Luoying Lake, and all the people who come here are elegant guests and foreign merchants.

The shopkeeper poured a large bowl of tea from the cabinet. The strong tea boiled in this kind of teapot was just to quench his thirst and keep warm, and then gave him a tael of small silver coins.

Shen Bai took it, and carefully put it into the money bag in his arms, there were only a dozen small coins in the money bag.

"Shopkeeper, I see that you have stringed instruments, silk bamboos, and storytelling desks. Why is no one commenting on the songs?" A young man in a blue shirt came over and asked, "Our master wants to order some songs to cater to this misty and rainy day." .”

Shopkeeper Ge bowed and returned: "I'm sorry, brother. We are a small place. Mr. Storyteller comes here only once in ten and a half months. Youqin is just echoing Fengya. Please be kind to your young master."

The blue-shirted boy was not embarrassed when he heard it, so he nodded and went upstairs.

After Shen Bai finished drinking the tea in the tea bowl, he got up to thank him and left.

I went to a shop specializing in study books and bought the cheapest knife paper, three hundred sheets and thirty wen.

Looking at the books, they are too expensive and not worth reading, Shen Bai is going to go back.

Walking to the entrance of the city gate, the heavy rain burst, and few pedestrians hid between the shops on both sides to avoid the rain.

Shen Bai walked to the city gate, took off his bamboo hat and watched the heavy rain.

"Is it Shen Xiucai?" the old city guard asked.

"Yes!" Shen Bai walked over.

"Sit down, come back after the rain, isn't Ah Song here?" the city gate guard asked.

"It's not raining heavily."

The city guard handed him a small wooden bench: "Sit."

Shen Bai untied his coir raincoat, put down the wooden box, and sat beside him.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you, I just drank it when I was delivering fish at Fuyuan Restaurant."

The city guard nodded, with a sleepy look on his face again.

Shen Bai saw the huqin next to him, and picked it up curiously.

"Can you play?" the city guard asked.

Shen Bai nodded, took out the plectrum on the piano, tuned the strings, plucked the strings lightly, and played the song "Rainfall" desolately, the sound of the piano was full of a melodious distant sad.

A team of chariots came out from the city, and the people on the chariots got out of the chariots to let the chariots go out of the city.

The middle-aged man who got out of the car was very handsome, holding a paper fan, standing in the city gate and watching Shen Bai playing the piano, with one hand behind his back, looking up at the misty rain outside, without saying a word.

After Shen Bai finished playing, the middle-aged man asked: "Good piano skills, dare to ask the son's name?"

Shen Bai returned the piano, put on the coir raincoat, and carried the wooden box on his back: "The misty rain in the cold mountain, the dust is clear, why bother to ask!"

He thought of his mother from the sound of his piano, walked into the heavy rain with a depressed mood, and disappeared among the smoke and dust trails.