Raiders, loyal dog

Chapter 44

When Qiao Zhibai and Xuan Liu returned to the boat, they found that the boatman was not on board.It was about a cup of tea after boarding the boat, and the two of them saw the boatman walking towards them from a distance.

"Where did the boatman go?" Qiao Zhibai asked casually with a smile as he watched the boatman board the boat.

"It's nothing, I just went to the city to buy a pearl flower for my daughter." The boatman smiled stupidly, and said, "The girl in my family has never seen the world, she is almost old enough to marry, and there are not many jewelry. I also heard that things in big cities are quite rare, so I took the opportunity to buy one."

As he spoke, he spread out his hands and showed Qiao Zhibai and Xuanliu what was in his palm.

That is a very beautiful bead flower.The base color is mainly pale pink, and then the color deepens layer by layer, just like the blooming cherry blossoms.Until the very center, there is a soybean-sized pearl dotted on it.It looks delicate and cute.

"It's really beautiful, and it must be a good match for your lingmei." Qiao Zhibai praised sincerely.

After listening to Qiao Zhibai's words, the boatman seemed a little embarrassed, scratched the back of his head with his big hand, then looked up at Qiao Zhibai and Xuan Liu, looked around again, and asked: "How about you?" Where are the two young masters? Haven't you boarded the boat yet?"

"Oh, they're probably coming soon." Qiao Zhibai counted the time, then looked across the shoulder of the boatman, fixed on a certain position behind him, and the corners of his lips raised into a beautiful arc, "Look, They're back."

Ling Zixiu and Xuan Wuyi boarded the boat one after the other, and when they passed by the boatman, they glanced at him lightly, then walked up to Qiao Zhibai, and asked, "Brother, have you been waiting for a long time?"

"No, Xuan Liu and I just arrived." Qiao Zhibai shook his head, turned his head to exchange a look with Xuan Liu, and then turned to Ling Zixiu, "Xuan Liu and I have something to say to you For a moment, it's windy here, we'd better go back to the cabin first."

Ling Zixiu nodded, and after saying "OK", he took Xuan Wu, followed Qiao Zhibai and Xuan Liu to the cabin.

After the group of people left, the boatman who was still standing there stiffly seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.He looked at the direction of the cabin with complicated eyes, and then looked down at the delicate and beautiful bead flower in his hand. After a while, as if he had finally made up his mind, he firmly held the bead flower in his hand. hand.

"Has the yellow team already started to act?" Ling Zixiu smiled faintly after listening to Qiao Zhibai's words, "It's a little earlier than I expected, but it's not too surprising." After taking a look, Xuan Wu immediately nodded with understanding, and took out a piece of parchment from his bosom.

"There is Bai Qi's stronghold in the city, and Xuan Wu and I have already contacted there." Ling Zixiu pointed to a place on the parchment, and said, "The three 'hous' of the blue team still haven't won As a result, they decided to divide their power into three parts, and directly took a shortcut to block our way from the middle. That is to say, the blue team has given up the idea of ​​suppressing us on the water, and what needs to be dealt with now is probably There are two groups of yellow and green."

Qiao Zhibai nodded, and suddenly seemed to think of something, and asked Ling Zixiu, "What about the remaining youth group? Don't you know their movements?"

"Well, that, Bai Qi and the others haven't sent any detailed information yet." Ling Zixiu put away the parchment with the detailed map and asked Xuan Wu to put it away, then turned his head and said to Qiao Zhibai, "It seems that they I still want to wait and see for a while. They are a group of cunning people, I am afraid that they will not be willing to reveal their choices until the situation of victory and defeat has begun to become clear."

"But that's fine." Ling Zixiu leaned his head back on the chair. Because of the extremely uncomfortable dizziness in his head, he couldn't help reaching out to cover his forehead, and said softly with a sigh, "As long as it's not If we clearly declare that we are partial to the blue team, our chances of winning will be much greater."

Qiao Zhibai looked at Ling Zixiu's appearance, walked behind him, and stretched out his hand to help him rub his temples: "Just now I just bought some ginger by chance. When I was a child, I heard from my grandfather that for people who are seasick, Seasickness is usually much better with a piece of ginger in your mouth. There's no harm anyway, or we'll try it now. You go to sleep and I'll get you some ginger?"

Feeling the strength of Qiao Zhibai's hands, Ling Zixiu responded with a smile: "Then I will trouble you, brother."

Qiao Zhibai responded, and then glanced in Xuan Liu's direction. Xuan Liu hurried over after receiving Qiao Zhibai's signal, taking over from Qiao Zhibai and continuing to massage Ling Zixiu's head.

"Then I'll go there first, and I'll be back soon." Qiao Zhibai said, took out a few pieces of ginger that he had put away from the shopping package, and then turned around and left the cabin.

Seeing that Qiao Zhibai had gone out, Ling Zixiu waved his hand at Xuan Liu, made a "stop" signal, and then said to the two of them, "Okay, I don't need you here anymore, you go out too."

Xuan Liu looked at Ling Zixiu, but didn't say anything, quietly withdrew his hand, then walked to his brother's side, the two bowed to Ling Zixiu together, bowed to Ling Zixiu, and then retreated.

Qiao Zhibai took Jiang to the boatman, and asked with a smile, "Boatman, do you mind using the kitchen utensils on board?"

Although the ship is not very big, the things are quite complete.On weekdays, Xuan Wu or Xuan Liu cooked the meals for several people by the way. Counting these few days, the small kitchen on the ship has been taken care of by the twin siblings.

Hearing Qiao Zhibai's words, the boatman turned his head and nodded with a silly smile: "Use it if you want, just be careful, the knife is very sharp, sir, don't hurt your hand."

Qiao Zhibai responded, and then went straight to the small kitchen specially separated on the boat.

The thing to do was simple, so Qiao Zhibai didn't worry too much.After washing and cutting the ginger, I even boiled some ginger water leisurely.

However, ginger water usually seems to be flavored with a little sugar?Qiao Zhibai rubbed his chin: He remembered that when he went to buy salt with Xuan Liu this morning, he also bought some sugar along the way.

Um?Where did he put it?It seems to be in the baggage?Thinking about it, Qiao Zhibai left the small kitchen, turned around and went to the other side of the cabin.

The boatman looked sideways at Qiao Zhibai as he left the kitchen thoughtfully, entered the cabin again, waited for a while, then gently put down the penny in his hand, and walked quickly into the small kitchen .

In the kitchen, the ginger water was still boiling on the small stove, making "gurgling" sounds from time to time.

The boatman hesitantly approached step by step, and then took out the bead flower he was holding in his hand to have a look.

Only once, after doing it this time, he won't have to live this kind of endless hard days.just this once...

The boatman swallowed hard, then became cruel, stretched out his hand and turned the pearl on the pearl flower, and then some white powder fell from the pearl.The powder was put into the boiling ginger water, and it was quickly dissolved.The boatman reached out and put away Zhuhua again, and was about to turn around and leave when Qiao Zhibai's voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Boatman, what are you doing in the kitchen?"

The boatman broke into a cold sweat when he was startled by this voice.Turning around, he looked at Qiao Zhibai with a panicked expression, and the hand hanging by his side repeatedly rubbed the corners of the clothes on both sides unnaturally, and smiled reluctantly: "I, that, I..."

"Oh? Does the boatman also want a bowl of ginger water?" Qiao Zhibai smiled and poured the sugar in his hand into the water, then stirred it with a spoon, and said, "I cooked a lot, if the boatman wants Drink, I'll give you a bowl to taste."

"No, no," the boatman shook his head hastily after hearing Qiao Zhibai's words, "I, I was a little allergic to the smell of ginger water when I was young, so, cough, that's why I came here to see you cook in the kitchen. What. Yes, that's it."

Qiao Zhibai glanced at the boatman in surprise, then smiled apologetically and said, "That's really embarrassing, I will pay attention next time."

"No...haha, it's nothing." Seeing that Qiao Zhibai seemed to really believe his words, the boatman also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, boatman, if you just enter the kitchen like this and don't care about punting the boat, won't there be any problem?" Qiao Zhibai asked casually as he poured the boiled ginger water into a bowl.

"There is no wind and the current is very slow. It doesn't matter if you leave for a while." The boatman replied with a smile.

"That's it." Qiao Zhibai nodded, and prepared to walk out of the kitchen with ginger slices and ginger water on a tray, "It's better to be careful. Maybe the wind direction will change at any time. By the way, I've been eating since just now." I want to ask, boatman, are you hot? Why are you sweating so much?"

As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief from his waist with one hand, and handed it to the boatman: "It's better to wipe it off. This day, if you sweat a lot, you will catch a cold if you are blown by the wind. But...it doesn't matter, anyway, I I bought a lot of ginger and prepared it, and cooking a bowl of ginger soup can also drive away the cold."

At this point, Qiao Zhibai paused, and then suddenly smiled at the boatman: "Oh, look at my memory, didn't you, the boatman, say that you are allergic to the taste of ginger water? In this case, if you catch the wind and cold, you may get sick. There are serious consequences."

"Master, son, you really like to joke." The boatman forced a smile, and wiped the sweat from his face with the handkerchief in his hand.

Qiao Zhibai looked at the boatman steadily, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, his eyes were calm, and his whole feeling immediately became sharper: "Does the boatman think this is a joke?"

Qiao Zhibai saw that the boatman froze, and the hand hanging by his side was clenched suddenly, and he could almost see the faint burst of blue veins on the dark arm.

"Haha, the boatman is really smart, so I was joking with you." Suddenly, Qiao Zhibai smiled again, with curved eyebrows and eyes, as if he had become the very good-tempered person before. "Okay, my younger brother is still waiting for me, so I'll go there first. Boatman, you can do your work too."

"Ah, by the way, give that handkerchief to you, the boatman, and don't have to return it to me."

After saying that, he bypassed the boatman and walked out of the small kitchen.

In the small kitchen, after Qiao Zhibai left for a long time, the boatman sat down on the ground as if exhausted.

He looked at the handkerchief on his hand that had been somewhat dirty by himself, and then wiped his face vigorously. After a long time, he raised his head, exhaled fiercely, and muttered softly: "I thought I was discovered. .Sure enough, this kind of money is not so easy to earn...It really scared me to death."