comeback [rebirth]

Three days later, Qingjiang Wharf.

The wind and the sun are beautiful, which is a good weather for sailing, but compared with it, there are only two or three people wearing official uniforms passing by on the pier, and there is hardly a boat on the shore. It is almost unimaginable that this is Jiangnan One of the busiest docks in Chu State.

It is impossible for an official ship to operate continuously every day. There is at least one fixed inspection day every month, so that the shipbuilder can inspect each ship one by one.On this day, the sea routes will not be subject to the usual restrictions. You only need to apply to the person in charge of the pier to travel freely within a specified area.

Therefore, some merchants will instead count the inspection day and rent out merchant ships at high prices on this day for the rich to travel.

In the alley near the pier, Cen Yuan looked at the sun, counted the time, and guessed that the waiting people would arrive soon, and soon saw a person wearing a veiled hat, walking towards him and Yan Xuan from a deeper alley.

He waited for someone to approach, and read out a sentence: "The color of the sky and the sea have been clarified."

"...I don't hate Nine Deaths in the Southern Desolation."

The visitor quickly responded to the signal, Cen Yuan nodded to him and said, "I heard that you were the helmsman of an official ship before."

The man had been hiding in the dark all this time, his face covered by the black veil in front of the veiled hat, until then he raised his head and put the black veil on the hat.

Under the reflection of the peripheral light, one can see that this man's face is terrifying, and even a small half of his face is missing - the left half of his cheek is completely sunken, and the edge is close to the nose and lip corners, and it is connected to the left neck forcibly. became a straight line.

He said, "Yes."

Cen Yuan didn't say a word, and he didn't react too much after seeing the other party's appearance, he just asked, "I don't know how to call the elder brother?"

That person seemed to rarely meet someone who could remain calm after seeing his own face. He didn't speak for a while, and only after a while did he say: "Everyone I know calls me Brother Qing."

Perhaps it was because the missing half of his face affected his neck. His voice was not only hoarse, but also eerily strange, as if several layers of sawdust were stuck in his throat.

As soon as that treacherous voice fell, he sneered again: "Although no one will recognize me now."

Since they called him here today, Cen Yuan and the others naturally investigated this person in advance.

They found out that this "Brother Qing" was born and raised in Qingjiang County. He went fishing with his father when he was a child. Later, Daning developed shipping, and ships traveling at sea were restrained, so he became a helmsman driving an official ship.

From the outside, it can still be regarded as "promotion", and even in the eyes of some children, going to sea is equivalent to the symbol of "brave". After all, Haiguang can feel dangerous from a distance, but Not everyone can control it.

But those who really do this work know that every time they go to sea, they almost hang their heads on their belts.

——The wind and the waves have no eyes, and no one can guarantee that there will be no accidents. If it delays the affairs of the court, it may be held accountable, and even the family members will be affected.

Although there are not many such incidents, they happen every year, but Brother Qing obviously did not become that unlucky guy.He has been in this position for more than ten years, until he got married and had children, and his life has been peaceful all the time.

However, just a few months ago, his wife was like every relative who could not wait for the return of her family. In the end, she failed to see her husband who returned safely. the sea."

Just this sentence, no bones left.

And at that time, after Brother Qing fell into the sea, he was once entangled by an underwater man-eating monster, and half of his face was bitten off in one bite while dodging. Later, maybe it was because the heavens had eyes, or because he deserved his life, he broke free After killing the monster, dragging his body with only half of his face, he successfully swam back to the shore and was rescued by the saint, so he survived.

But even so, he couldn't meet his wife and children anymore.

After asking the Jiang family to borrow a boat, Cen Yuan thought about all the things after coming to Chu, and asked Yan Xuan if they should inquire about the people who disappeared or died unexpectedly in Qingjiang recently.

The latter also took it seriously, and after some investigation, they really touched Brother Qing.

Facing Brother Qing's sarcastic words at this time, Cen Yuan didn't respond too much, and shouted, and then said: "Since you came today, you should know that this business will not be peaceful, and even..."

"I know." Before Cen Yuan could finish speaking, Brother Qing cut off his words, "The left and right are already poor lives who have fed monsters, and the worst thing is to venture into the sea again, fearless and fearless."

Cen Yuan couldn't help but feel admiration: "Since this is the case, I don't have many warnings, so let's go."

When they arrived at the pier, Jiang Yuanming was already waiting, plus he had a total of three people gathered together, seemingly chatting.

On the empty pier, any change would be immediately noticeable, so Jiang Yuanming quickly noticed them, interrupted the conversation, and walked towards them.

"Yun Sheng, Xiao Han." Jiang Yuanming approached and said, "You guys are lucky today, just now the manager of the pier told me that today we will be traveling on a boat from our family, and you can play whatever you want... Who is this? "

At this moment, Brother Qing put down the black gauze of the veiled hat again, and bowed his head behind the two of them.

Cen Yuan introduced him: "Oh, this eldest brother is surnamed Huang, and he is the helmsman we have found."

After all, Brother Qing has been running around this pier for more than ten years, and there are still quite a few people who know him, so this is just to blur his name.

Jiang Yuanming came to his senses and waved his hand at them: "Hey, I was wrong, I didn't make it clear to you. Before Yunsheng said that he didn't like many people, I didn't arrange any servants on the boat, but after all, this big boat is no better than ordinary boats. A small boat should always have a helmsman. Besides, the sea route is complicated, and this brother may not be able to adapt immediately."

After that, he pointed to the two people beside him: "These two are the helmsmen who have been sailing for us for the past few years. They are skilled and will board the boat with you in a while."

The two helmsmen looked alike, presumably related by blood, after hearing Cen Yuan introduce Brother Qing just now, they showed the same indescribable expression.

"They are a pair of brothers, surnamed He." Jiang Yuanming introduced at this time, "We usually call them Big He and Xiao He."

Cen Yuan smiled relaxedly: "Uncle, didn't you say that the ship just came back, and the merchants in this line of business would say at least half a month."

Just as he was talking, he turned his attention to the two helmsmen: "The two elder brothers must have worked hard, so don't accommodate us, why don't you go back and have a good rest today. This elder brother Huang has been running on the sea for more than 20 years. He used to drive Passing the official ship, there will be no problem."

After all, Jiang's boat was rewarded by the Holy Majesty, and it was manufactured in the same way as other official boats. Even the appearance was almost the same, and the way of driving was naturally the same.

As soon as the words fell, before Jiang Yuanming could speak, one of the two helmsmen said obediently: "That..."

It was the youngest of the two brothers——Xiao He made such a sound, several gazes fell on him at the same time, he seemed to tremble, and quickly lowered his head to look at the ground, his voice was as soft as a gnat: "I don't know. When did this big brother Huang drive the official ship? In recent years, the performance of the official ship has improved a lot compared to the beginning, and the driving method has become easier. But our ship is the first batch, so... …so……"

He seemed to be a little scared, and he couldn't finish the sentence in the end. Jiang Yuanming nodded after hearing it: "Indeed, and the weight of each ship is different. It is said that the feel will be different, so let's get used to it." Come on, people."

After finishing speaking, he turned to Xiao He again: "Don't be afraid, Second Highness is easy to talk, just be as usual."

But Xiao He didn't relax.

Jiang Yuanming patted him on the shoulder, and Cen Yuan on the other side saw that the other party insisted, so he didn't say much, and he tacitly let the two people board the boat.

In short, when the ship actually sailed away from the pier, the He brothers were still at the helm.

·

Above the sea, the deeper you go, the darker the sky becomes, the sky is gradually shrouded in mist, and the road ahead becomes more and more blurred.

The carrier pigeon flapped its wings and left the ship, and plunged into the gray mystery alone.

On the deck, Yan Xuan put away his pen and ink, and heard footsteps coming from behind. Turning around, he saw Cen Yuan and Brother Qing coming up from the pilot room.

"The boat has been going north," he said, "not the way it was supposed to be."

Although Jiang Yuanming said that today they have exclusive access to this sea area and can walk freely, but at least they had planned the route before.

According to the plan, they should indeed go north after leaving the pier, but they should turn around after half a cup of tea, go northwest along the outer circle of waters, turn to the inner circle after reaching the edge of the territory of Chu State, and return to Qingjiang along the coast .

But now, almost a quarter of an hour had passed since they left the pier, and the ship didn't seem to turn around at all, heading straight towards the abyss where they could hardly forget the direction.

Brother Qing frowned, and said in a low voice: "Where you can and cannot go in the sea area has been stipulated long ago, even official ships are not allowed to cross the border at will. Just now I saw a beacon on the sea, which is used to mark Borderline."

His voice was already vague and weird, but now he deliberately lowered his voice volume, mixed with the surrounding mystery, making it even more frightening.

Cen Yuan seemed to have expected this kind of thing a long time ago. He had been unmoved since he heard that they were far away from the original route. At this moment, he said "Oh" and asked, "Where is the beacon now?"

The deck they were on now was at the stern of the ship. Hearing this, Brother Qing pointed to the rear of the ship.

The boat still didn't turn.

After a while, Cen Yuan suddenly sneered: "It seems that I guessed the words on the note right back then."

At that moment, his voice seemed to be affected by the surrounding atmosphere, and every syllable seemed to be cut into a sharp blade.

Brother Qing didn't know what the "note" in his mouth was, but he didn't ask any further questions, and took a step back consciously.

Cen Yuan said again: "Now I hope that there is no uncle's hands and feet in this matter."

Yan Xuan looked sideways at him, raised his hand to shake the dust from his hair blown by the sea breeze, and said, "Don't worry, I'm here."

The fog in front of him seemed to get heavier as they continued to move forward, Cen Yuan felt flustered for no reason, and grabbed Yan Xuan before he retracted his hand: "Yan Xuan."

"what happened?"

"Let's talk first." Cen Yuan tightened his grip on his hand, "If something really happens, you must never stand in front of it alone."

Yan Xuan stared firmly at the other party with half-downcast eyes, and it seemed that even the air around his eyes softened for a moment.He opened his mouth to say something, but his expression tightened suddenly, he turned to look at the sea, and pressed the hilt of his sword with his left hand.

Not far away, Brother Qing strode up to them and said, "It's not right."

At this time, Cen Yuan also withdrew his gaze from Yan Xuan, and the original panic immediately turned into waves because of this change, beating in his heart wave after wave.

"what happened?"

Before Brother Qing could speak, Yan Xuan, who had already walked to the edge of the deck, answered him: "The current is wrong."

Around the ship, the lukewarm current that was diverted to the sides and back of the ship suddenly intensified and changed direction in the middle, and the whole area became chaotic, and even formed quite a small vortex in the watershed not far away.

Shrouded in the surrounding dense fog, except for the direction they came from, there seemed to be black shadows gradually approaching from other angles. Under the series of fog, it seemed to be connected into a huge beast, opening its bloody mouth towards them, a mayfly in the sea. , showing its fangs.

Cen Yuan's expression froze immediately, he pulled out the folding fan inserted in the jade belt, and said coldly: "I've said it all, this business will definitely not be peaceful."