Shendou Continent

Chapter 8
The three-day funeral was over soon, and Chen Zhang was going back to Fucheng, and Xiao Lin would follow him from now on.Chen Zhang looked at the black and thin Xiaoyou, feeling distressed.During this period of tossing, Xiaoyou became thinner.

After kowtowing three times on Lin San's grave, Lin You was about to leave with old Uncle Chen who had only been with him for a few days.When he was leaving, he wanted to take another good look at this dilapidated but warm home to him.After his father left, he became an orphan again, maybe the orphan is his destination.

There is nothing worthy of his nostalgia in Li Long Village. He has lived here for eight years and was bullied and isolated for eight years. His only playmate also left.Standing at the entrance of the village, Xiaoyou swore secretly that no matter how much hardship he endured, he would definitely stand out in the future, so as to comfort Lin San's spirit in heaven.

It was another day's boat journey, and I arrived at Chen Zhang's house in Fucheng at night.After Xiaoyou settled down, Chen Zhang soon fell asleep, he was too tired these days.

Early the next morning, Chen Zhang woke Xiaoyou up and took him to eat breakfast with his wife and concubines. Although it was early, compared to his own house that only had dried fish and sweet potatoes, the variety of shopkeeper Chen's house was much richer. There are also pancakes and porridge.After eating breakfast, Chen Zhang called a servant and asked him to take Xiaoyou to familiarize himself with the environment.Chen Zhang was originally a slave of a wealthy businessman, but he was smart and hardworking and became a shopkeeper when he was 30 years old.

Not long after he became a shopkeeper, he bought a house and married a girl from the city with the owner as a matchmaker.Now, the two sons under his knees are all adults, and they have several grandchildren.In recent years, he worked hard, and when he was in his 40s, he became the big shopkeeper in charge of Xueyan Hall in the imperial capital. His money gradually became more abundant, and his house was changed to a bigger one. In addition to his family, he also bought a few servants.

To Lin You, the Chen family was definitely a well-off family. He had only seen this kind of house in the county town before, but had never entered it.Led by a servant slightly older than him, he looked around curiously.This is a three-entry courtyard house with side seats behind the door.On the left is the place where the butler and three male servants sleep, and the innermost one is the hut.In the guest room on the right, there is still a sedan chair parked in the yard, and a picture of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea is engraved on the opposite wall, which is quite exquisite.

Through another door is the inner courtyard. There are corridors on both sides of the inner courtyard. The east and west rooms connected to each other are the bedrooms of Chen Zhang's two sons and his wife. There is also a room reserved for children.Facing the gate of the courtyard is the main room, where Chen Zhang and his wife slept.There are east and west side rooms on both sides of the main room, and the right side room is the room of his concubine Shen Shi. The left side was originally vacant, but now it belongs to Xiaoyou.Then through the aisle next to the west ear room, there is the back seat, the kitchen, the utility room, and the sleeping place of the three maids.

There are ten masters in this family, seven house servants and maids, including Xiaoyou, a total of 18 people.

Xiao You followed the boy, looking around curiously and cautiously, taking notes of the boy's introduction as he walked.Looking forward to one day, how wonderful it would be to have such a house!When I met someone, the servant introduced Xiaoyou's identity as the child of the master's old friend. The old friend passed away and came to seek refuge. In a few days, he will leave for Hangzhou with the master.

In this way, the circle was quickly completed, and the servant took Xiaoyou to the kitchen to boil water, and found someone to pick him back to the room, and then helped Xiaoyou take a bath, and changed into a clean long gown.Xiaoyou, who was full and washed, was no longer the dirty kid in the mud village. Although he was still a little dark and thin, his big piercing eyes looked very spiritual.

Suddenly a girl came over and asked, "What's your name? Why are you at my house?" Xiaoyou hurriedly explained her background, saying that she was only staying temporarily and would leave in a few days.

The little girl suddenly laughed when she saw Lin's cautious appearance.It was only then that Lin You saw the appearance of the girl doll. The girl had a round face, two big beautiful eyes, twinkling when she blinked, and a pair of ponytails tied with beautiful bows.The girl introduced herself. She is Chen Zhang's little granddaughter named Chen Jiao. Just now she was alone in the corner of the yard looking at the fish in the small pond. When she saw Lin You come out, she stepped forward to question her curiously.

Chen Jiao was slightly smaller than Lin You, but she was about the same size, mainly because Lin You was short due to long-term malnutrition.They were both childhood sweethearts, and the two children of about the same size quickly got together.Chen Jiao called Lin You Xiaolin's elder brother, and told his elder brother interesting stories about the family in the city. Lin You called Chen Jiao's younger sister, and told her younger sister the story of the fishing village.

In the next few days, the two children played together whenever they had time.Because of having a playmate, Chen Jiao has been extremely happy these days, while Lin You has gradually stepped out of the shadow of his father's death.Sometimes, they played hide-and-seek, one of them counted with his eyes closed, and then looked for the other after hiding. In the kitchen, behind the big tree...except for the main room and the east and west rooms, they hid in every corner of the house.

They also played house, found two small stones to set up a small stove, put a larger stone on it as a pot, put some leaves and grass, and used a branch as a spoon to cook.On such a day, Xiao You couldn't say how happy he was. If he didn't remember his father's instructions, he probably didn't want to leave.

Soon, Chen Zhang will leave for the imperial capital, Hangjing.In addition to Xiaoyou, he also brought his concubine, Aunt Shen, and a servant with him.After settling down at home, Chen Zhang and his party boarded Xueyantang's carriage and were about to set off.After Chen Zhang left for half a year, Mrs. Chen and her two sons came to see him off.Chen Jiao was also standing in the crowd seeing her off. She was very reluctant to let go of this new friend. She even cried secretly when she knew that Lin was leaving.

When she was leaving, she secretly gave Lin You a small red purse, which she had embroidered with her mother when she was learning female red.Lin You was also very reluctant to give up on Xiaojiao, he had no friends except Xiaodong, and this girl was very kind to him.But no matter how reluctant he is, he has to go on the road.He must become stronger, otherwise, it is not a long-term solution to rely on others.

From Jiazhou to Hangzhou, the journey is long, about a thousand miles, and it takes about half a month for normal people to stop and go on the road.The most difficult part is the journey within the province of Nanou. There are few waterways and many mountain roads, which is also the most time-consuming.Chen Zhang went on the road as the big shopkeeper of Xueyantang, so he naturally brought a lot of medicinal materials from Xueyantang, which fully loaded several large carriages.Such a convoy will spend more time on the road.Of course, the fellows of Xueyan Hall also have a few accompanying them.A group of people formed a convoy and hit the road like this.

Along the way, Lin You followed old Uncle Chen. Although the journey was difficult, fortunately, it was a fixed business travel route, and it was smooth to stay in a hotel at the top.Along the way, Chen Zhang told Lin You a lot of travel experiences, and when he was resting, he would teach him abacus, numeracy, literacy and writing. The journey was fulfilling.

They walked through the mountains of Huazhou, saw the steepness of the mountain roads, and saw the poverty of the people in the mountains. There are many villages worse than Li Long Village.In these places, the business travelers try not to stop, for fear of robbers and robbers, even if the road is peaceful, there is no place to rest.After passing Huazhou, Panzhou and Kangzhou, they came to the border of Shaozhou in Qiantang Province.

The river network in Shaozhou is densely covered, and a large area of ​​farmland is full of rice.In the fields in summer, there are bursts of frog sounds one after another, and silkworms singing with the fragrance of rice, which refreshes people's spirit.Seeing this scene, Chen Zhang chanted casually: "The fragrance of rice flowers speaks of a good year, and the sound of frogs is heard", which is appropriate for the occasion.

Passing through the Ying'en Gate, you enter the capital city of Shaozhou, a land of fish and rice, where small bridges and flowing water can be seen everywhere. The scenery is completely different from Nanou, but Shaozhou is only much more prosperous than Jiazhou.Lin You saw a lot of luxuriously dressed people here, some of them were uniformly dressed, they seemed to be members of the sect, and even a bishop of the Holy See with three stars embroidered on the chest in blue clothes...

The world is so big, walking along the way, Lin You can be regarded as an eye-opener.

(End of this chapter)