Lu Ming

Chapter 522 The Daily Life of Shopkeeper Wu ([-])

The sound of "哗啦啦" water kept coming. Looking up, a white waterfall like a horse is falling from the distant green mountains. It is as beautiful as a white dragon when it is reflected by the sun.

In later generations, the waterfall scenic spot in the north of Zengcheng is a famous original ecological tourist attraction.

Located in the nature reserve in the remaining veins of Nankun Mountain, it has beautiful scenery, hot springs and numerous mountain streams. Among them, the waterfall group has a drop of more than 400 meters. It is the largest mountain waterfall in mainland China. It really flies down three thousand ruler.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, this tourist resource was nothing. The entire Ming Dynasty was primitive, with ancient streets everywhere, and strange and precipitous natural landscapes everywhere. Places like this belonged to remote areas where bandits haunted In such a dangerous place, no Ming people would get angry and come to buy tickets and spend money to see the scenery.

On February 1631, 2, the tenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, in the afternoon, a team of porters and a few donkeys and mules were staggering on the mountain path, and the waterfall in the distance became the background wall of the team.

The destination of this group of porters is a place called Hejiabazi.

Bazi is the abbreviation of Mountain Basin.Generally speaking, this kind of terrain surrounded by mountains has a mild climate and fertile soil, which is a good place for developing agriculture.In later generations, there are more than a thousand dams in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, which are natural village settlements.

In the mountains north of Zengcheng, there are many large and small dams.Hejiazhai, also known as Hejiabazi, is located in the depression adjacent to Fogang County in the north.

Theoretically speaking, Zengcheng County has no shortage of transport waterways. There are as many as six large rivers over 100 square kilometers in the territory, including Guangdong River, Zeng River, and Xifu River, not counting various small streams.

However, there are mountainous areas to the north of Zengcheng. Thanks to the harsh natural environment in ancient times, there are always some places without waterways and need to use manpower to transport materials. Hejiazhai belongs to this category.

From the branch of Zengjiang in the lower reaches of Zengcheng to the mountains, the boats will unload at Paitan Town, a waterfall scenic spot in later generations, which is close to the forest park.The reason why it is called Paitan Town is because the mountains are high and the water is steep, and there is a deep pool in the side river. The ancients put bamboo rafts here, so it was named Paitan, and later it was called Paitan as a homonym.

After arriving at Paitan Town, to go to Hejiabazi, porters and mules and horses are needed.Fortunately, the road is not far away, and the mountain road only takes a detour of more than 20 miles, and it takes a whole morning to get there.In the end, when the caravan bypassed a narrow mountain pass and passed through the checkpoint guarded by Zhuang Ding, the eyes suddenly opened up, and a paradise with a radius of six or seven kilometers was presented to the visitors.

"It's the end of the land, everyone, work harder, unload the cargo and have a meal of soju!"

Accompanied by Shopkeeper Wu's shout, the porters, who had dark skin, strong muscles and bones, carried long poles on their shoulders, and were bent over by the weight of the goods, suddenly regained their spirits, and their steps became much lighter.

Shopkeeper Wu's real name is Wu Qianshan, he is the one who escaped from the bandit den with He Biandan before, the deputy general manager in charge of external affairs of Baiji grocery chain company.

After escaping from the bandit's nest, shopkeeper Wu and Biandan were rescued by the investigation team and went to Huangpu Military Port.After that, shopkeeper Wu and He Biandan separated: the young man stayed in the military port, and shopkeeper Wu returned to the county safely.

Afterwards, with the pioneering army's large-scale suppression of bandits within Zengcheng, shopkeeper Wu also resumed his daily business operations and began to purchase and sell goods all over the world.Probably because he survived the catastrophe, shopkeeper Wu was full of energy after that, and he continued to do so during the New Year. No, he started to make arrangements soon after the year, and brought a caravan to Hejiabazi to sell goods.

The structure of Hejiabazi is no different from other villages in this era.In a small basin between mountains, there are farmlands everywhere, and sparse farmhouses are scattered on it.In the middle of the basin is the core farm surrounded by soil.

Along a not-so-spacious dirt road, accompanied by the gurgling sound of the brook beside the road, the caravan soon came to the gate of Hejiazhuangzi.

I don't know if it's the New Year's Eve or other reasons, but today's Hejiazhuangzi, the gates and suspension bridges are all open, which is different from the situation in the past when only the side gates were opened.And after seeing the caravan approaching on the wall, soon, a group of people came out from the village.The one in the lead, a square-faced leather robe, was in the same grade as shopkeeper Wu, and he clasped his fists from afar and laughed loudly, "Brother Qianshan, I really miss my brother, hahaha!"

Shopkeeper Wu also showed an excited expression when he saw this person at the first glance. He hurried forward, stretched out his hands to hold the person's arms, and said with emotion: "Brother He, don't you come here without any problems, you have always been good!?"

This old brother He, named He Renzhong, is the chief steward of the He family village.

He Renzhong and Wu Qianshan have been good friends for many years - 20 years ago, shopkeeper Wu was a boy in the Baiji grocery store, and manager He was a trotter in the Hejiashan cargo team. The two moved together during the day. Goods, squeezed in the Datong shop at night, it is really a poor and humble friend who loves brothers.

Later, as the two parties got older and each had a social status, there were fewer opportunities to meet each other.However, the relationship between the old brothers is still there, and has not changed color due to the passage of time.

"Okay, okay." He Renzhong nodded again and again: "What wind brought you here, brother?"

"Hehe, I've wanted to visit my elder brother for a long time, but the road is not safe!" Shopkeeper Wu smiled all over his face: "No, I saw several heads of the head of the Fotouzhai at the south gate of the county seat a few days ago, so I rushed here without stopping!"

"Haha!" He Renzhong nodded after hearing the words: "Yes, yes, once the Fotou village is leveled, the road to the county town under Beishan will be open."

When He Renzhong said this, his face was also full of excitement. He stretched out his hand to pinch shopkeeper Wu's shoulder, and kept looking up and down: "Oh my brother, you have lost weight, and your beard and hair have also turned white, but your spirit is still looking healthy!"

In other words, in this era, once a man reaches the age of 40, he can call himself old.In fact, according to the experience of later generations, the shopkeeper Wu is not in a very old age. This year he is only 43. However, the hard life all year round has already made his face wrinkled and his beard gray. He does not look like a grade in his 40s.

Shopkeeper Wu shook his head and smiled after hearing the words: "We haven't seen each other for three or four years, so you are getting old. Old brother, don't blame me, your beard is also white!"

Guanshi He sighed: "I'm old, I'm old."

After the two old men stood at the gate of the village and sighed for a long time, they entered the Hejia village with their arms together.

Compared with previous years, this year's Hejiazhai is obviously a little more festive: it is already the tenth day of the first lunar month, and in the village that has been deserted in previous years, there are still red confetti left on the ground after the fireworks have been blown up, and there is a rough on the stage in the village. The black-faced fanciers with loud voices were singing the local Cantonese opera loudly, and many people were sitting in the audience laughing and watching the opera.

After that, the two sides first inspected the goods brought by the caravan.

(End of this chapter)