Linxia

Chapter 34, Arrival

They ran for more than ten miles and returned to the official road, where those who were escaping, such as the Fang family, stopped.

Qiao Xu called the villagers and counted the number of people. He found that several families were missing, including Yao Bin, who had competed with Fang Lin for and ate raw bird eggs. These people probably wanted to take their belongings with them because they were reluctant to part with them, and were blocked and caught.

And for those who are still here, the situation is not very good either.

Some people, who were worse off, lost everything, like Song Kai. At this time, even his wife and son were far away from him, obviously because he had abandoned them and ran away alone.

Those who were slightly better off, such as Zheng Yu from the Zheng family and Bai Bao from the Bai family, were so panicked that they only took money and food with them and didn't have time to take anything else.

The better ones, such as the You family and the Fu family, who were at the back, at least took away money and food.

The best off were the Fang family, the Geng family, and Guihua's family, because they had sorted their things according to importance in advance, so they took away all their property, food, pots, pans, and daily necessities. At least they didn't have to worry about the rest of the journey. They also left behind some miscellaneous items such as benches, scissors, and axes.

At this time, the villagers were in grief. Some were crying for their lost relatives; some did not take any money with them, and cried out "Where's my money?" with their hearts broken; some did not take any food with them, and looked worried, and kept muttering "What should I do next?"

"It's ok, as long as everyone is still here, compared to the few who escaped, we who are still here are lucky. Alas!"

Qiao Xu sighed.

His family wasn't in good condition either. Even though he had been careful in advance, he only took away money, food, pots and pans. All other things like bedding were gone.

"If I had known earlier, I would have listened to Fang Jialinzi." At this time, someone suddenly said.

As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers all looked towards the Fang family. Those families who did not raise their hands in the previous vote were filled with regret; and those who raised their hands to oppose, at the same time, were filled with resentment towards Song Kai, the instigator who proposed taking the shortcut.

Even though Song Kai shrank his head and hid in a corner, he could not escape the condemnation.

"Fang Jialinzi told you not to take the shortcut, but you didn't listen and insisted on being stubborn. Now you feel better, right?"

"That's right. If you hadn't said it was okay when you opened your mouth and it was okay when you closed your mouth, would we be in this situation now?"

"Song Kai, now that things have turned out like this, you have to apologize to all the villagers!"

……

Song Kai was scolded so much that he wanted to crawl into the ground. He felt wronged: "Didn't we all vote together to take the shortcut? This is the village's decision. Besides, my family has nothing left."

As he spoke, he looked at his wife, the Bai family, the Zheng family, and a few other families he had become close to in the past two days. His meaning was obvious: he wanted them to help say a few words.

Not to mention others, even his wife snorted and pulled her son away from him. It was obvious that it was not so easy to leave them behind and run away on her own.

Bai Bao, Zheng Yu, and several other families who were usually close to each other, now thought of how Song Kai had run away without even saying hello. Feeling resentful, they pretended not to see it and ignored Song Kai's look for help.

In the end, it was Zheng Yu who thought of the relationship between the two families and his father's teaching that "it is better to help someone in need than to add icing on the cake" and said, "Everyone calm down. Song Kai doesn't want to see this situation."

But these words had no effect at all, and instead almost brought trouble upon himself. It was Qiao Xu who stepped forward to stop it.

The Fang family, the Geng family, and Sister Guihua were standing aside, watching the farce in silence.

"After this incident, Song Kai's group has been shattered and can no longer control the right to speak in the village. The next journey should be easier," Fang Lin thought to himself.

In fact, Song Kai's group disbanded. They, the Geng family, Guihua's wife, and the You family and Fu family, who had a tacit understanding, were relatively the largest small group in the village. To some extent, they also had the right to speak in the village. However, he had no intention of using this power to do anything.

"Ouch!" At this time, Geng's wife suddenly covered her stomach. It turned out that she had a miscarriage due to the running just now.

"Everyone, come and help!" Fang's mother said, and hurriedly supported Su Xiaoqing. Today, the Fang family seemed to be particularly popular. When Fang's mother said this, many people came to help. The villagers were not blind. They all found that those who were close to the Fang family suffered the least damage in this robbery. How could they not learn a lesson after suffering a loss? Naturally, they wanted to build a good relationship with the Fang family and get closer to them.

Two old ladies held Su Xiaoqing's belly; someone brought half a pound of brown sugar; the Fang family took out some sliced ​​ginseng.

After a busy schedule, Su Xiaoqing calmed down. Fortunately, nothing bad happened.

Afterwards, Geng Shi brought over one or two taels of silver as payment for the ginseng slices, and thanked them repeatedly - his family was not one to take advantage, and not only the Fang family, but also the family that brought the brown sugar should be compensated.

However, at such a special time, precious things like wild ginseng and brown sugar cannot be bought with money, so even if compensation is given, the Geng family still has to accept it.

……

After this, there was no doubt that anyone who mentioned taking the shortcut would be condemned by everyone, so the Xiaohe Village team obediently followed the official road.

At lunchtime, because most families had lost their pots and pans, they could only look for families that still had some to borrow. It was easy for other families, as they could always find some if they were too shy. But Song Kai was hated by everyone, and even his wife and children were temporarily separated from him.

It was Qiao Xu who let Song Kai use his pots and pans for the last resort, considering that they were from the same village after all. This guy had no food left and no money to buy new ones at a high price, so he could only find some wild vegetables and grass seeds to fill his stomach.

Because the villagers didn't like him and looked down upon him everywhere, Song Kai, who still had some dignity, hid from people and became a well-behaved man. He also ate wild vegetables and grass seeds and was too hungry to do anything else.

Without Song Kai and his gang causing trouble, the Xiaohe Village team became completely settled. All the trivial matters were gone, and there were no more troubles on the rest of the journey. After another two or three days, they finally arrived at Huai'an Prefecture.

"It's really not easy!" At this moment, this thought emerged in the minds of the villagers.

……

When they arrived at the city, the clerk who greeted them said his surname was Xiao. He confirmed his identity with Qiao Xu, then smiled and led the way, saying that he would take the villagers for a tour.

"The officials in this prefecture are so good, so enthusiastic, much better than our county officials." Someone murmured.

Fang Lin understood that this was probably a sugar-coated bullet from the wealthy merchants behind the scenes, allowing the villagers to see the prosperity of the capital city in the hope that more people would stay.

At first, he still had the mind to think about these things, but soon, the Fang family and the people in the whole village were fascinated by it.

The impression that Huai'an City gives people is that it is neat and beautiful.

There was a constant flow of ships and people on land and water, but it was not chaotic. Ships passed through the river port, and each ship had a flag of red, green, blue, purple...

There were porters loading and unloading goods at the dock. Some of the goods unloaded from the dock were sold directly not far away, and many people were watching.

The Beginning of Autumn has passed, and the weather is clear and crisp in autumn. Today the sky is clear and the air is fresh, the breeze is gentle, and the river water is sparkling.

The market is located by the water, with many bridges. Donkeys and horses pulling goods can be seen, as well as camels, which are merchants from the north. Donkeys are not only used to pull goods, but also to travel. Some pedestrians ride donkeys, and some enjoy it, and even install parasols on the donkey's back.

Continue walking inward, and you will see that in addition to shops along the street, there are also people hawking goods on the street.

There are many trees planted on both sides of the street. The street landscape is very clean and beautiful. The pavilions and towers are lined up one after another, appearing and disappearing among the green trees. In addition to restaurants and teahouses, those luxurious towers also have brothels, with singing and dancing... The sounds of cars and hawking, and the prosperous and lively atmosphere are overwhelming.

These were two completely different worlds from Xiaohe Village and even Haining County. This vivid picture scroll called Huai'an Prefecture City was slowly unfolding before Fang Lin and his party.

……

(End of this chapter)